I always enjoyed watching the ground move from thousands of miles in the air. It used to make me sad when I would pass over cities that I would never get to see, but now I get to visit a majority of them. All thanks to the amazing boy sitting in the seat next to me, snoring away as his hand still rests in mine. I can't help but smile and lean my head on his shoulder.
In the seats diagonal from us, Calum and Ashton are arguing over who gets to play on Michael's GameBoy next. I roll my eyes and silently laugh at their 5 year old ways when it comes to a Pokemon video game. Linley and Michael are sleeping in the seats behind them and I slowly start to feel my eyes getting heavier. I allow the drowsiness take me over even though I know that we don't have too much longer on the plane.
I don't know how ready I am to be back in my old home, full of mostly unpleasant memories. As long as I have Luke by my side, it will be okay. That's one thing that I do know.
What feels like only 10 minutes later, I am awakened by the bumpiness of the landing. Luke startles awake as well, but flashes a sleepy smile at me when he sees that I'm awake too. He grips my hand a little tighter, knowing that I hate how rough it gets as we hit the ground. When the plane finally comes to a complete stop, we are allowed off. We walk out into the airport and make our way to luggage pick up. I knew this procedure all too well by now.
After waiting what seems like a while to find our bags, we make our way down the escalator to the front doors where the black SUVs will be waiting. As we are standing on the moving stairs I spot a familiar face at the bottom in a small sea of people.
Abigail.
I look over to Luke to see him smiling wide. She knew I was coming, but I didn't bother trying to make her come to the airport. He must have told her. I lightly jump up and down as I impatiently await the arrival to the bottom.
As soon as my feet hit the flat surface, I drop my bags and book it towards my long lost best friend. I clutch her body tight and she does the same. Even though it's only been weeks, it feels like we haven't seen each other in forever once again. After I pull away and we exchange our actual hellos, she is then attacked again, but by someone else.
Calum releases his grip on her and they both turn and face me with small smiles.
"So we've kinda been talking," she says with a laugh.
"Why didn't you tell me!" I yell with a laugh. It was a weird sight to see them together like that, but it also made me smile. "I totally called it though," I turn and say to Luke as he comes up from behind me and slips his fingers into mine.
"You knew?" Calum asks us.
"Nah, but it was kind of obvious," I say back.
When the rest of our friends finally reach us, we heard to the doors. Until I am stopped in my tracks as I look towards the food court. Ben is sitting alone at a table with a small smile on his lips. I don't understand if the feeling in my stomach is from nervousness or happiness from seeing him. Whatever it is, it gets stronger as he gets up and walks the path to me.
"Hey," he whispers as he stands in front of me.
"Hey," I say quietly. My heart is racing now as I silently pray that he doesn't do anything stupid, especially since Luke is standing only a few feet away from us, capable of anything.
Suddenly I am warm as I feel his arms gently wrap around me. It is a nice calming feeling, and whatever feeling was in my stomach has toned down. I still don't know what any of this means and what his intentions are, but the hug is good enough for me at the moment. I felt 16 again, when he would calm me down after a bad break up, or when I would run to his house crying because I had a bad dream of my father. We would stand in the rain for hours in each other's arms. It was different now, things between Ben and I, but the same arms were wrapped around me and I was here again.
