We drove from the airport to our old house in an hour. An hour that was spent staring out of the window and listening to my sister's music in her earphones because my phone had died and she was asleep. I couldn't help but smile as we passed Luke's house as the memories came flooding back.
"Emily!" I yelled quietly and elbowed her as we drove up our drive and despite her exhaustion, her eyes lit up at the sight of the house.
We all climbed out, taking a suitcase each and pulling them as quickly as we could to the front door; eager was an understatement. It was dark so we couldn't see around, but it didn't stop me trying. I squinted around the garden, and aside from being overgrown, nothing had changed - I could still make out the swings in the corner of the lawn that Luke and I used to play on.
Because our dad was moved to NYC by work, we were able to keep this house for when we inevitably moved back, which was a massive plus.
Once inside, knowing there were beds upstairs within our reach, we were all too tired to stay up. We had all weekend for that, anyway. I went up to my old room, got into bed fully clothed and fell asleep within minutes.
--
I woke up at 11 the next morning, which wasn't too bad considering we'd all gone to sleep after 3, my mum had been up since 7, though, and in the time between her and the rest of us waking up, she had managed to get cereal so we had something to eat when we got up.
I sat down opposite her in the living room; we were watching the kind of Australian trash television that America had made me miss. I had just finished eating when she asked: "Why don't you go to Luke's house today?"
I stared at her blankly for a moment. I knew we were going to see each other in school in a week or two, but spending time together after three years would just be awkward. We were completely different now - our personalities and appearances had completely changed (so Luke had told me, anyway) and what if they didn't recognise me when the door opened?
"Mum, we don't even know each other anymore!" I shook my head at her, stubbornly.
"You used to be best friends." My mum frowned a little, "Won't it be good for you to have a friend when you start school?"
"Well - yeah, but most of them will remember me. It's not like he was the only friend I had here!" Half of me really did want to see Luke again, though. Maybe even three quarters of me.
"Go on, or I'll have to invite him over for tea." She responded. Jesus Christ. This made me jump up. She knew how to change my mind! I'd definitely rather visit him than have him come over and sit with my parents and 13 year old sister. That would be the worst.
I went upstairs into my box-filled room and rummaged through one that was labelled "Belle's clothes". My skinny jeans were all in a suitcase somewhere, so I settled on a short, white skirt and light pink crop top - it was hot outside anyway. I brushed my hair out of the ponytail and let it fall down my shoulders. I walked downstairs, phone in hand and shouted bye.
As soon as I set foot outside, though, I was nervous again. What if he hated me? What if when he said "It'll be good to see you again! :-) x" he was just being polite? I walked out of the garden, ignoring my butterflies, and walked to his door.
Before I could stop myself, I knocked. There was silence. Then, footsteps. I swallowed and stepped back a little so that when the door opened I wouldn't be awkwardly close.
After a few seconds of struggling to unlock the door, it swung open. A tall, pale boy greeted me. He was just wearing a pair of light grey sweatpants and a maroon snapback. His shoulders were exasperatingly broad and his eyes were infuriatingly bright blue. My eyes rested for a second on his pierced lip, before I realised I'd been staring. But shit, he'd done well growing up.
"Hi!" I said, my voice a little more high-pitched than I'd planned, "You probably don't recognise me, but - "
"Belle!" The boy's deep voice didn't suit the excited look on his face. He reached out and took my hand, pulling me inside and tapping the door shut behind him by kicking it, "Mum, Belle's here!" He dragged me upstairs before Liz could actually greet me and we went into his room. It felt like when I used to visit, where we'd just run upstairs to play for hours. Obviously it was different now, but he still had some of the toys we used to play with on his window sill. It was cute.
"Don't bother saying hi, then." I laughed a little. It somehow wasn't awkward with him, even though we hardly knew each other.
"Oh, yeah. Hey." He laughed, pulling a top on. I had to hide my disappointment, looking away from him to sit down on his bed, "Did you just get here?"
"Yeah, yesterday... My mum actually forced me to come over here on my first morning."
"You didn't want to see me?" He pouted and gave me puppy dog eyes, and I would've cringed if he wasn't the most adorable thing I'd ever seen.
"Of course I did, I was just nervous."
"Why?" He lifted his hat up and ran his fingers through his hair, before putting it back on.
"In case you were a massive dick." I smirked, watching him.
"I can assure you I'm not." He gave me a smile, before adding, "I may have one, though..."
I rolled my eyes and laughed, choosing to ignore that statement. "My mum said school starts the Monday after this one, is that right?"
"Yeah. I suppose I'm going to be stuck with you?" He joked, wrapping his arm around my waist as he sat down beside me. I loved how familiar he was acting, like we'd never been apart. I nodded, unsure if me hanging around with him was okay or not. "Maybe I should introduce you to my friends then? Before Monday?"
"Sure! Do you think they'll like me?" I asked.
"What's not to like?" He raised his eyebrows and I blushed. The blushing caused further blushing as I realised he was close enough to tell, "You, by the way, have become a lot more gorgeous than when we were fourteen. I mean I had a crush on you back then, but now..."
I knew he was doing it to tease me, but it was working. I somehow blushed even more and shook my head at him. "Luuuuke..." I whined.
"Moaning my name already?" He grinned.
"Okay, shut up." I glared at him but couldn't conceal a grin back, "That was not a moan. And you will never hear me moan, Hemmings."
"Hemmings? If you're not going to call me Luke, then call me daddy." He grinned, squeezing my waist slightly.
"No." I shook my head at him, we'd been together for less than twenty minutes and we were already flirting, "Why don't you take me to meet these friends of yours today?"
"Only if you call me it." He giggled, making me unable to take him seriously, "Just once."
I looked at him for a moment, my face stern. "Fine, daddy, you've humiliated me, now will you ask your friends if they'll meet up with us?"
"Sure, babygirl." Luke smirked, getting his phone out and starting to text his friends.
