One: Returning Home

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I smiled as my brother came through the door, and gave him a hug. "Hey sis, ready to come home today?" He asked me happily.

"More than ready, Mattie." I replied, just as cheerful as him. It's been a year since I left Huntington Beach, and recently I'd just made the decision to move back. I hadn't seen my friends in what seemed like ages, and I missed them dearly. I often wondered though if Grace were mad at me for leaving while she was on her honeymoon and not saying goodbye. I always wanted to ask Matt, but I was afraid of the answer I might get. But I thought at the time if I told Grace I was leaving, she wouldn't let me go. 

I couldn't help but feel anxious to see Jimmy again, but I was also nervous about it. I had somewhat gotten over leaving him, but I don't think I'm over the feelings I had for him. I wasn't really sure because I hadn't seen him in a year, so I guess I'd find out when I saw him again. I couldn't deny the fact that I thought about him a lot, but it wasn't like I could help it. The letter he wrote me was always in my room, in the drawer on my night stand. Whenever I missed him I would read it. The first few times I did this, I would cry. Now it just brings a smile to my face. I had no idea if these things in his letter were still true or not, but it didn't matter to me. Every time I read it, I could hear his voice in my head, and that was one my favorite parts of reading his letter. I missed his voice, and that was the only way for me to hear it.

While I was out on my own with my pal Bella, Matt and Val had a little boy. I haven't met him yet, but one of the things I look forward to when I get home is seeing my nephew. They named him Kyle Joshua Sanders, and he's only about a month old. Brian and Emma had married, which I was sorry to have to miss but I was happy for them all the same. They got married three months ago. 

Matt had done what we did when I moved here, and over the course of a week got my stuff moved into my old house, without any of the others knowing, except for Val. They didn't know that I was coming back, not yet, anyway. Right now Matt and I were getting my suitcases and boxes of other stuff into his vehicle. He would some of it back and I would follow him back to Huntington Beach. 

"Ok, that's everything." Matt said, coming into the house again after taking some stuff out.

"Cool, I'll just let Bella go to the bathroom and then we can leave." I replied, and he nodded. 

After Bella did her thing, I got her into the passenger's seat of my car and climbed in. I started up the car and then drove out of the driveway behind Matt, feeling the excitement of finally going home bubbling up inside me. Bella leaned over in the seat and licked my face, and I laughed a little.

"I take it you're happy to be going back to Huntington Beach too, huh? Can't say I blame you."  I said to her. 

When we crossed the town line into Huntington Beach, everything became so familiar again. You'd think after a year living in Lakewood things would be familiar there too, but it wasn't really. Of course, I knew where I was and I didn't get lost, but it wasn't home to me. It was just... my home away from home. I wasn't very far from Huntington Beach, so really I was closer to the others than they thought. They just didn't know it.

I drove past the beach where the pier that Jimmy and I shared was. A couple times, when I'd been in town to visit Matt and my parents, I stopped there for a while. I would sit there, secretly wishing that Jimmy would show up there, but he never did. It was risk going there if he did ever go at the same time I was there, but it was risk I didn't mind and almost wanted to take. Getting caught being there by him wouldn't be so much of a bad thing. 

Pretty soon, I was turning onto my road, and I could see my house coming into view. I smiled slightly to myself at seeing it, happy to be returning home. I pulled into my driveway and let Bella out of the car, and she raced around the front yard. Matt got out of his car and I got out of mine. 

"Damn, does it feel good to be back." I breathed, and he chuckled. 

"Well it feels good to have you back. No more sneaking around and coming to meet up with you and keeping from the others where you are." Matt said as he started taking some of my stuff out of his car. I helped him and picked up a box. 

I smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry that I had to make you do that. It was kind of selfish." 

"Don't worry about it. I understand that you did it because it was what was best for you." Matt dismissed it as we carried the boxes into my house, and then started back outside to get more again. 

"Matt... I have to ask... do you think Grace was mad at me for leaving?" I hesitated as I asked him this question.

He thought for a moment. "I don't know if she was mad, but she wasn't happy. She started flipping out on Jimmy because he didn't stop you." 

"He tried to stop me." I muttered. 

Matt looked at me. "Do you wish that he had?" 

I shrugged. "I don't know. I left because I knew if I stayed then things would most likely end very badly because all we kept doing was fall apart. I left because it was in both our best interests, and I wanted him to be happy." Matt nodded and we continued to put things in the house. I'd unpack everything from their boxes later. 

When we finished, I said, "Well, now that I'm here, I should start going to see my friends and let them know I'm home. Guess I should start with my neighbor four houses down." I smirked.

Matt bit his lip and shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Uhh, yeah, before you do that, though, there's something you should know about Jimmy..."

I didn't like the tone in his voice. He was about to tell me something that was going to be bad news, I could tell. My brother and I can read each other like an open book, and I know when he's about tell me something that he thinks I'm not going to like. That would be now.

"What is it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um.... well...." He shifted his weight again and scratched the back of his neck nervously while staring at the ground. 

"My Lord, Matthew, sometime today please." I urged him after about ten minutes. He looked up at me with nervous look in his eyes, stopped shifting his weight, and finally opened his mouth to speak.

"He's getting married." 

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Well hello!! Glad to see you came to read the sequel. I know that it's short, but this is just what I call the beginner chapter, but not really a prologue. I don't know. But the next one will be longer. ~A7X_ReverendPlague

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