Dance to This Beat

“Jon!”

He turned around and saw me. “Hey!”

We greeted each other happily. When he embraced me in his arms, he picked me up and spun me around. I kissed him, giggling like a schoolgirl.

Panic had just gotten back from tour and Hanna, Kaity, Josh, Haley, and I were at the airport to pick them up. Haley and Spencer embraced, kissing passionately. Ryan was on the phone, so after Jon, I attacked him.

“Claire!”

“Nice to know you missed me, too,” I grinned.

“Of course I did, dork.”

I quickly kissed his cheek then went to greet the other guys.

After hugging Spencer, I looked around. “Houston, we have a problem.”

“What is it?”

“Where’s Bren--“

He jumped on my back, scaring me to death and causing me to squeal (many people turned around to stare at us, causing us all to laugh).

“Luggage!”

Jon groaned, clearly jet-lagged.

I giggled, reminding myself to make Jon groan more often, it sounded really hot. Okay, sure, we hadn’t had sex yet (the furthest we’d gone was the first night that I had stayed over at his house), but you never knew. We had been together for seven months. And we love each other. Maybe after a little longer.… Whoa. I’m getting way ahead of myself here.

The nine of us walked out to the two cars. “Mission Impossible,” Brendon muttered.

“Nah,” I said to him. “Four in Josh’s car and five in Hanna’s.”

“Plus luggage.”

“That’s what trunks are for.”

“We could always make you walk,” Haley joked.

“Ha-ha. I’ll take the cramped car any day.”

“Lazy.”

“You walk then.”

“Guess who’s choosing the cramped car!”

------

“Stop!” I giggled.

Jon had been tickling me the for five minutes straight. “What if I don’t wanna?”

“Jon!” Ryan, Hanna, and Brendon all exclaimed; Ryan was sitting next to us and was shooting Jon death glares every time I would move. That is seriously how cramped the car was.

“Are we there yet?” Ryan whined.

“Dude,” I turned to look at him, “we just left the airport ten minutes ago.”

“Yeah. And that’s another thirty before we get to your house.”

“Ryan. You live closer than I do. It’s only about, you know, right up there.” I pointed down the road to Ryan’s house.

“Oh yeah.” He laughed out of sheer embarrassment. “I knew that.”

“So who was your top-secret phone call with?” Hanna asked, curiously.

“Your mom.”

“For real, Ryan, who?”

He sighed--deep in thought--then leaned forward, deciding whether to tell us or not. “Her name’s Alexandria. She goes to our school. Except she’s a junior.”

“That’s not so bad.” I smiled at him. Right there, I made a mental note to give Ryan a big hug.

He looked up from his hands and smiled at me.

“Hold on just one second,” Brendon said, sounding determined. “Is this the chick who you’ve been on the phone with the whole tour? ‘You hang up first,’ ‘No, you hang up first,’ ‘No, you.’”

“Brendon,” I scolded.

“It’s true,” he defended.

“So what’s she like?” Hanna interrupted. By this time we were already in Ryan’s driveway, but no one seemed to notice.

“She’s got big blue eyes and long brown hair. She’s defiantly shorter than me, like five-foot-three. And she’s really hyper.” He was grinning like no other. This Alexandria chick defiantly made him happy.

------

“Oh my God, look at your hair!” Jon’s mom squealed when he and I walked into the house, but nonetheless she was right. Jon’s hair was drastically longer. And it needed desperately cut. Bad.

But, honestly, all of theirs did. I guess that’s what three months on tour did to you. I didn’t want to guess how long it had been since their last shower. Thank the gods for deodorant.

Jon me kissed out of nowhere, snapping me back into this reality I call hell.

“I love you,” he whispered.

I grinned, kissing him again. “I love you, too.”

“I should probably go take a shower,” he laughed.

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll head home then.”

“Hey.” I looked up. “Don’t be sad.”

“I’m not,” I lied. He had no idea how much I missed him.