Finding My Own

50. Let's Go!

"Why are you acting like that?" Stacey asked, sipping on her tea. "You looked very, uh, uncomfortable."

"Have your parents called you?" I asked, finally sitting down. "Recently."

"...How'd you know?"

"Mine did. Well...LeAnn did."

Stacey's eyes widened. "You mean your sister?" she asked carefully.

I nodded. "Yeah. She called me last week, asking me to come back to Georgia for the stupid family reunion."

"The Hinton-Monroe family reunion?"

"Yeah..." I grimaced, remembering the last time I'd gone. Everyone had been so fake, acting like they actually cared about each other. And LeAnn hadn't been there. She never was. "I thought maybe I was dreaming, but she texted me earlier today. She's practically begging me to go."

"But you and I were planning our Summer trip," Stacey whined. "The girls were so ready to go."

"Stacey...I haven't seen her in years. I don't know what to believe. It could easily be them tricking me, but...I miss her."

"Oh, my God! You're such a sucker!" she exclaimed, shaking her head. "You should just ignore her and come with us."

I sighed, rubbing my eyes. "I wish it was that easy. I mean, I want to see her, but..."

"But what about me and the girls?" she interrupted. "We can't cancel on them. Everyone has already paid for the rooms and--"

"We can go in July. Easy."

"And what if they want us back in July?"

"Well, we can discuss it with them," I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. "Look, if we visit them now, then we won't have to go back for Christmas. You know we don't see our families but once a year. Going to the family reunion means we don't have to suffer twice this year."

Stacey pursed her lips. "You know I hate those things, too. But I don't want to be the one to break the girls' hearts. They've been looking forward to it for months."

"Then we'll figure something out," I assured her. "We can still go somewhere after the reunion. It's not like we're going to bet here all month."

Stacey sighed, finally nodding. "Alright. I guess we can't make everyone happy. But I want you to promise me that you won't get sucked back into that fake family life, okay? You've made a life here, with me and the girls. We're your real family now."

I wasn't going to promise her anything, because I knew I didn't need to. I was only going to the reunion to see LeAnn. If this is a trick to get me to go back to Georgia, then I'll just leave early. It's not like I'm obligated to be there. Most of my cousins usually opt out of these things. Besides, we didn't exactly like each other anyway. I wasn't missing out on anything.

"Oh...and Elijah invited me to go to Scotland," I said.

"He what? When?" Stacey demanded.

I smiled, enjoying the jealousy in her voice. "I don't know. He knows about the reunion. He wanted me to go two weeks ago, but if I leave the country...I might not come back for a couple of months."

"You're not going without me!" she exclaimed. "I don't care if he just invited you! Shouldn't we be making these plans together?"

"Stacey, I love you, but sometimes I want to do things on my own. Besides, it wouldn't be a girls trip."

Stacey pouted, but she didn't say anything else. She knew I was right. We had our ups and downs, but we always came out stronger in the end. I didn't want to go back to Georgia either, but if it meant seeing my sister again...I'd do it.