angel *vallyk pena*

ten

"ari? are you okay? what's wrong? why are you crying?" i hear vallyk say.

"shit," i mumble.

"nothing i'm fine. don't worry about it," i say back to him.

"obviously you're not. what happened?" he asks. i pick up my phone and hold it to where it's facing the ceiling so he can't watch me cry.

"my dad has a fiancé that i didn't know about," i say, "and they're getting married in two weeks and he didn't even fucking tell me."

"ari, i'm so sorry. is she nice at least?" he says.

"i don't know. i came back in here before i could tell. but i don't wanna know," i say.

"why? you never know. y'all could have lots of fun together," he says trying to make me happy about this situation.

"she's replacing my mom and it doesn't feel right," i say.

"is it really replacing? you still see your mom and she's still in your life," he says.

"i guess you're right. but she has 2 sons. no girls," i say, "that means they're moving in and i'm gonna be in a house with four guys and only one other girl since kairi's staying here."

"maybe it won't be as bad as you think. and you'll be out of there in august anyways," he says.

"you're right. i need to stop overreacting, thank you for helping me calm down," i say as i wipe my tears.

"you're welcome," he says. we keep talking for a while and we stay on the phone since we're seeing how long we can do it for.

the next day

i wake up around 11 and hear little soft snores coming through the phone. oh my gosh it's adorable. but how is he still asleep? he must've stayed up later last night.

i get out of bed and change into some jeans and a cropped tank top. i do the rest of my morning routine and go downstairs.

today i'm meeting my new stepbrothers. i'm not happy about it. one of them is 18 and one is 16.

vallyk finally wakes up.

"good morning," he says.

"good morning," i say back.

"ariana!" my dad yells.

"i'm coming!" i yell back.

"does this mean we have to hang up?" vallyk asks.

"no i'll just put my airpods in," i say. right after i say that, the call ends. i don't know if he ended it or if his phone died, but it's okay. we were on there for like 2 or 3 days anyways.

i send him a text asking why it ended then i go downstairs and my dad grabs his car keys.

"we have to pick up kairi and then we'll go to lunch. kairi kinda has to meet them since he'll be here too," my dad explains.

"okay," i say. we get in the car and then we drive to lillian's house and pick up kairi then we drive to a restaurant.

once we get there, we go inside and get a table. rachel and her sons aren't here yet. it's small italian restaurant and there's not many people here.

my phone dings and it's a text from vallyk. he said the reason the call ended is because his phone died.

i sigh and lay my head down on the table. what if i hate them? what if they hate me?

"you okay ari?" kairi asks me as he rubs my back.

"yeah i'm okay. just not ready," i say.

"yeah i get it. but you always have me," he says.