audacity // kryoz

thirty-one

Sat on the floor, surrounded by objects I had forgotten about, I looked at the picture in my hands. I smiled as memories filled my head. It was the only one I had kept around. I still don't know why I still kept it but I'm happy I did.

"What did you find?" John asked which tossed be back into the real world.

I looked back at him with a wide smile, "I found my olive branch,"

***

I let out a breath as we sat in our assigned seats on the plane. The airport was always stressful but the fact that I was going to see my family after distancing myself from them made it worse.

I looked over to John and he gives me a much appreciated, encouraging smile. Looking out the window at the tarmac, I began to give myself a pep-talk. I can do this, it's only 3 days. I've got this. I took a deep breath.

This was only a 3-hour flight and I was prepared to sleep for all of it. It wasn't early or anything, in fact, it was 10:17 but I had decided that in order to confront my family, I needed to be as well-rested as possible.

It was a while before the plane began to move and soon after I leaned my head against John's shoulder and closed my eyes.

***

I slowly opened my eyes to John shaking me.

"We're getting off soon,"

I nod and rub my eyes. I yawn before we hear the ding and chaos ensues. I was in no rush to be caught in the thralls of people rushing off the plane so we sat still. Once the moving had died down a considerable amount, we both began to move. Since John was taller, he reached for the overhead and I grabbed my backpack that was sat in between my legs.

It was only a matter of time before we were at the airport and looking for Alex, my younger brother. Apparently, he had volunteered to pick us up and as I didn't have much of a say, I agreed.

I suddenly heard my name get yelled and I turn around to see where it came from. I look around for a second before seeing Alex waving his hands in the air wildly. I smile to myself, he's always making a fool of himself. I begin walking towards him and he does the same. As I get closer to him I notice that he's grown up quite a bit. His features had hardened a considerable amount and he had dyed his hair a bright red. It was guaranteed that our mother didn't like his hair color but I knew he didn't care. He tended to do what he wanted without the consideration of anyone's opinion. I always admired that about him but I guess that comes with the territory of being the baby in our family.

"Long time no see," He speaks first but I can see his eyes looking John up and down, sizing him up. They were nearly the same height but John was slightly taller. I knew my brother was just trying to be a dick to see if he could get a response. At least that hasn't changed.

I shrug my shoulders a bit before speaking, "C'mon I'm ready to get out of this airport. Where did you park?"

He takes his eyes off of John and begins to lead the way. "Wow, Anna, can't believe you're not going to introduce your friend here," he says while waving his hand vaguely in John's direction.

"And I'm not going to if you continue to try to be an ass about it," I say curtly.

I watch a smile grow on Alex's face, "Good to know you haven't changed much,"

I shake my head and laugh at him and his antics.

As we walked through the airport to Alex's car, Alex is having a one-sided conversation but I realize that John has been strangely quiet. I turn my head to look at him and it looked like he was in his own world. I nudge him with my elbow and he looks at me almost surprised.

"You okay?" I mouthed to him.

He blinked once before nodding and turning his head away from me to start to look around. I narrowed my eyes at him. Something was definitely up but I didn't want to push him too hard so I dropped it.

***

As expected, my brother wouldn't shut up. I was sat in the passenger seat next to Alex while John sat behind me. I felt kinda bad as I knew his legs were most likely cramped in the back but I didn't want to subject him to Alex's stupidity.

"Are we almost there?" I ask, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"In fact, we are here," he says as we pull into the parking lot of the hotel we were staying at.

"Thank God," I mutter under my breath.

"That ready to get rid of me?" he says with a stupid grin on his face.

"Unfortunately," I say with a wry smile.

Disregarding my coldness, he laughs and smiles at me before taking the keys out of the car. Alex gets out before John and I follow suit.

***

It was a little bit before Alex left the front desk and handed us our respective keycards.

"There is only one room but don't worry there are two beds,"

I was incredibly relieved. Although John and I have known each other for a good amount of time now, we still have yet to share a bed and I think that's a boundary I'm not ready to cross yet.

"You guys go settle into your room. See you guys tomorrow,"

"See you tomorrow," I say as he walks away from us but as he took his third step he suddenly stopped and turns around.

"You never told me your name," he said to John.

"I'm John," he replied quickly.

Alex nods thoughtfully for a second before speaking up again, "Well, I'm out. Don't do anything I wouldn't do,"

"Is there anything you wouldn't do?" I tease.

"Meth," he answers without missing a beat.

John laughs loudly and I smile. Maybe I was stressed over nothing.

A/N
this is very much a filler chapter and i may have forgotten about this book a lil bit but i promise im coming back to finish it. here's my lil christmas present for u guys. happy holidays. stay safe. until next time. love u.