Words [Riley Matthews]

03 ~ the move

Gabriel unwillingly, got into the backseat of the car next to Emma. During the car ride to New York from Boston, he had his earphones on, listening to music. He looked out of the window, looking at everything they were passing. He had no interest in joining the conversation his father and siblings had.

It took some time for them to arrive, when they did, Gabriel got out of the car and looked up at the building they'll be moving it to. According to Grant, it's just a temporary time. They'll be moving into a house later on, when the school years starts. Gabriel had his doubts, but all he has to do was wait and see if they actually move to the new house or not.

Gabriel sighed and turned around to get his belongings from the car.

Once the family of four settled down in the house, Grant said, "Alright! The moving van will hopefully be here this afternoon and they'll bring the furniture and everything up here. For now, we'll be -"

He was cut off by the buzzer buzzing.

Grant turned his head towards the door and looked at his three kids, confused.

"It seems like we have visitors," he said. He walked over to the door to reveal a woman with long, wavy hair and a girl no older than twelve years old at her side. "Hi," Grant greeted them.

"Hi," the woman said. "I'm Topanaga Matthews. This is my daughter, Riley."

"Hi," Riley said, cheerfully.

"Hi, Topanga, Riley," Grant said, politely. "I'm Grant Miller and those are my kids, Justin, Emma and Gabriel."

He pointed at each one of his kids as he said their names.

"Hi, guys," Topanga said.

"Hey," Justin said, nodding his head.

"Hi," Emma said, cheerfully.

Gabriel didn't respond. He looked away, then back at Topanga and Riley.

"We heard that you four are moving in and we thought we'd invite you for dinner, tonight," Topanga said.

"Oh, really? Thank you," Grant said. "We'll gladly come. Right, kids?"

Justin and Emma agreed and once again, Gabriel remained quiet. He'd much rather stay quiet than say something that he might regret later on.

"Where are your furniture?" Riley wondered.

"Oh, we're waiting for the moving truck," Grant answered. "They should be here this afternoon."

Riley nodded.

"How old are you kids?" Topanga asked Justin, Emma and Gabriel.

"I'm sixteen," Justin said, "Emma's fourteen and Gabriel's twelve."

"Oh, really?" Topanga said. "Riley's twelve as well."

"Oh, that's good, isn't it?" Grant said. "You two could be friends."

Gabriel stared at his father, expressionless.

"Alright," Topanga said, "we'll get get out of the way."

Grant nodded.

***

Grant took his kids out to McDonalds at 1 PM for lunch. The three of them were quiet hungry and McDonalds was the first place they found.

Gabriel ate his burger silently as Grant talked to Justin and Emma about the activities that they're planning on joining and all the things that they'd like to do. Gabriel only listened. Eventually, he looked down at his hand and took out a pen. He started to write different words onto his arm, hoping he could write them down in his notebook.