If It Comes Back

Chapter 6

"Hawaii, New York, Miami... hell, even Houston! Out of all of the cities in the U.S. we could have gone to for a vacation and you're telling me we're going to Memphis?!"

"I told you it was more like a getaway, not an actual vacation."

"What in the hell made you stop work in the studio and say, 'Hey, I'm gonna take a trip to Memphis'... of all places!" Thirty minutes into their hour drive and Gigi was still up in arms with Aubrey's reveal of the location for their three-day getaway. It's not that she expected some over the top trip, although she wouldn't have been surprised as that was Aubrey's usual go-to, yet she couldn't understand what attracted him to the idea of traveling to the state of Tennessee. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, about the area that screamed romance and relaxation.

Aubrey released an exhausted sigh mentally preparing himself for the next fit Gigi was about to throw. "It's the family reunion."

"Reunion?! The Graham family reunion?! Why would you bring me?! I'm not family! I'm not a Graham! They don't even know me!"

"Babe you've been to one of our reunions before." It was the summer before their senior year of high school and Gigi had somehow convinced her father to let her travel to Memphis with Aubrey and his dad. Summers in Tennessee were an annual thing for Aubrey. His dad would pick him up from Toronto and bring him back to the states to spend time with his side of the family. The fifteen-hour car ride had always been a time for them to bond and, for Dennis, to catch up on Aubrey's life as he tended to miss quite a bit of it do to being in and out of jail. And though Aubrey was usually able to look past his father's downfalls and enjoy his time with him and his paternal side, the year Gigi traveled with them and had been a particularly intense one between the two, so much, that Aubrey refused to even go to Memphis that summer. Despite Gigi's attempts to convince him to go so he wouldn't miss an opportunity to bond with the other side of his family and work on his relationship with his dad, he was adamant on staying in Toronto claiming the only way he could get through being down there was if she was with him. So, Gigi being Aubrey's emotional crutch, at the time, and always trying to help him, made it happen and just two days after his protest of refusing to go, she, Aubrey and Dennis were on the road to Memphis.

"That was like a gazillion years ago! They won't remember me and I don't want them to look at me like some intruder!"

Aubrey grabbed ahold of Gigi's hand to stop her flailing and plead his case. He could understand her reaction to it all and he knew Memphis or a reunion wasn't an ideal place or time but desperate times called for desperate measures. "Gi, you're not an intruder, you're with me, and you are family. My family. It'll be fine. This trip was a last minute idea I had and I will admit I probably didn't think it through clearly but I wanted to get you out of LA and the reunion was happening so I thought; why not kill two birds with one stone. I get to spend time with family that I haven't seen in a long time while spending time with the one I love. I know it's not this big romantic vacation but you know if I had the proper time to arrange things I would have done that. I just wanted you to come out here so you could breathe and get away from all the bullshit going on back in Cali." He brought Gigi's hand to his lips and placed a kiss on it briefly taking his eyes off the road to look into hers. "I promise you'll still have a good time out here."

Gigi slid further down in her seat and yanked her hand away. She crossed her arms and pouted, once again, unable to argue with Aubrey's words. The saying, after all, was 'It's the thought that counts' and as unplanned as it was, the mini-trip was still a sweet and considerate gesture the least she could do was to stop acting like a spoiled brat and be grateful. "Well... where are we staying and is there food because I'm starving."