falling down - wyatt oleff

chapter 03

PA'S APARTMENT.

03 — Florence

  We arrived at the airport in California four hours later. My ear bugged me the entire flight so I took a suggestion by mom to sleep, but it didn't help at all. Thankfully, it was over in a quick snap and mom and I left the plane as soon as we landed to pick up our other two bags, dreading to get out of there. It was packed with several people and I felt very uncomfortable.

"Who's coming to pick us up?" I inquired as we stood out in the warm sun outside of the airport. Many cars were racing down the road and heaving people in and out of here and I wished that I was one of them.

"Your aunt," she answered when a silver van stopped by the curb. "Ah, there she is."

Aunt Jenna, the only sister of moms, stepped out of the drivers side of the van and her blonde poofy hair stood out the most from her appearance. It made her look like an actual lion with that giant poof on her head. She gave us a crooked grin as she ran towards, engulfing both of us with a huge bear hug. I was loosing oxygen and my life depended on air real quick.

"Laura, Florence, lovely meeting you today!" She said as her thick british accent hung off each word. Her pearly blue eyeshadow lingered in my view and her shiny yellow teeth flared. A total resemblance of a lion. "Haven't seen you in years, Florence. Blimey, you've gotten yourself an arse! Horrible thing you've got no chest like your mum when she was around your age."

"Oh shut your trap, Jennavive," mom retorted and scoffed. "She looks wonderful without breasts, don't you?"

My cheeks burned and Aunt Jenna chuckled. "Just jokin' with 'ya. Now, shall we go off to dad's apartment?"

We packed the four bags into the back of her van and hauled ourselves inside. I sat in the back while the both of them sat in front, chatting among each other about their lives and such. It took a bit of a while to get to pa's house, but it was quicker than I thought.

I never really thought of why Aunt Jenna's accent was thicker than mom's. Mom told me that she moved to the United States earlier than her sister, so Jenna grew onto her accent more than mom. She soon moved to California with grandpa and mom, dad, and I stayed in Michigan with my older brother, Carter. Although, dad doesn't have a british accent; he was born in Michigan and I followed along his footsteps of not having one.

I also never talk about Carter either. He's about twenty — two years old, being seven years older than me. He moved out to California to pursue his acting career back when he was fifteen year old and stars in a popular television series. I forgot what it was called, but it's pretty popular and I could tell he's everyone's favorite from how famous he is. Sadly, he didn't mention having a younger sister at all in any interviews so I don't exist at all in his world. Thanks a lot, Carter.

The van came to a halt outside of a large building with hundreds of glossy windows. Mom announced that we finally winded up at the apartments and I hopped out of the car, excited about meeting grandpa for the first time. I was too excited that I forgot to text Elora and dad that we arrived safely.

  "Grandpa will love you," mom whispers in my ear as we approach the large double doors in front. We roll the luggage inside and take a right to the two pair of elevators. Many business men were piling up after the elevators and we had to wait a couple of minutes to get one to ourseleves. It bore me to death, but we escaped the lobby instantly.

  Reaching floor three, Aunt Jenna mentioned the room number was 311, so we took a sharp left, right, and it was the third room down a long hallway. I was growing anxious at the thought of living with grandpa and hoping he would be courteous to having two more people living with him. He lived alone, so maybe company will cheer him up.

  Mom knocked twice on the wooden door and the doorknob rattled. The door whooshed open and I could spot millions of wrinkles across the old face of grandpa's. His nonexistent eyebrows seemed to raise when his baggy eyes flickered from mom to Jenna and to me. Especially myself.

  "Laura?" He asks confusingly and mom sent him a kind smile.

  "Dad."

  He opened his arms and mom dropped the bag, wrapping her arms around him while he kissed both of her cheeks. It was an adorable sight, not gonna lie.

  "Oh, how much I've missed you," he uttered in her blonde hair and shut his weary eyes. They split apart and he squinted as if he needed glasses at me and mom. "Why have you two come all the way from Michigan to California? Bloody hell, is that you, Florence?"

  I smiled and said, "Hi grandpa." My small lips went to the stubble on his cheek and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "How are you?"

  "Blinding because you're finally here," he cheerfully answered and backed up from the doorway. "Now, come in, come in! You must explain why you've come to visit!"

  An hour passes after mom's long explanation of moving into the apartment with pa and he finally understands. They also chatted about their lives and information about nan's death. Grandpa was emotional about it, even though he's known about it for months now. He couldn't believe his wife was killed by his daughters husband, but he understood everything. He didn't blame him though, the poor bloke. I was bored of their political talk after the conversation about nan, so I took my suitcase to the room I would share with mom in the apartment. It was small, but big enough to have two twin beds, drawers, and a desk for my pleasure. There was a medium — sized closet that would hold all of my clothes and shoes and it was better than nothing. Perfect, even.

  I pulled out my phone from my bag and jumped onto the plump bed that was the closest to the grey wall. Turning on the phone, it was bombed with billions of notifications from Elora, dad, and social media. I first clicked on Elora and began texting her immediately.

loren xD : hey! we arrived to california in time and i'm at my grandpas right now. it's amazing i swear. i wish you were here :(

  Then I texted dad.

flore : hey dad! guess what? i'm finally in california! aunt jenna drove us to grandpas and it's beautiful. i miss you a lot.

  Both of them took time to reply so I scrolled through twitter, liking a couple tweets and clicked on Elora's fan page of those actors/actresses she obsesses over all the time. She tweeted pictures of those boys from yesterday and the only girl in their group. They were pretty cute and I hoped I would meet them in Los Angeles. Only one could dream.

elora;( : finally, omg. u little hoe, i thot the plane would crash or something and you'd die without saying i love you to me :( HAHA JUST JOKING, but how's cali?

loren xD :FANTASTIC OMFG i wish u were here spending time with me :(((( i literally miss you sm id die without u right now

elora;( : good thing you won't because we'll be texting the entire time you're there. have u heard from carter yet? y'all haven't talked for ages and i swear if he keeps on excluding u from his life i'll eat his ass

elora;( : I MEANT BEAT NOT EAT

elora;( : i mean who wouldn't?? xD

loren xD : i would #incest#loveislove LMFAOOOO

loren xD : but fr, i'll pay you to beat his ass. but no, i haven't and i hope i can. i'll ask my mom if we could visit him and if we do, i'll facetime u and u can beat him through the camera

elora;( : HAHHA GOD BLESS

elora;( : i gotta go, sorry. i'm tired as hell and i need to sleep. i'll text you later loren and you can maybe ft me and tell me everything you've seen so far

loren xD : good idea, i'm gonna go and text my dad. love you sexy🅱️❤️

elora;( : goodbye cutie and i love you toooooooooooo

  I grinned and began texting dad. California might not be as bad as I thought it would.