Life One Summer [On Hold]

Chapter 2

We arrived at the ranch a couple hours later and I couldn't help but feel slightly nervous, normally I tried to be confident but today had been exhausting. I opened up the truck door with a clunk and walked over to get my luggage, there was so much that I couldn't get it all at once but Lily fixed the problem, "Oh don't worry about that honey, I'll get Travis to bring in the rest."

The first thing I noticed was how big the house was, it seemed to be made entirely from wood. Along the front of the house was a long hooded porch with a swinging seat at one end and a wooden table with some chairs. There were a few kids toys scattered around the front lawn.

When finally I looked up from the house my mouth fell open, apart from many, many fields there were some gigantic mountains looming in the distance. In a way it was beautiful, but there was definitely a stark difference from California which I couldn't quite shake.

Walking up to the front door, Lily opened it up gesturing me inside. We walked from the front hallway into a large, chaotic kitchen. A dog was barking at a black haired man, who was balancing a small red-headed girl in one hand whilst stirring a saucepan with the other. Two boys were playing a loud video game in the conjoining living room and shouting at each other, whilst a blue haired girl sat reading a book in the corner completely oblivious.

When we entered the man turned to see us and a wave of relief washed over him, "Oh thank god you're here Lily." He passed the girl over to her before turning back to the saucepan.

Lily smiled at the girl before beginning to speak, "So everyone, this is Aria." But no one was listening. She looked back apologetically to me and I shrugged. Taking this as a hint we walked back out of the kitchen and into the hall, "I'm so sorry Aria, usually they're not quite as...distracted. Why don't we go see your room then?"

I raised my eyebrows as she led me up the steps. Along a corridor there were about seven doors all going off in different directions. Lily walked all the way up it and opened the door to the room right at the back of the house. I followed her in, stooping slightly at how low it was. Inside was...cosy. It was made almost completely from wood with a bright multi-coloured rug on the floor, on one side was a small single bed and on the other a small wooden vanity table with a lamp and a wardrobe. The one thing I really noticed was that the ceiling seemed to slant downwards, and I was pretty sure that this room was in the roof.

Lily put down the girl, who began pottering around happily, before looking at me waiting for an opinion, so I answered. "It's nice." I said as enthusiastically as I could.

"Thank you honey." She replied, "Now, I know it's probably not as flashy as your L.A. room but I'm glad you like it." We heard a loud clatter and she looked back through the open door, "I should probably go see what that was, you can just get settled in and I'll call you when it's time for dinner. Come on Riley."

I nodded and she disappeared back through the door, the red-headed girl following her. Shutting the door, I looked around my new hut of a room and sighed. I sat down the bed and looked out the tiny square window that was fitted into it, fortunately it opened and I allowed some fresh air into the room.

"Oh my god." I whispered to myself before rummaging through my bag in search of anything that might make this room a little less depressing. I found the portable speaker that I'd thrown in and put it on the stool that was a make-shift bedside table, plugging my phone in I put on some Bastille hoping that Dan Smith would make me see things a little more positively. Then I set to work unloading the things I had in this suitcase, putting clothes in the wardrobe and make-up on the table. I looked at myself in the mirror and apart from slightly dirty hair I wasn't too bad. I undid my ponytail and rummaged through my bag for a dark blue beanie. I put it on and retouched my brow gel, those suckers weren't going anywhere.