Pinky Swear

Chapter 2: Back Home

Anna wanted to know if I was still around, but I texted her I was already on my way home. She wasn't too happy about that, as she expected me to have at least tell her goodbye.

Jax was wishing me and dad, a safe trip. He was in his third year of college, but I guess he was on a break since he was at home. After I replied to him, mum called.

"Hey, mum."

"Hey, sweetie. Are you guys on your way yet?" She asked, and I could hear the sound of the Television in the background, indicating she was at home. It was Saturday, so no work for her.

"Yeah. We're on our way and should be there in the next five hours or so." She then proceeded to ask about grandma before hanging up.

"So, are you excited about your senior year?" Dad asked after mum hung up.

"Kinda," I answered before plugging my earpiece. My favorite band's music immediately blasted into my ear as I looked out the window. It wasn't that I wasn't excited to go back home to mum and Jax, it's just a special someone that I'm not sure about.

Ryan hadn't even tried to contact me ever since I moved here. I mean, I was his best friend. We told each other everything. He knew everything about me as I did him. We basically couldn't do without each other, and ever since I came here, he never called nor texted me. I don't know why, but it hurt so much to think he didn't even care to know how I was doing. Not once did he try. I knew he was mad that I left, but I thought after a while, he would get over it.

I even remembered asking Jax once to send me Ryan's number. And when I had called, he picked up, but when he found out it was me, he just hung up. I tried again, thinking it was network or something, but he never picked it again, or he would just cut it. 

I had cried myself to sleep that night at how badly he treated me. But then I woke up the next morning and thought, why the hell was I crying? He was just a friend, that's all. So why do I give a fuck so much? But Ryan wasn't just a friend, and maybe that was the problem...

I was always thinking about him and wishing he would call one day and apologize. But that never happened. And I was too proud and angry to go to his house whenever I visited home.

It wasn't long after I left that his parents decided to move. I heard from Jax that they moved to a more luxurious neighborhood. Money was never a problem for The Adams. Even though his father was a surgeon, he had other businesses and companies around the world. Jax recently updated me that he had even quite his surgeon work to focus on his other flourishing businesses. You could say they were practically billionaires now. Jax says they sometimes go over to their place for dinner, and they come to ours too, since Ryan's parents were still friends with mine. 

But whenever I'm at home and we were invited, I made sure to make up an excuse as I couldn't face him. My parents fall for it every time.

Jax also disclosed that he comes over to receive pointers from him as he was also on the football team. And last year, he was recently appointed as the quarterback. He must have changed a lot since the little Ryan I knew then, wouldn't last long in a football game. I have tried my best to abstain from social media so that I won't see him, because if I do, then I'll want to call him and plead with Him to forgive me for leaving. But I have nothing to beg him for. He's the one behaving so childish.

Watching the trees pass by, I started to think about changing school. Mum thought it okay to go back to my former school and finish my senior year there, and that was also where Jax went through. But the thought of entering into that school and seeing him makes my stomach clench uncomfortably. I don't know if it's out of fear or anticipation. I miss him, I do. But so much has happened. Does he even remember me?

 As a quarterback, he would be very popular at school and have so many friends. Why would he even care about me again? The thought of that though isn't pleasant to me one bit.

After a long drive, my dad and I arrived home safely, and we were both welcomed with warm hugs from both mum and Jax.

"Oh, my honey pie is back home!" Mum hugs me and I think I saw her eyes water a little.

"Hey, little sis" Jax engulfs me in a bear hug, lifts me, and twirls me around, while I throw my head back and giggled.

They helped with taking my luggage in, and then mum started to ask multiple questions about my health, and school until dad drags her out of my room. Thankfully, they helped me clean it up so I had little work to do. Jax was still, however, on my bed, swinging his legs.

"So, how is college going?" I asked before bouncing on the bed beside him.

"Pretty good. Cranky lecturers...hot girls..being popular..just normal." He said, while I just raised an eyebrow at him. Jax's girlfriends never last more than two months. Yeah, he was a player and I just wished he would stop. Recently, he sent me a photo of a hot blonde, who was his new chick, and I was pretty sure that in three weeks, he would be done with her.

"Don't look at me like that, college life is so stressful. One girl is not enough to help you relax."

"Yeah...sure." I shook my head at him. "When are you going back?"

"This weekend."

"Oh. Well, I'm gonna miss you...again." He smiled a little and we proceeded to talk about a lot of things I missed before he left me to unpack.

"Oh, and grandma said to come to visit sometime," I yelled at him before he left and watched him cringe, making me laugh. He didn't like it when grandma is around, neither does he like visiting her. She usually pulled his cheeks like a little boy, and then called him cute adorable names. I think she does it intentionally just to embarrass him.

I watched him groan before closing my door. Well, I better start unpacking. I made sure to buy some new clothes while at grandma's that I could use for my senior year. So I kept those in a special place in my closet.

Two hours later, I was done unpacking and had my bath. I was lying on my bed chatting away with Anna on the phone when my mum yelled for me for dinner. That was when I realized it was dark outside. I went down, ate mum's delicious Spaghetti with meatball, chatted a little with them, and then went back up. I was exhausted, and as my body hit the bed, I doze off.

Sunday came and went, with me in my room all day, making sure all my things were set for school since I would start on Monday. I also chatted with Anna a little, on the phone, before going down and helping mum with dinner. After dinner, I watched TV with Jax and then played some board games with my dad. I really missed them. So I tried as much as possible to make up for all the lost times.

I was back in my room, face timing with Anna. We did that for about twenty minutes. I got ready for bed, set my alarm, and then lied down. Tomorrow was going to be very eventful. My first day at school...and the first day of seeing Ryan after four years. I groaned and buried my face in bed. I so wasn't looking forward to tomorrow...or was I?

Fan art cover above by I_like_shadows_