Bitter (wlw) (txs)

seventy-three

Sam's pov

I wasn't expecting to feel so nervous I felt like throwing up once I got off the train, but I did. I'd never felt completely calm each time I'd gone back home, but it never got so bad. And I knew it was all because I hadn't seen my parents since before I left for New York, and I wasn't totally myself back then. They were both worried about me at the time, and maybe I felt like I was going to have to prove I was feeling much better and wasn't that person anymore.

I was probably also nervous about introducing Ellie to my parents, but that was the good kind of nervousness. I was happy that they'd get to know the person thanks to who I got better in the first place.

But I also could tell Ellie wasn't too calm either. And I knew that it was not only because she wanted to make a good impression, but also because her recent experience with her own family probably influenced her perception of parents. She probably gathered I'd understood that, and if she wasn't going to bring it up, I wouldn't. Being there for each other was enough.

"Coming here from a city like London has a strange effect, doesn't it?" I said as we walked out of the station, noticing how empty the streets in front of us looked. "Welcome home, I guess" I added, talking to myself.

"This place looks so nice and peaceful!" Ellie enthusiastically said, looking around.

"It is. I appreciate it more each time I come back here. It used to just seem boring to me" I also looked around. Nothing had pretty much changed.

The small square with a fountain in the center right next to the station looked as if it'd been frozen in time for the past twenty years, the flowers in the flowerbeds next to the benches also being exactly the same.

"Are there always so few people around here or is it because it's August?"

"It's never full of people everywhere, but yeah, the fact that lots of people are away right now probably doesn't help" I chuckled. "My house is like five minutes away from here, also"

"That's good" she nodded. "You okay?"

"More or less. You?"

"More or less" she also said, causing the both of us to laugh lightly.

"I spent so much time in that cafè during my teenage years, but I haven't been there in years. I wonder if there's the same people working there" I pointed towards a place with a white and blue sign on top of it.

"We can go there one of these days, then"

"Gladly" I smiled. "I wonder if they'd recognize me"

"Please tell me you have pictures of younger you at your house" Ellie said with a giggle.

"Oh god, yes, definitely. My mom's probably got a whole photo album" I laughed at the idea of my mom showing her those pictures. "Maybe I shouldn't have told you"

"Too late! Unless it turns out you mom dislikes me and doesn't want to show me anything"

"Stop saying that baby" I hit her arm, causing her to drop her suitcase.

"Sam!" she groaned.

"Sorry, shouldn't have done that. But still" I laughed, picking it up for her before she could say anything. "We've arrived now, anyway" I added, walking into the street my house was in.

"This whole house...is all your family's?" Ellie asked as we arrived in front of the red-brick two floored house, a white door at the center of many large windows.

"Yeah" I nodded, turning toward her to see her eyes were wide open. "Why?"

"Nothing...it's just, uhm, very big. Looks like something out of a movie" she said, her gaze still on the house.