6,000 Miles (Station 19)

Shaky Ground

Carina's POV:

I woke up at 6am, still in Adelina's bed. I smiled as I saw my favorite blanket draped over us, no doubt Maya's doing. I softly kissed my baby sister's head and slipped out of bed, careful not to wake her. Maya was just starting to stir as I climbed into my own bed for another hour or two of rest. Draping my arm across her waist, I pulled her closer, feeling her happily curl into me. She tilted her head back, her sleepy eyes meeting mine.

"Hi," she whispered with a smile.
I couldn't help but return the smile. "Good morning, bella."
Maya rolled over to face me, draping her arm across my body, less than an inch between us. "How'd you sleep?"
"Good, surprisingly. Thank you for the blanket," I said softly as I pushed Maya's messy hair back out of her face. "Sorry I left you; I didn't mean to be there all night."
Maya laughed, "It's okay my love." I could tell she wasn't upset, but then I saw her smile fade into a smirk. "But..." she continued, "if you're feeling guilty, I know some ways you could make it up to me."
"Oh really?" I asked with a laugh as I felt my cheeks start to blush. "Like this?" I asked as I slipped my hands up the back of her shirt.

She nodded and leaned in to kiss me. I bit her lip as I pulled away and let my kisses flow down her neck, then her chest, and then as I felt her fingers loop around my hair, I slowly let my lips move further down her body.

Adelina's POV:

I woke up early and groggily rolled over to see that Carina wasn't there. I wasn't sure when she left, but I must have been really asleep if I didn't hear her get up. I turned to face the clock and saw that it was 6:30. My brain still felt jetlagged and wanted to go back to sleep, but my body was restless and wanted to run. I got up and snuck out of my room to see if Maya was awake. As I passed her and Carina's room, I heard a moan and bed creak that sent me running back down the hall. I couldn't help but laugh to myself; it felt like old times when Carina still lived in Italy, except this time I was lucky enough not to see anything. Collapsing back onto my bed, my tired brain won out and I fell back asleep.

...................................................

When I woke up again, it was after 10 and the smell of bacon was wafting in from the kitchen. I quickly got changed and headed off in search of it. As I walked into the kitchen, Maya was setting the table as Carina made french toast.

"Good morning, sleepy head," Maya jested as she reached for a third plate.
"Morning," I replied sleepily as I pulled my hair back into a messy bun and sat down at the counter.
"Sleep well, bambina?" my sister asked, turning her head back to look at me from the stove.
I nodded as I took a sip of the coffee Maya placed in front of me. Between the jet-lag and emotional exhaustion from the day before, I needed the caffeine.

"So," Maya started casually. "How long do we get you here in Seatlle?"
I guess she could see the look of concern on my face, so she clarified her reason for asking.
"I'm just trying to think of what we should show you," she said with a reassuring smile.
"Oh okay," I nodded. "Ooh I've always wanted to see the space needle. Can we check it out?" I asked, trying to change the subject so Maya would forget her original question. Lucky for me, it worked and we made a list of the top sites I had to see while we had breakfast.

I hoped that would be the end of it, but Carina brought up my departure again as we were cleaning up.
"Adelina, when is your flight back? I just realized I never actually asked." she said with a laugh.
I looked down at the silverware I was loading into the dishwasher to avoid making eye contact. "Oh... I um, don't have one booked yet"
"Oh okay, well talk to Papa and let me know," Carina said casually.
I nodded quietly as I finished with the dishes. Sometimes I love how well my sister knows me, but this was one time I wish she didn't. She could read my silence like a book and paused what she was doing to come over to me. In Italian she whispered, "What aren't you telling me?"
I shook my head, I didn't know how to tell her about my fight with Papa and his threat that I couldn't come back home.

When I didn't answer, Carina took my hand and led me over to the couch.
"What is it, bambina? Whatever it is, you can tell me."
I sighed, "I can't go back."
She gave me a puzzled look so I started to explain.
"Papa didn't want me to come; he told me that if I left I couldn't come back."
Carina shook her head. "Addie, he didn't mean that." She's dealt with his mood swings and impulsive, but empty threats for a long time. But she didn't understand that this was different.
"I think he did..." I said sheepishly. She asked why and once I started to explain I couldn't stop talking; I told her everything.

I explained that Papa didn't want me coming to the funeral but that it was really just the last straw. I told her about all the fights we had been having over the past month. We had arguments about his mental health. His erratic behavior was getting worse and starting to really affect me, but he only yelled when I suggested he see a doctor. He told me not to disrespect him and said I didn't know what I was talking about. He told me that if I was going to disrespect him like that, I couldn't stay under his roof and he kicked me out for the night. Carina looked stunned at this and asked what I did. I explained that I went to my friend Sofia's house for the night, but that only made things worse. Early the next morning he started calling me, angry that I wasn't home. After ignoring his first 5 calls, I finally answered and told him I had stayed with Sofia and that I'd be home after school. So after class, Sofia drove me home. I paused and looked up at Carina. She nodded for me to go on, but I was hesitant.
"Well.. Sofia. She's not just my friend; she's my girlfriend."
Carina smiled, but it faded as she saw the look on my face. "Does Papa know?" she asked carefully, placing a hand on my arm.
I nodded. "He does now."
I explained that Papa was supposed to be at work, so I didn't think anything of it when Sofia kissed me goodbye when she dropped me off. But Papa saw from the window and freaked out. I told my sister that he yelled at me more, told me I had to stop seeing her, had to stop being gay, that it was wrong, a sin, and disgusting. I left out the part where he told me I wasn't allowed to turn out like my big sister that he wasn't going to let another child of his be a disgrace in that way.
"Bambina..." Carina said softly, trying to give me some sort of comfort, as I continued my explanation.
"Anyway, after that we were fighting every day for weeks. And then when Andrea..." I trailed off for a moment. "Well, it was just the final straw. He told me if I left I couldn't come back."

When I finished talking, I finally noticed the few tears that had slipped from my eyes and quickly wiped them away. Carina pulled me into her, rubbing small circles on my back. "Don't worry, bambina. I'll take care of it."

Carina's POV:

After calming her down, I sent Adelina back to her room so I could call my father. It took three tries before he answered and the phone call was much shorter than I had hoped. He was sweet before I mentioned Adelina, but the instant I said her name his tone changed. I asked him about what she said and he confirmed her stories.
"If she's old enough to fly across the world against my wishes, she's old enough to figure it out," he spat out before hanging up on me.
"Aaaagh," I called out in exasperation. I had almost forgotten how frustrating it was to deal with him. Just then, Adelina came back into the living room.

"What did he say?" she asked tentatively.
I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't want to tell her how awful he had been, that he really did say that he didn't want her to come home. I shook those thoughts from my head and tried my best to put a smile on for her.
"You're just going to stay here with me for a while," I said with as much pep as I could muster.
Her quiet nod broke my heart.
"Thanks," she said with a sad smile. "Is it okay if I go for a run? I remember the way to the park."
I nodded, "Of course, bella."

When the door closed, I turned to see Maya watching from the kitchen.
"So, do you want to tell me what that was all about?" she asked.
It was only then that I realized I had been speaking Italian the entire time. I sighed and started to explain. Halfway through, it dawned on me: I had just offered for my sister to stay here, maybe indefinitely, without asking Maya about it.
She was doing a decent job of pretending not to be bothered, but I could tell she was.
"Bambina, I..." I said quickly before pausing to find the right words. I didn't know what to say, but from the look on her face, I knew we were about to fight.