golden girl (b.t.c.)

chapter sixteen

sunday, march 8
     eliana hugged her mom goodbye at the airport's entrance and went to wait at her terminal. she sent a goofy selfie to ben.
     t-minus 24 hours until i see youuuuuuu
ben sent one back of he and sky.
     sky insisted on being in this but i'm
     more excited than he is
she giggled at sky's face and passed the time by scrolling through instagram. three hours later, her plane landed in houston, and she smelled the texas air. though she loved chicago, the fresh air was always wonderful when she first stepped off the plane. her bliss, however, was cut short when a call from coach easton came in.
"did you cut the weight?" he asked.
"yes." her voice was almost at a whisper.
"good. i'll be making sure on tuesday." he hung up. she swallowed and blinked back tears as she walked to her hotel.

monday, march 9
     ben smiled. "it's pretty quiet here."
"everyone's probably just sleeping." eliana said. ben looked around to the people around him on the plane. "looks like i'm the only one awake."
she held back a laugh as sky came into the frame. he put a finger in ben's ear and whisper yelled. "hi, el!"
she waved to him as ben grumbled and shoved his face out of the way. "idiot." he said. "alright, i'm gonna get some sleep. i'll see you soon, ellie."
"i can't wait." she blew him a kiss as she hung up.
     a couple hours later, eliana grabbed her backpack and headed to the airport to meet the boys. their plane was supposed to touch down at 1:15, and it was already 1:30. she waited in the lobby of the airport, searching for a sign of anything newsie-related. from a distance, she heard loud laughter, and a voice that sounded like josh. a smile broke onto her face, and she started to walk in the direction of the voices. she passed through one terminal, and then saw them, all dressed in sweatpants and sweatshirts. they were coming her way, and sky saw her first. he smacked ben on the arm next to him, and pointed to her. ben immediately dropped his bags and rushed towards her. he lifted her up and spun her around as she laughed. when he set her down, she kissed him, and all the newsies started to cheer. his hands rested on her waist as she pressed hers to his cheeks.
"i missed you." he breathed.
"worst month of my life." she laughed and kissed him again. sky walked up to them and swatted ben away. "alright, enough, enough. i want my el hug." he hugged her, and the rest of the boys took that as their cue to crowd around her in a huge group hug.
"i missed you guys!" she giggled, smothered by all of them. "how was boston?"
there were mixed reviews, but they all agreed that ben was in the worst mood ever. when they broke away from her, eliana took ben's hand as they walked to their hotel. the two of them walked a little slower behind the rest of the group.
"what's the schedule like this week?" ben asked her.
"i have a full three days off." she beamed. "saturday, sunday, and monday."
"wow, that's a lot for you."
"i know!" she laughed. "i don't know what i'm gonna do with myself."
"well, i have a few ideas." he smiled. "you wanna get lunch after we check in?"
her smile faltered. "s-sure." she nodded uneasily. she was sure that ben would get suspicious if she doesn't eat anything, but there was no scale in her room, so she couldn't check her weight.