The Lies We Share ✔

Chapter 6

After lunch, Laura's day took a stumbling leap downward seemingly dragging on for endless hours. The hands of time seem to be propped up by some invisible force, she however did find out that her mom had called the office during her choir class, she had left a note with the office that said she would be bringing her sister and Laura out to lunch and would be picking Laura up after school. Today Laura was going to finally meet Rachel.

Laura felt apprehensive during the rest of her classes. Was she nervous? Slightly, but more to the point excited, she decided that she was looking forward to meeting Rachel. After hearing her voice on the other side of the phone all those years it certainly would be interesting to meet her in person. Though she hoped it wouldn't be awkward.

When Laura got out of school, she saw her mom's car waiting in the front lot. She paced toward the car, and came up to the backdoor of the Honda, as she climbed in Laura's eyes instantly met with her aunt, who looked back at her from the passenger side. 

Her face looked wrinkled, the signs of stress evident on her forehead, her smile tight but genuine. Her hair was the same color as Laura's a deep red brown, with a small bit of waviness to it. She seemed tired though, Laura could tell she was her mom's sister, they had the same hazel eyes.

"Hello, Laura," she said, enthusiastically, her voice was sweet, if a little rough around the edges. The tone thoughtful, as if her aunt had been thinking about meeting her niece for ages. Laura had wondered if the moment would ever occur. 

"Hi, nice to meet you," Laura said, earnestly, it was out of character for Laura to be so formal with family, but she thought better of being casual. She thought that perhaps since she didn't really know her aunt that her attitude could come off a bit rude. Laura simply didn't know if she had the right to be informal.

"So nice to meet you too, I know it's kind of—," she started to say, being interrupted by Laura's mom.

"Hey, you guys want to go to Amy's Diner?" Cheryl smiled at both of them, Laura smiled back at her mom. A worried expression crossed her mom's face. Was the worry connected to a theory of Laura's aunt corrupting her? Laura didn't know, but for all the excuses her mom gave as to why she could never meet her aunt, the situation was now in their lap and it needed to happen for both Laura and Rachel's sake.

"Sure," Laura said, though she thought her question awkwardly placed, interrupting her Aunt Rachel and all.

Luckily the diner had plenty of warm food that would smooth over the cold and barren landscape that was Laura's stomach. Aunt Rachel gave her niece a knowing glance and continued to chat with her sister. 

Laura knew this was a cue to inject herself into the conversation. Laura instead smiled, letting them continue to get acquainted with each other face to face. Though sisters, her mom, and her aunt had not caught up in too long of a time, it was apparent they did not know each other's current life situation well.

"So, how's it going with school and everything?" Laura meets her aunt's gaze, her aunt's eyes squint with inquisitiveness. She had asked her a question? How was she? Hopeful in any case, instead Laura responded.

"Not bad, how's—," Laura paused, things weren't good, or so she assumed. Rachel's husband was an abuser, her whole family thought she was a recluse, she was an alcoholic and she didn't need Laura to remind her of how crappy things were. Reluctantly Laura finished, "—life going?"

"Yesterday, and this past year, terrible, just awful," she said it with a small mischievous smile on her face, which made Laura feel comforted, she wasn't upset by the question, she added, "since this morning when your mom came and picked me up and brought me to that therapist—well, that was the best I've felt since I can't even remember when, but you know if you're me you let a lot of things get out of control."