Viral Summer

50 It's Only You

And oh, love, do you feel this rough?
Why's it only you I'm thinking of?
Too Much to Ask- Niall Horan

I text my mom as I find Maria waiting for me in the pick up line at LAX. I want to hug her and catch up right there, but the line of cars behind us is long, so we hurry to get my luggage into the car and then she speeds away from the curb.

"How as your flight and everything?" she asks me and without waiting for an answer, she squeals and says, "I can't believe you're actually here! I'm so excited. You, me, Aiden, Heather, and... we've got over half of the gang in LA. You think we can convince Tasha, Joseppi, and Randall to come too?"

"You can say his name," I tell her with an awkward laugh. "And no, I think the guys were pretty set on New York. But that just gives us an excuse to visit New York sometimes."

"I like the way you think. Aiden is excited to see you too, he wants to plan some sort of gathering to welcome you to the city, but I told him you'd probably want some time to get settled before we ambush you."

After we left London, I had a couple of phone calls with Aiden about everything that's happened so things won't be awkward with him. He's apologized for barging into the room screaming, for inducing my panic attack, but he didn't go too into detail about the situation with Harris or how their relationship is healing. I do hope that they work it out though.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to need to ease into this. But I appreciate the gesture. Did you tell Harris that I was coming in today?" I ask her curiously and his name still tastes like sweet acid on my tongue, but I still choke it out as smoothly as possible.

"No, I didn't say anything."

"Good. He called me last night, so I was just wondering," I say, even though that doesn't really mean anything because he still calls me a lot. What started as daily calls has turned into once or twice a week, just enough to remind me that he's still there and still trying.

"Aiden said he talks about you all of the time," Maria tells me. "I think he's been really confused lately, about what he wants, what he thinks the right thing to do is. He's a good guy, it sucks that he hurt you in trying to find himself."

I know I'll see him around, being that I'm friends with Maria and Aiden and I'm sure our social circles will cross. I'll have to prepare myself for that, and what I'll do if he tries to talk to me, which I'm sure he will. I've kept my resolve from across the country, not answering his calls, passing over his name when I see him liking my Instagram posts. But I miss him so much that it burns every cell in my body, so I'm worried that the second I see him in person, I'll whither into nothing.

"Here's the building," Maria announces as we pull into the parking lot of a four story brick building. "It's a really great location, you can walk so many places around here, including our apartment down the street."

She helps me pull my suitcases out of the backseat. "And by 'our apartment' you just mean you and Aiden, right?"

"Yes," she confirms with an airy laugh. "Harris lives about twenty minutes east."

The apartment is on the second floor and there's no elevators, so we start lugging my two heavy suitcases up the one set of concrete stairs and toward the right door. Maria told me they'd already picked up the keys, so the front door is unlocked and we walk through.

I jump back hard enough to kick over the suitcase Maria is rolling behind me when I see a stranger in the living room, looking at me wide eyed like a deer caught in headlights. This is my first day in Los Angeles and I'm already getting robbed. My mom is actually going to have a heart attack.