In Another Life

68

Sam knocked, and Jake opened the door, stepping back to let us all in. "Hey bruvaaa, here to see us off?" Colby surprised me by running at Jake, hugging him but pushing him at the same time, until they fell back onto one of the beds. "Oh hell no, not without me!" Brennen exclaimed, jumping on top of them. They all started rolling around, making very inappropriate noises. Sam just stood there, a look of 'here we go again' on his face. He caught my eye grinned. "This is normal. They'll be done in a minute." "HEY!" I heard Colby exclaim, so I glanced over to see him kneeling on the bed, over Jake, with Brennen hanging over his back. I honestly wanted to take a picture so freaking bad right now. "It takes me longer than a minute to finish. I can go at least three minutes." Sam shook his head, grinning, while the rest of us laughed. I think I even snorted, because the images that brought to my mind were...well, thirsty. I was very sure that he could last longer than that. I shook my head a little, trying to clear it. Now was the not the best time to be thinking about that. "Yeah, my bad man, I don't know what I was thinking," Sam said, holding up his hands. Colby jerked away from Brennen and bounced off of the bed, grinning. "Get it right next time brother. I have a reputation to uphold," he said, looking at me and winking. Was I still standing? I looked down at my feet, still planted firmly on the floor. Good, because it felt like my knees were going to give out on me for a second there. "You guys all packed up and ready to go?" Both guys jumped up off of the bed, and nodded. "Yeah, we all just finished up before you guys came. I hate that we have to leave, but there's no way around it," Tara replied, biting her lip, looking a little sad. "I'm so glad that I got to meet all of you. Thank you for being so welcoming to us. You've made this a trip that we will never forget. Possibly the greatest memory of our lives," I said, meeting each of their gazes. Jake threw his hand out, and let it flop at the wrist. "Oh stop it! You're gonna make me cry," he said, pretending to wipe tears under his eyes. I rolled my eyes and smiled. Tara gave him a 'really Jake?' look, then stepped towards us. "It was really great meeting all of you. I'm glad that Colby got chased by the fans so that we had the opportunity to meet. Here, let me get your phone." I passed her my phone, kind of stunned. She messed around on it a minute then handed it back. "There's my number. If you're ever in LA, hit me up," she said, smiling. I smiled back and nodded, before reaching down to hug her. "Thank you so much Tara. I'm going to miss you." That started the goodbye hugs for everyone, and so the tears started. I couldn't help it, no matter how hard I tried to hold them back. This just meant that the trip really was almost over and I really was going to miss them. All of them. Sarah and Brennen held on to each other a little longer than the rest of us, while tears streamed down her face. He looked at me, a helpless look in his eyes, as he rubbed her back. "Hey, it's okay. You have my number and I have yours. We'll see each other again, don't worry, okay?" She pulled back and nodded, wiping her eyes and sniffling. He gave her a soft smile, and took her hand. "Alright, let's go," Sam said, leading the way out the door. We were quiet as we walked down the hallway towards the elevator. There was a morose atmosphere now, since three of us were leaving. Brennen and Sarah walked together, his arm around her waist. Colby reached down and took my hand in his, just as we reached the elevator. I tightened my grip, never wanting to let go, knowing that I would have too. Much sooner than I wanted too. Once we made it outside, there was a car waiting for Brennen, Jake, and Tara, to take them to the airport. There was another one waiting to take some of us to the beach. We said goodbye again, hugged, and watched them climb into the car. Brennen kissed Sarah so passionately, I had to look away. It felt like I was intruding on a private intimate moment. My girls and I stood there and watched the car drive away with our friends in it, knowing that we may never see them again. The rest would obviously see them in LA tomorrow, but us...we had no clue if or when we might see them again. I felt like crying, because I already missed Tara and her spit fire attitude, her silliness, and above all, the way she welcomed us into the group, never letting us feel like we were outsiders, or just fans. "Okay, our car is waiting. We should get going," Sam said, opening the car door for Kat. Colby looked at me, then at Sam, then back to me. "You're taking your car?" he asked. I nodded, furrowing my eyebrows. "Yeah, I already told you that. I'l just follow you guys." He sighed, and shuffled his feet a little. "Okay...guess I'll see you at the beach then. Drive carefully." I nodded again, feeling a little confused about the way he was acting. Like he wanted to say something but just didn't. We hurried to my car and piled in, trying to keep our eyes on their Uber. It was kind of tough because there was a lot of traffic, but thankfully, we were able to pull in behind them eventually. The trip didn't take too long, and we were mostly quiet, just letting the radio fill the silence. We should be excited about this beach trip, but with the others leaving, and knowing that we would be leaving tomorrow, our excitement had diminished.