Summer Birdie

G

"Right..." Your brother huffs as he packs the last box into the truck. "Are you sure that's everything?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" You say, looking at the weather forecast before picking which jacket to wear for your journey to the airport.

"You know this weather is constantly on shuffle, no point in wearing boots if its hot." He says looking at the empty shoes rack in the corridor. "Oh yeah, all packed away..."

You rap your knuckles jokingly against his forehead. "Such a thick skull, what does Sue see in you?"

"Oi!" He yells, "cheeky bitch, keep that up and I won't drop you off at the airport."

"Ah...sorry." You say, giving a low bow before he smacks the back of your head with a rolled up newspaper. You wince, not from the pain but from the surprise. You look at the wall clock, it was still really early. "What's there left to do?" You ask yourself aloud as you look at your phone, opening up your handy checklist there wasn't anything left.

"Have you said good bye to your friends?" Your brother asks you grabbing his own jacket and keys for the car. You look at the group photo on your lockscreen with all your friends crammed together on the school steps to fit as a vertical wallpaper. No one wanted you to go, but you knew you had to. You couldn't quite pin down the feeling but you felt as if there was a force pulling you home.

"Mike and Alex are will be visiting next Summer seeing as their family are going to do a tour of Japan, they'll see me there." You scroll at the remaining messages from your friends. They were blowing up your phone like crazy! "Sarah and Abs are my closest friends, we'll be in touch every day, no questions asked!" You state confidently as you put on your jacket and sling your bag over your shoulder.

"What about Jay?"

You freeze. "We don't talk about them..."

Your brother furrows his eyebrows at you, a look that you barely see on his face unless he's very concerned. "What happened?"

"Nothing major..." You insist but he wasn't buying it. He deepens the creases of his eyebrows at you and stands in front of the door so you couldn't leave. "Nothing super serious happened, they were just...a little obsessive."

"Obsessive how?" He notices the unease in your stance, he opens the door and beeps the car unlocked. "Talk in the car?" You nod, hopping into the passenger's seat and fastening your seatbelt.

You can't believe it has been eight years since you were last in Japan. You were happy that you still kept in touch with your mother and your father was very strict in you only speaking Japanese at home with the family. Your Japanese reading and writing definitely needed work, but the spoken aspect was perfectly fine and you had your brother to thank for that. Over the eight years of being in England, you made friends and possibly some enemies, but all those things are normal teenage stuff... 

You stare at the school curriculum, wondering how you made any sense of the educational system there when you were younger was beyond your knowledge now. You sigh. You brother coughs catching your attention and his eyes keep to the road.

"So this person, Jay." He begins, "you wanna talk about it?"

"Only if this is the last time anybody is going to bring them up..." You say sternly, fiddling your thumbs at the awkwardness this person was still bringing into your life. You take a deep sigh and say as plainly as you can, "they didn't let me hang out with my friends, started getting real annoying when I just wanted to be around the people that made me feel safe in my own skin. So I said to them that it's over."

"So...that's it?" You brother scoffs, "I thought it was going to be more dramatic than that!"

"They...didn't take it too well."

"Oh?"

"They sort of started...stalking me and the people around me..."

"You block them?" He says sternly

"Of course!" You snap at him, being careful not to scare him so badly that he swerves on the motorway. "I wanted a boyfriend...not a psycho killer.."

"Wanted? Past tense?"

"I'm sick of love!" You pout crossing your arms and slouching into your seat. 

"You've only had one lover!"

"Reading romance novels and watching films have only heightened my expectations for a future partner- never again! I'm done! Done with it all!"

"For now." You hear your brother chuckle, stopping at a red light. "You know love will find a way when you're not looking for it."

Sneeringly you retort, "dear universe, no thank you!" You hear him belting out a hearty laugh as he shifts from first gear to second and then straight to third and fourth. "What?"

"I told you, love will find a way."

Pulling into the airport, you grab your small suitcase from the back of your brother's car and sling your bag securely over your shoulder. "Still can't believe you're getting married next year."

"I know right."

"That means you'll be a dad soon." You shiver at the thought which he notices and punches you in the arm. "Can't even imagine." You laugh rubbing where he punched you.

"That means you'll be having a niece or nephew." He chuckles, "Sue's happy to have us as an addition to her family."

"Even dad?"

"..."

"Hesitation!" You mock, but you both sigh knowing the truth.

"If he was around more, yes. Even dad."

Entering the airport the two of your sift through the flight numbers and when you finally find where your gate is you are surprised by the very same group of friends that you were just talking about.

"Speak of the devil and they shall appear!" You shout running up to them all as all of you come together for a group hug. "What are you guys doing here?!"

"We're seeing you off ya daft git!" Alex yells at you.

"But you guys still have classes!" You say, knowing full well that Japan's school years start in April and your friends should be in class. "Won't you get into trouble for this?"

"What's a little trouble for our best mate!" Sarah says triumphantly and the others nod in agreeance. "We, unanimously, voted to come and give you a proper farewell, saying it on the phone and in messages would mean nothing, we had to do it in person!"

"You guys..." You say teary eyed. "Thank you!"

"If we could sneak onto the tarmac, you know we'd be waving as the plane was lifting off!" You hear Mike say but soon yields as Abs smacks him across the head. You all laugh heartily and make jokes right until the last minute. You had completely forgotten that your brother was still here waiting outside your friend circle.

"I'm sorry-"

"No need to apologies!" He says opening his arms for one final hug. "Little baby needs to say good bye to her fwiends, yesh they do!" He says cupping your cheeks in his hands as he gives your forehead an embarrassingly loud smack of a kiss. Wiping the slobber off your head you give him one more punch and hug before boarding the plane. "Don't forget to say hi to mum for me!"

"I will!" You say, "I'll miss you guys!"