Unintentionally Falling

chapter thirty-two

Iris

Packing shit before you leave to go to your hometown is borderline chaotic.

Borderline? No, really fucking chaotic.

Personally, having your shit together especially when you go somewhere is a good idea. Many people will agree with that statement including me. Except here I am, my room which looks like a tornado has hit it with clothes, jewellery, and all my shit everywhere.

Aaron's coming to San Bernardino too. And so are his friends, Crystal has roped both Parker and Jadon to tag along as well. Alexia and the others left last night, but Aaron had a night class and I offered to stay and go along with him in the morning.

Aaron actually offered to skip it so I could go last night but I said it would be fine. He mentioned how that specific class was covering important material so I urged him to go.

I get to see my dad and brother after what felt like forever. I throw stuff in my tote that I probably won't even need. After all, I'm staying there for four days then going back to L.A.

I gotta go. I gotta go, I gotta go, and yet I'm scrambling. Throwing a few last things in there I scurry on out of here. As soon as I'm up and out of the door I see a singular car. A Maserati to be exact. A guy propped up, his back leaning on it, his arms crossed, wearing a smile on his face. I can't see half of the guy's face due to the shadow of the baseball cap he's wearing.

He isn't just some guy- he's Aaron.

He gives me a wave, while I walk toward him. "Good morning."

The closer I get to him, the more I can make out his pretty eyes under the shadow of his hat.

"Morning." I parrot back to him.

He takes my bags and opens the trunk placing them inside. Before I can open the door myself he sweeps past and opens it for me.

"You didn't have to do that."

He scoffs like I made a funny joke, "After choosing to wait a day for me rather than going to see your family early, yeah I think I do."

I sit in the passenger overwhelmed with the smell of his car, it smells slightly of Aaron's cologne that screams expensive. Overall the car has this sort of clean smell I can't describe.

The car engine revs to life as we pull out away from the residences. I couldn't help but be so damn excited to have Aaron around my family. My small but loving family. I also can't wait to see my father, my father who's been left alone the past few months because of my brother's shows and me attending college.

When Aaron and I just made it to the freeway we barely escaped L.A traffic. San Bernardino wasn't far from here, about an hour away. There's no point stopping anywhere for food when we'll be there in an hour.

"What's your home like?" Aaron's question breaks me out of my thoughts.

My home?

My home is like a lot of things, it's where the worst day of my life happened.

It's where my mom left my family, it's where I watched my father cry alone thinking I was playing downstairs.

It's where I used to hide behind my brother's door to listen to his music.

It's where I noticed that Alexia was not doing her best.

It's where I first learned how to play volleyball.

It's where I learned that my mom was never coming back.

It's where I learned that she never cared for her husband, her son, or me. No matter how many times my father tried to tell me she loved us when I was younger.