Chapter 10: I honestly love you

“Time to go.” Mom announced, stepping into our bedroom with two large leather suitcases.

“Already?” Zoe sighed. Mom set the suitcases down on either side of her with a grunt.

“It’s not like you’re leaving this place forever. You’re going to visit your dad.” She persuaded. She sounded exasperated and annoyed with both of us. I stood up and grabbed my large black suitcase by the handle.

“What if I don’t want to visit him?” I challenged.

“You’re going to visit your dad.” She repeated simply, glaring at me with wolf eyes. I stomped out, rolling my suitcase behind me and Mom and Zoe followed. Mom climbed into the front of my truck and we piled up in the large front seat. She started it and began to back out of the driveway.

“Does this mean you’re going to be using my car twenty-four-seven?” I sighed, pouting as the truck drove over the curb.

“No, Alyssa. If I need the car, I’m using it. But you’ll get to do all the normal things you would do if I had my own car.” She explained.

“How can you be sure?” I arched my eyebrows skeptically. It was a long drive. When you look at the differences between Earltown and Orchard Estates, they are almost worlds apart. So you can’t be surprised that Orchard Estates is half an hour away. During the drive, Zoe and I fell asleep, leaning on eachother’s shoulders. Every once in a while we jolted awake on the big bumps, and then fell back against the seat. Soon we came to a sure stop and Mom rolled down the window of the driver’s seat.

“Miss Capelle, your mother has been asking about you all week. She wasn’t sure when you were arriving! My god, your girl’s have gotten big. How long has it been?” A man in a little kiosk in front of the huge metal gate to the estates spoke fondly to my Mother. I thought back. It’d been atleast two years since we’d visited Grandma. Her and Mom got along fine, it was just out of our way to drive all the way to Orchard Estates just for a quick tea party.

“Quite a while. I’ll be seeing you often now, we’re here to stay.” Mom smiled, as if the divorce was the best thing she’d ever done. I rolled my eyes.

“Oh,” He shot her a soulful gaze as if he understood our situation, “well, I’m sure you’ll love it here. Lots of open space for the girls to frolick around in.” He smiled at me. I smiled fakely and nudged Zoe awake. The metal gates slowly pushed open, the lock seemed to unlock in the blink of an eye. We drove slowly toward it and sped through once it was fully open. We drove around the large fountain about a hundred feet away from the gate and turned right. The grass was perfectly green and the trees were all nurtured and healthy. We passed the duck pond that I remembered going to with my Dad when I was little. I was terrified of any kind of bird, because one goose had stolen my bagel and nipped my finger. Grrr, goose. I had no problem holding grudges, especially against geese. We drove up a long stone driveway. Grandma’s house was bigger then I remembered. It was like a mansion, made up of cinnamon coloured bricks with perfectly circular bushes lining the path to the front steps.

“Did she renovate?” I squinted, my brow furrowed. Thinking of living there was too much. It just wasn’t me. If I made a new friend and had them come over, they’d think I was little rich Alyssa, which I so wasn’t. Not at all. But they wouldn’t know that. Mom hopped out of the car, parking behind Grandma’s old-fashioned beige car. She scurried around the back and pulled our suitcases out of the trunk, and dragged them around to the passenger seat door. She opened the door and Zoe and I flopped out of the car reluctantly, our feet dragging on the stone. She handed us each our suitcases and led us merrily up to the front porch.  Before Mom even knocked, Grandma flung the door open, with a huge-hostess-with-the-mostess smile spread across her face.

“Joan, dear!” Grandma grinned, flinging her arms around us all in a big group spazzy hug thing, “you look great, love.”

“Mom, thanks a billion, again, for letting us stay here.” Mom took Grandma’s frail, thin hands into hers and smiled.

“Oh, pish posh,” Grandma shrugged, “we’re family!” She turned to me. She was little and had large breasts, like Zoe, and a small waist, again, like Zoe. Her hair was short, curly and perfectly white, and she wore her favourite lipstick. It was called tango, I remembered. She wore a skirt, as always, with a sensible blouse. Same-old-same-old Grandma Marie. Never changes.

“My god. You girls have sprouted into beautiful women, christ.” She placed her hand on her chest, looking breathless. Zoe beamed. She was glad someone appreciated her beauty, I’m sure. We followed Grandma inside-it still smelled like peppermint-and she led us to the living room. Grandma had this little obsession with having light in every corner of her home, which meant she owned a gazillion lamps and no curtains or blinds. I liked her house. It was happy and open, and I felt like I could never cry there. There was a glass chalice full of peppermint hard candy-hence the smell-and beside it was a large scrapbook. Grandma had many hobbies, just to pass the time.

“So, girls. How are things? Tell me everything.” Grandma smiled.

“I’m going to go unpack. My old room, right?” Mom smiled. Mom had grown up in this house, it made no sense to me. She seemed so average, not at all a snobby little rich girl who lived in a mansion.  “Of course. Don’t rush.” Grandma encouraged with a sly smirk, and Mom puttered around upstairs, her footsteps light and almost impossible to hear.

“Thank god she’s gone. Now we can get to the juicy stuff, any cute boys?” Grandma leaned close to Zoe and I, her extremely-plucked-eyebrows raised.

“Alyssa’s dating an asian boooooy.” Zoe gushed.

“Asian?” Grandma asked, confused.

“He’s vietnamese.” I explained, sending Zoe a glare.

“Ooooh.” Grandma grinned, scooting closer to me on her couch.

“And we’re not dating.” I smirked. It felt good to have people think, hey, maybe they are dating. Because there was chemistry. He’d tried to kiss me. He’d brought me home from a wild party. It was all him. Him, him, him!

“Well, I better get started on lunch. I’m making sandwiches with Irish bacon.” She persuaded, nodding. Zoe and I beamed, and we grabbed our suitcases and lugged them up the spiral stairs, staring at the beautiful chandelier hanging in the entry-way. Grandma had been busy, I noticed, because there was one door, at the end of the hall, near the bathroom, which by the way, was HUGE, with a sign reading ‘Alyssa’ in big, wacky, green letters on it. At the beginning of the hall was one with ‘Zoe’ in purple letters. I scurried down the hall, dragging my suitcase behind me with much struggle. I pushed open the door. The walls were painted green, and there was a green patchwork quilt on the double bed. There was a bookshelf, and a shelf full of picture frames. I glanced at them. They were all of Zoe and I. I smiled. Zoe and I were doing better. We’d basically forgotten about the party and we were trying to work everything out. It felt good, in my heart. I set my bag down on the bed, and ran down the hall to Zoe’s bedroom. It was painted lavendar with a big, fluffy purple blanket covered in sequin-y butterflies on her large bed. She had a desk and she’d already unloaded all her makeup and necklaces onto it.

“Wow, this is nice!” I emphasized.

“Yeah... but do you really think... this type of living is for us?” She asked, her eyebrows furrowed with worry.

“Who knows? Let’s give it a shot.” I shrugged, and turned back to go to my room.

 

“Can you get the door, Alyssa?” Grandma asked as she stirred around the pot on top of the stove, examining the broth carefully.

“Sure.” I jumped up from the kitchen table and ran to the front entry-way. The doors were big, wooden and heavy, so I lugged them back.

“Nice crib.” Ray grinned as I leaned against the door to keep it open.

“Ray!” My eyebrows raised, and I squeezed him tightly. He laughed, and I let go after a few blissful moments.

“Aha, yeah. Me and some people wanted to know if you wanted to go out. We’re getting a bite to eat, just tormenting Earltown like we always do.” He taunted. I giggled, but it came out as a stretched chuckle, and it sounded so so so so so fake. Gross, fakeness. I glanced at the van at the bottom of the driveway. Pete was driving, and Matt was glaring at me from the back. I blinked, keeping my eyes closed for a while.

“I can’t. And Zoe’s not home. But... another time. For sure.” I lied. Doubt crept into his gaze and I felt bad.

“I’m spending quality time with my Grandma.” I rolled my eyes with a smirk.

“It’s okay. But call me... I miss you.” He reached out and took my hand gently in his. My chest heaved up and down nervously and I nodded quickly.

“I miss you too.” I murmured. A smile stretched across his beautiful face, and he looked down at his shoes. I squeezed his hand. We held on.

Author's Note

No, Jessica, this is ALSO not the last chapter. :P

Reviews

[J.A.N]

Omfg, thank goodness.
Because I mean, pssshh.
Like really, no kiss, no hug. Damn Ray.
I can't wait for the next chapter, I'm excited.
Really, really excited. I can't wait to see how things fall together.
:D