Chapter Seventeen

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Midterms began and ended and, luckily, I did pretty well. Christmas was around the corner and school let out for holidays. Since we were in California, we had no expectations of snow, but there was one thing that was going to make this Christmas amazing.

Chase.

It was the twentieth and I had eagerly accepted the task of picking him up from the airport. I was actually considering asking Julio to come to the airport with me to pick my brother up, but I knew that Chase had to slowly get used to the idea of me dating someone or else there was a high possibility that he'd punch my boyfriend.

Things were going amazingly with Julio and I. I liked him more than ever and he was a surprisingly sweet boyfriend; he walked me to class, carried my books, picked me up and dropped me off almost every day, and listened to me when I told him to stop yelling at people. He wasn't the kind of guy who'd take a girl out on fancy dates to impress her, but he'd definitely impressed me by being incredibly genuine.

Despite all of that, Chase probably wouldn't like him. He could've been a saint who volunteered at animal shelters and orphanages over the weekends, but that wouldn't have made a difference to my brother. Chase took overprotective to a whole new level.

I'd gotten my first boyfriend here, before we'd moved to San Francisco. He was this gangly kid named Johnny Johnson (this was his actual, legal name) and he was completely harmless. However, Chase, who'd been a seventeen year old high school junior at the time, had not liked him. Johnny broke up with me two days after he met Chase.

The same happened with the next two. The first was Mark Lorie in freshman year, and he lasted about four months before Chase managed to scare him off. The second was Liam Finnegan in sophomore year, and he broke up with me after we'd dated for nearly the entire year, when Chase's glares got to be a little too much.

I'd taken a break from dating my junior year and now, I just hoped that Julio's scariness balanced out Chase's and he actually lasted.

Honestly, though, none of that mattered in this particular moment, when I would see Chase in a matter of minutes.

I was a nervous mess in the arrivals gate of the airport, which was a two hour drive from my mother's home, and I was constantly checking my phone, both for the time and for a text from my brother.

Suddenly, a group of people came into view, filtering out to the gate with their bags in tow. Among them, I could see a very familiar head of blond hair.

"Chase!" I called, raising my arms in the air and waving, unable to help the silly grin that took over my face the second I saw him. I was garnering some weird looks from people, but I didn't care.

He looked up, smiling widely as he saw me, dropping his bag and holding his arms open. I didn't hesitate for a second, and broke out into a run, throwing myself at him in a bear hug.

"I've missed you so much." I said into his shoulder a few seconds later, feeling a little teary-eyed.

"I've missed you, too, baby sis." Chase kissed the top of my head and hugged me tighter. He smelled like airplane and his familiar spicy cologne, and his arms felt beyond comforting around me. We'd never gone this long without seeing each other.

When we pulled back, and Chase picked his bags up again, I let out a little sob, feeling a few tears trickle out.

"Why are you crying?" He looked out of his element, and glanced at me in confusion.

"I'm sorry." I said, furiously wiping at my eyes. "It's just that I haven't seen you in so long and, I guess I've just missed you."

"Like I said, I've missed you, too." He chuckled, throwing his arm around my shoulders and crushing me under his weight as he pulled me to his side. I was dying under the pressure, but I didn't really mind.

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