Time After Time 🌹 Daniel LaRusso [1]

Chapter 1: California Livin'

Rosalía stands up from the couch when a commercial comes on, and saunters into the kitchen. She pours herself a glass of water and walks back to the couch and plops down. Right when she's feeling comfortable, a high-pitched voice calls her name.

"Lia!"

Rosalía rolls her eyes at the sound of her nickname. "What?!" she yells back. Adriana, Rosalía's five-year-old sister, runs into the living room and stands right in front of the older girl. "Lia, I want candy," she innocently expresses. "Lia" is what Adriana calls her since she can't say "Rosalía." A few others call her Lia as well, claiming that Rosalía is hard to pronounce or too long. She prefers to be called by her full name but you can't control everyone.

"Mmm, me too! Let's go to the liquor store to buy some candy and ice cream, yeah?" Rosalía replies, sweetly. Adriana jumps up and down excitedly and repeats "yeah" in response. She helps her younger sister put her shoes on and grabs her keys before exiting their apartment. She takes hold of Adriana's hand and the two girls walk out of the apartment building and onto the sidewalk, heading in the direction of the liquor store. As they walk down the street, she notices a boy taking his bike down from atop of the car parked in front of the next-door building. He carries a suitcase in his right hand while maneuvering the bike with his other hand towards the building. When the boy looks up in her direction, Rosalía quickly looks down at her sister, acting like she's saying something to her.

Daniel stops walking forward and backs up a bit to give the girls room to pass by on the sidewalk. His brown eyes follow Rosalía as she walks by, their eyes meeting for a split second when the girl politely grins at him before looking back down. Wow, she's pretty, Daniel thinks to himself. He snaps out of his daze and heads towards the entrance of the building. Rosalía smiles to herself as she walks away. She walks into the liquor store with Adriana and goes straight for the candy aisle. They both pick some candy and ice cream and go to the register to pay. As the cashier bags the items, Rosalía lets her mind wander back to the cute boy she just saw. She's never seen him around before and he was carrying a suitcase so he must be new to town. Poor boy. This place isn't normally very nice to outsiders, she thinks as she exits the store with her sister.

A few minutes after arriving at her apartment, there's a knock at her door. She opens the door to reveal her friend, Freddy Fernandez, standing there with a goofy smirk. "Vos que querés? [What do you want?]" she questions, feigning annoyance. Freddy playfully rolls his eyes and asks a question of his own, "you doing anything tomorrow?" The girl shrugs, knowing she has no plans. "Why," she asks.

"We're having a beach party. You should come," he responds.

"Yeah, sure! My mom should be here all day so she can look after Adriana," Rosalía answers. She's usually the one to take care of Adriana since her parents work long hours. It'll be refreshing to spend the whole day at the beach without having to worry about a little kid. "Alright, cool. I'll see you there- oh, and I invited the new kid who just moved into my building," mentions Freddy. "The one with the bike?" Rosalía questions, trying to sound nonchalant. "Yeah, him. He kicked the front door open and knocked me down," he says with a small laugh.

"Hopefully, he knocked some intelligence into you," she mocks, making Freddy roll his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll see you tomorrow," he waves goodbye and heads home.

———(🌹)———

Rosalía sits on a blanket with the girls. Well, with two girls: Kara and Marissa, who happen to be her best friends and neighbors. They're near the rich chicks but not necessarily with them. They get along with the rich girls but aren't that close with them since they don't have much in common.