#OMGOSH STOP THIS IS THE MOST HEARTFELT REUNION GOODBYE

[lucygraysboy]

the sound of her voice alone is enough to send billy’s heart into overdrive, making it pound so rapidly that it’s a wonder it doesn’t just fly out of his chest. his lungs closing in on him, brimming with the very emotions that he’s been trying to smother for these past few months. suddenly, all thanks to the dazzling smile that the beautiful songstress graces him with, neither the all-consuming cold nor the numbness settling into his bones truly bother him. this freezing january night feels like a warm afternoon in the middle of july. his fingertips letting go of the half-burned cigarette, causing it to fall into a pile of snow, the cherry red tip no longer glowing, just so that he can use both his large palms to frame her small face. “lucy gray, my sweet lucy gray,” he exhales, closing his eyes for only a second as tears well up inside them. the thick barricade that he’s built around his heart beginning to crumble. he leans down and presses his forehead to hers, trying to convince himself that it’s more than just a dream, that she’s really here. a sense of familiarity, of coming back home after being lost at sea, sizzles through his veins like an electric current.

“my goodness,” a sigh of sheer disbelief escapes him when he pulls back again, the pads of his thumbs stroking whatever they can reach, the delicate skin near her cheekbones, the dimples that he loves so much, her temples, trying to remain mindful of her makeup but the need to touch and hold and love on her is much stronger, “is it really you? let me take a look at you. wow.” gazing at her as though she hung the stars, he doesn’t care the wind’s picking up speed, growing in ferocity, snowflakes dancing around their faces. all he cares about is memorizing everything about this moment. “you look so beautiful. scratch that. beautiful is an understatement. miss tennessee, is that you?” his heart nearly bursts when her small hands curl around his wrists, doe-like hues marveling at him and immediately causing his visage to flush. “i almost didn’t recognize you either. oh, my hair… yeah, just wait until i take off the hat,” a soft laugh escapes him, pale blue eyes burning like hot coals, “god, i’ve missed you. i’ve missed you so much,” he murmurs, pressing his numb lips to her forehead before his strong arms engulf her, curling around her petite frame and pulling her into his chest.

going for the front door, fingers take hold of her arm over her puffer jacket sleeve and it startles her out of her skin. heart jumping to erratic speed, flinching and out of reflex turning to quickly push away who ever is trying to take her. kidnap her. do who knows what with her. being in a foreign place like this has her more on guard than usual, extra jumpy and instinctive to protect herself. eyes wide like a startled deer, she hears the voice and sees his eyes — only then recognizing it’s billy. “billy,” what was her heart running away from her for now? because she was scared, thought a stranger was grabbing her, that she pushed him without meaning to now that she knows it’s him or because it was the first time her eyes are taking him in since the LAST time she saw him. that awful humid day, with those tears in her eyes and the most agonizing pains shooting through her heart. suddenly…the cold’s not so bad after remembering the heat sticking to her face and the tears choking her that evening. she’d waited and waited for the moment she would find him again, now it feels like that moment isn’t even real as she gawked completely doe eyed, staring up at him in disbelief.

“i’m real sorry— i didn’t know it was you, i got scared and i…. your hair—” she spoke in shock, despite the fact he already warned her about it, “but you’re you. really you.” teeth started chattering but her small hands gripped for his wrists over top of his jacket, cautious about the cigarette in his hand hanging at his side. reminding herself not to tear up and ruin her smoky eye make up she spent way too long fixing just right. still frozen staring up at him sparkly eyed, like she was starstruck and emotionally struck. his tall frame, his voice, his lips and pretty eyes. it was all billy. and he was gently smiling at her— she couldn’t believe that most of all when seasons had came and gone but she replayed the heart wrenching way he LAST looked at her too often, repeatedly inside her head to think she’d ever earn his beautiful smile again. it made her smile too, brighter than a summer sun. looking ecstatic and dreamily as her sparkling cocoa hues melted into the familiar blue, finding her billy caused her to smile like that. not the cold, wounded stranger she found in his icy sea of blue the last time she was looking into them. this time staring into his eyes was the familiar waves of warm sea blue she knew well and had only been existing in her memories— of course she was starstruck at her own best friend she’d mourned losing but had this chance to see him looking at her like that again. of course she was fighting back tears as the emotions explosively took over her heart, her cheeks dimpled and hurt her smiled had grown so wide and radiant.