Moving On

Twenty-seven

Twenty-seven / Luke

We weren't supposed to come home until next week, but mom had an emergency. She got a call in the dead of the night saying that a co-teacher died, and so we got on the earliest flight back to Ohio which was unfortunately at three o'clock in the morning. So, naturally, I'm jetlagged and pissed.

The flight was almost twenty goddamn hours long. Nobody's going to be happy after that crazy travel time. It's a good thing Dev didn't make it harder for me.

It was really weird because since I came home from tour, Dev was really disciplined. Carly said that Dev can't come with her in Cincinnati for unknown reasons and that she told me that she hired this amazing babysitter to look after the kid. Damn, that babysitter sure did an excellent job than me-or Carly, for that matter-in making sure Dev didn't turn out to be a spoiled brat.

We arrived at around 8 A.M., Columbus time, and it's currently just a few minutes after noon. Plot twist: I haven't slept since.

Even though it's sort of mandatory to doze off after a very long and stressful flight, but I just couldn't sleep. I was pretty sure it was because of this horrible headache I've picked up on our way home, so I did the thing that makes my headaches go away: eat chicken salad and wash it down with Aspirin-ized orange juice.

I was happily eating when this weird thing happened: I heard someone opening the front door with keys.

I was so weirded out because no one had keys to this place other than me or Carly. I jumped into conclusions thinking that this was a burglary of some sort but then I remembered that babysitter. The only problem was I told Carly we were going out of the country which should've made her tell the babysitter than the kid isn't going to be around even though I haven't told her that we came home earlier than expected.

I stood up from the mini bar and stealthily made my way to the kitchen door frame to spy on this mystery burglar who's attempting to get in my house in broad daylight.

I had the V-Tech in hand to call 911 with in case that this was a real burglary. Nice going, Luke.

The key hole clicked and the door opened. A girl about Carly's height but with blonde hair entered, and even though she wasn't facing me, I could tell that she had a phone pressed to her ear.

"Jesus, I already told you I was sorry for not calling you that day," the girl to whoever she was on the phone with.

That voice.

My eyes could be sealed shut right now but I could still recognize that voice.

"We went to Columbus to see a few people that day," she said. "Yeah, she's back at the hospital right now. Tell Blaine to see her, okay? I really want the two of them to talk."

She shut the door behind her. She turned around. Holy shit, I was right. It is her.

"I'm at the house right now. She told me to clean the house before Luke comes home," she said into the phone. "I'll be home before seven. I got to go now. Okay. Bye."

She put down her bag on the couch and then pocketed her phone. She looked around the house, and I'm surprise that she hasn't seen me yet.

I wondered if I was hallucinating or something. I might have been, since I was practically drinking my body weight in orange juice and Aspirin, but it all seemed so real. I pinched myself, it hurt. I wasn't dreaming.

The V-Tech slipped from my hands and fell hard on the wooden floor.

Idiot.

Her head immediately turned to where the sound came from, and when I stood back up from picking the V-Tech on the floor, our eyes met. It was brief, I quickly looked away. But I stared in her grey eyes long enough to send myself into nostalgia.