Here's to Never Growing Up

Chapter 23

The days went by slowly for Jeffrey and Nicole and Tom. For Alice and Isla and Nico as well. The band wasn't going anywhere. Jobs of Tom and Nicole were boring, tedious and Nicole could barely concentrate.

Family life was poor. Tom and Nicole were constantly fighting and Jeffrey was constantly going over to Nico's to get away from the arguments that would shake the house.

"Lola needs to come back. She'll realise breaking up with you was a big mistake and then you'll get back together and everything will go back to normal." Jeffrey was obviously a dreamer, too. Just like Lola. Nico thought as he and his friend sat talking over Red Bull and Assassin's Creed.

Nico knew that Lola and he not being together would change things in the band and in the friendship group but in the end, he also knew it was the right thing. They hadn't been happy for a while. A lot of it was a facade, a cover up.

Their heart wasn't in the game of Assassin's Creed. Jeffrey kept drifting between sleepiness, worry and grief.

Nico was in a similar position. If Lola had run away, why? Had she not thought of who it would effect? At all? He sat quietly, disengaged from the present. His heart ached for Lola. Not in the way it once did, but it still ached. Ached in a way that hurt. Nico wanted his friend back. Jeffrey wanted his sister back.

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"Let the pirate go before I change my mind." Wendy walked away and went behind the separation and sat on Lola's bed.

The Lost Boys untied Macafferty and let him go. They chased him away to at least get a little pleasure out of all of this.

"Peter. I need to speak with you." Lola took him to the side.

"I need to talk to you too. But you go first."

"I need to go home." Peter's heart sank. He didn't want Lola to leave. "I have my family that I miss so much and you have your family here. My home is where my family is. You have your own family here."

"I have you, too." Peter's eyes were rimmed with tears. Lola squeezed his hands and let them drift away.

"Lola." Peter's voice was clogged with sadness. "If you go, at least let me fly you home." It was agreed that they would set off in the morning. In the meanwhile, The Lost Boys had to hear the news and there was doubt in whether they would take Lola's departure well.