𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒

04. 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄

Los Angeles, CA, USA
October

ALANA ALEXANDRA MILLER

"You are definitely not ready to go to school tomorrow." Says Ethan, Amber's son, whom I had met a few hours earlier when my father and I returned from our drive around the neighbourhood.

"Why do you think that?" I respond, annoyed by his matter-of-fact tone.

"You should probably take 2-3 days off from school to get a little bit familiar with the city instead of going directly to school."

"I don't need to be familiarized with the city since I'm only going to stay here for a few months."

"Really? Which university do you want to go to?" He asks

"My dream has always been to stay in New York and go to NYU, so that's where I'm going next year."

"Good for you, but in the meantime, you still have 9 months here, so it's good to make some friends and find some places you like in the city."

"Well, if it's so important that I find friends, I can try to find ones, or I can just hang out with you so that I don't need other friends. Also, your mother told you that you need to show me around so I don't need to form any friendships."

"I'm only going to be your free guide for a few weeks, so don't get too used to it, and you better make friends tomorrow," he says, opening his game console.

"Whatever, I'll leave you with your game," I say as I get up from the big grey couch.

"Adiós," he says while turning on his blue controller.

I leave the living room and head to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

I feel like I have such a hard time finding my way in this big house that the only rooms I know how to get to are the living room, the kitchen, and my bedroom.

When I enter the large room, I go towards the big silver refrigerator and look at what I could eat.

"Hey, are you hungry?" "asks Amber as she enters the kitchen. "

"Oh, not really; I'm just looking to see if there's something light I can eat before dinner," I respond.

"Okay," she says, and I take out a pack of organic strawberries from the fridge.

I wash five strawberries and put them on a small plate.

"Would you like to help me cook dinner?" She asks.

"Of course, what are we going to eat?" I ask curiously while going to sit on a stool in front of the marble counter.

"I was thinking of making fettuccine chicken Alfredo pasta with garlic bread on the side."

"It's going to be very good," I say.

"Do you think your father will like it?" She questions.

"Yes, he loves every kind of pasta."

"Okay," she says with a big smile on her face. "You can finish eating, and then we'll start preparing dinner."

I nod and start eating my strawberries. They are very sweet and better than any strawberries I have eaten before.

"They're really good; where did you buy them?" I ask Amber.

"In a Japanese market near downtown LA."

"They're literally the best strawberries I ever tasted," I say.

"I know, that's why they are pretty expensive."

I finish eating my strawberries quickly, and when I'm done, I clean the plate that I used.

After, I go towards Amber, who is taking out all the ingredients we are going to need to prepare the food.

"Can you put some water and a bit of salt in the large pot here?" she says, pointing to a beige stock pot.

I nod, take the bowl, and fill it halfway with water. Then I add a bit of salt like she told me and turn on the stove.

When the water starts boiling, I put the pack of fettuccine in the pot and continue to help Amber until everything is ready.

When the food is ready, Amber leaves the kitchen to go get my father, who is working in his new home office, and Ethan walks into the kitchen looking at his phone.

"It smells good in here; what are we eating?" He asks me

"Pasta," I reply.

He looks at one of the four plates that I just finished placing on the table and goes to sit in front of the plate with slightly more food.

I sit in the seat across from him, and I open my phone. Then I send a message to Elena.

Me
____
Hey, how was the brunch?

Lena✩
_____
Bad as usual, my grandmother is really something...

Me
____
I remember when I met her for the first time, she was comical.

Lena✩
______
I don't think it's the choice of words I would use to describe her but whatever.

Before I can answer back, my father and Amber enter the dining room hand in hand.

"Ew," says Ethan, looking at their hand.

Amber ignores him and goes to sit in one of the empty seats, and my father does the same.

"It looks very good," says my father, looking at the food and then at Amber.

"Alana also helped me," she responds with a smile.

"Well, I'm glad you two get along well." Say, my father.

"Can we start eating?" asks Ethan.

"Yes, I hope you will like it." Says Amber.

Ethan and I finish off our plates before the two adults next to us, and when he goes to refill his plate, I go to wash mine.

When I'm done, I go to my room and immediately start getting ready to go to sleep.
I go to my bathroom to take my everything shower of the week, and I come out of the Italian shower twenty minutes later. I put on body lotion all over my body and put on a black two-piece pyjama set. Then, I brush my teeth and do my nighttime skincare routine. After I finalize doing all of that, I'm ready to go to sleep.

I set an alarm to wake up at 8 AM tomorrow, and I go to bed without forgetting to charge my phone and my AirPods for the night.