My Answer is You

12. Unexpected but Convenient

What the hell is going on?

I need to know what that thing is and why it's following me.

How did I get myself into this situation?

Why do I get the feeling something dreadful is going to happen to me?

When will this end?

~~

It's the 23rd of May. You know what that means right? It means just one more month of school and then comes the summer! I thought about that all morning at school today and I was practically giddy because of it. Lisa and Mack just couldn't shut me up at lunch, it was hilarious--at least to me it was, haha.

The minute I get home, I hear laughter come from the dining room. I hear some more voices and I listen until I am sure of who's there. I look to my right at the purse rack and I notice an expensive handbag. I've seen that specific handbag quite a few times to know exactly who it belongs to. 

Well, might as well say hello.

I drop my backpack at the foot of the stairs and I walk slowly toward the dining room. I haven't seen her in a few months. Did she get prettier? Did she get a little bit taller? Does she have a kid now? I think to myself.

I stop at the open dining room wall and lean against it, crossing my arms over my chest. The laughter and the chatter dies down as soon as they notice me.

She stands up, with a look of surprise and delight on her face, and she comes up to me to pull me in for a tight hug. "Hiiii, little sister!"

"Heyyy, Olivia." My words are muffled. Her hair smells nice.

She pulls away, and I'm thankful for being able to breathe again, but her hands are still gripping my shoulders. She moves her hands to cup my face and pinch my cheeks. "How's my little Pammy Wammy doing?" She says in that annoying baby voice.

I flap her fingers away. "I told you to stop calling me that!"

"Oh yeah, you're too grown-up for my jokes now. What a shame." She says in a mock-serious tone.

"Eh, I don't think I'm too grown-up, Olive Oil," I counter. Then we both burst into laughter.

She looks at me up and down. "My, oh my, you're still the same height since I last saw you."

"And you got an inch taller."

"I guess I did, haha. 'Least I'm not a dwarf like you."

"Hey! I'm no dwarf."

"Girls," my mother intervenes. "You can talk while you're seated."

We walk over to the dining table and Olivia introduces to me to her husband--and they don't have a kid--then Olivia and me continue catching up with each other.

~~

I'm at the top of the steps and I can hear the conversation that is going on in the kitchen. My mother is just telling Olivia which room she and her husband would be sleeping in.

"Oh, but I wanted to sleep the night in Pamela's room," Olivia says, which surprises me. "I hadn't seen her in so long. I was expecting her during the winter break, but you didn't bring her along for whatever reason. I want to spend more time with her."

"Olivia, sweetheart, what about David? Will you just leave him to be on his own for the night? This is his first time being here," my mother inquires.

"He's gonna hang with Dad tonight. Right, Dad?" Olivia looks at my father as he passes by. He's not dressed in his suit anymore. He's in shorts and a gray T-shirt.

"Yeah. We're having a game night," my father responds. Then he walks away.

My mother sighs. "Alright, then. Don't you girls stay up too late though."

"Sure," Olivia says then walks up the stairs.

She slightly jumps and yelps at the sight of me being at the top of the stairs. "Jesus, Pamela! Why are you standing in the dark hallway like that?"

"Sooo-rreeeey. I just wanted to hear what you and Mother were talking about."

"Mother? Are we in the nineteen-hundreds? I don't remember you ever calling her that, haha."

I stay silent. "Oh. You actually call her that?" Olivia asks.

I don't respond. I just nod. I don't know why. I don't know anything these days. "You said you wanted to sleep in my room tonight?"

"Yeah. That alright with you?"

"You kidding? That shouldn't be a question!"

We laugh together and Olivia finishes the rest of her way up the stairs and we head to my room.