Chapter 9

Ahmity pulls up to her house. Or should I say her beach house. I get out of the car and look up. Wow. She takes my bag out of the backseat and looks at the house with me. "I know, que lindo, right.?" she says and smirks. "How?" I ask, in awe. "I'll show you." She pulls my arm and we walk inside. I spin in a circle looking at all it's beauty. I've only seen houses like this in magazines or on t.v. Ahmity disappears through one of the many doors in the long hallway off to the right, and comes back with a very tall, dark handsome man on her arm. She's all smiles. "Lena, this is Adrian, my boyfriend. Babe, this is Lena, my little sister." He shakes my hand. "It is a real pleasure to meet you, I feel like I know you already, Ahmity never stops talking about you." I shake his hand back, turning red a little bit. He laughs. "You're right babe, she does turn red easily." he tells my sister. My jaw drops and I run to hit her. "You told him that!?" She laughs and dodges me. "What? It's true!" I try to hit her again but she hides behind Adrian. "Mama's you've been like that for as long as I can remember." I make a face at her. She comes out from behind him and gives me a hug. "I missed you too much brat." She puts her arm around me. "Come on, let me show you mi casa." She takes me on the grand tour, which leaves me speechless. We come to the last room in the hallway upstairs. "This is where you'll be Mama..." I stand in the doorway and feel not worthy to even step in. I lean towards her and whisper, "I don't want to get the carpet dirty." She burts out laughing and pushes me in. I put my bag down and look at her. She rolls her eyes, smiling. "Go ahead." I squeal and throw myself on the bed. A second later she does the same. We lay next to each other, giggling. "Bajanse de la cama!" Ahmity says in a deep voice. "Andale, corre!" I say back and we both laugh again. "You always started it." she told me. "No, I didn't! You were the one that would watch and as soon as he walked away, you would grab me and jump on it." She laughs. "Yeah, you're right. It was just funny to see him get so mad." The memory of Papi yelling at us to get off of the bed is vivid in my mind. She links her arm through mine. We lay there for a second, listening to each other breathing. "How's Mami?" She finally asks. I hesitate, thinking about my answer. I settle on "She's good." Ahmity nods, and I can tell she wanted a little more detailed answer. I can't talk about Mami. It makes me sick to my stomach to think of her freaking out that I'm gone. "You still friends with Bruno? I remember how close you guys were." My blood freezes. My hands get sweaty and my head feels like a balloon. All at the mention of his name. "Um, yeah. Were still cool." I say. She turns her head to look at me. I don't move. "So, nothing ever....happened?" Now is when I move my head to look at her. "What do you mean?" She smiles. "You know, did you guys ever, hook up or anything?" My heart wants to leap out of my chest and my fingers get tingly. "Uh, nope. Were friends. That's all." I say. She looks a little disappointed. "Oh, well I just thought....Because you guys were always so in love with each other I was positive when you got older....." She trails off. "In love with each other? I'm not in love with him." I say. Was it really that obvious to everybody but me? "Are you kidding? Do you not remember how you used to act around each other?" My face turns red. "No." I say quietly. "Ay Mama's, you would literally glow when you would look at him. Which was all the time, cause you never saw you without him, or him without you. He would look at you with so much love that I was jealous. Of a 13 and 14 year old!" She says, laughing a little. "I used to tell Mami that you were blessed to find your soulmate so young." I was in shock. How come I was blind to this? No. He's not my soulmate. He wouldn't of done what he did if he was my soulmate. Things would of worked out. That's how it goes. There's not supposed to be any flaws or mistakes in the way. "Maybe we had a crush on each other way back in the day, but were just friends. That's all." It hurt my heart to say the words out loud. She nods again. "But tell me the truth, he got sexy didn't he?" She says, wiggling her eyebrows. I try to hide my smile as my face gets hot and I picture him perfectly in my mind. "He did! Didn't he?!" She says, pushing my arm. I laugh and push her back. "Just a little" I lie. She claps her hands. "I knew he would, he was always such a cutie. That hair and them eyes. You two would make beautiful babies." She says, looking off in the distance in her own little world. I get up cause I don't want to talk about him anymore, especially talk about having his children. "So, how did you meet Adrian?" I ask her. She sits up and her expression is one I've never seen on her before. Is she...blushing? "Ahmity!" I exclaim. I can't help it. She's always been the outgoing, smart, funny, beautiful one who got all the guys. She never got caught up in love. She always had a 'on to the next one' mentality. That's not what I see now. "You're....in love?" I ask, smiling. She throws herself back on the bed and sighs. "Yes Lena. I am! It's so wonderful! I hope it lasts forever." I get comfortable. "Tell me everything!" She starts from the beginning and tells me every detail down to the color of the stitching on his jeans the night they met. "You met at a club?" I ask her, eyebrows raised. "It wasn't like that...It was so different. As soon as he looked in my eyes, I knew I couldn't be without him. And I can't, if he's gone for more than an hour I feel like I can't breathe." I swallow. I know the feeling. "He treats me like a princess Lena. I know it sounds cliche to say that, but he does. And it's not just material things. You know we didn't grow up like that. He pays attention to me, he notices the little things I do, he compliments me all the time, you know we didn't even have sex until we had been together for 6 months?" My eyes widen. "I know, that was my reaction too." she says giggling. "I don't know how I found him, but I'm not letting him go anywhere." I watch her as her face lights up and the smile can't leave her face. I remember when I used to be like that. "I'm so happy for you sis...You deserve him." I hug her and she squeezes me. Somebody knocks on the door. "Come in" she says. It's Adrian. "Hello my love" she says to him. He walks over and kisses her. It's such a passionate, heartfelt kiss, I almost want to gag. "Going to work babe, I'll miss you." They kiss again. I look away. He smiles at me and touches my shoulder before he walks out of the door. Ahmity is looking at me with the cheesiest smile I've ever seen in my life. "Ugh!" I say and try to pinch her cheeks. She laughs as she pulls away. "You guys make me sick." "You'll find yours one day, I promise." she says. 'I already did, and I ran away.' I think to myself. "Come on" she says, jumping off the bed. "I got double chunk chocolate chip cookies downstairs." I jump off after her. "Oooh, double chunk." I say, drooling.

We sit at the table with our cookies and a tall glass of milk. "Dunk, drip, lick." We both say at the same time and giggle til our sides hurt. Mami didn't believe in junk food, but Daddy always snuck it in. His favorite, double chunk chocolate chip cookies. Ahmity and I would sneak in the kitchen late at night and hide in the pantry with a flashlight and eat our cookies with an ice cold glass of milk. Daddy would always catch us, but instead of yelling like Mami, he would sit down and join us. "Do you remember the time Mami caught all of us?" Ahmity says, slapping the table. "I thought her head was gonna blow off" I say, laughing. "And poor Daddy, all he could do was look up at her with chocolate chunks stuck to his mustache." she says. We laugh again until tears come out. "Hey, hey, hey, what's all this laughing business going on here?" My head snaps around. I know that voice. A head of dark curly hair and green eyes walks into the kitchen. "Hey Brendan, I want you to meet...." He cuts her off and walks up to me. "How did---" he says. "Where did--" I say. " How do you know her?!" We say at the same time, pointing at Ahmity. Her eyes roll back and forth at me and him. "She's my sister" I tell him. "She's your sister?!" He asks, in shock. "How do you know her?" I ask. "She's my brother's girlfriend." He says, still in shock. We stare at each other. "Um...okay. I guess there's no need for introductions." Ahmity says. "How did you two meet now?" "On the plane" we both say, still staring at each other. His eyes are more green close up. They have flecks of gold in them. I can't look away. Ahmity has a sly smile on her face. "Well, isn't this just the biggest coinky dink in the world?!" He breaks the stare and laughs. "That is so" Ahmity keeps rolling her eyes towards him, smiling and raising her eyebrows. I widen my eyes and press my lips together and shake my head. "What, are we doing secret code now, I want in!" he says and pulls his ear and wipes his nose. Ahmity bursts out laughing and I try not to smile, but fail. "That was for you." he says in a low voice and points to me. "Your such a dork!" I tell him. "A cute dork!" My sister comes from behind the table. "Well, I'll let you two be dorks together. I have a very busy schedule ahead of me. I have a date with my bed" My eyes plead with her to not leave me alone, but she winks and waves before she disappears upstairs. Great. He sits at the kitchen table. I awkwardly stand there, not knowing what to do. "You can sit down, I don't bite. Only if you want me to." he says, raising an eyebrow. I smile and sit. He shakes his head. "What are the chances huh?" he says. "I know, I guess this is a small world." I say, looking over his face. He is just gorgeous. I realize that I'm staring and not talking. I look down, turning red. He chuckles. "You are too cute. I love when your face gets red." he says. It turns even more red after he says that. I try to change the subject. "How long have you've known my sister?" He looks up, thinking. "A couple years now. I love her like she's my own sister. She's fun to be around." I nod. "What about you?" he asks. I look at him, a little startled. "How long have I known my sister?" He puts his hand on his forehead and laughs. "I'm sorry, that was a stupid question, I guess I'm just nervous." he says. "You? Nervous? No way, not a confident stud like you" I say, smirking. His eyes twinkle. "Yeah, I just had a minor mishap, you know, I'm good, Back to stud muffin status." He says and slicks back his hair. I bend over my chair laughing. I haven't laughed this much in a long time. It feels so good. We talk for hours. I don't realize it's dark out til Ahmity comes down, dressed in her pajamas. "You guys are still here?" she asks, looking in the fridge. I bite my lip and try not to smile. "Yeah were still here got a problem!? Come say it to my face!" Brendan says and puffs out his chest. Ahmity pushes him, laughing. "Get outta here you weirdo." He pretends to cry. "I'm not weird I'm just different okay?!" "Special is more like it." She rolls her eyes, smiling. "You see what I gotta live with?" she tells me. He flashes me a smile. "Hey Ahmity, before you go I gotta tell you something." "What?" she asks annoyed. He walks up to her and puts his arm up. "Smell my armpit." She runs away screaming "Ewww! Why can't I live with normal people!?" I'm laughing so hard, I'm crying. They really act like brother and sister. It makes me a little sad at the same time. It was never really like that in our household. She runs back upstairs. "You staying Mama's?" She asks me. Brendan turns and they're both looking at me expectanly. "Um, yes?" I say, looking at Ahmity. She nods her head and winks. Oh gosh. She disappears around the corner. Brendan sits back down. "Shouldn't you be on your way home, it's getting late." I tell him. He looks around. "Uh, I am home." he says, smirking. My heart stops beating. You have got to be kidding me. "Oh...." I say, looking down and turning red. He lifts my chin. "Why do you always turn red around me?" Those words make me stiffen up and I think back to that day in Bruno's room. I turn my head. He puts his hand down, and looks at me, concentrating. "Did I say something wrong?" he asks. I shake my head and smile. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. I don't know why I blush all the time, but it gets annoying. I wish I didn't." He smiles. "I don't. I think it's cute. It makes you seem, innocent." My eyes roll up to look at him. "What, I don't seem innocent otherwise?" He raises his eyebrow. "You're too beautiful to be innocent." he says. "Oh whatever! I'm not beautiful." I tell him. He looks into my eyes. My legs turn to jelly. He grabs his hair. "You're serious?!" "Dead serious." He shakes his head. "I can't believe you don't see what I see." "I wish I could see what you see." I tell him. "I wish I knew the guy that did it..." "Did what?" I ask, confused. "You want me to be honest?" "Please..." I tell him. He stares at me for awhile. "You are a beautiful girl...excuse me...women. There's no way on God's green Earth that you've never had a boyfriend, or at least been in a relationship." I tilt my head, listening. "But you walk around with a fake smile, cause when I look in your eyes, I see how much your hurting." His face is totally serious. I feel like he's peering into my soul and uncovering all of my secrets. I feel vulnerable and raw. How can he get that much from just looking into my eyes? He knows nothing about me. He doesn't even know how old I am. But yet, I feel like he's known me my whole life. I'm not sure whether to feel a little creeped out, or to fall madly in love with this guy....