I mutter a curse under my breath. Someone’s going to call the cops on us.
This area is isolated; there’s definitely going to be someone twitching their curtains if they hear anything.
I’ll put my money on Billy.
“You would assume correctly.” I balance the phone between my ear and shoulder, leaning down to finish zipping up the case, piling other important items into my other one.
A sigh crackles down the phone. “Fucking wonderful. I’ll see you in a second.”
Stuffing the phone in my pocket, I reach under the bed, dragging out my old memory box. It’s packed with sentimental things from over the years. Gig tickets, the friendship bracelet Regina, Jenna and I made when we were seven. Polaroids from sleepovers spent at each other’s houses, to the photos of Saint and me.
My fingers trace over them as I stare at them scattered in the box.
There’s a photo of all five of us, the year Saint and Rex graduated high school and were heading off to university. Rex had a party at his house; it was when everyone found out he and Jenna had a ‘thing’.
Regina is on Rex’s back, his arm wrapped around Jenna’s chest as she’s flush with his front. His other is around Saint’sshoulders, with Saint grappling me in a headlock, his other hand behind Regina, fingers giving her bunny ears.
I’m laughing in it. We didn’t get together until a while after that.
Tears prickle the back of my eyes.
So naive. So carefree. So innocent.
Full of life, with no idea how cruel and dark the world could truly be.
I trace back to those memories as if I’m there in them, experiencing the conversations and the feelings at the time.
It feels so real with how vivid they are.
I’d give anything to live those days once over, even if it meant waking back up in the life I have now.
Peace was something I took for granted back then.
A commotion down the stairs pulls me from the nostalgia, and I grab the box, placing it in the suitcase and zipping it up. When I reach the bottom of the stairs, Regina’s voice hits me first.
“Tell your big, muscle-inflated lackeys to be more fucking careful! I just spent ten thousand dollars and ran across five stores for that shit! I will take someone’s eye out if anyone drops a thing.” She points at Saint, who looks utterly bewildered at her.
He probably thinks he entered another dimension when he walked in our front door.
Regina changed, too.
Whilst her and Jenna were always more outspoken than I was, she’s certainly a little more spicier now with her word choice.
Saint smiles at her, shaking his head. “Nice to see you too, Gina.” He laughs when she rolls her eyes.
My chest constricts at the sound; it’s like hearing your favourite song after years of forgetting about it—the lyrics never truly forgotten.
The humour vanishes when she starts again.
“I hope you were on some…secret fucking CIA mission to save the world to excuse your absence.” Her eyes narrow on him, waiting for an explanation, but he flicks his gaze over to me.
Regina follows it, noticing me.
“Are you okay?” She walks towards me, and I give her a half smile.
“I’m fine, I’ve just packed my things. You should do the same.”
She watches me for a second before nodding, running her hand up my arm as she heads for the stairs behind me. Saint must have filled her in whilst I was still upstairs.
