White Shadows

Chapter 4 - Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

***LUCA***

I can't believe I'm seeing this. It's my big sister, in the flesh, for the first time in two years. (Since it's now Saturday, the sixth of June, that literally makes it two years to the day, actually.) The last time I saw Mattia, she'd gotten into a fight with Mom and Dad the day before her eighteenth birthday, all because she wanted to take advantage of being a legal adult and move out of the house. I didn't blame her - not with the way they always appeared to look down on her, because she'd had the audacity to lose her virginity to a boy she'd known and loved for quite some time. If I were in her shoes, I would have done the same thing. Run away at the first chance, that is.

Seeing her now, not much has changed. Well, she's no longer dressed like she's ready to go to church at any time - without Mom and Dad to run interference on her preferred fashion choices, it seems she's ditched the plaid schoolgirl dresses (knee-length, not those ridiculously skimpy parody versions strippers seem to like) and plain sweaters in favor of skinny jeans, a vintage Members Only jacket, and a Chili Peppers T-shirt that looks a size or two too big for her. I laugh under my breath as I remember the way she'd once complained about her old wardrobe - "Only Gwen Stacy can get away with wearing this crap," she'd said.

But her default expression - a mischievous smile that edges into smirk territory - is still the same. Not to mention she's still wearing the jade ring Nonna got her in Chinatown for her sixteenth birthday. And she's wearing the same perfume she's had since before she went to Balthazar, a stupid melon-scented thing she found at Hollister or someplace.

"Aren't you gonna-" Mattia begins. Before she can finish her question, though, I answer it for her with a huge hug. "Are you...are you trying to choke me to death or something?" she laughs. I let go of her, and she looks up at me. Well, sort of - we're not that far apart in height, because she's a bit tall for a girl and I'm a bit short for a guy. "Oh my God, when did you beat me?"

"Maybe about a month ago," I say. "I think that's when I finally passed five-seven."

"Well, you must've gotten Mom's genes there too," Mattia says, ruffling my famously curly hair. "'Cause unless you got another growth spurt left in you, I'm thinking this'll be your final height."

"Don't remind me," I laugh, blushing. "God...you know how much I hate you for up and leaving like that?"

Mattia's smirk grows even more dangerous. "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no - you are not gonna give me the cry. No crocodile tears today!"

Kensi snorts into her cup of coffee - I really hope it's decaf at this time of night. "I thought you two would be adorable together, but this?"

"Jesus, you make it sound like they should be together together," Paul says, grimacing at the thought.

"No, I'd rather he be together with me," Kensi says, winking at me over her cup.

Slow your roll, my friend. The thought drifts out of my brain lazily, and she reacts accordingly, frowning and blushing. In the background, I hear Gideon snort into his own coffee cup.

Eager to get off this lovey-dovey subject, I turn to Paul and ask, "So where's Aron? Didn't let him come play with the big boys and girls, huh?"

Paul shakes his head and downs about half a flaky pastry of some kind. Not a sweet one, a savory one - I can see ricotta cheese falling out from inside it. After he swallows his bite, he says, "Yeah, Aron fought hard to get to come with me again - but this time, Dad actually held him back so he wouldn't follow me through the portal."

"The portal? " I ask, confused for a moment. Then I remember Alex (and also Gideon, at some point) telling me about the Terminal and how it could be accessed through the basement at Paul's house.