Gray was right. She didn't come to the welcome party. Sad, that. He'd take her screaming at him for going MIA for a year over another soiree with the world's cringe-worthiest people.
Come to think of it, though, he'd rather take the welcome party over the first day of school. There had been less staring at the party. Less judgmental looks. He couldn't just pull up his hoodie and ignore them, either. It was hot and humid, they'd stare even more.
He hasn't seen her at all that morning.
Until she cornered him during lunch.
He was skipping lunch to avoid the staring in the cafeteria.
Well, as much as someone who was four-foot-eleven could corner him. Plus, her angry expression added a foot and three inches to her height. And probably some secret heels. But he didn't recognize her at first.
"You're here," she said. That sweet, angry voice was impossible to mistake.
"I'm here," he said. I'm here. And I've got a lot to tell you.
She muttered something under her breath. And then Gray was shocked out of his mind, because he was wrong about her, for once in his life.
She hugged him first.
"I missed you," Red said almost tenderly, before drawing back and punching him, as predicted. "You JACKASS!"
Still more welcome he'd ever felt since yesterday. If she was furious at him, she still cared. Thank God. Red still cares.
And she'd never looked so caring than when she was towering over him, shouting.
"How could you just LEAVE, without so much as a note, or a text, or an e-mail or a friggin' raven or passenger pigeon, and then not come back for a YEAR, making me WORRY, leaving me ALONE here with no one to talk to - "
Gray honestly couldn't remember the rest, he was too busy staring at her.
Yeah, she's definitely Red, but damn, she'd changed. Her hair certainly wasn't a shockingly scarlet pageboy anymore, but down to her waist, a long curtain of black silk. She still wore tatty shirts with band logos, which was a bigger relief than he knew, and combat boots over dark jeans.
He drank in the sight of her like he'd been deprived of water for a whole year. He wanted to explain that they'd taken away his phone, that he hadn't been thinking, that he was so sorry for leaving -
" - I can't believe you would just up and leave me, after all you did, after everything that happened last year - "
He finally found his voice. "Come on, Red - " was that really the right name for her anymore? "Do you want me to explain or do you just want to keep yelling at me?"
She reached down and grabbed his shirt front. "Shut up and let me yell at you, you royal pain in the ass."
Touche. He sat back and took the assault on his auditories. When she finally stopped to breathe, he said, "Save your voice. Haven't you got a gig or something?"
Red stilled. Without warning, she grabbed his arm and yanked him up. Gray stumbled once and braced his hand against a locker. Damn it, how'd she get so strong?
"That, right there - " she laid a hand against his chest. "- is how I know you're real."
Your screaming is how I knew you were real. The words were right there, waiting to be said, but Gray couldn't bring himself to do that to her.
"If it makes you feel better, I missed you too," he said, trying to make it better, and knowing perfectly well he was provoking her.
"It doesn't," she said, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Well, maybe a little bit."
They stood, side-by-side, leaning against cold lockers, and when everyone had dispersed into their classrooms, they were still there.
Only then did Red turn her body, going up on her tiptoes, and buried her face in his chest. Her hands clutched at the lapels of his jacket like she wasn't sure whether to pull him closer or push him away.
Gray pulled her closer and she melted into him. They fit perfectly together, and he felt her let out a shuddering breath. "Welcome home," she muttered into his shirt.
He buried his face in her hair. The sharp scent of dye was gone, replaced by the scent of trees in autumn.
Where the hell'd that come from?
*******