Andrea landed in LAX and she eagerly grabbed her carry-on bag and rushed out of the plane. She was excited to finally see Joba and all her friends again.
She exited the gate and looked for Joba who stood by and did the same. He saw her and they walked over to each other quickly.
She had forgotten how tall he really was until she saw him there walking to her.
They hugged tightly as Joba pulled away and gave her a long kiss.
"I missed that." Andrea chuckled as they still held each other.
"Me too." Joba admitted as they held hands and walked outside. Andrea only had a carrier bag since she still had some clothes at home.
"How was it?" Joba said opening the door for her at the car as she grinned.
"It was good, I mean it's not like Alicia's family." Andrea shrugged putting on her seatbelt as Joba started the car.
"I mean, I wouldn't know." Joba said flatly, putting on music with his phone as Andrea frowned.
"Joba can you like stop being salty and just tell me what's wrong?" Andrea said as Joba ruffled his hair, sighing.
"I don't know, I just think you could've invited me. Alicia's family got to meet Matt months ago." Joba said, driving through the highway.
"I know I could've, but my family life is complicated. I don't have what she has. If I was close with my family, they would've met you when we got together." Andrea sighed, resting her head on the window.
"How? You don't tell me this kinda stuff. You mention it but you don't explain it." Joba said glancing over at her.
She looked down, nodding.
"My family was strict on rules growing up. I had to marry another hispanic dude and no one else. At the time I was with Cody, he would insist to come with me to visit them. He had to control me or something." Andrea started, biting her lip nervously.
"My dad loved him so I felt like I needed to love him too. But I didn't. So I guess I was just scared to bring you home. I wouldn't want you to get judged and hurt over their stupid fucking opinions. And I still ended up hurting you." Andrea said, ending with a sigh and putting her hand on the forehead, her elbow rested on the windowsill.
Joba also sighed, he had been annoyed but now that he knew of the full story, he couldn't help but see a scared girl and he hated that she felt that way.
Joba reached for her hand, "Hey, Cody's in the past. You have to let go of him. And, I get why I wasn't invited but I could handle a bit of judgement, Ive had to handle it all my life."
Andrea nodded slowly grabbing his hand with both her hands and putting up to her face.
"I love you." Andrea said as Joba smiled and kissed her hands.
"I love you too."
___
Joba and Andrea arrived at the apartment hallway but before they could open the door, it swung open revealing Alicia and Matt. They held balloons and had their arms wide open as Joba and Andrea erupted in laughter.
"Welcome back bitch!" Alicia yelled giving the ballons to Matt as she ran and hugged Andrea tightly who did the same.
"I missed you too much." Andrea laughed, pulling away from the hug.
"Y la familia? Tell me all the chisme!" Alicia smiled excitedly, dragging her inside.
"What's that?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow and greeting Andrea with a quick hug.
"Gossip, you whitey." Alicia laughed, hopping onto the breakfast stool.
Andrea and Alicia caught up, talking about all the family drama that she had gathered on her trip back. Alicia listened intently, laughing at everything that Andrea was saying. The two were talking quickly, Matt and Joba completely lost on their conversation. They joked amongst each other, making fun of their accents playfully.
"Shut up! Y'all are rednecks out here." Alicia scoffed, shoving Matt playfully and practically falling off the stool. The two of them laughed loudly, Joba and Andrea rolling their eyes simultaneously. They could be so loud sometimes.
"Alright, I'm gonna crash because I'm exhausted. Can you guys not be loud as fuck?" Andrea asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Wow, that was aggressive." Matt said, holding his chest in mock hurt.
"It was meant to be." She joked, winking and hugging them goodbye before disappearing into her room with Joba.
Alicia and Matt retreated to her room, closing the door behind them. They crashed down on the bed, entangled in each other's arms.
"I wanted to talk to you about tour." Matt mumbled, rubbing his thumb against her hip. She hummed in response, laying her head on his chest. Matt sighed, kissing the top of her head as he gathered his thoughts.
"So, Joba and I were talking about like tour and shit with Ian to figure out what we want to do in terms of like, our girls, and Ian said y'all could come along. Jaden is gonna be there the majority of the time and I'm sure Andrea wants to come with. He hasn't asked her yet."
"Matt, I have a job. I can't just drop everything to go with you."
"Yeah, but you work from home a lot of the time and I just thought it wouldn't be a big deal." Matt shrugged, scratching his head.
"Right, but it's all dependent on the project and what my boss needs me to do. I can visit you when I know I have a free week, but I can't commit to tagging along to an entire tour."
"I just think you could figure out a way to come. I don't think it'd be that difficult."
"Babe, I've worked hard to get to where I am. I'm not throwing it away for your tour." Alicia sighed, sitting up and pulling her hair back into a ponytail.
"Who's saying to throw it away? I'm just saying you could talk to your boss."
"I'm not doing that. It doesn't look professional and I have a good relationship with my boss."
"Okay, so you obviously don't want to come as much as I want you to." Matt scoffed, shaking his head.
"Are you serious right now? I told you I'd visit every chance I get."
"I just think it's funny that everyone else is willing to do it except for you."
"Holy fuck, you're actually saying this right now? I'm sorry, but my job is extremely important and the distance won't be that big of a deal."
"Whatever, I'm going to sleep." Matt muttered turning around and pulling the covers over his head.
Alicia sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly and turning off her lamp. She slipped under the covers, the two of their backs facing each other as they blinked into the darkness, a million thoughts going through their heads.
