After long weeks of confusing feelings and school work plus stress from jobs, it was finally time for the big family trip. Everyone stood around excitedly with their luggage. It had been so long since they'd went on a trip because of how busy everyone had been. The last they'd went was when their kids were still in the single digits.
"Everyone please make sure you have your passports, we don't want a repeat of last time now do we?" Andy said pointedly at River. He blushes and whines, "mommm! It wasn't my fault" he pouted childishly. Andy pouted back at him and pinched his cheek "yes it was, anyway I have to go talk to the pilot so you guys get your luggage checked then get on the jet." River scoffs, grabbing his suitcases and walks away, Landon right behind him.
"I can't wait to eat at every restaurant I see!" Landon cheers, licking his lips as his mouth watered. He'd looked up the location they were going and searched for the top ten restaurants in that area and was determined to eat at each one. River playfully rolled his eyes "you're always thinking about food" he says sarcastically but smiled fondly at his shorter friend, ruffling his hair.
"Ahh, Riv" he whined, slapping his hand away from his hair that took a long time to fix. His hair was growing longer and it was making it hard to style or keep it tamed but he'd never cut it. River had told him on many accounts that he loved his long hair and how much he loved to play with it so he wouldn't cut it.
River smirked, brushing some of his hair back "I'm sorry lala" he said in a teasing voice. Landon blushes at the use of his old nickname he'd given him when they were at least four years old "whatever" he grumbled, letting the guy take his luggage as he walked quickly toward the jet. This time, River following behind him with an accomplished smirk on his face. When did Landon get so adorable?
Ryley watched her brother out of the corner of her eye with a smile. A little part of her knew that he wasn't completely into that girl when they'd talked about her. He did have a smile on his face when he talked about her but it was never as bright as when he talked about Landon. His eyes shined when he talked about him.
She wondered if it happened when she talked about Noah? Boy did she hope not, she wasn't exactly ready to have her feelings about the curly haired male exposed just yet. "All I'm gonna do is tan on the beach, shop, and tan some more!" The twins alternated between words, squealing at the end. Ryley cringed, covering her ears. "I hate teenage girls" Mia says, a face of disgust clear as day.
Ryley snickered, hiding her mouth behind her fist "aren't you a teenage girl?" she says playfully rolling her eyes. Mia directs her disgusted face toward her, blinking rapidly. Ryley just shakes her head at her, letting the guy take her luggage then takes her hand in hers, leading her toward the private jet. Only making it about ten feet before crashing into a certain curly haired male.
She blushes a bright red, apologizing at Noah's smug smirk. "You've gotta get a new strategy RyRy! If you want to talk, you can just say so, you don't have to run into me" he jokes, smiling fondly as she began to protest that she was just clumsy. Mia looks between the two of them with a knowing expression before grabbing onto Ryleys arm and continuing on her path to the jet. Glancing back to catch Noah staring at her back lovingly.
She smirks as he realizes he's been caught, his tan skin getting a hot glow as he looks anywhere but at the short blonde. "Ah, young love" she sighs to herself, wrapping her arm around Ryleys shoulders and patting her arm. Ryley hums, having not heard what she'd said but she only shook her head "oh nothing."
"I'm telling you Jack, we should've checked Jamie's bag the night before. What if he didn't bring enough clothes? Or enough shoes?" Brook worries, pulling at Jack's arm as he tried to steer him back toward the luggage drop off. Jacks pulls him into his arm, caging him against his side and sighs "everything will be just fine, if it comes to it, we can buy him more clothes."
Brook doesn't listen, his attention looking back, most likely trying to make a calculation of how fast he'd have to run to get away from Jack and grab Jamie's bag. Jack stops, pulling Brook in front of him and holding onto his cheeks to make him face him, "this can't be just worry about clothes, tell me what's going on" he says softly, his thumbs smoothing across his soft cheeks.
Brook bites his lip then sighs, looking up at him with glassy eyes "it's just...I know he's 11 now and getting bigger and older by the day but he's, he's still my baby Jack and I don't want him to grow up!"
Jack pulls him into his chest, holding him there as he rubs his back soothingly. Muffling his whimpers and sniffles. "I know how you feel, our daughters the second oldest child between all of us and Jamie's only a couple years away from being a teen as well. It scares me to let them go but" he pauses, pulling away so they'd be face to face again "that doesn't mean they won't be our babies anymore."
Brook nods, smiling weakly at him. He knows they'd always love them and even if they grew up, they'd still have a bit of childishness in them and Brook would be there with open arms for each of them. Jack smiles back at him, thumbing away his tears and kissing each of his cheeks before continuing on to the jet. Jamie running up behind them and jumping into Jacks back while Maylee took Brooks hand into hers. He smiles, a bit of hope shining in him that everything would be okay.
Andy was very pleased to see everyone seated on the jet. Nobody had forgotten their passports meaning there was no delay to getting where they needed to go. He sat down with a happy sigh next to Rye, closing his eyes as his ears automatically zoned in on the chatter amongst his friends and their children.
They hadn't even taken off yet and Andy already felt relaxed. A bright smile stretched across his face as he felt his hand being lifted up and tiny kisses be placed all over it. "Finally" Rye whispered and Andy didn't need any elaboration to know what it meant. It had many meanings.
Finally seated on the jet. Finally going on the trip they promised to go on only a few months ago. Finally getting the break they needed. Finally all together again. To Andy, it was each one and so many more. Andy grabbed onto Ryes hand, placing a singular kiss onto his hand as well, looking up into his eyes as he whispered back "Finally." Hope shined on him as they began to take off. Hope that this trip would be exactly what everyone needed.
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So let me just say, I may or may not have forgotten about this book hehe 😅 but I decided I needed to update something since I haven't in a while and I was scrolling and saw that I had a chapter in my drafts so ta-da! Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll promise to try to update more often❤️
