Fools ; Eternal Summer

part two

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We were slowing down to a halt and once we stopped, everyone started to stand up. The anticipation was kicking in full gear at this point once we started heading for the exit door. I felt so ready to take on anything but felt like I was going to throw up everywhere at the same time. I haven't seen my sister in so many years and while I know Ashton has been talking to her, I haven't. Kind of weird to say to be honest. But I'm feeling overwhelmed cause it's like I'm meeting a stranger and then just going to stay with them for an entire summer.

We eventually reached the inside of the airport again, that 14 hour plane ride needed to be longer, my heart is beating out of my chest. Ashton could see I was stressing, he grabbed my free hand and gave it a squeeze, I smiled faintly at him. We walked towards the exit, I could see the outside from the doors, I stopped us in our tracks.

"You alright?" Ashton asked, I couldn't calm my breaths.
"I can't do this," I told him, he frowned. "I'm so scared." He set down the bag he was carrying next to his suitcase and pulled me into a hug.
"Shh," He whispered. "Why are you scared?" We pulled away and I gathered myself.
"It's not really like scared, I'm just so nervous to see her again." He nodded. "I told you I haven't seen her in person since I was like 15, and I haven't talked to her in a couple of years. My stomach feels like it's going to fall out of my butt right now." I said, he laughed a little, I playfully pushed him. "Come on, I'm seriousss." I said with a laugh to his.
"I know, I know." He smiled. "But just think about how good this reunion is going to feel. You guys were in a shit situation growing up but you both wanted better for yourselves and got out of it. Now look, you're both living life, doing big things to grow as a person, you guys are better than before and there's no time like the present to start over the right way." I sighed but with a breath of relief and nodded at him. He was right and it honestly made me feel better instantly, to realize that I'm going to see my sister, not how she was before, but to see the person she's become. I took a deep breath and gathered myself, he gave me one last hug before we picked up our things and continued walking towards the door.

I felt the heat instantly from the California sun as we stepped outside, I closed my eyes and took it all in, preparing myself for this summer to come.
"It never feels like this in the UK." I said, my eyes still closed.
"Exactly, isn't it nice?" Ashton asked, I tilted my head back down to look at him, I smiled and nodded. I felt such a warm and fuzzy feeling in my stomach, at peace I should say, and I wish I could feel like this all the time. We began looking around to see if we saw my sister, we decided to sit on a bench nearby to wait for her. "So what's the first thing you want to do?" He asked me.
"I'm not sure, Jaylie might have something planned for us. But if not, probably just grab something to eat and unpack a bit, I'm exhausted from that plane ride." I told him.
"I know, me too. But we can't sleep yet or we won't adjust to the time difference."
"Ah come on, not even just a little nap?" I joked, he rolled his eyes. "Eventually we'd adjust."
"That may be true," He laughed. "Considering we're here all summer, but why waste our first day sleeping?" I shrugged with a smile.

We waited for a little longer before a car pulled up in-front of us, I had a feeling it was her. I got up and started slowly walking over, Ashton followed a bit behind me. One of the back doors opened and dark brown hair started flying through the wind. She stepped out and she wore a skin tight black dress that went down to her knees, with red sandals that wrapped around her legs. I felt butterflies as she smiled at us.

"Hi!! Oh my gosh!" She squealed and rushed over to us. She held out her arms as she walked over, I held her tight once we intertwined. I still remembered how she used to smell, the scent of strawberries and soft vanilla, some things never change. Her smell instantly made me think of home and I could feel tears begin to form as she rubbed my back starting from my hair. We took a few moments to let the feeling of being with each other again sink in before we let go. "Look at you! You've grown so much, you are so beautiful! Ugh." She said as she ran her fingers through my hair, touching it up a bit.
"I could say the same to you, you're an entire business woman I see." I told her, she smiled largely. "You look stunning." I smiled with her.
"Thank you, this Californian weather does me too good." We laughed slightly. "How are you?! Gosh there is so much we need to catch up on."
"Yes foreal, literal years worth of catching up." She smiled again and turned her eyes to Ashton, I looked over to see him smiling faintly, standing there all precious. "Jay, this is my boyfriend Ashton." They reached out to shake hands. "We attend University together, he's from Australia and this is also his first time in the US."
"It's very nice to meet you, Lily talks about you a whole lot and it's nice to finally have a face to go with the stories."
"As to you! It's nice to see who I've been chatting with recently to make this happen, you have a keeper on your hands there 'Lily'." We all laughed a bit.
"It's just a little nickname he came up with for me." I smiled.
"It's cute! Very cute." She winked at me, I playfully nudged her. The driver had stepped out of the car and started loading our bags into the car.
"Your own driver too?" I asked her jokingly.
"He's more of a friend," We laughed. "Like I had said, there's a lot to catch up on." She motioned us to get into the car, once we were all settled, we started driving away from the airport.