She's Dancing Alone

My eyes had subconsciously closed once again. Snapping them open I took in my surroundings. Still in the airport. One of my arms was folded across the other supporting my face. I tilted my head forwards, bangs covering my eyes. I felt myself drifting into unconsciousness once again before a large bang on the table caused me to jolt forward.

“Bri Bri,” Jack smiled at me, tilting his head to the side with the most innocent look upon his features. I groaned allowing my shoulders to fall forward and my forehead to bang against the table. “Hey, hey, hey whoa,” Jack chuckled reaching over my side of the table and pushing my shoulders back into their previous position. I flicked the stray hair in my face away with a small flick of my neck before looking back to him.

“How are you so cheery after waking up at four?” I whispered. Jack took his hands from my arms and folded them on the table in front of him. He looked almost thoughtful for a moment before shrugging.

“The thought of being able to see you every day’s exciting,” he explained softly. “It’s gonna be like old times,” he concluded. I looked deeply into his eyes. All annoyance drained from my bones as I admired the genuine happiness on his face. I found myself smiling at him before sighing and slumping in my seat. Jack’s memories of ‘old times’ was clearly different from mine. My memories of Jack consisted of having him surprise me at the most random times; laughing at stupid little things and having him put a smile on my face even at the hardest times. Reflecting on the past made a dull ache begin to throb within my chest as I bit down on my lip. There was no doubt I missed those days, I missed Jack. “Are you alright?” I heard him ask, snapping me from my thoughts. I looked back up at him, his eyebrows were slightly knitted together and he looked slightly concerned.

“Yeah I’m fine,” I smiled meekly as I sat back up and shifted through my bag. Jack didn’t look convinced, instead I noticed him nibbling on the inside of his lip before reaching forwards and touching his fingertips to the closest of my hands. I sighed lightly under my breath before putting on another smile. “I’m just tired. That’s it,” I muttered tiling my head to the side. Seemingly satisfied with my answer he perked up a bit. I watched as he glanced over my shoulder.

“They’re here,” he sang taking to his feet and tugging on my hand. I rolled my eyes, taking my carryon and pushing it over my shoulder before following Jack’s actions. I turned around to see three boys walking towards us. Ahead of the group striding towards us was Alex, a black beanie covered his un-straightened hair and two matching black suitcases trailed behind him in either hand. I walked towards him, closing the distance before taking one of the suitcases, my suitcase, from him.

“Thanks Al,” I whispered to which he simply shrugged. Zack took the suitcases’ place next to Alex and exchanged smiles with both Jack and I. Next to join the small circle forming around us was a less familiar face appearing on Alex’s other side. I had only met this man once before but I instantly recognised him. Matt flashed me a small grin which I gratefully returned with a nod. Another five or so minutes past before we were joined by Rian and a few men I didn’t recognise. I glanced over them and tilted my head slightly. Rian smiled in my direction before holding his hand out to gesture at the boys.

“Brianna here’s some of our crew,” he began before turning ninety degrees towards the other boys. “This is Danny,” he began pointing to the first guy. “That’s Grieco,” he continued. “And that’s Vinny on the end,” he finished.

“Hey,” I smiled shyly. They returned my greeting with enthusiasm before I felt an arm tie around my shoulder. Looking up I saw Jack smiling back down on me and I instantly knew he was trying to tell me I was joining their family.

“Right come on guys let’s go, we need to go get the bus and shit,” Alex sighed before dragging himself towards the exit of the airport. The boys let out short grunts under their breaths causing me to roll my eyes. Jack’s arm stayed around my shoulder as we both pulled our baggage after Alex and something about it made me forget our friendship. I tied my free arm around his middle and leaned my head into his shoulder while we walked.

“Are you looking forward to this?” I heard Jack mutter only loud enough for me to hear. My lips tugged upwards and I nodded definitely against his shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be different,” I reasoned before looking up at him. He simply smiled back down at me.

“I’m glad you changed your mind,” he said softly. Like I just mentioned our strictly-friends basis had totally slipped from my mind as we walked through the automatic sliding doors. Our eyes stayed connected and I smiled at his words before stopping our tracks. I leaned forwards and pressed my lips to Jack’s cheek for a second longer than I should have. After realising I pulled backwards, trying to act casual by slipping out of his embrace and walking to catch up with Alex. All I could hope was that none of the others had seen it.