Foreign

•6• Warmth

"We were surprised too" Leo said, winking at me, earning him a slap from Mira.

"Owww!"

I blush a little. Leo is very good looking as well, and has been incredibly sweet to me thus far...

"Leo control yourself! I'm sorry, my brother is such a flirt. If he ever tries to pull stuff on you you can go ahead and give him a slap."

I laugh with a big smile, I like this girl. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Yea I support that notion, Leo you can be over the top. A slap is a perfect solution!" Arlo says with a big smirk across his face, slapping Leo on the back, to which Leo then shoves him away.

"Eliza has Lucca arrived yet?" Nico asks, in attempt to bring everyone back to focus.

"Lucca's coming?" I chime in a little too quickly.

"He's been working on that project of his... said he'd try to be in sometime tomorrow afternoon." Eliza says, rolling her eyes as we walk up the steps toward the main house.

"Project?" Leo quizzically asks.

"The one he's been doing with Georgiana? That girl's crazy." Arlo adds, opening the door for everyone after Nico unlocks it.

"Georgiana was a painter's model in school for him, and his mentor recommended he stick with the same one for a while... so," 

Leo laughs. "Are we really sure that's  why he's still been working with her?"

All of this talk makes me feel strange. I don't know what to believe.

I decide to listen to the wind instead.

~

We step inside the country home and I'm startled by the difference I feel.

The furniture is the same. The curtains still light and illuminated by the sun and the breeze the ocean brings. The paintings everywhere coloring the walls, and books and albums on every shelf.

It was missing life. 

It was missing the love my mother gave it.

Yet it looked the same.

How could I feel so foreign in a place so familiar?

"Serafina! want to come with us?" Mira turns me around by the shoulders with a big smile, full of warmth and hope. 

Maybe I'll be okay.

"Where to?" I smile back.

"Come on, we'll show you." Eliza says, taking my hand.

We walk through the doors back out to the oceanfront, and walk along the shore to where there is a small table with benches covered in blankets and tapestries. There are candles and matches and flowers, pictures and things.

"What's this?" I ask, almost in a whisper, with a light smile. Feeling somehow inspired by this small place.

"Your aunt made this little place." Mira says, sitting on one of the benches.

"Amalia?" I ask, completely understanding now why this is so beautiful to me.

"These past months, she wanted a place to go."

"She's been going through a very difficult time... Nicolas tells us, but doesn't give details." Eliza says, lighting candles carefully as she looks over to Mira hesitantly.

I wish I could've been with her.

"It's beautiful" I say, feeling the soft blankets and smelling the sweet aroma of my aunt's homemade candles. I could tell they were hers anywhere. "So... you both know her well?"

"Malia is like the mother of all of us. Every summer she was the heart of everything. She's the reason we're all so close." Mira says with a soft smile. "It's weird now, that we're all older... everything feels just a little different."

"You mean how the boys don't care about fishing and playing and swimming anymore?" Eliza says with a laugh.

"Well, I mean that's part of it." Mira lightly hits Eliza's shoulder.

"What do you mean?" I ask, wondering what has changed for them...

so much has changed for me.

"They're just not all there anymore." Mira says very pensively. There's definitely more to this.

"You just mean Arlo." Eliza says, very routinely and dismissively. 

"Arlo? Did something happen to him?" I ask, suddenly questioning every conversation I've had with him.

"Only that he's made Mira fall in love with him more and more each passing day." She states dramatically, putting her fingers near the candle's flame.

"HEY! That's not completely true.. and don't do that it freaks me out when you do that."

"Hence the words 'not completely'. And also it's just a little fire. Calm down."

Just a little fire. Just a little fire.

There's no such thing as just a little fire.

I need to go. 

I feel very anxious. Clammy. Unfocused. 

Breathe. Breathe. 

One. Two. Three.

"I- I'm feeling a little tired. I'm going to head back into the house and get some rest. It's getting very dark. Thank you, for showing me this. It's very lovely"

 I run to the house before they can reply.

I don't think I'll  rest tonight.