Mistaken

Surprise calls (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6

Jason

I walked into the house, my eyes focused on the floor, still stuck in thought. Without a word to anyone I headed up to my room. I had to drop off Willy at his house so Mason beat me home. I figured he was already upstairs, but I was too caught in thought to notice the noises coming from our living room.

I headed towards the stairs, but before I got there I was tackled and overwhelmed by a hug. The hug startled me out of my thoughts, and at first I thought it was my mother. Whoever it was they were the same height as my mother, a head shorter than me, and had the same smell to her, but my mother hadn’t hugged me for years. Pulling back slightly from the hug I saw red hair and new immediately who it was.

“Aunt Teresa!” I guess I had been too distracted to notice her vehicle sitting in the driveway.

“Took you long enough!” she joked, pulling away to look at my face. “Oh you’ve gotten so old!” she said, pinching my cheeks.  And you haven’t aged a day, I thought to myself. Both Teresa and my mother always seemed to have a timeless beauty. Teresa looked like she had just graduated high school, but she was actually almost thirty.

“I’m sure I couldn’t have changed much from last year.”

“You’re becoming a man! Look at your muscles!” she said, squeezing my arms playfully. “It’s so hard to believe you are already seventeen!” she rambled on in amazement.

“I’m not seventeen just yet.” I corrected her.

“Well it’s only a month until your birthday, so in my mind you’re seventeen.”

She gave me another quick hug, and I hugged her back gently. I was always afraid that if I hugged her too tightly I might break her tiny frame, but she was feisty for such a small woman. 

Teresa grabbed my hand and led me to the front room where everyone else sat and talked.  Mom and dad sat in the love seat together, and Mason sat on the bigger sofa by himself. There was a spring to Teresa’s step as she led me to the couch. She was always so full of energy and always so lively. She wore crazy clothes that were the newest fashion. They were the kind of clothes you always seemed to find in high fashion magazines and not out in public. She was my mother’s sister, but they were even more different than Mason and I. Teresa didn’t care what people thought of her and she loved to go on trips around the world. She always seemed to be on one big adventure. She was quite a bit younger than her sister, which was partially why she was more lively, but it was mostly just part of her personality.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her.

“Well I thought I might surprise you guys. I figured I could spend the night her tonight and then we could head over to Grandpa’s tomorrow for Thanksgiving.”

“What about your trip to Europe.”

“Oh, it ended early.”

“Oh, what a shame.” I heard mother mutter, and I knew she was only partially kidding.

“I have presents for you two!” Teresa said in excitement, choosing to ignore my mother as she sat beside Mason and pulled me down beside her.

She grabbed a bag from off the ground and reached in to grab something. First she pulled out a basketball jersey and handed it to Mason.

“No way!” Mason immediately exclaimed, and I leaned over to see what all the excitement was about. The jersey was of Mason’s favorite basketball player and it was signed.

“I went up to him personally and had him sign it.” She said then turned to me.

She reached into her bag yet again and I could feel my excitement building. She pulled out an envelope and handed it to me. My heart fell a little. I had been expecting something a little bigger, but I was still curious. I ripped the envelope open and found three tickets inside. They were airplane tickets, and my heart leaped with joy at the sight of them. She was bringing me on one of her adventures.