Uppercut (A James Maslow FanFic)

Chapter 15

“I’m really glad you guys came,” He met my eyes in the rear view mirror for an instant. “It was great to see you again.”

The car ride lasted almost an hour. The whole atmosphere of it seemed depressed. Eventually we got to the airport. James parked the car and we all got out.

I grabbed my duffle bag from the trunk and crossed it over my body so I could hold Devon. James grabbed both my and mom’s carry-on bags, and the car seat. Alex and Drew had their backpacks and suitcases. Mom rolled her suitcase behind her.

“Well, let’s get going,” Mom said as the back door of the Tracker was closed.

We began walking across the parking lot and to the airport. Once inside, we went through security and dropped off our luggage at the baggage check.

Before we knew it, we were waiting at the gate for our flight.

“Drew! Maddie!” Mom called our names and we looked over at her. She seemed to be on the verge of tears. “Go stand by James. I need to take your picture.”

I handed Devon over to Alex before following Drew to go stand on either side of our brother. James put his arms around our shoulders. I repeated the action but, the height difference between us caused my arm to only reach the upper part of his back.

“Alright, say cheese,” Mom pulled out her dinosaur of a flip phone and pointed the camera towards us.

We smiled and she took the picture.

She brought her phone down to look at it and smiled widely. The sadness in her eyes became more apparent. “This is going to be my new background.” She said as she pushed a few buttons.

“Hold on,” I saw Drew getting ready to walk away as I dug my hand into my pocket. “I want a picture too!” I pulled my phone out and quickly unlocked it. I turned on the front camera and got closer to my brothers. I wanted to capture this moment. After all, we didn’t know when we would be reunited again.

I tapped the screen quickly to take a few pictures of us smiling. Then, being the boys they were, they started to make faces and I couldn’t help but join in.

I brought my phone down to look at them and burst out laughing. “Oh my God! Your face!” If the laughter didn’t stop soon, I would most likely end up struggling to breathe on the floor. I tilted the screen so they could see and they started laughing as well. I was definitely keeping those pictures forever.

We ended up having someone take a picture of our whole group. We crammed together. James picked Devon up for the picture and I died a little on the inside. I still couldn’t get over how amazing it made me feel to see that.

By the time we were done with the pictures, mom was in tears.

“Hey, easy now,” James smiled as he teased her. He wrapped his arms around her in comfort. I always remembered how he hated to see her cry.

“I’m sorry,” She laughed as she apologized, returning the hug. “I just can’t get over how grown up you are. With your own place and being so far from home.”

“I’ll come visit next time,” He said, resting his head against hers. “It’ll be easier that way, with just one person traveling instead of five.”

She nodded and cleared her throat. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

When they broke apart, I couldn’t help but notice the tears that were starting to form in James’s eyes as well. He must’ve missed us a lot more than he made it seem. I didn’t remember him ever being emotional at home. I began to think about how rough it must’ve been at the beginning for him, when he first moved out here. He had been completely alone. I couldn’t imagine being in his shoes. It took him a lot of guts to move to a different state by himself.