If It Means a Lot to You

“Say good-bye to California, Rach,” I told the redhead as we headed to the air port in a taxi.

“Good-bye, California!” Rachel yelled out the window. I laughed and shook my head.

It had been two weeks since Neil and Jeremy’s visit. Josh, Kevin, and Alex had flown in the weekend after to drop by for a visit. After their visit, Rachel and I started packing; they had no idea we were moving to Florida so we had waited until they had left to start. Whenever we weren’t working or running errands, we were packing, cleaning, and finalizing details. It had been settled that there was no need to get an apartment; just as Jeremy had predicted, Neil had asked Rachel to move in with him.

“It’s so weird to be leaving after spending my whole life here,” I sighed.

“You’ll be fine. You’ll be leaving all that’s bad here and moving towards the good things. It’s not that bad. You might be a little homesick but you get used to it after awhile,” Rachel assured. We finally arrived at the airport. After paying the taxi driver, we grabbed our suitcases and headed into the airport.

Once we were on the plane, I looked at the window and watched them load the suitcases onto the plane. Half an hour later we were taking off and headed towards Florida.

“Guys!” Rachel and I yelled in unison when we arrived at the airport in Florida. All of the guys spotted us immediately and ran over, engulfing us in a group hug.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were moving over here?!” Kevin demanded as they all pulled away from us.

“We wanted to surprise you guys,” Rachel laughed.

“Well Neil and Jeremy decided to let the cat out of the bag a few minutes early,” Alex told us. I playfully hit Jeremy’s arm as Rachel did the same to Neil.

“Way to ruin the surprise!” I chided with a smile.

“We had to tell them! They wanted to know why boxes were arriving at mine and Neil’s houses!” Jeremy defended, rubbing where I had hit him.

“Come up with some lie?” Rachel suggested.

“Neil blurted it out so blame him!”

“What?!” Neil yelled. “That is a lie! You told them as much as I did!”

“I did not!”

“All right, settle down, settle down. It doesn’t matter. We would’ve told them right now anyways,” I shushed, giggling a little.

“Let’s head out so you girls can get settled in with Jeremy and Neil,” Josh suggested as he picked up my suitcase. Kevin took Rachel’s and we started towards the parking lot. At the parking lot, Neil put Rachel’s suitcase in his car.

“This is it. We won’t be living together anymore,” I said, looking at Rachel.

“It’s gonna be so weird not waking up to you listening to your music,” she admitted, smiling. I smiled back.

“Do you know how we’re gonna handle being apart?” I grinned; I knew she’d know immediately what the response was.

“Like a boss.” We laughed. I gave her a quick hug.

“See you later for dinner with the guys.” She chimed her own farewell before climbing into Neil’s car with Kevin. I turned back to Jeremy, Alex, and Josh.

“Ready to go?” Josh asked. I nodded and we all climbed into the car. Jeremy dropped Alex and Josh off at their own houses before heading towards his. I stared at the window, looking at what would eventually become my new home.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Jeremy observed after a few minutes of drive in silence.

“Hm?” I said, broken out of my reverie. “Oh, just trying to get over the idea that I no longer live in California and won’t be living with Rachel anymore.” He nodded his head in understanding. In a few minutes, we were pulling up in a simple one story house. There was a front yard and, judging by the gate that lead to the back, probably a back yard. There was a small porch on the front. It was a light tan color. Jeremy grabbed my suitcase out of the back before leading the way towards the front door.

“Come on. Our room’s this way,” he said, jerking his head to the side. I smiled involuntarily when he said “our.” I glanced into the rooms as we passed by. Jeremy opened the last door at the end of the hallway. He set down my suitcase on the bed before turning to me. “Welcome to your new home.” I smiled and he returned the smile. I walked over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“You know, I think I’m gonna like it here,” I told him. He chuckled before kissing me sweetly. I sighed as we pulled apart, finally at peace with myself.