•New Problems•
Boca Raton, Florida
Friday
"Where do you think you're about to go?"
Walking past the kitchen, I was stopped in my tracks by my mom.
I made my way into the kitchen itself to speak with her.
"Uh, hey mom. You know I was just about to head out to go hang with some friends."
Placing the fruit she had pulled out of the refrigerator down on the island, she steps toward me and shakes her head.
"You promised Andrea that you'd go Christmas shopping with her and her boyfriend today. Did you not?"
"I mean I did, but I didn't actually mean it." She rolls her eyes at me. "Look you know how Drea likes to shop, and I'm really not trying to waste the rest of my Friday being dragged from store to store with her."
"Then you need to go tell her that, otherwise you will be going Carlos. Don't tell her something one minute, and then dip out the next cause that's not cool."
"I know ma. Look, I'll just tell her that I'll go with her tomorrow if she still hasn't gotten everything she needs."
She rolls her eyes at me.
"Either you go or you don't. Make up your mind and go tell your sister that, you don't make plans with somebody and cancel out of nowhere without saying anything."
Why does she always have to be right about everything, and why couldn't she just not be in the kitchen the one time I'm trying to make an escape somewhere.
"Alright fine, I'll go talk to her."
Unfortunately for me, the sound of keys jingling interrupted not only the conversation but my initial thought process as well.
I just knew it had to be Andrea coming down the stairs with them keys.
"Let's go Carlos, you know I like to get out to the mall early and before most people are out shopping. We're already running behind and We still have to go get Michael since he doesn't want to just drive and meet us there."
My mom simply smiles at me and I wanted to cry on the spot because I was serious when I said that I didn't like shopping with my sister.
I didn't like shopping with any of them to be completely honest, they just have no sense of urgency when it comes to their shopping trips.
See me, I like to be in and out, but they treat these trips as if they don't know that stores do actually having closing times to adhere to.
"Bye Carlos." My mom waved to me as she left the kitchen just as Andrea made her way in.
"You heard me talking to you right? Let's go."
I begrudgingly followed her out to her car, hopping in the backseat since I knew she was going to be kicking me back there anyways once her boyfriend gets in.
"Can we at least take Ariana with us so that this trip is at least a bit more bearable for me? I'm not really trying to be the third wheel today, especially because when you and Michael get together it's like y'all don't realize that you're around other people."
She looks at me through her rear view mirror before sighing.
"Fine, but don't take forever getting her. I was being serious when I said I want to get to these stores as soon as possible, you are not about to ruin my Christmas shopping."
That was at least a relief.
I didn't hesitate in getting out of her car, and I practically made a bee-line to Ariana's front door.
Sending a quick text to her that I was outside, she didn't take too long in coming to the door.
The smile that covered her face when she saw me was more than enough to lift my overall spirit, because right now I was in a mood.
"Hey Los." She embraces me in a quick hug leaning up to peck my lips. "You wanna come inside or..?"
I shook my head in response.
"Nah, I was actually trying to see if you wanted to come with me somewhere."
"This somewhere doesn't include a football field and your friends does it? Cause if so, I'm going to have to skip out on this one."
I laughed at that and shook my head.
"I only did that last time to impress you, but no this has nothing to do with any of that this time around." She looks at me quizzically trying to figure out what I was up to I assumed. "My sister is going Christmas shopping with her boyfriend, and I promised her I'd go with her and I'm really not trying to be a third wheel."
"I see. You don't want to be lonely while your sister is boo'd up."
Running a hand through my hair, I let my hands drop to my sides and slide into my pockets a bit as I studied her body language.
She looks back into the house for a second.
"Is that a yes or...am I gonna have to suffer alone for a few hours?"
She turns back to look at me and nods leaving me a bit confused what question she was answering.
"I'm gonna assume that Andrea is waiting for you outside, so just give me a minute to get my stuff together and then I'll be out there."
I silently thanked whoever was looking out for me today.
"You don't know how much I love you right now." I leaned down to give her a quick kiss which she smiled into.
"I just might." At this point I was already making my way back down the walkway from her front door so that sounded like a whisper to my ears.
I'm just glad I don't have to go at this alone.
Ariana likes to shop too and a helluva a lot, so I guess I didn't really solve any issues here besides my loneliness.
______
"When I agreed to come shopping with your sister, I didn't think we'd be subject to double the sitting time Carlos."
I looked over at Michael on his phone and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Not my fault our girlfriends love to shop, and plus you act like she forced you to come along. You could have easily said no and stayed at home."
He looks up from his phone for a second and shakes his head at me.
"You know I can't say no to your sister. Plus she would have forced me to come anyways, that didn't mean that you had to add additional time to this unfortunate trip."
I simply shrugged and looked back down at my phone since I was in a group chat with the guys.
Our trip to the snow in Tahoe was literally coming up in a few days, and we are trying to lock down times and transportation so everyone is on the same page come the day of the trip.
My mom might've said no about a week or two ago, but I made her change her mind when I told her our football coach was chaperoning.
He is and he isn't, like we wouldn't consider it him chaperoning since he really was just signing off on getting us this bomb ass cabin in Tahoe for us to stay in while he and his wife stay in a separate one.
So I didn't lie to her or anything, just stretched the truth a bit.
"You're not lying, but I do have a real question for you."
Neither of us looked up from our devices.
"What's up?"
Might as well make conversation while we wait for them to buy up every store on the strip.
"When are you and my sister gonna move in together, I'm not trying to be invasive or nothing but she just be talking about it so much and I'm wondering when that's happening for you two?"
He laughs at this causing me to look at him.
"You not really being invasive, I was just wondering the same thing to be honest with you lil bro. Your sister just seems to be non committal sometimes on stuff like this, like we been looking but we in a disagreement over location. I've been looking at places in LA, and she just trying to stay in Florida like why she wanna stay here?"
I sighed hearing that, but I understood all too well why she wasn't trying to go back there.
"I know my sister might seem hard to deal with sometimes, but she dealt with some real traumatizing shit down in LA when we lived there so I wouldn't really rush her on this move if that's where y'all are trying to go. It's not really my place to tell you about what happened, but I'm sure she'll talk to you about it once you guys come to an agreement of some sort."
He nods at this, but he didn't say anything else after that so we just went back to our devices once again.
I was just finishing my drink, so I got up to make my way over to a trash can across from the table we were sitting at.
"Carlos?"
Hearing my name being called, I dropped the cup into the garbage and I turned around letting the surprise I was feeling be known.
"India?" She had bags in her hand so she definitely had to have been here for awhile. "Uh hey."
Considering the way things went between us the last time she and I had a face to face conversation, I wasn't too sure about this one on one right now.
"What are you doing here? You Christmas shopping for your family or something?"
She didn't sound mad and I didn't really sense any hostility towards me.
"Yes and no, I'm actually with my sister right now while she shops. I'm more of a last minute shopper when it comes to this holiday."
She smiles nodding at this.
"She must be a big spender." I nodded in agreement. "It's good to be seeing you even after everything that happened, we should catch up sometime and talk to just try and put what happened behind us."
I don't know about that.
"You sure? I mean I literally kissed another girl while we were together, I'm not sure that constitutes any further conversation between us."
She had this look in her eyes that made me suspicious of her intent.
"I think it does, I have some things I want to talk to you about. I promise it's nothing too crazy."
I was going to respond, but I heard Ariana and my sister laughing at something so my gaze turned onto them.
Ari didn't look too happy, but I didn't see much anger in her face.
It was more a look of confusion if anything.
"I'll see you later Carlos." She smiled at me one last time as Ariana approached me. "Bye Ariana."
Oh that shit was so petty and I'm sure she knew just exactly what she was doing.
Ariana didn't really say anything until she was sure India was out of both ear and eyesight.
"What did she want with you?"
I wasn't gonna answer that honestly, I'm not really trying to piss her off right.
"Uh, it was nothing. She was just trying to say hi I guess." Finally turning away from the direction I was looking in, I looked down at the bags in her hand. "Did you get everything you needed out of there."
She shot me a look that told me that she was skeptical about what I was saying to her right now.
She didn't prod any further though.
"Yeah I did, I still have a couple more stores to go to so I'm gonna need your help carrying some things and then I'll be done with my shopping for now."
"That sounds good to me." She smiles slightly and I changed the subject to get her mind off of it. "You gonna come over tonight, right?"
Her eyes snapped up to mine and the smile she had grew just a bit wider.
"Only if you agree to watch breakfast a Tiffany's this time."
She drove a hard bargain, but then again this was the girl who I once upon a time said I'd do anything for.
"You make it so hard to say no." Wrapping an arm around her, she and I made our way back towards my sister and Michael.
"I can't help it, I'm persuasive like that. Plus you love me, so you can't say no."
I see no lies, cause she is telling the absolute truth.
Although right now, I'm trying to wrap my head around my encounter with India.
It was almost as strange as our encounter with Bryson a little while ago.
This might've been weirder though...
_____
I'm back everyone.
Felt the need to update.
Anyways though I hope you enjoyed, more updates coming soon.
What do you think is gonna happen next?
What do you think could of been done differently in this part, or what is something that you wished would have happened here?
Don't be a ghost reader. Let me know in the comments, and don't forget to vote.