Hellish Happiness (Anthony Padilla Fanfic)

Chapter 18: Welcome Back!

Savannah's POV after the plane lands

After 4 or 5 cabs ignore me, one finally stops to pick me up. The driver, a guy that looks about my age, and is actually pretty cute, jumps out and grabs my suitcase. He throws it into the trunk and opens the door for me.

"Thank you." I say turning a bright beet red.

"Anytime." He says tipping his hat.

I duck into the cab and the driver closes the door. I settle into the seat and I start to realize how excited I am to see my dads and brother.

It was Easter when I last saw my family. That's when the talk of getting engaged started.

~Flashback Time~

It is our last night in Kansas City and there is one place that I want Anthony to eat at. He had never had food from this really good vegan restaurant in Kansas City.

Here we are sitting at the table and we are just talking about some random stuff.

"So how long have we been together now?" Anthony asks before stuffing his face with his food.

"Almost 3 and a half years I think." I answer before stuffing my face with my food.

"Well are we just going to stay boyfriend and girlfriend forever or what are we going to do?" He asks looking up.

"I don't know. Are we going to stay boyfriend and girlfriend forever?" I reply looking back at Anthony.

"Well, we could get married." He says.

"Yeah, we could." I say.

"We should think about it." He says looking up into my eyes.

"Yeah. We should think about it." I say looking back at Anthony.

~Flashback Over~

"What brings you to Kansas City? Are you from here?" The cab driver asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, what sorry." I say

"What brings you to Kansas City? Are you from around here?" He asks again.

"I got in a huge fight with my fiance. I needed to get away and think, so to come back home to see my family. It's been a while, and yes; I'm from the area." I answer.

"That's cool, and I'm sorry about your fight. I hope you two can work things out, " The driver says refocusing back on the road, "oh, and by the way, I never asked where you were going."

"Yeah, and I'm going to 16538 Royal Drive," I answer, "are you from around the area?"

"Nah, I'm from Chicago. Came here to learn the KC Barbecue Way, I guess you could call it. Oh, I'm Danny by the way," He replies, "you look familiar, do I know you from somewhere?"

"You might; I've written a couple of books. I'm Savannah." I answer.

"Yeah, You wrote that one about the kid with cancer right?" He asks.

"Haha, no. I wrote A World of Love. The one where the guy travels the world to find his true love but doesn't find her, and I have a YouTube channel." I say looking out the window at my childhood neighborhood.

"I bet that's where I know you from." He replies before coming to a halt in front of my house.

"16538 Royal Drive. We have arrived." He says opening his door then opening mine.

"You are so nice compared to the cab drivers we have in Los Angeles." I say stepping out of the car, inhaling the fresh air.

"Haha. I try. I mean a lot of cab drivers are dicks. I don't want to be one of them." He replies getting my suitcase out of the trunk of the car.

"Well thank you for driving me." I say.

"It was my pleasure." He replies.

Danny gets in the car and drives away, leaving me on the street curb in front of my childhood home. I undo the handle of my suitcase and start to walk up the sidewalk towards the front door.

I raise my hand to knock on the door, but I stop it about an inch from the door.

Why did I come here? Knowing Anthony, he forgot to ask my dad for my hand in marriage, but lets hope he didn't forget because then an even bigger problem would arise.

I knock on the door and I hear footsteps approaching. The door opens and a familiar face is standing in front of me: my dad.

"Baby Girl!" He yells.

"Daddy!" I yell embracing him in a hug.

"Come in, come in!" He says.

I come in and the familiar scent of my childhood home engulfs my nose. It brings back so many memories, along with a smile on my face.

I hear dishes clinking in the kitchen and I start to wonder towards the doorway.

"I'll take your bag to your room, okay sweetie?" My dad asks.

"Yeah, it's fine." I say, "Hey where's baby brother-Chris?"

"Oh, he is hanging out at Eli's house then going to practice. He should be back later."

I forgot to mention that I had a younger brother. His name is Christopher (we all call him Chris; but I call him baby-brother Chris). My dads adopted him when he was around 2 years old and when Kaden and I were 12. Him and I have always been really close, even though I am 10 years older and live halfway across the country.

"Oh, okay. I was looking forward to seeing him. Where's Drew?" I ask.

"He is doing kitchen doing dishes." My dad replies, walking up the stairs.

"Ahh, that's why I heard the dishes clinking in the kitchen," I say, "I'm going to go talk to him, okay dad?"

"That's fine sweetie."

I make it to the doorway and see my other dad, Drew doing the dishes at the sink.

"I'm baaaacccckkkk!" I say dragging out the words.

"Savannah!!!" Drew screams, coming over to give me a hug.

"Drew, you look amazing! What's different?" I ask

"I may or may not have shed a few pounds. But, honey, lets talk about you! You my friend look a-maz-ing." He yells.

"Well I hate to admit, looking this good isn't that easy." I say while adding in a sassy hair flip.

Drew lets out a laugh, "Here, I'm almost done with these dishes then we can sit down and talk about everything that has happened since we have been face to face. We have a lot to catch up on."

"I am totally fine with that. I'll be in the living room when you're ready." I say walking towards my childhood living room.

I go to sit down on the couch, but a picture on the mantel above the fireplace catches my eye.

It is a picture my brother, Kaden, and his wife, Audrey. The two are in a field somewhere and they are looking at each other with a loving look in their eyes. It makes me think of the picture of Anthony and I at Kaden and Audrey's wedding. The one that caught my eye when Anthony proposed to me. Also, for some reason, the picture makes me regret (even more) the things that I said to him.

"Okay, so what; ahh, that picture. They just gave it to us a couple days ago. We still have no idea why they had the pictures taken." Drew says, patting the seat on the couch next to him.

"Maybe they just wanted to have pictures taken. Anthony and I have had that done before..." I say, stopping myself before I start to choke up.

I sit on the couch next to Drew and start to spill everything out to him. The fight. What I said to Anthony's mom (Drew absolutely loved it.) I left out the part about us getting engaged though. I mean, I didn't want to talk about it and if Anthony and I were really done, then I don't want my dads to flip out about us being engaged for two days.

"Wow, Savannah. This all seems like hell. Honey, you need a drink. I'm going to go crack open a bottle of wine. Would you like a red or a white?" He says while getting up from the couch.

"Surprise me!" I say.