Everything Changes

Chapter 4: Family time

I was glaring at Emma as she told Andrew and Zack about the embarrassing adventure that I had endured, while she abandoned me. Traitor.

"Come on Aria, it was funny." They laughed at my expense and all I wanted to do was smack each and every one of them. Lucky for them the only thing stopping me was my love for them. I buried my head into my hands. "Fine you win, I will stop." She pulled me into a hug, giggling. I can't stay mad at her. Even if she told Zack about an embarrassing moment of mine.

Though Zack seemed oddly quiet as Emma told the story. Was he jealous? No that couldn't be it. I brushed off the thought quickly. The way he was clenching his jaw had me confused.

"Let's just hope you don't run into anyone again." Andrew chuckled at his own joke. I reached over to smack him, but the sound of the front door unlocking distracted us. My mother walked through, holding a handful of groceries. "Mind giving me a hand?" Andrew was safe. For now.

We headed outside to retrieve the remainder of the groceries from my mothers trunk. My hand grazed Zach's hand as I reached for the bag. I yanked my hand back. Yet I could still faintly feel his touch. He didn't seem to notice our hands touching.

"As an appreciation of my gratitude, I'm making you guys tacos for dinner." The boys hooted and screamed out. "TACOS!" Before running upstairs. Emma and I just ignored them and started to help my mom in the kitchen.

"Thank you both for helping me. Mind chopping up the tomatoes dear?" My mom asked as she handed Emma the bag of tomatoes sitting on the counter.

Emma got to dicing the tomatoes right away, as I washed the lettuce and started peeling it apart. Enjoying the atmosphere coming from inside the kitchen. "What did y'all do today? Anything exciting?" I shot death glares at the back of Emma's head. Silently begging her to keep your mouth shut.

"Well we went to the mall and got super cute clothes, Mrs Nova." Emma says while placing the knife down on the counter. "Oh, that sounds like it was a fun time. You both will have to show me what you bought later." My mom loved shopping just as much as  Emma did. Sometimes I wondered if we were switched at birth. I knew better because I was the spitting image of my dad. Same blue eyes, same bone structure, we even had the same shade of brown hair.

"I love that idea mom, don't you Aria?" Emma poked my side as she wiggled her eyebrows. "You are going to love the outfits. Aria even let me pick out a few for her." Yeah, sure, a few was an understatement. Try more like all of them. Even though she promised only a couple. If I hadn't put my foot down I'd be buried under a mountain of clothes.

"Oh, something interesting did happen at the mall." Emma turned around and hoisted herself up on the counter. Taking a piece of diced tomato and plopping it into her mouth. "Aria almost got asked out by this guy who works at the pet fair. If only he hadn't been interrupted by this guy Ryder from our school." She giggled. "And then she embarrassed herself by crashing right into him." She really loved torturing me.

"Oh my, really? How did you manage to run into him?" She said teasingly. Emma and her big mouth. "Well Emma abandoned me in my time of need" I gave her a pointed look. "Instead of doing his job the guy who worked there spent his time hitting on me. Ryder voiced his opinion on the subject." Thankfully. "So I took that as my que to leave and wasn't watching where I was going." Mom ignored my irritated tone. "Was he cute?"

"Which one?" Emma responded. "Either of them." My mom replied. "They weren't really my type, you know?"

"Type? I didn't know you had one." Zack's face flashed into my mind. Although I would never admit that to her. 

"Well I do and neither of them fit that. Anyway, how was your day?" She continued stirring the pots in front of her. "Same as usual, X-rays, exams, and just helping out where I can."