Come Back

Part 8.

**Popping in to say hello and thank you for continuing to read! In this part there will be a few answers to the questions swimming around in your head about the disappearing people and the characters will begin to settle into home-life again. Enjoy! Comment, vote, continue to read, etc. xoxo**

December 1

Overall, I wouldn’t say the trip to New York was a complete and utter disaster. In fact, it was pretty fun. That’s not to say I wish some things would have gone differently than they did, but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers. It was nice to get a full glimpse of my old life, but I realized that maybe New York isn’t really where my heart is. Maybe it isn’t where you are, but rather who you are with. Maybe my heart and my home is wherever my new friends are; or wherever Logan is.

We all had to lie to Julia majorly, all saying we were out at different family gatherings or on trips to places like Florida. Apparently, vacations to Florida are extremely common here in Wisconsin. I suppose with the insane climate, Florida must be a nice escape for some people. Personally, I don’t mind the cold or the snow.

I told Julia I had gone to New York--as I did--to visit family that actually doesn’t exist there. Logan told her that she was going down to Madison to visit some old family friends of her mom’s. Theo told her he was going to Kansas for family. And Shiloh told her that he was going to California to see family. Each scenario she believed one hundred percent because, I mean, she had no reason to doubt us. She didn’t have the slightest idea that any of it could be a lie. Sometimes that’s the worst thing about being lied to: you had no reason to doubt the liar, because, I mean, you had no idea it could be a lie, but it was a lie and in the end, it hurt. We all knew it was wrong and a bad decision, but that didn’t stop us from lying to her anyways.

Monday morning after Thanksgiving break came all too quickly. I peeled myself out of the comfort of my own bed, got Lily ready to go to the church daycare for the day down the road from our house that mom signed her up for, and headed to school in the pickup. It felt nice to get back to driving the pickup again, even if it’s only been a week since I have.

I pulled into the parking lot and parked in my usual spot. Slinging my backpack over one shoulder, I made my way through the front doors and arrived to Psychology with two minutes to spare. Logan waltzed in a minute after myself and danced her way over to me. She usually sits a few seats behind me, but today she took a different seat at the desk across the aisle from me. “Long time no see.” She winked.

I chuckled and nodded. “Have a good break?”

She nodded, playing along with the unnecessary charade. “Yeah,” she paused. “But it could have been better.”

I gasped jokingly. “Why would you say that?”

She shrugged, a smile present on her face still. “I don’t know. It’s not like I went on an extravagant trip to a beautiful city with my best friend or anything.”

I couldn’t help but notice how she used the single form of the word ‘friend’ as Mr. Larsen quieted the class and the bell rang, signaling our small charade to cease and our attention to bind itself to Mr. Larsen--at least that’s what was supposed to happen. I couldn’t help but let my mind wander to the trip and Logan and everything that had happened. I thought about Nathan: the partying. I thought about Craig and the punch that left the side of my face still slightly yellow. Mom was really upset and worried about it, but as soon as I said Craig’s name she stopped pestering me about the details. I thought about the park: the toasting and all of the fun we had had that night. The next day had been filled with downtown sightseeing of Times Square and shopping.

Logan loved the shopping, which I thought was cute. She dragged me into seemingly every store she laid eyes on and had me help her pick out the stuff she wanted. While we were in some big department store and she was in the changing room, I had wandered about and found myself standing in front of a jewelry display case. The minute I laid eyes on the intricate little silver, diamond bracelet, I knew it belonged right on Logan’s small wrist. I had bought it, knowing exactly what size to get her because of all of the time I had spent staring at her hands, wishing I could hold one of them. I plan to give it to her when the time is right; which is hopefully going to be soon.