If It Means a Lot to You

“Rose, let’s go! Their plane lands in an hour and we haven’t left yet!” Rachel ushered.

“I’m going, I’m going!” I yelled as I ran out of my room. I grabbed my keys and my phone before following Rachel out of the house.

An hour later we were running into the airport, hurrying towards the terminal Jeremy and Neil had said they would be at. I anxiously and eagerly looked at every person coming out of the hallway, looking for the familiar bearded face.

“Jeremy!” I called when I spotted him. He looked around at the sound of his name. “Jer!” He finally spotted me. Jeremy nudged Neil and motioned towards us. They picked up the pace and hurried towards us. I threw my arms around Jeremy as Rachel ran towards Neil. Jeremy kissed me deeply, lifting me up a little as he did.

“It’s great to see you,” he breathed when we pulled apart and he set me down.

“It’s great to see you too,” I told him. I glanced over and saw Rachel and Neil separating from their hug and looking towards us. “Hey, Neil,” I greeted, giving him a quick hug.

“How’s life been since being off tour?” he asked as we started walking out of the airport.

“Weird,” Rachel answered. “We missed all of you guys a lot.”

“The guys nearly killed us when we said we were coming out to visit you two. They were mad that we hadn’t told them so they could come along too,” Jeremy chuckled.

“Well not to be mean, but we need some time with you guys, not the whole group,” I said with a smile. Jeremy flashed me a smile. We got into the car and drove to mine and Rachel’s house as Jeremy and Neil caught us up to speed on what was going on with them and the guys.

Jeremy and I sat on the couch together that night, watching TV. He had his head on my shoulder. Rachel and Neil had disappeared to her room to spend some time themselves.

“You sure you don’t want to sleep?” I asked again.

“I’m sure. I’ve felt jet lag plenty of times before. I’ll be fine, Rose,” Jeremy assured. I shrugged my free shoulder. “So how was your day with Rachel the other day?”

“It was fun. We both really needed it. We talked about some stuff and had a good time together.”

“Mind me asking what you guys talked about?”

“A lot of things. One being about us moving to Florida.” At those words, Jeremy sat up and looked at me in surprise.

“You and Rachel are moving to Florida?” He sounded incredulous.

“We want to. Neither of us want to only have these visits being the only time we see you guys. I want to be closer to you, she wants to be closer to Neil, and we both want to be closer to the rest of the guys.” His brown eyes searched my face for a second before a wide grin spread across his lips.

“That’s awesome!” A thoughtful look flickered across his face. “What about living arrangements?”

“We started looking at apartments in Ocala,” I told him. He immediately shook his head.

“Oh no. If you’re gonna live in Ocala, you’re gonna live with me because knowing Neil, he’s gonna want Rachel living with him,” he said. “So you’ll live with me?”

“Only if you want me to.”

“Of course I do!” I laughed before kissing him. I moved over to sit on his lap and he laid his head in the crook of my neck. “I kinda wanna sleep now,” he murmured. I let out a quiet giggle.

“Then let’s go to my room so you can sleep comfortably.” We stood up. I turned off the TV and the DVD player before taking Jeremy’s hand and leading him to my room. I crawled into my bed, settling under the comforter. A moment later Jeremy joined me, pulling me close to him. I breathed in deeply, his scent comforting me. “Good night. I love you,” I whispered.

“Night. I love you too.” I sighed in content before closing my eyes.

***

I laughed as Jeremy playfully tackled me onto the couch.

“You dork!” I giggled. His fingers bushed my sides, causing me to laugh some more. “Stop! Don’t tickle me!” He grinned.

“That ticklish are you now?” he laughed as he continue tickling me. The doorbell rang.

“Jer, stop. Someone’s at the door and I have to get it.” He chuckled as he let me up. Still laughing a little, I straightened out my shirt before going towards the door. My eyes widened when I saw Luke at the door. “What are you doing here?” I demanded.

“I’m ready,” he simply said.

“For what?”

“To get back together with you.” I let out a cold laugh.

“Rose, who’s at the door?” Jeremy asked as he came over to look. He clenched his jaw when he saw it was Luke. “What’s he doing here?”

“Taking back what’s mine,” Luke told him in a matter of fact tone. Jeremy’s arm snaked around my waist, pulling me towards him.

“Too bad she’s not yours to take.”

“She was with me for two years. I have her heart.”

“Too bad I took it back when you broke my heart and I had to rebuild it,” I snapped. “We may have been together for two years but that doesn’t mean shit after you broke up with me replaced with whore after whore.”

“I’m sorry for doing that, Rose. I really am. It was a mistake and I’ll regret ever letting go. Just say you’ll give me a second chance. I can be with you more than he can,” Luke tried to reason. I glanced at Jeremy before looking back at Luke.

“So you expect me to forgive and forget what you did?”

“Forgive, yes. Forget, not necessarily.” I looked at Jeremy again.

“You’re not seriously considering it, are you?” Jeremy demanded, sounding both angry and slightly panicked. I turned back to Luke.

“I will never forgive or forget what you did. I’m at a much better place now and Jeremy means much more than you ever did,” I told him before swinging the door shut and locking it.

“Rose! I can explain! Open up!” Luke yelled, pounding on the door. I turned around to face Jeremy.

“He’s part of my past and he’s going to say there,” I stated, looking up at the bearded singer. “I’m going to move to Florida to be with you and to see the guys, ex-boyfriend or not. He will not ruin my future.”