Rush Together.

Five years later
Dahlia's POV--

I inhaled the air of California as I stepped off of the plane at LAX, the sunlight shining through the plate glass windows and onto my warm skin. It'd been years since I'd walked the soil of this state and I was more than excited to be back, though it was bittersweet. The only reason I was back is because my contract had run out with the company I was with and they refused to renew it because I'd gained too much weight for their liking, leaving me jobless.

Admittedly, I'd been the absolute worst friend. I'd only kept in contact with Jimmy and Katrina and selfishly chose to ignore Zacky. I knew talking to him would make me want to come back to Huntington even more and that the moment he asked me to, I'd quit my job and move back. With Brian, we called each other occasionally, but for the past year, I've ignored his phone calls out of pure stupidity. I'd be at a party and ignore the call or be on a date and ignore the text. Matt and Johnny talked to me for a couple of years, but that just faded away over time. I hoped more than anything that they could all forgive me, especially Zack. I'd broken my promise to him, and that hurt the most.

I walked out of the terminal and into the warm California sun that was beating down today. I let the sunshine fall over me and soak into my skin for the first time in five long years. Oh, how I've missed this place and everything about it! Outside, there was a black BMW with the engine running with a tall girl who's shoulder-length hair was bleached a bright blonde, wearing a pink maxi dress and holding a sign with "Welcome home, Dahlia" written in big, bold lettering. I knew my Kat anywhere. Without even slight hesitation, I dropped my bags and bolted up to my best friend, her arms outreached for me to go into. I wrapped my tiny form around her tall one and burst into tears.

"Oh my God, Kat! You...you look so different!" I said, running my fingers through her once short, brown hair that was now dark red and blonde.

She pulled her tan face back from mine and traced her finger along my chin "I could say the same about you. Look at you!"

She was right. I was a complete shadow of the person I was a few years ago. My once stick-like figure was curvier, tan, and covered in tattoos, my once short and blonde hair was a dark shade of brown and longer than it had ever been in my entire life. I would be surprised if anyone recognized me. I wore thick, smokey makeup and curled my hair almost every day as well as had a couple of piercings. Kat pulled at my arm skin, now coated in different tattoos.

"When did this happen?" she said wide-eyed.

Kat had always never wanted me to get tattoos. She said my body was too pretty to mark it up, but it was too late. I was virtually coated.

"New York makes you do crazy things. Can I load my stuff up now?"

She nodded and opened the back of her BMW and threw my pink bags into it, slamming it shut. It had obviously bothered her that I'd gotten so many tattoos and she was only being quiet to respect my individuality. I walked back around the front of the car to see Kat with a wide grin on her face, staring at me.

"What? Do I look funny?" I said, examining my outfit for any flaws.

"No! No, not at all. I have a surprise for you. Just..don't freak out okay?"

I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrow, waiting for whatever surprise she had waiting for me. She bit her lip and opened the door to a tall, muscled, tattooed man in a bandana and aviators. That couldn't be..but it was! Matt! He'd gotten so huge and was coated in tattoos.

"M...Matt?" I said covering my mouth with my hands, almost in tears.

"What's up, Dolly?" he said throwing his hand up at me.

I climbed over the seat and wrapped my arms around his huge form, and he followed suit swallowing me in his huge arms.

"Easy on my husband, Dahlia! He's fragile!" Kat said from behind me.

"Wh..what? You and Matt? Finally?!" I said, looking back and forth between the two.

She laughed and showed me the rock on her finger. "Yep, going on 5 years now."

I pulled my best friend into a congratulatory hug, knowing in my heart that this was something that was bound to happen a long time ago.

"Enough hugs" Matt interrupted ", we've got a party to get to!"

A party? I don't remember agreeing to having one or either of them telling me about one. "What are you guys talking about?" I asked curiously as I got into the back of the BMW.

"Uh, well..we may or may not have thrown a party and not told anyone why and we may or may not have lied about where we are so we could come and get you." Katrina said, turning in her seat as we drove out of the airport, looking at me with a 'please forgive me' face.

"You didn't TELL anyone I was coming?! Are you fucking crazy, Kat?" I asked, being hysteric in the backseat.

"Calm down! Everyone will be so excited to see you! It'll be fine!"

Fine? FINE?! I had been the shittiest friend ever, broken so many promises to my best friends, and worst of all probably hurt Zack in the process! This was a terrible idea. Leave it up to the queen of bad ideas to throw something like this together. I pouted in the backseat, refusing to look at either of them for most of the ride.

As we neared closer to Matt's house, I started shaking and getting panicked. Matt looked into the mirror and back at me before speaking.

"You need to relax. Things will be fine, I promise. And if anyone has anything to say, they can take it up with me. They need to accept the fact that you got busy. We all knew you would." He said, trying to make it not seem as bad as it was.

"Okay. Whatever you say, Matthew...is Zack there?"

They both looked at each other and sighed. Uh oh. He must be mad at me.

"Yeah, he is. Just...be patient with him. You know how he is."

"He's mad at me isn't he?"

"Uh, I wouldn't quite say that but--" Kat said before I interrupted.

"Stop sugar coating it. He's mad. I'm not stupid."

And with that, the conversation stopped. Probably because they knew I was right. We were silent the last five minutes of the drive and we pulled up to a beautiful beach house, similar to Matt's parents' house back in the day. It was two stories, painted white with a dark roof and a huge garage, holding his BMW and what I assumed was Katrina's Mustang. I guess the band had gotten bigger than I thought they had. I sighed and laid in the backseat, dreading this surprise entirely. We all stepped out in unison with Katrina walking around the car to grab my hand to help give me the strength to do this.

I walked slowly behind Matt to the front door, feeling my heart start to pound as he unlocked the door...

Notes

This chapter is pretty short. I didn't see a reason to make much of a buildup to them going to the house since it was just her, Kat, and Matt and there isn't any animosity between the three of them. The next chapter will be drama-filled! I promise!