Age Of Innocence (AOI) [Sequel To IR]

Chapter 43 } Last Hours

Part 1:
Ala's POV
~Next Day~
I woke up to my alarm. As much as I wanted to sleep, I had to awake to pick up Matthew's parents. They were coming today, and I was leaving today. They were sad they wouldn't be able to spend time with me, but understood when I said I needed to resolve family issues, mainly my mom, I haven't talked to her since that day.
I got in the shower and changed into my previously picked out dress attire for today, nothing special by any means. As I almost made it past the mirror in my bathroom, I stopped. I turned to it and looked at the person being displayed. Was this even me? Who is this? I don't know who this girl is. She looks like me, she sounds like me. But I can't get over the fact that this isn't me. I placed my hands at the edge of the counter and leaned in an inch to get a closer look, to see if I could recognize this girl staring back at me and mimicking my every move. But as hard as I tried, I didn't know who she was, so I decided to analyze her, try to figure out why the hell I can't recognize myself. There were bags under my eyes, indicating I hadn't slept, but I was already aware of that. My posture was horrible, because mainly, I just didn't care anymore. My hair, although recently washed, looked terribly taken care of, which also indicated I didn't care, I used to always take such good care of my hair. And mainly, I just looked so exhausted, I looked so tired. I wasn't just tired from lack of sleep, although that was a part of it. I was tired of drama, and constant obstacles preventing me from happiness. I was tired of holding on to a love, that I wasn't sure had a meaning anymore. I was just tired of not feeling like me anymore. I was a completely different person. And I wasn't proud of this person, at all. I wanted to be the old me, I wanted to go back to the old times. But time moves forward, and change is inevitable. So I did my best to get over it.
I shook out of my funk and made my way to the car. I slumped into the seat and put the key into the ignition. I wasn't sure why specifically today I was feeling like shit. But there was an overwhelming amount of shit to be felt, and none of it decided to hide away. I turned the radio up loudly hoping to block out my thoughts, it wasn't working too well, but quiet enough that I would still be able to hear surrounding sounds. It seemed a matter of seconds separated me and the LAX airport. But truly it was thirty-ish minutes. I waited with Matthews phone still in my possession. It was truly the only part of him I had left. It had everything on here. I decided to open it, and try to remind my self of some of the few times we were actually happy. I went to the photos and discovered he had a whole album reserved for pictures of him and I, it was titled My love and I. I found it sweet that he would create a whole album just for pictures of us. I clicked on it instantly being flooded with memories of us. It varied from insane selfies to serious photo shoots. I smiled lightly for the first time in days. We had been happy before. Why can't it be like that again?
I was kicked out of my thoughts when a message appeared at the very top of the screen from Pops I clicked on it seeing that they had just landed. I started the ignition again and pulled out of the waiting parking lot and headed to the front where I parked and waited again. In minutes they appeared through the doors. I got out of the car and approached them.
"Hi, welcome to California." I smiled opening the trunk, they placed their bags in and smiled.
"It's so lovely to see you Ala. You get more beautiful every time I see you, I feel like your going to pass me up." His mom joked and hugged me, I loved it. They seemed to completely be oblivious to the fact of what I had done, but I called them yesterday and told them, they were just being so cool about it.
"I could never do that, Mrs.Espinosa." I hugged her back.
"Are you ever going to call me Laura?" She questioned laughing.
"I'm not sure. Have you forgot I'm from the south, it's what we southerners do." She smiled.
"Laura stop hogging her." I heard Matthews dad speak. He came and hugged me. "It's nice to see you." He said while hugging me.
"It's very nice to see you too." I smiled as we pulled away. Sometimes it felt like my parents were nonexistent and they were my parents. Although my dad was mostly nonexistent in my life. I knew my mom had always been there, I knew she'd always be there. We got in the car and I started driving away from the airport.
"How are you doing Ala. You look very tired." Laura asked concerned.
"I just haven't been sleeping very well. All of this is just really stressful. I'm sorry again, for what I did to Matthew." I apologized hoping to double check that they weren't mad at me, although they had every right to be.
"Oh please, the awful things he's done to you, and this one little kiss don't equal out. He deserves a little role reversal." Laura snapped seeming more mad at Matthew than me.
"Speaking of awful things Matthews done to you, how's your wrist?" Rafael asked.
"What did he do to her wrist?" Laura cut in from the backseat.
"He got mad and basically broke it." Rafael said seemingly angry as well.
"I'm going to smack him when we see him."
"No, it's okay. It doesn't even hurt." That was a complete lie, I had wrapped it as the doctor instructed. But I wasn't abiding by the 'do not use' rule, I didn't care about that one anyway.
"He practically broke it, that's not okay. I swear we should've gotten him that counselor when he was a kid, it would've made a difference." Laura shook her head in disapproval.
"What counselor?" Matthews never talked about a counselor.
"We knew he'd have these anger problems early on, he's a sweet kid, he really is. But when he gets mad it's like some sort of split personality and there's a completely different Matthew." She started to explain.
"Spike." I muttered softly to myself.
"What?"
"Spike, it's what Nash named the different side of Matthew." They laughed a little.
"Well, Spike I guess, just takes over him, and he can't control it. We've always thought about getting him a counselor that could help him control Spike so he wouldn't do things like, this." Rafael finished for Laura, motioning to my hand. "We just were naive parents and figured he would get over it, obviously he hasn't." Unexpectedly we were here, I didn't remember making half of the turns, I guess it was just instinct. "This is very nice. Very quiet." They admired the sea, and the two buildings holding the various lofts. We got out and I offered to take a bag but they refused on account of my wrist. As we finally reached the fifth floor I felt bad that they had to carry all those bags up. But they wouldn't let me help. I pulled out my key and opened the door allowing them to enter first.
"Ala, this is amazing." Laura smiled.
"Thank you, I can show you to your rooms and give you a little tour, although this is basically the whole place."  They nodded and I led them up the stairs and to the end of the hallway to a room I'd only been in once since I moved here, and that was to put sheets and blankets on the bed for them. It was decent, the second largest room, behind mine. "So this is my room, or the master." I showed them, then closed the door. "And this is Matthew's room I opened the door. His clothes were scattered around just as he'd left them, the bed was made only because he's never actually slept in it, if he had, it wouldn't be made.
"That's my Matthew, a big slob." Laura smiled. "Weirdly, I miss it." We headed back downstairs were I showed them were stuff in the kitchen was and how to use the toaster, since it was broken, so Gilinsky somewhat fixed it.
"That's really it." I said sighing and leaning back on the counter. "I have all the addresses of places you might want, or need to go. The address here, just in case, and the hospital address obviously. Along with how to get downtown and stuff. I think that's it."
"Thank you so much Ala." Laura smiled giving me a hug.
"Of course." I hugged back.
"Ala, could I talk to to you for just a minute?" Rafael asked. I nodded and followed him to a separate part where I do my filming. "I wanted to just ask, why exactly your leaving. It isn't because Matthew did something to you, like hurt you more or something?"
"No, I just need to kind of get away a little, give Matthew some time to think and heal. But mainly I need to see my mom, I said something really terrible to her. And since I don't have my dad, she's kind of the only one I have left." I admitted.
"I understand, I just wanted to make sure he didn't do anything else. And by the way, you've got Laura, you've got me. I know it's not the same, but I'll always be your dad in a way, even if you and Matthew were to ever break up. I'll still be a father figure for you, if you need me." I smiled, I could feel tears come into my eyes. Have I ever said I love Matthews dad?
"Thank you, so much." He smiled and I hugged him.
"Of course, what's one more kid anyway, I've always wanted five children." I laughed. "Well, it's twelve. And your flights at two if I recall. You should probably go have some fun with your friends before your flight. Laura and I are going to go see Matthew anyway."
"Okay, do you want me to give you a ride."
"If you don't mind."
"Of course I don't." I drove them to the hospital and we hugged for a last time. I wasn't really sure what I would supposedly do for fun. I decided to go to Nash, Cameron and Carter's apartment, hoping for a little happiness before I left. I wanted to be with them for my last hour in California, because truly, they're the ones that have never turned their backs on me, I need that because I wasn't sure when I would be coming back. I knew it wouldn't be for a while, so I wanted to spend time with them, my brothers.