I'm Finding Me Out

Roxxie’s POV

My mother had gone all out with the homecoming celebrations, of course. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from her. When the bus pulled up at the Dawson’s childhood home, all of our family was waiting out the front, and a huge, obnoxious banner hung across the garage door, welcoming us home.

I ran off the bus and straight to my father, wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug. Of everyone back home, I had missed him the most.

“Roxanne,” he said with a laugh, his head on my shoulder. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too, Dad,” I said, tears welling up in my eyes. He smiled and let me go to sling one of his arms around my shoulders and embrace Rian with the other. My heart swelled with pride. If felt so good to be home after such a long and exhausting tour. Everyone had been through so much, and at the end of it, I just needed a hug from my Dad.

My mother was overly emotional, of course. Especially when it came to Rian. He was always the favorite. She cried when he hugged her and I had to bite down on my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing. I noticed Addison standing on the fringes of the group. She seemed hesitant.

“Hey, Adi,” I said. “What’s up.”

“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “I guess I just didn’t realize how much I missed home.”

I pulled her into a one-armed hug and led her over to Dad, who was more then happy to see her. Even though I’d always been his girl, Adi was the youngest, and he had a soft spot for her. My Mom made everyone get off the bus and come inside for lunch, including the crew.

We all almost shit ourselves at the surprise waiting for us inside. Everyone’s friends and family were all crammed inside my parent’s house, waiting for us. Two huge tables were laid out with food and the whole house was decorated with balloons and streamers. As soon as we all walked through the door, everyone started cheering and hugging and crying. I heard the sound of an All Time Low song playing throughout the house.

The celebrations seemed endless. My mother was running around talking to everybody, whilst everyone was eating and catching up. Alex found me and grabbed my hand, leading me down into the basement. Rian, Zack and Jack were already there, lounging on the battered couch we’d picked up at a garage sale when we were sixteen.

I sat down next to Alex on the floor and leant against him, my head on his shoulder. We were all tired, and my Mom always went overboard with celebrations. It was nice for a few minutes of peace and quiet.

“So this is where it all started,” Alex said, looking around at all of us. We all nodded solemnly, glancing around the basement that housed so many of our band practice’s during our teen years.

“Look where we are now,” I said. “If you told me this is where we’d be when I was sixteen, I wouldn’t have believed you. This band…I just can’t even believe how far we’ve come together.”

“Mom was so good to us. We used to suck,” Rian said, causing us all to laugh. We were all silent for a moment, until Jack spoke up.

“Promise me we’ll never break up, guys. Promise me it’s always gonna be us, forever,” he said, his brown eyes full of seriousness.

“We’ll be playing music when we’re eighty,” Zack said, putting his arm around Jack’s shoulders. We all laughed and looked around at each other, and I could tell we were all thinking the same thing:

We were the luckiest fucking people alive.

My Mom soon found us, dragging us upstairs to continue in the festivities. She was too excited for words. My Dad was so proud; you could see it in his eyes. Everything was so perfect, and everyone was so happy to be there, together again. I hung out with Rian mostly, swapping tour stories and laughing about my fabulous stage crash. Now that it was in the past, we could laugh about my clumsiness.

I didn’t see Matt for a few hours, until I felt his arms wrap around my waist and his head rest on my shoulder. I turned to look at him with a smile and he pressed a quick kiss to my lips. I slid my arms over his and held them there, leaning back into his embrace and closing my eyes. He was my heaven.

“It’s about bloody time.” I opened my eyes to see my Dad grinning at me. His loud voice had caused everyone to fall silent. They all looked at Matt and I with huge smiles on their faces. My Mom dropped the glass she was holding. It shattered on the floor, but she paid no attention to it. She ran over to us and wrapped her arms around the two of us, talking a mile a minute.

From what I gathered, she was happy for us. Matt beamed with pride.

“You knew we both liked each other?” I asked in disbelief, looking between them. The whole room laughed.

“Everybody did, Roxanne! It was obvious when you were teens. It’s about time you two got together!” Dad laughed, putting his arm around my Mom’s shoulders.

“It’s true,” my Mom said. “I’m so happy for you two!”

“Seriously, though. Everybody?” I said. A chorus of yes’s throughout the room followed. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

“Why didn’t someone just tell us!?” I exclaimed.

“It’s no fun that way,” Dad said with a laugh. I rolled my eyes and smiled warmly at him, realizing just how much I’d missed him. It soon came time for everyone to be heading home, and Rian started getting all our stuff off the bus and piling it haphazardly into the back of his car. Rian, Addison and I all lived together.

Just as I was about to go over and help Rian, Matt grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him, placing his hands on my hips as I looked up at him and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Roxx…” he trailed off, looking into my eyes with a smile.

“What is it?” I asked him, a little worried.

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately, about us, you know, and I…” he stopped, swallowing nervously. I laughed and looked straight into his brown eyes.

“Just say it!” I said.

“Would you move in with me?”

I stared at him, my mouth agape, my eyes widening. “Yes!” I squealed, jumping up and wrapping my legs around him as he laughed and spun me around in circles. Things were moving fast between us, but it felt right. Rian demanded to know what the commotion was about and Matt told him. He was happy for the both of us and agreed to help me pack everything up back at our house.

It all fit really well, as Alex made the announcement that he wanted to move in with Rian and Addison. Alex and I would just be swapping houses, as he had been living with Matt before.

On the way to Matt’s house, he took one hand off the wheel to hold mine. I looked over at him, smiling as he pulled into his, our driveway.

“You’ll have to get rid of the Mickey dolls in your room,” I said, teasing.

“No way,” he said.

“It’s creepy!” I laughed.

“I guess I’ll have to make a compromise for my girl,” he said, leaning across the middle console to kiss my on the cheek. I laughed and got out of the car, pushing the door shut behind me.

“Maybe you could put all your Mickey stuff in Alex’s old room?” I suggested. “It’d be like a Mickey museum.”

Matt smiled and I saw the spark in his eyes. “I love you,” he said, slinging his arm around my shoulders.

“I love you, too, roommate,” I said with a wink.