My Aunt Poppy welcomed me happily. “Oh, you’re finally here!” She hugged me and also suffocated me. “I haven’t seen you in so long. Oh, my! How you’ve grown.” She gushed for the next few minutes before letting me go to freshen up.
It took only a few minutes to freshen up. But what I needed was sleep, not freshening up.
“Did you see Miles?” I nodded. I’d seen him. I hadn’t gotten to her house blindfolded. “He’s nice, isn’t he?”
“Yep.” I stuffed a banana in my mouth. “He’s very nice. Also, he said I used to be friends with him. Please, Aunt Poppy, tell me he’s lying.”
“Lying about what?”
“I couldn’t have forgotten him, could I? I don’t remember him at all.” I felt terrible for having forgotten him. But aunt poppy seemed as unbothered as he had been. She burst out laughing but made her surgery hurt because then she stopped and winced. “Oh Aunty, do you… are you okay?” I mentally facepalmed. She wasn’t okay, obviously, and that’s why I was here.
Aunt Poppy was nice, though. She told me about how Miles had been helping her get around for a few weeks. Before the surgery and all that. She made him out to be an angel. My tiredness must have shown because she apologized for talking too much and then sent me off to bed. I helped her into her bed before I retreated to mine.
The next morning, I woke up to the lovely sounds of birds tweeting and the distant sound of waves lapping the sand on the shore. I was excited to get up and do things, which never happened. In the kitchen, Miles was doing something under the sink. When I first walked into the kitchen, I freaked out because who was this person in my aunt’s kitchen? Then I saw it was him, so I calmed down, greeted him and made myself breakfast. He said I did little until he finished whatever he was doing and stood up.
“How was your first night here?” He asked me, I opened my mouth to tell him I’d been here before but he cut me off. “I mean, as an adult?” Oh.
“It was great,” I said. “Do you guys always wake up to birds?”
“Yeah. Unless there are no birds. But anyway; it’s beautiful here.” He said. I nodded. “I suppose I should warn you, I come here a lot. Your Aunt’s pretty much adopted me; so I do things for her.”
“I’m here now, so you don’t have to.” I know I sounded horrible and rude, but that was the point. Did he think she was incapable of taking care of her aunt?
“I know. But she mentioned you weren’t here for repairs and stuff.” He said.
“I can learn.” He watched me for a second, and I glared right back at him. Finally, he turned around and walked out of the house. I sighed and went back to my breakfast. Aunt Poppy didn’t wake up for about an hour so I did my chores; prepared her breakfast and then sat down to read. But then she woke up when I was ready to settle in and enjoy my book.
Aunt Poppy caught me up on what happened in the town nowadays. What had happened since I last came here, when I was thirteen? I found her stories interesting; she had a way of telling stories that made them interesting. I didn’t mind sitting there and listening to her talk. Then she said;
“You know, there’s going to be a party on the beach tonight, you should attend.”
“Oh, Aunt Poppy, you know I can’t.” I hate lots of people in one place. Crowds. “I… you need me here with you. Who’ll look after you if I go?” I said. She gave me a nervous look and so I knew she’d done something I’d hate.
“I may have invited a few friends to come over when you’re gone.” She said and dared sound apologetic. “I don’t think you’ll enjoy hanging around with some old people like me.”
I spent the next twenty minutes trying to convince Aunt Poppy to let me stay and not go to the party. But the more I argued and begged, the more determined she became to make me go. I didn’t want to go; I wouldn’t know anyone there, anyway. When I brought up this, she said Miles would be there. And also, apparently, I need to make friends.
The rest of the day went by without a hitch until I had to go shopping and realised I didn’t know where anything was in this town; so I tried to get Miles to help me. Well, I didn’t try to; Aunt Poppy forced me to. He was nice about it. I was still furious at him for underestimating me and what I can do.
When we entered the store; it confused me because many people recognised me and some were genuinely happy to see me.
“Your Aunt isn’t exactly known for secrecy,” Miles whispered in my ear. Now I understood how everyone seemed to know me, but I recognised someone. My sister’s best friend when we visited; Annie. She was a nice girl and reminded me of my sister before everything happened.
Annie ran towards me with open arms. Now, I hate people but I’m not shy so I ran straight to her too and wasn’t even fazed by all the weird looks we got.
“OMG! I honestly didn’t think you would come.” She said. “But you are here.” The emphasis she put on the word ‘are’ made me feel guilty. Was I that… unpredictable? I loved being unpredictable, but I thought I’d come running to help my Aunt out. Apparently not.
By the time Aunt Poppy’s friends started filling up the sitting room, I was all ready to leave. And I now realised how much better it was that I should be out of the house while they were there. Because as soon as they saw me; they started talking about my very personal life. My least favourite topic to talk about.
Miles had offered to take me to the party, but I declined and asked Annie to take me instead, and she agreed.
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