Dusk

17| restrained

Ava

Eli's mother hugged me tighter than my own mother did. She squeezed the life out of me, her smile so wide I felt a smile of my own form. From the corner of my eye I saw Elias enveloping my mother in a hug as she slapped his arm, saying something to him. They had been pretty close ever since he started coming to our house when we were younger.

My father was next. He asked me if I was okay with work, and I told him I was. Patrick hugged me as well, and smiled, patting my back. I hugged my mother at the last, and even though she never said it out loud, hugs were her weakness.

"First things first, kid." She murmured in my ear. "Didn't we have a deal you'll send me a picture of all your boyfriends so that I could judge them?"

"You wouldn't have judged him." I pointed at Elias. "You love him more than you do me."

"That's not true!" She exclaimed. "And it doesn't matter, you should have sent me a picture nonetheless."

"Well," Isabella said loudly, and looked at Jett. "I guess the shock of our relationship has been blown off." Elias stuck his tongue out to her, to which she gasped. 

"What're you doing here?" I asked Mom.

"Your father missed you too much." She said.

"You didn't?"

She cleared her throat. "Well, I mean, the house feels a little lonely."

I bit back a smile. She was the strongest person I knew. Strong because of the things she had gone through her life. But with those hardships came the need to protect herself all the time. She rarely expressed, always using Dad as an excuse to hide her own feelings. It annoyed me sometimes, but that was who she was, and I loved her nonetheless.

"We need to leave in an hour." Dad announced.

"Huh? Why?" I asked.

"We're flying to Hawaii." Sophia exclaimed. My mother gave her a high five, as if they were best friends looking for an adventure.

"I didn't know about this?" I looked at them. "All four of you are going?

"You don't need to know everything that happens in our lives, Ava." Mom rolled her eyes. "And you know now. We had a stop here so we thought of surprising you."

"But we were the ones who were surprised." Patrick said.

"This is like a dream come true." Sophia said. "Both of my children are dating my best friend's children. Soon we'll be planning weddings and-"

"Suficiente, mamá." Elias said, grinning. 

The next hour came and went a hell lot faster than I'd expected. Soon enough we were bidding goodbyes to them. Then it was just the four of us. Jett and Elias had went down to fill some paperwork, and Isabella was looking at me with an expression I could only describe as smugness and tease.

"Stop." I said.

"Stop what?" She asked innocently. 

"Staring at me."

"I told you the both of you will date one day, bonita." She said. "And what did you say to me that time?"

"In his dreams." I quoted, chucking. "I was stupid back then."

"He's had the hugest crush on you since forever." She told me, and my ears piqued with interest. I'd always known Elias had developed feelings for me before I had, but this was news. "This is probably the one thing he's wanted for a long, long time."

"I wanted it too." I said. "I just didn't know that."

Jett poked his head in. "We're good to go."