caught up ; mattia polibio

✰ chapter 40 ✰

song of the chapter- california by anthony russo

deja's pov

what mattia told me in the car a couple weeks ago hasn't left my mind since. my whole family was at the airport waiting for our flight and i was completely out of it. ever since that night i've just felt off. he's seemed great but hearing him feel all of that was a lot for me to handle right now.

Messages
BABYBOY 🌎💕⚡️
have a safe trip mamas, i love you

deja alvarez
i love you too

that made me smile but i honestly hadn't been showing him the attention he deserves. i've been distancing myself from everyone and this trip was what i really needed right now. being with my family, the sunshine, the beach, everything about los angeles is what would get me out of this funk.

our flight was nonstop so we got to LAX in about 6 hours. i hated airports. sure, traveling was fun but the whole process of being in any airport was the most time consuming and overwhelming process ever. i could tell ella was definitely a bit stressed because she's never flown before so this was all new to her. that's what ruins the first day of any vacation, being so tired and annoyed from the flight to ever do anything. we picked up our rental car from the bottom floor of the building and drove to the hotel. of course, traffic was horrendous. i loved big cities like this though. something about the rush of being in new york, los angeles, and even jersey city just made me stand a little taller, feel better about life, want to be there forever. when i graduate i'm for sure moving to the city like mariana did. she said many times going to college in new york was one of the best decisions she's ever made.

i woke up around 6pm from a nap i didn't even remember taking. i rubbed my eyes and walked to the bathroom to see how i looked. i saw myself in the mirror and laughed, i definitely looked rough. mariana walked in, "good morning, kinda wasted your whole first day huh? we've been out since you fell asleep." ella walked in from her side of the suite, "deja, you've literally been asleep since we got to the hotel. we've been all over the city," she smiled. "this city is beautiful i can see why you love it so much." seeing how happy she was here warmed my heart.

i loved seeing ella happy, her family definitely struggles and we try to help them as much as we can. that's why we like taking her different places, inviting her over, and so on. her parents work so much and since she doesn't have any siblings i know she gets very lonely. i'm so happy she has kairi and all her other friends to keep her company though. there's nobody i'd rather see thrive in life than ella.

mariana asked if we wanted to go out to the pool and of course we were both down to go. i dug through my bag to find my suit, pulled out my white bikini and changed. i threw on a loose sweatshirt over it to walk down. ella was practically sprinting down the stairs. mariana shit her a look. "girl, are you good?" we all started laughing. ella was like a kid in a candy store, it was so cute. we opened the back door and the pool area was unbelievable. the pool was huge, the lights were so pretty, and the palm trees added to everything. "woahhh," we all said looking at eachother. ella's eyes were wide, "this is incredible."

the three of us jumped in the pool and chilled there for hours. my mom was visiting some friends from when she went to college at ucla. her and my dad, both from jersey, went to school there. that's how they met, initially bonded, and moved back there once they wanted to start their life. it was a cute and incredibly cheesy story. but, she was proud of it and none of us were going to take that away from her. after we got out of the pool, mariana wanted to take a little walk around near the hotel. we went back up to get dressed and go out. mariana was going all out, "maybe i'll find a nice cali boy because new york isn't doing it for me." we all rolled our eyes. mar has the highest standards and that's the only reason she's not with anybody, which was good except she was always complaining about it.

we walked out the front doors of the hotel and started down the street. looking in shop windows, hoping we'd recognize anyone even slightly famous, talking, having the time of our lives. we stopped at wanderlust creamy literally only because we liked the name. the ice cream was incredible though. i was so distracted i hadn't even been on my phone at all except to take pictures. i opened my imessage.

Messages
BABYBOY 🌎💕⚡️
hey baby :)

you good?

deja wtf lol are you ok

deja alvarez
i'm fine just wasn't on my phone tryna spend time with my family sorry lmfao

BABYBOY 🌎💕⚡️
all good. send pictures when you can

deja alvarez
gotcha

i rolled my eyes. sometimes, i really felt smothered by alejandro, even all the way across the country. i can't complain though. he loves me and besides, i just need to enjoy this time away from home. maybe this is the time apart we needed. hopefully when i get home things wouldn't be weird with us anymore. as irritated as i get with him at the end of the day i love alejandro with all my heart. nobody can compare, not even mattia. sure, mattia makes me feel great but the love i feel from ale is different. i just wish i could stop feeling for mattia. mariana asked if i was doing alright and i brushed it off with a, "sure." we went into a couple more stores, bought some little things like jewelry, corny stuff from the gift shops for friends.

we walked to the beach by our hotel to watch the sunset around 7:30. nothing could compare to a los angeles sunset. especially on the beach with the two of the people i love the most. ella looked up from her phone, "thank you guys for bringing me here. i'm so grateful." my phone buzzed that ella has just posted a picture.

Instagram

comments
dej.alvarez: damnnnn 😍
marr.alvarez: my cousin badder than a bitch
kairi.consentino: holyyy 🤩🤩
kairi.consentino: beyond beautiful
chloevalentinoo: so cute
amaree_: 😍😍
patel.yass: the cutest
alejandrosario: california luv
aliviap.arrish: ur glowing baby 💛
gabinovano: gorgeous

she was truly so beautiful and more importantly, so happy to be here. overall, the first day in LA was incredible and it'll only get better. i was happy to be so far from home and i didn't even want to think of going back to jersey.

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first day in LA!!! i love the alvarez family bond so much 🥺 tysm for 5k reads!! this book is flopping so hard rn so keep reading, commenting, voting, & even sending this story to your friends!! i love you guys