Remenissions

"Welcome to Huntington Beach," I announced, reading the sign that we were now passing.
Adele squealed from the back. "Yay!" she cheered.
I sighed. Where the hell was I supposed to go? I decided to do the one thing I didn't want to - call Val.
"Um, Val?" I asked, after hearing the phone stop ringing.
"KARI! Where are you?" she screamed into the phone. I pulled it away from my head for sake of my ear.
"I'm in Huntington. Where should I go?"
"Um, you remember where that big mansion that we used to fuck up as kids is?"
"Yeah."
"The house next to it. I can't wait to see you and Addie!"
I hung up, knowing I would never hear the end of it, as we approached the house. I pulled into the driveway and shut off the car.
"Addie, come on, let's go!"
She jumped out the back and grabbed my hand.
I took a deep breath. I hadn't seen them in seven years. I could only hope they didn't make the connection between Addie and the amount of time I'd been gone. Fuck, they would. They weren't all retarded.
Before I could even make my way up the walk, Val sprinted out the door and embraced me tightly. She changed - her black hair was exchanged for blond locks, and she completely lost the whole punk style. She actually looked like a normal twenty five year old woman. Unlike me, dressed in a Misfits shirt, tight jeans, and converse, relative to a fifteen year old girl.
Val stepped back and picked Addie up. "You, are absolutely beautiful," she said, poking my daughter in the nose. Addie giggled.
"You're very pretty, too!"
I smiled at them. "Hello, Val."
She squealed like Addie did. "Kari! I missed you so much! So did everybody else in the house. C'mon. They're waiting." She grabbed my hand and led me to the door. It flew open, revealing my best friends.
And there, standing in the back of the room, sipping a bottle of Jack, stood the love of my life.
Zachary James Baker.