Exploiting Realities

CHAPTER TWENTY - UNEXPECTED GUEST

ARIA

All of my previous worries disappeared at the sound of her voice, which was so unfamiliar after months without seeing her. I ran to the door and swallowed her in a hug.

"Aria!" my mother scolded me. "Don't run! You'll strain yourself!"

I rolled my eyes. I felt fine now that Mia was home.

"Hello dearest!" Mia exclaimed, picking me up and spinning me. "How are you feeling?"

"Never better," I lied.

She hugged me again. "There's my strong sister." She gasped. "Bean!" she exclaimed, picking up the small dog who was jumping at her feet. Bean attacked her with kisses. "Oh, I've missed you too precious. I've missed you too!"

"You're home early," our mom commented, hugging her. "We weren't expecting you until tomorrow!"

"I know! I caught an earlier flight! Isn't it great?"

"That's fabulous," my mother said happily. "I've missed you so much, sweetheart."

"I brought presents!" she announced, setting Bean down and unzipping her suitcase. She pulled out a book. "For Mom I have this book on whales. The pictures in it are breathtaking, plus it was signed by the author. I remember how much you enjoyed going whale watching. This book has pictures of everything we saw, plus it has pictures of the whales breaching. We didn't see that on our trip."

Mom took the book eagerly and started flipping through it.

"And for Aria," she said, reaching into her bag like she was Santa Claus, "I got this!" She pulled at a dreamcatcher. Except, this one wasn't like the fake ones that people can get at Target or at Hallmark. This one was real. I knew that because I had seen them when we went to Alaska. They were made with real horsehair, real leather, real feathers, real fur...everything was real. And they cost a fortune.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaimed, hugging her again.

"That's not all!" she exclaimed. She pulled out a box. "Taking into consideration your unique obsession with food, I bought you some taffy! I got them at the airport in Philly," she laughed.

I grinned. "Do they come in lime?"

"Uh, they might. Why?"

My mother sighed. "Your sister has taken a liking to limes."

Mia gagged. "Ew, why? Limes taste like stomach bile!"

I laughed, considering that was exactly what Lorelai had said. "Not for a chemo patient with screwed up taste buds!"

She winced. "So that's a plus, I guess? You like limes now?"

I shook my head. "It's probably the only flavor that I'll be able to swallow."

"Oh gosh!" Mia said sympathetically. "I'm sorry!"

I shrugged. "I'll just eat the lime ones. The rest of them will get eaten by Lorelai and Alec, I'm sure."

Mia rolled her eyes at Alec's name. "Anyway, I have another surprise."

My mom raised her eyebrow skeptically. "If you have all of this money to spend on souvenirs, you should really be contributing more to your airfare."

Mia laughed. "It's not a souvenir," she said. She opened the front door behind her and disappeared behind it.

"Where's she going?" I asked my mom.

"You know just as much as I do," my mom said, shrugging.

A minute or so later, Mia returned. This time however, she wasn't alone.