What Once Was

(42) The Way I Loved You

"So in love that I act insane.
And that's the way I loved you."
-Taylor Swift

The remainder of the year went by super fast and I found myself traveling home for the summer since school had just got out.

At the airport, I was greeted by my parents who both pulled me in for big hugs.

"I'm so happy you're back," said my mom.

"Me too..." I responded.

LA has been nice but I have missed my hometown. I will only miss Cato but he is flying out in a few weeks to stay up here. He could not come with me because he has some meetings with colleges, so I could not let him pass up those opportunities.

I followed my parents to the car, which was parked on the runway of the private airport. I was still rather slow considering my knee is still in a brace as it is not fully healed.

"Landen was asking about you. He is hoping to see you on the court again," said my mom after we were all in the car.

"Well, I won't even be going to school here so I hope you told him no."

My parents both went silent and I could see them share glances. "Yep. No, absolutely not."

"Ainsley, it'll be your senior year, our last year for all of us to be together," said my dad.

"Why don't we all just move to LA. We have a house there," I challenged.

"We can't just put our lives here on pause. Your mom works up here and I have the team to coach," said my dad.

"Right, the team full of ass holes," I commented.

I could see him roll his eyes through the rear view mirror. "Maybe there wouldn't be a problem if you kept away from them in the first place."

My mom sighed. "Let's put an end to this right now," she said while sending me a look so I wouldn't totally end that man's career because if I did, she would ruin mine, too.

It is really unfortunate though. My dad and I used to be so close, but he is just so crazy about who I date, and makes all those stupid comments. No wonder I want to live in LA again.

The rest of the drive was short, but so awkward. My mom kept trying to break that up, but I was not having it, nor was my dad.

When we returned home, I made my way straight upstairs and into my room which was not much different from the last time that I stayed here.

The sweaters I had left out on my bed were still there, a pair of heels lay strewn about, my desk was still cluttered, but what caught my eye was my picture collage on one of the walls. There were several pictures of Lacey and me, tons from the volleyball and football seasons, multiple of my friends, others were just landscape photos, but the ones that really enraged me were the ones that were of Ryder and me.

Out of spite, I ripped every single one off the wall. The one of us at our spot, the ones after our games, the pictures we took at homecoming, and every single picture that we ever took. I tore them to shreds because screw Ryder James for only dating me for who my dad was.

As a replacement for the pictures of Ryder, I filled the holes in with pictures of Cato and me because that's who I belong with. He loves me for who I am, and I love him for who he is.

Or so I thought, because everything that happened was simply something that what once was.