"Where did he say he would be waiting again?" Lu asked no one in particular, as she faced the overflowing people passing by her. She turned around to face Alonah and the others, panic and uneasiness clearly evident on her facial expression. "Guys?" She asked again, making her friends laugh at her in amusement and resulting in her giving the bunch a frown.
"Don't ask us, we don't know where he'll be waiting. The two of you were the ones who talked to each other. You should be the one to know where we can find him at this moment." Reese replied, being the 'sensible one' once again--as Alonah would put it.
Lu sighed and turned around again to find the guy they have been looking for for over three hours now. Looking at how distraught her best friend currently is, Alonah took pity on her and looked around her to see if she would have any luck in finding the guy.
"Lu, it's going to be daylight by the time we'll be finished looking for that guy. We should just come back and find him later." Kobe said sleepily while matching it with a yawn.
Alonah can't exactly blame him for being sleepy; heck, all of them pretty much still want to get some good night’s rest (minus Lu) but Lu practically dragged them here at around thirty minutes past twelve in the morning.
It definitely came off as a surprise to them because Lu would already be asleep during that time, but she wasn’t. Apparently, it's because that would be the time Ian would be arriving. But, Alonah knows that what she told them was false. After all, she did see the schedule Ian sent her and it clearly stated there that his plane would be arriving at exactly thirty minutes past one in the morning. It's now quarter to four, and they still haven't found the guy.
And right about now, Kobe’s words are very tempting to Alonah. What he said did make sense, so it seemed like the most reasonable argument she’s ever heard--disregarding the fact that she can’t even think straight because of how tired she is.
During the long wait, Alonah started to come up with scenarios in her head about why they haven’t seen Ian yet for so long. One of the scenarios that came to mind was that he probably fell asleep on one of the chairs in the airport, probably thinking that Lu would be here later than he said since he more or less took into account the fact that Lu is late to almost everything. But, he's clearly wrong now, seeing as they arrived here an hour early with all of them clearly exhausted and sleepy beyond his wildest imagination.
But no, not Lu.
She's as awake as a guy drinking five cups of coffee straight and that’s saying something since she's not usually this enthusiastic and jolly and super active about something. The one thing she does enjoy doing is procrastinating so seeing that sight really came as a surprise.
After knowing the girl for so long, Alonah could already tell why her best friend is acting that way: she misses him so much that words can't even explain it and she wants to see him just as badly as she wants to see a crocodile eat a human being alive.
Lu turned around and looked at Kobe sternly, making him freeze in his place in surprise and uneasiness. "No." She hissed. "We will not be coming back here later and find him. We have to find him now so that we'll be done here. I already feel so listless and I want nothing more than to crawl into my bed. I'll really kill him once we find that stupid idiot."
Alonah looked at her in confusion. "So why were we here an hour early and waited for nearly three hours just to find nothing?"
She gave her friend a sheepish grin. "My brother and I were having a row again and I wanted to get away from him, so I called you guys and dragged your arses up here to help me find Ian--who would be dead once I see him." She replied, her eyes turning to slit once she mentioned Ian's name.
"Then why didn't we just come back here later to find him?" Ashton asked and the other nodded in agreement upon hearing his question.
"The moron strictly told me to wait for him so that he'll be able to relax once he arrived and I was willing to do that since I haven’t seen him for so long. But now," She flared. "He won't be having any relaxation once he arrives, seeing as he let me wait here for three f*****g hours. I'll let him work his arse off to let him feel the same feeling I'm feeling right now."
So as it turns out, Alonah was wrong with her deduction. Turns out Lu didn’t really miss her friend as much as she thought. She could only think about how that seemed to be very much like something Lu would do.
She rolled her eyes and said, "Lu, I think that's too much."
"Too much? Are you kidding me? The bastard let me wait here for three bloody hours!" She exclaimed vociferously, earning a few stares from the people in the airport.
As much as Alonah is concerned, Lu really needs to learn to keep it down a notch.
"Lower your voice, Lu." Ashton whispered while looking at each side, probably not wanting to be embarrassed further.
"No, I will not lower down my voice! I am seriously going to torture him once we see him." She seethed and all Alonah could do was sigh at her extremely hyped reaction.
Alonah took that time to observe her surroundings again in a last ditch effort to see if she could find Ian anywhere. Instead, she ended up seeing more people she doesn’t know. However, one of them stood out. It was a guy that has a height of maybe five feet and ten inches, and has brownish reddish hair with big blue eyes that look like the color of the ocean.
She couldn’t help but stare at the guy, eventually seeing that a frown was visible on his plump lips as he searched through the crowd. A crease formed on his forehead and his nose scrunched up in confusion. She saw him open his mouth, along with the lines 'where' and 'hours'.
Alonah looked back to Lu and the others, only to find them intensely talking to each other. That guy looked so oddly familiar, but she can’t pinpoint where she saw him.
She was about to ask Lu if that guy seemed familiar to her too, but before she could, the former turned far away from her as she let out a groan of frustration. When she did, her eyes lit up and an evil grin slowly formed on her lips.
"Ian!" Lu exclaimed, and all of their attention immediately settled on the boy she called on; they were such in perfect sync, it seemed like it was rehearsed.
As Alonah focused her attention on the direction Lu is facing, she saw the guy she saw earlier. But this time, the creases on his forehead and the frown on his lips was replaced by a grin. His eyes lit up like a little kid on Christmas and it was pretty clear that he was delighted to see his childhood best friend again.
Well, no wonder he seemed so familiar. She already saw a photo of him when Lu sent her one and she clearly remembered saying that Ian was a fine guy. Seeing him in person now, Alonah was able to confirm that his photo absolutely did him no justice.
"Lu!" He replied, now walking over to the group.
Lu opened her arms for Ian to take and he laughed once he saw what Lu was doing. He abandoned his luggage near them and hugged Lu as tightly he could. Alonah was pretty sure she even heard Lu take a large intake of breath because of how tight his hug is.
"Alright, you can let go now." Lu said as she used her free hand to push Ian away. But, instead of letting her go, he only tightened his hug and nuzzled his face on her neck.
Chuckling uneasily, Lu told him, "Okay, okay. I get it, you miss me. I miss you too, Ian. Now could you please let go?"
Ian still didn't let her go; instead, he wrapped his muscular arms more tightly around Lu. Alonah looked at Lu with a half-amused, half-worried expression, because she’s pretty sure she could see her best friend slowly turning blue.
"Uh, man, could please let go of Lu?" Ashton asked, a blank face plastered on his face but a trace of worry could still clearly be seen there. He tapped Ian's shoulder, but the guy in question still didn't listen, making Ashton scowl in his place.
"Yeah, could please let go? I think she's turning blue." Reese stated cautiously while looking at Lu with raised eyebrows and worry.
"Help." Lu managed to choke out, but Ian still kept on hugging her.
Seriously, if the guy doesn’t let go of her now, Alonah could already guess what would happen and she’s not the least bit amused nor happy about it.
"Dude, let her go. I think she's running out of oxygen." Dominic said firmly as he put his hand on Ian’s shoulder to try and separate him from her, all the while studying Lu's facial expression--it was a mixture of pain and fury.
"Uh, Lu's childhood best friend? Please let her go. I don't want my friend to be dead yet." Hayes remarked and Alonah looked over at her in amusement.
Lu was already turning red, probably because of the lack of oxygen and of how mad she is; she couldn't even speak anymore.
"Ian!" She finally managed to push him away, and she was panting like a dog when Ian finally released her. "Are you trying to kill me?" She asked, holding her hand against her chest to try and calm down her unsteady breathing as she glared at Ian who was laughing at the sight he saw.
"Serves you right for letting me wait here for over three hours." He stated and stuck his tongue out at her. Her mouth dropped open and so did Alonah’s along with some of their friends.
Alonah continued staring at the guy in shock while thinking, ‘So he was here the whole time? Where did he stay then?’
"You were here the whole time?" Lu asked, as if she read Alonah’s mind the whole time.
Ian nodded his head and said, "Yeah, and I even fell asleep waiting for you to arrive."
Hearing the words fell asleep certainly didn’t make the situation any better. Heck, she doesn’t even know what she’s feeling right now. Alonah seriously wondered why they didn’t do that while the guy they were waiting for was just sleeping around? Is the world really that unfair?
"Lucky bastard." She heard Kobe mutter beside her, mirroring the thoughts that are currently going on inside her mind. She couldn’t help but chuckle at his statement because she’s pretty sure they aren’t the only ones thinking that.
“Oh the joy of being Ian.” Alonah muttered back, earning a laugh from Kobe as a reply.
"I was here the whole time! Where did you f*****g stay?" Lu asked angrily and Ian had the same confused look on his face the first time Alonah saw him.
"I was in the waiting area." Ian replied coolly.
"What?" She exclaimed, and Alonah is pretty sure she could see smoke coming out of her best friend’s ears.
Well, hers would too if she had a childhood best friend who told her to wait for her at a certain place, only to not find him anywhere because he was just sleeping around. It also made Alonah wonder if the guy even tried finding them.
"What about you?" He asked calmly.
"I was here the whole time!" She replied, repeating her statement from before.
"Oh." He replied plainly. "Well, that's over now, so let's go?"
“That’s over now? Are you kidding me?” Lu seethed. “I was here waiting for you! We were here waiting for you. Did you even try and see if I already arrived?”
“I did actually but you weren’t here so I went to the lounge area.”
“Couldn’t you have waited?”
“I could, but my legs were killing me.”
Lu growled at him one more time before pulling Reese with her out the airport. She’s pretty sure she even heard her mutter, "Stupid bastard. The asshole let me wait here for three f*****g hours only to find out that he was lounging in the waiting area the whole time! Unbelievable!"
In reply to that, Alonah heard Reese laugh at her and say, "Calm down, Lu. The good thing is, it's finally over and we can finally go home." Lu muttered a reply, but she couldn't hear it anymore as her voice turned soft.
Alonah shook her head at them in amusement. After her, Reese is Lu's closest one out of all of them. He could even calm her down when she's not in the greatest mood, and he can make her smile and laugh when she's grumpy. Even Alonah herself can't do that. Well, she could do it, but it only happens sometimes and most of that are the times Reese isn’t present. She honestly doesn't know how he does it, but she’s glad he can. No one can control Lu once she's extremely pissed, but somehow, in a strange, amusing, and miraculous way, Reese could do it. And maybe, also her childhood best friends--which isn’t really a surprise to her.
As they followed them out, Alonah was walking behind the others. Due to her being too wrapped up in her reverie, she didn't even notice someone was beside her until that person spoke. "So what's your name? I don't think I've heard you speak." That person spoke and she looked over to her right to find Ian smiling beside her.
She immediately felt herself tense up, but decided not to let it bother her. "I'm Alonah, but you can call me Al or Ally, but Lu and the others call me Ally." She replied, smiling back at him.
"Ally it is." He replied and she chuckled. "I'm Ian, by the way, but you probably already knew that."
Alonah chuckled and nodded when she heard his words. And then suddenly, as if he remembered something, he halted in his place and turned to look at her with a questioning glance. "Wait." He said. "Did you say Alonah? As in Alonah," He paused and did me a once over. "Charm?"
She stared at him in confusion. "Uh, yes." She replied and his eyes suddenly lit up like those Christmas lights on the Christmas tree.
"So you're the girl Xavier keeps talking about! I was starting to think he just made you up. That guy has a really active imagination, to be fully honest." He grinned.
Hearing that, Alonah didn’t really know how to reply. It was the first time she’s hearing this and that was even something she never dreamed of hearing. Nonetheless, she let out a slightly nervous chuckle and replied, "Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not a fictional character printed out off the computer, so, yeah. I am real."
He laughed as he dragged his luggage behind him. "You know, Xavier has told me so much about you." He admitted and she could only stare at him in bewilderment, her mind still trying to take in all the information Ian is giving her all at once.
"Really?" She asked, and he nodded his head.
"Oh."
It was the only thing she could say. It felt too overwhelming for her.
They spent their whole walk back to the car in silence, when a sudden thought popped up in her mind. "Speaking of Xavier, Lu hasn't told me anything about him anymore ever since last week."
It was only then at that moment that she realized how badly worded that was since it came out as if she had to know everything Xavier tells Lu but she was just simply curious. Lu usually never goes by a day without telling her anything about Xavier, so hearing nothing from her struck her as odd.
Ian looked at her curiously, his eyes just searching hers before he broke their eye contact and said, "Well, Xavier and Lu are fighting again, so don't expect her to tell you anything about him until maybe next week."
"That long?" She asked and he nodded his head.
"Yeah. They're both really stubborn people so it usually lasts that long. And if possible, it lasts even longer. They're just waiting for the other to crack and wait for the other to say sorry. It's exhausting to say the least." He remarked with a sigh and she nodded her head in understanding.
"Well that explains a lot." Alonah muttered and he chuckled beside me.
He put his luggage at the back of the car and carried his carry-on with him. They sat comfortably at the back of the car, as Reese sat on the driver's seat and Lu sat on the passenger seat. They were talking amongst each other and they were smiling and laughing to no extent. It seems like the others also didn't know what they were talking about because they stared confusingly at the two of them with curious expressions on their faces.
It’s at times like these that Alonah seriously thinks that Reese and Lu would most likely end up together.
"Tell a single soul about that, and you die." Lu stated, directing it to Reese who was laughing at her. Although Lu said that she'll kill Reese, she knows that she's just bluffing, considering she can’t even kill anyone even if she tried.
"Don't worry. I'm not planning to die anytime soon." Reese replied, his laughter echoing through the car.
"I'm serious, Reese. Don't tell anyone about that." She stated and Reese nodded his head, still laughing his head off.
As Reese started driving and they were already out of the airport, Reese said, "I can't believe you actually did that. I mean, you—" Reese was cut off by Lu growling at him and spanking his arm that was rested on the wheel.
"I told you not to talk about that!" Lu replied, earning another laugh from Reese.
"Whatever." Alonah heard Lu mutter before turning her head to the window, completely ignoring Reese. He was telling her things, but she’s pretty sure Lu was too pissed to actually listen to the things he was saying.
When he finally noticed that Lu was silent the whole time, he sighed and said, "Come on, Lu. You know I'm just joking."
Lu just stayed silent.
"Lu." He whined, and Alonah didn’t even have to take a look at Lu to know that there’s a crack of a smile on her lips. Still, Lu remained stubborn and ignored the guy.
"Lu, come on. I'm just joking. I'm sorry." He said.
Alonah smirked at the sight in front of her, thinking how Reese is seriously making a fool out of himself. Lu's just acting after all. But, Alonah also knows that Reese already probably knew that.
Reese suddenly stopped the car, jerking Kobe awake because his head bumped on the back of the headboard. "What the hell?" He exclaimed while rubbing his forehead. They all laughed, but stopped once he glared at all of them.
Reese pulled Lu and wrapped his arms around her from behind. Lu was clearly shocked about his sudden movements because she stayed frozen in her place. "Lu, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You know I'm just joking. Please oh please forgive me." Reese remarked and Lu suddenly laughed.
"Oh my God, you should've seen your face! It was seriously hilarious! I didn't know you were this gullible." She said and Reese grunted in his place.
"That was not funny, Lu. I was silently panicking and freaking out on the inside." Reese informed her and she laughed.
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry." She said and Reese grinned at her. Lu pulled away from Reese and returned to her original place.
"Alright. Now give me a high-five." He demanded and Lu laughed, but obliged nonetheless.
Alonah sneaked a glance at Ian to assess his reaction about the sight he just witnessed but his face remained passive. And honestly, she doesn’t know if she should read that as a good sign or not.
Reese started the car again and he started to drive towards the direction of Dominic's house. They stopped in the familiar white and beige house and Dominic stepped out of the car. "It was nice to meet you man." He said, directing his statement to Ian who was smiling beside me.
"Likewise." He replied and Dominic nodded his head.
One by one, Reese dropped them off at their respective houses. When it finally came to Alonah’s stop, the car halted in its place and she started to make her way out of the car. Standing in front of the open door, she said with a smile, "It was nice to meet you, Ian."
Ian smiled. “Likewise.”
"Bye Lu, bye Reese!" Alonah said. They both said their goodbyes as they waved at her, Alonah returning her wave right after.
When Alonah was finally inside, she heard the car slowly drive away from her home and a voice shouting, "I'm coming over tomorrow!"
Alonah shook my head in amusement at Lu's statement and went up the stairs, all the way to her room, plopping down her bed when she arrived. She looked at her clock on the bedside table and saw that it read, '5:23' in large italic numbers.
Well, she was certainly gone for a long time. Not to mention that she lost quite a lot of sleep. But, she didn’t really mind as much as she thought she would since she had fun anyway.
With that thought in mind, she closed her eyes and immediately drifted off to dreamland.
Aksara