This Is My Love

We took a shower together and got dressed in decent clothes before making the short walk of a few houses to get to the Hernandez's residence. Pete still had his two suitcases in hand from the flight, and the sight of him holding them brought up unsettling memories from my nightmare. It caught me so off guard the first time I saw him standing in my father's doorway with them at his feet as he waited for me to join him that I must of had a mini heart attack.
"What's wrong?" He asked as I stood frozen in the living room a few feet away. I shook my head to clear my mind and forced a smile.
"Nothing, I just thought of something is all," I half lied. He studied me for a moment, obviously not believing me, before deciding to let it go and shrugging his shoulders.

We walked into his house to find it empty. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked over to Pete, who gave me a small smile before dropping his suitcases, grabbing my hand and leading me through the house and to the back. As we walked, I looked at my surroundings to find that not much had changed there either. It was still my home away from home, where I would come and play music with Pete and sometimes Eric and Pete's Dad, who was a percussionist and was in a band with my Dad for a while shortly after Pete and his family moved to Waikiki. There was the living room where Pete and I spent many a day watching old movies and eating junk food, the kitchen, where we would go in the middle of the night during our sleepovers to raid the fridge, and the dining room where I had many dinners with him and his large family. It was great that Pete had such a large family, since I was an only child and they were like a second family to me. Pete and I would get teased by his brothers and sisters, saying we were meant for each other since we were both so "weird" and only cared about music. It didn't bother us, really, but it didn't stop them from doing it just for a good laugh.

We walked out to the backyard to see that Pete's entire family and my Dad were all there, some of them taking off work, other's having to fly in from the continent to get here. All of Pete's four older sisters and brother... It was a sight to behold. There was also Eric's wife and young son Petey (named after Pete and their Dad, Peter Senior, of course) and their oldest sister's husband and two kids. When we stepped onto the patio, Pete's Mom spotted us. She clapped her hands.
"They're here!" She exclaimed through a smile before hustling over to be the first to greet us. She hugged Pete first and gave him a kiss on the cheek before whispering something in his ear, which I couldn't hear, but it made Pete smile and hug her again. As they did this, Pete's Dad pulled me into a hug. It was odd at first, since Mr. Hernandez had never hugged me before, but now he was giving me a big, loving hug. I gave him a loose hug back, not knowing what to think, before he pulled away.

"It's so great to see you, Ano. Both you kids," he stated through a large smile as he looked back and forth between Pete and I before switching places with Mrs. Hernandez to give Pete a hug. Mrs. Hernandez did the same to me, giving me a kiss on the cheek like she had done with Pete. She held me by the shoulders as she studied my features.
"Ano, you look beautiful! You've really grown into quite the beautiful young woman," she smiled. I returned the smile.
"Thanks, Mrs. H," I replied, but she shook her head and gave a few "tsk" sounds.
"You call me Mom now, sweetie!" She exclaimed happily. I had almost forgotten that after the wedding, my second family would truly be my real family. I could have cried, but Pete grabbed my hand, causing me to look over to him, and smiled at me. He gave it a gentle squeeze.
"I love you," he whispered to me. His mother cooed lovingly.
"Oh, my baby boy, marrying the love of his life. What more could a mother ask for?" She quickly hugged Pete and I again and scampered off, not wanting anyone to see her cry.

We went through basically the same thing with the rest of the family, but when it was my Dad's turn, he didn't hug Pete right away, instead he asked him if they could talk. I watched as Pete agreed before turning to me to give me a quick kiss and reassuring smile. I had an idea what my Dad would be saying to him, and the thought terrified me. Pete didn't need anyone else making him feel shitty about his screwing up, or threatening an ass kicking if he did it again. He had gotten plenty of that from me. But, I could do nothing except wait for Pete to return to my side.
I sat in a lawn chair next to Pete's sister, Tahitti, who was only a couple years older than him, and chatted.
"I always knew you two would get married. You're just... Meant for each other! I wish I could find a love like that," she stated before taking a sip of her lemonade. I smiled to myself. We were meant for each other, weren't we?
"You will, Tah, we just got lucky and met each other young is all. But we definitely had to find our ways back to each other a few times," I informed her, earning a smile from her.

"Hey, babe," Pete said from behind my chair before placing a kiss on the top of my head and sitting down next to me. I leaned towards him.
"What did he say?" I asked him, referring to my Dad and his conversation. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
"It was just one of those father of the bride to groom talks," he stated before grabbing my hand and placing a kiss on the back of it. "Nothing to worry about."
I let out a relieved breath and laid my head on his shoulder. "Good," I confirmed.

After the party, I said my goodbyes to everyone, except my Dad, before letting Pete walk me to the front door. He wasn't spending the night with me, since our parent's decided we should sleep in our separate childhood homes. I huffed petulantly when Pete and I got to his front porch.
"This is ridiculous. Two whole nights without each other." I had a noticeable frown on my face when Pete kissed me.
"Aw, baby, I'm going to miss you, but I also think this will be fun," he stated. I huffed again.
"And why is that?" I asked him, only thinking of spending another night without him in my bed. He smiled devilishly at me.
"Just think... Now I can sneak into you bedroom like old times. Except, this time it won't be to mess with people on chat rooms..." He gave me a wink and smile before giving me another kiss. I laughed happily.
"Well, then, I guess I'll have to leave my bedroom window open," I whispered low in his ear. He chuckled before pulling me into his arms and giving me a hard kiss. "See you tonight, my lovely bride."

Later in my room I pulled on my black with red lace trim baby doll dress for bed before deciding to do something sexy with my hair by teasing the roots and letting the ends fall down past my breasts. I allowed my bangs to hang perfectly, slightly over my eyes and the rest blending into my hair. I pulled on a pair of stockings and garter belt before checking myself out in the full length mirror in my room. I looked hot. My hair all teased, the silk of my baby doll night dress hanging just above the tops of my stockings and my smokey eye makeup making my hazel eyes stand out. Pete was going to love it. I went around the room and set up candles here and there before lighting them, hoping for some ambiance. I checked the time to see that it was 10 O'Clock at night. My Dad was already asleep, and Pete's parents should be in bed any minute. It didn't matter too much if he was caught sneaking away to spend the night with me, but we wanted it to be just like old times... Except back then we would just write music together and play on the computer. No love making, and definitely no sexy outfit...

"I'm done!" I declared as I handed Pete the half full sheet of lyrics. We were sitting in my room at 10 O'Clock at night, Pete holding my acoustic guitar and me with a sheet of paper and pencil. It was usual for us to be like this, writing and/or playing music, or maybe getting on chat rooms to mess around with people. Not exactly like regular 15 year olds.
I sat and waited as Pete wrote his verse of the song, sometimes stopping to chew on the end of the pencil as he thought of what to write, before taking it from him once he was done. I read them over and smiled.
"I think we just need to put the chorus in there and we're done," I stated as I read the bridge. We were writing a duet about our friendship, but I had to contain my joy at what he had written down. They were so personal, so loving. I loved him so much, and I could only wish that he felt the same. The lyrics could be interpreted either way, but unfortunately, they were about our friendship. Yet one line in particular made my heart beat wildly; "if you ever find out how much you really mean to me every day I will remind you..."
I smiled up at Pete. He had been watching me as I read the lyrics, and the look on his face stopped my heart. He looked... Loving. But in an instant, he looked away, and it was gone.
An hour later, the song was finished and it was time for Pete to sneak back to his house.
"I think the song came out great," Pete said through a smile. I nodded my head enthusiastically.
"Me, too. We should play it tomorrow down at the Lua," I suggested, referring to the small bar that we usually performed at. It gave us some sense of whether or not our songs were any good. He smiled grew larger.
"That's a great idea. I can't wait to show it off. I think this may be one of my favorite songs we've written yet." He looked fondly at the lyrics in his hand before bringing his eyes back up to me. I giggled.
"Yeah, I like it too." I opened my window for him before turning back to face him again. "See you tomorrow?"
"You can count on me." He winked before giving me a friendly gentle push on the arm and climbing out of the window.