"Comiiiing!" I sing-song and skip down the stairs, taking two steps at a time.
I open the front door, expecting a pizza guy with my pepperoni, but instead I'm greeted with a girly squeal and two arms wrapping around me. That's not the pizza deliverer for sure.
I pull away from the hug and seeing who the person is, squeal as well. "Vicky! I didn't expect to see you before 6!"
My cousin Victoria rolls her purple suitcase through the door and stops in the middle of the hallway. She looks around happily.
"My flight was actually an hour shorter than I thought. My, I haven't seen my auntie and uncle since last Christmas! And of course I've missed my favorite cous." She nudges my arm.
I pull her into another embrace. "I really missed you too, Vic. You gotta tell me EVERYTHING that has happened in L.A. since we left!"
Victoria smiles bitterly and traces her finger across an old photo hanging on the wall. It's of me, Frankie and my dad Edward playing baseball at our town's local stadium. "Believe me, hun, nothing is like it used to be anymore."
I eye her up and down. She is only 16, but looks like a woman already - with her nearly 5"8, curvy figure, long legs and err... at least a C cup she definitely seems a lot more mature than me. But it's not my fault I was born to be 5"5 and practically flat for the rest of my life!
Suddenly I realize what makes her so pissed. "It's about a guy! Isn't it? C'mon, you can tell your big sissy everything," I make my best attempt at sounding sisterly.
Victoria snorts amusedly and rolls her eyes. "Yeah, sure. As if you're the one to go to with boy problems."
This statement is like a stab in the heart. Memories that I had carefully put away slip back onto my mind. Ryan. Getting thrown out of Nickelodeon. Hurt. Longing. Shame. A small sob escapes my lips.
Vic looks at me and realizes. This story was known to everyone. She rushes over to me and wraps her hands around my shoulders, seeming taller than ever.
"Oh my God, Ari, I'm so sorry... I- I didn't mean to-"
I put my hand on hers, brushing it off with a smile. "It's all cool, Vic, really. I met someone new and I don't exactly memorize my past anymore. That's why it's called the past, you know - what you've passed and left behind."
Vic nods knowingly, face stern with thought and eyebrows furrowed together. But after a second she's back to her own bubbly self again. "This mystery 'someone' guy of yours - does he have a twin bro or anyone I could lay my eyes on?"
I giggle. "We can bet on that."
The doorbell chirps again. This time it's the real pizza guy - carrying in 2 steaming boxes of pizza pepperoni, mine and Vic's favorite since we were small. We flick on ABC Family, grab two cans of Red Bull and separate the first pizza in half. Like this, watching TV, munching pizza and catching up, we spend the evening until it's half past twelve and we somehow manage to get upstairs and fall onto my bed.
Time really seems to fly when you're enjoying it.
***
The first thing I see when I open my eyes is two green ones staring straight back at me. Victoria sits up and smacks me in the arm with a pillow. "Finally, the Sleeping Beauty heard the call. I read your planner and it said you have to be on some sort of set? Anyway, you have 15 minutes to get ready. I bought some pastries and made cappuccino. We're leaving in 30." I'm so sleepy that it takes a lot of time to process what she just said so I just rub my eyes and nod slowly to make it look like I was really listening.
Victoria's almost out of the room already when she stops short on the door and spins around. "The mystery guy - he's called something like Jye, am I right? I read some pretty juicy stuff about him in your diary."
