And After All This Time, I'm Still Into You

The train pulls into Penn Station and I immediately freeze in my seat. I wasn't ready to set foot in Baltimore, not yet. I had the whole 2 hour train ride to prepare myself for this, but I wasn't ready at all.

"Miss?" I hear and look up to see the ticket guy. "Are you continuing on with us?" He asks and I shake my head. "Do you need some assistance?" I shake my head again. "The train will embark soon, Miss. I suggest you exit before you're on your way elsewhere."

I nod and close my eyes, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly before finally getting up and off the train. I breathe in the cold air, wrapping my coat tighter around my body. The snow on the ground is dirty from people stepping all over. I hope while I'm here it doesn't snow hard. I've gotten used to not being trapped in a snow storm and I'd like to keep it that way.

My suitcase is heavy and I'm glad I opted for it instead of a duffel bag. It rolls behind me as I look for my father's car. I can't find any signs of him or the car. Looking at my watch, I see the time is 8:30 and I told him to be here at 8:20. I shiver as a breeze of air comes at me. It's only a minutes later that I hear a familiar voice.

"Is that the beautiful Jenna Hoult?" They say and I'm frozen in place.

I turn and come face to face with my high school friend, Jeremy Davis. "Oh my gosh, Jere! It's so good to see you!" I say happily and hug him.

"I know! It's been like, what? Four years?" he says as he pulls away and chuckles.

"More like seven, actually." I remind him and he scrunches his brows in mock confusion.

"My, time does fly by fast." he chuckles. "Well, what are you doing here? Off to visit anybody?"

I shake my head. "I'm actually visiting here."

"Really? Where did you move to?" he asks.

"New York. About 3 years ago." I tell him. I hear a honk and I turn to see my father waving from his beat up old Volkswagen. "That's my ride."

"Well here. We need to catch up." Jeremy says and takes out a marker, grabbing my hand and jotting down his number. "When do you leave?"

"Sunday." I tell him.

"Make sure to call before then! We could do lunch or something!" I'm nodding at everything he's saying, wanting nothing more than to enter the warmth of the car but not wanting to be rude.

"Will do! Bye!" I rush to the car and my dad gets out, taking my suitcase from me and putting it in the trunk as I get into the passenger seat. It's warm and I sigh contently as I take my hands out of my gloves and put them up to the vent to warm up. My dad comes back inside and he starts pulling out of the parking lot, driving home.

"It's good to see ya, kiddo. It's been a while since we've seen you." my dad says and I can hear the sadness masked behind the words.

"I'm sorry, daddy. I just couldn't deal with coming here." I mumble and I see him nod.

"What time's your appointment? Your mother wanted to either go out to brunch or dinner."

"It's at four. We could do brunch if that's what you guys want. I don't know how long the whole thing is going to take." I say.

"Is he going to be there?" My dad asks and my eyes widen. I know who he's talking about and to be honest, I hadn't thought about it.

"I don't think so. I mean, he has no reason to. He's signed everything and this part of the paper work is only for me. It has nothing to do with him." I tell him.

My dad nods. "Well, I'm just glad you're home." he says and like that, we're off the subject.

After getting home and being bombarded with love by my mother, I settled into my old room. It hasn't changed one bit since the last time I was here. There isn't that much left, but what little that is, takes me back to my high school days. Old stuffed animals. Posters. A picture board with photos of me with the guys. With Kara and Lisa, my best friends. Of me and Alex. I sigh and take down the picture board, settling it down on the floor and facing it towards the wall. There isn't any clothes in the closet, everything had been taken with me when I moved in with Alex shortly after we got engaged. There's boxes in there, some marked Jenna's, others marked crafts. Probably my mothers.

I close the closet door, not needing any reminder of what's in those boxes. It's everything that reminded me of Alex that I didn't have the heart to throw away but couldn't take to New York. I pull my suitcase onto the bed and take out my things, arranging them in the drawers. I'm kicking the now empty suitcase under my bed when my mother comes in.

"Knock knock." she says as she pushes the door open. She notices the picture board up against the wall and I see her frown for a second before putting a smile on her face. "Where did you want to go to brunch, sweetheart?"

I shrug, not really caring. My mother sighs before coming in and sitting down with me on my bed.

"How are you holding up?" she asks and I shrug once again. "Jenna, you have to be feeling something. I'll tell you, when I got that invitation, I about nearly had a heart attack. Isobel always said that Alex and that Stacey girl were never serious, so of course it had come as a shock to me." She rubs my shoulders and I give her a small smile. "If it makes you feel any better, you're way prettier than her." she softly says.

I chuckle and she smiles. "You're my mother. You're supposed to say things like that."

"Only when it's true." she says and gives me a side hug. "Come on. Time for brunch."

After brunch, I take a shower and decide to take a nap before I have to leave. When I wake up, I forget where I am. My old room with it's baby blue painted walls surround me and for a second I think that maybe everything was a dream. Maybe I'm still in high school, running late for school after waking up from a vividly realistic nightmare. I see that that is in fact not true as my phone alarm goes off, telling me I need to be out the door and on the road in 10 minutes.

I sigh and get dressed, grabbing everything I need before walking down the stairs. I grab the keys to my moms Lexus and shout to my parents that I'd be back later before walking out the door. I get into the car and start down the street. I drive past the familiar streets, familiar houses. I pass by Jack's parent's house. By Rian's parent's house. By Alex's parent's house. I almost want to stop and say hello, but I know I'll be late if I do.

I pull up to the building and park the car. There's 5 more minutes till I need to be in there and I decided I need about three to compose myself before going in. When I feel like I'm ready, I grab my things and get out, walking into the building.

"I have an appointment with Mr. Glauser. For Jenna Gaskarth." I say to the receptionist and she tells me to take a seat. It's 2 minutes later and I'm being ushered into an office.

"Mrs. Gaskarth. It's a pleasure meeting you, though the circumstances could be better." he says with a small smile. I let out a small chuckle and take a seat. "Do you have the papers I faxed out?"

I nod as I place them onto his desk, pushing them forward. "They're all here. I mailed in the other papers a few days ago so I'm sure that, um, he has given them to you." I say.

"Yes. Yes, I spoke to Mr. Gaskarth and he will be dropping them off this week." Mr Glauser says.

"He hasn't given them to you? I thought he would've gotten them by now." I tell him.

"I'm afraid not. But let's get to work on these set of papers." he says and suddenly he's into business mode. "Because you decided to do this with the divorce filing instead of going through the court, it'll be a fairly simple process. You already filled out the paper work so all we need to do it go over the finer details."

I nod and listen to him as he explains everything. He has me sign more things. He asks me questions. "Entitled to what? I don't want Alex's money." I say when he asks me about our financial standings.

"Ok then we're about done here. You don't have any children, I presume? Because that would mean more paperwork."

I look up at him, comprehending what he's saying before I shake my head. "No. No children." I say and look at the paper he's handing me.

"Ok well, I need you to sign this and we're done." he points to where I need to sign and I put the pen to the paper, signing my name. He turns to the printer next to him, lifting up a piece and placing the paper on it. It scans and soon he has a copy as well as the original. He stamps them both with an official seal that says Maryland Court of Law before handing me a copy. "You are officially Jenna Hoult again." He says and I smile.

"Thank you." I tell him and stand up.

"Once I get the paper work from Mr. Gaskarth, I will be sure to send you a copy of them as well." I nod and walk towards the door, ready to be out of here.

"Thank you, again."

I sigh in relief once I'm out of the building. I feel free. Like a weight has been lifted. For years I had been living in the shadow of my own last name. But now, it's gone. I am no longer married to Alex Gaskarth. I am no longer Jenna Gaskarth. I'm Jenna Hoult again. Jenna freaking Hoult. Hoult comma Jen-.

"Jenna?" I'm pulled out of my thoughts and turn, my eyes widening as I come face to face with none other than Alexander Gaskarth himself.