after you

chicago

You were about to start a new beginning. New place, new people, a fresh start. You were moving to Chicago with your dad to live with his new girlfriend, aka your new step mom. Your father also mentioned that you will have a step brother. You've never had a sibling before so you weren't sure how to react but a part of you was excited.

The flight from New York to Chicago was pretty long but luckily, you slept through the entire thing. Well mostly, the first few hours you were writing in your journal as you heard your dad loudly snore next to you. You definitely got some weird stares but you put your headphones on and put your music on blast and acted like you didn't know the dude.

After a long slightly uncomfortable but peaceful flight, you have arrived. "Y/n honey, wake up we're here." Your time softly shook you and you slowly opened your eyes, shutting them quickly again as the sun hit you.

You groan as you shift on the seat to sit up properly, you slightly stretch and sit up to get your things. Your dad gets out the seat first and your slides slips off your foot which causes you to trip. Your dad laughs at you as you quickly fix yourself and speed walk out the plane, praying that no one saw you trip.

"Do you want anything to eat before we leave?" You shake your head no. You had a pretty good amount of coffee before boarding the plane so you aren't hungry. "Alright then, I called an uber. They should be here soon." All you did was nod because you were still very much out of it.

About ten minutes later, the uber arrived. You both made your way and placed your bags in the trunk. Your dad sat in the passenger's seat while you sat in the back, close to falling asleep again. "Where to?" The uber driver asked. Your dad gave him the address. Not even five minutes into driving and you had already fallen asleep.

Once you and your dad arrive at the house, you both thank the uber driver and take your things out the trunk. You eye the house and you're in awe. The house looked so nice. It was a nice pastel blue paired with a soft white. You look over at your dad to see a big smile on his face. You can't lie, the change was very sudden and unfamiliar but your dad was happy so i guess that's all that matters. This was your chance to have a fresh new start and leave everything that haunted you in the past.

Before you two reach the door, a blonde woman appears. Her sparkling blue eyes glow the second she sees your dad. This is actually the first time you've seen her in person. Your dad has shown you some pictures here and there but you don't get that same experience when you see something as a photo and with your own eyes. The woman runs to your dad and hugs him tightly. You gotta admit, it made you feel weird because the last woman your dad hugged all lovingly like that was your mom.

The woman separated from your dad and turned to look at you with the biggest smile plastered on her face. "Hi Y/n sweetie, it's good to finally meet you!" She comes in for a hug but you slowly back away and nervously chuckle. "Not much of a hugger sorry, but it's nice to meet you Mrs. Arlert." You smile and the woman nods. "Oh! You have to meet my son! He's probably in his room so lemme text him to come down real quick."

Mrs. Arlert brings out her phone and starts typing. Your body grew nervous, you didn't know if her son was older or younger, mean or nice, or he'll like you or not. Shortly after, a short blonde-haired boy with the prettiest blue eyes you've seen before comes down. "Armin, this is Derick Valentine, your new step dad, and this is his daughter, Y/n Valentine, your new step sister."

The boy smiles as he greets the both of you. He eyes you and his smile widens. "I'm so glad I finally got to meet you! I've always wanted a sibling!" You sigh in relief. Thank god.

You return the smile. "So have i." The parents chuckle. You all make your way inside and it's beautifully decorated. "I can show you around if you want?" Armin asked. You nod and smile. He gestures to you to follow him. "This is the living room." It was pretty big. They had a light gray couch with white pillows.

He shows you the rest of the downstairs and makes his way upstairs. To the left, there was a door with ocean stickers on it. "That's my room." You nod. Across from his room is the bathroom and a little further down is another door and he stops right in front of it. "This is your room." He smiles.

You open the door and to your surprise, the room is pretty spacious. You had what appeared to be a king sized bed with white bedding. You had a fairly big closet that was somewhat walk-in. What caught your attention though, was the window. It was huge and it had a little sitting area there. You smile to yourself knowing that writing there will be amazing.

Armin catches you smiles and chuckles. "I knew you would like that spot. My mom told me that your dad said you liked writing so I figured you would like that spot a lot." You were shocked that your dad spoke about you to Mrs. Arlert and how she told Armin. If he knew that, you wonder what else he knew.

"In the closet I left different picture frames in case you wanna put any pictures in there. Oh and there's some empty journals in there you can use for writing as well." You blink twice. "You got me all those?" He nervously laughs. "Kinda? Well just the picture frames. The journals belonged to a friend but he didn't want them anymore so he gave them to me but I had no use for them." You nod and walk in the closet to see about 4 picture frames and a pile of journals.

You pick up the first journal. It was sage green with a little sun stitch embedded on it. You run your fingers along the sun. "Oh the sun journal, that one actually has a moon one the exact same way but i don't know where that one is." you place the sun journal down and look at the others. There's four more but they were all plain solid colors, no moon one. Just as Armin said.
You place the journals on the desk along with your bag. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. We're family now. I actually have to go finish something but we can talk later ! There are alot of things I want to talk about with you." You chuckle as the boy runs out of your room. You flop on your new bed and take a deep breath. The bed was very soft, you knew you would fall asleep everytime you lay on it.

A knock is heard on the door and your dad walks in. "Hey." You sit up and cross your legs. "Hey, what's up?" He shuts the door behind him and sits on the edge of your bed. "Y/n.. I know this is a big change for you. Especially since.. You know. But I'm happy and I want you to be happy here too, just.. Give it some time." your dads words hit you, the two of you werent big on speaking like that to each other no more. When it came to your guy's relationship, it was more like constant fighting then acting as if nothing happened after. It was honestly draining.

You nod and he leaves the room. You closed your eyes, wondering how your new life will be. Shortly after, a knock is heard on the door again. Armin slowly opens and peeks through. Once he sees it's safe to come in, he closes the door behind him and sits on the chair near the desk. "So good news. I got you into the school I'm going to, now we'll be together!" you look at him confused and he catches on. "I go to this Arts college, I figured you would like it there since you like writing. There's a lot of writing classes and other ones you might be interested in as well."

He got you in his college and it's only been a few hours.. No resume, no appling, nothing at all? "How did you get me in with no sort of information? Didnt i need to apply then get accepted?" He smirks. "Yes, but my grandfather owns that specific school so I talked to him about you and told him to consider. Then he called me about ten minutes or so ago and told me he was willing to accept you without that information needed."

You were shocked. His grandfather owns the school and was actually willing to let you in. You couldn't help but smile. This was such a good start and you find yourself thinking that maybe moving over here was the best decision. "Also my friends go to that school so i can introduce you to them." You nod.

"When does school start?"
"In a week, so we have time to get all your supplies and you can do your.. Lady shopping stuff." You chuckle at him describing it was lady shopping.

Armin stays in your room and the two of you talk about everything, asking each other questions and getting to know each other better. You had a strong feeling that things here were going to be good.

At least you hope.