Barred (nh au)

XXXVI. Toronto

Refresh your libraries, it's a double update ;)

HALEY'S POV:

I landed in Toronto early in the morning and I was already feeling jetlagged. As I made my way to baggage claim, my heart started beating frantically. I was getting anxious by the minute and I began doubting whether coming to Toronto was a good decision or not. I even thought about getting on the next flight to Manchester and going back home, but I held my ground.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. My erratic heartbeat slowed down a little, but my nervousness didn't seem to cease. I pulled out my luggage and loaded them into the trolley and began pushing it to move out of the Arrivals section.

I could see the gate a few feet in front of me and I could feel my heart beating fast in my chest. My anxiety levels flew through the roof as I stopped for a moment. I closed my eyes for a second, trying to calm myself down. When I was certain I wouldn't die, I began to push the trolley out of the terminal.

The sudden gush of the air conditioner made my hair fly a bit and then the warm weather of Toronto hit me.

My eyes searched the barricades, trying to find my parents among the large crowd of friends, relatives and travel agents who had come to reckieve their respective family members and clients. Finally I spotted them at the end of the crowd, my mum waving at me to gain my attention.

My heart thudded heavily in my chest as I waved back, a small smile on my face as I made my way towards her. Upon getting closer, I spotted my dad standing behind her, giving me a smile when he saw me.

A few steps later and I was standing in front of my parents. The very people who weren't there for me for the past eight, almost nine years. The very people who now want to mend the bridges they themselves broke down. The very people who want me to give them a second chance.

We stared at each other for a few moments, unsure of what to do. Should we hug? I could see my mum's hands twitching, wanting to raise them up to hug me, but I wasn't sure I wanted that. I still wasn't exactly comfortable with this whole scenario. Ultimately my mum gave in and hugged me, but it was so awkward that it just ended up being a small pat on the back from my end.

My dad, thankfully, settled for a simple handshake. I guess he could see my discomfort when mum hugged me. The fact that I was heavily jetlagged wasn't helping my case at all either.

"Oh, Haley, its so nice to see you again. Thank you so much for deciding to give us another chance." Mum smiled, it was a sincere smile.

"It's nice to see you guys again, too." I gave her a small smile in response.

"Had a good flight? Didn't have any trouble, did you?" Dad asked as we made our way to the car.

"No, dad, no difficulty at all." I said, trying not to think of how hard it was to say goodbye to my friends, how hard it was to leave Niall behind like that. If only he knew.

We were all silent for a few minutes. It was awkward, extremely awkward. No one knew what to say. None of us were prepared enough for all of this. No one knew how to begin, from where to begin. There was so much to be said, so many things that had happened in the past 9 years, so many changes, no one knew what to do.

Finally, when I couldn't take this awkward silence anymore, I tried to spring up a conversation.

"So, um, how's everything here in Toronto? With your work and all that stuff?" I asked, looking out of my window trying to take in as much of Toronto that I possibly could.