Would you believe me if I said, I just got stranded in Rogan Falls by my mother? No me either, but here I am with my few bags and a wad of cash.
You would think I would atleast be dropped into town, and not the outskirts of it. But no, I give my Auntie a call, seeing as I'm not about to do the 5km walk.
I call her, looking around almost in defeat when she picks up "Hello? Nicki? You should have been at mine over 10 minutes ago." She sounds distressed, as she's speaking on the phone.
"I'm so sorry, mum had to leave she got a phone call, they wanted her coming in earlier." I lie, not wanting her to worry. "I'm on the outskirts of Rogan Falls, do you mind picking me up?" I ask.
"Of course I don't mind, I don't want those people getting to you." She plays with the word 'those' with hatred laced in her voice.
"Thank you" I reply with gratitude. See the first thing I heard when I found out I was moving here was that River Crest was a no go.
Anyone from Rogan falls despised people from River Crest, vice versa. A long time a go when my father lived here, this whole hatred started over a sports game. Yes, hockey.
You may say it's just rivalry, but people from each side of town whether they like hockey or not they hate the other side of town.
As legacies continue to play, the hatred grows stronger, especially now that the players have gotten better in River Crest. If you would ask me I would say I don't care about the whole situation, but it seems like that's one sided
As my Auntie pulls up, I reposition by baggage, so I can throw it in the tray of her ute. I cling onto the money I have and jump in the passenger seat.
"Thank you for picking me up." I say to Tia, my Aunt, she smiles back at me and continues on the road.
"You know, Allie and you haven't seen each other in over ten years today?" She says to me.
"Really? It feels like yesterday, where we would go to that river and swing on that rope swing until dark." I say.
"I remember that." She says remembering our life before my mother decided to move halfway across the country.
We used to live 30 minutes out of town, we used to visit them every weekend, especially with my dad.
Now that's nothing but a distant memory, Tia continues talking and I just nod back at her until she says something that makes my blood boil.
"Look, I know you aren't really a daddy's girl at the moment, per se, but..." she drags out the but, obviously worried about what I will reply with. "Your father wants to visit here next week, and I would normally say yes but you are here and I'm not sure." Tia says in one breath.
"Tia, as much as I wish to never see that man in my life, it's your house and your town." I say. "I want you to be able to not feel like you have to live your life around me."
"Nicki, you know I don't feel that way, I just wanted you to be comfortable, now that it's also your house and your town." She quotes what I said.
"Thank you Auntie." I nod and look back out the window as I see we are pulling up to the house.
The house looks the same, giving me a sense of deja vu, "Go inside, your room is upstairs, in the guest room." I head straight up stairs with my bags, sometimes I wish I was stronger so I could carry this without thinking my arms are going to snap.
As I make it up to the stairs after practically reefing my bags, I open the guest room. The room is beautiful and I can tell it's been done up.
I place my bags down on the bed and decide it's best if I unpack my bags before I loose all motivation.
————
After an hour of unpacking, I go out of my new room and down stairs. Fun times call for good measures, in this case it's not fun so no good measures.
So when I see my cousin running full speed at me I know it's time I duck or run, but before I can do so I have a human sized leech on me named Allie.
Allie hugs me tight, pinning my arms down "please start hugging me or this is going to get awkward really soon." She says.
"I would but you're holding my arms down." I laugh, and so does and she.
She releases from her hug and I hug her back. In the ten years I haven't seen her, we have tried to keep in touch.
But it was no use, while she was busy I wasn't vice versa, we talked here and there, but not enough where we felt like we knew each other.
"You are so pretty" she says, "o,m,g" Allie spaces each letter out getting really excited.
"You have to come to the party, you know who will be there." She gives me a knowing look.
"Oh i'm not too sure, I was just going to have an early night, with jet lag and all." I lie knowing full well, I just had a short flight over.
"Oh don't be silly, you are coming end of story." Allie jumps up and down, with excitement.
"Okay fine, but I am not dressing up, end of story." I mimic her with the last line.
"You are exactly the same aren't you?" She laughs. "Okay, just make sure you are ready at 9." She says.
"What time does the party start?" I ask her worried about how long the party is.
"8." She replies, I give her a questioning look, she must notice it as she speaks again "you know we have to make an entrance." Allie smiles widely.
"Whatever you say" I laugh at her mindset, whatever girl math this is, I don't understand it just as much as normal math.
We both part our ways, with me deciding I should go back to my room to go pick an outfit.
Considering it's already 7:00, I scavenge through my neatly packed draws pulling out multiple different options.
I decide upon a, black mini skirt and a black shirt, I look out the window only to remember that I'm no longer back home and I'm in the coldest part of America.
The snow trickles down flake by flake, my father used to tell me the flakes were little fairies, and if you were lucky to catch one and it would still be intact, you were granted a wish.
But I soon learnt whatever came out of my father's mouth was a lie.
I go back to my outfit and exchange my top for a sweater and grab a pair of stockings to put under my skirt. I put a coat over the whole outfit and decide to wear black boots with it.
After I completed my outfit I do my hair in curls and do my makeup. Being finally ready just before 9.
I decide to check up on Allie, and I walk across to her room. I can hear music blaring from across the hallway and her voice singing along with it.
If it wasn't for her actually having a good voice I would have told her to shut up, I knock on the door and she tells me to come in.
"Hey how far are you from being ready?" I ask her, I see she is wearing a white sweater, with a pair of jeans and a red leather jacket, that compliments her fire red hair.
"I'm ready, but I think you need a final touch" She walks into a closet pulling out an old trinket box, she grabs two bracelets and hands one to me "our friendship bracelets."
