Promise Me

3.

After Luke left to go reassure his parents that, no, he hadn't been kidnapped, and yes, he understood how freaked out and confused they'd been, I layed in the warming sun for a little bit, thinking.
That was the thing about Texas sun, you couldn't be out in too long unless you want to start sizzling and frying. It was the same exact sun as in California, but you'd never know form laying out in it. In California, the sun warmed our state, and gave us light. In Texas, the sun beat down and it constantly felt like it was putting a spotlight on you.
But that was another good thing about being up early in the morning. The sun hadn't baked in its own rays long enough to start boiling the land under it, so it shone brightly and cast a warm glow over Texas.
After an hour or so, it started to get blazing, so I went inside, my clothes a still a little damp and my hair still very damp. I stepped inside at the same time my mom was emerging from her room.
"'Morning," she yawned. "You're up early aren't you?"
I murmured in agreement and started pouring the coffee grounds into the pot. Neither of my parents would be fully awake until they got some coffee in their systems, and they didn't exactly have the best track record for making their coffee on a sleepy brain. My mom is famous in our family for the time that she somehow managed to make a large pot using brown sugar instead coffee grounds.
My mom dropped onto a couch and pulled her feet up under her. "So.... Who was the boy?" she asked with a coy little smile.
I almost dropped the pot of hot water, and splashed some on my foot. It burned and for a few minutes, I was hopping around getting ice, cleaning up the water droplets, and wincing at my foot. I managed to forget about my mom's question until I brought her her steaming mug of coffee.
"Hello? Boy?" She rolled her eyes before patting the couch next to her.
I sat. "There's not much to say, Mom. He's the one who's parents who you and Dad were talking to the other day. He stopped by early this morning and we hung out on the patio. His name's Luke."
My mother smiled at me. "He's a sweet boy, isn't he?" She traced a pattern on her knee with a finger warm from the coffee cup.
"Yeah, he really is." I glanced at her face. A small smile was still playing around her lips. She glanced up at me.
"Well, you can tell me all the details later. Go change and be thankful I'm not asking why on earth you're soaked."
I headed towards the stairs in the back of the house, but as I was about to head up, my mom's voice rang out. "Honey, why are you soaked?"
"Long story, Mom. Very long story."
When I made it into my room, Hanna was stretched out on my bed checking something on her phone. She glanced up at me. "Oh, hey, there you are."
"Here I am." I grabbed a dry shirt and looked around for a pair of shorts. "Oh, I almost forgot! Thanks for making a great impression on Luke this morning. Sure he's just dying to meet the rest of the family." I rolled my eyes at her and snatched the pair of Nike shorts that were pinned under her leg.
She sighed. "Aub, I'm sorry, ok? It was, like, 5 a.m., and you were with some random guy in the pool in your clothes, laughing. It really wasn't exactly ideal conditions."
"Whatever," I told her as I tossed my wet clothes in the bathroom and went to work on my tangled hair. "Look, at least it was a new experience for you to add to your list of daily activities. Watch Netflix, sleep, FaceTime Deuce, complain, and now yell at stranger who turn out to be your sister's possible new boyfriend."
Hanna's phone clattered to the floor. "Wait! Wait, wait, wait. Boyfriend? We've been here, what? Three days? Four?"
"Six, actually, and he's not my boyfriend yet. He's just seemed nice, and funny, and he's cute, and... He held my hand." It sounded so juvenile when I said it out loud. He held your hand, I thought, mocking myself. Yippee, let's have a parade.
"Hey," Hanna said, pulling me in for a hug and smoothing my damp hair. "Every fairytale's gotta start somewhere, right? You literally met this guy for two hours, tops. It'll be fine, just
give a little time."
I smiled at her. "Thanks, but how's all in the blissful coupledom? Deuce?"
Hanna grimaced and sighed, glancing back at her phone. "It's fine, I guess. It's just weird being so far away."
"It's only a few states."
"But it's just the whole not seeing him in person bit. We were basically joined at the hip back home and here it's like a third of me is missing." Hanna shook her head.
I frowned. "A third?"
"You're my other half, and Deuce is my other other half, so I guess you two are both my other thirds." I laughed with her. "But thanks for asking. About the relationship, I mean. It's just the whole long distance thing. I always thought people were being silly about that. I always thought that true love would still be true thousands of miles away, but now I get it. It's not the actual distance, it's just... I don't know. It's just crazy, and weird, and scary, and really, really hard."
"It's been an emotional roller coaster, hasn't it? For all of us." I hugged her tighter. "But our family is getting through it all ok, and I'm sure that you and Deuce will emerge in one piece in the end."
She smiled again, but sadly. "All we can do is hope."