I Guess This is Goodbye [Skye]

[Bailey Allison]

Out of habit, Bailey slipped a well-worn piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. There was no point in looking down at the check list. He already knew what the last task was. After nearly a month of secret preparation, Bailey had finally reached the end of his stay at Camp; he would be leaving the next day at dawn. All that was left was to say good-bye.

From the start, it had been obvious that he would need to keep his intentions relatively secret and tell only a couple of the other campers at most. Bailey had a feeling that if he told everyone he knew, leaving would be much harder, and he wasn't about to waste nearly $250 and months of worry just because he had decided to back out at the last minute.

But exactly whom he would tell was a much harder decision. After much deliberation, Bailey had finally concluded that there was only one person who absolutely needed to know that he was leaving-- Skye. Coincidentally, she was the last person he wanted to say good-bye to. It wasn't like he had a choice though. The last thing he needed was to completely ditch the place, leaving her to discover his absence a day or so later from Chiron or worse, Mr. D.

Bailey sighed and crammed the paper back into his pocket as he leaned back, dragging his free hand through the sand. Why had he even asked Skye to meet him at the beach? If it weren't for the privacy, it would be the absolute worst place to break up with her at. They had spent way too much time here; hell, he was pretty sure over half of their dates had taken place at the beach.

Bailey glanced at his watch again. He knew he had arrived early, but he was still worried Skye hadn't gotten his message to meet him there. Maybe it would've been better if he hadn't arrived early; this was way too stressful.

[Skye Jade Remmington]

As much as Skye had attempted to fix her appearance up so as to look more put-together for Bailey, the effort that she had to put into looking better was galling and, she decided as she finally threw her last makeup-removing wipe into her wastebasket, useless. No matter how she tried, the eyeliner would not smudge in the manner she wanted it to and she was so unfocused on the task at hand that, finally, she gave up. As much as she hated the idea of meeting the son of Hermes with puffy, unenhanced sleep eyes and a negative mien that would just add to the "I don't care anymore" air, today was one of those days where her face refused to work with her.

Without so much as attempting to curl or flat-iron her hair into some sort of shape, the Oracle threw her straw locks into a high ponytail, twisted it up into a bun, and slightly carelessly stuck bobby pins into the appropriate places like they were swords. She couldn't quite pinpoint the reason that she was so frustrated, but there the feeling was, hanging in the air like a curtain. A seemingly perpetual existence it was lately, looming over the corner. Losing her head was commonplace for Skye nowadays, and the effort that came with trying to conceal it whilst in the company of others made her want to collapse on her bed and scream until there was nothing left of her. The last thing she needed was anything else remotely negative to barge into her life; her way of making sure this wouldn't happen was avoiding everybody. Skye, the social butterfly, was nestled in her dark cocoon and waited for the day until she felt sane again.

Slipping on her Vans without bothering to shove her heels inside of them or tie the laces, Skye absentmindedly made her way down to the beach, where Bailey had asked her to meet him. Perhaps, if she were in a normal state of mind, it would have been more obvious that he would be bearing bad news. Skye hadn't seen him in so long, regrettably, and he wasn't the kind of guy who randomly made these kinds of requests.

All too soon, there he was, sitting on the sand that matched his hair. Dragging his hand through the miniature shards of rock; a corner of Skye knew what this meant, that he felt frustrated. This was when she realized - not all at once; it was as if a small bell had begun to ring in her subconscious - she didn't really have those feelings that she once had had for him. There were little stomach pangs or butterflies when she looked at him anymore. Had time worn away at them? Clearing her throat and mentally applying a slightly amiable yet hesitant mask to her voice, Skye spoke. "Hey, Bailey." The way she said it made it sound like more of a question, as if the only thing she wanted was to know why he had asked her to come here.

[Bailey Allison]

At the sound of Skye's voice, Bailey broke into a small smile. Shit. Another involuntary reflex. He opened his mouth, trying to make the mile slip away as he searched for the right words. Damn, who knew breaking up with someone could be so hard? Usually, Bailey was the dumpee, not the dumper. In fact, he couldn't recall a time when he had been on this side of the conversation. Finally, he figured that answering Skye's greeting was the best option. "Hey, Skye."

What was he supposed to do with his hands again? Why the heck was he even thinking of his hands? At the moment, one was hanging by his side limply while the other was buried in the sand. Was this position awkward? It certainly felt awkward, especially considering that Skye was still standing up. Bailey motioned for her to sit down next to him. Once she had done so, he knew he couldn't delay the conversation any longer.

"So, uh, I'm..." He paused to take a breath, his fingers anxiously playing with the sand. "I'm, uh, leaving camp tomorrow." There. It was out. Gods, this was even harder than the time he had tried to talk to Tal. Realizing that he still hadn't gotten to the point, Bailey begain again. "So, yeah, I'm leaving... and I... I don't plan on coming back." An awkward pause followed. "To, uh, camp, I mean." Why had he said that? What he meant was quite obvious, right?

[Skye Jade Remmington]

Yes, something was definitely wrong. Gone was the sly grin that made Skye feel oddly safe; it had been replaced with a nervous, twisted sort of shape that made Bailey appear younger and most definitely nervous. She wasn't focused on him returning the greeting so much as the body language that conveyed all the words he left unsaid and hanging in the air. "Bailey…" Skye began hesitantly, looking nervously over at him and running a hand through her wavy hair. "What's wr -" Before she could get any further, however, he broke into a nervous and inarticulate several sentences that left Skye slightly numb.

"Tomorrow…" The words were more to herself as opposed to him, as if saying the word would dull the meaning. Of course, it had the opposite effect, and she could do nothing but stare at him slightly shocked and slightly wounded. Shocked by the whole situation, wounded because he could have told her much sooner. She could have been prepared; they could have done something for their last time together. Something much better than… this, at the very least. "You're leaving tomorrow." Once again, Skye spoke to herself, though the words themselves were directed to the son of Hermes sitting close to her. And then she sat down on the sand, hugging her knees to her chest once she had done so, and turned to look at him. It struck her then that she might never see his face again. Skye swallowed nervously; it felt as though her throat was closing up, just enough so she couldn't speak. But she forced the words out. "I… can't believe…" She didn't need to finish her sentence. And after a long moment of silence, she blinked the threatening sting out of her eyes. "Will you… I don't know. Write?" Another awkward pause, and the next thing that she knew, Skye had wrapped her arms around him. She spoke the next words quietly, for they were for the two of them alone. You're supposed to hate him! a small voice inside her head protested. He's insensitive. He's leaving in a day. He could have told you. He obviously doesn't care as much as he did. But Skye ignored these thoughts for the time being, only choosing the words that also begged to be spoken. "I'll… I already miss you…"

[Bailey Allison]

This whole thing had been a mistake. He should've never told her. No, he should've done it earlier. It didn't matter. Anything besides this would've been better. Bailey glanced up, immediately making eye contact with Skye. Seeing the hurt in her eyes, he glanced back down, feeling disgusted with himself and very confused. This wasn't supposed to happen. He had wanted it to go smoothly with as little crying as possible. Well, he wouldn't have minded angry tears and getting slapped. That was to be expected. That would've been preferable to this.

"Yeah, I'll write." Even as he said this, he knew it was likely to be an empty promise. He barely wrote his best friends back in California these days. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had sent out a letter. And even then, his letters had always been short, a paragraph at most. It was one of the reasons he had immediately ruled out the prospect of a long-distance relationship. Well, that and the fact that Skye would likely stay at Camp forever.

Skye seemed to be on the verge of tears, and Bailey wondered if he should hug her, comfort her. Would that make things worse? Thankfully, she answered the question for him. Bailey automatically hugged her. "I'm still here, you know," he quipped, trying desperately to somehow lighten the mood. However, he added more somberly, "I'll miss you too." That was true, right? Bailey was terrified that he'd completely forget about Camp and everyone there, especially Skye. Yet when he thought about Bobbi and the general dysfunction of the whole Hermes cabin, he remembered that the whole point of leaving was so that he would never have to think about them again.

There was still one thing he needed to say. Actually, there were many things he still wanted to tell Skye, but he didn't have the time nor the means. Even now, he was struggling to form coherent sentences. "You could leave too..." he whispered. "Ask Apollo to pass the oracle's spirit on. You have a house in Malibu, right? That's less than an hour away from LA." Even as Bailey spoke, he knew it was a stupid suggestion. She had been a runaway, after all. He couldn't exactly ask her to go back to her parents. Still, it was nice to think about it. To imagine a situation in which they could remain friends at the very least.

[Skye Jade Remmington]

Skye let out a breath she had not known she had been holding when Bailey confirmed that he would not exit her life completely; she was unaware of the fact that this promise would most likely be broken. Too many changes had occurred in too few days. His affirmation that he would keep in touch sent some sort of glimmer of hope to Skye, a ray of buttery sunlight in wintertime. "Um... good." She shifted slightly, still staring at the boy. She knew that he was breaking up with her, that was obvious; perhaps she should be openly mad or more upset. Why did she react the way she did?

"I wish I could leave," she replied, finally looking him in the eye as she spoke. "Honestly. I don't know why." Skye said it matter-of-factly as opposed to ashamedly; so many changes had taken place since she had arrived here and, as the Oracle, it wasn't uncommon for her to be the center of attention once said changes occurred. And then he said something that made her pause. "I'm sorry, Bailey, but..." There was no way she could return to her family after everything; she knew that there was no way they would forgive her. And though she had always sworn she didn't need them, it hurt. She wouldn't admit it to anybody, but she missed them. And they wouldn't take her back - she knew. "I can't. There's no way that they would let me come back... even if I wanted to." She didn't want to, exactly; it was more the idea of a family that she missed. A mother that helped you with your homework when you got frustrated and a father that would wake you up in the morning so that you weren't late. A sister to play with and even a brother to get annoyed by. There was some sort of bond in an immediate family that she felt could not quite be replicated by any other relationship. And on the subject of families... "What did your siblings say...?"

[Bailey Allison]

Bailey stared at her in surprise when she mentioned that she wanted to leave. Out of everyone he knew, he probably would've least suspected Skye of being dissatisfied with the current state of Camp. After all, unlike everyone else here, she had chosen to stay here. It suddenly dawned on him how far apart they had grown in the past few months. He didn't even know if she liked Camp for gods' sake. When had they started drifting apart? Even if he had refused his parents' offer, how much longer would their relationship have lasted? Bailey didn't want to admit it, but he had a feeling that their days together had already been numbered.

He nodded as Skye explained that she couldn't go back. Bailey had expected as much. It was just another one of those "what if?" question that they would ponder for a couple of days-- maybe even a week or two-- but ultimately would never answer. He really needed to stop asking those. But there was one question he had been wondering ever since he had first met Skye. "Your parents... were they the only reason you came to Camp?" Growing up, Bailey had had a pretty happy childhood, and he still couldn't fathom how there were actually people who stayed at Camp to escape their parents. Maybe there had been another factor in Skye's decision? He was curious, and this was likely the last time he would ever see her.

The subject shifted, and Bailey's gaze followed suit. "My siblings?" He concentrated on the sand in front of him. "Uh, they actually don't know... You're the only person I've told." In all honesty, they were the biggest reason for his desire to leave Camp. "It's probably for the best." Please don't tell them. "They wouldn't take it well. Especially, y'know..." Tal. Whatever you do, don't tell her. Bailey was pretty sure Skye knew who he was referring to. These days, Tal's volatile emotional state was at best an open secret. "...and they might even try to stop me. I wouldn't put it past Jamian or Dylan to try to mess things up." Getting his luggage stolen was the last thing he needed.