He was the only person that would come to see her at the gate. Actually, he was the only person that she wanted to see to meet her at the gate. His back was facing towards her when she exited the gate, but she could spot her brother anywhere. "Trent?" she questioned, before watching the guy she had her eyes on turn around. His face lit up and rushed towards her, just as she rushed towards him. "Chris! I am so glad that you are finally home!" he exclaimed, engulfing her in a hug. Christine was ecstatic to see her brother again, it had been a while since she had seen him. Their moment of happiness had only lasted a moment before they came to an awkward silence. Trent stopped hugging her, and their smiles seemed to disappear. "So uh, you flew in from Athens?" her brother asked. "Hmmm, yeah. I loved it there, but towards the end I just got tired. I even cut my trip a week short this time. Good thing I did though, right?" she replied to him, asking a rhetorical question. "You travel as much as you can for five years and now you a tired? I think you are full of it and someone told you I was going to be home," he joked, nudging her arm. "Sure, go ahead and flatter yourself."
After getting her suitcase from baggage claim, the two had headed to Trent's car. "I just want to sleep!" Christine had complained while sitting in the passenger seat of the car. "You have a few people to be seeing before that happens. You know how mom and dad are," Trent reminded her. This was something that was very true. Her parents had always made it a big deal when she came home. Even if she was just home for a few months, they had bombarded her with questions and made sure to spend as much time with her before she announced that she would be leaving again. "Why can't I just stay with you or something? I will sleep on the couch if I have to, please?" she begged.
Christine couldn't have been any more serious. Staying with her parents had always driven her crazy. Her mother would take off work just to spend time with the girl. She would take her to lunch, do a girls day with shopping, or anything that would get them alone for hours. Most of the time her mother would pester her about slowing down and stop traveling for a while. She wanted to know when she was going to be having grandchildren from her. Her father on the other hand could be just as bothersome. While he wouldn't take time off of work to spend time with her, he would expect to spend time with her watching whatever game had been on. He would expect her to sit on the couch and watch Dodger games with him. Christine had loved her parents, but she wasn't too keen on spending every waking hour with them when she was "home."
"Fine. You can stay. But you are breaking it to mom and dad at dinner tonight," he spoke sternly. Christine had smiled in her victory. "Thanks, man."
The two had gotten to Trent's house. It was a nice three bedroom house that Trent shared with his soon to be wife. Christine had only met Leanne first, and Christine knew that staying at Trent's wasn't in the plans. Who knew how well this would go over? The two had walked up to the front door, Christine with her carry-on and with her suitcase in tow.
There was a nice roomy atmosphere, like they had be living together for a long time. "You guys just moved in here a month or two ago, right?" Christine asked, just for reassurance. "Yeah, looks nice in here doesn't it?" Trent asked, hoping for a compliment. "Trent, is that you?" a voice called from somewhere in the house. Christine had looked around, trying to locate where it might have been coming from. "Yeah, I'm here. Christine is with me too," he shouted. It wasn't long before a woman came from down the hall. "She wasn't quite ready to face the overbearing love from our parents yet. Mind if she stays with us for a few nights?" Trent continued as his fiancé had made an appearance. The woman had smiled at Christine. "That's fine. She can stay in the spare room upstairs. You can help her get settled, and I'll start working on dinner," she said kindly.
Trent shrugged as Leanne disappeared into another room of the house. "Wow, you guys seem to be living it up," Christine said as she watched Trent struggle to bring the suitcase up the stairs for her. Trent shot her a glare, there was definitely a hint of judgment in her voice. "What? You guys are living in a three bedroom house on your own. It's nice, you guys seem to be happy. I'm just surprised that you guys have settled in so well," Christine had explained herself. "Chris, not everyone is like you. Just because you can't settle down and start a normal life, doesn't mean that the rest of the world doesn't," he puffed as he finally got to the top of the stairs. "That's not what I meant, and you know it," she said sternly. "Yeah, yeah. Well, this is your room for now. I am not sure how long you are going to be staying here, but just make sure you keep the place clean. Leanne doesn't like the place to be messy," Trent explained, dropping their previous conversation. "Thanks," she muttered before she disappeared.
While she was staying with her brother, it hardly felt like she was really part of a family. She left her suitcase where Trent had left it and placed her duffle bag on the floor next to her bed. Christine did travel a lot, and it separated her from her family. She didn't have a big problem with it, except for when she returned home to LA. She looked around at the simply decorated room. It kept with a blue theme within the room, it was a bit tacky, but she was in no position to comment. She walked across the room to the little window that was in her room. "Now that is a family," Christine said to herself as she looked across the street to multiple cars pulling into a driveway. All the people were smiling and laughing. Some were joined at the hip, but they all looked like they couldn't be separated.