Chapter 4 | Reunited
Lucas:
*this is the previous
chapter but in Lucas's pov*
"So how have you been hun?"
I'm currently sitting in the kitchen, catching up with Valeria, Isabella's baby sister, Sofia, curled up in my lap playing with a doll. Prior to this abuela had been haggling me with her tray of columbian snacks but I managed to escape. "I've been alright," I reply with a smile. "How about you? How have you been after the..."
I trail off realising that it probably isn't my place to pry.
Val however, merely raises an eyebrow. "Divorce?" She continues for me.
I nod, and grimace slightly. "Sorry I don't mean to step over a line."
"It's okay." She sighs wistfully. "I've seen better days but now that's we're back in the US it feels as if a weight has been lifted over my shoulders."
I nod in reply. "Well I'm glad you're back it's great to see you after so long."
She smiles and squeezes my knee. "It's great to see you too love, you've grown up so much!"
I chuckle. It had been a while since I had been in the Quintero family home. With Valeria and Isabella whisked away in London I hadn't seen them in 6 years.
Although I was neighbours with abuela, my visits with her had been very limited. With school and football practices I was very busy but over the years but I still had made time to pop in here and there and say hello and to help her with any tasks.
"So where is Isabella?" I find myself asking, curiosity laced in my voice.
I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't interested about seeing how Isabella turned out after all these years. I had tried to stalk her on instagram but her profile was private so there wasn't much to see. It was hard to pry information out of Mia and Grace because I had lost contact with them once we started high school and I didn't want to come off as desperate by asking Aidan and Dylan so I had left it. I hadn't heard much about how she was doing, only a couple mentions from abuela when I came over but it wasn't much. She seemed to have enjoyed living in London though from what I heard.
"She's still sleeping," Val replies with a shake of her head. "I tried to wake up her up but my daughter can sleep through pretty much anything so it wasn't much use! I'm sure she'll be up soon though."
I'm about to ask her another question when the door to the kitchen flies open and in hurdles two 38 year old women.
Valeria screams like a 13 year old girl and jumps up from her seat, running towards them.
Linh, Val and Eve hug each other in a strong embrace, all three women shrieking like banshees.
"Ladies!" A voice calls out from behind them. "You're killing my ear drums."
The three women step away from each other looking quite sheepish.
"You're right we're acting like teenagers," Linh coughs, running a hand through her hair.
Eve smirks in reply. "Who cares how we're acting, it's so good to see you Val! I missed you like crazy!"
"Aw guys," Valeria wipes a hand across her eyes. "I missed you too!"
They pull each other into an embrace again, this time crying instead of screaming and I look behind the ladies to the doorway where two girls stand watching the scene unfurl in front of them. Mia has her arms crossed across her chest while Grace stands next to her with an eyebrow raised.
They soon however spot me sitting at the table and they walk towards me with huge grins plastered on their faces but not before pecking Val on the cheek and saying their hello's.
I open my mouth to say hi but before I can do so the two stoop down and begin to coo at Sofia in my lap.
"Oh my god," Grace aw's as she pulls her out of my grasp and begins peppering kisses all over her cheek to which Sofia giggles in joy at. "She looks just like baby Isabella."
Mia begins to talk to her in what I assume is baby talk but to me it sounds like a whole bunch of indecipherable sounds being said in an obnoxiously high pitched tone.
They finally let Sofia free and turn back to face me before leaning down to give me a quick hug.
"So how have you been Mr popular?" Mia asks, sitting beside me at the table. "We haven't talked to you in years."
"For real, it's been ages." I quirk an eyebrow. "And really? Mr popular?"
"Mhm," Grace nods patting down her blonde hair where Sofia had been tugging. "After you got all hot and popular you forgot about us and I'm mad."
"Hot?" I repeat with a smirk.
Grace throws me a look. "Oh shutup that's your take away from this? You know you're hot."
"I'm kidding!" I chuckle. "I never forgot about you guys! But I wish we had stayed in contact."
I frown thinking about the fact that the last time we properly had a conversation, we were in middle school, which is kind of disappointing seeing as we practically grew up together. I shake away the thought. "At least now we're reunited," I point out.
Mia nods before kissing her teeth. "Not without Dylan, Isabella and Aidan we're not."
"Don't worry," I say, patting her hand. "The guys are on their way." I look down at my phone just as a notification goes off. "They'll be here in 20 minuets."
"Aidan's coming?" Grace perks up. "And Dylan too," she quickly adds, looking a little flustered.
"Yep."
Her eyes widen and she whips out her phone, looking into the camera and frantically brushing her hands through her hair and swiping lipgloss across her lips.
I throw Mia a baffled look and she shrugs in response looking equally as confused.
"Anyways," I begin ignoring Grace's kerfuffle. "How have you two been?"
***
We catch up with each other for a bit, talking about school etc when Mia suddenly claps her hands. "Guys," she says, looking at the time on her phone. "Where's Isabella? It's almost 3pm."
"Val said she's still sleeping."
Grace gasps in disbelief. "She can sleep later! I haven't seen her in 6 years, I'm gonna go wake her ass up!"
She manoeuvres her way across the kitchen and manages to escape abuela and her persistent offering of food and heads out into the hallway to where the stairs leading up to the rooms are.
Mia sighs beside me and I turn to glance at her. "I can't believe we're all going to be back together!"
"I know right, I missed our little gang-"
But I don't get to finish what I'm saying as a blood curdling scream causes me to shoot out on my seat in shock.
Mia and I look at eachother in surprise and jump up and rush into the hallway where Grace is what looks like, spinning someone around the room.
Mia squeals loudly at the sight and runs towards the scene, hurdling them with such force that they all collapse to the floor in a tangle of limbs.
I wince at all the shrieking, feeling incredibly sorry for my eardrums.
As the girl at the bottom of the pile squawks at the pressure of the weight of Mia and Grace and they quickly scramble off of her as I clear my throat.
"Now that's what I like to see," I chuckle, causing the girls to finally acknowledge me.
"Shut it pervert," Mia retorts patting down her hair and Grace throws me a disgusted look.
The third girl turns around, trying to figure out where my voice came from and when her gaze finally meets mine, her eyes practically pop out of the sockets and her mouth flies open as realisation hits her.
Internally, I am equally sharing the same reaction as her but I manage to mask my surprise on the outside as I stand there and take in the sight before me.
There Isabella Quintero sits, in a rumpled mess on the floor. Her chestnut coloured hair slightly messy from the kerfuffle beforehand and her olive coloured skin tinged with a light blush.
She looks incredibly different from the last time I saw her. Long gone, is the chubby little girl, with a goofy tooth-gapped smile and with hair cropped into a dora the explorer style trim.
Instead replacing that little girl is a sixteen year old with long, silky brown hair that cascades over her shoulders in soft waves. She has long dark eyelashes that frame large, honey, brown coloured eyes. Her face is no longer chubby but angular, with strong cheekbones and a sharp jawline and her lips, which are still gaped open, are pink and full.
Her eyes rake up and down my body and I see the shock flame in her eyes and I smirk to mask the feeling of astonishment that I'm also feeling.
She is absolutely beautiful.
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AUTHORS NOTE:
Don't forget to vote if you enjoyed!!
Hey! So you guys finally get a chapter in Lucas' pov! Ngl really liked how this chapter turned out. I think I did a pretty good job with the parallels from Isabella's pov compared with Lucas' hehe.
Also we're at #19 on the girlnextdoor tag (20/07/20) which is so exciting! Only two people have actually read the story so far (one including my cousin and the other including my cousins friend) but we're already got one of those hashtag thingy-s which I am lowkey proud of!
Anyways take care - love Mai x