As I walk into the apartment, Sarah is standing at the phone still dialing my number and trying to call me. She has been trying for fifteen minutes but I just don’t bother to pick it up.
When the phones connect, my cell phone rings in my hand and she looks up at me.
“There is no reason to call 9825 times. I told you I was on my way home!” I say to her.
“Well I was just making sure, so before I hound you with questions, please call your mother.”
“Alright, alright.”
So I walk over and grab the phone out of her hand to dial the house’s number. My mom answers on the second ring.
“Hello?” She says.
“Hey mom it’s Anna. I hear you’ve been calling. What’s up?”
“Oh hi honey. Nothing too important just making sure you were still coming over today. Your sister is going to be home too.”
“Yes mom, I’m still coming over so don’t worry. I am going to shower, get ready, and then leave in a while, so I’ll see you when I get there. Ok?” I tell her.
“Ok see you when you get here. And drive safe!” She says.
She still tells me to drive safe after all these years, and I have never even been in an accident. Oh well. I guess that’s what moms do best….worry.
“Ugh I will. Bye mom.” I reply and then hang up.
I turn around and Sarah is standing right in my face.
“So who did you have sex with!? She asks.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t have sex.”
“Oh please. You look all like….well all happy and bubbly like you had the best orgasm in the world.”
“I promise I didn’t have sex. You know I don’t just go and sleep with anyone.” I say to her.
“Then where were you last night?”
“At Nick’s.” I answer with a little smile.
“Oh my god Anna, you are so bad at lying. Look at you! You are smiling. I know you guys did it.”
“No we didn’t! Come on you know I would tell you if we did. We just sorta made out for a while. He did try to, ya know, but I didn’t want to so I told him to stop and he did without saying anything or getting mad at all. But it was the cutest thing Sarah. He was being so…I don’t know not Nick like. He was being sweet and not joking around too much. We both slept on the couch, cuddled together.” I tell her.
“Shit. You’re falling for him again aren’t you!” She asks.
As I walk towards the bathroom I think about this question, and am sure about the answer…
“Yeah. I am.” I reply.
*later in the afternoon*
It takes me almost exactly 1 hour to get from LA to Thousand Oaks.
As I pull up to the sidewalk next to my house, I think what I always do when I get here. I miss this house so much. My parents have lived in the same house since they got married. I grew up here. If they ever sold this house, I would bawl my eyes out.
I walk down the driveway past the big tree that is still standing in the middle of our front yard. As I am passing it, I can still see what I carved in the tree when I was 7…
Anna Marie Ghirardelli Forever
I can’t remember why I added forever on there but I’m sure it meant something to me back then.
Grabbing the handle on the front door, I push it open, and as soon as I do, our two dogs jump all over me.
“Hi girls! I’ve missed you!” I say as they slobber all over me. This happens everytime anyone comes home. There is no way to avoid it. The slobbering dogs are inevitable.
I walk farther into the house and into the living room where my mom is sitting on the couch watching TV.
“Hey mom.” I say to her
“Hi honey. It’s good to see you!” My mom says as she stands to come and give me a hug. “Your dad is out on the patio and your sister is in her room.”
“K ill go say hi.” I tell her.
“Oh and let them know that dinner is almost ready!”
First I walk out to the patio to say hi to my dad. He is sitting there with his cigar reading the sports section of the paper. Being around him growing up made me become a sports addict just like him. We always go to football and baseball games together.
“Hey daddy.” I say and give him a kiss on the cheek.
“Hi sweetie. Did you see your mom and sister yet?” he asks.
“Yeah I saw mom and I am gonna go say hi to Tessa right now. Oh and mom wanted me to tell you dinner is almost ready.” I say to him.
I go back into the house, through the kitchen and dinning room, and down the hall to my sister’s room. Our parents had kept our rooms the same since we don’t live to far. They built onto the house anyways so they didn’t need the rooms anyways.
I knock on the door and open it to see my sister sitting at her desk on the computer.
“Hey T.” I say to her.
“Hey.” She says looking over at me.
My sister is 22 years old. Two years younger than me. We have always been close, and when we were younger we did everything together. I know Sarah is my best friend, but she is too.
She was always known as the pretty one. At school all the guys would tell me how ‘hot’ they thought she was and I would sit there thinking, that’s nice but I don’t need to know. She doesn’t keep boyfriends long at all, but she always has guys chasing after her.
Just as I was about to sit down on her bed I hear mom yelling that it’s time for dinner, so Tessa and I walk to the dining room and sit down at our spots.
During dinner we all just make small talk since none of us like talking much while we are eating. We are Italian so eating is a big deal.
When we are done, my mom asks, “So Anna, how is your class?”
“Oh they’re fine I guess. Well most of them are. There is this one kid named Josh…all I have to say is that I feel bad for his mother. He’s a complete nightmare!” I tell her.
“ Haha that sucks for you.” Tessa says.
I give her a small kick under the table. God she still annoys me sometimes.
“Come on now you two, you aren’t little girls anymore.” My dad says.
I think he says this to us more often then he should have to.
“So who’s your new boyfriend Anna?” Tessa says.
Wow. She’s still trying to piss me off. She knows I don’t like talking about this topic in front of our parents.
“I don’t have one.” I reply rather quickly.
“Well I think you are lying, because I called you last night and Sarah said you were out but wouldn’t tell me where or with whom.”
“Come on are you seeing anoyne?” My mom asks.
Great. Now I can’t ignore the question.
“Well I guess I kinda am.” I tell them.
“Stop trying to avoid it! Who is it?” Tessa says.
“You don’t know him, so lets drop the subject!” I yell.
See if I were with a normal guy this wouldn’t be happening, but the problem is that they know that Nick and I are still friends and we talk about him sometimes, but they don’t like him very much, especially my Dad. They think that he isn’t worth it because of the way he has treated me in the past. The fact that we haven’t seen each other for 3 years (before this week) doesn’t help.
So my sister finally decides to leave me alone and when we finish dessert, I say my goodbyes and leave.
When I get home Sarah is gone, as usual, so I walk over to the radio to turn on some music. I walk into my bedroom and change into sweats before I walk back into the kitchen to grab a drink.
As soon as I close the fridge the phone starts to ring, so I set the drink down and walk over to it.
“Hello?” I say.
“Hey babe what’s up?”
It’s Nick.
“Oh nothing just got home from my parent’s house. That was super fun as usual.” I tell him.
“Well sounds like fun. Hey can I take you to dinner tomorrow nighr. Just you and me?” He says.
“Yeah that sounds good.”
“Ok well ill pick you up at six. Is that ok?” he says.
“Sounds great see ya tomorrow.” I say.
“Seeya babe.”
And then I hang up.
As I sit down on the couch I can’t stop smiling. The thought of me and Nick actually being able to be together keeps rising in my mind, and I realize that this may be what I have wanted all along.
I can’t wait to see him again tomorrow night.