the other half of me - family first (chaselyn) sequel

four

Ellies pov
Here I am, sat in an airport waiting to head back to California. I am so nervous, even though it's just my family, I've been a bitch to them in the past two years. I had headphones in and my hood up. It kinda sucked that people knew me.

Zoe
I love you even more for this,
go get them girl ❤️

I smile to myself before replying to Zoe and messaging Cooper saying the flight was boarding. I haven't told anyone else. I wanted to surprise them. I'm planning on going to Madisons as soon as I arrive in Los Angeles since she's the one I've been in touch with in the past two years. I knew Madison and Mariah would be happy to see me. I'm just hoping the others are too, I mean I did leave them for two years... surely they hate me now?

I wanted to pick up my phone and just message Olivia saying I was coming but I had to stop myself. I hope she wouldn't shut me out, it sounds stupid coming from me. But after Madison said she says she'll only talk to me it made me think she would talk to me.

Once I got seated on the plane, I pulled a movie up on Netflix and tried to sleep. The flight was only 5 hours so it wasn't too bad.

Thankfully, the 5 hours past by real quick and next thing I know I was walking out of LAX airport. I got an Uber to Madisons house, hoping she still lives at the same house she did two years ago. The drive wasn't long at all and I took one deep breath and knocked on the door. Seconds later, Izzy opened the door and I was amazed at how old she looked compared to what she did two years ago. "Els?" She asks surprised and I nod. "Hi Izzy" I say and she runs into my arms.

"Izzy who is it?" Madison says and she stops dead in her tracks as she sees me. I run over to her and jump into her arms, engulfing her into a hug. She had tears in her eyes, as did I. "How come I didn't know about this?" She says, still hugging me. "I wanted to surprise you but you did in fact convince me to come home" I say, smiling. I made the right decision.

"I hope you're going to see Olivia and your family too?" Madison asks and I nod. "Babe? We are home" I hear Mariah yell and see Madison smirk towards me and next thing I heard was Sophia screaming and hugging me. "El?" She says and I hug her back. "Hi baby, I've missed you" I say, high fiving the younger Linney sister before hugging Mariah.

I spent an hour or so before I left and Madison drove me home. I don't even suppose I can call it home anymore. "I'm so nervous, Madison" I tell her honestly as we were driving through our neighbourhood. "They still love you, Ellie. Don't worry, they'll just be happy to have you home plus I'll come in with you. I need to drop Addie's dance clothes off she left them in my car" I say. "Addie and Izzy dance together?" I ask her and Madison nods.

"Shit, it's now or never I suppose" I say when the car stops. "Look Els, I'm happy you're here and I can guarantee they all do too" Madison says, smiling. I nod and we get out the car. "I'll walk in first, they're expecting me then you follow in a few minutes" she tells me. I wait a few minutes and walked in the house.

I heard Moms voice instantly so I followed it. "Have you got room for one more?" I say, standing in the doorway. All heads turn towards me. The only people in the room were Mom, Dad, Madison and Cooper. "Ellie?" Mom says running over to me. Hugging me as tight as she could. I returned the hug of course.

That moment in time made me realise how much I missed this. How much I missed this house. How much I missed these people. How much I missed my Moms hugs. "I'm so sorry" I say breaking down in tears, I don't know why since I brought it on myself. "Fuck that, it's the past. All that matters is that you're here and you're safe" Mom says. We both had tears in our eyes. "I've missed you so much, baby girl" Mom says, making me smile. "I don't wanna ever leave this hug" I say honestly.

"Not even for me?" Dad says and I turn around and hug him too. "I've missed you both" I say. I did miss them, loads. I just felt weird coming home. "We've missed you more Els" Dad says. "I really am sorry. I haven't been thinking properly and I don't know why I stopped contact especially after you both quite literally saved my life" I tell them. "We don't care, we missed you a LOT but you're here now" Dad says.

"Where's Liv?" I ask immediately after we stopped hugging. "Surf training, we finally got her to go for the first time in two weeks" Mom says. "Can I walk down and surprise her?" I ask. "We will come too, we don't wanna miss this reunion" Mom says and we get back in the car. "Your other siblings are at your Uncle Rudy's as well as your own kids if you're wondering" Dad says, jokingly. "They're always well looked after here, I'm not worried" I say laughing.

"Mom tell me honestly, how is she?" I ask and she looks at me worried. "How do you know about Liv?" She questions confused. "I've always still been in contact with Madison and Mariah, I made them not tell you. I'm sorry" I say, honestly. "Stop saying sorry, it's all okay" Dad says and I nod. "So how is she?" I ask again.

"Not good Els" Mom says and I sigh, I knew that but hearing it out loud made it worse. "I'm what way?" I ask. "She doesn't eat much at all, it's a real struggle trying to get her to eat especially since she broke up with her boyfriend. There's other things we notice about her but she won't tell us anything" Mom tells me. "Do you think it's at the extent I was?" I ask, hoping she wasn't. "Not yet, if we don't help her soon she will though" Dad says and I nod. "She won't talk to us about her feelings. Every time she just says she wants to talk to you about it" Mom tells me. I'm glad I'm here now.

When we arrive at the beach, which wasn't far away, I stand afar watching Ellie do her surf training. There was only 15 minutes left until she would be finished and I could surprise her. As I watched her surf, it made me so proud and happy. She's improved a lot since we last surfed together and I saw her compete. "She's amazing" I say, in shock. "She's got USA championships in a few months" Dad tells me and I look in shock. "For real?" I ask and he nods.

The 15 minutes flew by and now it was time to surprise Liv. "I'm so nervous" I say and Mom just says it'll be fine. As I watched her teammates walk off, I started walking towards Liv who was by herself. "That was amazing by the way" I yell when I get closer but still far away. Olivia turns round quickly and just stares at me. As soon as she processed who I was, she ran as fast as she could towards me and jumped into my arms. "Els!" She says with tears in her eyes, which made me have tears too. "I've missed you baby" I say, kissing her head. "I've missed you so fucking much Els" she says, not letting go but hugging me tighter. "I'm so sorry Liv, I really am. I have no excuse for what I've done" I say, honestly feeling guilty.

"Just don't leave me again. Okay?" She asks and I nod. "I promise" I tell her. "I have stuff to tell you but don't be angry or upset about it, I'll tell you later though" she says. "Whenever you're ready. How was training?" I ask. "It was good, I suppose. Do you wanna come back out with me?" She asks. "Oh. Erm, I don't surf anymore Liv" I tell her. And she stares at me shocked, "WHAT? Why not?" She asks. "I don't really know, I just gave up" I tell her truthfully. "No. No. You can't stop surfing Els. You're the only reason I started it in the first place and the reason why I love it" she says, sounding upset. "I don't think I would have all the skills still" I say. "Please. You can't give it up. For me?" She says staring at me. "Fine. I'll come surfing with you tomorrow. One condition, no making fun of me when I fall. Okay?" I say and Liv gives me that smirk and laughs. "I can't make any promises" she says and I push her jokingly.

@oliviastokes : the only thing that matters @elliestokes 💕💓💘
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