With sunglasses on and a backpack swung over her shoulder, Reggie stood on the curb waiting for him to pick her up. She kept her eyes glued to the cars that were rounding the corner. Finally, off in the distance, she saw him. She checked her phone. 5:26pm.
He rolled up to the pick-up curb, rolling his windows down.
"You're late!" Reggie laughed, opening up the passenger door, throwing her backpack inside.
"Sorry." Lars called out, as he popped the trunk open. "Traffic sucked getting here."
Reggie threw her suitcase into the car, shutting the trunk, before jumping into the passenger seat.
"Thanks for picking me up." She smiled at him, clicking her seatbelt into place.
"You're going to make his day, you know that right?" Lars glanced over at her.
Reggie looked down and smiled. She knew that Twister was definitely going to be surprised to see her. Throughout their lives they had always been close, but since she moved to New York to attend NYU, their relationship grew incredibly closer.
She had been ignoring his messages for the past day and a half, leaving him unread, and she knew that it was probably driving him crazy.
"What's going on between you two anyways? He won't shut up about you." Lars laughed. He knew how the two felt about each other, hopelessly in love.
"We're friends…" She said, looking out the window, before she turned to look at him, "...for now at least."
"Really?" Lars was shocked. He knew that they had danced around the idea of being more than friends, but they never had committed to anything.
"Yeah, I really…" Reggie started to say, pausing with a sigh, trying to form her thoughts. "It's time you know?"
"Trust me, I know. You're not the one having to listen to him wait around for you." Lars laughed.
"I know it's been a long time coming, but New York and California are pretty far from each other." She watched Lars' expression shift, watching him nod knowingly. She did feel guilty knowing that they had put their potential relationship on hold when she moved away for school.
The week before she left for NYU, they sat outside on Twister's porch for hours one night discussing dating and trying long-distance. Both of them knew that it was going to be tougher than they imagined. While Twister wanted to give it a shot, Reggie was hesitant. She proposed that if they still felt the same way after she moved back to California, once she finished school, then they would give their relationship a shot. Twister reluctantly agreed, and the two continued to be "just friends."
"You two would have been fine." Lars replied, smiling at her. "You've managed to maintain your relationship as friends, I don't see what the difference would have been."
Reggie shrugged her shoulders, turning to look out the window. He was right.
"So what's the plan?" She asked.
"Well, we are meeting up with our families for dinner. I can't believe that you didn't tell anyone that you were coming." L glanced at her.
"Then after dinner, are we planning on going out for drinks at midnight?" R asked, looking over at him, ignoring his last statement.
"That's the plan. I think we are going to try to go near their apartment, so we can Uber back and crash there. Their third roommate is gone for the weekend, so they have an extra bed. So someone will have to share a bed, but I'm sure that you can figure that out for us." L smirked.
Reggie glared over at Lars as he laughed.
The two drove through the LA traffic. Reggie watched the clock slowly count down the minutes until they were expected to arrive. She was becoming more anxious by the minute.
"It's good to have you here, it's not the same without you. They still hang out regularly, and I'll go out with them sometimes, but it's just not the same without you."
"I'm nervous. I don't think I've ever been nervous to be back home or even around you guys. This feels dumb." Reggie shook her head, unsure of what she was really doing. She was an planner, and this last minute surprise trip wasn't like her.
"If you say you're all in, he will too. Don't worry." Lars reassured her, as they made their way towards the restaurant.
"Where are you? You were supposed to meet us here 10 minutes ago." Sandy asked, as Lars pulled into the parking lot.
"We're parking right now." He replied, as they turned into a spot.
"We're?" Sandy questioned.
"I'll see you soon." Lars hung up, and turned off the car, looking at Reggie. "Ready?"
"Yeah." She smiled, seeing yet another message from Twister. Hey, you okay?
The two of them walked into the restaurant, making sure that Reggie wasn't seen. They spotted their families, and saw that Twister's back was to them.
Lars looked to Reggie and raised his eyebrows. She held a finger up to her lips to make sure that no one said anything as they walked up. There was an empty seat next to Twister and Lars made sure to walk up to the opposite side of him, so that Reggie could sit down in the chair.
"Hey man, happy birthday!" Lars said, as Twister stood up to hug him. "Have a good day so far?"
"Yeah." Twister replied, lying to himself. He really had wanted to talk to Reggie that day.
"Don't lie, dude. You've been upset that Reg hasn't talked to you all day." Otto laughed, poking fun at his sister who was still waiting for Twister to notice her.
"Hey, I had a really good reason!" Reggie held her hands up in defense, as she stood up.
Twister's head whipped around at the sound of her voice, and he scooped her into his arms for a hug. "What are you doing here?"
"Surprising you, of course!" Reggie smiled, resting her head on his chest as they hugged.
"You flew all the way here for my birthday?" Twister pulled back looking down at her.
"It would appear so." She laughed, yawning in the process.
"Didn't you have classes today?" Ray asked, looking to his daughter, as she walked over to hug him.
"Well, yeah, I went to two of the three. I had to be to the airport for a noon flight." Reggie explained as she gave her dad a hug.
"It's good to see you, sweetheart. It's been awhile, we've missed you." Ray whispered to her. "He's missed you too."
Reggie pulled back and looked at her dad, with a half-smile. "Yeah, I should have tried to come home sooner."
"7 months is a long time, especially when this guy won't shut…" Otto began to say before Lars hit him. "Ow!"
"But the Condé Nast internship was totally worth it, right?" Sam asked, trying to take the attention off of Twister.
"Yeah, I had a lot of fun traveling through Europe. But I definitely missed coming home for the summer." Reggie said, as she sat back down next to Twister.
"Any word on your spring internship?" Sandy asked.
"Yeah, I have three internship options, but two of them have potential jobs come graduation." She said, before taking a sip of her water.
"Where are they?" Sam asked knowing that she had applied all over the country for writing positions.
"Well…" She started to say, looking down at her hands, fidgeting. "...um, there is Condé Nast in New York, which would mean a lot of travel. They have offered the best internship and job option after graduation, and the head of the Travel magazine really wants me to stay with them. It's a lot of editorial writing, and after this summer, I'm not sure if that is the direction I want to go. There's a second one in New York, with NBC working as a writing intern. The last one, with a writing job once I graduate is with a studio in Burbank." She explained, already having picked. She just wanted Twister to be the first to know.
Twister perked up at the mention of Burbank. He cast a sideways glance to her. He didn't want to get his hopes up, since she loved New York. It was true he had missed her like crazy, and didn't want to have to go months without seeing her again.
"Which one do you think that you will choose?" Ray asked her, hoping that she would choose the one closest to home.
"Um, not yet. I have to decide by the end of the month for two of them." Reggie replied, finally glancing at Twister, who wasn't making eye contact with her.
"You should just move home already." Otto complained. "I don't know why you decided to move all the way to New York in the first place."
It was hard for her to admit, but she had selected NYU because it was where Twister said he wanted to go. He even got in, but then when CalArts gave him a scholarship, he had to take it. That left her stuck in New York, which defeated her plan of going to school with him. She could remember the day he told her he had picked CalArts, she cried and yelled at him over the phone. He felt terrible, but knew it was the best choice for his future. Reggie and Twister didn't talk for a couple of weeks, but the moment she came home for his graduation, they were getting back to normal again.
"Well, I need a job after graduation, so…" Reggie rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"Well, I'm impressed that you have a couple amazing choices, sweetheart. I'm proud of you." Her dad replied.
The families talked and enjoyed dinner, celebrating Twister's 21st birthday. It was around 10pm when they finally got up to leave.
"I'll get to see you at some point this weekend?" Ray asked, giving his daughter a hug.
"Of course." She smiled, "I'm here until Sunday night. I'm catching a 9:30 flight that gets me into New York about two hours before my first class on Monday."
"You're crazy." Lars laughed at her.
"Well, when you want to make the most of your trip, you have to be a little crazy. I mean, it's 1am in New York right now. I'll be pulling an all nighter tonight." She laughed.
"Alright, you guys be safe tonight." Sandy said, before they split off from each other.
"So, we will head to your place, then either one of you can drive or we will Uber." Lars said, as he walked to his car.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Otto said, following Lars to his car, with Sam trailing behind.
"Wait, you're not going to ride with me?" Twister asked, having driven Otto and Sam before.
"I can ride with you." Reggie smiled, looking to the other boys, knowing that they had definitely planned on him driving with only her.
"Great idea, Reg." Sam smirked at her, as he got into Lars' car.
"I guess it's just you and me." Reggie turned to smile at Twister.
"I guess so." He laughed. "I can't believe you're here."
"Better get used to it." She smirked, as she climbed into the passenger seat.
Twister climbed into the car and started the engine. He thought about what she had just said, "Better get used to it."
"Wait!?" His head whipped around to look at her. She sat smiling at him, patiently waiting for him to understand what she was trying to say.