The Definition of Me

Chapter 4: The Unexpected Guest

The taco night me and aunt Gemma planned on having went as I had predicted; we sat down on the couch at 11am, nibbling on the food and chattering whilst 'The Notebook' was playing in the background, and in the meantime I was trying to avoid the conversation about why I actually came to stay at her place as much as possible and I seemed to have succeeded. At least I never heard Gemma mention it after she had finished her fourth taco, and at around 1am we decided to have a spa night. She light up all her vanilla candles in the house, made us her home-made avocado and honey facial mask whilst I was preparing some black tea with two sugars and milk, just like she and I liked it. And although the whole purpose of this get-together was to actually discuss "my arrival", I have simply enjoyed spending quality time with her. This night was also the total opposite of my after 8pm routine, which is part of the reason I cherished it so much, childishly wishing it would stay like this forever.

***

"Okay, so your usual black jeans, a Golden State T-shirt and white converses are the clothes you will wear on your first date with him? Seriously?" Eva asked quite sarcastically as we video chatted through Skype.

"Wait, do you expect me to wear a fancy dress to a basketball game?" I answered with a question rhetorically.

"I mean...How about something a little more stylish?" she suggested, holding back her laughter. Clearly she was just joking.

"Wow, so the person who told me to just be myself when I came for advice during my freshman year relationship is now becoming The Mean Girl? And I was not in school for less then two days." I giggled, sorting out my pile of clothes that I was showing to Eva.

"That's exactly why I need you to come back here and stop ditching school for no apparent reason. Get me back to being a human."

"Or you can just keep on acting like Gretchen Wieners."

"Oh my god, that is so fetch!" she quoted, making us both burst out of laughter. "Anyway, does your mom know you're away?"

I froze for a second anxiously. "My mom must have noticed I am away by this point. She must have already searched for me. What if she already called Gemma? Although the two haven't spoken for more then 6 years." I thought to myself.

Gemma and my mom were close sisters when they were growing up, but their completely different personalities drove them apart in adulthood. And that's one of the reasons me and Gemma separated as well, although at the time when I was still a child, I did not understand the reasoning, but as I became a teenager, I started to figure it out.

My mom, who was the younger sibling, graduated college, got a doctor's degree and became a busy bee, working a full-time job at New York Times in order to pay the bills whilst living in a penthouse in Manhattan with me and my dad, who I call a full-time alcoholic. However, he wasn't always like this. At least that's what my mother told me as a child, but now that I am almost seventeen, I often times think she was just oblivious.

I always found my mom focused on the success of her career more then her relationships with my dad and me. Although at this point, I do not know what takes more of her energy, dad or work, but nevertheless me and her became quite distant due to these complexed circumstances.

My aunt Gemma on the other hand, worked at a small cafe she owned, called "Vanilla Coffeehouse". She created it back in 1987 , when she dropped her bachelor's degree and moved from her parent's house to Brooklyn with her at-the-time boyfriend Frank and her best friend Louise. Now the three have their own apartments, but still take care of the place together.
Gemma never got married or had kids, but I always found her in a good, positive state of mind. And I think that's part of the reason she is who she is today, and that was also part of the reason she and my mom stopped talking to each other; they became the polar opposites. Living completely different lives in the same city.