Who They Really Are

five

Kat walked into her parents house for the first time in 9 months, and was immediately tackled in hugs from both brothers.
After she was finally able to get them off of her, she looked up at her parents and smiled.

"Hey guys," she said, hugging them both at the same time. When they pulled away, she looked up at her mom and took in the sad look on her face and tears forming in her eyes.

"Mom, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Oh nothing, it's just been so long-" she stopped, and the tears started rolling down her face.

Kat hugged her mom again, saying, "Don't even start that Mom. There's no need for tears, I'm not nearly that special."

Her mom laughed, wiping away at her face.
"Oh hush. Now come on, we were just starting breakfast."

They made their way the dining room, and ate breakfast while they all caught everyone up on everything that'd been going on the past few months. No one mentioned what happened with Kat, to her relief.

After breakfast, Alex and Jake had to go to football practice, so her mom decided that they should go out for the day- shopping, lunch, and just spending time together.

They spent the day in town, going to all kinds of different shops and talking about everything. They came home right before dinner time, and found the boys all outside playing basketball.

"Don't you guys ever get tired of sports?" Kat asked, laughing.

The boys shrugged, while her dad said, "They may not, but I'm definitely tired in the physical sense. I'm too out of shape and old for this."

Everyone laughed, and it was just like old times. Kat smiled, savoring this moment with her family.

"I'm gonna go start dinner, you guys come in and shower here in a few minutes so you'll be ready," Kat's mom says, walking into the house.

Kat stayed out shooting the ball with her dad and brothers for a couple minutes until they had to go inside, then she walked up to her old bedroom to wait for dinner.

Everything looks exactly how it did when she left- same bedding, same posters, and same pictures everywhere. Pictures of old friends, and of her when she was younger. Kat felt tears rolling down her cheeks and realized she'd started crying. She wiped them away, not knowing exactly what was making her sad. Maybe it was just the old days bringing back memories, maybe it was she missed how things used to be.

But either way it shouldn't matter. She's a new person now- the person she always wanted to be. Wasn't she?

•••••••••
The rest of the weekend was spent reminiscing with her family. Kat hadn't realized how much she'd missed home until now, and now she wished she'd come home more often since she started modeling.

Her family had been such an important thing to her before she'd left, and now she had to spend hours talking to them to find out all the things she'd missed. Things she should've already known.

On Monday afternoon, her family drove her to the airport to say goodbye. She and her mom had both promised they wouldn't cry, but they both did, Kat knowing she wouldn't have another great weekend like this for a while.

Although she didn't want to leave, Kat knew she had to since she had a shoot tomorrow, and it was a pretty big one. She reluctantly boarded her flight when it was time, and made the long way back to L.A. alone.