Juelea was a lot of things; nervous, excited, scared, happy, sad, you name it, she was feeling it.
She was about to embark on the longest plane ride she’d ever gone on by herself. Back to Orlando; Juelea really missed Florida.
“Goodbye Australia,” she whispered as the plane taxied down the runway.
*~*~*~*~*
Nearly eighteen hours later Juelea closed her eyes and sent up a silent ‘thank you’ prayer that the plane landed safely.
It was only when she was standing in the Customs line that she realized she had no idea who, if anyone, was meeting her at the airport. There was no family in the area so Juelea was counting on the friends she’d had before moving to Perth.
Of course, if she had really thought about it, she wouldn’t have worried.
When Juelea got to baggage claim she heard, “JUELEA MONROE!!” and someone came flying at her.
*~*~*~*~*
“Ugh, Nick. Get off,” Juelea laughed. She was actually rather surprised her friend wasn’t wearing a disguise.
Nick stood, dusted himself off and held his hand out to help her up.
“Thanks,” she said, hugging him.
“Ah Juelez. You know better than a wimpy hug,” he laughed before squeezing her tight.
After catching her breath, Juelea asked, “So, how’s the new house?”
“Oh you know. It’s a house.”
“Haha Nickolas. Haha. Why didn’t your brother come with you?”
“Because he doesn’t know you’re back. It’s a surprise.”
The lights for the luggage carosuel started flashing and nick clapped his hands together while chanting, “Luggage! Luggage! Luggage!”
He looked over at Juelea who was rolling her eyes and apologized. “Sorry. Late night recording session and then picking you up this early. Had to have a Monster. It’s finally kicking in.”
“I can tell. And you’ll need that energy. Here comes my luggage,” she pointed.
*~*~*~*~*
“Why did you bring so much? Wouldn’t your parents have it shipped to after you got here?”
They were in the parking garage, trying to fit her six suitcases into Nick’s little car. “I would have had them do that but my parents weren’t that excited when I told them I was moving back. They wanted me to stay in Australia.”
They were soon on their way.
*~*~*~*~*
“That’s MY room Nick!” someone shouted. “Who’s in it?!”
Juelea wished the person would shut up. She was trying to sleep.
“Be quiet or you’ll wake her up,” Nick said, sounding as though he were walking toward the now open door.
“Tell me who’s in my bed,” the voice insisted.
Juelea recognized the voice now. She picked up a pillow and chucked it out the door, hoping it would hit it’s mark.
“SHUT UP Aaron. I’m trying to sleep. Jerk.”
Next thing she knew, a body had landed practically on top of her and was screaming, “LEA! LEA! LEA!” while bouncing.
Juelea could hear Nick laughing. She shoved Aaron hard and he tumbled off the bed.
“I told you to be quiet. Now if you value your life you will leave this room and not make a peep until I CHOOSE to wake up,” she pointed to the door, “NOW GO!”
*~*~*~*~*
Several hours later Juelea woke and gathered her shower stuff and walked into the attached bathroom.
She immediately decided against using the tub because she knew that she’d go right back to sleep.
*~*~*~*~*
Juelea walked down to the kitchen wearing a short jean skirt and a bright neon yellow shirt bearing the name of her Australian high school.
The brothers were sitting on stools at the counter, their backs toward her. “Hi fellas,” she smiled.
“Juele!” Aaron squealed, running to her. He wrapped his arms around her, picked her up and spun her around.
She hugged him back. Aaron was the friend she had missed the most.
“You’re really back? Like for good?”
“Of course for good. Well, I’ll have to go back for Jesse’s birthdays and Christmas and stuff like that but I am staying.”
“Jesse?” they both asked.
“Oh. That’s right,” she ran back to her room and grabbed one of the photo albums she’d brought with her.
Juelea sat on Nick’s stool after pushing him off (they’d known each other so long that they treated one another like brother and sister), and opened the book.
“This is my baby,” the brothers gasped. “brother. His name is Jesse and he’s almost one.”
Jesse was pretty much the only thing Juelea was missing about Australia. Well, she missed her friends and her goddaughter Emma too.
“But I thought your mom couldn’t--” Nick reached around her and smacked the back of his brother’s head.
“Be nice Nick. She can’t. Jesse is adopted. He was born in New Zealand.”
As they looked through the photos, Juelea would point one out every few pages and tell a story about it.
*~*~*~*~*
Juelea was on her laptop, emailing her mother when Aaron knocked on the door.
“So,” he said, flopping onto the bed. “I’m not getting my room back am I?”
“Not on your life,” Juelea replied, not looking away from the screen. “Although you CAN have your bed. It stinks like boy. And Nick said I could either pick one of the beds from the other bedrooms in the house or get a new one. Yours isn’t all that comfy.”
“Well now. Even though you just insulted my insanely comfy and NOI+N-smelly bed. I should still tell you.”
“Tell me what? And those are not insults. They are facts. Boys smell funny. Especially you.”
“Hahaha. Nick’s having a party for you. To celebrate your homecoming. All the guys are coming. In fact, AJ is already here.”
Even though Nick was like a brother to her, Aj had ALWAYS been her favorite Backstreet Boy.
Juelea bounded downstairs. When she saw Aj she said, “Ok. I’m here. Party can start now.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
you'll notice that the very first character spells her NEW name a bit unusual. it's the name Julia with a bit of a twist. If I give a character a normal, common name, I like to spell it a bit differently to make her/him stand out.
