Where The Road Ends

(( 1 )) home

Aspenn Clifford's POV

Excitement pounded in my stomach with every street sign and intersection passed. Houses and pedestrians a blur through the squeaky clean car window. The 45-minute drive from the Sydney Domestic Airport to our neighborhood only intensified the butterflies in my stomach.

It'd been months since I'd seen my family; I spent the summer in the U.S., though it was winter there, which startled me at first. It was mainly the amount of snow there was in New York. Watching all those girls flaunt around in tiny outfits on the streets made me queasy thinking about how cold they must be, till I became one of those girls...

    The summer here would be ending soon, which meant going back to school. I was excited to see everyone, my family and all my other friends that weren't related to me.

    The driver turned into my neighborhood, and my heart pounded faster with every turn we took. A sudden thought entered my mind and my stomach dropped. Images flew through my head of that one night; the club and the lights and the flash of the photos they took of us. It all went away in a month, but what was to stop my parents from seeing it. It took so many concert tickets to convince all of those fans with social media accounts about my parents to get them to not post anything about that night.

    It isn't that bad of a scandal; it just isn't something that I would regularly do. No one could imagine me doing something like that, or getting drunk but I did both that night.

    The scandal thankfully was never mentioned again, yet. It has only been a month. Hearing what I did was not the first thing my parents needed to hear about me when I got home, unless they already know. Then I'm screwed.

    We turned onto my street. My fingers twiddled nervously as my heart pounded and bile rose in my throat. I was thrilled and terrified at the same time and my head was dizzy.

    I see my brother and Luca on a chair and step stool hanging a pink and blue 'Welcome Home' banner above the front door of my house. Eden, Keyleigh, and Jess all stand behind them with heads tilted back, Eden's arms outstretched, ready to protect Mason if he falls. It's the small moments like this that make me feel giddy; seeing my easygoing, insouciant--yet still overzealous--mother being overprotective. She doesn't like to show how much she worried about us, but doesn't notice when she lets her walls slide down.

Crossing the street with Luke and Luke's daughter, May, Ashton's head turns. He's the first to see the car pull up, but everyone else is only seconds after. Squeals and shouts erupt from the growing crowd. Luke's pregnant wife, Lessite, waddles out of the house, careful to not knock over Mason or her son. Ashton's two children run out of the house across the street; more Aussie running than Buzz, who casually strolls out in his lazy and careless order.

The front door to my house opens again just as Mason and Luca set foot on the porch safely, my twin sister Laney bolting out with Calum, Grace, and Chloe Hood all jogging out behind. The marvelous bunch all gather at the end of the stone driveway, waving and shouting and jumping--Laney jumping.

The cars rolling to a stop but I leap out before it comes to a halt. Laney and I sprint toward each other and embrace each other in an intense bear hug, giggling. We giggle even harder when Mason wraps his arms around both of us, towering over us with his lengthy frame. More arms surround us when Eden and Michael join our reunion.

Acting like it's been 3 years and not 3 months, we embrace for a while before breaking free for some air. I get a single breath of air before May and Luca both give me tight hugs, but not nearly as tight as the first before. The other parents each take a turn, then Buzz and Chloe and Grace trot over with a quick pat on the back before hiding behind the rest.