Six year old Aiyanna is out for something completely new. A new home by the lake, a boy named Lito and his friends, and a loving foster family. Nineteen year old Lito is out for an attempted overdose on a bottle of Flintstones vitamins, a crush, a h...
The morning breeze danced its way through the open windows of the tranquil Caraan household. Inside, Aiyanna could smell the lake. Instead of getting up to the strong scent of cooking, the Caraan family would wake up to the smell of the lake. Oh, and of course, sometimes the sound of faint music playing from Lito's computer.
Aiyanna opened her eyes, but to her disappointment, she was still in the house. While Aiyanna wanted to remain in bed to complete her dream, she got up and began tip-toeing towards the door. Aiyanna planned to sneak out of the house, then run away. It seemed like a good plan to the six year old, despite the very fact she had no idea where she would run to. Even if she knew where to go, how would she get there without getting caught? She heard the footsteps of the twins leaving, so she stopped dead. Then, the little girl continued her mission.
Tip-toeing through the hallway badlands, sliding down the staircase mountain, then crawling from the valley of the living room to the front door, Aiyanna reached the front door, but just as she turned the handle, almost to her sweet release, someone interrupted her.
"Tsk, tsk," Lito said, nodding his head in disbelief as he stood atop the staircase. Aiyanna turned her head towards Lito, then when she locked eyes with Lito, she ran from the door, trying to hide.
Lito quickly dashed down the stairs, ready to catch Aiyanna at any moment. As Aiyanna heard Lito's steps growing closer, she frantically looked for a place to hide. Under the table! Aiyanna sat underneath the wooden table, but then she realized that Lito could see her from here! When Aiyanna tried to run, she hit her head on the table and collapsed on the floor. To Aiyanna's horror, she saw Lito crouching down near her, smiling and shaking his head. For the first time, Aiyanna laughed.
Later that day, at around noon, everyone sat at the table, eating their lunch, when suddenly Lito's mother had the great idea of a family trip.
"Why don't we all go to a water park?" She asked.
"That's actually not a bad idea," Alice replied. Lito rolled his eyes.
"You can't just decide we're going to a water park willy nilly, mom, that's stupid," Lito grunted.
"There is no way in hell you're talking to your mother like that," Daven, Lito's dad said. Angela tapped Daven's shoulder to calm him down, saying something about how she doesn't want Aiyanna to be exposed to swearing, like she hasn't already.
"Sorry," Lito forced the words from his mouth, then taking a bite of his food.
"Well, I think it's a great idea, don't we?" Angela smiled.
By late afternoon, Angela had booked five tickets to Splash Works. Lito thought that this was bullshit, Angela just wanted Aiyanna to feel welcome, Daven does whatever his wife says, Alice could care less, Aiyanna wanted nothing else but to go back to her family, but they were "too busy" for Aiyanna right now.
Since Aiyanna didn't have a swimsuit, Angela came up with this great idea to take the whole family to the mall. Oh, boy, was Lito happy about that. When Angela woke him up from his nap to go to the mall, Lito was possibly the grumpiest man on the planet.
"Lito, get ready to go to the mall," Angela practically tore the covers off from Lito.
"Why?" Lito groaned.
"We need to go get Aiyanna a new swimsuit. We can get other stuff too. Just, come on," Angela said, trying to convince Lito.
"Can't I just stay home-" Angela interrupted Lito with a slap in the face. With that, Lito got up and as Angela was leaving he put on a shirt, then stared in the mirror. His short, black hair was a mess, he had dark circles under his eyes, a dirty t-shirt on, marks from napping, then, to top it all off, he looked like he awoke from a century's sleep far too soon.
"Lito!" Daven yelled out. Lito sped up his pace, combing his hair less carefully, then heading out the door.
The family was all the way in the Gap kids store shopping for Aiyanna before they knew it. Aiyanna wanted to choose her own swimsuit, so she had picked out a pink swimsuit with horses running on a field. Alice thought the suit was a bit chintzy, then tried to find other swimsuits for Aiyanna, but Aiyanna was hooked on that pink swimsuit.
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Angela let Alice and Lito go get what they wanted as long as it was under $70. They continued to shop for Aiyanna, trying to cheer her up, but failing, so they decided to shop for themselves bringing Aiyanna along. Lito pretended to shop in Banana Republic so they wouldn't think he was just hanging around in the mall with no money.
Like I would shop there anyway, Lito thought.
Alice looked for something in Hot Topic, but she wasn't really finding anything she'd actually wear anyway. Getting ready to leave, Alice put down a shirt she was looking at. A man tapped her on her shoulder.
"Hi, can I help you?" He asked. Alice shook her head to say no.
"Well, if you need any help, you can tell me," He smiled.
"No thank you," Alice responded. Alice left the store, looking for another one to look at. Alice had decided to look at a store called Forever 21. Looking at the apparel, Alice seemed like she actually would buy what they had for sale. She later then found herself trying to pick between two shirts or a dress. Alice made her decision soon after. She put the shirts back on the rack, then she went to go try the dress on.
"Hi, is there any available dressing rooms?" Alice asked to the lady at the counter.
"Yes," She said, while handing Alice a thing to hang on the door handle that says 'DO NOT DISTURB' on it.
Changing in the room, Alice felt a hand grabbing her foot from under the door outside the dressing room, so she wiggled from it's grip and stepped on the hand. She heard an 'OW!' from outside of the door. The dress was a perfect fit, so Alice changed out of the dress and into her own clothes to go pay for it. After all, it was only about $30.
The man from Hot Topic was waiting outside of the dressing room for her, holding his hand in pain from being stepped on.
"Ahh, why would you do that?" He asked.
"Why the hell did you grab my foot from under the door? Who are you, anyway?" She blurted.
"I was just trying to mess with you, but turns out you're a total bitch," He replied.
"Mess with me again, and I'll get security on your ass," Alice threatened, then went to pay for her clothes.
Alice got a text that read 'meet us in the food court' from her mom, so, she did.
