All The Little Lights // c.b

22

Josie POV :)

I was coming home today. Finally. My real home.

"Thank you for visiting, Josephine," my stepmom says as I load up the car with my things.

"Uh huh," I respond, and my dad gets in the car, with me close behind. Without looking back, I leave the house I had once called home and finally felt I was one step closer to my true home.

***

When I came home and saw Colby standing at the gate. I stopped walking. I saw Sam behind him with a vlog camera, and Kat standing behind Colby. I dropped my backs and ran over to him, throwing my arms around his neck. He spins me around and when he puts me down I give him another hug.

"God I missed you," I say, and I feel him kiss my forehead.

"I missed you too baby, so so much," he says, and I let go and look up into my eyes. I wipe my eyes a bit then grab his hand with my sweater paw and drag him to my luggage.

"Help me I'm weak," I say, and he laughs, taking two of the suitcases and I take one. Together we walk them back to the group, where I give Kat a giant hug.

"I missed you!" Kat says, and I smile.

"I missed you too!" I say, and Kat and I talk while the boys tag along in the back. Suddenly I hear Colby's voice behind me, and in a little high pitched voice he sticks the camera in my face as we walk.

"And that's my girlfriend who eft me for six months cause her dad is mean," Colby says and I laugh.

"You know I would have much rather been here with you," I say, and he throws an arm around my shoulder as the car comes in view.

"Wait, you have an Australian accent now!" Sam says suddenly, and I turn to look at him, confused.

"I do?" I question, and hear myself, "oh my god I do!" Colby laughs, excited he got that whole ordeal on camera, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I like it," Colby says, and I smile and load my suitcases into the car.

"Well we will see how long it lasts," I say, and Colby and I get in the backseat of the car while Sam drives. We arrive at my apartment soon, and I stepped out and took a breath in. This is home. Not Australia, but LA. As I got out of the car Ella comes running out of the apartment, and tackles me in a hug.

"Oh my god I missed you! I never even got to say goodbye! Oh my god it's been like eight months!" Ella comments, and when she pulls away she brings a strand of hair with her.

"Blame my stepmother for my hair," I say bitterly, and pull out my phone to schedule an appointment with my hairdresser.

"I miss the red," Ella says, and I nod in agreement.

"Let's get the red back as soon as possible, yeah?" Colby says, and I nod quickly. Once all my bags were inside, I carried them to my room and stacked them near my closet for later. I then went back to my living area and saw Colby, Sam, and Kat sprawled on my couch, scrolling through my Netflix.

"So my house is the party house now?" I ask, and receive some chuckles in reply.

"I guess," Colby says. I sit on Colby's lap as he directs them to AHS.

"Oh thank god I haven't watched this in forever, my dad was like breathing down my neck all day and whenever I had time to myself I slept," i say, and lay my head on his shoulder.

"Jo, I'm going out, I'll see you in like an hour?" Ella says from behind me, and I look up and nod, smiling at her as she leaves the apartment. Halfway through an episode, I felt my eyelids grow heavy, and I fell asleep on Colby's shoulder.

***

Two hours later Ella hadn't come home. Sam and Kat had left to go out to dinner, but Colby stayed. I woke up from my nap and looked up into his bright blue eyes, and he looked down at my plain brown ones.

"You have a good nap, babe?" He whispers, and taps my nose, and I nod.

"Yeah. You know where my phone is? I wanna call Ell," I say, and he reaches behind him on the side table and hands it to me. I call her and it rings for a few minutes, then someone answers.

"Hello?" A gruff voice says on the other line. I freeze, and my brows knit together.

"Uh, hi, is Ella there?" I ask, and the person is quiet before speaking again.

"May I ask who is speaking?" The person says. I sit up straighter, and move off of Colby's lap.

"I may ask the same to you," I say, getting irritated with whoever had Ella's phone.

"I'm Officer Woods, now who am I speaking with?" The person says, and I start pacing around the room, ignoring Colby's nervous glances.

"This is Josie Sutton, Ella's roommate," I say, and the officer sighs on the other end.

"Well, Josie, Ella has been in an accident," the officer says, and I felt all time come to a stop. I froze, and my phone slipped out of my hands and onto the floor. The sound of my phone hitting the floor brought me back and I shakily pick it up and ask the officer a question.

"Is she okay?" I ask in the tiniest whisper, and walk to a wall, sliding my back down it.

"She is on her way to the nearest hospital at the moment, you have a pen and paper?" He asks, and I frantically look up and see Colby is standing, hesitantly watching my every move.

"Colby, pen," I mouth, and he holds up his phone on the notes app, "Okay, tell me the address," I say. The officer tells me the address which I repeat back to Colby.

"If you want I can meet you there and talk to you about what happened," the officer says, and I nod to myself.

"Yes please," I say, and he is the first to hang up.

"We have to go," I say, tears blurring my vision as I fumble with my door. I finally get it open and run to Colby's car. I get in the drivers side and he doesn't hesitate to hand me his keys. I start the car while Colby plugs the address into a gps and together we drive into the night, hoping Ella was okay.