you.

chapter 23-

IVY'S POV
*we board the plane and joey's mom got me and joey our own seats away from them. she probably did that because sophia is loud at times or she wanted us to have alone time. i buckle the seatbelt and look out the window. joey puts it arm over my shoulders and softly kisses my temple.*

ivy- i love you so much

joey- i love you too baby

ivy- don't forget that please because i know i'll have hard times and i'll most likely be rude at points

joey- you can always take it out on me

ivy- but that's mean

*i giggle and lay my head on his shoulder. the comfort i feel when i'm with him is indescribable. it feels like nothing can go wrong anymore. the plane takes off and i open my mouth to pop my ears. once they pop, i curl into a ball the best i could and close my eyes. this is a 4 hour flight and there's no way i'm staying awake the whole time. all of the sudden, a baby starts crying. i groan quietly and grab my phone.*

joey- someone's tired

ivy- i'm just bored

joey- baby it's been 30 minutes

ivy- and a little kid is crying

*we giggle and i take pictures of joey. he was scrunching his nose in one, smiling in another, laughing, making a kissy face, and kissing my cheek.*

ivy- awh these are adorable

joey- nooo

ivy- yes and i'm putting this one as my lock screen

*i point to the picture of him kissing my cheek and change my lock screen. he starts taking pictures of me so i cup his face gently and leave a small kiss on his lips. when we pull away, he's blushing and lays his head on my shoulder.*

ivy- awh babyyy

joey- oh sshh

ivy- it's cute

joey- is not

ivy- is to. now if you don't mind, that baby finally stopped crying so i'm going to try and sleep

joey- as long as i can hold you or have you close to me i'm okay with it

ivy- well i'm not moving anytime soon

*i laugh and lay my head on his lap. he starts
playing with my hair, causing me to become more relaxed as i close my eyes. i take deep breaths and soon i'm fast asleep. after about 3 hours, i wake up to the pilot on the speaker saying we are landing in 5 minutes. i rub my eyes and sit up, seeing joey awake playing a game on his phone. he glances at me and shuts his phone off. my heart.*

joey- hey sleeping beauty

ivy- hi baby

joey- how did you sleep?

ivy- it was good, did you sleep at all?

joey- that's good and i did for about 2 hours

ivy- are you ready to see my house?

joey- that's not important. what's important is that you're ready?

ivy- i don't have a choice. i miss my home but i have to deal with it.

JOEY'S POV
*we walk out of the plane, waiting for my mom and sisters since our seats were in front of theirs. once they find us, we go to baggage claim and wait for our bags. i hold ivy's hand and she intertwines our fingers. i kiss the back of her hand and give her a soft smile. she smiles back at me then looks at all the bags coming through. i grab mine and my mom gets hers. sophia and bella get theirs next and now we are waiting for ivy's bag.*

ivy- what if they lost it?

joey- don't worry love it's coming

*about 5 minutes later, her bag finally comes and she grabs it. we all walk to the rental car area of the airport and get our car. once my family, ivy, and i all get settled in the car, we start driving to ivy's house. she tells my mom all the directions and about 1 hour later, we arrive. i see ivy tense up and start rubbing her back. as i do that, i feel her relax and look at me. i look back at her and kiss her cheek.*

ivy- it seems so.. empty

joey- i know love but it's time

*she nods and takes a deep breath. my mom and sisters get out of the car first so i could calm ivy down. once she calms down, we climb out of the back seat and grab our suitcases. ivy leads us to her front door and she takes out the house key she had in her backpack. i see her start to shake as she twists the key. i go up behind her and rub her back. i whisper in her ear that we are all here for her and that it's going to be okay. she nods and twists the doorknob, opening the front door to her house and walks in. i look back at my mom before walking in after her.*

ivy- well. this is my house. where my sister and i grew up.

jen- this is beautiful.

ivy- thank you, we designed everything in here

sophia- it's so pretty in here

bella- i love it

ivy- thank you guys. she mostly did it all.

joey- she did an amazing job princess.

ivy- i agree. you guys can see if there's anything in the fridge if you're hungry. i'm going to go to my room just to make sure that it's not too dirty.

jen- okay honey. we will wait down here.

*she nods and looks at me, signaling she wants me to come. i know her room is never dirty so i take ahold of her hand and walk upstairs, not knowing which room is hers. she opens her door and we walk in. i shut the door behind me and look at her. she tears up and lays her head on my chest.*

ivy- i can't do this. it's too hard.