"Jay, are you even listening to me?"
"Sorry, what?" I turn my slightly confused gaze to my father as my daze fades.
"Ok so you weren't listening while I was complaining about the burden that comes with being an owner, that's alright." he dramatically declares.
"I'm sorry dad, I'm just .. "
"Overly excited?" he said, with the biggest smile ever.
"Sure but I'm also really nervous I guess"
"Why are you talking about? This is our family. You have known these people all, well most of your life" he says in his comforting dad tone.
"They are and I have but it's been a minute since I visited them" to be honest it had been more than a minute. I hadn't visited my aunt in almost 4 years. In my defense though, I was really busy with .. you know, being a teenager and all. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I wanna do with myself. But that process got turned upside down real quick when my dad and Uncle decided to bring German baked goods to central London. Because thats exactly what they need here.
So that's why we had to move 918 kilometres away from Hamburg. It's been almost a week since we got here and I haven't really left the apartment for anything other than some overpriced Starbucks tea.
"That doesn't change anything sweetheart. You could steal a boat or I don't know drop out of college and they would still always have your back. I however would be extremely disappointed in you." he says as we pull into my aunties driveway.
"I see what you did there"
"Yeah?" he grins at me.
"Yes, please stop." I mumble out loud.
"Hey, this is entirely your fault. You made me watch Gilmore Girls at least 7 times already. Can't help that I remember every plot point ever." my dad sheepishly grins.
Putting all the blame on me. As per usual. This man was for sure my father.
"Are you two done yet? Can we go inside. I thought we would never arrive and now the two of you won't stop babbling" I turn around to face my overexcited little brother.
"Sam, the ride was only like 20 minutes?"
"Yeah but it felt like hours and I havn't seen them in ages." with that being said he left the car and ran towards the front door. For him 7 months was a long time but it was nothing against my 4 years. I realized that my dad had left the car too, so I took my bag and went after them. I entered the house and a small body ran right into me.
"Uff" the kid nearly knocked the wind out of me, and that's saying something.
"Who are you?" the little girl asked me with her lovely brown eyes shining up at me.
Before I got to answer her, someone answered for me."Her name is Jay and she happens to be the coolest cousin on the face of the earth."
I looked up to see who it was and I was absolutely happy to see Jonathan. When we were little, he and I were the dream team or the nightmare team. Really depends on who your asking.
"Jonathan" I say with an huge smile on my face as we embrace."It's so good to see you."
"Are you sure about that? Cause I'm surprised that you're even alive or remember who I am" he scolds.
"Oh don't be like that" I playfully hit his shoulder while flashing him my most innocent smile.
"Oh I be like that. You haven't been answering any of my texts or calls in the last couple of months." he grumbles annoyed while scrunching his face up.
"I'm sorry, I needed some me time." I told him apologetically.
"Well it's not like you can ignore any of my calls now, because if you do, I will just stop by to annoy the shit out of you."
"Wow, I'm really looking forward to that"
Sarcasm. If you couldn't tell.
Surprisingly, who could have foreseen this, my family welcomed me back with open arms and some great food.
Once we all finished dinner, the time went by so fast as we sat around the fireplace and talked. We laughed about all the pranks Jonathan and I played on our family over the years but we also talked about the future.
I was feeling emotional and just overall happy to be with my family again. I guess living in London couldn't be that bad with them by my side.
______________
Jonathan's POV
"So you missed me, right?" I ask Jay while we perch down on the edge of our pool with our feet in the cold water.
"Oh well yes of course. To be honest with you, I have no idea how i didn't spend the last four years, crying in my bed because i didn't get to see my favourite cousin." she rolls her eyes at me. God how much I've missed her.
When we were younger we spend so much time together but things have changed I guess.
"But it's really good to be back, I mean I miss my friends and the weather .." she chuckled like a 6 year old. "But things got a little strange back home, sooo it's good to be here."
"What do you mean with things where strange?"
She raised her eyebrows and took a deep breath while she looked at the pool "Well .."
It's seems hard for her to talk about whatever the situation is, so I don't push her.
"Okay, so it's pretty cliche but.." she looked so unsure of herself, that wasn't like the Jay I had known all my life.
"My boyfriend, well now ex- boyfriend cheated on me with .." she paused.
"Your best friend?" I asked her.
"Yep. You wanna know the not so cliche part?" she looked at me with a fake smile. I nod slowly, not sure about what would come next.
"My best friend just so happens to be a guy. Pretty sure I have mentioned Felix before, right?" she smiles awkwardly at me. "Anyway I can't even hate them for it. I'm happy that they found each other. Sad that it had to be me who got hurt because of it. But something hasn't been right for a while. After three years together, I knew that it was over before he told me that he had cheated on me."
"Well I can't say that I saw that one coming. I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm also very proud about how mature you are about this." she smiled softly I response.
"Sooo speaking of extraordinary pain, did I tell you that I recently nearly lost a ball?" I quickly change the topic.
"A ball? What are you talk.. " she started with an confused tone in her voice but in a matter of seconds I found myself and Jay in the pool. Someone had pushed us from the edge of the pool.
I turned my head to see who it was and was faced by five boys which where shaking with laughter. I knew exactly who they where. Non other than my best mates. I looked back at Jay and started laughing as well. She was swearing like sailor while getting out of the pool. Which I totally understood, considering that she was wearing a white shirt which wasn't all that white anymore.
It was stained red. That was all fault of her bright red hair.
