My phones rang. It has been three years since I have been back in Saelia. Probably everyone changed. Everyone, even the Prince. He should be 18, maybe 19 now. A man. Not a boy. I sighed, and looked out of the planes window. I was not excited about heading back. Jamie of course, was very excited. He was jumping up and down in his seat.
"Sit down." I told him, picking up the phone, "Hey Max."
"Hey sis!" I heard him say. He also sounded excited to finally see us. His voice sounded slightly older, probably because he was already 23. "How long till you guys land?"
I looked on my wrist, where I wrote down the time. "In about 15 minutes." I answered.
"Great! Cant wait to see you guys finally!"
"Us too." I replied, trying to muster up as much of enthusiasm as possible. Luckily he didn't notice, and hung up.
For some reason, my mind kept creeping back to that night, a week before we moved, I was 15, while the prince was 16 at the time. Its truly funny how we met. Considering I was working that day.
I refused to think about the past. He has moved on, I'm sure of it. He's the prince after all. He has a lot of girls to choose from.
"Attention passengers, this is your pilot speaking. I would like to inform you that we will be landing shortly, so please buckle your seat belts, and prepare for landing. Thank you."
My stomach churned. Here goes nothing. Who knows, maybe I'll see some old friends.
♔♔♔
"Lily!!!" Samantha ran up to me, just as I gathered my luggage. I smiled.
"Sam!!" I yelled, with the same enthusiasm. I almost fell to the ground when she hugged me.
"Its been So long! I've missed you so much!" She exclaimed, refusing to let go. Her outward appearance changed, but she's the same old Sam I remembered before we moves. She continued to blab, "Guess what?! Dads willing to take you back, so you already have a job ready for you! Pumpkin misses you like crazy!"
I smiled at the thought of Pumpkin, the brown lab I fell in love with. "Sam, that's great!"
"Yep!"
Just then two hands wrapped around my neck, and a single, "Missed you, sis." breathed out. Max planted a kiss on my head. I looked up at my big brother, and hugged him back.
"Where's Ashley?" I asked, remembering his wife. The reason why he stayed in Saelia, and didn't move with us three years ago, is because he got married to Ashley
"Uh...it didn't work out..." he replied slowly. I jumped.
"What?! Why? You two were so in love!" Max knew I loved Ashley. A grin spread across his lips.
"Awe, Lil, you're so easy to fool, she's standing behind you." I turned around, and saw a brown haired women wearing a cute pink sun dress, standing there, laughing. Max bent down, and whispered in my ear, "And we are very much in Love." He teased.
The women walked up to me and said, "Hey, Lil! Missed you!" She hugged me, and I hugged her back. Max went to greet mom and Jamie.
While I hugged Ashley, I noticed something, could it be...? "Um...Ash?" I hesitated, "Are you expecting...?" Ashley smiled.
"Didn't expect you to notice so quickly, yes we are, just don't tell your mother yet." She gave a light-hearted laugh again.
"That's great! I'll be an aunt!"
Ashley nodded, "Yep, how old are you again? Its been a while."
"17." I replied. She was deep in thought.
"I see, the baby is due on your birthday. 18 years apart." She shook her head, "Unbelievable, you grew up so fast."
I laughed, and gently shoved her, "You've known me for three years."
"Four." She corrected. "You forgot the year before we got married." I thought for a second, that's right, Max and Ashley were dating for a year their freshmen year of college.
"Alright girls," Max said, walking to Ashley and hugging her. "Lets get going. I'll show you the way to your house." Gathering what ever luggage we had, we got on his mini van, and were off.
♔♔♔
My room looked plain, but at least it already had furniture. I sighed, and flung myself on my bed.
"Finally home." I stretched. Tomorrow I'll go back to the pet store.
Feeling bored, I decided to walk around town. Maybe see if everything's still the same. I got up and walked down the hall towards the door.
"Mom, I'll be back in a few." I called
"Alright sweety." She said back.
Jamie got up from his current playing position.
"Can I come too?" He glanced at me with his blue eyes.
"Oh alright." I sighed. "Just put your shoes on." He jumped up in excitement.
"Mama! I'm going with Lily!" He shouted.
"I hear you, I hear you. Just be safe!" She said though the kitchen.
Jamie grabbed his toy truck, and I shut the door. Sometimes you can't help, but see how cute he is. His small hands holding the truck, and making noises. I stifled a laugh, and walked behind him.
Trees slowly passed, nothing changed much, except a couple of new houses that weren't there before. I saw Mrs. Jackie cutting her roses like she does every Saturday, from what I remembered. Jamie ran ran ahead.
"Jamie! Wait up!" I passed a nearby store. "Jamie!" I jogged. I heard a small laugh. Turning around to see who it was, I froze. The day when I didn't want to see him.
"Kids will always be kids, won't they?" He said, looking into my eyes. He was walking his dog, who started wagging his tail, and barked twice.
"Um...yes, they will, won't they?" I laughed nervously, and turned around, hoping he either didn't recognize me, or got blinded by the sun to see it was me. But I was wrong.
"Nice to see you too Lil." He spoke. I turned around this time.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?"
He just shrugged, "That's up to you to decide."
"Listen Art, I'm not in the mood to argue with you." I put my hand on my hip, hoping this conversation would end soon.
"Who's arguing?" He frowned.
"Aren't you supposed to be at the castle? And anyways, where are your bodyguards? They always follow you around like you're a lost child."
He looked hurt, but instead said, "No, I lost them after my morning lesson. Decided to stroll around town." I was about to say something, but before I could, Jamie ran up to us.
"Lily, what's taking you so long?" He asked, then his gaze fell on Art, and then at me. "Is this your...old friend?" I can't let him find out about our argument, so instead, I put on a smile.
"Yes, we used to go to school together, right Art?" Art smiled, and looked somewhat relieved.
"That's right," he replied.
"Cool! Are you guys getting married too?" He blurted. My face flushed.
"No squirt." I ruffled his hair. "We're just friends, nothing more..." I hinted Art to say anything. He just had a smirk.
"No we're not, but your sister is very beautiful. If she agrees to my proposal." I pretended to punch him playfully on the arm, but shot him a look in the process. Jamie's eyes lit up. Before anything could get any worse, I spoke up.
"Um...Jamie, lets get going, it's getting late."
"Awe, but I want to pet the puppy." He whined.
"Dog," I corrected, "besides, let's go see Pumpkin, I know you miss him." he agreed without giving it a second thought. Before turning around, Art grinned.
"See you around Lil', It's great seeing you again." I tried not to say anything back, for the sake of Jamie.
"You too." I mumbled.
When we were a good distance away from Art, I noticed that Jamie was awfully quiet. So I gave him a side hug, drawing him closer.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked.
"You and...Art...?" he said plainly.
"Oh? How come?"
"Because I don't think you like him." He caught me off guard. How'd he know that?
"Um..." I laughed nervously, "why do you say that?"
"Because, um, you didn't look happy when I ran up to you guys." I bent down and looked into his eyes.
"You know what, yes, you're right, I don't like him very much, but it's not the end of the world. Maybe a time will come and we'll become friends again." He gave me a weak smile, then mumbled.
"He likes you...a lot." I laughed, this time for real. Not at what he said, but the face he made.
"You little boy, I don't know where you get this stuff, but let's get going." I took his little hand into mine, and continued walking to the pet store.
Hello fellow readers! I know...I haven't even finished writing my other book(s), and I'm sorry. I got the idea for this story after a dream. Don't ask. Expect the unexpected, right? You don't write it you lose it. Anyway, please vote and comment, or comment and vote, or both:) thank you for reading, please excuse any mistakes of mine, I'll edit them....soon😅
Pronounciation of Saelia: Say-lee-aa