All Along | ✓

Chapter Twenty

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"I hope with every bone in my body that it'll be us in the end."

- unknown

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Luna's POV

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Seventeen Months Later

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"My baby!"

I laugh loudly, catching Mom in a hug when she throws herself onto me. Hugging her tightly, we sway back and forth for a moment. "Hi, Mom."

"We've missed you, my love. How was your flight?" She asks, pulling back slightly to look at me, her hands coming up to cup my face.

Grinning, I reply, "I missed you too. And the flight was alright. I slept most of the time."

She releases me from her hold and I fall into Dad's arms next. He wraps his strong arms around me and I relax as he hugs me tightly. "It's good to have you home, Luna." He tells me quietly.

"It's good to be home," I pull back after a moment to grin up at him. "So are we heading home or what?"

This is the first Christmas I've had at home in a few years now. The plan was to alternate years at home and in Boston with my grandmother, but I ended up often having extra winter classes to prepare for the following semester so that I wouldn't have as many classes to take at once. That meant three Christmases in a row have been spent in Boston. I haven't been home in years. I'm happy to be back.

When Dad pulls the car into the driveway, I'm surprised to find the lights on in the house and another car parked in the driveway that isn't one of my parents'. I look to them questioningly. "I thought we weren't having guests until tomorrow on Christmas Eve?"

Mom shrugs, feigning an innocent smile, "Some plans changed."

I'm curious as we make our way up the familiar front porch steps, my suitcase in tow. I step into the house first, wondering who we're having over tonight. It's quite late at almost ten o'clock, so I'm a little surprised. I walk into the hallway, taking a look through to the living room. My heart stutters in my chest when I spot my favourite person on Earth. His eyes connect with mine and the grin that lights up his face is just as I remember.

"Oli!" I quickly walk through to the living room as he stands up, walking towards me as well. We meet halfway and I crash into his chest. He wraps me up in his strong arms as I wrap mine around his waist. Resting my head on his chest, I listen intently to the way his heart pounds beneath his shirt. He smells exactly as I remember. He smells like home.

"Luna, Luna, Luna," He murmurs, resting his head on top of mine, "It's been too long."

"Over a year," I murmur softly, tightening my hold on him. Every time we're apart for long amounts of time, I start to feel like I'm losing touch with him. Or I feel as though our friendship might be hurting because of the distance. But then I see him and everything falls into place just as it always has. There's nothing easier than falling right back into his arms where I belong after such a long time apart.

"Never again," He tells me, although we both know it's inevitable. I'm in my second year at Harvard Law, and he's playing basketball all around the world. He's been on the Lakers for about six years now, so he's looking at retiring in the next few of years. He luckily hasn't had any serious injuries to cut his career short.