Life of a Teenage Haner

Layla’s POV

I hugged Jaden tightly

“don’t leave me for that long again Jaden” I told him. He looked down at me and then a smile came to his lips

“I promise not to leave for a six month tour again until you have finished school and can come with me” he told me. I grinned

“that is all I ask” he laughed.

I smiled at him

“I missed you” I told him. He nodded

“I missed you too, it is always weird just talking to you on the phone” I nodded

“I know, but hey we can hang out as much as we want now” I said, he nodded

“yep, staring with a movie night tomorrow” he said, I nodded

“definitely, I’ll bring the food” he grinned

“great, I love your cookies” he told me, I smiled, my cheeks brightening slightly

“thanks” I said modestly then looked over as one of Jaden’s friends walked over. I bent my head to his neck and closed my eyes as I rested there, breathing him in.

Jaden laughed and greeted the guy, taking one hand off me to shake his; keeping me up with just one hand under my thighs, not that he needed the help considering how tightly I was holding on to him.

I lifted my head from his neck and just rest it on his shoulder and smiled at the guy, Mark who had been friends with Jaden for years.

Mark looked at me and grinned

“comfy?” he asked, I smiled back and nodded

“yeah, muscles are surprisingly good pillows” I joked, Mark laughed as did Jaden. Mark then grinned and rolled up his sleeves

“look at mine then, they would be way better pillows than his” he said as he flexed to show his muscles off. I raised a brow

“I don’t know, you’re looking kind of skinny” I teased. He playfully glared and poked me

“hey there! I have a tournament coming up soon, don’t put me down yet” he joked back. I grinned

“that’s great!” I exclaimed, he nodded with a huge grin on his face

“yeah, I can’t wait to hold that trophy” he said, I nodded.

Mark is a wrestler, picked out during his senior year and taken a full ride scholarship in college for wrestling he now was signed to a company and went around wrestling other people all over the country but I knew the next tournament was here in Huntington.

Mark looked at Jaden

“you should come, I could do with more support” he sighed. Jaden clapped a hand on his shoulder

“you’ll be fine man and of course we’ll come won’t we” he stated. I nodded and smiled at Mark

“we would love to go, you know I like to watch wrestling” Mark chuckled and nodded then walked off.

Keeping a hold of me, Jaden walked over to a chair and sat down. I shifted in his lap so I was sat sideways with my legs on one side of him hanging down.

I looked up at him with a smile and reached up to touch his hair

“you cut it” I noted. He nodded

“yeah” he ran a hand through the short spikes “it got really long so I just got one of the guys to buzz cut it off, it’s actually grown since then” he told me. I cocked my head as I looked it over then a smile came to my lips

“have you got pictures?” I asked. He nodded and shifted so he could reach into his pocket and take out his phone.

As he unlocked it I smiled at the home screen picture. It was a picture we had taken not long before he left for the tour in the back garden of Uncle Jimmy’s house. He and Aunt Leana had a pool there and we had all gone around for a day to hang out. We had just won a game of chicken against Daniel and Alex and Jaden wanted to take a victory picture so as we leant on the side of the pool he lifted the phone and took our picture as he had an arm around my shoulders and a big grin on both our faces.

I loved the picture; it was on my computer because I made him put it on there. He went to the picture files and scrolled through until he stopped on one and showed me. I leant in to look and a giggle escaped. He looked kinda funny with a buzz cut. Cutting my eyes to him I smiled

“nice” I said simply. Jaden looked at me and chuckled

“no it’s not and you don’t think so either, I know you wanna laugh” he accused. I giggled again and nodded

“I really do” he chuckled again and hugged me tighter

“you’re annoying” he said in an affectionate tone

“and you look bad with a buzz cut” I said back in an equally affectionate tone.

Jaden and I were talking a bit more when I picked up the sound of another car. I figured it was just another guest so I didn’t get up but five minutes later I heard my Mom let out a scream.

Shooting up from Jaden’s lap I looked around for her and saw her staring at someone in shock.

Following her gaze I froze in shock too. I felt Jaden come up behind me and wrap his arms around my waist then bend to my ear and whisper

“wouldn’t it be best to go hug him rather than stare at him?” he asked. I nodded and he let me go as I moved quickly through the crowd and towards the new person.

Stopping in front of him he looked down at me and grinned

“is this for me or am I crashing?” he asked. I felt my eyes well up as I gave a small grin

“you’re crashing Braden, this is for Jaden though it would be for you as well if you had told us you were coming home today” I said then gave him a small shove, not that it had any effect.

Braden chuckled and gave a small shrug

“I thought I would surprise you, got home and found no one there so obviously I thought to come here first” he said in an amused tone then cocked his head as he looked at me “you know I’ve been standing here for ten minutes now and have yet to get a hug” he said and then opened his arms wide.

I jumped into the embrace and let the tears fall that wanted to. I felt two more bodies join in and opened my eyes to see Mom and Dad joining in, Dad even had tears in his eyes.

We had our family hug and then others came up and welcomed him.

Jaden came over and he and Braden had a man hug before grinning at each other. They talked a bit and I watched with a smile on my face.

Someone came up to my side and I looked over to see Nathan there. He looked towards my brother and Jaden and I could see something in his eyes, he didn’t seem too happy to see them both. He looked at me and it left his eyes as he smiled

“are you happy to have them back?” he asked, I nodded

“yeah, I’ve missed them both so much and I’m glad they are both whole and healthy” I told him. He nodded then looked back over

“your brother looks a lot like your Dad” he remarked. I nodded

“yeah he does” I replied. He stared a moment then looked at me with a grin

“so when are you free? I was thinking that we could go to the beach, I really need to build up my tan” he said as he looked down at his arms.

I frowned

“I’m probably not going to be free for a while, I’m gonna be spending time with Jaden and Braden to catch up and make up for the time they were away” I told him. A frown touched his lips

“so you’re going to be ignoring your friends during that time?” he asked. I scowled

“no but my friends understand that I would want to spend time with my family after one got back from a long tour and the other has come back from a tour with the army, both having both been put in danger plenty of times” I bit out then shook my head at his behaviour.

Nathan stared at me a moment then shrugged

“ok then, don’t neglect us though” he replied shortly then walked off.

After he left Braden and Jaden came over. Braden looked off after Nathan with a confused look

“who was that?” he asked, I shrugged

“that was Nathan, the new kid my friends adopted” Braden raised a brow as he watched him leave the garden

“I don’t like him” he said.

“that makes two of us” Jaden muttered.

I grinned at them both then wriggled in between them and wrapped an arm around each of them

“well never mind him, I have both my boys back” I grinned. They both chuckled and wrapped an arm around me as well.

Jaden bent down and whispered

“I have the present you wanted for him in my bag, I’ll give it to you tomorrow to give to him” he told me. I looked at him and grinned

“thanks, you’re the best” I thanked him. He smiled back and then returned to his full height and together we moved around the group.