Childhood Memories

Chap. 3

I stretched my legs out and groaned while looking at aunt Cherie. "Why in gods name are you making us do this?" I cried out and looked down at the yoga mat.
Aunt had forced us to do yoga with her this morning, she said it was a stress relief that we teenagers had to try out.

Chris was on the sofa, eating a bag of chips while watching Dr. Phil. Chris has been a father to Derek and me, our whole lives.

He's aunt Cherie's second husband, which means that Derek isn't his son. Chris is tall, black, has some nice hair and a nice beard, and is just fun overall.

Aunt Cherie is very athletic, she's the type of woman to run ten miles at six am. She's blonde-haired, has a nice smile and a nice body, she uses her glasses whenever she needs to read. Always so energetic, especially in the mornings.

"Deliah, stretch your arms more." She demanded. I tried to stretch them out as she asked and I heard her hum.

"Great, you too, Derek." She turned to him while doing the posture.
"Mom, this is ridiculous. I have homework." He answered and groaned when stretching out more.

"Complain one more time and I will allow Deliah to leave instead of both of you."

What an advantage, I love it when they used me to torture Derek. He didn't say more, and aunt was very pleased about it.

"Good morning, Leo." Aunt Cherie said, making Derek's eyes flicker to mine and then to his. I hadn't even noticed that he was here, and it was embarrassing that he was seeing us like this.

"Sorry, the door was open so I just decided to come in. It seems like you are having fun." He said and winked at me.

"You can join if you'd like," Cherie suggested but didn't get up from her position. Leo thanked her for the invitation but told her that he'd rather watch, so he sat down on the couch and kept getting eye contact with me.

"Deliah, you have to squeeze your butt out more, we're training your legs, not your back." She corrected me, so I did. He was staring right at it like he wasn't even trying to hide it.

"Good job, Derek. Five more minutes, you guys can do this. We should make this an everyday routine." Aunt Cherie joked and clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Do you wanna hang out with us after this?" Derek turned to me and asked. I shook my head.
"No thanks, I have other things to do," I answered. I wanted to go upstairs and shower, then watch some Netflix or eat some strawberries.

"I don't believe that, you don't even have any other friends than me." He said, and I'm gonna admit that it kinda hurt my feelings. I knew I didn't have other friends, but he didn't have to point it out.

"Says the guy who hasn't even had his first kiss yet. That's embarrassing." I argued back.

"At least my first kiss wasn't from Leo!" He said, making me gasp and look over at Leo, waiting for him to defend me or something like it.

"Why are you not saying anything!" I snapped at Leo.
"Both of you, stop it." Aunt Cherie told us and got up. I sighed and rolled my eyes at Derek when he caught my eyes.

"You can go, please. I don't want to listen to more of that arguing." She said. We got up at the same time, but Derek was struggling with getting up, his body had probably given up on him.

I went upstairs to our room and heard Leo say, "I'll be there in a bit, I just need to use the bathroom."

I rolled my eyes when I heard it and opened my closet, I had to bend over to reach down for the lowest shelf.

"That yoga has been helping, huh?"

I bit down on my lip as I slowly stood up straight and turned around, meeting Leo that was too close to my face. So close that I could hear him breathe down my neck.

"I don't think it's supposed to work after doing it one time," I answered and took a step back.

"You've gotten more beautiful than the last time I saw you. It's crazy." Leo told me and smiled. It felt like he was coming closer when each word escaped from his mouth.

"Thank you. You too." I responded and smiled back nervously. His eyes moved down to my lips, and he was about to lean in to kiss me but, I heard footsteps coming up from the stairs, so I immediately hugged him and squeezed him close to me so it looked like we'd been hugging for a long time instead. I panicked.

"Well, this is weird," Derek said when he entered our room a second after I hugged him. I pulled away and walked away from Leo, distancing myself so it didn't look weird to Derek.
"Are we leaving... or?" He asked Leo. Leo nodded and they left the bedroom together. I sat down on my bed and sighed. I don't know what was just about to happen but I hope it doesn't happen again. Ever.

Leo's been here for what? Three days? And I'm already tired of him and his bullshit. I went downstairs and saw Chris in the kitchen, baking some cake. "Hey," I said.

"Hello there." He answered and raised his head to look back at me and smile.
"What are you baking?" I asked him.

"Apple pie." He replied as he began cleaning his dirty surroundings up.

"Cool," I responded. He's never been the first person to care about the mess around him, that would be Aunt Cherie. I wondered where she was, so I looked in the living room and saw her sitting on the couch.

I slumped down beside her and put my head on her shoulder, closing my eyes and embracing the nice smell of her. "My beautiful daughter."

When she said that, it surprised me. I never thought I would be seen as anyone's daughter again. I knew Derek and Aunt Cherie always would say it, but it's never felt so real until now.