So Kiss Me Goodbye

With a few phone calls, a laptop, and a withdrawal from my bank account I was ready.

My flight was in four hours; I would touch down in Charleston around ten thirty where Matthew would pick me up and take me back to mom and dad's.

All that was left was packing up and telling Shelby and Travis, though finding them would be the first order of business.

I decided I'd start with the suite where I had last seen them and work my way from there.

As I pushed the door open via my room key, one of the many handed out, I was surprised to see almost everyone had cleared out with the exception of Shelby, Ryan, Pete, and Victoria.

"You're the talk of the town kid." Victoria chuckled as I sat down.

"What's new..." I muttered as Shelby tackled me.

"Thank god you're alive. With all these drunken assholes I feared the worst."

I laughed a bit forcedly at her worries, hugging her. "I'm fine hon, what about you?"

She grinned... and grinned.

Quietly I whispered in her ear. "You and Ryan had sex didn't you?"

All she did was grin; yes in Shelby language.

Before I could grill her for the details she changed the subject.

"What about you? You didn't say where you disappeared to after Brendon lost you."

I looked away nervously. "Well you know, helped out a drunk guy, talked a bit but anyway, I found you cause I needed to tell you something."

She raised an eyebrow as I continued.

"Matt called me a few hours ago. He asked me if I wanted to come see him and the family and meet my niece."

Shelby brightened. "You're an aunt! That's awesome! But what about the rest of your family? I thought Madeline disowned you or something."

I rolled my eyes. "Please, there's not much my little sister can do aside from not return my phone calls. And anyway I do miss my brothers, I mean Matthew has a kid and last time I saw Jake he thought Creed was the best thing to happen to music."

Shelby shuddered at the mention of the band and continued.

"So do you know when you're going to go?" She asked.

I bit my lip, pausing for dramatics.

And possibly because I was enjoying her calmer than she normally was.

Ever since she had been going out with Ryan she had been a lot more reserved.

She was still the Shelby I loved and knew but a little more mature, that's what made being pregnant with her as my roommate a little bit easier.

"Lilly? You there? Did you make any plans?"

I shook myself out of my trance to reply.

"Yeah... I'm flying out there today. As in my flight leaves in about four hours."

Shelby's mouth moved but no words came out.

For a fleeting moment she reminded me of when I told Will about the baby, but I quickly shoved that memory to the back of my mind.

"Well are you even packed? You know we'd have to get you to the airport at least an hour and a half before the actual flight, with Las Vegas traffic."

Right then hearing her calm and not yelling at me was the nicest thing since hearing Matt earlier.

Travis decided to join our conversation then, plopping down next to me and throwing his arm around me and Shelby.

I exchanged a great deal of congratulatory words on his win and kicking Amy Winehouse's ass before he shifted it to me.

"How did you enjoy the part-tay kiddo?"

"I was a pregnant chick at a party fueled by alcohol, but other than that I'm alive and on my way to see my family for the first time in four years."

Travis had a similar reaction to Shelby's, knowing my family drama full well.

After explaining the same bit to him, we were all in agreements and happy mood.

"Well kid I'm glad this is working out for you. I thought things would get worse with Will being here but I guess I was wrong."

I grinned falsely as nearby Pete's phone began to ring.

Hey man... whoa calm down... calm down I-, I didn't know that happened... or that... or that... jeez no one tells me anything!"

The conversation on Pete's phone was hard to ignore as I could only guess who it was, but judging by the glances Pete was giving me it wasn't hard to figure out.

My heart began sinking as Pete spoke coaxing words into the phone.

As he slid his phone into his very tight pants, he gave me a knowing glance before turning to Travis.

"Hey Trav, Bill needs us." Pete murmured the fewest words he had ever said aside from 'Bedussey'.

Travis glanced at me out of confusion while I tried to act just as oblivious about Will.

"Um okay, I guess I'll see all of you later." Travis waved, disappearing out the door with Pete.

Shelby turned back to Ryan, who had been talking to Pete, when Pete ran in and grabbed him. "Sorry, we need guy time."

With his excuse she turned to me rolling her eyes.

Victoria laughed.

"Fine if they get to have guy time we get girl time." She grinned, turning to me. "You said you were visiting your family right? Well were in Vegas with time to kill, let's go get them presents."

Shelby raised an eyebrow.

"You mean bribes?"

I shrugged grinning. "Hey bribes have never been a bad thing. Let's go before guy time turns into a food run that we get dragged into."

We all agreed and got ready when Shelby turned to me.

"Hey don't you need to pack?"

I bit my lip. "Well the guys are having guy time in our room so we'll wait for them to get out I guess."

With that said we left as I was glad Shelby didn't ask how they ended up in there in the first place.