Fan to Family.

Good News, Bad News, Flights and Surprises.

~Eli~

"Bad," I tell Tyler. I want to hear his good news last. I have a smile spread across my face.

I hear him click a button. "Our tour manager doesn't believe me. I don't know what he's gonna do," Tyler sounds farther away and a bit mad/worried.

"What's the good news?" I ask. I'm on speaker.

"We get to fly you out here to Florida, and you get to meet Debby," Josh says.

"Debby?" I ask. Before they can answer I scream, "Debby is the best! I love her! I ship Jebby hard!" I can hear them laughing in the background.

Then I hear muffles in the background. "Tyler get your butt over here!!!" A guy yells. I hear feet shuffle.

~Tyler~

Jordan walks over. I keep my phone on speaker. "Tyler you need to fly this girl out tomorrow morning. This needs to be dealt with as soon as possible," He tells me.

I bring my phone up into sight. "You hear that, you're flying out tomorrow," I say into the phone.

"Tomorrow?" She asks. I can hear the smile in her voice. She sounds timid, shy.

"Tyler, hang up!" Jordan exclaims.

"Yes, tomorrow," I tell her, taking her off speakerphone.

"Tyler!" he yells.

~Josh~

"Jordan stop. Can't you see Tyler is on the phone with his sister?" I ask. I watch Tyler lean against the window talking to Liz, a huge smile on his face. You can tell he's actually interested in what she has to say.

"We don't even know she's his sister," Jordan defends, in anger.

"You didn't see his face when he first saw her. You didn't see him with her. He was a whole different person. He was so protective over her. You should have seen how worried he was when we left. He couldn't focus," I tell him.

He pulls out his phone. He types something. "I'm sending you three to go get her tonight and bring her back tomorrow morning. I'm printing the tickets right now," He tells Debby and I.

I walk over to Tyler. I tap his shoulder. He turns around. He covers his phone.

"Jordan is flying us out tonight. Then tomorrow we will fly back with her," I tell him. We walk back over to Jordan .

"Eli, put Tom on please," He tells her. He puts his hand back over the phone. "Jordan , you're working all this out with Eli's teacher which she is staying with at the moment," Tyler tells him. He looks confused.

Tyler puts the phone back to his ear. "It's Tyler," He waits a moment.

"I have someone who needs to talk to you," Tyler tells him. Moments later Tyler hands his phone to Jordan.

"So all three of us are flying out to she your sister?" Debby asks. She slips her hand into mine.

"That's what Jordan told me," I tell them. Tyler starts messing with the sunglasses on his face.

"Ty, don't worry. Everything will be fine," Debby tells him. She rests her hand on his shoulder.

"What if it's not?" Tyler asks, his voice shakes. "I know it. I can just feel it. She is my sister. I promised I wouldn't let anything happen and I'm going to keep that promise," He puts the sunglasses back on.

"Tyler," Jordan holds the phone out. Tyler takes his phone back.

"Tyler?" Tom asks.

"Tom, can you keep this a secret so we can surprise her?" I ask he nods. After a minute Tyler hangs up.

"Josh, Tyler, Debby, follow me," Jordan tells us. We follow him back into the room. He picks up a bunch of printed tickets from the table. They are all cut out. He hands us our three then puts the other 4 in an envelope.

"Which one of you is the most responsible?" He asks. Tyler, Debby and I look at each other, then Tyler and I look at Debby. Tyler and I point at her. "How is she the most responsible?"

"I walked into these two messing around with brooms saying that they were Jedi practicing their lightsaber skills," Debby laughs. We both grin like little kids.

He sighs and hands Debby the envelope. "Now, they cancelled the interview because the interviewer is sick. Go catch your flight," He informs us. We run out of the room, down the hall, stairs and out of the building in excitement.

~Eli~

Tom takes my phone and starts talking. He walks out of the room. 20 minutes later he comes back and hands me my phone. I check the time. 5:30. I got into Tom's living room, my phone and blanket in hand. I find The Shawshank Redemption, putting the disc in. I make popcorn then sit down with my blanket over me. 2 hours and 38 minutes later I pause the movie as the credits roll. I see Tom standing in one of the many doorways.

"You like that movie?" He asks.

"I love it," I reply.

"It's a classic, '94," He says. "I didn't know kids your age liked it."

"They don't. I'm in love with old things. 80's and 90's is the best. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Top Gun, Toy story, Twister, Uncle Buck, Footloose, Princess-bride, The breakfast club, Terminator, Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Star Wars, Back to the Future, Ghost Busters, ET, Goonies, Forest Gump, Titanic, Brave-heart, Jurassic Park, Loin King, Gremlins, Dumb and Dumber, Home Alone, all the good movies and music," I tell him. He nods.

"I was young when all of that was around, gosh," He says.

"Classics will be classics," I tell him.

~Tyler~

We all quietly step onto the doorstep. I let Debby turn the door nob. She steps in. I watch Eli fly out of her seat. "Debby?!" She yells out. She runs up to Debby and wraps her arms around her.

Josh steps up and Eli lets go of Debby and hugs him. She hugs him tightly, a slight smile, mixed with a grimace. Josh kisses her forehead. "I missed you Josh!" She exclaims.

"I missed you too Liz," Josh answers. I step into the door. Instantaneously Eli is attactched to me. She burries her face in my chest. Her arms are like steal around my torso. I wrap my arms around her. I can feel her instantly calm and relax. She did similar with Josh and Debby, just not a greatly. Josh and Debby stand there a bit awkwardly as we hug. Tom looks like he feels out of place. When she finally let's go se grabs my hand. We sit on the couch, Josh and Debby follow. I use my free hand and turn her face towards me. I sweep her hair back behind her ears. I can feel Josh and Debby's eyes on me.

I look into her eyes. "How's your face?" I ask worried. She looks down and shrugs. "Eli, show me," I tell her in a quiet, calm voice. She grabs a tissue off the coffee table and dips it into her water. Then she wipes the make up from her face. It looks more blue then purple now, worse.

"What happened?" Josh and I say in unison.

"Luke," She tells us.

"What did he do?" Debby asks.

"In 6th hour, I went back to Lacey's office. She left me alone to write, she had meetings. Luke came in and punched me and slapped me," She reveals. She leans over to me and burries her face in my chest. My arms instinctively wrap around her. I feel tears drip onto my shirt.

"He called me things, not just the usual that everyone does," She cries into my chest.

After a while she sits normal again, leaning againt me. Her eyes flutter and she falls asleep. I pick her up and carry her to the room Tom shows me as her temporary room. I lay her down. Tom tells me I can stay in here if I want to. I lay down beside her in the bed. I watch her sleep peacefully. After a while she curls into my side with her head on my chest. I drift off to the sound of her steady breaths. This is how we should have grown up. Not apart.