I wasn't necessarily bummed that I was home, but I wasn't too happy about it either. I mean, I just spent the best summer of my life in freaking Spain. Barcelona and Madrid to be exact. And coming back to Santa Monica, California wasn't exactly magical. I loved my city, don't get me wrong, but Madrid? Amazing. Barcelona? Even more amazing. I wish I could have stayed longer, but school was starting in 4 days and of course I couldn't miss that. No one could. I went with my school. Mostly seniors, but there were a few juniors. And with another school from Santa Barbara.
Speaking of Santa Barbara, there's a really cute boy that goes there named Mark and I kind of maybe made him my boyfriend this summer so yeah, I'm officially taken and in a long distance relationship. Wasn't part of the plan this summer, but how was I supposed to know a cute boy was going to be on this trip? And that he was going to sweep me off my feet? I think that was the best part of this whole trip. It took me by surprise, but we fell for each other. Well, not in love, but fell in "like" pretty hard. That's why we're giving this relationship a try. Even if it is long distance. I'm game for it.
What I'm not game for is the million of questions I'm going to get bombarded with by my parents. My mom has already asked me a million and one since picking me up from the airport. And in 20.5 seconds, when I step into my house, my brother, little sister and dad are going to keep them going, I'm sure.
"We'll get your stuff later," my mom tells me, pulling my hand away from the car and dragging me inside the house, "Ava is so excited to see you. She wanted to pick you up, but she ended up falling asleep. I'm sure she's awake now."
Aw, I'm excited to see my sister, too. I missed her the most out of everybody. Probably because I NEVER argue with her. She's only 5 years old after all.
I walked into my house and took the smell in. My dad was for sure cooking ribs. My absolute favorite food in the whole world. "I'm so happy to be home," I told her, taking in the smell as much as I could. I was happy. I missed Spain, but I think 3 months were enough. Another couple of weeks might have been too much. I was already missing my family too much so it was good to be home.
"Come on."
I put my purse on the table in the front room and followed my mom to the back where everyone was. My dad was at the grill grilling some corn and other things, my sister was writing her name with chalk on the concrete and my brother was shooting some hoops with someone I didn't recognize.
"You guys!" My mom yelled to them.
My sister turned around and with the biggest smile ran up to me and jumped in my arms. Don't cry, Gabriella, don't cry. Okay. I lost it. Tears were forming in my eyes. No one understands how in love I am with my sister. She was a surprise for sure. My mom did not plan on having more than two kids and at age 34, but things happened. Like always. She had me at 21 and my brother at 22, so she's the queen of having accidents happen. Not mistakes. Accidents. That's how she likes to put it, but she makes it known that we aren't really accidents, just unexpected gifts. Whatever. I wasn't offended by it. The good thing, though, was that her and my dad ended up getting married after two kids and have been together ever since. True love.
"Gabriella, I painted my room when you were gone!" she clapped her hands, showing me just how excited she was about it. Ugh she was the absolute cutest. "Please don't ever leave me again, I missed you way too much. I slept in your room!"
"You did?!" I asked, surprised, even though I wasn't really because my mom told me she would be while they painted her room. "Is my bed comfortable or what?" That's the one thing I missed most other than my family: my comfortable, queen size bed that was almost too perfect for words.
"Mhm!" she latched onto me even tighter, wrapping her arms around my neck and just hanging there. I didn't mind, though. She was so tiny.
"My baby's home!" My dad wiped his hands on his apron he was wearing (very manly, by the way) and tried to hug me as best as possible with Ava stuck to me. "How was it?"
I tried to hug him back too. "I've missed you so much, dad," I scooted back and tried not to drop Ava even if she was holding on pretty tight. "I'll tell you over dinner, but it was the best experience ever. Thanks for letting me go."
He smiled at me. It wasn't cheap, and I was forever grateful to him. "Hey, it was a once in a lifetime experience," he said, throwing his hands out, "Well, I'm sure we could have gone, but I'm positive they did a better job of showing you around."
I laughed. Definitely.
And then I heard my name being called. I turned around and saw my brother, Josh, walking towards me with a basketball in his hand and sweat dripping down his face. Gross. "Glad you're back sis," he tells me, giving me an air hug since he basically can't hug me with Ava on me plus he was sweaty. Ew.
"Me too," I told him, adjusting Ava on me kind of, "Just in time for school."
Josh rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Don't remind me. I'm not looking forward to Junior year one bit." Duh. Junior year was the absolute worst. The main grade colleges look at. And I was so happy I've gotten past that.
And then Joshua moved to the side and a guy was standing there, not as sweaty, but still a little bit from playing basketball, obviously. I've never seen him before. Did he just become friends with my brother? Has he always been friends with him? Either way, he was HOT. Smokin' hot. SUPER HOT. He had sandy brown hair that was short but long enough to where he could run his hands through it. He has these piercing blue eyes that I would kill for. He wasn't very muscular, but he wasn't lanky. He was like perfect. And then he was smiling, showing his perfectly white teeth and straight smile. God, he's so beautiful.
"Oh, Gabs, this is Troy," my brother introduced me, patting Troy's back, "he moved in next door like the day after you left and now he pretty much lives here. He's taken over your room."
I know he's joking, but great. This is just what I need. A hot guy in my house. "Hi," I told him, giving him a small smile.
"Hey, how was your trip?" he asked me. "Spain is definitely on my bucket-list"
And then Ava jumped off of me and jumped right into the arms of Troy and latched herself onto him like she had just done to me a couple of minutes ago. "Gabby, Troy is my friend, did mom tell you he took me to the zoo? I had so much fun!"
She was smothering him, hugging him and placing kisses on his cheek and he didn't seem to mind AT ALL. Ava was mine. She was supposed to be with me right now not wanting to let go since she hasn't seen me in months. But she was with him. And I was jealous. But it was so cute to see.
"I wish I could've been there," I told her, throwing my hair out of my face, "I took you once when you were 3 but you probably don't even remember."
She scrunched her nose, "No, Troy took me and we had ice cream there!"
Boo. "Well that's great. I'm glad you had fun."
"Dinner's ready!"
We all turned around to my dad's voice. Dinner was ready. Thank God. I was starving. I turned back around to see if Troy and my brother were going to make their way over to the table and they were, along with Ava still latched on to him.
He smiled at me and ugh, he was so hot. I was over being mad at him for having Ava wrapped around his finger. Yes, I forgave him because he was just way too hot not to. And then we all made our way to the dinner table, him sitting across from me.
Did I really have to come home to this?
"How were the boys over there?"
"Mom!"
"What?" she asked, putting her fork down and wiping her mouth with her napkin, "I'm just asking. No summer romances? Spaniards are usually cute." Oh yeah, they definitely are. But of course I didn't hook up with any of them.
"Who do you think I am?"
She laughed at my question and shook her head, "I know, I know, I'm teasing you. But I'm sure there are lots of cute guys there."
Yes. I guess now's the perfect time to tell her and my dad and I guess my brother and... Troy? Ha. "Um, yeah, there was one in particular. He lives in Santa Barbara and he went with his school, too, like we were all together and surprise... I have a boyfriend."
My dad who was drinking some coke coughed, probably from almost choking at my unexpected news. I know it was a surprise, but I didn't have much contact with them so I couldn't tell them the play by play of our relationship and how it even got to where it is today.
"What?" my mom, dad, and brother basically said in unison.
I looked at all of them and just shrugged my shoulders, "I know, I know, it's weird and maybe a bit fast, but I really like him," I told them. I looked at Ava who didn't even seem to be listening, she was too busy playing with her doll and then I looked at Troy who looked uncomfortable by all of this. I just met him 30 minutes ago and now he's sitting here listening to my business and is possibly going to hear a family discussion about all of this. You could tell he was trying his best not to pay too much attention or try to make himself look like he wasn't interested which was sweet, but he couldn't.
"What's his name?" my mother asked, pushing her empty plate away.
"Mark."
"Like our cousin? That's weird," my brother chimed in and it's so weird because I thought the same thing too when Mark and I started getting closer. It was just super weird dating someone with the same name as your cousin who you're close to.
"I know, I thought..."
My dad interrupted before he even let me respond to my brother, "Gabriella, are you really going to do this? Have a boyfriend from another city? You hate driving. Is he going to be the one who comes to you?"
Uh. Shit. I didn't even think about that. "Yes," I lied, "We talked about it. We just couldn't see it ending after spending the last month of our trip having the best time of our lives. I like him, daddy, and I'm sure you would, too."
"Is he a senior as well?"
I turned to my mom and nodded, "Yes, I think he's planning on going to UCLA," I tell her even though I have NO idea if we'd even be together a year from now when we start college, but I just felt like throwing that in there to make it known that he's smart and has goals.
"Good luck."
What's that supposed to mean? "Don't be an ass," I tell my brother, "I think it could work."
"Sorry," he apologized, "no, yeah, long distance can definitely work, but you guys don't have a strong foundation. You've known each other three months and just became official. It's not like you were dating a year and then you were forced to do long distance."
Ugh my brother always has to be so technical and think everything out. "Whatever, I really like him," I reminded him and them, my parents, "He's going to come visit in 3 weeks so you guys can meet him."
"Are you sure you can't just date someone from around here?" my mom stepped in.
Seriously? "Mom," I tell her and I know she feels a little bad for even saying that, but she's going to have to get on board, "Can't you guys just be happy for me? It's not too much to ask for."
My mom looked at my dad and sort of shrugged and then back at me. "I'm happy for you, hun, I'm glad you had such a good time there."
I wasn't totally convinced, but once they meet Mark, I know they'll love him and they'll be on board 100%. I was sure of it. All three of them. Heck, even Troy even though I'm sure he doesn't even care about this conversation. They will love him and they'll want me to continue dating him.
Well... I hope so.
