Homecoming

"Do you think about me now and then?
Do you think about me now and then?
Cause I'm coming home again
Maybe, do you remember when fireworks at lake Michigan
Oh, now I'm coming home again
I'm in home again
Maybe, do you remember when fireworks at lake Michigan
Oh, now I'm coming home again
Maybe we can start again
Loyee oyeee oh, loyee oyeee oh
Coming home again
Loyee oyeee oh, loyee oyeee oh
Coming home again
Maybe we can start again" Homecoming by Kanye West ft Chris Martin

The flight back home seemed like it was a lot quicker than the flight to Japan. We arrived back in Dallas around 9am Monday morning. After watching Lost in Translation with Trevor, I spent the rest of the time reading and sleeping. On the taxi ride home, I changed my Facebook profile picture to Trevor and me at Disneyland wearing our Mickey and Minnie hats since it had the most likes.

When we got to my apartment, Trevor was tired and wanted to get some sleep. I wanted to stay up so I could get back to routine and spend time with Justine. We separated with a hug and a kiss and Trevor went to his place. I went in my apartment and Justine came rushing to the door.

"Hey girl!" I exclaimed, throwing my bag aside and rubbing her down. "Did you miss me?" I asked as she licked my face. I dug through my carry on bag and pulled out a Sun charm that look similar to the one Trevor gave me and clipped it on her collar.

"Whatdya get me?" A deep voice startled me. I looked up to Kendal coming down the stairs.

"Geez, you scared me. Aren't you supposed to do the walk of shame quietly?" I asked him.

"Walk of shame is for girls." Kendal said.

"Sexist bullshit is why I didn't get you a souvenir." I informed him, picking up my opened bag and putting it on the coffee table.

Kendal chuckled. "I don't make the rules. When are you coming back to work?"

"Wednesday, but I might stop by today or tomorrow." I answered, handing him a shot glass with a map of Japan.

"Aw, I didn't think you cared." Kendal said, smiling.

"I do, it cost 100 yen."

"How many dollars is that?"

"$1." I laughed.

"Find me when you come back to work. I have a proposition for you." Kendal laughed.

"Gross." I said, following him out the door.

"A business proposition." He clarified, leaving.

"Grosser." I called back to him.

When I closed the door, Jasmine made her way downstairs.

"Did Kendal leave?" She asked me, stopping on the stairs.

"Yeah, he just did." I said, flopping on the couch.

"Ok. Welcome home!" She greeted me coming down the rest of the stairs. She sat on the couch next to me. "Tell me everything!"

I grinned and went through my pictures with her, giving her the highlights of our trip. I also gave her a small, purple kanzashi- an intricate hair pin with flowers.

“Wow, this is so pretty. Thank you." Jasmine gushed.

"You're welcome. Thanks for taking care of Justine."

"About that... I think she wants to be my dog now." Jasmine smiled.

"I don't think so." I contradicted her.

"Yep, she even has a ‘J’ name. She needs to be in my family."

"Get Kendal to get you a dog and name it Jr." I teased.

She made a face. "Never mind. I don't need a dog."



We both left after eating breakfast and getting dressed. Jasmine had a job interview and I was going to visit Amber. She worked overnight now and I wanted to catch her before she went to sleep. I brought Justine with me.

I dropped off two matching headbands, complete with bows and lace: red for Krista, blue for April and a Hachimaki headband for Robbie. I got her and Will an Omamori, Japanese talismans, that symbolized love.

“Thanks Lily, you didn’t have to do this.” She said taking the gifts.

“I know, I wanted to.” I told her.

We chatted briefly about how she was doing and my trip. When she started to yawn, I left, promising we would get together soon.

“Rocky did decide to celebrate her birthday early this weekend right? Did she ever decide what she wanted to do?” Amber asked.

I inwardly groaned. Rocky never wanted to celebrate her birthday: It fell on April Fool’s Day. Kinda funny when you think about it: The no nonsense girl's birthday fell on a day for foolery. Or maybe that’s why she didn't tolerate foolishness.

Who knows?

What I did know is that no matter when, how or where she decided to celebrate, I couldn't avoid it. If I missed her birthday, she would know something was up. I had to get over her cheating on Brandon with Bilal. She didn't tell me and it wasn't my business. Besides, even if she did tell me, my loyalty was to her. I couldn't do anything about it, even if I thought it was completely wrong.

"I don't know, but I'm planning to see her today. I'll let you know when I know." I told Amber, giving her a hug before I left.

I called Rocky to see if she wanted to do lunch. She couldn't leave because she had meetings but told me she'd call after she got off. I called Forrest next, remembering he had a conference period. He picked up and I asked him if it was okay if I dropped off the souvenirs with him at his school. He agreed so I headed his way. When I got there, I called him to meet me outside. I let Justine out to play on her leash.

"What is that?" Forrest asked looking at the glass wind chime I was holding.

"It's a Furin. Kinda like a wind chime, but I don't want you to hang it yet. Wait until you and Rachel get married then hang at at your new place. Wait... Are y'all getting a new place or just moving into Rachel's house? " I pondered out loud.

"A new place. We're going to start looking after the wedding." Forrest said, taking it from me. "Thank you, this is sweet."

"You're welcome...speaking of sweet-" I said, handing him a box of candy.

"Is it Pocky?" He asked, excitedly.

"No! You can get Pocky at Wal-Mart. This is better."

Forrest smiled. "I'll be the judge of that."

"Alright, let me know what you think!" I said, giving him a hug before leaving.

I was driving in my car when Trevor called me. I told him I was heading to my work before dropping off the rest of my souvenirs.

"Thanks for making me look bad." Trevor said.

"You do that all by yourself." I teased him.

We decided to meet up at my brother's apartment when he got off before I hung up the phone.

I went to the clinic, leaving Justine in the car. I gave Jordan a pretty blue folding hand fan. We caught up before I went to Sandra's office. She was on the phone, so I waited in the fitness room. I got talking with Q about one of my patients he took over for me while I was gone.

I also gave him a sushi shaped bottle opener. He smiled at it.

"What? No porn?" Q asked.

"What?!?" I stuttered, shocked.

"It's one of Japan’s biggest exports." Q smiled.

"Ew, why do you know that?" I shook my head at him as Sandra motioned me in her office. I went into the office, got my patient charts and looked them over with Sandra before I was officially back from vacation.

I waited out front with Justine for Kendal to come back from lunch. We sat on the front bench and talked.

"I wanted to see if you would trade patients with me." Kendal asked.

"It depends. Which one?"

He wanted to trade my patient that was rehabbing a sesamoid bone. His rehab days were Wednesday and Friday.

"Why would you want those days? I thought you had Wednesday's off?"

"I do, but I want to start having 3 day weekends and have Monday's off. I have a new patient. His days are Monday and Thursday."

"Oooo, what's the injury?" I asked.

"He has jumper's knee."

I made a face. "Inflammation? Lame!"

"I know but he requested you." Kendal told me.

"Really?" I said, intrigued.

"Yes, he said you worked on his friend's knee too. He goes to some school in Lewisville."

I blanched. "Kendal, I can't."

"C'mon Lily, you owe me. I worked a weekend for you-"

"I know and if it was anything else I would do it, but I really can't." I tried to reason with him.

I didn't want to tell him why: it was bad enough a kid that might have heard the rumor was rehabbing with us. I hadn't heard anything regarding the rumor since Darren and his girlfriend got back together. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I couldn't risk it.

"Fine. Thanks for nothing." Kendal said abruptly standing up and leaving.

"Kendal..." I tried to call him back, but he stormed off.

All the guilt and worry I felt melted away as I went to my brother's apartment. I had to make the best decision for me, even if it hurt Kendal's feelings. I got Jenna and Cam a Furin as well. I handed it over to Cam as Justine and I went inside.

Trevor was already there and he and my brother were talking over something on the laptop.

"What are y'all doing?" I asked after securing a bowl of green grapes from my brother's fridge for myself and water for Justine.

"Sure Lily. Have some grapes. Make yourself at home." Cam said, sarcastically.

"You know you're gonna miss me when you're gone." I said, moaning and groaning as I ate every bite. Trevor stayed focus on his laptop. "What are y'all looking at? Japanese porn?" I asked.

That got Trevor's attention. "What? Why would we be doing that? Together?" Trevor asked.

"I don't know. Q said it's one of Japan's top export. Maybe you got it as a souvenir." I said, lightly so he knew I was joking.

"Is that why you went to work? To talk about porn with a coworker?" Cam asked.

"Shut up Cam!" I laughed. Trevor smiled briefly before looking back at his laptop.

"What are y'all doing then?" I asked again.

"Typing out a contract for in the future if Kenji wants me to work on the site." Trevor responded.

"Really?" I asked, surprised. I really thought we were done with the website thing.

"Yeah, Kenji asked if I would continue to work on the site in my spare time." Trevor replied.

"Cool beans." I said, not sure how I felt about it. I was sure my ambivalence was apparent: Trevor didn't acknowledge me and Cam just gave me a little look.

I changed the subject and asked Trevor if he got a chance to edit the videos from Japan. He said no, but he would do it later. I talked about the wedding with my brother afterwards. When Rocky finally called me, I got up and started to leave. I gave Trevor a quick kiss on the lips before Cam walked us out.

"You and Trevor ok?" Cam asked.

"Yeah... we're great. Why do you ask?" I looked at him, concerned.

"No reason." He said, quickly. "You don't have the best track records with trips."

"Fuck you Cam. That was one trip and we broke up after he came back."

"One day after, on his birthday." Cam added.

"Whateva." I said, leaving and heading to Rocky's place.

I took a deep breath before I let myself in.

"Rocky!" I yelled, cheerfully. I was hoping to cover my nerves with being overly excited to see her.

"In the living room!" She called back. I made my way to her. She looked completely normal. Maybe even... glowy. Nothing to indicate she cheated on her live in boyfriend...

"Hey Rocky!" I said, giving her a hug as she got up from the couch and cutting off my own thoughts. "It's been forever!" I exclaimed.

"It's been maybe 2 weeks." Rocky corrected me, but hugged me back.

"I feel like a lot has happened in two weeks. What's new?" I asked, sitting on the couch with her.

"You tell me. You're the one that's coming back from Japan."

"So true!" I chuckled. I pulled out a wasgaga (traditional umbrella) and handed it to her. She thanked me before I went into my trip to Japan. I told her everything.

We were going through the pictures I didn't post when Brandon, Ethan and EJ came over.

"EJ!" I said, giving him a huge hug as he joined us on the couch. "How have you been?"

"Good." He said. "Wow, nunchucks." He said, reaching for the pair of souvenir nunchucks.

Ethan gave me a stern look. I shook my head quickly.

"No, those are for your uncle. I have your gift in the car." I said, standing up. I gave Brandon and Ethan a hug before I went outside to retrieve the rest of the souvenirs excluding Sammy's, Corey's and Bianca's. I planned to mail Bianca's Tenugui, a thin Japanese hand towel made of cotton, to her. It was used for any and everything: washcloth, decoration, or headband. I got her 10 different vibrant patterns and colors.


I went inside and distributed gifts. I gave EJ his 3D kite with the promise we would get together to fly it soon. I looked at Ethan and he told me EJ's soccer games started last weekend, but we would work something out. I gave him his figurine of a cat. I laughed at his neutral face.

"I know, but you're harder to shop for than my dad and I don't even shop for him anymore. That cat is everywhere in Japan. It's supposed to bring good luck and prosperity. So I expect to see it proudly displayed when I come to your house." I explained.

"Luck and prosperity should be at my job. I'll display it there." Ethan assured me.

"I have no problem coming to your job and making sure it's there." I threatened. Brandon laughed at me.

Ethan smirked. "Something told me that wasn't going to work."

"Who's the samurai sword for?" Brandon asked.

"Jake. We should call him. He should be off by now." I suggested.

"I'll give it to him." Brandon offered.

"Ok. The only thing I have now is Serena's gift." I said, holding up the Ukiyo-e prints of Mt. Fuji. "I don't know when I'll see her again..." I sighed dramatically, eyeing Ethan.

Ethan looked at EJ. He was playing with Justine. "I'll get it to her but you'll see her on Sunday."

"Oh?" I asked, questioningly.

"Rocky's birthday." Brandon said with a grin.

"Oh, thanks for telling her best friend! What are the details?" I asked.

"Reggae day party at Sunset." Brandon answered.

"That's perfect! Rocky's favorite lounge and I have an excuse to drink rum punch and dutty wine all day Sunday! Best birthday ever!" I smiled.

"What's dutty wine?" EJ asked, confused.

"It's a dance-" I started to explain.

"That you don't need to worry about." Ethan finished.

"Ohmigosh Ethan. That's culture!" I grinned.

"That he doesn't need to be exposed to until he's 18." Ethan smiled. I didn't argue with him when he smiled. At least he saw the silliness of it.

"I'll take you out before then..." Brandon whispered loudly to EJ.

"That's ok. I don't like culture." EJ declined.

"Sure you do. You like karate don't you?" I asked. When he nodded, I pulled out my phone and showed him videos of the park Trevor and I went to in Japan.

"So here in America, you see people playing baseball or soccer at parks right? Look what they do in Japan." I showed him a video of a slow pan of the park. It include a group of young men practicing karate.

"Cool!" EJ exclaimed, watching the video.

"I saw that greenhouse and shrine in your pictures at that park. The designs are impressive." Ethan commented.

"It was really beautiful. I'm not even into nature and design like that, but it was stunning." I nodded at him. When the video ended, I nudged EJ. "It was fun experiencing someone else's culture."

"What culture is that?!?" Brandon laughed when the next video played. It was Trevor and me singing karaoke. I laughed.

"Still Japanese! Karaoke started in Japan." I educated him.

"Katy Perry didn't." He laughed.

"I'm more concerned about those pants." Rocky made a face at my robot leggings.

"Hey! I bought those at a store in Harajuku." I protested.

"I thought it wasn't cool to be a robot." Ethan added.

I grinned at him. "I was half robot, half woman, all cool!"



I left after I made plans with Rocky to go shopping for her birthday and Easter. We were going to invite all the girls so I quickly agreed. I wasn't good one on one with Rocky yet.

Trevor and I met up and had dinner with Sammy and Corey at Sammy's place. We had takeout burgers and Trevor finally got around to editing the videos. I knew I was sucky company most of the evening; I was worn out.
Sammy and Corey loved their gifts and we left after attempting to play the popular ball and stick game I bought Corey and Sammy modeled the red summer kimono.

I followed Trevor to his place. We crashed in bed and I sleepily told Trevor about Rocky's birthday.

"Yeah. I got an invite on Facebook at Sammy's place when I took Justine outside." Trevor said, as I snuggled against him.

"Really? I didn't check mine." I yawned.

"Check it in the morning." He said, kissing me on the forehead.

I smiled and drifted to sleep. When I woke up the next morning to the sounds of Trevor getting ready for work, I checked my Facebook. I did have an event invite for Rocky's birthday. I clicked on it and was stunned by the guest list.