The week flies by and I don't want to believe it's already Wednesday morning when I wake up. I'm not ready to leave tomorrow. I reach over to the bedside table, glancing at Ash asleep on my other side, and grab my phone.

Zack: are we able to come over today?
Me: shouldn't be a problem, I'll ask my parents in a minute
Zack: ok
Zack: I really want to come over

My heart flutters and I take in a shaky breath.

Me: I want you to come over too!!!
Me: and Jake
Zack: yeah
Me: I'll be back
Zack: alright

I roll my shoulders as I read the last message, taking in another shaky breath. Alright.

"Are Zack and Jake allowed to come over today?" I ask as I walk into my parents room.
"Yeah," my mother nods.
"We're going down to breakfast in half an hour, tell them to head on over," My father nods as well.
"Coolio, thank you!" I give my father a quick hug, then move over to hug my mother before leaving the room.
I pull my phone out of my sweatshirt pocket as I walk. I'm wearing a hoodie from school in California- My thoughts surprise me. I didn't even pack my hoodie from school here-

Me: head on over, we're going to breakfast in half an hour
Zack: Cool, Jake's already getting dressed and then I will
Me: Coolio, see you soon :)
Zack: yep (:

I press my lips together for a moment, trying not to smile too wide at the message as I walk back into my room.

Breakfast

Build a bear- Zack and Lana buy one to make and Jake and Ash buy one to make
"Oh my god, we should go to build a bear-" Ash suggests loudly.
"Yes!" I exclaim, "dude let's go!"
"K, me and Jake should make one together and then you and Zack should make one together," Ash suggests.
Yes! "Sounds good," I nod.
We rush from the lobby to the stairs to the second floor to go to the build a bear.

"Ok, which one do we wanna make?" I ask, glancing up at Zack behind me as we look at the shelf of examples.
"I dunno, I'm kinda partial to the little brown bear over there," Zack shrugs.
"It is adorable," I nod, "and he's got curly little fuzz."
"So we're making that one?" Zack confirms.
"Yes!" I clap.
We walk over to the little brown bear packages and grab one to start stuffing.
"We're gonna have joint custody of our child," I begin, "I'm gonna take it with me and then next month I'll like mail it back and then in a month you gotta mail it back to me-" I laugh.
Zack laughs, shaking his head, "yeah, that sounds expensive. How about you just hold onto it."
"Did you just call our child an it?" I demand jokingly.
Ash snorts, "you two sound like a divorced couple organizing the custody of your kid but he's not interested in them at all."
I laugh, staring at Zack who just kind of nods, I can see he's holding back his laughter by the way his lips are pressed together while he's smiling. Ugh, his lips.
"K, we gotta make this thing," I say, stepping towards the stuffing machine.
"Now our kids a thing?" Zack raises an eyebrow.
"Just- shhhhh," I trail off, "shut it-" I point a finger at him.

Once our stuffies are made, we take them to the small dessert themed food court and get ourselves some ice cream.
"Ralphie is enjoying my cookies and cream ice cream," Ash boasts.
I nod, "and little Benny is enjoying my cookie dough ice cream."
We each pretend to spoon fead our new stuffed animals.
Ash and Jake ended up making a Turtle and dressing it in a cute grey great wold hoodie and converse shoes. Zack and I ended up putting ours in a white great wolf hoodie with little blue slippers.
"You two are freaks," Zack laughs.
Jake just laughs and nods.
"But they're so cute-" I break off, a pouty look on my face as I flutter my eyelashes at Zack.
He smiles at me and I blush, pressing my lips together as I turn away.

"Its still good even after being in the fridge," I sigh.
"Mhm," Persia nods.
"Smash or p-" Ash breaks off laughing as Persia gently shoves their knee.
"No," Persia shakes her head then glances around to make sure the adults aren't listening, "But smash-"
Me and Ash burst out laughing, earning a weird look from everyone else. We all sit there, practically wheezing, trying to catch our breath.
The boys had gone home about an hour ago so now the rest of us were sitting in my parents room eating the last of the Pizza.
"Dude no-" I finally catch my breath, "the babies would have pepperoni freckles-"
Persia just cackles and the whole room looks at us with concern again.

Later in the night, as I lay down in bed with Ash texting on their phone beside me, I let my mind wander.
I don't want to leave tomorrow, my face drops and I feel my through begin to close, I'm not ready to leave again-

"We're going to put all the bags in the car, meet us out there," my father says, looking between my friends and I sympathetically.
My whole body is shaking when I begin to say goodbye to my friends. I want to stay here. I hold back my tears the best I can but my eyes are burning. I don't want to go.
I start by hugging Jake and he begins to squeeze me tighter, taking the air from my lungs and almost making me feel better for just a moment. Please don't let go-
My throat starts closing and a lump forms as the hug ends. Don't cry, don't cry.
I hug Ash next and I can't hold it in anymore. I begin to sob silently as I hug her. I can feel them shaking as well while we're trapped in this long hug. I don't want to go, please don't let me go, keep me here-
"I love you," Ashs voice breaks.
I nod and try to choke out the words, "I love you too."
I don't want to think about hugging Zack goodbye. I don't even want to think about my hug with Ash ending. I don't want to leave them again. Ash- don't let go-
Almost bored in the hug, but not wanting to let go, I slowly loosen my grip, tightening it back up for a second before I push away.
"I'm sorry-" I break off, sniffling.
I don't let my eyes wander to Zack, though I desperately want to.
"I know," Ash's lips quiver as they nod and sniffle.
I take in a deep breath and try to ease up on the crying as I turn to face Zack. His face is growing bright red as I turn.
I bite my lip, "Z-"
He takes a long step forward and his arms wrap around my shoulders, slowly sliding down my arms as I latch onto his waist.
My whole body is shaking please don't let me go. I want to stay with you- I- I love you- don't let me go, damn it-!
After a moment I readjust so that my arms are over his shoulders and I sob into my elbow. As I move, I feel his fingers drawing circles on my back for a moment before gripping tightly on my sides.
"Don't leave-" Zacks whisper breaks off, "Don't leave again-"
"I don't want to leave-" I whimper.
I let out a shaky breath as I step away from the hug, resting my hands on his shoulders for a second, his hands resting on my waist.
It would be so easy to kiss him right now- I take in a shaky breath and let go of his shoulders, taking a step backwards.
"I have to go," I roll my shoulders and sniffle, "I'm going to miss you guys all over again-"
I stumble forward a second as I begin to turn around and my friends lunge to catch me. I'm not in danger of actually falling down, but in less than a second we're all suddenly in a hug, each of us shaking, some of us sobbing.

I look out the plane window as a tear rolls down my face. The stranger beside me already has their headphones on so I feel comfortable sniffling a bit. Why did I get on this plane?