❝ and all I've seen since eighteen hours ago
is green eyes and freckles and your smile ❞
Latching my fingers into the handle on the top, I heaved the last suitcase up into the back of the car. My hands gripped the trunk lid and pushed it down, letting the trunk slam as it closed.
I looked around one last time. The few trees in front of the house swayed in the slight breeze and I clutched my jacket closer to my body as I felt the chill of the cool fall air.
The front door closed for one last time as my mother exited the house, in her hands a small duffle bag and the house key.
"That's the last of it. I'll leave the key in the lock box and the realtor will pick it up later when the new family comes to visit." After locking the door, she walked over to the car, tossing her bag in the back seat before sliding into the driver's.
I let out a sigh, turning back to the small house one last time before trudging over to the passenger's door, sliding in next to my mom. She hummed to herself as I buckled up my seat belt, moving to turn on the radio. One of Adele's new songs came on and I settled back into my seat.
As we pulled out of the driveway, I looked at all the other houses on our street, not being able to look at ours anymore. In just a few minutes, we were out and onto the freeway, leaving Seattle behind.
I held my head up with my hand, my elbow leaning on the side of the car as I watched everything go by outside.
My mother's hand rubbed soothing circles on my knee for a few seconds before she returned it to the steering wheel.
"Just wait until we get to Brookville, everything will be great. It will feel like going home again." She gave me a sad smile, her eyes moving to mine before she looked back to the road.
I gave her a small smile back, knowing how bad she felt about all of this. After all, she was the reason that we were moving. Again.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I fished it out, seeing a new message.
I smiled wistfully. Aly and I weren't close by any means, and would probably lose contact in a few weeks, but she was the closest thing I had made to a friend while living in Seattle.
I decided to just leave it at that. I was never able to maintain a long distance friendship after any of the times we had moved. Eventually, the calls and texts would stop and we would lose contact.
Sure, it definitely wasn't fun, but I was almost used to it.
After just a few minutes, the soft sounds of the radio and the rocking of the car was making me tired. I mumbled something incoherent to my mom about waking me up for food before my eyelids slid shut.
Driving from Washington to California might not seem that bad until you actually have to do it, and my mother's singing didn't make it any better.
I groaned as she belted out the chorus to a Justin Bieber song, so far off pitch she could have been singing a completely different song.
We were almost there, only an hour or so farther. We had been driving in California for a while, and even just the scenery was different from Washington and Oregon. Hills seemed to stretch over every horizon, the sky seemed clearer and the air fresher.
But that didn't mean that it was any more bearable to spend this long in a car with my mother.
"Why don't we stop for food?" I suggested to her. Nodding eagerly, she pulled the car off of the freeway at the next exit, locating an In-N-Out.
That was one of the positives to moving back to California. In-N-Out.
I stretched my arms out as we pulled into the parking lot, the red and white building looming in front of us. I almost toppled over when I jumped out of the car, my legs asleep from sitting for so long.
My mother and I walked into the restaurant, side by side, and waited in line.
When we reached the front, we were greeted by an overly-cheery cashier. He had shaggy black hair and warm, hazel eyes. A grin played at his lips.
"Hello, welcome to In-N-Out, what can I get for you?" He asked, looking back and forth from me to my mother. I looked at his nametag, which read Bradley.
"I'll have a double-double with everything, but protein style," my mother ordered. It had been eight years, but she still ordered the same thing. She looked over to me.
"And I'll have a cheeseburger with no tomatoes and no onions, and a lemonade," I recited without even glancing at the menu. I guess old habits die hard.
Bradley smiled as my mom paid, and he gave us a number before telling us our order would be right out.
It didn't take long for our food to be ready, and once our number was called we sat down at a table to eat. My mother allowed absolutely no food in her car, which made the day-and-a-half drive even more unbearable.
As I sipped my drink, I looked around the building. There were a few families here and there and some teenagers sitting in a corner booth, laughing and talking loudly.
I looked back down at my food, envious of them. It was hard to keep great friends when you moved around every other year. Aly was one of the few people I had really talked to.
I hadn't left anything important behind.
After my mother and I had finished eating, we loaded back into the car and headed back on to the freeway. I looked around at the approaching landscape; it was pretty much fields for as far as I could see. I sighed.
I couldn't stand going back to Brookville. That town was suffocating. Most of the land was farmland, and what wasn't mainly consisted of houses or small shops. Don't get me wrong, I loved California, but I didn't understand why my mother was taking us back to Brookville.
My mom switched he radio to some pop hits station, and I wrinkled my nose. As I reached out to change the station, my mother slapped my hand away.
"I'm the driver, I pick the music."
I muttered some incoherent words before digging my headphones out of the small bag at my feet. Plugging them into my phone, I put my library on shuffle.
Leaning my head against the window, I closed my eyes and drowned my thoughts in music.
"Cassie, wake up. We're here."
I snuggled further into the seat, but jolted up as soon as my mother started to lightly slap my face.
I swatted away her hand. "Okay, okay, I'm up."
Stretching my arms above my head, I looked outside and was surprised at the familiar landscape.
Fields. That's all it was.
I could still see the outline of hills on the horizon, but the view in front of me was mostly filled with empty fields. A few here and there still had some crops growing, but most were bare.
The sun shone bright, reminding me that even in fall, it was pretty warm here. At least compared to Washington.
My mom's voice broke me out of my reverie. "We'll get to the house in about 15 minutes. Then–"
"If we still have 15 minutes, why did you wake me up?" I groaned, slouching down in my seat.
My mom glared at me quickly before looking back at the road. "If you hadn't interrupted me..." She sighed. "We'll be meeting some people at the house to help us unload."
"Why don't we just have the movers unload it?" I asked, not seeing why we needed to interact with anyone.
"Because I'm not paying those guys $200 just for them to put everything in the wrong spot," my mother argued, rolling her eyes like that should have been obvious.
I leaned my elbow on the seat rest, placing my head in my hand. I was in no mood to see anyone I knew in this town.
As my mother had said, we reached the new house 15 minutes later. It was the complete opposite of the one we used to own here. Instead of being surrounded by other houses, there wasn't another property for quite a while down the road.
"So we're farmers now?" I asked my mother as I climbed out of the car. The moving truck was parked at the curb, the men still sitting in the cab.
"No," she said. "This is part of the Jacobson's land. They fixed up the house a few years back, but never had a use for it. When I told them we were planning on heading back, they were more than eager to offer it to us for cheap rent."
I nodded my head absent-mindedly, looking around the property. However, I froze when my brain finally caught up to my ears.
This is part of the Jacobson's land.
Jacobson.
Luke Jacobson.
Shit.
After the move, I hadn't even tried to contact Luke. I had known from the beginning that we wouldn't stay friends; we were like, ten years old. Those kinds of friendships just don't last.
I let out a groan, following my mother into the house.
Honestly, it was beautiful. The wide-open space was filled with white, the walls painted with natural colors. Even though there was no furniture yet, I could picture how each room would look when we were done.
I could imagine the dining room with a long table, covered in food during the holidays and family sitting in the chairs around it.
I could picture my mother and I in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning and laughing, like a normal family.
I could even picture us living here for more than the eight months we stayed in California last time.
My mother's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Cassie, why don't we start unloading some of the boxes before the Jacobson's arrive? They could be a bit."
I nodded, turning on my heel to head back outside. After closing the front door behind me, I took in a breath of the cool, fall air. As much as I hated to admit, it felt good to be back in California.
I walked down the path and up to the moving truck where the movers had already taken a few boxes out of the back and placed them onto the sidewalk. As I went to grab one of the smaller ones, I heard the distant sound of a car engine coming from down the road.
I turned and saw the familiar sight of an old, blue Toyota truck coming over a hill. A small grin made it's way onto my face as I thought of the Mr. Jacobson I knew before.
He was a classic farmer; always in jeans and boots, always a hard worker. He was like a father to me, always making me feel welcome in his home and giving me advice when I needed it.
The truck rumbled down the road until it stopped right behind the moving truck.I picked up the box in front of me, turning towards the house, not waiting for them to get out of the truck. I knew Mr. Jacobson definitely brought his son to help out, someone I did not want to see.
I heard my mom squealing and talking excitedly; she was most likely hugging Mr. Jacobson by now. Her and Marie were good friends when we lived here before, and I was happy that my mom would be reunited with her.
Heading up the path towards the front door, my arms started to strain under the weight of the box; it was probably filled with books. Why the hell did I take this box?
Right as it started to slip out of my hands and towards the ground, a set of arms reached out and grabbed it. I let out a sigh of relief as the weight was taken off hands, but my breath hitched in my throat when I looked up.
His eyes were still as green as ever, but his hair was a little shorter. The freckles on his face were more prominent now than they were when he was younger, but they suited him. A smirk took over his lips as he noticed my eyes studying his features. Aside from the hair and the eyes, he had completely changed over the years.
I used to be a couple inches taller than him, but now the roles were reversed, and he towered nearly a foot above me. His looks used to be boyish, but now they could only be described as manly. He was definitely handsome.
His voice snapped me out of my thought. "You looked like you could use a hand." Holding the box in his arms, we continued towards the house.
I looked at him for a few seconds, still studying his face, before I realized he was waiting for me to speak.
"Oh! I, uh," I stuttered, and his small smirk grew into a full-blown smile.
Why was I stuttering? I never stuttered.
As we walked up to the front door, I heard him chuckle from beside me. "Cassie Rella–stuttering? Now that's something I would have never thought I'd see."
I huffed as I pushed on the door handle, walking inside to hold the door open wide enough for Luke to walk in with the box. He put it down by the bottom of the stairs, brushed his hands off and turned to look at me.
He smiled. "Cassiopeia Ariadne Rella." I physically cringed at the mention of my full name, which only caused his grin to stretch wider. "Never thought I'd see you again in this small town. What happened? Were the big cities too much for you?"
I rolled my eyes, pushing past him and heading back out the front door.
I heard his footsteps behind me, but I kept going until I reached his parents.
"Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson!" I exclaimed, rushing towards them to be enveloped in a hug by the couple.
"Cassie! Wow, you look so much older!" Mrs. Jacobson said happily. I laughed, but Luke spoke before I could respond.
"She might look older, but I don't think she's gotten any taller since she left."
I glared at him while all the adults laughed. Though it wasn't far from the truth, I still wasn't fond of his teasing.
"Well, the same can't be said for Luke. You're taller than your father now!" My mother said, and Luke seemed satisfied with this as he gave me a smug smile.
This move back would be worse than I thought.
Thank you for reading!! Now that you've seen both the 'then' and 'now' perspectives, I hope the formatting makes a little more sense!! If you have any questions, just leave them in the comments!!