It was April tenth and Taylor and I were packing his stuff. It was weird not packing mine with his but I guess seeing how I was the one that made the decision to stay I was going to have to deal with it. “Call me as soon as you get to New York ok?” I requested sadly.
“Oh honey,” Taylor whispered coming up to me and wrapping his arms around my waist. “Don’t sound so sad. We’ll see each other soon enough and if something comes up you have my pager and cell phone number. Otherwise I’ll call you ever Saturday night ok?” I nodded against his chest as I held him tightly. “But we have to get going now.” He said reluctantly letting me go.
I too reluctantly let him go, grabbed a couple of his bags and we headed to the Tulsa International Airport.
~Care’s P.O.V.~
As we all drove to the airport I sat quiet. It was a weird feeling as we left. Kinda a relieved, free feeling with a mixture of sad loneliness. I was really going to miss everyone, not just Zac. The whole family. Everyone was going but Amy, Beth and me. But that’s also the thing that excited me. It was just going to be us girls. I smiled to myself as I held Zac’s hand and rested on his strong shoulder.
~Beth’s P.O.V.~
Everyone was pretty quiet on the drive to the airport, except obviously the kids. When we got to the airport we somehow managed to get through the fans and then to a back room where we found Taylor and Amy saying their good-byes, both crying softly. It was so…touching. I hugged Isaac tightly as I let a couple tears fall. “I’m gonna miss you.” I said quietly.
“Shh…it’s ok.” He calmly whispered as he ran his hand through my hair. “I’ll miss you too. But you’ll be ok, I’ll be ok. You’ll have the girls and I’ll have the guys and the music.” He pulled away and kissed me softly. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
~My P.O.V.~
I heard the rest of the family come in but I couldn’t let go of Taylor, nor could he let go of me. “I’m going to miss you so much.” I cried.
“Me too babe, me too. But you’re the one that wanted to stay back.” He said between sniffles.
“That doesn’t make it any easier to let you go. What if you meet another fan and fall in love with her and leave me?” I asked, still crying.
He pulled away from me and looked deeply into my deep, teary, blue eyes with his own. “Amy…oh Amy. That won’t happen. I have my number one fan right here and I’m already in love with her.”
“God I love you.” I choked out quietly before his lips met mine in a sensual kiss.
~Care’s P.O.V.~
I didn’t want to seem too happy that they were leaving but I was. I mean, I finally got my girls back. It’s not like they were leaving forever y’know? But I was also sad about Zac being gone for so long so I let that show. I sniffled and held back tears as I held on to Zac. “Shh…baby it’ll be ok. I’ll call you once we get there ok?” He comforted. I nodded as I sniffled again.
“I love you so much.” I said quietly.
“Oh baby, I love you too. But hey, they always say ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’. Maybe it’ll be good for us.” He said as he pulled away and bent down a little so he could look into my eyes. I think he was referring to how things weren’t too great with us after the him and Amy thing. I nodded again and he kissed me softly. We all had more tearful hugs and good-byes with the rest of the family as they got ready to leave.
~My P.O.V.~
After watching the plane take off all of us looked at each other, smiles spread across our faces. Then we all started laughing, hugging each other. “Hey guys?” Care laughed. “Don’t you think it’s kinda wrong for us to be this happy?” She asked between giggles.
We all pulled apart and looked at each other. “Probably.” I said seriously. “But I can’t help it.” I finished as I started to laugh again.
~Taylor’s P.O.V.~
“I still can’t believe they didn’t want to come.” I said in awe as we took off.
“Just think about it Tay. It’s not very often that kids our age move in with their significant others. I think a break will be nice.” Ike said.
“How can you say that?” Zac asked in shock from between me and Ike, looking at Isaac in complete horror. “It’ll be absolutely horrible without them.”
“No it won’t.” He said. “It’ll be just like the times before we met them.”
“You can’t just go back Ike.” I said quietly.
“I know that. But think of all the things we did before, how much fun we had. Stuff we didn’t do with the girls. Granted we had fun with them too but…Besides, we need time to bond again too.” This got me and Zac thinking.
“You’re right.” Zac and I said at the same time. “We’re gonna have a blast.” Zac laughed.
“Just don’t sound too happy when we talk to them.” I said as I smiled.
~My P.O.V.~
“Just don’t sound too happy when we talk to them.” I laughed.
“Yeah, that would probably make them feel pretty shitty.” Beth said as we started walking back through the airport.
“So, where to first?” Care asked.
“Let’s go home.” I said simply. I felt Care and Beth both looking at me.
“The apartment?” Care asked confused. I took them both around the shoulders and squeezed lovingly.
“No…HOME.” I said. They smiled brightly and we skipped up the hall.
It was May 6th, they were in Chicago and Taylor called every Saturday as promised. He sounded happy, which was good, bit I still missed him. We girls had been hanging out a lot. Having teenage sleepovers, shopping trips, amusement parks, sporting events and just…being us. We all admitted that we missed that. Taylor called at about 9:30pm that night and I was actually home alone. “Are you having fun yet?” I asked.
“Actually we are.” He said. I could tell he was smiling. “How ‘bout you?”
“Yeah it’s nice. I never realized how much I missed it just being the girls.” I said a little softer towards the end.
“Oh I know what you mean.” There was a long pause. But then we both said, “That doesn’t mean I don’t miss you.” Then we laughed. “So when are you guys heading up to Miramichi?”
“On the 12th. Then we’re heading to the cabin on the 26th.” I said wrapping the phone cord around my fingers.
“It’ll be nice for her to see her parents and friends again. And you too. You were pretty close to them weren’t you?”
I looked back on my memories and sighed. “Yeah I was.” We talked a little longer about what we’d been doing and how the pregnancy was going. I suggested a couple of names to him and he liked them both.
“They’re wonderful, unique and different. I like them.” He said. “But I have to go. I love you Amy Lee.”
I smiled. “I love you too Taylor.”
~Care’s P.O.V.~
“I’m going home! I’m going home! 26 ½ more hours and I’m going home!” I yelled as I ran around the house.
“Caroline! Settle down!” Beth yelled as she tried to squeeze the final things into her suitcase. We were leaving in less than 24 hours and Amy and I were soooo beyond excited. I mean sure, the Miramichi isn’t the most exciting place in the world but it was home. We loved the people there and they loved us. Beth just didn’t understand.
~My P.O.V.~
We landed in Fredericton at three pm. And we still had a two hour drive to Miramichi. I think that drive just about killed Beth. Care and I just couldn’t shut up. “Guys, PLEASE settle down.” She pleaded. I looked back at her and shook my head.
“Oh Beth, you don’t even understand.”
~7:08pm~
We pulled into Miramichi and my heart jumped into my throat. And by the look on Care’s face the same happened to her. We couldn’t even park in the driveway it was so full. In fact we parked probably about a half block away. “I wonder who’s all here.” I pondered.
“I never knew you guys were so popular.” Beth quipped. I resisted the urge to lean back and smack her.
“Ha ha, funny.” I said as we got out of the car. When we walked in the door we were literally attacked with hugs. I looked around at who was all clinging to me and saw Courtney, Crystal, Katt, Julia, Amy, Brad, Kyle, Devin, Dustin, Sean, Alex, and Sheena. Care and I laughed happily as we were practically bowled over.
“How are you!?” Courtney asked.
“Great…” They ushered us downstairs where our welcome home party awaited. I don’t think I realized how much I missed everyone. And as Mom and Dad came downstairs with tears in their eyes both Care and I broke down. They rushed over to comfort us as they cried as well.
“We’ve missed you so much.” Mom whispered.
“Us too.” Care choked. The party lasted like…forever but not nearly long enough. Courtney, Katt, Crys, Amy and Julia spent the night and we didn’t get to sleep until almost 6am. We talked about…everything. How things were at home, they guys, just stuff. They were all shocked that Tay and I moved out, even though we didn’t tell them why. And they almost died when I announced at the party that I was five months pregnant. Not that it was easy to hide. Mom and dad were shocked but happy for me.
~Care’s P.O.V.~
It was great being home again. Nothing had changed and it was great. I mean, granted our rooms were just a TAD different seeing how all my stuff was in Tulsa. Those two weeks went so fast it was sad. But we did everything possible in Miramichi and Moncton. I felt a lot better after being there. I didn’t want to leave but I knew we had to.
So we woke up at 6am and packed our stuff in the car. Again, tears flowed freely from our eyes as we had to leave these people we loved so much. “Please keep in touch more.” Mom pleaded.
“I’m sorry.” I sniffled. “We’ve just been really busy. We’ll write more I promise.”
“Ok, we’ll hear from you soon then.” Dad said with another squeeze on Amy’s shoulders.
“But we should really get going so we don’t miss our flight.” Amy said.
“It was great getting to know you better Beth.” Mom said.
“You too.” Beth said quietly as they shared a tight embrace. The rest of us also embraced our loved one and then we were on our way. The drive to Fredericton was quiet for a long time. All of us reflecting on the past two weeks.
“Hey, where are the guys now?” I asked. Amy always kept track of where Tay was.
“Detroit.” She said without even thinking.
“Amy, are you upset that you aren’t with him?” Beth asked while placing her hand on Amy’s shoulder and looking at me.
“Well…kinda.” Amy said slowly. “I miss him. And it sounds like he’s having so much fun.”
“I bet they are.” Beth said.
“But I know he misses you as much as you miss him.” I said.
“He better.” Amy said, trying to sound serious but failing miserably with a big grin.