"Anna," dad says waving his hands in my face.
"Sorry, I must've zoned out. What?" I ask tearing my gaze away from the colorful wall.
He smiles slightly and crosses his arms over his chest. I know he's going to say something about Patrick. To be honest, I don't want hear about it. His face just pisses me off, think about his personality.
"Patrick's dad and I own a business together. You're going to be seeing a lot of him," dad says winking at me.
I roll my eyes. This is going to be a long two weeks, I already know. Hopefully he learns fast that I am not going to date Patrick.
"That's cool," I say sarcastically.
He gets up to pay for the lunch. Patrick walks over and sits in my dad's chair.
"Patrick," he says with a cocky little smile.
I honestly just want to smack it off his face. He leans back in the seat and crosses his arms over his chest.
"Good to know."
"Anna, right?" he asks.
"Yup," I say pursing my lips.
He has dirty blonde hair that is swooped to the side. His eyes are a bright blue, but not as blue as Luke's. The kid has nice sized muscles that he's trying to show off way too hard.
"Well, Anna Banana," he says," you're quite pretty if I do say so myself."
I cringe. Who does this kid think he is? Wow, douche alert! Awkwardness is present in the air.
"That's not my name," I correct standing up. "Also, I hope you fall."
I tip his chair over. Patrick comes tumbling to the ground. I let out a giggle and walk away from the table.
Dad smiles when he sees me and waves. I quickly make my way to him. The cashier and him are having an intense conversation about some clothing items that the man needs.
"Let's go. I need to get my stuff unpacked," I say shifting my weight onto my left leg and putting my hand on my hip.
"I'll talk to you later, Bob. Most likely, I'll call you tonight."
We walk out of the restaurant in silence. The car ride is filled with music and my dad trying to make conversation.
Once we get to the house, he stops me. He warns me that his wife and step kids are home and that they're excited to meet me. I groan to myself and heave myself out of the car.
"Regina, Kat, Paige! Get down here, your dad is here!" a lady yells from a different room in the house.
He is still getting my stuff out of the trunk so I am left alone. I decide its better to stay in the front hall until he gets in here.
The kids come running into the room to greet him, but instead get me. Their faces mix with confusion and a little bit of sadness. Their mother comes in after them.
"You must be Anna!" she exclaims.
The women looks like a house wife. She has an apron on and brown curly hair with green eyes. Her figure is slender and I can tell she's one of those protective mothers by the way she wraps her arms around her three kids.
I nod and look down at my feet. They seem to be more interesting than talking to the four females in front of me. I can feel them all staring at me so I look up at them.
Before I am able to say anything, dad walks in with my suitcases. He sets them down and wraps an arm around my shoulder. At first, I shrink back, but I figure that he is my getaway from the stares.
"I see you met the family," he says smiling down at me.
I just look at the wall awkwardly. No, I hadn't met them. It is more like they stared at me and I just looked at my feet.
"If not, this is Paige, Regina, and Kat," he says pointing to each of them.
"And this would be Lila, but you can call her mom if you want," he suggests kissing her on the mouth.
"I'd rather puke," I spit out.
It isn't meant to be said, but it is. They aren't meant to hear it, but they do. Dad whirls around to stare at me. She gives me a hard glare before he breaks the silence.
"Okay, Anna! Let's go see your room!" he says with mock happiness.
I follow behind him quietly. He opens up the third door to the right and enters it.
The room is purple and black. It has everything that I will need, even clothes. They're not exactly my style so I'll be wearing the ones I brought. There's already an iMac and Mac book pro setting at the desk.
"All of this is yours," he says gesturing to the room.
I nod and take a better look around. There is purple 'rock on' symbols on the black wall and black on the purple walls.
"I asked your mother what you liked so that it'd be perfect. You can thank Lila later for decorating it," he says and pats my arm before leaving.
"***-***-****: Anna! its Luke. I miss you already. come back:---("
I lay back on my new bed and think of what to reply with.
"***-***-****: miss you, too, Lukey boy. trust me, I would fly back in a heart beat."
Ashton and Calum sent me texts too so I respond to those before going and unpacking my stuff.
I put my clothes in the spots that aren't already filled with the clothes Lila got me. My makeup goes on the vanity close to the window. There is already a shoe rack full of flip flops and vans so I put my shoes on the floor next to it.
After all that is done, I sit on the window seat and look outside. They have a beach house! My room overlooks the sea. I squeal to myself as I think about learning to surf.
The three little girls knock on my door before entering. They all look similar, but I can tell which is the oldest. Paige. She is taller, older looking. Probably around eleven maybe twelve.
She is the first to speak.
"I'm Paige. This is Regina," she says pointing to the littlest kid," and this is Kat."
I wave slightly and stare blankly at them. They get that I'm waiting for an explanation as to why they came to my room. This time Kat talks.
"Mom told us to come in here and tell you a little about ourselves."
I nod and gesture for them to sit on my bed. Regina sits down on the edge while the others follow suit.
She looks about five while Kat looks like she's close to nine. They all are very pretty. The girls have blonde almost brown straight hair unlike their mother. They have hazel eyes I notice.
"I'm twelve," Paige clarifies my unanswered thought.
"I'm going to be in seventh grade when school starts back up. My favorite color is pink and I love dogs," she fills me in.
I nod and look at Kat to tell me about herself.
"I'm eight and I make good grades. I like riding bikes and I want a cat, but-"
"Dad's allergic," I cut her off.
I always wanted a cat as a kid, but they never allowed it due to his allergies. He got pretty sick when he was around them. I just dropped it after the fiftieth time of asking.
"How'd you know?" Paige asks surprised.
"I've known him longer than you've even been alive. Been there, done that. Not a good idea to ask," I reply laying against the wall.
"What about you, Regina? Tell me stuff about you," I say pointing at her.
She giggles, but quickly composes herself. Her pigtails bounce with her as she jumps around on the once made bed.
"I'm four! Mac and cheese! Piggy piggy!" is all I make out of what she says.
I smile widely. The first real smile I have made in three days. Babies get to me. A secret obsession of mine, I guess. They're so cute.
"Piggies are a favorite of mine, too," I lie.
She bursts into another fit of giggles as I say that. I can already tell that she will be my favorite person here.
"Anna, girls! Dinner time!" Lila calls from downstairs.
I push myself off the window seat and walk down stairs behind the three little girls. She has set name tags on the plates. I am sitting between dad and Paige. Across from me is Regina. They put a booster seat on the chair so she's a little taller.
"Anna, tell me, what is our favorite hobby to do," Lila says taking a bite of her chicken.
"Music and hanging out with friends," I respond playing with my food.
It isn't that its bad, but that I had just eaten. I think she notices because she frowns and points to the plate.
"Not good?" she questions.
"Its not that, but he bought me food before we got here," I explain.
She nods and then looks at my dad. They have a conversation with their eyes before he looks at me.
"Anna, will you at least try it? Its really good, sweetie," he tries to convince me.
"I would, but I'm not hungry."
He gives me one of those looks and I roll my eyes. If I was ten again, I would probably gobble the food all up. It doesn't scare me anymore, though. You get used to it after a while.
"Can I be excused?" I question standing up and pushing my food away.
"Please," he says under his breath.
I roll my eyes and scrape my plate. I put the dish in the sink before heading upstairs. My shoes are lined up so I just grab the closest pair.
"I'm going to the beach," I confirm walking out the front door.
My phone buzzes and I remember that I need to call my mom. I dial her number and place it my ear as I walk to the beach.
"Mommy!" I exclaim once she picks up the phone.
I hear her chuckle. This women is my life and I haven't seen her in three days. Of course I'm going to be excited.
"Hey, baby girl. How was your flight?" she asks.
"Good. He's really trying to make me like him. I just can't, mom."
"I understand, sweetie."
"He's trying to get me with this guy named Patrick. His friend's son."
"Did you tell Jim that you have a boyfriend?"
"No, I don't want him knowing that. He might go all dad on me."
She giggles knowing what I'm talking about. Dad always did this thing where he had to know the guy and if he didn't approve, its a no go. He always tried to get me with his friends' kids.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Not the best idea. How is Michael?" she asks.
"Michael is fine. He keeps saying he misses me and I feel bad. They have a beach house," I mention sitting down in the sand.
"They?"
"Dad got remarried and has three step kids."
"I will pray for them," she jokes.
I burst into laughter. My mom understands me so well. I sigh.
"The mom is so superficial, I feel. Like I didn't eat my food because he took me to lunch before and she was like telling him to make me eat it. Of course, she didn't say it out loud."
"Babe, I'm so sorry."
"He talked to me like I was twelve. I'm 17 for heavens sake!"
Me and her talk for quite a while. It ranges from California to our old pets. This is what I love about my mom, conversation is endless with her. It makes me so happy.
"I gotta go," I say when I see the five of them walking towards me.
I lay back on the sand and close my eyes. The peace is interrupted when my dad and Lila come and sit on each side of me.
"Like it out here?" dad questions.
I nod and keep my eyes shut. The sun is setting, but it is still quite bright. Also, I just want them to get the hint that I'm trying to relax.
"Anna," dad says,"sit up please."
I sit up and stare at him with a dull look. He looks the same way that he did three years ago. To anyone passing him by, he looks innocent, kind, friendly. To me, he looks like the devil himself, scary, and harmful.
I can't look at him too long because memories of the night come flooding back so I quickly look down at the sand and start messing with it.
"I think its best if you apologize to Lila," he states firmly.
"For?" I question squinting as I look up at the multi colored sky.
"For being rude," she butts in.
I whip my head to look at her. She has a fake saddened look on her face. It makes me want to throw up.
"Funny," I say standing up," if that's rude, you don't know what's to come."
I walk off and decide on going to the sea. The sounds of waves crashing onto the shore is so peaceful to me. It reminds that not everything is so bad in the world.