"Nova!"
I quickly shoved spoonfuls of cereal down my throat and slipped on my sweater.
"I'm coming, one more minute" I shouted and continued to eat cereal as fast as I could.
"There will be more when you come back" Kyle grabbed my arm and dragged me out the door.
"If I come back"
Kyle raised a eyebrow and chuckled "Oh, you're coming back"
"Yeah, sure" I laughed and ran down the houses's steps, throwing open the car door and climbing in the passenger seat.
"Ready?" Andrew asks.
Today was the day I go home.
I nodded eagerly and Andrew drove off.
I looked out the window "Why couldn't Damien come? He's the one who gave me permission and isn't he my leader?"
"Why are you complaining? Haven't you devoted half of your life to trying to get away from him? And now you're complaining that he's not here"
I looked over at Andrew and rolled my eyes "I'm not complaining, I'm just curious"
Andrew blasted the AC and focused on the road but still responded "You got to understand Nova that us leaders sometimes get really attached to our girls. You have grown on Damien, well all of us with your annoying ways of questioning everything-"
"He couldn't bare the thought that I might not come back?" I interrupted.
Andrew laughed and smiled "Yeah, I don't know why though he could easily grab your skinny ass back and shove you in the car but ... A. He respects you way too much nowadays and B. You're with your family and they might call the police and hey, we're caught"
"Then why are you risking bringing me home?" I question.
Andrew sighed and shook his head "Sometimes people do crazy things when they love someone"
I looked at Andrew quickly and before I could ask him what the hell he meant he looked back at me "There you go questioning again"
Andrew just basically accidentally admitted that Damien had feelings for me, which I suspected but they were never confirmed and now they are. I was confused on how I felt to the news about this because I wasn't still exactly sure on how I felt about him, but all my worries about Damien vanished as soon as we pulled up in front of my house.
I gulped and looked and Andrew "How am I supposed to explain that their supposed dead daughter wasn't really dead this whole time?"
"Hey, do you want to see your parents or not?" Andrew asked, unbuckling his seatbelt "Besides, I'm going to be with you"
I nodded and hesitantly unbuckled my seatbelt as well, climbing out of the car and walking at a slow pace towards my front door.
I stood beside Andrew, growing nauseated as he knocked on the door and there was footsteps coming towards the door.
"Andrew, I don't know if I can do this" I whispered as soon as the door flew open, my eyes landing on my exhausted looking mother.
We stared at each other in shock for what felt forever.
I couldn't believe that I was actually in front of my mom.
She soon broke into a smile, tears welling up at her eyes as she croaked a soft, relieving "Nova"
I smiled back, already crying and ran into her arms not believing I was home.
***
Hours passed and I was the happiest I have ever been, all my worries disappeared and I didn't even care that Andrew was awkwardly standing in the living room the whole time.
My parents didn't question at all if I was okay, where I've been, they were just glad that I was here. I helped mom make dinner, I watched a football game in between with dad, we all watched another game while eating dinner and after dinner, I washed the dishes with warm water and a soapy sponge like usual, it felt as if I never left. My parents stayed with me as I washed the dishes though, they sat at the table and caught me up on what's been going on in my family's lifes and how work was going for them.
I smiled the whole time until tables turned and my parents eventually wanted to know the questions I thought they were going to ask from the start.
"Nova, are you alright?"
"Physically, yes. Emotionally, no" I blurted out and from the corner of my eye saw Andrew sit up straight, intrigued in the conversation.
"You were gone for a long time. We thought you were dead" Moms voice cracked and I immediately rushed to her side.
"But I'm not. I'm here, I'm better" I whispered in her ear, hugging her.
"Nova, who is that man?" Mom whispered.
"I can't really tell you that mom, it's not important right now. What is important right now is spending as much time with you as possible" I said.
"No, what's important right now is making sure you're safe and that to make sure you stay home with us from now on"
"See, about that" Andrew walked into the kitchen and smiled slightly at my parents before it faded "Nova has a... basically a serial killer madly in love with her so I don't think that's happening. Time to roll"
"What? No! Not yet" I told Andrew.
"She's not going anywhere with you!" My dad shouted, getting up ready to punch Andrew.
Andrew laughed "Bad idea, old man"
"Andrew, no!" I screamed knowing what he was capable of. He just rolled his eyes and grabbed my dad's fist, stopping it before knocking my father to the floor.
My panicked mother got to his side quickly as I starting hyperventilating. My dad was aging, he was old and even though he seems strong, he's not so strong so of course I was acting like it was a much bigger deal than it actually was.
My phone. My phone was in the car and I needed to call the police. I ran towards the door and threw it open, immediately being greeted by a unexpected Kyle blocking the doorway. He was here the whole time?
Not really surprised. I groaned and turned back around to look for the house phone but bumped into Damien, hitting my head on his chin.
Damien wiggled his eyebrows, snaking his arm around my waist "We meet again"
How'd they get here?
I ignored my immediate butterflies at his touch and wiggled out of his grip, frantically looking for the house phone.
"Nova"
"Leave me the fuck alone"
Andrew grabbed both my wrists, stopping me from my search and turned me to face my dad who was being gently lifted up by my mom "He's okay" my mom reassured.
I kicked Andrew's leg for him to release me and ran to help my mom, sitting my dad on a chair.
"Are you alright?" I asked him.
He laughed and nodded "Nova I've fallen off a ladder before, I'm okay"
I laughed quietly.
After I made sure everything was okay, Damien called me outside.
I hesitantly followed him to my front porch "What?"
He stayed quiet, something I'm used to be now. He looked ahead. "I've made a selfless decision... You should be proud of me, actually"
"Wow you let me visit my parents for a couple hours and it ended up with my father hitting his head, how selfless"
"It is actually, but that's not it" He shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Then what is your oh 'so selfless decision'? Hurry I want to get back and spend every last second with them"
"My selfless decision, Nova" Damien spat, getting annoyed. "Is that I decided to let go the person I love so much go back to her happiness which is obviously home. You know how much it hurts to know you're not happy with me when I love you so much? But you're hurting with me and I prefer you being happy without me than you being hurt with me" Damien turned to face me.
I looked at him, surprised and all I could say was "You're letting me go home?"
Damien looked into my eyes hopelessly. He looked hurt. His eyes quickly turned back to stone making me believe I was hallucinating. "Bye Nova" he said and started to turn around but I quickly grabbed his wrist "Damien" I whispered.
He turned around and looked at me and before I even had a chance to think I smiled and whispered "Thank you" before kissing his lips.