See You Around

| Chapter 2 |

"Why'd you just find out now? How long are you going to stay there? Where are you staying at? What—."

I cut her off with a loud grunt. "I found out just now because my family decided to keep it a secret from us, and we're staying there for the entire summer holiday. We're staying at my mother and father's long lost friends, Bill and Lauren," I responded.

"Do you think they own a hot son around your age?" I merely rolled my eyes at her. "Daniella, you're going to be living with a hot guy for the rest of the summer holiday!" she squealed.

"But what if they have a daughter my age? We'll just have to wait and see," I mused. Charlotte began grumbling obscenities under her breath and I offered a quiet laugh. After exchanging our goodbyes, I hung up and lay down on my stomach with that stupid, moronic grin still etched into my expression.

I could only hope that this summer holiday won't go wrong.

+ + +

"Daniella," a voice sang. "Wakey wakey." I opened my eyes and spotted Beckett twirling around in my desk chair with his eyes glued to his phone and Charlotte raiding through my closet, occasionally throwing clothes over her shoulder.

"What are you guys doing here?" I mumbled, swinging my legs over the bed and giving the clock a brief glance. It was around ten o'clock in the morning.

"We're here to help you pack," Charlotte responded.

"I'm just here for your mother's lasagne," Beckett added.

I nodded and staggered towards the bathroom, taking a short, cold shower. After showering and brushing my teeth, I stepped out of the bathroom with just a towel covering my bare body. Beckett glanced up from his phone and then glanced back down with a bored facial expression on his face.

Beckett and I had known each other since seventh grade, thus why I was so comfortable with the idea of stepping out of the bathroom with just a towel to cover my bare body. It was evident he didn't have feelings for me, which I was grateful for.

"Charlotte, put that back," I rebuked after I finished changing into a clean set of clothes.

"Why?" she sustained a teasing smile on her face. "It's sexy." She held up the piece of lingerie she bought me for my sixteenth birthday and began twirling it around. I snatched it from her and shoved it back into the closet with a flushed face.

At just around one o'clock, Charlotte and I had just finished packing, so we galloped downstairs and burst into the kitchen where the smell of lasagne filled my nostrils. After helping my mother prepare the table for lunch, I sat beside Charlotte and started digging in, tossing the occasional joke towards Beckett- who was scarfing down his food while conversing with my father.

My father treats Beckett like his own son, mainly because he's always around here. All you had to do was establish a conversation with my father about football to get on his good side, really.

After lunch, my mother dumped the dishes on me. So with Charlotte drying the dishes, I began rinsing the dishes and handing them to Charlotte. "I have to go now," she announced after quite a while.

I placed the wet cloth on the counter with furrowed eyebrows. "Why?" I asked slowly, frowning as Charlotte began hurriedly gathering her things.

"Because I can hear Netflix calling me."

Chuckling, I followed her and leaned against the doorframe as I watched her and Beckett make their way towards his car. When I couldn't take the sweltering heat anymore, I shut the door and plopped down on the couch beside Gabriella, placing a pillow on my lap.

"Australia, huh?" I mused, eyeing Gabriella from the corner of my eye. "I simply cannot wait."

"No one cares," Gabriella responded with her eyes still glued to the T.V. Biting back a sigh, I got up from the couch and paced outside, sitting along the porch.

I didn't notice my father sitting beside me until he cleared his throat effectively. "What are you doing here?" he wondered, his eyes roaming around the empty road.

"Just thinking," I shrugged, wrapping my arms around my knees as I felt a thick layer of sweat form on my forehead.

"Are you excited?" he asked me. I nodded and allowed a small smile to appear on my face. "Who knows, you might run into a famous celebrity over there."

"Like who?" I challenged, cocking an eyebrow.

My father cleared his throat. "Like that pop band, One Way. I know for sure that you teenagers are obsessed with them," he commented.

Shaking my head in bemusement, I clucked my tongue. "You mean One Direction." My father just shrugged and I let out a small chuckle, leaving out the part where I absolutely detested them.

When my father couldn't take the sweltering heat anymore, he proceeded back inside and left me alone on the porch. I still couldn't wrap my head around things, but one thing was for sure: I was going to enjoy the summer holiday to the very utmost.

Looks like I'll be having two winters this year.