"Mom!" I say through clenched teeth. She's trying not to cry, but no such luck. It's the first time I've been home in a few months, and she misses me 'so so so so SO much.' I guess I can understand a little bit of where she's coming from, but still. I took Coco with me to college, and Sophie took Truffle. All my mom has is my dad, and he's often busy with work. Well, they both are, my mother still being mayor and all. The only reason I actually came back to visit is because I knew it would make her happy. Not that I didn't want to see them, it's just that college has been so fun, but hectic at the same time. The only time I could come see them was right after the exams they do halfway through the year. Also, I wanted to see how Pies & Prejudice is doing. Someone slipped it to me that they redecorated, and I really want to see what Gigi's done with the place, and of course, have some delicious food. I haven't had a real slice of pie in so long. My stomach rumbles loudly.
"Looks like someone's hungry! We better get over to the restaurant soon, or else some bad things might go down!" I glare at my mom, she knows how grumpy I can get when I'm hungry. She has this huge, doofusy grin on her face, and she looks like a maniac.
"What's up with you, Mom?" I ask.
"Just really glad to see you, sweetie," she says, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
"You too, Mom." I smile at her. As I slip into the passenger seat in my mom's car, I feel really weird. "Oh my gosh," I say.
"What, is something wrong?" She looks at me with pure fear, the 'mom look' I call it, and it makes me laugh at how wrong she is.
"Mom, I'm fine! Relax! I just haven't been in the passenger seat of a car in awhile." Being in New York, I ride on the subway almost everywhere, and even if I take a taxi, that's the backseat. We drive for about 20 minutes, talking and catching up the whole time. I tell her about college, and she tells me about what things she's accomplished as the mayor. Eventually, we arrive at one of my favorite places in the world, and I practically run towards the front door. I head straight for the kitchen, where I engulf Gigi in a big hug. She's back from France for the weekend to spend time with me while I'm here. She pulls back and puts her hands on my shoulders, taking a nice long look at me.
"Aw, college changed you," she says, rubbing my cheek gently. "For the better. Soon enough, you'll be turning into me!" I laugh at her silly joke. My stomach rumbles, interrupting our laughter, but then just causes more.
"What are we ever going to do with you two?" My mom says as she walks up and puts a hand on each of our shoulders.
"I don't know, but I do know that I'm gonna work on feeding you two," Gigi says. "Go pick a table." As I walk out, I think my eyes must be tricking me.
"Hey, Megan," he says in his silky smooth British accent.
"Simon?!" I rush into his arms, not believing what's going on. "I thought you were in England! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?!" I say, playfully punching his arm.
"I wanted to surprise you," he says innocently.
"Best. Surprise. Ever," I say, a huge, doofusy grin on my face, the same as my mother's.
"Not quite," he whispers, then kisses me right on the lips. In front of my mom and Gigi! He retreats, and we both can't stop looking into each other's eyes and smiling, we could sit like that for hours, just staring.
"Best. Surprise. Ever," I say once more, and he puts his arm around my shoulder and we walk out the door for a little privacy. We stop, glance into each other's eyes again, and this time, I kiss him, while snow starts to fall around us.
"Best. Surprise. Ever," he whispers to me.