One Shots. ~ Requests Closed

3. Homecoming [Rian Dawson|All Time Low]

“I miss you so much,” Margaret whispers to the familiar voicemail, “I miss you so, so much, Ri. I miss hugging you and holding you, and being in your arms and hearing your voice,” she gets choked up for a moment but quickly pulls it together, “I love you, see you soon.”

Most of their voicemails are like this; them expressing their woes over missing each other, sometimes tears, but always an ‘I love you, see you soon.’ As soon as she sets her phone down, it buzzes with a text.

Can’t decide if I’m working hard or hardly working. Missing you so much, baby! :( New lyric: If these sheets were the states, and you were miles away, I’d fold them end over end to bring you closer to me. Because I don’t sleep at all, without you pressed up against me. I settle for long distance calls, I’m lost in empty pillow-talk again. Three more days. <3

She can’t help but smile, and quickly type out a reply before climbing into bed, decidedly, her body in desperate need of sleep.

***

The sun, shining far too brightly, nags her awake. She runs her hands through a mess of cinnamon brown hair, pushing it away from her face. Standing slowly, she finally notes the music coming from somewhere nearby.

“Another summer day has come and gone away, in Paris and Rome, but I wanna go home. May be surrounded by a million people, I still feel all alone. I just wanna go home. Oh, I miss you, you know. And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you, each one a line or two. “I’m fine baby, how are you?” Well, I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough. My words were cold and flat, and you deserve more than that. Another aero plane, another sunny place. I’m lucky, I know, but I wanna go home. I’ve got to go home. Let me go home, I’m just too far from where you are. I wanna come home And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life. It’s like I just stepped outside, when everything was going right. And I know just why you could not come along with me; 'cause this was not your dream, but you always believed in me. Another winter day has come and gone away, in even Paris and Rome, and I wanna go home. Let me go home. And I’m surrounded by a million people, I still feel all alone. Oh, let me go home. Oh, I miss you, you know. Let me go home, I’ve had my run, baby, I’m done. I gotta go home, let me go home; it will all be all right. I’ll be home tonight, I’m coming back home.”

She doesn’t recall leaving her iPod on last night, or having this song on her iPod. The next song begins and she start growing closer to the source.

“Hold on, to me as we go, as we roll down this unfamiliar road. And although this wave is stringing us along, just know you’re not alone, 'cause I’m going to make this place your home. Settle down, it'll all be clear. Don't pay no mind to the demons, they fill you with fear. The trouble it might drag you down; if you get lost, you can always be found. Just know you’re not alone, 'cause I’m going to make this place your home. Settle down, it'll all be clear. Don't pay no mind to the demons, they fill you with fear. The trouble it might drag you down; if you get lost, you can always be found. Just know you’re not alone, 'cause I’m going to make this place your home.”

By the time she’s reached the bottom of the stairs, she sees her boyfriend, standing in the middle of their now clear living room. Where the table once was, there is a ring of roses. The room lit by candles, all the curtains drawn. Rian stands in the center of it all, beaming, dressed in khakis and a button down shirt.

“R-Ri, what is all this?” she asks as she bounds across the room, only to be swept up in the arms of the lover she’s craved and yearned to be in for two long months.

“It’s just me doin’ something special for the most important woman in my life,” he replies simply with a smile.

She reaches up on her tiptoes, catching his lips in a sweet, tender kiss, whispering against warm, firm, inviting lips, “Welcome home, baby.”