I heard footsteps on the inside, coming near the door. It soon opened. A lady in her mid-30's appeared with a large smile across her face.
"You must be Abby," she said, still smiling. I nodded. She grabbed my bags and led me inside the house.
"This is the room you will be staying in," she said, guiding me to a large guest bedroom at the end of the upstairs hallway. The house was just as I remembered it when I lived there during my childhood. It was a huge white mansion. It contained eight bedrooms, four bathrooms, two family rooms, a large kitchen, two dining rooms, three-car garage, indoor swimming pool, game room, and a studio apartment in the back yard. Living in Southern California sure was expensive.
I sat down at the edge of my bed and browsed the room with my eyes. It was quite empty. I'm guessing Mom, Dad and Aunt Beth had this all planned out for some time. A knock soon came at my door.
"Come in," I said. It was my cousin Erik. He looked a lot different since the last time I had seen him. He was a lot like me. He had layered shoulder-length brown hair, blue eyes, lots of piercings and tattoos, and pretty much the same clothing style as me...just, in a boy form.
A boy walked in behind him. Longish jet-black hair cut in multiple layers, golden eyes, a pearly white smile, slim but built; he wore on his body an Elysia shirt, camouflage shorts, black and white classic lace-up vans and a "DRUG FREE" zip-up sweatshirt. He also had multiple facial piercing. From what I could see, he had his septum, snakebites, bridge, 2-inch gauges and both sides of his nose pierced.
"Abby!" He yelled running over to me.
"Erik!" I yelled back, meeting him half way. Our bodies clashed, forcing us into the biggest embrace.
"I've missed you!" he said.
"I missed you, too!" I replied, nearly in tears. We let go of our hug and examined each other.
"Wow, you look...different!" he said.
"So do you! Looks like we both went down the same path, eh?" I chuckled. He nodded. I looked over to see the boy who came in with Erik leaning against the door frame.
"Who's he?" I asked Erik, nodding my head over to his direction.
"Oh, shit, sorry. Benny," Erik said, waving his hand, directing him to come over [and he did], "Benny, this is my cousin Abigail, Abby, this is Benny." I smiled and shook his hand, as he did the same to me.
The rest of the day, the three of us hung out. I found out that Benny was very fun, sarcastic and talkative as hell. Erik on the other hand was quiet, calm and sensitive.
As we sat down on a park bench, Erik filled me in on everything that had been happening while I was gone. About his girlfriend of four years that left him after he proposed to her, the new girl that came into his life after and made him fall in love again. It was crazy how sensitive he was to these kinds of things. He'd always been a hopeless romantic and had a fetish for romantic girls. It made me smile knowing he didn't turn out the be the I'm the man and I'm going to treat girls however the fuck I want type.
It was my turn to tell them about what had been going on with me. So, in just a few minutes I was able to explain my lonely love life.
"I only had maybe two or three boyfriends over in Pennsylvania. They all but one treated me like dirt. It was horrible. The one that didn't just didn't think he was ready to be in a relationship," I said with a sigh. I continued, "I really wish it didn't have to end. Lucas was such an amazing, big-hearted guy. I don't think I'll ever be able to find anyone like him."
As the sun started setting, we decided it would be best to go home. Benny decided he'd stay the night so the three of us could chat more. I thought it was a fun idea.
We soon arrived home. An aroma of delicious food filled the air in the whole house. "Mmm--mashed potatoes," I smiled, deeply inhaling the air as I entered the kitchen.
"Corn," Benny said.
"Steak," Erik added.
"Oh, you kids made it just in time for dinner," Aunt Beth said, bringing us each a plate of food.
"This looks delicious Auntie," I said, grabbing a fork.
"Alright, now let's say grace."
We bowed our heads as Erik said the prayers.
"Amen," we said in unison.
"Let's grub!" Benny yelled excitedly.
An hour passed as we stuffed our faces with food. I walked slowly up to my room, Benny and Erik trailing behind.
The rest of the night was spent laughing and carrying on, telling stories, making jokes. It was fun. We ended up watching three movies until we finally fell asleep at the crack of dawn.
