To Far Away

New home

It's the day of the moving. The clash of emotions happening inside of me make me feel almost sick to my stomach. I wanna stay in Seattle and dance, but I'm not pleased with the idea of being so far from my parents and living with two guys I haven't talked to in so long. 

I've already spoken to Mr. Mitchell through the phone but today is the first time I'm gonna see him after 5 years, not to mention Nick, who I haven't spoken to at all.

I'm biting my nails while my dad drives to "my new home". My mom in the passenger seat.

"Don't worry sweetie, you can visit us on holidays and we'll be in touch all the time" she says looking back at me.

"I'm ok mom, I just haven't got used to the idea of living with another family yet" I say putting down my hand.

"Cas, we'll facetime every single day, don't be sad, we will annoy you through the computer and it'll feel like we're here with you" my dad jokes in a failed attempt to make me laugh. I give a fake smile though cause I don't want them to worry.

It is 5 pm when we get to the house in Fauntleroy, southwest corner of the city. I get out of the car wearing a white pocket tee, boyfriend jeans and leather slip-ons, my hair is up in a messy bun. 

My dad starts pulling my bags out of the trunk, I look at the house and Liam Mitchell is coming out the door. He looks so different from what I remembered, it's like he stopped taking care of himself, he gained weight and has a weird patchy beard now.

"Michael!" Liam says loudly and hugs my dad.

"Here's the guy who's gonna take care of my baby girl" my dad says and looks at me.

"Dad!" I reply embarrassed and they laugh.

Liam hugs my mom and walks up to me with open arms. I take the hug even tho I don't feel comfortable with him yet.

"I can't believe how big you are. Last time I saw you you were just a little girl." He looks at me from head to toe making me even more uncomfortable. I fake a smile and look down.

"Well, welcome to your new home. Let's go inside." He grabs one of my bags and starts walking towards the house "follow me".

I carry two bags inside the house, my parents right behind me with the rest of my things.

Mr. Mitchell looks back at us "let's see your bedroom, we'll drop your bags there and then we'll go for a house tour" and walks upstairs.

The house is pretty dark and the opposite of homey, it doesn't even say "only guys live here", it's more like "inhabited since 2005". By the way, guys? Where is the second guy? I haven't seen Nick yet.

There are three doors on the second floor, we walk past two and when we get to the third one at the end of the hall Mr. Mitchell opens it up and walks in.  

I walk in right after him. Now I'm standing in a small bedroom with a - dirty- small window, dusty old furniture and a twin bed in one of the corners. No decorations and apparently no air.

Liam Mitchell walks up to the bed and drops my bag. I do the same with the ones I'm carrying and my parents leave the ones they have on the floor.

"How do you like your new bedroom?" Liam asks me.

"It's hm... very nice" I lie looking at the window. I can't look into someone's eyes and lie.

"Let me show you the rest of the house" he says walking up to the door.

My dad approaches me. "Now this is what I call a 5 star bedroom" he whispers into my ear.

I can't stop myself from laughing , but luckily Mr. Mitchell is already out of the room and doesn't hear us. He's showing my mom what's behind the two other doors and from what I can catch from their voices one of them leads to my bathroom.

My dad and I catch up with them when they're going in the direction of the door next to the stairs.  He walks right past it. I strange it at first but I conclude it might be his bedroom and judging by the rest of the house, it's probably messy.

We go downstairs again and apparently the house tour is over because Mr. Mitchell sits on the brown sectional sofa in the middle of the living room. I understand there's nothing much to see. The kitchen is separated from the living room by a half wall, there's an open door showing a small bathroom in the living room and a closed door in the kitchen, I guess that's all.

"Take a seat guys, make yourselves at home." he says tapping on the sofa.

My parents sit and they start talking about their moving to Argentina. I stand there staring at them for a moment. My mind goes to Nickolas again, would he be behind one of those closed doors? I wanna know but I don't wanna ask. 

"Uh, sorry" I interrupt "do you mind if I go start unpacking? You'll have time to talk and I'll come down again in about half an hour." 

"Go ahead sweetie, call me if you need help with anything" my mom smiles at me and they all go back to the previous conversation.

"Where's Nickolas by the way?" I hear my dad ask while I walk upstairs.

I stop at the top of the stairs listening  and trying to make sure they won't see me.

"He's been giving guitar lessons to a friend and always gets home late" Mr. Mitchell answers.

I head up to my bedroom now knowing I probably won't be seeing Nickolas today. I'm exhausted, the two things on my mind right now are a hot bath and a good night of sleep so I'll probably be going to bed early.

I open up the first bag and start pulling out my clothes and putting them on the bed. I look around the bedroom trying to find a place for them and spot a wood wardrobe. I walk up to it, pull one of the drawers open and start shoving in my clothes.

When I'm done with the second bag I go to check in on my parents, I observe them from the stairs, they seem pretty involved in the conversation. I look around the living room, no sign of Nickolas. 

I go back to the bedroom, grab a towel and pajamas and head towards the bathroom. I walk in and lock the door behind me. I don't wanna take too long so instead of a bath I stick to a warm shower.