Apartment 3B

22. Coming Home

A/N

18+

Mature content up ahead. LGBTQ+ friendly :)

**

Hayley

Right when we landed, I had missed Hanna so much that I couldn't wait to get to the Smith General Store and drain out all the high school gossip from Jesse's sister and tell her mine.

Luna was equally excited to see Lainey, if not more. The boys had gone to check out bar locations and Lainey picked us up at the airport. Luna had come clean about all her feelings about Lainey, I couldn't be happier. Even though I was worried she'd forget about me, I knew Lainey would keep her happy and that's all that matters.

Lainey filled us in on the days we'd missed while we were coming back from the airport, "You wouldn't believe how much Jesse and Gabriel were up in each other's business when he'd come for dinner," she laughed.

"And Kabir came up with the sweetest idea. We went to the amusement park in costume, wait I'll show you pictures," Lainey excitedly scrolled through hilarious pictures on her phone. Jesse looked no less than absolutely fabulous, I asked her to send them to me so I could make fun of him when I'd go meet Hanna.

Getting our bags home and relaying our stories about a basic happy family Christmas, Luna had fallen asleep while we were talking. For some reason, I felt like Lainey wanted to touch her but wouldn't do that because of me.

I told her, "Hey Lainey, it's all cool. You can go ahead and kiss her for all I care. As long as you don't break my baby's heart. Or i'll come after you," I gave her my best death stare that she definitely didn't need.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Lainey gestured.

Changing into comfortable black leggings and a cosy purple sweatshirt, I made my way to the General Store for some Hanna time. Even though I had my Kaylee at home, I missed Hanna like my younger sister too. Jesse was so busy discovering his new freedom that he'd forgotten about the little one he left behind, I was just making sure she was in the loop and had someone to fall back on. Jesse wasn't to blame either, he was exploring a much needed dimension in his life; himself.

I met up with Hanna outside the store and wrapped her in a ginormous hug, squeezing her worth the days I was missing. We walked to Brady's for lunch and found the usual Apartment 3B booth.

"How was your holiday?" I asked.

"Eh, not too bad. The usual. Jesse's been acting super weird though. His face was just like-" she tried to make a cringey mopey face "-this. He didn't enjoy church too much even when we were younger, but this felt different. Do you know why?"

She had asked that with such genuine concern that I found myself ignoring all lines of consent, "Jesse might be dating that guy over there," I pointed to the chirpy and charming dark man who stood waiting on a table nearby.

"Gabriel, the adorable new waiter?" She asked, completely in shock.

"Yeah," I chuckled at her remark, "I don't want to out your brother, don't say anything to him. This conversation never happened."

"My lips are sealed," she didn't ask any more questions. God, she was way more mature than I was at her age. I would always gossip to no end, be fighting for guy attention and be jealous of my own damn best friend. Well, I guess we're all a little fucked up.