The next day I was at the airport in Baltimore with Jasey, Chase, my mom, and my dad. Our plane was scheduled to leave at five p.m., and it was only 3. Jasey and Chase were walking around the different shops trying to pass the time while mom and dad were sitting in the chairs with my mom trying to console my dad. I was getting tired of listening to them constantly talking about my grandma, so I quickly got up and started walking to the airport’s Starbucks.
“Can I have a vanilla latte, please?” I asked the cashier and she nodded before taking my money. A moment later, she gave me my latte and I thanked her before walking to an empty table by the window. After sitting down, I put my headphones in and put my iPod on shuffle before staring out at the commotion of the airport. A plane had just landed so people were rushing off the plane, and people that were waiting for their loved ones rushed towards them. I sighed at the sight of couples rushing towards each other; if only I had that. Just as I thought that, my phone started ringing.
“Hello?” I said into my phone without bothering to check the caller ID.
“Hey, Kay,” Alex said and I could hear the smile in his voice.
“What’s up?” I said as I started to smile as well.
“Are you in California yet?” he asked me and I shook my head even though I knew he couldn’t see.
“No,” I said with a sigh.
“When’s your flight leave?”
“Five,” I replied as I got up to throw my cup away then sat back down, “Why?”
“Just wondering. Jack said he wanted to see you before you left,” he explained.
“Oh,” was all I said as I couldn’t think of what to say.
“Yeah, so do you mind if we come?” he asked hopefully and I smiled.
“Of course you can come. I could use the company anyways,” I joked and he chuckled on the other end, “I’ll be at the Starbucks.”
“Ok, bye Kay, I’ll see you soon,” he told me.
“Bye, Alex. See you soon,” I said before hanging up. I smiled at the thought of getting to see my best friends before I had to leave for California, but then I realized I’d have to see Alex again; we had pretended last night’s kiss never happened and went back to packing in an awkward silence, but I knew we’ll need to eventually talk about it, if I can just get the courage to talk about it.

“Hey, Kaylie,” Rian said sympathetically as wrapped me in a big hug which I gratefully returned.
“Hey guys, thanks for coming,” I said to Rian, Jack, Zack, Alex, and Kara after Rian let go of me.
“It’s no problem, Kay. I’m sorry about your grandma,” Zack said while Jack pulled me into a huge hug.
“Hey, Jacky?” I asked.
“Yeah?” he replied confused.
“Uh, can you please let me down?” I asked since he was holding me so tightly that I wasn’t even touching the ground.
“Oh, uh, yeah,” he said awkwardly and we all laughed at him while he let go of me and I smiled gratefully at him.
“How are you feeling, Kaylie?” Kara asked as she wrapped her arms around me and I hugged her back before looking around at everyone.
“Much better now; I guess the shock has worn off now,” I said with a small smile.
“Hey, Kay, can I talk to you for a second?” Kara asked and I nodded confused before she pulled me away from the guys and outside the Starbucks so we could talk more privately.
“What’s up, Kara?” I asked and she looked around to make sure none of the guys were around or could hear.
“What’s going on between you and Alex? He’s been really quiet ever since he got back from your house last night, and anytime one of us mentioned you, he’d just brush it off and get a really uncomfortable look,” she explained and I raised an eyebrow.
“He, um, he kissed me last night,” I muttered and her eyes widened.
“He what?” she asked rather loudly and I gave her a look to quiet down before she continued much quieter, “He kissed you?!”
“Yeah,” I mumbled with a blush, “And he told me he thinks he’s falling in love with me.”
“What did you do?” she asked completely shocked.
“I said I was too, and then he kissed me, but right after the kiss he went back to helping me pack while pretending it never happened,” I said with a frown.
“Typical Alex,” she muttered and I shot her a confused look. “He thinks you don’t like him back and is afraid to talk about it.”
“But I told him-” I started to say before Kara interrupted me.
“It doesn’t matter; he probably thinks you just said that because he did,” she told me and I sighed. Why does he have to be so complicated?
“What do I do, Kara?” I asked her while glancing back at the guys to see them all looking at us with confused looks before Alex quickly looked away like he knew we were talking about him.
“You need to talk to him about it because he won’t be the one to start the conversation,” she told me while following my gaze to the guys before shooting them a smile.
“I don’t know how to start the conversation though,” I said looking back at Kara and she turned back to me as well.
“Just tell him how you feel,” she told me and I nodded.
“I’m nervous, Kara. I don’t know if I can do it,” I admitted.
“Just take your time, Kay, you don’t need to tell him right away,” she told me with a small smile.
“Thanks for helping me, Kara,” I said while wrapping my arms around her in a quick hug before walking back towards the guys with her right beside me.
We all continued talking for a while before I realized something.
“Shit!” I said rather loudly which caused them all to look at me weirdly and passerbys to glare at me. “I won’t get to go to your gig this weekend,” I said to them sadly.
“Don’t worry about it, Kay. Family is more important,” Rian told me with a small smile.
“But I still feel bad about it,” I told them.
“Don’t worry, Kay, you can go to our next gig,” Alex said, finally speaking to me for the first time in the hour that they’ve been here.
“But-” I started but was interrupted by him.
“No buts, you can come next time, you need to be with your family,” he told me seriously and I pouted.
“Fine,” I muttered and they all chuckled at me before continuing our previous conversation while walking back towards where my parents were since I had to board the plane in about fifteen minutes.

“I’m going to miss you guys!” I exclaimed rather loudly when my flight was called. I gave each of them huge hugs with promises to text or call them while I was gone.
“I’ll miss you, Kay,” Alex whispered in my ear when I hugged him and I couldn’t stop the slight blush to appear on my face and the shiver to run down my back.
“I’ll miss you too, Alex,” I whispered back before I released him, knowing that if he hugged me any longer, I wouldn’t be able to leave.
“Bye guys,” I told everyone sadly before turning around and walking towards Chase since he was waiting for me.
“Are you ready?” he asked and I nodded before following him onto the plane to start our four hour plane ride to Oakland where we’d get settled in to our uncle’s house since we would be staying there for the week; then, once we were done settling in, we’d all go to the hospital to visit grandma together.
Chase and I kept up random conversations about anything and everything while Jasey looked bored out of her mind in the seat in front of ours with a girl about her age that was too busy reading and listening to her iPod.
“Aw, is Jasey bored?” I teased and she turned around to glare at me.
“What do you want Kaylie?” she spat at me and my eyes widened.
“Jesus, Jasey, what the hell crawled up your ass and died? I was just going to talk to you, but you know what? Forget it,” I said while glaring at her as well.
“What’s going on?” Chase asked confused as he looked between Jasey and me.
“Nothing Chase; Jasey’s just being a bitch right now,” I told him nonchalantly as déjà vu flooded my mind of fights between Jasey and me back when we lived in New York. Despite the fact we’re extremely close, we are like normal siblings and fight quite often even though this has been the first fight we’ve had since moving to Maryland, but my guess is that we’ve both been through a lot of stress in the past day and half, with the dance and getting ready for it and our grandma’s sickness.
“I’m right here, you know,” Jasey said sounding obviously annoyed.
“Yeah, I know,” I said simply as I continued to look at Chase and he rolled his eyes at us.
“Just stop fighting, ok? I get your both upset with everything going on, but you guys need to stop taking your anger out on each other,” Chase said and I sighed, knowing he was right, we couldn’t just go around yelling at each other just because we were both sad about our grandma.
“You’re right,” Jasey agreed softly while I glanced out the window. “Sorry, Kay,” she apologized and I turned back to her with a small smile on my face.
“It’s ok, Jase; I’m sorry too,” I replied, and Chase had a look of accomplishment on his face from stopping another infamous fight between his younger sisters.

Yesterday had been an emotional hospital visit for all of us, especially for my dad, so to make up for yesterday’s sadness, my aunt Adrienne decided to take me shopping while Jasey and Chase decided to go hang out with a few of the their friends from around here, and mom and dad were spending the day with my uncle.
“How’s Maryland, Kaylie?” Adrienne asked as soon as we started driving and I smiled slightly.
“Good,” I answered simply as I took in the familiar California scenery I haven’t seen in a year.
“Are the guys cute there?” she teased me while I blushed before covering my face with my hands.
“Yeah,” I said bashfully while still holding my face in my hands as a smile appeared on my face as I thought about Alex.
“Why are you blushing, Kay?” she asked with a hint of a smirk on her face.
“There’s one guy in particular and I really like him,” I told her and she smiled while keeping her eyes on the road.
“Well, what’s his name?” she prodded and I smiled at how interested she was in my life.
“Alex Gaskarth,” I told her simply then decided to answer the next question I knew she was going to ask, “He’s tall and has chocolate brown hair and dark brown eyes. He’s a singer; he and his best friends are in a punk rock band called All Time Low, and I know they’re going to be big someday, and I always tell him that, but he just laughs.”
“Why aren’t you dating him?” she asked confused and I blushed once again.
“Because he’s one of my best friends, and I’m afraid that it’ll ruin our friendship,” I admitted, feeling relieved to finally tell someone the real reason why I haven’t discussed my feelings with Alex, even Kara doesn’t know.
“Kaylie, Kaylie, Kaylie,” she muttered like she was disappointed in me before she spoke up, “You need to take the risk. You never know what’ll happen if you don’t.”
“But there’s another thing,” I told her and she raised an eyebrow at me before turning back to the road. “Well, the day before I came, he told me he thinks he’s starting to fall in love with me and I told him I thought I was too, then he kissed me, but the next day at the airport, he wouldn’t bring it up, he wouldn’t even talk to me until I was about to leave. One of my best friends, Kara, said it was because he’s afraid I was just saying that because he did.”
Her eyes widened in shock before she spoke up again, “He probably is afraid, Kaylie. You seriously need to talk to him about it once you get home.”
“Thanks for the advice Adrienne,” I told her with a smile.
“It’s no problem; you can talk to me anytime about boy problems or anything else on your mind, sweetheart,” she told me and we sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before I decided to turn on the radio when a Blink-182 song came on.
“Oh I love this song!” I exclaimed before quietly singing along to What’s My Age Again? while Adrienne laughed at me.
“You definitely have your uncle’s voice,” she said to me while I laughed before starting into the chorus again. Once the song ended, we were pulling up into the mall’s parking lot.
“So Christmas is coming up, and I have no idea what to get my friends!” I exclaimed to Adrienne once we walked into Oakland’s large mall and she chuckled.
“Have you already gotten Chase and Jasey something?” she asked me curiously.
“Uh,” I started nervously.
“Kaylie Noel Armstrong, I can’t believe you haven’t even gotten your brother and sister something yet!” she playfully scolded me.
“Well, I’ve never had the chance to yet, and I honestly forgot all about Christmas shopping,” I told her.
“Have you thought about anything for them yet?” she asked me and I shook my head before thinking about what they like.
“Well Chase loves playing his guitar, so I was thinking that I could probably buy him something for his guitar, and Jasey loves to paint and loves clothes, so maybe an outfit or two and some new paint?” I suggested and she nodded before dragging me into an instrument and music store and telling me that she’d buy everything as a treat.
After what seemed like hours of shopping, I had gotten Chase a couple new guitar picks, as he lost all of his during the move, and I got Jasey a few outfits from Hollister and Forever 21 and few tubs of paint from the craft store. Meanwhile, I got Kara a two shirts she said she loved when we were looking at Forever 21’s website, Jack a Blink-182 poster that I knew he didn’t have and a Blink-182 shirt, Rian a new set of custom drum sticks that had ‘All Time Low’ engraved into them that Adrienne insisted on getting him and I just agreed since I had no idea what else I could get him, and I got Zack a new camera because a few weeks ago he told me he liked photography but needed a better camera soon. Finding something for Alex, though, was a complete pain in the ass.
“Well, what does he like?” Adrienne prompted as we sat in the food court with Hollister, Forever 21, Hot Topic, and the music store’s bags at our feet.
“Um, shoes?” I said hesitantly but it came out more of a question before tilting my head back and letting out a groan, “Why does this have to be complicated?”
“Kaylie, you’re the one making this complicated,” Adrienne joked, “Anyways, you can get him a pair of shoes,” she suggested and I quickly looked back at her.
“Perfect! Thanks so much, Adrienne,” I told her and she rolled her eyes as we got back up and headed to Journey, the shoe store that sold the shoes I knew that he liked.
“Is there anything else you want to get?” Adrienne asked me after we bought the shoes and I shook my head before we started walking back to the mall’s entrance.