All That We Could Be

Chapter Twenty Five

Chapter Twenty Five

The flight to Toronto was exhilarating. Fallon had stayed awake during the entire eight hour flight. Fallon had never been able to sleep during these flights. She’d always looked out the window, or read her books. Occasionally she had watched the movie that would be playing on the television.

By the time she had reached Pearson Airport, Fallon could hardly contain her excitement. In a few moments she’d be home with her cousins. Her family.

Her cousin Maria was going to be picking her up. Maria and Fallon had always been the closest from Maria and her two older sisters. Not only did they share the same middle initial of ‘L’, which stood for Lira in Fallon’s name, and Lily in Maria’s name; but they were also the closest in age and birthdates. Maria had been born on the 27th of June, while Fallon had been born a year later on the 26th of June. Fallon had always joked that she was Maria’s early birthday present.

Fallon walked out of the terminal to see Maria shout her name. Fallon ran to her cousin. Maria gave her younger cousin a warm embrace. Fallon was happy to be home. It was three in the morning and for Maria to come and get her, Fallon thought that it was a huge sacrifice of sleep.

“Thanks for picking me up.” Fallon told the older girl. “No problem Fallon. I was way too excited to sleep. I can’t believe you’re finally home!” Maria said pulling Fallon into another tight hug. “I missed you so much!” Maria squealed. Fallon laughed. “Yea, I missed you a ton!” Maria let go of Fallon. “Come on, my mom made loads of food for you, and there is tons of ice cream for you to finish.” Maria said. The two girls had a long tradition of eating ice cream in the early hours of the morning.

Maria led the way to the car. The whole family had the same model. A Dodge Caravan. The only difference between Maria’s and the one Fallon’s father owned was the colour. Maria and Fallon were related by their fathers; who were brothers. Maria’s father owned a printing press. In total Fallon’s father had six brothers and two sisters. The whole family lived in and around Brampton. One of his brothers worked at the Chrysler assembly plant in Brampton. That was why the family favored Dodge.

During the ride to Maria’s house, Fallon asked what she had been up to. Maria had graduated from college the year before. Fallon found out that Maria had gotten a promotion at her work. It was some insurance company. Fallon was happy that Maria was doing well.

As they reached the house, Fallon couldn’t help but feel relaxed. Home was a place where everything made you feel welcome. Although this was her oldest uncle’s home, he treated her like she was one of his own. This was why Fallon felt at home.

Fallon and Maria crept carefully through the hall leading to Maria’s room. They both struggled to stay silent. The whole house was asleep. Fallon had always had trouble with staying silent when the two of them had crept along the halls as children. Whenever Maria had told her to stay silent, Fallon had always started to laugh; her nerves always got the better of her. It was hard for her to follow those instructions…especially when she would be the one to walk into the wall. Today was not an exception. Within moments of reaching Maria’s room, Fallon had walked into the desk in the dark. A giggle escaped her. Maria was next to laugh. Clearly Maria was remembering the same aspects of their childhood.

As teenagers whenever Fallon had slept over, the two of them would watch movies until the morning. They would eat and watch until it was almost seven in the morning. Maria would sleep until the afternoon, when they did this. It was Fallon who would sleep less, and be up the next morning at or before ten o’clock…which was her latest.

Apparently today was no exception. Since it was already 4:30 in the morning, when they put away Fallon’s things, Maria decided that they would watch something. Maria had taken a week off, since she had not gone on winter vacation. Had this not been the case, they would probably sleep. At least Maria would…Fallon was too excited to sleep.