Don't Let Me Push You Away (Simon Minter Fanfic)

Chapter 40

Once we got off of the plane and through the annoying baggage claim area I was welcomed with England's cool air. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in. It was home, I'd always come back. When I got over my dramatic greeting with my country, it was time for another hello. One that I hadn't been expecting, or a few I should said. An unlikely group standing in the parking lot looked at JJ and I with excitement in their eyes, with a touch of nervous.

Freya, Cal, and Harry had been waiting for my arrival. It was expected with Freya and Cal, the two people besides JJ I spoke to. But Harry and I hadn't talked since the night he kissed me, the thing that started all the madness. I could see in his eyes, how afraid he was that I'd reject him, tell him off for pulling a stunt like he had months back.

And I wanted to.

After, of course, I ran straight to him and leaped into his arms. The familiarity of his embrace immediately brought tears to my eyes. I never once hated him for what he did, emotions were not black and white. We do stupid things when we keep our feelings bottled. It hurt me to know that he had to keep it to himself for so long.

"Hey," I laughed through my sobs.

"Hi," Harry's hold grew tighter.

"How about a hello to the people you've actually been talking to for the past six months?" Cal joked but I could tell he was irritated that Harry had stolen the show. Not that I could blame him, someone who had showed the bare minimum in missing me should not receive all of the attention. Even though it's his touch that was most familiar out of the three of them who waited for me.

Still I managed to detach myself from Harry, but not before punching his arm. "We'll talk later you prick." Then I snuggled into Cal's chest, basking in how much taller he was than me. Always making me feel safe, like a big brother would. How I've missed being able to simply drive ten minutes to his house to sit down with him and make each other laugh. Cal is the funniest person I will ever meet, never once did I think any different. Making people smile from his presence was the only thing I admired most about the tall lad in front of me. "I missed you so fucking much, babe." I told him for good measure so he knew how much I appreciated his effort to stay in my life.

"I've missed you too."

Next and finally I threw myself at Freya. In my opinion, Freya was the female version of Jide in the sense that no matter who I got close to, they wouldn't be her. Gabbie was amazing, would go as far as calling her a best friend, but she wasn't in sync like Freya and I were. I could tell Freya felt the same way from her tears and scolding me for taking so long to come back to her.

"Alright, that's enough of the reunions for one day, are we all going to JJ's flat?" I wiped my face of all the tears that were drying on my cheeks.

They all looked his way, "you didn't tell her?" Cal rolled his eyes.

"Tell me what?" My eyebrows furrows in confusion.

"I wanted to wait until we were all together in case she tried saying no, Kells, we thought it'd be a good idea to go out to dinner, with everyone, to surprise them. Plus your birthday passed and you weren't here so I figured you would want to celebrate it with everyone."

JJ was smart about not telling me this before we go on the plane because I would have stayed in California. Seeing everyone? Vik, Josh, Tobi, Ethan... how could I face them when I've barely spoken to them. Tobi and Ethan kind of let me down, they had nothing to do with me leaving and not once did they really reach out except to tell me they liked my video or wishing me a happy birthday. Maybe we weren't as close as I thought we were.

That thought made my heart hurt. "That doesn't sound like a good idea."

"Why not?" Freya tried. "They'll all go crazy when they see you, you have no idea how much they miss you." If that was true they would be here waiting for my arrival because they would have known about it. Did Josh or Vik even care anymore? All these people I called my best friends didn't care unless I was conveniently in front of them.