Begin Again

Chapter 11

“Hey Sav?” Joe calls through my bedroom door.

“Mmmm?” I respond absentmindedly.

“Are you going to spend the last day in Michigan with us?” he asks.

“No, sorry. I have to visit a few people,” I respond, smiling apologetically.

“Like who?” he scrunches is nose up in confusion.

“J-just a few people,” I respond hesitantly.

He raises his eyebrows as if sensing my hesitation, but he lets it drop. “Okay…”

I give him a tight smile, getting up from my bed. I raise my eyebrows playfully at him. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to change. Unless you’re some perv.”

He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. “Well since I am, might as well stay and watch you change.”

“Joe!” I squeal, a blush overcoming my face. “Shut up!”

He chuckles, giving me a boyish grin. “You started it,” he states, before closing my bedroom door.

I laugh, shaking my head. It feels like old times. When we used to joke around and then his dirty-minded brain would come into the conversation, making me feel awkward and embarrassed but he’d just laugh it off.

I smile at the memory, clinging on to my clothes. I change, making myself look presentable, before exiting the room. I bid the others good bye, walking out the front door.

When I get to the front lobby of the hotel, I spot Sienna and Lisa waving frantically to me outside. I chuckle, waving back, walking over to them.

“Hey girly,” Lisa greets, wrapping me in a hug. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that Lisa is a hugger and it hurts. Seriously, for a small girl, she’s got the muscle of a body builder. Whenever she gives me a hug, I feel like my eyes are going to pop out of my face.

I give Sienna a pleading look to help me get out of her hug but she just rolls her eyes. I would tell Lisa I can’t breathe, but the thing is I can’t speak, literally.

Before Sienna can open her mouth to say something, Lisa pulls away, grinning at me. I smile in relief. I love the girl to death, I really do. It’s just that she needs to ease on the hugs.

“Hey,” I respond to her, but it comes out in ragged breaths, because I’m trying to regain my breathing.

“You okay?” Lisa asks, noticing my puffed out exposure.

“I’m fine,” I assure her, breathing calmly now. “Just lay off on the hugs. Please.”

Her eyes widen and she blushes. “Sav I’m s-“

“It’s not a problem.”

She sighs in relief, grinning again. She knows how she hugs and she’s personally trying not to hug that hard, which I’m grateful for.

“So where are we going?” I ask them, changing the topic.

Creepily, identical grins form on their faces, at the same time. That’s seriously so creepy.

“We’re going to have lunch at Malcolm’s with the gang,” Sienna says.

This time a grin etches its way on to my face. “Really?” The excitement in my voice is clear. They both notice this and their grins turn out even bigger and creepier, but hell, I don’t care anymore. We’re meeting up with the gang.

The gang is what we call our lunch table. It consists of Sienna, Lisa and I, Adam, Noah, Cassidy, Felicity, Axel and of course Clark. Originally Joe would be in it, but since he moved that’s not quite possible is it?