I grabbed my things from the trunk and followed my mother into the side door along the house. She held the door open for me and I walked inside, and the familiar smell of apples and sweet vanilla enveloped into my nose.
Do you ever smell something and it instantly makes you remember something? like a memory or a place, or a time in your life?
One time I was cleaning up my room in NYC and found an old perfume bottle, I sprayed it and was instantly reminded of a book I read a long time ago, because I was wearing this perfume at the time I was reading that particular book.
This is what happened when the scent of my home overwhelmed my senses. The smell brought me back to my childhood days running around the house with socks on as my little brother chased me, or when I'd help my mom bake cookies on Sunday morning, or when I'd watch movies in the living room snuggled up with my father.
All these memories came rushing back and in that moment I didn't want to be anywhere else. I took my sneakers off, and rolled my luggage into the kitchen. All of a sudden my younger brother Wesley, he's 12, came running at me with full force. I laughed whole heartedly as he wrapped me into a hug, his little arms wrapping around my waist. I looked down at him,
"Wesley, how's my favorite little brother?"
With a big toothy grin he said,
"I'm your only brother"
I laughed and hugged him back tighter, I shook my right hand through his hair,
"You have gotten so tall Wes"
He was only 12 and he came up to my shoulders already. Me being 5'5 at 24 years old, I was pretty average in the height department, but my brother looks to be taking after my father. My father was 6'3, his tall stature making him come off as very intimidating, but he was a big teddy bear. I smiled at the sight of him,
"Hello Angel"
He had always called me angel since I was a baby,
"Hello dad" I said, as he wrapped me into a big hug.
"So what are everyone's plans today?"
My mother was rummaging through the fridge, pulling out eggs, milk, cheese, juice, etc.
"Well I'm going to make breakfast for everyone and since it's Sunday I figured we all would take a walk around town before dinner. How long are you staying with us Lena?"
My stomach growled at the thought of breakfast, since I hadn't had time to eat anything before my train left this morning, and I slept the entire way. I sat myself down on a chair on the far end of the island counter in the middle of the kitchen.
"My train leaves Tuesday night at 6:00 pm"
My mother smiles,
"Well, I took off work Monday through Wednesday, but unfortunately your father has to work, and your brother has school."
She started to scramble some eggs on the stove, and put some bread into the toaster. My mouth started to water immediately as the smell of breakfast food filled my senses. After eating a big plate of food, I grabbed my luggage and went up to my old room. The last owners repainted the walls a light grey color, which I actually liked a lot more than my previous lilac colored walls I had since I was really little.
I loved my room, it had a closet covering the entire length of the far wall, with sliding glass mirrors on the outside with white trim, and the adjacent wall off to the right had two large windows. I always enjoyed having my blinds up, allowing the natural light of the day to peer into my room. I had wooden floors with a light soft shaggy rug covering a majority of the floor, that matched my white trim,white dresser, and white night stand.
My mother hung up my lights around the room and lit some of my favorite scented candles. I put my suitcase on the bed and started to put my clothes in my dresser. Once finished, I grabbed some extra bedding from the closet and made my bed, and then laid down with one of my books.
I was alerted awake by my brother jumping on me, my heart racing. I sat up quickly ready to punch someone in the face. My brother laid there laughing at me, I playfully pushed him off the bed, he hit the floor with a loud thud.
"Hey that wasn't very nice Lena" he said through a laugh.
"Neither was jumping on me while I was sleeping"
I sat fully in an up right position, as my brother got up and sat at the edge of my bed,
"I've really missed you"
I smiled at his words,
"I missed you too, so how's school going? How are you liking 7th grade?"
He shrugged slightly,
"It's alright, you know I've never been the one to like school very much, that was always you"
I nodded, agreeing with him.
He continued, "So you and Callum Parker huh?"
My mouth dropped, shocked at his words. How did he know?
"How..how did you know about me and Cal?"
He got a mischievous grin on his face,
"Ohhh so it's Cal to you"
I blushed immediately, but I wasn't going to let him slide,
"How did you find out?"
"Well it's all over the internet...and in the tabloids, I'm a big kid now I don't live under a rock"
I laughed, that was very true. He has grown up so much.
I jumped off the bed,
"Come on let's see what mom and dad are up to"
My family and I ended up taking a walk along the beach boardwalk, and through our little downtown area. It was rather chilly, but the sun was shining so it was tolerable. We had a nice time just catching up and stopping at some of our favorite little shops along the main strip. It wasn't a surprise we ran into some familiar faces, it was such a small town.
We decided to sit down and have a late lunch at capsized café. As we were eating our food, I gazed at the table of my family and relished in the moment. My father and brother were trying to play pranks on each other, while my mother was desperately trying to get them to stop, failing miserably and getting caught in the cross fire. My brother accidentally flung a wet balled up straw wrapper at mom, and she looked like she was going to be angry. My brother covered his mouth and winced slightly expecting her to yell, but she ended up laughing instead.
I joined in the laughter and smiled. I missed being around them so much, it was so nice to get away from the big city and relax in this remote place I called home. I missed the small town, the friendly people, but the water especially. The breeze I felt coming off the water when we were walking earlier made me feel at peace, like I had no worries in the world.
I began to eat my food realizing how much I had zoned out. The bell on the door chimed alerting people were walking through, I adverted my gaze and saw a group of younger girls, probably just a couple years younger than me. They were huddled together and laughing, I then noticed one of the girls spotted me. Her eyes went wide and she nudged the girls next to her, suddenly all of their eyes were on me. They began to whisper to each other and ignore it, until I caught only a few words as they walked by,
"That's her... Callum Parker's.."
I rolled my eyes, of course the word of me involved with Cal has spread around town. I guess no one has nothing else better to do than to talk about other people's lives because they find no joy in their own. My mind started to drift to Cal, wondering what he'd be up to...
I snapped out of it when my mother nudged me on the arm, I turned my attention towards her,
"Sorry I was just thinking"
"That's alright, I was asking if you wanted to spend some quality time with me tomorrow, since your father and brother will be busy all day"
I smiled at the thought,
"Of course, I'd love to"
********************
I woke up and stretched my tired limbs, squeezing my muscles together and slowly relaxing. I opened my eyes and let my eye sight adjust. I was confused as to where I was, but soon realized I was sleeping in my bed at home. I turned over towards my bed side table and reached for my phone, it read 8:07 am.
I smiled to myself, unplugging it from the charger and rolling over to my other side contently.
I enjoyed sleeping in every once in a while, and yes, 8 am is sleeping in for me. I casually scrolled through my social media accounts and checked a few emails. I noticed on my social media accounts I had an increase in followers and a ton of people commenting on things. I didn't realize because I don' have notifications sent to my phone. My eyes widened when I realized all these news and gossip accounts were tagging me in photos with Cal on Instagram.
I rolled my eyes, of course people found out what my social media accounts were. I began to be curious about Cal having an Instagram...
I soon found a post with him and I and saw that he was tagged. I clicked on his name, C.ParkerJr. I scrolled through his account aimlessly and then found a picture he posted of him and I, I clicked on it.
It was a picture of us, definitely taken by the paparazzi, at the Charity Ball. I was holding onto his arm looking up at him with a smile on my face, while Cal was looking forward with a childish like grin on his face, and his arm wrapped around my waist. He captioned the photo,
"Another successful Charity Event for Parker Inc. We ended up raising over $45,000 for foreign children and their families. Thank you for everyone who attended and graciously donated, and a special thanks to this woman on my arm for joining me."
I smiled softly to myself, I definitely missed him.
I should have just talked to him about this instead of running off to my family without a word, but at the same time I didn't owe him anything. We are not dating and I don't know what we are, but the fact he just left me in the car without a word made me upset. I just needed time to myself with my family to really think some things through, because even though I am somewhat sure I can trust Cal, I know 100% I cannot trust Georgina and I have to accept the fact she's in his life, no matter how much I don't want her to be.
I sigh heavily and make my way out of bed. I set my phone on my bed side table, and make my bedsheets up. I go over to my dresser and pull out a pair of boyfriend jeans, a light grey slouchy tunic sweater and a white lace bralette. I decided to put on some booties as well. I grab my olive green jacket, my purse, and my phone, and made my way towards the kitchen where I suspected my mother would be.
Sure enough she was in the kitchen cleaning up, from what I assumed was breakfast for my dad and brother before they went to work and school. I smiled and sat down on one of the chairs,
"How about you and I do some shopping around town?"
My mother looks up from doing the dishes,
"Sure sweetie, let me just wrap up in here and get my things"
*****
My mother and I were walking along the sidewalk down the main strip, I'm holding a few bags of clothing from various shops, courtesy of my mother. She dragged me into a little restaurant for some drinks on her, even though I protested at the thought since she already bought me some things.
She ordered two mimosas for us as I took off my coat and hung it on the back of my chair. My mother excused herself to the bathroom and left me at the table, which was alongside the window that was parallel to the street.
I was about to text Mia, checking in on her, when I noticed a car parked right outside the window, my heart starting beating really fast, my pulse racing, my hands sweating. It was Cal's car, I was sure of it. No one owns a car like that in Spring Lake. I began to look outside and behind me to try to find him. I returned my attention to the car and noticed it was pulling away from the curb and down the street. I let out a big breath that I had been holding since noticing the vehicle. I guess it wasn't his car..
All of a sudden Cal was in front of me, I jumped slightly, his presence scaring me. I held my hand to my chest,
"Holy shi.."