my cousin's best friend

chapter twenty-three

I rubbed and my eyes and immediately followed after my dad off of the plane.

The morning sky was dusted with white fluffy clouds, the sun streaming through.

My dad called a taxi, and soon we were on our way back to Toby's house. 

My nerves were racing. I was excited to be back here where are my favorite memories were made. But then, some of my worst ones were also made here.

But, I wasn't going to let my past define my future. I needed this to be good, or i would have no idea how to explain that I'd been faking being fine to my father.

Although I had gotten a few good friends, I was still haunted by my past and everything I had done wrong.

As we arrived at Toby's house, I basically sprinted out of the car, opening the front door without even knocking.

Immediately after, the alarm went off. Probably alerting everyone else on the street.

"What is my luck with safety alarms?" I said aloud.

Toby came running down the stairs, the rest of his family following after his lead.

"Cam, I didn't know that you were coming back!" Toby exclaimed.

Without even hesitating, I ran into his arms and gave him a tight hug.

"Someone's changed a little bit," He whispered into my ear.

"Toby, its been six months. I've gone to high school. Actually made friends with other human beings," My sentance drifted off into a dark memory. Maybe I had changed too much.

"Oh, well I was going to say your hair was shorter than it was before. The length looks nice. And you were the one who wanted a hug this time. But, you still smell like oranges," He teased.

I rolled my eyes, glancing behind the boy.

"Are you Lani?" I asked glancing behind the boy.

"Yes. When you visited last I was gone at a camp. But I would've been much happier here. Toby talked with you a lot when you were gone," She replied back, a cute smile crossing her face.

"Well, I'm sure he talked about me, I'm his favourite you know," I said smugly.

The girl giggled.

I greeted my aunt and uncle with many more warm hugs and people telling me how much I had changed. In a good way. They always added at the end.

I moved some of my clothing into the room I had stayed in the previous trip.
But that barely even took a half an hour.

I found Toby sitting down on his bed, so I knocked on the door to get his attention.

"Can we talk? I mean if you're busy thats fine, I just wanted to clear some stuff up," I said.

"Yeah, what do you need to talk about?" He asked.

I walked into the room and sat down on his bed, relatively close to him.

"Did you give the letter to Tommy?" I asked abruptly, scared for the boy's answer.

"I did give it to him. He was confused at first, but then he took it," He responded quickly.

"And the photos? Did you give him some of those as well? I enjoyed receiving them. They helped me on many sad nights," I said thinking about all of the times that I had looked at them.

"He got almost the same ones you did. He got a few more of you, and a lot less of me," He replied smiling.

I nodded my head.

"You know, he did ask about you a lot. It was almost daily," He said quietly.

"What do you mean?" I asked tilting my head, trying to think what there was to remember about me.

"It would always be, has Cam said anything to you lately? Has Cam called you yet. I wanna hear her voice again. Can you put the call on speaker phone?" Toby said giggling.

"I'm flattered that he thought about me, but I can't go back to him and what we had. If there was even anything between us. It would just be to painful," I responded.

"He also asked if you talked about him with me or anyone else."

I went silent.

"Well, what did you tell him?" I asked.

"I told him that when you called, you didn't talk to much about your life, but more what I was doing. I also said that he had come into the conversation before," The boy responded.

"Thank you Tobias, I knew I could count on you," I said wrapping my arm around his shoulder.

"Do you want me to show you around the neighborhood?" He asked.

I nodded my head and followed the boy out of his room.

Just as we came into view, I heard the front door open.

I felt like I was going to throw up.

"Toby, why didn't you tell me that she was coming back?"

Word Count~ 817