Miles Away | Nick Mara

Two

The plane journey wasn't too bad. I listened to music and napped the whole way there. Before I knew it, I was picking up my luggage and heading towards the doors.

Zion had texted me a few minutes earlier to tell me that he'd arrived, and was waiting by the exit. My heart beat faster and faster as I walked closer. The doors slid open, and I could see a bunch of different people waiting; taxi drivers, parents, grandparents...

"Aubri!"

I looked to the side to see Zion and Nick. They were smiling and waving. With a sigh of relief, I walked towards them.

"Aye!" Zion smiled, hugging me.

When we broke apart, I looked at Nick. He was smiling too. It's not weird, I told myself.

"Hi," I said slowly.

We laughed awkwardly before hugging. We hadn't touched in a while. The last time we hugged was the day we broke up. We were sitting on the roof of my house, in New Jersey, watching the stars and the moon. He'd been visiting while on a break from tour. It was the day before he had to leave again. We were laughing and talking, but by 2 o'clock in the morning, I was crying and he had tears dripping down his face.

But that was over a year ago.

"It's been a while," he said.

Before I could answer, Zion interrupted. "If y'all are gonna be this awkward every time we hang out, I swear to god.."

I shook my head, saying that we'd be fine. Nick agreed. Zion shrugged and took my bag from my hand. I tried to take it back, saying that I could carry it.

"Nah, bro," he smirked. "I gotta work out these muscles anyway."

I sighed. He hadn't changed at all.

On the way to the car, they told me about everything that had happened since I'd last seen or heard from them; Austin and his girlfriend had broken up, Edwin and Brandon had started dating, and they'd been working on some new songs.

As we reached the car, Zion stopped and looked at us.

"Guess what," he said. We shrugged before he carried on: "shotgun."

Nick groaned and sunk to the floor. I laughed as they bickered and argued. Eventually, Zion ran ahead of us and jumped into the front seat.

Nick opened the car's back door, allowing me to climb in first. It wasn't until we were all in the car that I noticed Austin in the driver's seat.

"Austin!" I smiled, reaching toward the front for a hug, struggling because of the tight space.

"We'll do this properly when we get out of the car," he laughed.

I agreed and sat back down.

"You should come over," Nick said from beside me. "Have dinner with us or something. We'll probably order pizza."

"Wait," Zion said, turning around from the front seat. "Where are you living?"

I laughed and explained what was happening with my house and the rest of the furniture. When I mentioned that I had to buy a bed and some pillows from IKEA before going home, Zion shook his head.

"Just stay with us until your stuff comes. We have a spare room downstairs."

Nick and Austin agreed.

I shrugged. "If it's okay with you, I guess it's okay with me."