2: In Your Shadow - Evan Peters

New Little Boyfriend

I handed the Jeep's car keys to Lucas as we stood in the airport, my carry on luggage slung over my shoulder. Id decided to pass on the Jeep to Lucas, being the car's third and probably final owner.

"Take good care of her okay? And come and visit us," I had tears in my eyes as I leaned forward and pulled Lucas into a big hug. He held me tightly until the woman over the intercom called the flight to LA for boarding.

As I walked away to join the queue, I gave Lucas a final wave, blowing him a kiss as he become smaller and smaller in the distance. I felt like a big chapter of my life was coming to an end, and all the time I'd spent with Lucas over the passed year would forever just be a cherished recent memory. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand as I showed the air stewardess my plane ticket. She gave me a sympathetic smile, like she'd been through a similar situation before.

The flight was just over 4 hours. I slept when I wasn't eating airplane peanuts and watching snippets of random movie selections. When I finally touched down in LA, the sadness of leaving St Louis was overridden by the excitement of seeing my best friend again.

Once I landed, my phone reception returned and I messaged Dana to let her know I had landed.

Making my way through airport security, I saw Dana and Elliot, with who I recognised as Austin, standing behind the arrivals barrier, holding up a long sign.

"WELCOME TO LA ALEX"

I laughed in disbelief at their sign, but hurried over to them, screaming as Dana lunged towards me and wrapped her arms around me in a big hug, dropping her side of the sign.

"Oh my gosh Alex! You look so good, I missed you so much," Dana held me and it felt like for a moment that we'd never been apart.

"I missed you so much too Dee," I said, sniffling into her shoulder.

When we pulled away I connected eyes with Austin, who was a lot taller in person. His dark eyes and short black hair stood out against his pale complexion. I smiled over at him as he opened his arms. I walked into his warm embrace.

"Alex, Dana's not kidding you look amazing," he whispered into my ear, enticing small goosebumps to rise on my skin.

"You look great too, it's so nice to finally get to meet you," I looked up at him, our faces inches away from one another.

Elliot cleared his throat from behind me. I turned with wide eyes and engulfed him a big hug.

"Can't forget about little Elliot over here," he joked, as he ruffled my already messy hair.

"Okay let's go to the apartment, I'm so excited to show you around LA," Dana beamed at me, just as I got a text from Kyle.

I looked down at my phone, it read "your little ex boyfriend has a big promo tonight at Sound, go check it out, tell him about us,"

My eyes widened at Kyle's message, but my stomach flipped at the thought of seeing Evan again. I put my phone away and smiled up at the trio in front of me.

"How about we go check out Sound tonight?" I suggested, getting raised eyebrows from Dana in return.

"Sure, we haven't been yet, why not," she laughed, getting a round of nods from the others.

The trip to the apartment in West LA was only a short distance, but with the traffic it was agonising. The hustle and bustle of LA was nothing like I'd ever seen before, and it was exciting. It was warm in California, and the sun shone brightly above us in late June. Everyone was wearing tank tops and denim shorts, with flip flops.

"I don't have a single pair of flip flops," i said to Austin, as he laughed at my observation of the LA people.

"We might have to go out and get you some, now that you're a real Californian," he smiled at me, and I felt small butterflies in my stomach. He had perfect teeth.