Long Way Home

Chapter 5

August 2017

Calum reached out the next morning, texting Natalia to see if she was available to talk and set something up for all of them. They made plans for a couple days later to meet for dinner and drinks. When she told Spencer, the girl instantly wanted to pretend to be sick to get out of it no matter how bad she wanted to see the guys again.

She wasn't sure she could be face to face with Luke or Ashton after the way they had left things. She didn't understand how Natalia seemed so calm about seeing Calum in person after all those years, after the way their relationship ended so abruptly one day.

"You ready?" Natalia smiled softly at her best friend just as she pulled into a parking spot and shifted the car into park. She knew how nervous the blonde was, and she felt the same but was much better at hiding it. Of course, she wasn't worried for the same reasons.

After taking a short breath, Spencer glanced at the brunette. "I'm really not, I think I'm going to be sick." She paused, shaking her head. "How are you not freaking out about seeing Cal?"

"I'm nervous, I'd be crazy not to be." She laughed, exhaling a shaky breath. "But at one point they were just our friends, they were just our nerdy boyfriends who were fucking around with music in the garage and basement." Natalia shrugged. "So I'm imaging them as those boys right now. We'll be okay, just take a deep breath."

Hesitating before even unblocking her seatbelt, the blonde let out a deep sigh. "Fine, let's go." The two girls walked into the restaurant they were to meet at, stopping at the entrance and scanning for any sign of the guys. Almost instantly their eyes fell on the group of four in the back corner, being loud and obnoxious. "Good to see they're still idiots."

Calum was the first to spot the two girls making their way over, quickly moving from the seat to stand and see them. He wasn't sure if they'd want hugs, but with the slightest possibility of hugging his girls again, he'd take it. "Nat, Spence!"

"Hey Cal." Spencer laughed for a moment, feeling as if her heart dropped to her stomach seeing the four of them. She wanted to hug him, so bad that the moment he even remotely took a step towards her she wrapped her arms around him tightly and buried her face in his chest. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Spence." Calum sighed into her hair, holding her close. Meanwhile the brunette had already shared a hug with Michael and Ashton, holding onto him for a moment longer. "You guys gotta catch us up on anything."

Spencer took a deep breath to calm her nerves, then glanced from Michael hugging her best friend, over to the drummer of her admittedly her favorite band. "You good Irwin?" She laughed quietly, feeling as if he was looking at her as if she wasn't real.

He didn't even answer vocally before hugging her tight enough to lift her from the ground, debating on spinning her in a circle. "It's just hard to believe you're actually standing in front of me right now." The oldest whispered, restraining from pushing some hair behind her ears. "And willing to have dinner with us."

"I'm only eating if my food is being paid for by the world's best Australian pop-punk band." Natalia smiled widely as Calum stepped in front of her, ready to say his actual hello's to his ex-girlfriend.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Nat." Michael hummed, leaning down and hugging the blonde tightly. It was as if he suddenly had his 'little sister' back in his life.

The blonde looked up at Ashton as Michael hugged her tightly, smiling while doing so. "We're happy to catch up with you guys. We've missed you." She took note of her phone going off from her back pocket, choosing to ignore it until they sat down at least. She didn't want to be rude.