Bromance

Brownies Part 2

After pretending to be surprised by Margaret's sudden request for me to join them when they pick Alistair up from the airport, it was agreed that I would spend the day in order to 'assist him with catching up on his assignments' which I doubt I was going to do because a.) I haven't even done it myself so I have no idea what's going on in class and b.) Alistair won't even need my help; but I nodded enthusiastically at the idea because any reason to not come to school on a Friday is a good enough reason for me.

The only down side to this great opportunity was the fact I had to wake up earlier than I already do for school; this is the part where one usually begins to question whether this opportunity is worth skipping school or not, but once you step into Margaret's silver Bentley with a crossiant and the famous vanilla homemade vanilla milkshake in your hand one can make the conclusion: yes, it is worth skipping school.

"Good Morning Kyler!" Margaret greeted me with a bright smile at 5 in the morning and all I could muster was a groggy smile before landing face first into soft leather material of the back seat, "What have you got over there?" She pointed to a dark blue lunch bag that I dumped in the front seat.

"It's just an edible welcome back thing" I mumbled into the leather, glad she couldn't see my embarrassed face.

"Aww, well isn't that nice of you" She cooed as she got into the driver's seat, "I'm sure whatever it is, he'll love it."

"I hope so" I replied quietly.

The drive to the airport wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be, it was actually really nice and calming, with croissants and milkshakes, small conversations every now again about random stuff and music from this Indie dreampop band called Beach House that is extremely soothing and is probably the only reason why there wasn't any awkward silences between Margaret and I.

The awkwardness arrived for me when we were walking inside the airport, walking passed shop after shop as my hands constantly got clammy from gripping onto my weird looking lunch bag too hard; and I began arguing with myself whether I should just throw the lunch bag and buy something from one of the gift shops instead.

"Here we are" Margaret's reassuring smile distracted me from my inner conflict. We reached an area where a number of people were standing with signs of people's names with a bunch of flowers –maybe I should have bought flowers as well- just in front of the area was the exit to the baggage claim of the arrivals, "His plane landed about 5 minutes ago, so he should be here within the next 15 minutes" She squealed and squeezed my shoulder.

"Yay" I gulped nervously and stared at the parcel in my hand as I listened to people around me chat excitedly about their loved ones finally coming back, or being nervous on the first impression they make on this businessman from overseas and me? I was beginning to wonder whether this thing in my lunch bag was a good idea to give in the first place when everybody else has bouquets of flowers or signs that say 'Welcome Back!' I didn't have much time to dwell on the thought any further because suddenly-

"Oh! I think that's him!" Margaret point at a mob of blonde hair and began waving frantically as a group of boys from the age 16 to 18 in red and black tracksuits walked together out of the baggage claim area and I immediately felt my heart rate quicken as one of the boys in the group waved back; the boy turned to his sensei and pointed towards us before giving the group a hug and making his way in our direction.

"Oh shit, I think that's him." I said in awe mostly to myself. The only way I recognised him was because of the abnormally blonde hair and the glasses, otherwise everything else had changed in such a short space of time. He looked more muscular, leaner, more manly; and he looked slightly taller; with the way he had changed it felt he had been away at war and it was first time we were seeing him in months. I also felt like a piece of shit, I haven't changed at all, if anything I've probably just got more scars on my knees from my parkour.