Rachel's P.O.V

The plane ride back home was long. Extremely long. Painfully long. Okay, so maybe it wasn't THAT long, but it seemed that way.

And when I say home, I don't mean the hotel I've been living at in NYC. I mean home, as in Springfield. Where my friends are. Where I'll be soon.

At some point, I dozed off, because before I knew it, we had landed. I probably would have accidentally stayed on the plane and woken up in Detroit or something if someone hadn't tapped me on the shoulder.

I warily opened my eyes. "Uh, the plane already landed. You should probably get off unless you want to wake up in Detroit or something," a guy told me.

He looked to be about seventeen or eighteen.

"Ha, yeah I should," I said getting up. "Thanks for waking me up, though!"

I ran outside and looked around, so happy to be back.

I walked around, stopping at a McDonalds, because, boy am I hungry! The food they serve you on the plane really does suck.

I entered, and immediately bumped into someone.

"OW!" I cried out. Whoever it was had to be made of stone, or something, because that really hurt. "Watch where you're going! Gosh that hurt! 

You little..." I cursed.

"Rachel?" they asked.

I looked up and my mouth dropped open. Luck must have been on my side, because 'they' was actually Adam.

"Adam? Holy crap, sorry I called you a- well, maybe you didn't hear what I called you, so I'll just shut up now."

Adam laughed. "Wow, it really is you!"

He tugged at my arm. "Come on, let's go, Kia is going to be so happy!"

"Wait!" I cried. "I haven't even gotten some breakfast yet," I said, looking longingly behind me.

Adam laughed again. "Right, wait here."

A few minutes later he came back with another bag.

"Okay, now let's go!" he said, holding my hand.

"Okay!" I said, happy for an excuse to hold his hand.

We walked hand in hand, and let me just say, this was the happiest I had been in three months. (That's the amount of time I was with Ricky)

We got to Drew's house, which conveniently (for him) is a couple blocks away from McDonalds.

Adam just walked right in, much like I do at Kia and Adam's houses.

"Drew! Kia! Come down here, I have a surprise!" Adam called out.

Normally, I would have just charged upstairs, but now that they're a serious couple, I'm not sure I want to know what's going on upstairs. Or downstairs for that matter...

I heard the shuffling of feet on the stairs, and then I saw Kia and Drew.

"Ah!!" Kia screamed before lunging at me and pulling me into a hug.

"You're back!! Wait, what happened to Ricky?" she asked, pulling away.

I sat down on the couch.

"That's the thing, I'm not back for good. Just for three weeks, until Ricky returns." I explained.

"What? Why would you go back to that?" Adam asked with sadness in his tone.

"Because, I cant just leave!" I exclaimed.

Adam really looked sad now.

"He's just going to come looking for me again, and it'll all go downhill. I have to finish this once and for all. But I need to follow my plan to do that. This wasn't part of the plan, I just wanted to see you guys," I smiled.

"Well, where are your bags?" Kia asked.

"New York. I left everything there, gave the dude who works there a nice wad of cash to make sure nothing is touched and the room stays under Ricky's name."

"Okay, don't worry, I still have some of your clothes at my house, I'll go get it, wait, where are you staying? Ooh! Stay at my house, its where all the fun people go!" Kia exclaimed.

"I thought that was hell." I pointed out. "But, okay!"

"I'm going to go back to Drew's room, we have some unfinished business." Kia announced as she made her way up the stairs. Drew followed.

"Yea, I'm leaving," I said awkwardly.

"I'll go with you," Adam said gawkily.

We shut the door and both shuddered. Neither of us wanted to witness that.

I made my way towards Adam's car. "I wanna go to the park," I announced.

"Okay," Adam smiled.

We got to the park, and I sat down in my spot under that old birch tree.

Adam sat down next to me. I looked at him uneasily. Should I say it?

"Adam," I started.

That got his attention. "Yeah?"

"I don't really know how to say this, but..." I closed my eyes.

This is it. I'm really going to say it. I'm finally going to tell Adam how much I love him.

I just remembered. We forgot all about the food. I think it's in Adam's car right now... more for me!

Back to the present situation.

Where was I? Oh yes, I'm about to tell Adam I love him.

"I-"

OH MY GOSH I CAN'T DO THIS! WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Calm down Rachel, you have to think quickly!

"Your fly is down," I said, pointing to his pants.

Adam looked down and blushed.

"Crap," he said, fixing it.

I slapped my forehead.

I chickened out; I'm such a chicken.

Ok, I'm just going to get this over with, once and for all.

"Okay, that wasn't what I was going to say. I chickened out, and used that as a cover-up. Sorry. What I really want to say is..." I took a deep breath.

"Adam, I love you."

Oh shit.