Bridge To Terabithia 2: The Last Time - Part 2 || ✓

Chapter 21: Welcome back

     A week later, Jess and Leslie left for Virginia and they soon boarded their plane after saying their goodbyes to their group who had drove them to the airport. They boarded the plane at 12 midnight in LA's time, and landed at 4 in the morning that was actually 1 in Virginia's time. Both of them were pretty tired from the four hour flight and just wanted to lie down on their bed and take a long and peaceful nap.

Fortunately, Bill was on time and was waiting for them to arrive. He looked absolutely joyful when he saw his daughter who looked rather sleepy and embraced her in a tight hug. He turned to Jess, having the memory of his daughter and Jess being broken up. He wasn't sure whether he should give him a hug, or just a pat on the back, but a smile was brought upon his face when Jess patted Leslie's hair and kissed her forehead before she entered the car.

     "Good morning, Mr Burke." Jess tried to give his best smile and look energetic but the yawn gave it away.

     "Who told you to call me Mr Burke? Don't tell me you forgot my name already, Jess." Bill laughed as he pulled Jess into a brief hug and then patted his back hard after releasing him. "Now go on and rest. I'm sure you guys are pretty tired from your trip." He said, glancing at Leslie who was leaning back and forth, her eyes barely open.

Jess gave a small smile and went in, sitting beside Leslie after helping Bill bring their luggages to the back of the car. He turned to Leslie who had her eyes closed now and stifled a chuckle.

    A few minutes later, Bill looked into the rear view mirror and found the two teenagers sleeping quietly, Leslie's head resting on Jess's shoulder while his was atop her head. It was a cute sight that made him smile to. He couldn't believe how fast times were changing now. Just a few months ago, Jess's father, Jack, told him about Ellie's pregnancy and they talked about it over drinks one night. It was sad how things were changing so quickly. It was if everything would change in a blink of an eye if you didn't pay attention to everything.

A few hours later, they finally arrived at their neighborhood and drove to the Aarons to drop Jess off.

Leslie and Bill exchanged pleasantries with the Aarons and the two teenagers were bombarded with questions from May Belle and Dylan who had been staying over since two days ago due to his parents' business trip. Joyce Ann soon went down the stairs and ran up to hug Jess and Leslie rather awkwardly before retreating back upstairs after a minute. Jess's father, Jack, told him that Ellie was now living with Justin, her boyfriend and soon-to-be husband at a house that Justin bought a month later after finding about the baby. Ever since Jess knew about the pregnancy, he thought of a plan to come up with something sarcastic and witty to say to his older sisters, possibly even annoy Ellie a little about her weight gain and of course, see her baby bump. He even asked Leslie to help him with it since she could be sarcastic at times when she wanted to be. But unfortunately, Ellie wasn't there so he just had to settle for Brenda instead.

Yes, he was sounding perfectly witty and sarcastic when he barged into Brenda's room for the first 30 seconds, but when Brenda spoke and started to come up with some dirty references, he was caught off guard and wordless for a few minutes. He then retreated back to the living room in defeat with a flushed face.

     "I seriously can't beat her in our conversations." He sighed dramatically with his head down as he flopped on the sofa next to Leslie.

     Leslie laughed. "What'd she say?"

     Jess turned to the younger teenagers who sat next to him, looking as curious as ever.

     He became red again. Leslie then figured what Brenda had possibly told him. "No," she said dramatically and covered her mouth. "She did? No!" Then she burst into giggles again.