My Best Friend's Sister

Chapter 21

My mom ushered me into the house. I didn't understand why though, when I walked in nobody was there waiting for me. I was greeted only to an empty living room, the only people there smiling at me were the ones in the picture frames hanging on the walls.

I looked at my dad, who shrugged his shoulders in answer to my unasked question. Handing me my bag, he told me to go unpack. My mom would have dinner ready shortly.

I walked upstairs, the carpeted steps creaking familiarly underneath my feet. It felt good to finally be home, to finally be in a familiar atmosphere. I would miss it here in the fall when I left for college.

My sister Ryleigh greeted me at the top of the stairs. She hugged me, and I ruffled the brown ringlets piled on top of her head. "Hey kid." I set my suitcase down and picked her up. Ryleigh was eight, and she giggled happily when I swooped her into my arms.

"I missed you!" I kissed her cheek and set her down. Once she was out of my arms she ran back into her room and slammed her door shut, I could hear her laughing behind it. 

Walking down the hall to my room I noticed my little brother, Issac, sneak out. I said freeze, causing him to stop and stare at me in horror. "You're home. Welcome back Matt!" he tried to walk away from me backwards.Pre-teens. So sneaky.

"If something is missing or broken, I'm holding you personally responsible. I will kill you." He nodded and skidded away, his blonde mop of hair bouncing wildly as he ran. I heard my mom yell from the kitchen for him to knock it off no running in the house, and I laughed.

Stepping inside I was greeted to another wave of familiarity. Everything was exactly how I'd left it. Dirty clothes piles strewn by the dresser, spilling out of the laundry basket there. A desk with a laptop sitting on it and loose papers covering it. The numerous pictures of Liam, Randy, Paul and I hanging on the walls. The poster of the animated band Gorillaz taped in front of my desk. The pretty girl sitting on my bed staring through and old year book. Everything was--

Wait.

She slowly closed my year book and put it to the side. Slowly, she raised her head to look at me. "Hey," she said softly with a small shrug. She pointed at the year book. "You were so cute when you were younger."

I stayed quiet while she talked, just taking her in. Taking in every last detail before the beautiful mirage my mind made up dissappeared. Her golden curls were piled up in a mesy bun atop her head. She was wearing high waisted black shorts and a white floral half shirt, revealing a small portion of her stomach. She smiled at me with cherry red lips. 

"What, not happy to see me?" I shook my head and walked towards her. She stood up and wrapped her arms around me. I held her, breathing in her sweet scent.

"I just wasn't expecting you," I whispered. She was so short, coming only to my chin. She nuzzled the top of her head into my neck.

"Really? You didn't see this coming?" She pulled away, looking at me with those crystal blue eyes of hers. I lifted my hand to her cheek, feeling the softness of her tan skin with the pad of my thumb. 

"Why are you here?"

"Well, this may sound clingy, but I wanted to see you. I decided to stay the rest of the summer with my dad. And maybe go to school here."

I chuckled. It was a sweet gesture, but I knew she didn't want to go to a new school for her senior year. "You don't have to move for me."

"I know I don't. But I want to. I want to try us, for real this time." Her smile faltered. "You don't?"

I pulled her back into a hug. "No, no. Of course I do. But I'm going to college in the fall. We won't see each other much, even if you do move here. I'd rather you stay where you are. WIth AJ. Finish school at home."

I knew my words hurt her, but I also knew she understood. "So what, then?"

I shrugged my shoulders and ran my hand up and down her back soothingly. "We can try the distance thing. I can drive up on weekends to see you. Campus actually isn't that far from where you live now anyway. Hannah, you're an amazing girl for wanting to do this. But I don't want you to give up what you have at home for me. Do you think we could make it work still?"

"I don't think we have a choice." She grinned, showing off blindingly white teeth. "Promise me the weekends."

"Every weekend. I promise." And then we kissed. Feelings flooded every fiber of my being. I held her close, so close I could feel her heart beating against mine. 

When we pulled away it was too soon. My mom was calling me from downstairs. She said dinner was ready. I looked at Hannah. "So, are you staying for dinner?"

She frowned. "I have to go home and talk to Liam. But I can come over tomorrow, and we can hang out."

"That sounds perfect." I pecked her lips and walked to her to the door. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

A/N

This is the LAST chapter of MBFS. *cries* it's over. I know this chapter is like...SUPER short, but I honestly didn't know how to end it. I had an idea for it, which was this, but I didn't know how to stretch it out. I had it super long yesterday and it was almost finished and I was gonna upload it yesterday but it ended up not saving and I almost died. So I hope this works instead. 

There WILL be an Epilogue though. So don't remove this from your reading lists yet. 

Question... should the Epilogue be in Hannah's point of view? I was thinking about doing that, so you could see Hannah's side of things instead of just Matt's. Let me know if you think I should.

COMMENT
VOTE
FAN

-Lexi

(unedited)