⌁ Thunder ⌁ Lana Del Rey Fanfiction

chapter twenty-eight: realizations

Irene?

I still can't fight off the shock as she hugs me tightly, her arms hooked under my armpits as she laughs and lightly mumbles in between things I can't even begin to process.

"Missed you so much," she says as she pulls away. She grins from ear to ear, and her cheeks glow red. That accent of hers makes me think back to January. That hard month where she wouldn't stop talking and comforting me in english for even a second. Strange.

"I-I've missed you too." I reply, still in shock. I'm blindsided by the moment completely, making me come off more awkward than how I mean to.

She spins around to my father and smiles, her arm wrapped around my waist as she pulls me closer to her side. "How do we look?" she jokes. I tense up for some reason under her grasp.

"Like a pair of hermanas." he replies with a smile. He folds his arms up to his chest. He turns to look at Zella sternly. "I thought we agreed to make sure she wouldn't hear us coming home." he says, a bit seriously.

Zella was in on this?

"I told you, I lost track of time!" she defensively replies. My father shakes his head and laughs.

"You guys planned this?" I ask hesitantly. I wiggle out of Irene's grip on my waist.

"uh-huh." they both reply proudly.

"I know we haven't met before, but thank you for doing this." Irene suddenly says. She looks sincerely to Zella, who politely grins back.

"It's not a problem. I'm Zella, by the way," she introduces herself. Irene takes a step closer to her and greets her lightly, with a kiss on each cheek.

In between the kisses, Zella glances at me and mouths the words, she's hot, before Irene can notice.

Wow.

"What are we, Ale's two best friend's? I guess we'll have to see who's the better one," Irene jokes to Zella. I see Zella's cheeks redden as she nods profusely.

She's definitely caught feelings.

We talk awkwardly for a few more minutes, minutes that I keep track of because of how out of it I feel. It's not that I don't like surprises, or that I didn't like seeing Irene after these long past few months, but with my past life being thrown at me all of a sudden and me seeing how much it's changed since, is... well, it's definitely an adjustment.

It feels like i'm a stranger to these two parts of my life.

"You're probably a bit jet lagged, aren't you?" My father asks casually as we all sit on the couch.

"Well, I-" Irene starts nervously.

My father quickly interrupts. "No worries! the guest room upstairs is already set for you. Estás en tu casa."

"Thank you, Ethan, really. For everything...you've done so much." Irene says wholeheartedly.

"And i'd do it all over again without a doubt." he says with an honest grin.

"We all better get to bed, no?" I mutter. I check the time on my phone. A quarter to one.

Jesus.

"Right. Well, we've all got some catching up to do tomorrow." my father stands up. "And you," he starts as he walks to stand right in front of me. "Happy Birthday." he says as he plants a kiss on my forehead that makes me fluster and cringe at the same time. I smile. "Night, girls!" he calls out as he makes his way up the stairs.