Hi5 Family

Julia DeMars

Honestly graduating college might seem like a positive thing, but now I had to figure out what I was going to do. I went to college on the east coast, but I was born in the west coast. So I guess it was time to go home, but what was I supposed to go home to? my mother passed away when I was 6 and my father has a restraining order and is living with his new family. I guess the only thing I had to go home to was my brother Woods. Woods and I have always been close as siblings because we knew the two of us were going to have to be the ones that took care of each other. Woods was older than me by 2 years so he was 8 when our mother passed away and our father left us in the care of our grandparents. So here I was sitting in the airport with no plan and just a plane ticket back to California from Massachusetts. I heard them call my boarding group as I grabbed my jacket and boarded with the first class. This was going to be a rough 5 hour flight and that if we didn't get delayed. I sat in my single seat and fell asleep to music on my way to California. I had no plans, no job, and no place to stay. I had no friends and no passions. The ONLY thing I had was my brother. After my plane landed I got into a cab and I headed to his last known address of where I remember he moved to. I got to the apartment and asked the taxi to stay by the curb till I could make sure I had the right location. I walked up a couple flights of stairs and knocked on the beige door of the apartment. A couple minutes later a really tall pale guy with strawberry blonde hair and a rough beard answered the door. "Hi!" he said looking at me a little confused, but with an inviting look. "I'm really sorry to bother you, but does Woodland DeMars live here?" I asked hoping for the best. "Yeah he does, but he isn't here right now can I help you?" "Yeah I was wondering if I could wait for him. I'll wait out here if it bothers you." "No come in please!" He said welcoming me. I waived off my cab from the balcony and grabbed my suitcase and rolled it into the apartment. It was probably a bad call since I had no idea who this guy was and if he was even telling the truth, but you know how you get a first impression of people. Well this guy seemed friendly and inviting, not sketchy at all. He closed the door behind me and I walked to the living room and sat down on the couch. "Sorry Woods isn't here. He went to go get us all dinner with Gunner. I'm Tanner by the way!" He said holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Julia." I said shaking his hand. "I'm sorry, but Woods hasn't really mentioned you. I take it he also doesn't know that you are here." "No. I just got here from Massachusetts. I had no where else to go I'm so sorry." I said looking around at the nice apartment. "It's no problem. Woods has enough room in his room. Plus I bet you guys will be wanting to catch up." he said looking me over. "Yeah. It's been years since we've seen each other." After I said that I heard voices outside the door and keys being inserted into the door handle. I stood up honestly a little nervous. Woods walked in with the guy I was guessing Tanner had mentioned named Gunner. They were talking and when Woods turned around he froze. The door slowly closed behind them as Gunner put the food on the counter. Tanner walked over and stood behind Gunner as the whole room was quiet. I felt tears come to my eyes as I ran over and hugged Woods. He wrapped his arms around me tightly as we both buried our heads into the other's shoulder. I was crying and he was rubbing my back gently to calm me down. He pulled away from the hug and looked at me then pulled me back into a tight hug.  After a couple more minutes of hugging we pulled apart with us both in tears. "What are you doing here?" he said wiping away my tears. "I graduated early and the only place I could think of going to was you." "How long are you here for?" he said as I straightened myself up. "For good, but I promise you I won't stay here. I'll get a job and I'll find a place to live and I promise you won't see me often. I'll stay out of your way." I said as I rolled my suitcase close to me. "Are you kidding me! you are staying here for the night and i'll help you find a place to live and a job, but I want us to be close by. I want you back into my life for good. I won't let us get separated again I promise!" he grabbed my bag and rolled it off to his room. I fixed myself so I wasn't so much of a hot mess. "Hi, I'm Gunner." The other guy that came in with Woods said. "Hi, I'm Julia. Sorry ya'll had to witness that." They shrugged it off and Woods came back out into the main room. "Woods! Why didn't you tell us you had a pretty girlfriend?" I laughed realizing I hadn't properly introduced myself and the way Woods and I were close to each other we actually got this question a lot. "I'm sorry guys....um... I'm Julia DeMars. Wood's little sister." They both looked shocked and then looked at each other to make sure the other was just as shocked. "Woods! You have a sister!" Tanner said and he shook Woods by the shoulders. "Yeah." "Why didn't you tell us?" Gunner asked. "Well she and I got separated when we were younger and we weren't allowed to exactly keep in contact with each other till we were both of age, but at that time she was already living her life and I was already living mine. Now she graduated school and she's here. I'm so proud of you sis!" he said wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "Wait you look really young to have graduated college." "I'm 21 I graduated early since I did most of my college things in high school." "Guys we can all get to know each other better later, but since she is here I'm going to take her out to dinner so she and I can catch up. We'll be back later." Woods said ushering me out the door and too his truck. It was quiet in the car, but I was honestly just glad to be reunited with my brother again since we were so close as kids.  This was going to be a great start to our renewed relationship!