Day 1
I had arrived at the airport, found my aunt and cousin and they took me back to the flat I was rented for the summer. I was there for the whole summer, all up until the last day. I was there to visit my aunt and cousin and a friend that had moved away a few years ago.
My aunt wanted me to come back to where I was originally from, which didn’t make sense to me because I was adopted, but anyway. I looked nothing like her, but she always tried to find some resemblance in us. Her name was Marissa, but everyone called her Mary. She had this auburn hair that was stick straight and fell just below her shoulders. Naturally it was curly, just like my cousin’s, but she straightened it every day, so I’ve never seen it curly. She’s got a sweet face, and these brilliant green eyes that I’ve always wanted.
My cousin Addie was amazingly beautiful, I was always jealous. She had gotten her father’s hair, my uncle Jacque (but everyone just calls him Jack), so it was a deep chestnut (one thing that Mary made a connection with, it was like mine) but curly, not the pretty curls that you see, but the ones that are almost untameable. It looked amazing anyway though. She got brown eyes from her father, masking the green of her mother’s, but her eyes were big with thick long lashes. I was jealous at times, but they always reminded me I was beautiful too.
I never believed them, because it wasn’t true. I was just a Plain-Jane. I had long dark brown hair that I never wanted to cut, so it was a little longer than my waist, a pain to deal with, but worth it nonetheless. I had brown eyes as well, so I was really plain. I was told my eyes were pretty, that they looked cool in the sun, which didn’t make sense, they were just brown. I’m Asian too, so I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It comes with a lot of stereotypes that aren’t true, some of them might be, but not all of them. I was skinny, and I hated it. I wanted better curves than the ones I barely had. People say that I’m lucky, I guess I am, but we all we want what we can’t have, am I right?
So we got to my new temporary flat. It wasn’t big, it wasn’t small, it was just enough for the summer. There was a kitchen, a sitting area, a bedroom, bathroom, and even a walk in closet. The kitchen had all the necessities, the living room, a telly and a couch, a couple arm chairs and a coffee table. There was a part of the sitting room you could call the dining room. It was a big table that could seat about six, big dark mahogany. By the dining table was a desk, perfect for my laptop. There were big windows along the walls, letting in a lot of sunlight and providing a wonderful view of London. I could see the London Eye from the place. Five stories down was the street, people walking alone. Soon enough, I’d know those streets as well.
“We’ll let you get settled.” Mary said, pulling one of my suitcases into the bedroom, “Here’s some money for a bus. We’ll meet you for dinner. I’ve got my phone on me, so just give me a ring. See you soon, love, don’t get into any trouble”
I laughed, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll call you”
“Bye deary” Mary said, waving from the door.
“Bye” I said, waving to Addie and Mary. The door closed and I was alone.
I walked over at sat on the bed, thinking of what I was to do. I decided to grab some groceries. I headed out with a couple things in hand, like my wallet, phone and keys and found a little grocery store a few blocks away. I grabbed some produce, snacks and a couple things from the freezer aisle (icecream of course) and checked out. I put my stuff away at home and sat down with a thinly sliced apple. I looked around. Everything was so clean, so blank, so unfamiliar. I got up and walked into the closet with my bag and unpacked, it would help me warm up faster to the flat.
After unpacking and rearranging some things around the place, just to make it more convenient and according to my taste, I sat down on the couch in front of the telly, flicking through the channels. My phone rang after a couple shows were on and I picked up to find Mary on the other end. “There’s this place I want to take you for dinner tonight. You could bring your friend along too, this place is delicious. He’ll love it too, everyone does. So, give him a ring and see if he’ll come” she had said. I said goodbye to her, after asking for directions.
“Hello?” Jack answered when I called him.
“Hey Jack!” I said, sounding overexcited. I hadn’t heard his voice in the longest time. He was my best friend back in primary school, all the way up to secondary, until he moved here. We had become friends and really close ones at that. Our parents and friends always joked that we’d get married one day. We knew that wouldn’t happen. We had gotten close to the point where it was like we were brother and sister. And you don’t marry your brother… unless you’re in the south in America. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Jack, he was pretty cute to add to that. He had this sandy brown hair, and hazel eyes, a jawline that could cut a block of wood. I didn’t know about the rest of him, how tall he was, or any of that because I hadn’t actually seen him in person for years. I only got to see his face over Skype.
“It’s so great to hear your voice again!” Jack said.
“You heard my voice, and saw my face over Skype two weeks ago” I laughed.
“Oh right, but I mean, now I actually get to see you! Not just you on Skype, but you you” Jack said, sounding really happy.
“Yeah, about that” I began, “My aunt wants to take me out to dinner tonight and invited you as well if you’re up for it”
“Really? Where’s she wanna go?” Jack asked, I noticed he had developed more of a British accent over the years, something I couldn’t quite get a grasp of through the bad connection on Skype.
“The Pizzeria” I said, not knowing what that would mean.
“Oh! That’s great! I love that place.” Jack said, “So, what time, meet in two hours or so?”
“Yeah, that’d be perfect” I said, “I’ll see you then! Can’t wait”
“Me neither” Jack agreed. We said our goodbyes and I hung up. I was excited to see him again .I wanted to be able to run up and hug him. I wondered if he’d remember out little secret handshake that we had made up eight years ago. Now we were both sixteen, getting ready to head off for university.
When those two hours passed, I got a knock on my door. I answered it to find Jack standing there. “How’d you know where I am?” I asked after saying hello.
“You aunt Mary told me. She wanted me to give you a ride, it’s a little too far for you to walk” Jack explained as I locked up and followed him to his car.
“So can I see you tomorrow as well? Any plans?” Jack asked.
“No, none that I know of” I said.
“Well, I’ll show you around a couple places. We can go to the park, there’s loads of funny guys around there. My friend and I play pranks around the city every once in awhile and just run around. Loads of fun” Jack explained. “I’ll bring another mate along and we can show you around together”
“Tomorrow? You guys are insane” I laughed.
“Well, I’ve been trying to get him to go along with one of the pranks for the longest time. But he’s like, it’s too much work” Jack rolled his eyes. We pulled up and he parked. “We’ll get him to do it, don’t worry.”
“You’re crazy. I can’t do that” I said, getting out and walking with him to the Pizzeria.
“I’ll get you to do it as well then” Jack said, “Two in one day. Sounds good to me” he laughed.
We arrived at the Pizzeria and found Mary and Addie inside already.
We sat down and I introduced Jack, “This is Jack, he was my friend a few years ago, we were really close until he moved away” I punched him in the arm playfully.
“Sorry about that, I didn’t have a choice there” Jack said, “But if it means anything to you, love, We’ll make it up this summer”
I laughed rolling my eyes, “Sounds like you want to make it up tomorrow”
“What do you have planned tomorrow?” Mary asked, as the pizza was placed on the table before us, “That looks delicious”
I grabbed a slice, taking a mouthful of pizza and swallowing. It was delicious like she said. “Well, Jack wants to show me around a few places tomorrow with a mate of his and we’ll just have some fun. Go to the park or something”
“That sounds like fun” Mary said.
“Can I come along?” Addie wondered.
“Yeah, sure! We’d love to have another along. Three in one day, man I’m good” Jack said.
“What are you guys planning?” Addie asked.
“You’ll see” Jack said, trailing off.
“And how are you friends with this kid?” Addie laughed, “I swear, he’s going to get you in trouble one of these days”
What I didn’t know then in the words that Addie had said, was that they were very true. He was going to get me in loads of trouble, but not with the police, but with myself.
(Source: onehundredsix)
