First chapter of the sequel!
Sorry it took so long, Izzy slept til two and then I couldn't come up with a summary.
But, better late than never!
"Raina!"
"Gwen!" Raina squealed, engulfing her tall friend in a hug. When they pulled apart, Raina looked around at Gwen, taking in her natural blonde hair, which was still light from her days on the beach, her round and bright green eyes, her still tanned skin and Gwen's yoga instructor physique. Rain glanced around Gwen's feet. "Where are your bags?"
"Oh, in the car." Raina looked past Gwen to see an old, rusty and, quite frankly, beat up '69 Dodge Charger parked out next to the curb.
"So, how's Rachel?" Gwen asked timidly, observing Raina and noticing that her dark brown hair was now nearing waist length and that Raina was looking thinner than usual, though Gwen thought that she could have possibly gained more muscle. Gwen looked into Raina's deep storm cloud grey eyes, wondering if she should even broach the subject of Rachel.
"Um, she's okay, we kinda just don't mention Jess and Dom."
"Oh, I'll keep that in mind," Gwen said, smiling back.
"Well," Raina said, clapping her hands together, "Your stuff isn't going to get itself." Raina yelled up the stairs, "Hey Rae, get your butt down here. We need help getting Gwen's stuff."
"Hold on!" They heard from upstairs, and then they saw Rachel at the top of the stairs.
"Hey, Rae, how're you doing?" Gwen asked as Rachel descended the stairs seeing that Rachel's black hair was almost as long as Rain's, though it didn't seem as kempt.
"I'm okay," she said as she smiled brightly at Gwen, though Gwen could see fatigue behind Rachel's dark blue eyes. Gwen also thought that for someone who had a darker complexion, Rachel was looking fairly pale, as if she hadn't been outside in a while. Rachel engulfed Gwen in a hug, Gwen noticing that Rachel was thinner as well, though not in the same way as Rain. Gwen thinking that Rachel's weight loss seemed unintentional while Raina's was most likely fitness related. When they pulled apart, Rachel asked, "How was the drive?"
"It was okay. The car didn't break down on me," Gwen said, laughing.
"That's good," Rachel looked down, "Where's all your stuff?"
"In the car, which is where we should go," Raina said.
Rachel and Gwen followed Raina outside to Gwen's Charger, where Gwen unlocked the trunk and they carried all of Gwen's belongings into the house and upstairs, where Gwen picked what had been Loki's room to sleep in.
"Are you sure it's okay for me to sleep in here?" Gwen asked, due to the strangled look on Raina's face when she picked the room.
"Yeah," Rachel said, smiling, "It's fine."
"Really?" she asked Rain. Raina nodded after she got over the shock, it wasn't that she didn't want Gwen in the room, it was just that she didn't want to think of it as anything but Loki's room. Gwen didn't bother unpacking at the moment, so they all walked downstairs where Gwen found out that there had been a new room added behind the office and the bathroom on the ground floor was now a full bath.
"Wow, you guys added stuff," Gwen stated.
"Yeah, we wanted some more space," Rachel said.
"What about the extra beds?"
Rachel and Raina shifted uncomfortably, and, assuming it in some way had something to do with Jess and Dom, Gwen let the question drop. Gwen ended up going back upstairs in the afternoon to unpack while Rachel and Raina wrote by occasionally yelling at one another.
Eventually Gwen headed back downstairs, and seeing Rachel alone, sat down next to her and asked, "Is Raina okay? She clearly wasn't okay with me taking that room."
Rachel sighed, "It's a boy," she said, telling Gwen only half the truth, "She thought he would stay with her forever, but he had to leave, for family reasons, and he hasn't been in contact since."
"Oh," Gwen said, "How long?"
"He left a year and three months ago."
"Wow, that sucks."
"Yes, yes it does," Rachel closed her laptop, "Are you hungry?"
"A little, yeah."
"Rachel, I'm hungry," Rain whined from the stairs.
"So is Gwen, let's go out to eat."
"Can we get drinks after? They'll have a pumpkin spice now that it's October."
"Sure kid."
Hope you enjoyed!
Review and see you Sunday.