That word is love (Demi Lovato fanfic)

That Word Is Love: Chapter 12

"Hi!" Isaac greeted me as we walked in, running over. Layla was just two steps behind him, and she threw one arm around me, pulling Isaac in with the other. I didn't resist, enjoying the feeling of being held.

"I've missed you guys!"

"Hey, what about me?" Aaron's voice called from somewhere next to me, and Layla immediately opened her arm up to let him join the group hug. I breathed in their scents- woody, floral, crisp. I was here. I was safe again, safe for another five days before the hell started again. I was surprised to find that I wasn't bothered by the close personal contact as I usually would be, so glad to have a touch that wasn't brutal after an entire weekend of beatings and worse.

"This is a nice little reunion." We all spun around immediately.

"Simon!" Isaac yelled.

"You have got to be the most emotional category I've ever had," he told us, his eyes twinkling. "Even the groups that I put together don't seem to miss each other this much."

"We had a lot of fun last week," Isaac said seriously. He was being sort of generous, including me in that. I hadn't interacted with the others nearly as much as they had with each other.

Simon clapped him on the back. "Glad to hear it. I've got a surprise for you all tomorrow!" He refused to say another word more, no matter how much he was bugged about it for the rest of the journey in the car. I kept my distance from him, acting polite but no more. I didn't want to try and be all friendly with him and then have him rebuff me because he was still pissed off- that would just make me look desperate. And... I also didn't want that to happen. Just because.

Rrriiiing! Rrriiiiing!

Simon shushed us with one finger up as he picked up his phone. "Hi, Britney." He paused. "Yes.Yeah. They're here with me. We're driving. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, I'll ask." He pulled the phone away from his ear. "They're having a Welcome Back Barbecue at the Over-18 mansion. You guys want to go?"

"Yeah!"

"Of course!"

He nodded. "Yeah, they want to. Okay, we're on our way. We'll be there in five. See you."

"How far is it?" I asked, itching to get out of the car so I wouldn't have to sit painfully any longer.

Simon's expression showed something I couldn't quite decode, probably because it was the first direct sentence I'd spoken to him this morning, but then he answered me. "Not far. They're only a block away from where you all live."

The car slowed to a halt outside a huge fancy house. And when I say huge, I mean it. It was absolutely ginormous- way bigger than our house. I guessed that made sense though, seeing as there were only four of us and over twenty-two of them (twelve from the individual categories and ten from the groups).

We piled out of the car, and I smiled slightly as Aaron whooped when he exited the car and caught sight of the smoke from the barbecue. I'd decided, before I went off for the weekend, that I wasn't going to get attached to anyone. Now that I was back here, I realized it wasn't going to be so easy, especially with only four of us in one house. I made up my mind to keep my distance, but I wouldn't ignore them. After all, that would be rude right? I couldn't do that.

That was totally why.

I didn't want to be rude. Yeah.

I followed after them into the mansion, extremely aware of Simon's eyes following me into the house. I didn't know what to say to him, or how to act around him. I didn't really know where we stood, and I was too much of a coward to ask him.