Sweetest Thing (gxg)

8. See You Again ఌ

Los Angeles, California

"So, do you want to tell me why exactly we're in L.A. right now?"

Valeria asked Yoaly for the third time, but every time she would deflect so she wouldn't have to answer the question. They were in a hotel room in downtown Los Angeles and though Valeria didn't mind, she still wanted to know why.

"I met someone the last time I was here," Yoaly finally admitted.

"Okay," Valeria nodded her head. She motioned her hands in a way that urged Yoaly to continue explaining what that meant. "That doesn't explain why we're here right now."

"It's a long story."

"I have nothing but time."

Yoaly walked over to her aunt and sat down on the edge of her bed. Valeria patted the spot beside her, so Yoaly went to go lay right next to her. Valeria wrapped her arm around Yoaly, whose head was resting on her stomach. She even closed her eyes, immediately calming from the rising and falling of Valeria's stomach as she breathed.

"To make a long story short," Yoaly started. "We ended up spending time together the last time I was here."

"Mhmm," Valeria hummed to let Yoaly know she was listening.

"I've been thinking about it a lot since and I just need to see this person again. I need to know if they've been thinking about me too."

"Do you like this person?"

"I don't know them well enough to like them. There is something, though. I liked their energy. I liked being around them. I don't know what the feeling is, I just know there's something about them I feel very drawn to. I have this feeling that they might be someone special and I don't want to look back and wish I'd done what I'm doing right now."

"If I were you, I would definitely follow that feeling," Valeria smiled to herself. "It might end up being the best decision you'll ever make. Trust me, because I felt the same way about someone once."

"Are you with this 'someone' right now?"

Valeria hesitated, but she figured there was no reason to lie to her niece. "Yes, I am."

"How long have you guys been together?"

"About five years now. Funny enough, we met a month after I moved back to Puerto Rico. I wasn't looking for love, but it came and found me at a time when I least expected it. If I never trusted that feeling I had, I would have never found my forever person."

Yoaly opened her mouth to ask her aunt another question when her phone began to ring from inside her book bag on the other side of the room.

"You gonna get that?" Valeria asked when Yoaly made no attempt to get up and answer it.

"I probably should, huh?" She got up and got it, immediately letting out a heavy sigh when she realized just who was calling her. "It's my parents."

"You gonna answer it?"

"I have to. If I don't, they'll freak out."

"Do you need a second?" Valeria pointed towards the hotel room door. "I can step out."

"No, it's fine."

Yoaly took a deep breath before answering her mother's phone call.

"Hi—"

"I have your father right here next to me," Sophia said before Yoaly could even get her greeting out.

"Hi Mom. Hi Papi."