home, sweet, home!

114 4 3
                                    



Aghhhh! Finally, sweet, sweet pavement. The driveway never looked so beautiful. It's been about ten hours of sitting through cars, planes, and waiting rooms, and now my legs have a chance to stretch. We all moan and groan as we get into the house and immediately get hit with all the pent up humidity. We need a shower.

Everyone races to their rooms, with Kendi cutting in front of me to get first dibbs on the bed and drawers in our room. I trip on the floor and get right back up with my suitcase in hand. Instead of leaving my towel buried at the bottom like everyone else, I put it on top. Now, I don't need to put all my clothes away to take a shower. I take my towel and the first clothes I can find and run to my bedroom door. But as soon as I open it, all I see is my mom in a towel walking into a bathroom. Nevermind.

I turn around and look at Kendi. The droopiness of my face tells the whole story, and she just laughs in my face. As I walk to my bed, my sister stops me. "I'm not sleeping with you in that bed. Get the air mattress." "What! But this is my bed." "It was my bed first, plus I'm the one staying here for the summer. You'll get it back when school starts again." She can be so stubborn sometimes. She thinks she can boss me around just because she's older. I guess she can, but that doesn't mean she should. 

I can't with any of this. I need to get out of this boiling house and talk to someone else. I go down the hall and see my dad putting away the last of his clothes in his room. I knock on his door and ask, " Papi, can I go out? It's cooler outside." "Did you fold your clothes yet?" Aghh. "No ... but Kendi is taking up the entire room to put her stuff away. I can barely move. I can only do it when she's done. So, in two hours." He laughed and closed his suit case. He gives his final verdict as he starts to move out of the room and into the kitchen. "You can go when Antony's done. He can come with you and make sure you don't get hurt." I can work with that. I hug him from behind and say my thank yous.

The thing is, Ant never puts his clothes away. He just puts his luggage under his bed. He's more busy looking through the date book he forgot to bring on the trip. "G! Can you, uhh, help me for a second?" He's looking back and forth and flipping through pages of his book. I shake my head and let him continue. He stops moving and stares straight into my eyes. "What day is it?"

I smile and say, "It's July 6th." He starts to look off at nothing and firmly nods to himself. "Also, could you, by any chance, walk around with me? You don't have to be with me the whole time. Papi just wanted someone to look after me." I try to top it all off with a convincing smile.

He laughed and walked out of his room. "Yeah, I'll just drop you off at your friends' house. I know that's where you're really going." He then laughs loud enough for me to feel embarrassed. I can appreciate a leisurely walk on the way there. We both said our goodbyes to our dad and left.

------------

After 15 minutes of pointing out clouds in the sky and trash on the ground, we ended up across the street from my destination. Ant looks down at me and gives an impression of our dad, "I expect that Ms. Runck is there the ENTIRE time. I don't want you out of her sight." He drops the act and ruffles my hair. "I'm just messing with you, have fun." We both wave at each other until he walks past the corner.

I turn back only to realize that there aren't any cars in the drive way. Nobody's home. But before I can leave, a car comes into the driveway next door. The car door open to reveal a short old lady holding a bag of groceries. As she starts to make her way to the trunk of the vehicle, I cross to her side of the street. "Mrs. Forman! Would you like some help?"

I help her open the back door and she turns around. She smiles and laughs, "Oh! Hello, dear. How are you?" I smile and nod my head. "Good? That's lovely. Oh, that's right. Yes, it would be great if you can help me out. I pulled out all the stops for today." I took four bags out of the back and dropped them off in her kitchen. Before I left, I felt a stagnant glare coming from the side of me. I look to my right and see Red, Mrs. Forman's husband, with the dirtiest look I've ever seen. Not wanting to talk, I ran back to get the rest of the groceries.

I close the back door for her and give her keys back. As we walk back into her house, I notice Red's absence and ask, "What's the big occasion for today? Is somebody coming over?" I put the last bags on the kitchen island and start to take the food out of the bags.

"Oh, yes. My granddaughter, Leia. She came over for the fourth of July, and now she's staying for the summer! She's got all of these friends, that's why I went out to buy all this. And, oh, it just great." All of this junk food started to make sense. Hot Pockets don't really seem like Reds style. Maybe Kitty's? "But enough about me, where have you been missy?"

I don't come round here too often, so it was a little surprising. "Oh! We all just left to visit some family out of the country. Nothing big." As I moved back and forth to the fridge, Kitty kept nodding. Telling me to continue. "Uh, We roasted a pig, rode on my uncle's motorcycle, swam in the lake. Mostly just hanged out in my grandparents house."

Now, it was Kitty who was surprised. "Sounds like more than just nothing happened. Hopefully Leia has as much fun as you did with your grandparents. Oh! And she's already going to the lake. Maybe I should make a ham." It was so cute to see her worry over her granddaughter. She was so much more excited than usual. "Maybe you should meet her. You'll get along great with her friends."

Just as she finished her sentence, the doorbell rings. I put my hand up and make way to the door. "Maybe, but chances are that I've already met her friends." I open the door only to find the group of teens that should have been next door, and a blonde.

"Chris?"


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


Authors note!

Hello, everyone. Sorry that the gang doesn't show up this episode, but they will in the next one. I just wanted people to get to know the family and Angie a bit more. Hope you all liked it. Bye, guys!

You've reached the end of published parts.

⏰ Last updated: Feb 24, 2023 ⏰

Add this story to your Library to get notified about new parts!

Good Morning - That 90's ShowWhere stories live. Discover now