I'll be trying to get as many chapters out during the next few weeks. :)

Today is the day.

The day I've been counting down since she departed on the airplane, taking her off to new adventures. I watched the plane fly over, feeling like a part of me had been taken with her. If a person could act like a safety blanket, she would be mine. And I watched as my safety blanket flew over my head to travel 2,783 miles away.

Now after 12 months of waiting, 365 days of pining and 525601 minutes spent thinking about her..

She was finally coming home.

Everything had changed since she left, Emily and I had remained friends but after Alison's family moved to Georgia for some unexpected family reasons; Emily had spent a lot more time with the swimming team, something seemed off with her ever since. Maybe she was dealing with the same kind of situation I had been left to deal with? I did try to pry about it but she didn't opening up, so the best thing I could do was leave it and let her come to me when she was ready. Hanna had a new make over, new friends and a very busy social life, she did try to involve me in it by inviting me to hang outs and parties, but I was on a whole different level to her new friends. So, eventually we stopped talking. Which left just me and Emily now. Well, a very preoccupied Emily.

I spent most of my spare time after school in my room, with a book in my hand. I came quite accustomed to it, as I got lost most nights in a good story. Anything to distract me from reality. Some days - when Aria wasn't busy with her new European life - she would send a message on Facebook to keep me updated on everything. These were my favorite nights that I cherished dearly, each message Aria sent to me, I would imagine the activities that she had been doing, a smile would creep over my face, knowing that the smaller brunette was having a great time. She did pry on what it's like back home, but I didn't tell her everything, she worried way too much about me. She may be the smaller version, but she was the version that kept me grounded. The better version. So I half lied, not wanting her to worry about everything - Emily and Hanna were fine, I mean to some degree they were. And we all stayed best friends, like nothing could ever break the circle we created. And me? I was fine, studying hard and keeping myself busy. In reality, I spent my days pining as the loneliness mulled over me every night, which by the way, became a great friend to me. But, I missed my best friend. And she was off living her life in a far away European city.

A week ago, I had a message pop up from the new found Icelander herself telling me she wanted to tell me something important. Her mother and father had made plans to come back home to Rosewood as Iceland wasn't really working out for them. Aria was gutted to say the least, she had made friends there and had become settled. I, on the other hand, felt like everything was finally becoming back together. I could have some sense of normality back in my life.

I knew Emily had been busy that night hanging out with some girls from the swim club, so I had waited to tell her at school the next day, but she spent the day studying hard, followed by spending some quality time with her parents. Half of me wanted to message Hanna, but I felt too nervous, I hadn't spoken to the blonde girl properly now for months. It's weird isn't it? How you can be best friends with someone for years, then one day comes and you're struggling to find the confidence to send them a single text.

Now it lead till tonight, where I find myself counting down the hours for the arrival of my smaller partner in crime.

I bit down on my lip, knowing the half lies that I had previously told Aria were going to bite back on me. In my defense; I had a good reason for them. But now I'm dreading what Aria was going to say when she comes back and sees the reality that I've been living with. She may be little, but god, she can be quite scary, like an angry Chihuahua that would bite at your ankles.

Aria's flight was scheduled to be completed by 9pm so that meant no time to hang out but she did promise to send me a quick message when she arrived. We made plans of meeting up tomorrow after she had a day of resting and settling in. I could wait another 1080 minutes to see her again, considering she wasn't meant to be coming home to begin with. Ella and Byron for some reason just wanted a better life for Aria and Mike, so they decided to relocate to Iceland where Byron had got a new teaching job. The day Aria had told us; I wanted so badly to go curse her parents out due to the fact they were taking away the only thing in my life that kept me sane.

And now here I am, laying on my bed and looking at the ceiling, with a biggest grin on my face. Thank you Ella and Byron, for making the decision to come back.

9pm had rolled around and I won't deny that the OCD in me had taken over by this point. I had watched the seconds count down, waiting - to what felt like to me - patiently. By 9:01, I was pacing around my bed room, staring at my phone. By 9:05, my phone lit up with a notification, I jumped over to the bed and picked it up, smiling. To see that Melissa had sent me a notification to join a Rosewood Facebook group. Seriously, M? Out of all the times to do this. I tossed the phone back on the bed in frustration and walked over to the desk where I had put my coffee and tried to think logically about this.

Of course the Montgomery's would be doing check outs by now, but Aria only had to send a quick text. God damn it, Ar. It's 9:10, where are you?

My phone lit up, buzzing insanely against the bed sheets. I ran over, seeing Aria's name across the screen saver. A sudden rush of nerves washed over me as I picked up the phone and pressed the answer button.

"I know I said I would message you at 9, but my mother got into a deep conversation with me. I hope you haven't been worrying, I know what you're like Spencer." Aria spoke over the phone. Her voice had taken me by surprise. She still sounded like Aria, but with a tint of European in there. I guess I imagined over the year that she would sound completely differently, but she still sounded so sweet. Fuck, I've missed the sound of her.

"Hello to you, too. And no, it's fine. I haven't been too out of my mind." I replied, half lying again. Given it another 10 minutes of waiting around for her, I would of filed a missing person report into Rosewood police.

Silence had taken over the phone, was the connection playing up on the other end? I glanced at my phone, looking at the full signal.

"Ar? Did you go?" I asked, listening out for any noise on the other end.

"No, no. I'm here, it's so weird hearing you again" she softly spoke out.

"I know, it's the same with you too" I admitted, closing my eyes, welcoming the soothing feeling that I haven't felt now for a year.

"Are we still on for tomorrow?" She asked, ever so sweetly.

"Like I would skip seeing my tiny friend?" I teased, there was a slight giggle on the other end of the phone, to which my face automatically responded with a smile.

"See you tomorrow, Spence. Try getting some sleep." she responded. The words "see you tomorrow" seemed so foreign to me now. It felt so surreal knowing that I would be seeing my best friend again, I've lost count how many times I day dreamed about this day.

"Oh, Ar? Welcome back. I've missed you."