A Step to Love

“So, guys…”

“What happened?” Jake asked. “Why are all of us here?” I looked into the eyes of each and every one of my friends. Gabriel was sitting next to Jake on the stairs, Joe had his arm over Brit while she had hers below his back and they were standing with curious eyes next to the stairs. George and Pat stood at the end of the stairs, hugging and waiting while Nana rested near Brit. Alex was leaning against Nana’s shoulder. It looked weird.

Eight days to go. I waited to say whatever I had to say the day after. Yesterday I was thinking and over thinking things too much and when I looked around, it was almost my time to go to sleep.

I shook my head softly. I knew my aunt was standing a few steps behind with a polka dot dress on.

“I have something to say,” I replied. I took some seconds to inhale deeply. “I haven’t told anyone besides Pat…”

“What’s wrong?” Brit asked. I looked at her and breathed some more.

I then pointed towards the redhead behind. “She’s my aunt.” I looked back at Brit. “You remember Aunt Delilah, right?” Brit nodded and waved at her, still not smiling. “Well, eh, before coming here, there were some things that needed to be resolved in relation to custody. And eh…Well, I’m moving in with her.” I added a shrug at the end to relax, but their stares didn’t exactly help me.

I saw Alex press his lips together. “That’s great, Lillian.” He didn’t look too excited. “I thought your aunt lived in Florida,” he commented, looking at her. How great. Even he remembered.

I took my tongue and ran it in front of my teeth. “She does…”

Brit took a step forward, and then one back. “So you’re leaving us?” she asked, holding herself with her arms.

I knew this would come. I only nodded. “Her car is outside with all of my stuff,” I announced, not feeling too excited anymore about all of this. They were my friends, they were my family and I thought by leaving all of those things behind, I was re-starting. And I did say I wanted to start fresh, but…not under these terms.

Still, I felt the urge, the need to be a normal kid again. I haven’t been able to feel that way for three long years. Ever since he left from me.

Though, problems never seize to exist; you just gain enough maturity to deal with them. That was going to be my favorite quote ever.

“You have a recital to go through,” Brit reminded me. “You can’t just leave.” I knew Brit’s concern wasn’t The Recital; she just used that to cover up.

I half smiled. “I know,” I started, getting ready for the turn. I suddenly burst out laughing. I couldn’t hold in anymore. “I’m not leaving, guys, I was just messing with you.”

All of their faces relaxed and Pat jumped up, surprised.

I grinned wider this time and jumped up and down encouraging them to do the same. I clapped my hands repeatedly. “I’m not leaving!” Their cheers and smiles roamed me, and I ran toward my best friend, looking so beautiful with her teeth stuck out in the happiest smile I had ever seen.

“Wh—” she tried to ask, pulling away from me. I felt some arms pull me away from the floor and spinning me around in tiny circles. Alex’s lips went to my cheek, and I turned, hugging him. He was so…eek.

When I parted, I turned my sight to all of them, and headed toward my aunt, hugging her from the side. “Well, I am, but not to Florida.” The movement suddenly stopped and they looked even more confused. “Can you believe Aunt Delilah found a house five doors down?”

Nana looked up. “Oh, yeah, the Fallow Family used to live there.”

I nodded. “Mhm.”

“I think I’m going to faint,” Alex sighed, sitting down the stairs. His mother pushed him with her knee playfully.

“You’re still welcomed here.” Then she turned to my aunt. “Both of you.”

“Thank you,” my aunt and I said in unison.

It was weird leaving the house. My aunt and I looked pretty hysterical. Brit and I said our goodbyes, crying and weeping in a fake tone, before getting inside my aunt’s car. I even took a tiny blanket and waved it through the air, screaming her name.

“You guys are so weird,” my aunt commented, as I returned to my seat, laughing like a maniac. Brit and her mom were also, while the rest just grinned and shook their heads.

We got there. Exactly five doors down to Pat’s house. Brit ran behind, getting to the new house and tackling me so hard, we both fell on the trimmed grass, still laughing. “I haven’t seen you in ages, Sweetie!” she yelled while I laughed, kicking my legs in the air. Minutes later, we both decided to get up with our arms still tangled, making us fall right into our asses again.

“This is not working,” I muttered, another giggle escaping my lips. I shifted my head from where we laid, and my eyes scanned an upside down Pat, coming in to help my aunt with the luggage. Brit and I then got up and started doing the same. The first thing my hand caught was a tiny basket that then turned out to be a cage. My aunt was waltzing right in front of me. “How the heck did you bring in a cat?” I asked, thinking about how things worked at airports. Did they allow animals?

“You know you can do that now?” she asked, responding to my question and handed me a bag for my other hand to hold. “Her name is Rainbow.”

I chuckled. This was going to be great. Sure, she was embarrassing from time to time, but for the moment she only showed that she cared and that she was willing to help me smile. Aunt Delilah didn’t have any kids—she didn’t want to have a baby of her own. She said she wanted to enjoy everything down—being alone with her husband and just her husband.

“Where Uncle Laurey?” I asked. Laurey Barlow was the only real man that stole my auntie’s heart. He was charming with this cute Southern accent, always shaking his wavy golden hair.

“Oh, he’s coming in a few days. He’s just fixing up some stuff at home,” she grunted, picking up a luggage for her to carry.

I started walking toward the front door of the great maghony and white house that stood in front. Its wooden door, already surprising me as it held a triangle crystal design.

I exhaled. This was it. My new home.