Back Into Your Arms

Mrs. O’Callaghan picked me up and we went on a small hike to Hayden Butte. From the top, we could see a large amount of the city.

“I’m going back to Brooklyn the day after tomorrow”

“So soon?”

“Yeah, I mean I’m the owner of a cooking school, I can’t be absent for so long”

“Right, but you don’t seem too happy about going back?”

I gave her a weak smile. She could read me well.

“I like it so much better here”

“Have you told John yet?”

I shook my head.

“No, not yet. I’ll telling him tonight”

“You haven’t remembered anything else?”

“Unfortunately, no”

“Do you still plan on going to talk to your parents?”

“I want to, and I will, but I’m still not ready to do it yet. I’m hoping maybe I can remember something before I go and confront them”

“So you plan on coming back?”

I nodded.

“That’s the plan, I’ll miss you guys while I’m gone”

“We’ll miss you too, John will miss you most”

I blushed and looked down.

“I’ll miss him too” I whispered, his mother looked at me and smiled.

“My son, he can be so immature sometimes, but he’s a good person. I don’t want to force anything, but if you both were to give each other another chance I wouldn’t be against it”

I laughed a little.

“I don’t know your son well enough yet to start anything, but I won’t lie to you Mrs. O’Callaghan, I’ve been thinking about him more lately”

Mrs. O’Callaghan giggled excitedly. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Shall we head back?” I asked her, she nodded and we proceeded to go down the hill and back to the car.

I couldn’t even go to sleep that night.
I was so excited to see John again, but sad about having to go back to Brooklyn.
When my alarm finally rang at 5 am, it felt like I had slept perhaps 2 hours at most.
His parents were picking me up so we could go together to greet the guys at the airport.
I stepped out of the house, making sure to lock the door, the sun barely about the rise.
It was still dark, his parents waiting for me outside already.

“Good morning, sweetie”

“Good morning”

“We bought you a coffee, it’s just a tall mocha from Starbucks, is that alright?”

“It’s perfect, thank you” I said to them putting my seatbelt on and taking the cup in my hands.

“You get to meet the rest of the guys today huh?” John’s father asked as he began driving to the airport.

“I do, I’m a little nervous though”

“How come?”

“I guess they intimidate me a little” I admitted.

“They’re a nice and laid back bunch, you’ll see” he assured me.

We arrived at the airport and walked over to the terminal where we would be receiving them. We stood there bored since their flight was running late. I walked through the airport, looking at the signs they had in other languages. Looking at the screens that announced which flights had arrived and which ones hadn’t. I sat down and watched the people pass by. A lot of foreign people, it made me curious as to why they were coming to Phoenix, Arizona of all places.

I looked over at his mother who was motioning me to hurry over.
I quickly walked over and stood next to his mom. People from his flight were already beginning to get off. A charming group of guys appeared at a distance, it was them, they were laughing about something. A girl walked over and stood next to us.

“Hi!” she said. John’s mom smiled surprised.

“Hey girl!” she exclaimed giving the blonde a hug. She looked over at me.

“I’m Tessa, Jared’s girlfriend” she said introducing herself to me, she put her hand out. I shook it and smiled.

“I’m Melody, nice to meet you”

She smiled and then made a confused face.

“Melody?”

“Yeah, Melody Riley”

She then looked over to John’s mom with hands covering her mouth.

“Is this John’s Melody?” she gasped.

I couldn’t help but blush and looked down awkwardly. So many people knew about me.

“The very one” John’s mother replied. I had gotten so lost in the conversation with Tessa that I had forgotten about the guys.

I looked over and they were only feet away from us.

“Babe!” I heard Tessa exclaim as she greeted Jared, the guy I had met outside of the concert.

I looked over at John who was wearing his shades and a beanie.
I couldn’t tell what his expression was since I couldn’t look at his eyes.

I opted for greeting Pat instead.

“How was the flight?”

Pat looked at me and smiled.

“Uncomfortable as always, but they had Wi-Fi so it was bearable”

“Did you go on one of your tweeting sprees again? Did I miss it?”

“Wait, what? You follow me on Twitter?” he said taking out his phone right away.

“What’s your username?” he asked me, handing me over his phone. I looked myself up and clicked the follow button.

“There you go! Yeah, I’m a fan of your tweets, I’ve replied to your tweets a couple of times”

“Wow, now I feel terrible I never noticed” he said getting his hair out of his face.

I looked over at John who was just waiting patiently for me to end my conversation with Pat.

“Hi” he whispered.

“Hi” I said in return.

The other two guys in the band came over.

“I’m Kennedy” the most normal looking one in the band said to me as we shook hands politely.

“Garrett, nice to finally see you again” the one with the beard and messy hair said to me.

“Hi! Yeah, I know who you guys are” I giggled.

“Still an introduction is always necessary” Kennedy said smiling.

He then turned around to look over at John who now looked even more serious than before.

“Shall we go?” Is all John said. He began to walk away with his parents.

I looked over at the guys and they shrugged. Equally confused as me.
I hurried over to John’s side.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing” he mumbled.

“You seem upset”

He stopped walking.

“I’m tired is all”

He continued walking. When we got to the car we were both squished in the back. I looked over at him. He still looked unhappy. I quickly removed the shades from his face.
His hazel eyes staring back at me. He did look tired.

“I want to look into your eyes”

I put the shades on myself and gave him my best poker face.

“This is what I see” I explained to him.

“What do you mean?”

“With your shades on and with such a serious resting face, I can’t read you. I don’t know what you’re feeling. Just like you can’t tell my expressions right now”

He rubbed his right eye.

“I just want to avoid eye contact today”

“But I need to look into your eyes in order to have conversation, but have it your way” I said taking the shades off and putting them back on his face.
“If you want to wear your shades, that’s fine, but don’t bother trying to speak to me” I said crossing my arms and looking straight ahead.

“Mel” he complained. He took them off and put them in his backpack.

“Are you still upset about me leaving?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now” he said as he leaned back closing his eyes.

It was only a 24-minute drive back to Chandler, but he fell asleep during that time. I’m not going to lie; I was sleepy myself. We arrived at his house.

“Johno, wake up”

He quickly opened his eyes, confused. He looked so funny when he woke up, always extra disoriented.

“I’ll help you get your things out” John’s father said to him as he parked the car and got off.
I watched as they got John’s luggage out of the car and into the garage.

“I’ll tell John to stop by before he drops me off at the airport tomorrow so I can say goodbye to you guys”

“Just text me and let me know when you’ll be on your way” his mother said to me as she patted my back and got inside the car.
I looked over at John who was looking at me with a sad expression on his face.

“You have the keys” he said to me as he began walking towards the front door. I hurried after him and opened the door. He walked in and went straight to his room.

I felt terrible.
He seemed really upset and I didn’t blame him. He had been away for a week and half and now I was leaving back to Brooklyn. Separated by distance again.
I walked over to his door and knocked.

“What?” I heard him say.

“John, talk to me”

“There’s nothing to talk about”

“I’m opening your door” I warned him as I began to open the door. He was sitting on the small couch he had inside his room with a frown on his face.

“I haven’t seen you in a week, and we won’t be seeing each other for maybe another month…do you really want to waste the day being upset?”

“You’re really going to be away for a month?”

I nodded.

“I’m teaching; my classes are a month long”

His frown continued, if not worsened.

“C’mon, let’s go eat breakfast or something?”

I walked in and grabbed him by the arm. He wasn’t budging.

“You’re going to regret it if you don’t”

He rolled his eyes.

“Fine” he grumbled, standing up. He was so tall it still surprised me. I smiled feeling victorious. I had missed him, and I know he had missed me. We had talked on the phone everyday but it wasn’t the same as seeing each other in person. Seeing his expressions in person was priceless.