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— man it's been half a sec since i've updated —
"And this happens every year?"
"Every year," Blaise confirms with a slight nod, leaning over his dresser to squint at something on his neck that I can't quite see from where I am sitting on his bed.
"I didn't know your families are that close," I say with a slight rise of my eyebrows as I run my fingers through Cheeky's fur, smiling softly when he turns over for some belly rubs.
I knew that Draco, Blaise, and Pansy are best friends. That much could be figured from day one. I didn't know until today, though, that they're actually family friends.
"I mean, I spent, like, half my childhood at the Malfoy manor," he says, squinting slightly while he runs a finger over his neck. "I love Mum, but she was always busy finding a boyfriend or husband or whatever. Pansy's parents were always traveling, and she didn't like staying home with a nanny, so she also spent a lot of time at the Malfoys'."
I'm silent for a moment, tracing odd patterns on Cheeky's chest while his paws lay limp and folded. I spent half my childhood traveling. I've been to countless countries by now, and I don't think I've stayed in one for longer than three years. After I turned twelve, we definitely didn't stay anywhere longer than a year. My stomach sinks slightly when I remember that half the school year is already up. I only have a few months left here if things go how they usually go.
As if he's read my thoughts, Blaise asks suddenly, "You've travelled a lot, right?"
"Yeah," I say, letting Cheeky slyly slip my finger in his mouth to nibble on it.
"Where have you been?"
I sigh softly. "Where do I start? I was born in the States. We stayed there for about four years before moving out to France. France was two years, then it was another three years in Brazil. Spent a year just...all over South America, and then another two years roaming South Asia."
Blaise whistles lowly.
"I'm not even done yet," I snort unceremoniously. "We stayed in Japan for a little under two years. I really liked it there, enough to learn the language. But then it was off again to the States. Only for a couple months, though. Then it was France until...well, until we moved here."
I squint slightly as I recount my words in my head, tracing back to see if I've missed something. It seems about right, though. My family has never taken a vacation before simply because everything has always been a vacation—temporary, fleeting, yet by the end of it, leaving you with that exhausting craving to go home to a mattress you recognize. I don't have any best friends—which I don't really mind, because what's the use of them anyway? And we don't really have any family friends considering my parents left them all behind nearly seventeen years ago. I hardly have any family. Last time I saw Blaise was when his mother's husband at the time took them on a trip to the States and they came by to visit us in Massachusetts.
