California Dreamin

27

"I know this isn't exactly the american dream everyone talks about, but it's still our future so don't mess it up."
Was all Samantha told Nina before saying goodbye.

Nina was driving to her house, the sun setting down in the city of LA.
She hummed a random song that was on the radio while tapping on the steering wheel.
The american dream.

In the meantime her mind was roaming to her mother, wondering if she was already home from her shift as she didn't want to be alone with a stranger. The babysitter.
She was also hoping they were nice to her sister.

"The american dream." She spoke to herself, scoffing a laugh while parking her car outside her house.

She wandered if that's what Richard was actually hoping to find there. That piece of shit.
What was he expecting? He wasn't the only one.

Everyone searches for their american dream but sometimes reality can be really disappointing and people don't really know what they wish for.
I must be careful with my life.

That's what Nina used to tell herself while running away from reality, desperately trying to escape her fate.

While walking towards the main door something felt off. She was nervous and didn't even know why.
Maybe because she was about to meet a stranger. Or maybe because her mind was traveling too much and ended up thinking that wouldn't be a stranger at all.

"But it's impossible." She immediately shrugged that thought away and turned the door knob to get inside her house. Yes, she knew the truth, sooner or later she would've met him again but she was fearing that day more then ever.

"Hey honey." She was greeted by Christopher who apparently was home earlier than usual.

"Your mom is in the kitchen, I'm helping her out while you meet the babysitter. Your mom told me you actually know him." He whispered and left her.

She was stunned as she watched him disappear behind the corner at the end of the hallway, leading him to the kitchen.

She took a deep breath and slowly approached the living room, heart pounding in her chest, so hard she believed she could die of a heart attack any moment.

That fear. It came true.
He was right in front of her, playing with her stepsister on the floor.
She couldn't run anymore.

Slowly he looked up to her, making her world stop, while he got up.
He was now standing tall.
Actually he did got taller, but same fluffy hair.

Yet, something was different and definitely wrong.
She could see it in his eyes. They've changed, as if they've seen the death. He was much skinnier, especially his face.

She didn't dare to speak.
Richard however was stunned.
She was beautiful, same sparkly eyes, now full of tears. But he knew she wasn't sad. How could she be?

She was furious.
He gulped before opening his mouth.
"Kateri-" His voice got interrupted by her soft hand now turned into stone, coming in contact with his left cheek.

The sound echoed through the room, capturing Susan's attention who looked up to them with wondering and innocent eyes.

She slapped him so hard her mother and Christopher got out of the kitchen.
The middle aged man was flabbergasted, especially as he noticed absolutely no surprise in his wife's face. Like she knew that would've happened.

Nina simply walked towards her room afterwards, ignoring her old 'friend' calling for her and the voice of her stepfather asking his wife for explanations.

As she could hear Richard's steps behind her, as soon as she was in her room she locked the door, leaning on her back against it.

She finally released her tears while slowly crumbling down to the floor, still leaning against the door. She then brought her knees up to her chest and stuffed her face between them, crying uncontrollably.

He could hear her from outside as he was knocking against the wood multiple times like a mad man.

"Please Nina open the door. I know you're furious and you're right. But we can talk about it. You know you're smarter than this."

Oh she wanted to kill him right there and then.
That wasn't helping at all. If he was really trying to convince her, his words were definitely not helping as he was basically calling her stupid for reacting completely normal to the face of who broke her heart and disappeared for years.

"One year after I left El Paso, I did come back, but you weren't there, not anymore." He said after a while, making Nina raise her head.

"So once I was in Los Angeles again, I tried looking for you. The truth is that I was in the streets for a few months. Ruben kicked me out. I was staying with a friend but then he..." He stopped. A few minutes of complete silence followed the sudden and quiet confession of the boy she once loved.

She got up from the floor and turned around to face the wood separating her from him. The she heard his voice again.

"Your mother found me, it was her idea to have me taking care of a baby you." He scoffed a breathy laugh. "She looks just like you when we were kids. She really does. So much that I almost hate her."

She smiled while brushing her tears off with the back of her hand while putting the other hand to the door handle which she quickly unlocked before finally opening the door to face the curly haired boy.

More handsome than ever. His empty eyes now had a reason, yet they lit up as soon as they met Nina's.

He wanted to kiss her. She wanted to kill him but hug him at the same time.

Both of them kind of had what they wanted. She didn't kill him but she launched herself on him, wrapping her arms about her neck and sinking her nose in his curls which were falling perfectly on his shoulders.

He wasted no time and wrapped his own arms around her waist, pulling her closer and hugging her so tight they could feel each other's hearts beating one against another.

Her hands then traveled through his hair, while slowly pulling her own head back to look at his face.

"I fucking missed you, bastard." She whispered before kissing him.

That kiss spoke way more words than they could ever formulate. And it was perfect like that.

She wanted to consume his lips, as she slowly started to pull him inside her bedroom.

As their breaths were both becoming heavy, she pulled away from the kiss to lock the door again.

"Nice bedroom, I feel like I'll want to see it many many times." He smirked as she delicately pushed him on her bed to make him sit down.

"Shut up." She sat on his lap before catching his lower lip between her teeth and pull it, biting down to it hard enough to hear him complaining about that strange pain.

He instinctively put a hand around her neck with furrowed eyebrows, making her stop her actions.
As she gasped, he quickly removed his hand.
"Sorry- didn't know what's gotten into me."

She remained silent for a while.
Her hands grabbed the hems of her shirt and pull them up, removing it and revealing her covered chest.

"Do it again if you're man enough."