Page 84 of From Me to You

“Yeah.” I smiled as I met her eyes in the rearview mirror.

Jay carefully placed his guitar next to him, his ‘Firebird’. “I missed her,” he said, smiling at me.

I rolled my eyes at him. The band left all their instruments here before they headed for L.A., not anticipating that they would tour right away.

“I think you came for the guitar and not for me,” I chided.

“I can’t believe it took you this long to figure it out,” Jay said, shaking his head.

I elbowed him in the ribs, and I leaned in to whisper in his ear, “No sex for you.”

He just laughed as he held my hands playing with my fingers the whole way to the airport.

Aunty M was bawling as we stood at the departure gates. “I am going to miss you so much, sweetie. I can’t believe my little niece is all grown up and going on her own adventure.”

I hugged her tight, rubbing small circles on her back. “I love you, Aunty M. And I am always going to visit you, no matter where I end up.”

She sniffed, “You kids have fun, but not too much fun. Remember what I told you?”

My ears turned red. She was talking about birth control again. Even though she put me on it, she reminded me every time that I should take them regularly and not mess up the dose. “I know, Aunty M,” I muttered as I pulled away from her.

“You can call me anytime, Evy. And you always have a home to come back to remember that.” She smiled through her tears.

My heart felt heavy when I saw her like this. God, I was going to miss her so much.

“I will. I love you,” I whispered to her.

“I love you too, sweetie.” Aunty M pointed to Jay. “You better take good care of our girl. I trust that you will always be there for her, Emerson. Just make sure she never cries,” she said softly.

Jay hugged me from the side. “You know it, Marie. I promise I will always take care of her, no matter what. She is my number one priority.”

Shortly thereafter, we boarded our flight to LAX. I sighed as I took my seat near the window with Jay beside me.

“You miss her,” he stated.

“I will always miss her. I have been with her my entire life, so it feels weird not to have her constant presence around me. I know life will never be the same after this. I am excited for the next chapter, but I am also terrified. I just want to go back to those days when she would come home exhausted from work, and you and I were goofing around the house. It somehow felt like my safe haven,” I admitted.

“You are not going to be alone—you know. You will always have me and the whole gang. Plus, Marie is just a few hours away. We can always go back to see her. We are all still inyour life, sweetheart. And I promise you that we are not going anywhere.” Jay kissed my cheek as he put his arms around me.

I leaned into his arms as the flight took off. I peered through the window at the soft, fluffy clouds against the backdrop of the bright blue sky, such a calming sight that did nothing to settle my nerves. The dread that I thought was long gone churned in my stomach, washing over my senses like an imminent doom was about to hit me. Somehow, I knew in my gut that nothing would ever be the same again.

CHAPTER 18

“Evy, OMG, it’s so good to see you.” The familiar scent of Bergamot and roses invaded me as a tall blonde enveloped me in the tightest hug. Katy. God, I missed her so much.

“Hey, Katy.” I smiled as I pulled away from her.

It looked like Katy had fully embraced the L.A. fashion. She was wearing blue jean cut-off shorts that were ripped off over the edges and a white tank top that ended at her waist, showing off her flat, toned stomach. Her hair was curled into smooth beachy waves, and her makeup was perfectly done as always.

She looked like the Katy I knew, but more mature in a better way. L.A. suited her. I couldn’t believe she changed so much in just two months, and the band had only been living in L.A. for the past two weeks.

“Come on, let’s go. I can’t wait to show you around L.A., it is incredible. I love it so much.” Katy jumped, linking her arm with mine as we headed to the parking lot. It felt like only yesterday when Katy was telling me how excited she was to show me around Bellevue. Now look at how far we have come.

Katy was here to pick us up from LAX because the guys were practicing at the studio according to Jay’s strict rules. They had to practice even when he wasn’t there. He said that it was important to keep practicing, or you can never be perfect. And hedemanded perfection, especially when it came to his music. His art.

Jay took the keys from Katy, muttering that he would drive as I slid into the passenger seat with Katy in the backseat. We waited for him to carefully load his precious ‘Firebird’ and our bags.

I shook my head. Something would never change. I couldn’t believe how obsessed he was with that guitar.