Thursday, Night Of Departure, Alexa's House, 6:44 P.M...

"Sweetie, are you sure you have everything you need?" Tyler Bliss worriedly asked his daughter for the 5th time.

"Dad, how many times are you gonna ask me that?" Alexa responded, obviously annoyed by her dad's constant questioning.

"Your father's just concerned is all." Her mother Allie followed.

Alexa sighed.

"Guys, like I told you before. The neighbor's son invited me to go with him to Arizona for Thanksgiving. Since you're gonna be on a business trip during the entire break, I said yes. He's got family up there that will take care of me. There's nothing to be worried about, okay?" She reiterated for hopefully the final time.

"Okay... Oh, my little girl's growing up. Going away on trips without us." Alexa's dad went on.

In response, Bliss just rolled her eyes.

"It's not like you two don't leave without me all the time."

"True... But... I can't help but be worried. You're my daughter."

Allie stepped in.

"Plus, we don't even know this kid or his family. We see him and his dad sometimes, but that's it. We don't know how they are. They could be a bunch of bad people for all we know."

Alexa got a little heated at her mom's statement.

"Yeah, well I do, alright? Shane and his father aren't bad people by any stretch of the imagination." She fired back at her.

At that moment, the sound of a car horn could be heard.

"That must be them. Alright, see you guys later."

"Bye, Lexi. Love you, pumpkin." Tyler told her.

She waved begrudgingly before exiting her mansion-like house. As she turned around to lock the door behind her, she heard the patriarch of the Price family call out to her.

"Yo, kid, let's go! I gotta be at work soon, an your flight leaves in like an hour and a half!" Kevin informed.

"Just a sec!" She yelled back in response.

Alexa locked the door, then made her way to the car. Kevin opened the trunk and told her to put her bag in. Once she finished with that, she smiled, happy to see her boyfriend and his father once again. She saw Shane was in the backseat on his phone, so she entered in the back to sit next to him. Price saw she was coming in, so looked up from the screen to face the love of his life. They hugged and Shane kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey stranger." He greeted jokingly.

"Hey babe. Hey Shane's dad."

"Sup kid. So, we ready to get this show on the road?" Kevin asked.

"Hold on, dad. I'm texting Paige right now to let her know that we'll be over there in a few hours."

"Okay, and? You can't text while the damn car's in motion?"

"No, it's not that. I wanna take a selfie of all of us together to send to her."

Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Where the hell did you get your corniness from, boy?"

Alexa chimed in.

"Well, you are his dad, so..."

Shane laughed out loud.

"Got you there, old man!" He exclaimed.

Kevin smirked.

"Oh, girl got jokes, huh? You really are a good fit for this family."

Alexa flipped her hair.

"I try, I try. Alright, Shane. Let's all take this picture so we can go."

"Okay. Dad, you take it since you're in the front."

Shane handed his father the phone, and he prepared to take the picture. He told the two teens in the back to huddle together.

"Say cheese." Kevin said, and took the photo.

He gave the phone back to his son, who looked at it with a smile and a nod. He showed it to Alexa, who just smiled and shook her head. The reason she did that wasn't because she looked weird or finny. No, it was because the two boys in the picture decided to make the stupidest faces they could. Shane was cross eyed with his tongue sticking out, and Papa Price had one eye closed, looking like a pirate. Alexa on the other hand, just had a nice smile. No teeth showing either, just a plain smile. She looked up from the phone and at the two of them, who were currently laughing at what they had done.

"What was that about me being a good fit for this family, Mr. Price?"

In response, Kevin chuckled.

"I told you before, don't call me that. Just call me Kevin. Okay, seriously now. We have to move. Put your seatbelts on."

About 35 minutes later, and the three were at the airport. Their scheduled flight was a few minutes away from beginning the boarding process, and they were flying first class. That meant that unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of time for goodbyes. Alexa and Shane went to the trunk to grab their respective bookbags. Shane and his dad fist bumped, while Alexa waved.

"As soon as you two get off the plane, I want a text from you, got it? I'm putting a lot of trust in you by letting you do this. Don't make me regret it.''

Shane nodded.

"I won't, you have my word. You can trust me."

Kevin smiled at his son.

"That's my boy. Now go on, get. That girl back home needs you."

As he turned around and left, Shane was called from behind one more time by his father.

"And Shane?"

"Yeah dad?"

He glanced over to Alexa who was still walking inside the airport and then looked back at his son.

"Don't do anything you'll regret, alright?"

Shane was confused by that, but he just nodded and went to go catch up with Alexa. Kevin took one last look at the two before driving away to go to work.


6 Hours Later...

"I swear, never in my life have I been so comfortable. I could literally live on that damn plane for the rest of my days and be okay with it. No joke." Shane said nonsensically as he and Alexa departed from the airport.

The petite princess giggled.

"Shut up moron."

"No, I'm serious man. They literally served us like royalty. We were watching movies with our feet up and everything! That was insane!"

"That's called first class, babe. It's not that big of a deal."

"It is for me. I've never been on a first class flight before. That was just... Wow."

Alexa rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. His wonder and amazement was cute to her, she had to admit.

"You're a weird kid. Anyway, did you let Paige know that we got off of the plane?"

"Yeah, I texted her and dad while you were in the bathroom. She said to wait outside and that her brother was coming to pick us up."

"Okay. Did she say anything about how long it's going to take for him to get here?"

"Like, now actually."

"Now? What do you mean now? Didn't you just text her?" Alexa asked confused.

"I mean, yeah. I did. But... He's literally standing right over there." He explained while pointing past her.

Little Miss Bliss turned around to see a man standing outside with a shaved head and a leather jacket on. He was casually smoking a cigarette while leaning on a pole.

"Is it the guy smoking?"

"Yup, that's Zak alright. Dude smokes like a chimney. I always got on him for it, but he always replied with, and I quote, "Fuckin fuck off mate". Paige told me he got it from their dad. Anyway, come on."

Shane led Alexa out the airport and toward the brother of his British Bestie. He called out to him to get his attention.

"Ay yo! Knight, what did I say about those damn cigarettes?" He jokingly chastised.

The 19 year old boy turned his head and instantly smiled when he saw Price.

"Oi, fuck off ya cheeky prick!" He responded, joking as well.

The two boys fist bumped and laughed.

"Long time no see, huh?" Shane said.

"You could say that, mate. I know for a fact Paige missed you like crazy."

"Did you?"

"Eh, you could say that. With you gone, I had to deal with her lot more since she couldn't hang out with you anymore."

"Wow, thanks. I missed you too." Shane sarcastically said.

"Don't mention it. Who's the girl with you?" Zak asked while motioning to the petite princess who was standing behind him.

"I'm Alexa. His girlfriend." She introduced herself.

"Girlfriend, huh? Nice job Shane. Nice to meet you, I'm Zak. You came to help too?"

"Yup. Any friend of Shane is a friend of mine."

"Glad to hear that. My sister means a lot to me and I'd teach those skets a lesson myself if I could. Unfortunately I'm a guy, a grown guy at that. That's a whole case. Thank you."

"Don't worry. The pleasure will be all mine. I hate stuck up bitches like that."

"Same here. Well, forget the small talk, yeah? Paige can't wait to see you, Shane."

"Likewise. But, before we go, I have a question."

"Go ahead."

"I texted Paige that we made it here, and then not even 10 minutes later we saw you. How the hell did you get here so fast?"

Zak groaned.

"Because I've been here for like 30 minutes. She kept nagging me about not making you guys wait, and I didn't wanna hear her mouth anymore. So I just came early."

Shane laughed.

"Yeah, that sounds like something she would do."

A short drive later, and there they were. A rush of memories flooded the mind of Mr. Price. On the way there they passed his old house. That kinda made him feel weird. He was glad he and his dad moved away, but still. He really did have some good times in Arizona. Now, in front of Paige and Zak's home, Shane smiled. Alexa noticed this and just the smallest feeling of jealousy passed through her. All three of them exited the car and walked to the front door. Zak opened the door and yelled upstairs.

"Paige! They've arrived!"

A few seconds later, you could hear footsteps. Shane and Alexa looked up and saw an uncharacteristically timid Paige walk downstairs in her pajamas. She came up to Shane, who had a big smile on his face. He spoke first.

"Well, Midnight? I told you I'd be here."

All Paige could do hug him hard. She buried her face into his chest. She wasn't crying, but she was pretty emotional at the moment. Knight pulled away and then looked directly at him.

"Shane... love. You tosser... Thank you."

He nudged her right cheek with his fist.

"No need to thank me. No need at all. Now... Time to get myself reaquainted with this place. It's been awhile."