Contigo A La Distancia Novels & Stories

Enough to breathe. Enough to pretend that distance would fix what had already begun.

She'd taken it home with her. "Now I'm just looking at you," I said. The smile changed. Became something else entirely. The temperature of the call shifted the way weather shifts — not gradually but all at once, pressure dropping, something charge-heavy moving in. "I miss you," she said quietly. "Yeah." My voice came out lower than I intended. "I miss you too." "Cade." "Lily." She bit her lip and looked at me through the screen, and I felt the distance between us as a specific physical thing. Not abstract. Not metaphorical. A real and brutal 300 miles of highway and cold and dark.

File it away. Exactly where Celeste wanted it. Her phone buzzed. A message from an unfamiliar number. Unknown: You still close to her? Celeste’s expression didn’t change. She didn’t respond right away. Instead, she leaned back in her chair and considered the question. Close was subjective. Emotional closeness. Physical proximity. Access. Trust. Celeste had all four. She typed slowly. Celeste: Always. The reply came almost instantly. Unknown: Good. Just making sure we’re aligned.

The distance might test us, but it could never diminish the depth of our connection. With a hopeful smile on my lips, I turned away from the crowd and walked back into the embrace of the city that had become my new home. And as I embarked on the next chapter of our love story, I held onto the belief that love had the power to transcend any distance, and that our love was destined to conquer all.

I say abrupty and Niccola moans as the call glitches, and we both laugh. Niccola keeps teasing me while I tease her right back, and we both end up breathless messes. “You’re impossible,” I tell her. “You love it,” she replies. “I love you.” I retort. She softens at that. “Good. Because I’m thinking about you.” The distance shrinks, not physically, but emotionally. The connection hums between us, familiar and grounding, until the rest of the world fades to background noise. Eventually, we quiet down, just watching each other breathe through the screen. “I’ll be home soon,” I promise.

The wind whistled past her ears, and above her was a sky full of stars and a round moon. She saw someone rushing towards her. She thought the scene felt so familiar. Amidst the swaying tree shadows, various scenes kept flashing before her eyes. She looked at the figure above, who was blocking the moonlight. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Slowly, she reached out her hand, and the person above extended his. Their hands could not touch each other, even though they were only two feet apart. The mountain wind howled, and the wind that blew past obscured her vision.

My dearest love, For what good is a man without a muse? You are all that I breathe. All that I yearn for. What ignites my very being. I’m writing this for whenever you miss me. Be it that I’m at a distance you deem too far, or not nearly close enough that you breathe the air I breathe.

As for why I couldn’t send a message to Orlaith like Oisin could do to Kerrigan, it was because of distance. Orlaith was my spirit animal, but our bond was affected by distance. It wasn’t the case that the bond would break if we were far away from each other. But it would become a lot weaker with distance. As the distance increased, we had less abilities. But the connection remained and we had a good sense for whether the other was still alive. So if the distance increased to a certain level, then we would no longer be able to share senses at all. It wouldn’t just be a much weakened effect. We would always be able to tell if the other is alive or near death though.

She fumed while I and Leticia sighed. "It doesn't mean," I tried to say but she shunned me off with her hand. "It does mean, what if I don't end up loving him back after being away from him for a while," She deadpanned while I and Leticia glanced at ourselves speechlessly. "Beatrice! Don't tell me you don't have an idea of a long-distance relationship, at least this is a civilized world. What's the essence of mobile phones. You guys would be in touch with each other always although it won't be physical," Leticia said while I nodded in affirmation to what she just said.

- Speak, my love. - You can't talk about it over the phone. When you come back? Tell me soon, please. - I'll be waiting for you at dinner Monday. - My God, I feel like Monday is a month away. Each day seems to last 72 hours. - I also feel that way when I'm away from you. That's why we need to end this distance once and for all. You can travel with me from now on, what do you think? Business trips with your presence can have a different flavor…” I heard his breathing quicken on the other end of the line.