CHAPTER 53 (OTHERS)

People were busy passing by, some holding cups of coffee fresh from Starbucks. A child was crying as his mother held his hand, making him walk despite his stubborn protests.

"Mom, when are we getting on the plane? I've been waiting so long. Let's just stay here", he whined.

"Ssh, Perry. We'll be boarding the plane soon", his mother assured him.

"Oh fine. I guess I can still wait", he gave in and clutched his toy robot tightly.

"Well, come along now".

His mother began dragging him again. All of a sudden, he dropped his toy.

"Mom! Mom! I dropped my toy", he cried, going back.

He was about to get it when a guy picked it up. He stood about nearly six feet tall, blue eyes and short, jet-black hair. Earphones were plugged to his ears.

"Hey, you dropped this", he said as he handed the toy back to the kid.

The kid took it. "Thanks mister". He beamed at the stranger.

His mom approached and also smiled. "Thank you. Let's get going now, Perry", his mom thanked him and walked away.

The stranger smiled and hummed a tune to his self. He sat down on the seats again, waiting for his flight.

His phone suddenly rang in his pocket. He slowly took it out. He removed his earphones.

"Hello? Oh. Hi. No. The plane's not boarding yet. But I reckon it'll take off pretty soon", he said.

He paused and chuckled.

"Oh okay. I'll call you when I get there. Bye", he said and placed his phone back in his pocket. He drummed his fingers on the seat.

He began to clutch the locket that hung on his neck. He opened it.

There was a picture of Anthea in it. He smiled once again.

Finally, the plane was about to board, and passengers lined up to give out their tickets.

He got on the plane, sitting comfortably by the window. The plane took off. He gazed out of the window, looking at the clouds.

Despite looking so quiet, he really was excited to reach his destination. He's been looking forward to it for years. He's always been anxious to see one of the faces that kept him going everyday.

'Anthea, I'm coming home. I'll finally see you after all these years', he thought to himself before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep. His hand was still holding his locket.

I was desperately wiggling my tongue in all sorts of directions: left, right, up, down, clockwise, counter clockwise. Jeez. How come I can't get it? I should get it. I just should.

Danny was looking at me, his face undescribable. He was trying his best to control himself from laughing.

"Anthea… You can stop you know. You don't really need to prove anything", he said to me.

I shook my head and held up my hand, signalling him to let me continue. He sighed and smiled at me.

I made my tongue move again; it was wiggling like crazy inside my mouth. I've been at this for a few minutes now. I should be able to do this now.

Finally, I got it.

I clapped my hands together and stuck out my tongue. I had a huge smile on my face. Success! I managed to do it.

Danny laughed and clapped his hands. "Congratulations! You did manage to tie it!"

After all these months, I finally managed to tie a cherry! I'm so proud. I didn't do it to prove that I'm a great kisser. I wanted to prove to Dougie that I could tie a cherry with my tongue.

He was taunting me yesterday when we were hanging out at school. He brought cherries with him, so he demonstrated to us that he could tie one. And he did.

He offered me one and dared me to tie it. I immediately took up the challenge and popped one of it into my mouth. I was so confident that I could get it.

I never knew how hard it actually was. Dougie made it look so easy.

When I couldn't tie it, he snorted loudly. Then he kept on teasing me.

I proved him wrong today though. Hah. I managed to tie the cherry, and Danny was my witness. Dougie'll eat his words.

"Well, good thing you tied that. You were working on that for so long", Danny said.

I nodded and grinned. "I know. I so proved Dougie wrong".

We laughed. Danny said that he had a blast, watching me struggle with the cherry. I decided to take that as a compliment.

Danny and I were once again at one of my favourite hang-out places of all time: The Ice Cream Monster. Yeah. I can never get enough of ice cream. I just finished a really huge banana split, and I think I was craving for more.

Oh well. I shouldn't eat too much though. I might end up gaining unwanted pounds of fat.

Hm… Maybe I could try out for a sport. I should make my body a little bit healthier. Maybe I'll try one next school year.

"You still hungry?" Danny asked me as I played with my spoon.

"Oh. No. I'm fine Danny. I'm pretty full now", I replied.

"Oh okay. You wanna stay here or do you wanna go out now?" he asked me.

I thought about this. I think that it'd be better if we roamed around for a bit.

"Okay. Let's roam around", I smiled.

He nodded and we rose from our seats. He held my hand. He opened the door for me as we went out.

"Why thank you", I told him. That was such a sweet gesture.

"My pleasure", he replied in a princely manner. He was so charming. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually turned out to be a prince someday. He definitely looked like royalty.

Today, I was going to introduce him to my parents. They were pretty happy when they found out that Danny was my boyfriend. My mom thought that he was absolutely perfect for me. Kristoph seemed pretty enthusiastic about it too. He did like Danny after all.

Well, so they did know him already. But a little greeting wouldn't hurt right? Besides, it would be nice if there was a formal meeting.

Danny seemed to like the idea as well. He was the type who wanted to assure the parents that he'd be good.

I was supposed to tell one other person, but he was too busy.

"Danny, can we go to Barnes and Nobles here? I'm in the mood for a book", I asked him.

He nodded. "Sure. Anything you want Anthea".

We walked around until we found Barnes and Nobles. I could smell the appealing (well, appealing to me) smell of fresh books. Gosh they had huge collections of wonderfully wonderful books. I could stay in a place like this for hours.

Suddenly, the phone in my pocket rang. I took it out and placed it on my ear.

"Hello?" I said.

However, all I could hear was static from the other line. I couldn't even hear the caller's voice.

"Hello?" I tried again, placing the phone even closer to my ear.

No luck. Then the line went dead. I placed it back into my pocket.

"Who was that?" Danny asked.

I shrugged. "I dunno. There was only static on the other line, so I couldn't really hear anything".

Oh well. It's not like I have to worry about it. So I decided not to mind the strange phone call.

"Sorry, but the person you are calling cannot be reached. Please try again", a woman's voice came out of the cell phone.

The guy placed it back in his pocket. "Jeez. What a bummer".

He was already at the airport, dragging along his luggage with him. He just arrived.

He tried to call Anthea, but there was no such luck. 'There must be no signal here. I should find a better reception', he thought as he walked around.

He passed through the small crowd in the airport and made his way through it. He was anxious to get out of the vicinity.

As he got out, he called for a taxi. When one came by, he immediately got it.

'Hm… Where should I go first? I am pretty hungry', he thought.

"Where to?" the driver asked him.

"Ah. Just take me to the mall… over there", he said pointing at one mall. "Sorry. I don't know the name".

The taxi driver chuckled. "It's okay. You new around here?"

He nodded. "Sort of. I've only been here a few times. And my last visit was years ago".

A lot has changed since he last visited, he observed. New infrastructures, more population, more foreigners. Despite the changes, he hoped that Anthea was still the same sweet girl that he grew to love.

As they arrived at the mall, he paid and thanked the driver and decided to get a snack.

He roamed around for a bit, trying to familiarize himself with the new surroundings.

Suddenly, a group of blond and Mexican girls were batting their eyelashes at him, trying to get his attention. One was even bold enough to wave at him.

He ignored them and continued walking, rolling his eyes.

"Pathetic", he muttered.

A couple passed by him, both were blond. The boy had spiky hair at the back of his head while the girl had straight long hair.

"Dougie, you still hungry?" the girl asked her partner.

"Nope Jessica. I'm fine", the guy called Dougie replied.

"Hm… Danny and Anthea are on a date here too right?" Jessica asked.

This was all it took for the guy to freeze in his tracks.

'What?!? Anthea's dating someone?? Who's this… Danny??' he thought, absolutely surprised.

Dougie and Jessica had already passed by, still talking about Danny and Anthea.

'Okaay. Calm down. It might be another Anthea here. There are so many Antheas in the world", he thought.

Then again, it might be this certain Anthea. So he decided to follow Dougie and Jessica for a bit until he gets a confirmation.

He walked behind them, just a few inches away. It was enough for him to hear what they were talking about.

"Aw… They look very sweet, don't they?" Jessica gushed.

Dougie nodded. "Yup. Jones and Stewart do make a good couple".

The guy went numb, but managed to get a grip on himself. 'Calm down… Her name might be Anthea Jones, not Anthea Stewart'.

"Yeah. Danny Jones plus Anthea Stewart equals heart", Jessica giggled.

"I know. It's good to see them together", Dougie added.

This was enough. It really was true. Anthea was dating a guy named Danny.

The guy decided to stop following them now. He'd heard enough.

He decided to go to a restaurant and cool down a bit there.

"Danny, huh? Pfft. Danny, whoever you are, you'd better watch out", he muttered angrily.

Danny suddenly sneezed. I laughed and handed him a pack of tissue.

"Thank you", Danny sniffed.

"Sure thing", I replied.

I looked at the enormous stacks of books in front of me. There was so much to choose from.

I scanned each author of each book: Mitch Albom, Fern Michaels, Agatha Christie, Anne Rice, Nora Roberts, Jude Deveraux, Sidney Sheldon, Nicholas Sparks, and a lot more. I wanted to buy one, I really did. But I've already read so much of their books. I was craving for a new author, someone whose works I haven't read yet.

"You having trouble choosing an author?" Danny asked me.

I nodded. "Yup. I've already read all of these books".

He began scanning the shelf as well. He pulled out one book. "Why don't you try this?"

He gave the book to me. I read the title: Artemis Fowl.

"That's a very nice book you know. It's one of my faves", he commented. He did sound that he loved it.

I checked the summary of the book at the back. Hm… it did sound pretty good.

I decided to buy it. We bought it and I was very satisfied with my choice. I had such a great day.

I didn't know that a bigger surprise was waiting for me back at home.

We decided to head back since Pamela was preparing this little party for us. She wanted Danny's introduction to be cool, so she threw a party to make a good impression on my parents. She didn't need to though. My parents thought that Danny was spectacular.

We took a taxi and arrived at home. I opened the door to my house and found Tom. Dougie, Harry, Evangeline, Nicole, Pamela and Jessica inside. They were all sitting on the couch and eating cake.

"Good you're not late", Pamela smiled at us.

"I know", I grinned back at her.

I looked at Jenny. She seemed to be the only one who didn't look happy. I wondered what happened.

I decided to ask her later on.

My mom and dad finally emerged from the kitchen.

"Hey honey!" my mom greeted me warmly.

I went over to them and hugged them. I held their hands as we walked towards Danny.

"Mom… Dad… This is Danny, my boyfriend", I introduced Danny to them.

"Danny, nice to meet you. It's wonderful that you're the one dating our daughter", my mom beamed at him.

"I've heard a lot about you. I'm sure you can take care of our little girl", my dad smiled.

Danny smiled and nodded. "Thank you. Of course I'll take care of her".

I was beaming. I'm glad that they approve of him. They handed us cake and we sat down.

"I guess I have no problem with your family", Danny grinned.

I chuckled. "I'm glad, really".

I was happy. Everything seemed so perfect.

There was suddenly a knock on the door. I got up to answer it.

The knocking became more rapid and harder. Okay. Sheesh. I'm coming.

I opened it and got the shock of my life.

A guy with short jet-black hair, blue eyes and stood about six feet tall was smiling at me.

"Jacob!!!" I squealed and jumped at him, hugging him tightly.

Oh my gosh! Jacob came!! After all these years!! How did this happen?? I was so shocked. This was so unexpected. Tears were streaming down my cheeks.

"Hey Anthea. I'm glad I got to see you. Aw… Don't cry now", he said gently as he hugged me tightly.

I was still sobbing a bit. I've missed Jacob so much.

"Jacob! You're here!" my mom squealed as well as she ran to hug him.

"Hey mom", he said after she hugged him.

"Hey dad", he waved to my dad.

"Hey son", my father replied, smiling.

"You never told us you were coming!" my mom exclaimed as she slapped his shoulder.

"Ow!" Jacob cried and chuckled. "Sorry. I wanted to surprise you guys".

I chuckled. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here big bro".

He kissed my cheek. "Me too sis".

"Oh by the way, Jacob. These are my friends Tom. Dougie, Harry, Evangeline, Nicole, Pamela and Jessica", I said as I introduced them to him. They all smiled and waved at him.

He beamed and waved back. "Nice to meet you guys".

"Oh. And this is Danny. He's my boyfriend", I said as I pointed to Danny.

For some strange reason, his enthusiasm drained away the moment he saw Danny. I could see him clench one fist. He looked… Angry even.

"Hi… Danny", he said, a little icily.

Danny seemed to notice his cold greeting, but he still grinned. "Hey. Nice to meet you."

Jacob cleared his throat. "Um… Mom… I'll be in my room for a while. Bye", he said and went upstairs.

"Okay dear", my mom replied, a bit puzzled.

I sat down on the couch with Danny once again. I sighed.

"Sorry about my brother. He acts like that sometimes", I apologized.

He pecked my cheek gently. "Don't worry. I understand. I'll do my best though to make him like me".

"I'll help you. Don't worry. Jacob's a sweet guy".

"I know. Things'll be fine. We'll worry about that later".

After that, his lips gently pressed against mine for a few seconds. When that ended, I placed my head on his shoulder. He was right. We'll worry about Jacob later. I just hoped that Jacob wasn't so stubborn.

"Anthea, I love you", Danny smiled at me.

I began to smile too. "I love you too Danny".

Oh well. Better focus on the positive side of things now. I've got Danny with me, haven't I? There's no reason for me to feel awful. So…

No worries.

---------------------END OF ALL ABOUT YOU PART 1-------------------------------