Moving In With The McDonoughs (a Before You Exit Fanfiction)

Chapter 31

I saw as Connor, Riley, Toby, Braiden and Thomas spun around at the same moment and stood frozen in their spots, staring at me. The moment my eyes met Connor's, all my confidence went down the drain. I felt my vision get blurry by tears but I blinked them away.

"Haley!! What the heck was that??" Lindsey hissed next to me but I ignored her, being oblivious to my surroundings. Despite the amount of girls in the area, it had grown extremely quiet.

"Haley?" Braiden muttered and stared at me in confusion but I didn't have time to react.

"HALEY!!" Toby shouted and ran towards me, dodging the girls in his way. He swung his arms around me in a hug and I hugged him back. He and sniffed at the same time and I chuckled slightly.

"Haley!! What? Where? When? How?" he asked all in one breath as we pulled away. I wiped my face and looked at him and smiled.

"Toby, you look like you've seen a ghost! I am really here!" I replied and hugged him again.

"I know! It's just... Oh my God..." he started and sniffed again.

"All right, girls! Nothing to see here. Let's keep moving towards the exit," I heard someone announce and I pulled away from Toby to find Mr and Mrs. McDonough standing not far from us. We shared a smile and slowly, all the girls started moving towards the exit, eyeing Toby and I weirdly. I made a shocked Lindsey stay back, not that she had moved from her spot. Toby and I, too, stood the same position the entire time, him clinging to my arm tightly. Some things never change, huh? When the backstage area cleared, Mr and Mrs. McDonough gave us one last smile and left us 2 girls and 5 boys alone. I looked over at the others, who were standing at a distance from Toby and I.

"Haley!" Thomas said happily, as he walked up to me and enveloped me in a warm hug. I smiled while returning it.

"Hey, Thomas,"

"You sure know how to surprise someone, don't you?"

"You know it, bro!" we shared a grin. By then, Riley, Connor and Braiden had reached me, too.

"Our we getting a hug, too, or what?" Riley remarked, playfully pushing Thomas away and hugging me.

"Its great to see that you haven't changed, Riles," I mumbled and felt his body vibrate as he let out a laugh.

"My turn!" I heard Connor shout and Riley pulled away, pouting.

"Hey! No fair!" he whined. I laughed and hugged Connor.

"It's great to see you again, Haley," he said quietly and I felt tears welling in my eyes.

"You too, Conrad," I replied and he kissed me on the forehead before pulling away, swiping his thumbs from under my eyes to wipe away the tears. I smiled at him and turned my attention to the only band member left... Braiden. Not to sound cliche-y or anything but as soon as my eyes met his, I felt my heart skip a beat. You know how I was worrying whether he'd have remembered the moments we had shared on that particular night or not? Well, I got my answer just by looking him in the eyes. They said it all. He smiled at me shyly and surprisingly, so did I.

"Are you two planning on hugging or what?" I jumped slightly at the song of Toby's voice. I glanced at him and then looked back at Braiden. He shrugged so slightly that only I saw it and I smiled. I hugged him and honestly, it felt amazing. Not that the other hugs weren't great but this one... It felt a bit more... Special. You know what I mean? I think you do. I closed my eyes briefly before pulling away. I could've sworn that I felt him sigh of relief when he wrapped his arms around me.

"Now that that's done..." Thomas began but was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. I turned and mentally face-palmed.

"Oh my gosh! I am very sorry, Linds! Guys, this is my best friend, Lindsey. Lindsey, you already who these boys are," I said, introducing them to each other. Lindsey was still in her shock state.

"U-uh u-u-uhh..." she stuttered. The boys chuckled.

"Yeah, I remember her. She came to the Meet and Greet. Great girl! Nice seeing you again," Thomas said, holding out his hand for her shake. I saw her snap out of her shocked state when Thomas said 'great girl'. She stared at his hand, then collected herself and shook the outstretched hand with an embarrassed smile.

"Oh, its nice to see you, too... Again," she replied rather nervously, to my surprise. This would have to be the first time I saw her that nervous. Well, who could blame her? She just shook the hand of her favourite BYE boy! Not to mention, met him TWICE in the same night. She then glared at me and forgot all about her nerves.

"HALEY whats-your-middle-name SIMPSON! How could you forget to tell me that you KNEW Before You Exit?!?! I mean, SERIOUSLY??" she shouted at me and I glanced at the boys. I burst out laughing at their shocked reaction to Lindsey's sudden outburst.

"Linds, I knew that you wouldn't believe me if I told you so I waited for some proof and here it is!" I replied, gesturing to the group.

"Ooooooooohhhhhhhh..." she said and gave me a sheepish grin.

"So, you're going to kill each other?" Toby asked in an innocent voice. We both looked at Toby, then at each other and started laughing.

"HELL NO!" we shouted in unison and the boys cheered. We started talking about random things when Riley stood next to me.

"You totally made that reason up, didn't you? The one about not telling her?" he whispered to me.

"Ab-so-lute-leyyyy," I whispered back to him and chuckled. He grinned and then became serious.

"Haley, I..." he started but got interrupted by Lindsey.

"Haley, my Mom's here. We should get going," she said to me but the boys replied on my behalf.

"HELL NO!" they all shouted at the same time. I let out a laugh.

"We're seeing her after a YEAR and I'm not letting her go that easily!" Toby said, clinging onto my arm again.

"I second that!" Connor said, clinging to my other arm. I smiled at them and looked at Lindsey.

"I'll ask Mom to pick me up," I stated and the boys cheered. Lindsey detached Toby and Connor from my arms and gave me a hug.

"You are SOOO lucky, Hal!" she whispered. I smiled.

"Well you know them, too now," I replied and she smiled back.

"Thanks for being my friend,"

"BEST friend," I corrected her. We pulled out of the hug and she hugged each boy and blushed heavily when Thomas kissed her on the cheek. She waved at us all and walked to the exit. She stopped and turned.

"See ya, Simpson!" she shouted.

"See ya, Jones!" I shouted back and waved at her. We saw her disappear through the door. As she did, I felt myself being squished from all sides.

"GUYS!!" I yelled out in surprise. They laughed in return.

"Well, we couldn't have done that in front of Lindsey, now could we?" Braiden said while laughing. I playfully glared at him.

"Anyways, what should we do now?" Toby asked. We looked at each other and smiled.

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