Here and Now

Welcome Back

  "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Oh come on Ash you're not excited to finally come home?"

"I don't know if excited is exactly how i'd put it." I say rolling my eyes at Kayla's question.

"I tried to make our vacation fun for you."

I let out a quiet, sarcastic laugh. "Me having to leave home to go stay with your family in Texas and almost get thrown in the loony bin because I couldn't handle my problems and  breakup is your idea of a vacation?" I realized my tone was a little harsh but she knows my life has recently been far from a 'vacation'.

"Well that's where I've been telling  everyone you were."

"Well...I guess I wouldn't want anyone knowing the alternative."

"And you know it wasn't that bad, I mean I'm your best friend. Everything is great when i'm around." Kayla says with a wink and nod.

I have to admit, even though I've been through complete hell these last few months, Kayla has been there for me throughout it all. She even traveled a thousand miles with me so I could stay with her family instead of mine. God only knows what they would of done if they knew what has been happening with me...

"ID please." A loud voice says interrupting my thoughts.

"Oh right, here you go." I move up a bit in the security line and hand the officer my ID and plane ticket. He shined a black light down on both items and inspected it for a second before  speaking again.

"Name and date of birth."

"Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, born  September 29, 1994."

The officer nodded his head in agreement. "Where ya headed?"

"Back to my home in New York."

"Ah that's nice," He says handing me back my ID and ticket. "Well have a safe flight."

"Thank you." I responded with a awkward smile.

I continued to the security checkpoint line as Kayla followed closely behind.

"Ew we have to take our shoes off?" Kayla asks with an almost disgusted tone.

"We you do because you're wearing mom sneakers." I joke with her. Kayla is actually a very attractive girl and she knows it. I've always envied her. With her long red hair and blue eyes, perfectly shaped body that compliments her height of 5'7 and weight of only 120. She has a cute little button nose and plum lips, and nice eyebrows but I mean mine are pretty fleeked too so I guess I have her beat there.

"Mom shoes? Excuse me what about your Jesus sandals?"

"Hey! These are in right now." I say grabbing a plastic grey security bin to put my phone and ID in.

"Mhm, and since when have you been so into fashion 'Halsey'?" Kayla asks jokingly following behind me.

"Always and you know that. I'm just getting a little more recognition since Badland released."

I wait my turn before walking through the metal detector. I walk down to the end of the security monitor and grab my things. As I look at my plane ticket to tell Kayla what gate we're going to, I hear the metal detector go off. "Ugggh. Kayla forgot about her bracelets didn't she?" I turn around and my vision answers my question. Kayla quickly removes her bracelets and walks through the metal detector again. But the machine makes another beeping noise and Kayla steps back and removes her earrings. "This could take a while." I say to myself. Knowing that Kayla has her plane ticket, I leave it up to her to find the gate and just meet me there. I glance at my ticket, it say gate G4 boarding at 7:20 am."

I've been getting a lot more attention from people lately and usually I don't mind fans coming up to me but after all that has happened recently, I just want to be left the fuck alone. So I reach down in my pocket to grab my headphones. "Of course." I say in distress realizing Kayla had my headphones in her purse. I continue walking with my head down until I see gate G4, then I pick a seat by the window where I can watch the planes come and go. I stare out at the planes launching into the sky, wishing I could do the same. Just let my entire existence fly away from anything happening on the ground.

My thoughts were slightly interrupted by something very...familiar. But I couldn't make out what this something was. Almost like my brain didn't want me to know. I tuned into my senses a bit and realized it was a song...faintly coming from the intercom of the airport. What song was it though? I listen a bit more..."No...no." This song is NOT playing right now. I look around frantically now to see where the hell Kayla was at. I breathe heavier and heavier as the song plays more and more. I keep looking around for Kayla now almost on the verge of tears, then some guy with blonde hair and green eyes pops into my view. All I really notice besides that is that he's extremely skinny like the jeans he was wearing. He walks towards me.

"Hey! I know you, you're Halsey. Big fan!"

I look around him trying to get any sight of Kayla. At this point I feel this song creeping into my brain, deeper and deeper.

"Colors is literally my life."

I flash him a quick panicked smile. But all I can hear is ' I'll give you one more time

We'll give you one more fight...'

"Hey um..are you okay?"

Now all I can hear is the song. It's taking up my entire mind, all my sense, all my being. As if it's the only thing that can be heard in the whole world right now. 'I'll give you one more time We'll give you one more fight Said one more line Be a riot, cause I know you' Before I know it the song has completely taken over me and i'm back in another crazy state. "NO MORE. PLEASE STOP." I scream out.

"Hey back the fuck away from her and leave her alone." Kayla barks at the blonde guy. She then stands me up and rushes me to one of the private family restrooms and locks the door behind her. I keep crying and wheezing as she tries to hold me and hush me up. "Ashley. Get yourself together."

"I'm trying! I'm trying so hard!" I whimper out to Kayla.

"Was it the song?"

I nod my head profusely.

"Ash. I know this is hard for you but you have to stop," She grabs my head and lifts it up to her gaze to look straight at my harshly sobbing face. "He's not here Ash. He's not here anymore. He's gone. Calm down. You're okay."

I lay my head on her chest as she strokes my hair, and rests her chin on my head. I then pull myself together a bit and go to the sink to wash my face. After that, we silently walk out of the bathroom. Luckily the plane was boarding.

  Kayla and I quickly board the plane and she let me have the window seat, she's so good to me.

"Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We like to welcome you on board this Continental flight to New York. Duration is around 7:30 am and we are expecting a fairly smooth flight today. Once again we thank you for choosing to fly with us today and we hope you enjoy your flight"

I turn and face the window, watching the plane slowly move backwards and turn to the runway. Kayla then puts her hand on mine.

"So I guess what happened back there was a bit of a reality check?"

"I guess reality has checked back up with me."

"Well, welcome back."

"Yeah...thanks Kayla. Really, I don't know what I would do without you. Especially now that I am back..."

Hey guys!!! Hope you're enjoying my new writing so far. Before you start reading more I'd just like to give a special thanks to @ romanogerstrash on Twitter. They created this beautiful book cover for me and  they're very talented. Also make sure to follow their wattpad @criscasoliva
And like always thank you for reading and I'm always looking for feedback!!