American Vacanza

done hitting the road, for now • madison

I took a deep, slow breath and stepped up to the clay patio. "Are you ready?" I asked Madison, feeling the hot doorknob slide under my fingers.

"I think so," she whispered, and I found myself turning the knob and opening the door. We entered, timidly, scared that our parents would jump out at any moment. "So this is the house," Siena echoed, looking up at the ceilings. "It's beautiful."

The intricate, carved wood walls in the foyer made the place look like a castle, but the furniture made it look brand new. It was the perfect blend of homey and foreign, two words that had described my lifestyle for the past crazy week.

"Look who made it!" A voice chirped. Whirling around, I realized that it belonged to that gold-digging she-devil, Krystal. (Just because I was okay with Siena didn't mean that I liked her mom any more)

Where were Dad and Isaac?

I rolled my eyes and flopped over onto the long couch. This whole situation was extremely awkward. What were we supposed to say? We're happy to see you? Why'd you do this to us? You should divorce my dad? I had no freaking idea.

"We're here, all right," I said.

"How was it? Did you guys go on any adventures?

Siena came and at down right next to my head. "What happens in the old car stays in the old car, right, Madison?"

"Right." I snapped my fingers. That was a pretty good way to say "I'm too lazy to tell you about this and probably shouldn't tell you about some of the stuff we did."

"I take it you didn't bring Naomi and Ethan?" Krystal, her blue eyes glittering, asked.

"Nope. We decided that four in a car would be a really hard crowd, so we called them and said the trip was off," Siena explained, cracking me a knowing smile.

I looked around the great room at all the familiar sights: the marble floors and walls, the giant wooden fireplace that Isaac and keep used to make s'mores in, the kitchen where we stored all the supplies for aforementioned s'mores.

"Ah. Well, I'm sure you two want to go unpack and shower and all that, so I'll leave you be. I'm glad you got home safe! I'll expect you to tell me all about it at dinner tonight. The Mataccis are having us over for some of their famous cooking."

Taking a page from Siena's book, I said, "Okay! See you later," and when she had walked out of the room, added, "bïtch."

She hadn't even mentioned my haircut.

The stairs were made of black marble and snaked with white. They seemed to always have that just-buffed shine, even if we hadn't been to the house in nine months. And, of course, they were always hard, being made of marble, and if you fell on them, as I had just done, you got your first bruise of the summer.

I showed Siena her room; Dad had it done for her over the winter. It was pretty much an exact replica of mine, except different colors. Real original, Dad.

"It's amazing," she gushed, looking at the seafoam walls and the shells that lined the dresser and nightstand. "I love it."

"Come on," I told her, "I'll give you the grand tour." She'd already seen the great room with its atrium that let in all kinds of natural light. But she hadn't seen the industrial kitchen with its every appliance under the sun, the lower level with its home theater and amazing vintage arcade. We might even be able to play a few rounds of pool when we weren't enjoying the warm weather.

"Actually, I'd prefer to just explore it myself. You know, to make it more exciting. I apppreciate the offer, though; do you want to go find your dad and tell him about the trip?"

"I'm honestly kind of pissed off at him right now. It would just be awkward if I saw him, and it'd probably end in me getting mad. I'm in a good mood and don't want to really get into a bad one, so I guess I'll just avoid him for as long as possible."

Instead of telling me how I should face my fears, like I thought she would, she nodded and said, "I understand that. It was kind of weird with my mom."

"Besides," I told her awkwardly, "He's probably busy. Just because we're in another country doesn't mean he's not one of the founders of RAY."

A look of guilt crossed her face before she brightened. "I'll put on my bathing suit and we can go outside for a bit. I can't wait for you to show me the beach."

I entered my room, which was all the way across the upper level of the house, and exactly the same as Siena's except a sunny yellow instead of bright teal. The bed was practically calling for me to flop on my back and rest my legs for a bit. But I needed to unpack, to put my clothes in the wooden drawers that had accumulated sand over the years. In fact, so had my bed... I probably had to take a vacuum up here and--

No, I told myself. I wouldn't get stuck in mundane activities while I was here in paradise. The sand in my bed was annoying, but sometimes it made it feel more like home.

I decided that I would unpack later and instead dug through my bag for a swimsuit. I wanted to go outside, if only for the last few hours of daylight.

I changed into my swimsuit faster than I ever had before and sprinted out to the back patio. Wow, what a view. Our pool and beautiful lawn; then, a twenty-foot cliff leading straight out to the ocean. It would be perilous if we didn't have a gate to keep us from falling.

"Wow, Madison. This is incredible. But I thought you said there was a beach, too?" Siena questioned, and I silently led her over to the gate. She followed, curiously, as I opened one part of the gate and stepped bravely onto the cliff, looking down at the beautiful, teal sea below."

"I normally go the chicken way and have to wade in the water first, but we just travelled three thousand miles by car and I'm feeling adventurous. Wanna jump in? It's fifteen feet deep and totally safe."

She timidly looked over the cliff's edge. "I don't know. I've always been a little skittish when it comes to heights."

I stepped a little closer. "Do you want me to go first, so you can--"

"Kidding!" she shouted, turning around to face me and jumping backwards, making a face as she fell into the water below.

I looked over the edge. She totally had me. "I'm coming! Watch out!" I got a running start so it would be harder for me to chicken out when I got to the edge.

I felt that familiar oh, shit moment as I hung in the air, stalling for a second before I started to drop. And, as soon as that moment was over, I was in the water, feeling the icy cool flowing around me and the salt stinging my cuts from this week.

"You splashed me!" Siena squealed, splashing me back while treading water. We both turned around to look at the base of the cliff. At the base was a twenty-foot wide stretch of beach, which got longer as the tide came in and out.

"Siena, that's the beach." I followed her eyes forwards; there was the beach, the sloping rock leading up to the yard behind it, and the cliff we just jumped off to the left.

"Wow," she said breathlessly, swimming hypnotically towards the shore. "All that crazy shit we did on that road trip? Totally worth it."

I looked up to see two men relaxing on the beach; one with a patchy beard and Ray-Ban sunglasses, conked out in a beach chair; the other clean shaven, much older, and much paler. So this was where Isaac and my dad had been when we got here. "Madison!" Dad cried. "You made it!"

Shaking the saltwater out of my brunette locks as I walked towards the shore, I replied, "Yeah, Dad. We made it."