Authors Note: Here is another chapter. It is a short one but I wanted to leave it there. I will try to update again as soon as I can before the holiday. If not than I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!
As always thank you for the reviews, keep them coming. :)
Christian
Walking into the house, I am immediately hit with the smell of cherries and chocolate. I inwardly moan from the delicious smell of something baking. I deeply inhale and my stomach suddenly rumbles causing Ana to stop and stare at me. I stop walking and frown at her. She sees my expression and suddenly lets out a girlish giggle.
"Mommy Christian is hungry!" she continues to giggle. I shake my head and crack a smile.
This girl is something else.
"Of course you must be starving. Come into the kitchen to get something to eat. I just finished baking a chocolate cake" she explains while walking further into the house.
Who am I to turn down a delicious chocolate cake? My favorite.
I walk through the house and take in my surroundings. The living room looks simple; white couches, light gray walls, a small flat screen television, pictures and art surround the walls.
One picture in particular grabs my attention. I stop and stare at the picture in front of me.
The picture is of Ana and her mother. It looks like a recent picture of the two of them. The picture is them making silly faces into the camera with a white towel wrapped around their head. There identical powder blue eyes shining bright. I smile and chuckle at the picture.
It looks like mother and daughter are really close.
Just like my mother and me. Don't go there man!
I shake my head to clear my thoughts and continue to follow Ana and her mother into the kitchen.
The kitchen is not too big, but I can't say it's too small either. Definitely smaller than what I am used too. It has light wood flooring, white cabinets with darker wood countertops. The space is rectangular in shape with a light wood dining table set beside the entrance to the kitchen. It looks really homey, with a little bit of shabby and country accents thrown into it.
The kitchen table has mismatched wood chairs, but somehow it all looks like it works well for the space. On top of the table is a light blue polka dot table cloth, and a set of wild flower arrangement in the middle.
Her mother tells me to have a seat at the dining table while she plates my chocolate cake. I take off my backpack and set it down carefully on the ground beside me and pull the chair out and sit down. I notice that Ana is sitting on the chair beside me and is staring at me.
Staring at me with a look of wonder and awe.
"What?" I say confused. Why is she staring at me like that?
"I never seen grey eyes before. There really bright!" she says shyly.
She starts blushing and looks down at the table.
"Yeah, thanks. Your eyes are really bright too" I say awkwardly.
I don't know what else to say. This girl is really something. Her blush is really cute. She is still staring at the table saying nothing when her mother comes and places our plates in front of us.
"Thank you very much ma'am" I smile. This looks mouthwatering.
"Call me Carla dear. Enjoy. Let me go to my computer and check out those hotels for you" she gives me a warm smile.
She then walks out of the kitchen, leaving us alone to eat our cake.
I eat my cake in silence. This is beyond awkward. I am sitting in a house, with people I do not know, eating chocolate cake. Ana is sitting there still staring at the table, not saying anything. She hasn't even touched her food yet.
"Are you going to eat?" I frown. I hate when people don't eat.
"Yeah" she says quietly.
She looks up at me shyly and starts eating her cake. I give her a smile and then chuckle at her shyness and continue eating my cake.
Suddenly it seems she switches to a different personality and starts asking me all sorts of questions at such a fast pace.
She reminds me of Mia.
"Where are you from? How old are you? Do you live around here? OH…Oh will you be my friend? I looooove reading. Do you like to read? What is your favorite book?" she fires questions at me without taking a single breath.
Holy fuck this girl sure can talk!
I sit there with the fork halfway to my mouth, looking at her like she has grown two heads.
It's like I am looking at Mia's long lost sister.
Before I can even say anything the front door opens and two big guys in gray camouflage outfits walk into the house.
"Honey I'm home!" one of the guys yell while shutting the front door.
"Where is my Annie?" the other guy says. They both take off their matching gray camouflage hats and walk to where we are sitting.
The two guys suddenly stop walking and they both look right at me with a look of surprise.
Shit!
"DADDY! RAY!" Ana yells beside me.
She gets up and runs to the two guys who are still standing there and staring at me with a look of confusion and suspicion and…surprise.
"Daddy, Ray, this is my new friend Christian!" she says while giving one of the guys a big hug.
Guy number one hugs her back and softly kisses her hair. He holds her on his hip and stares at me again with a frown.
"Your friend?" he says stunned. Why?
"Honey! Ray! Welcome home!" Carla says happily while walking to the guys. She gives the guy number one, a kiss on the lips, and hugs the other dude.
"Honey who is this?" the guy number one asks suspiciously.
I gulp.
"Oh, this is Christian, Ana's new friend. We found him walking outside and he was trying to find a hotel. Poor thing, looks like he was walking forever trying to find one" she explains.
"A hotel?" the guy number two says.
"Yes a hotel" she nods.
"Why do you need a hotel son? Where are your parents?" guy number one says while looking at Carla with a frown and then looks back at me.
Again with the parents!
"Not here sir" I answer honestly.
The two guys look at me with confusion and we all continue to stand there without saying anything.
Things just got more awkward. I shift from foot to foot, not knowing what to say.
I need to get out of here.
"Christian this is my daddy, and this is Ray, my uncle" Ana wiggles her little legs, letting her dad know that she wants to be put down.
He lets her go and she runs over to me and stands beside me with a huge smile on her face. Her cheeks are flushed, her pigtails are messy and she hops from foot to foot, proudly showing off her new friend…well me.
"Nice to meet you sir" I finally get up and walk towards them and shake her dad's hand.
He gives me a tight smile and shakes and squeezes my hand. Hard.
I wince.
"Nice to meet you too" he says politely. He lets go of my hand and wraps his arm around Carla's waist.
I turn to guy number two; Ray and offer my hand to him.
He stares at me impassively. He doesn't shake my hand so I slowly extract it and give him a tight smile.
"You don't look like you're in elementary school" he states.
"No sir I'm not" I say. Okay?
Shit! He looks like he wants to beat the shit out of me.
"Well if you're not in elementary school, how do you know our Annie?" he asks.
"I…ummm" I stutter.
What the fuck do I say? Hey, I just stood out in the front of your house like a wierdo and daydreamed about living in a house like this. Then your daughter came home and invited a complete stranger inside her house.
Yep, that would go over really well right about now.
"Well, I came off the school bus and saw Christian just staring at the house. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was looking for a hotel. Mom came outside and told him he can come inside and she will look for the hotel. Christian was hungry so we were eating cake. We are best friends now!" she says with a beaming smile.
All while waving her arms in the air and flipping her pigtails with her hands.
Damn it to hell! The little snake just outed me!
"Is that right" Ray says with narrowed eyes.
Oh Shit!
"Ah Annie go get your homework done sweetie while we visit with your new best friend here" her father says. He looks from me to Ray with a look of amusement.
"Okay daddy!" she agrees. She then skips down the hall to where I assume is her bedroom and disappears from our view.
Fuck.
I turn towards them and they are staring at me impassively. Carla looks at me with a look of worry.
"Christian why don't you sit down and finish your cake" she breaks the awkward silence.
"Yes ma'am" I say. I turn around and sit down at the table returning to my cake.
I really need to get out of here.
She gives me a smile and then turns to the two scary men in gray camouflage.
"Why don't you two go get a piece of cake while I continue to look for his hotel?" she says to them.
They both nod their head at the same time and walk to the table and sit down opposite of me. I continue to eat the cake, feeling beyond uncomfortable.
"So Christian was it?" Ana's dad says after five minutes of awkward silence.
"Yes sir" I say while finally finishing my cake.
"You live around here?" he nods his head and eats his slice of cake.
"No sir" I say honestly.
"Enough with the sir stuff son. Call me Frank" he chuckles.
I give him a tight smile in return but don't say anything.
"How old are you?" Ray finally says.
I look up at him and he is sitting in his chair and crosses his arms against his chest.
"15 sir" I reveal.
"I see" he says. Still with an impassive look on his face.
Frank looks between us uncertain.
"Where do you live?" Frank says.
I hesitate. Do I tell them I am from Seattle? Do I tell them I live in this town somewhere? Shit! There both are in the military, you can clearly tell from their clothing. I know if I lie, they can easily find out my information if they wanted too.
I finally answer his question with a long sigh.
"Seattle" I say quietly.
"What are you doing in Montesano then?" he frowns.
"That's personal" I say sternly.
"Are you in some sort of trouble?" he says. Ignoring my tone.
"No"
"Well if you're not in trouble then, you shouldn't have any trouble in telling us as to why you are almost two hours away from home" Ray points a finger at me.
"That's my business sir not yours" I grit my teeth.
"Son…I would be real careful who you are talking too. From what I gathered, a complete stranger was watching this house suspiciously. Then talks with my Annie, who by the way is nine years old…do I need to continue son?" he says quietly.
All the while, leaning over at me with narrowed eyes.
"No sir" I gulp.
We sit in silence. Nobody is uttering one word for five whole minutes. These two men are still staring at me impassively.
Suddenly they both start laughing.
I look at them like they are nuts.
What the fuck?
"Your face son…it was too easy" Ray slaps the table and continues to laugh at me.
"Oh Ray" Carla shakes her head and rolls her eyes at him.
She giggles and joins us at the table.
"That is enough scaring the poor boy" she sternly.
"It was all harmless honey" Frank chuckles at his wife.
She rolls her eyes again and eats a piece of her cake. I didn't even realize she was eating it.
"Well Christian…how are the Grey's doing?" Ray asks. He lifts an eyebrow and waits for my response. Mouth twitching in amusement.
My eyes widen and I gasp in surprise at his question.
What the hell?