Another Part Of Me

Chapter 9

Luciana woke up the next morning feeling sick to her stomach. She got up and started throwing up inside the wastecan. She decided to call in sick at her job because she knew she wouldn't make it. She didn't want to talk to Dalani that morning, she was disappointed in her. She really thought she'd be more understanding and less immature. She was expecting her to be jealous, but felt she could've been a little more suttle. Luciana was starting to feel like the older sister again. She heard footsteps coming towards the bathroom, but she didn't really care if it was her sister or not.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Dalani asked putting her hand over her chest.

'I'm fine I just-" she said stopping in between her sentence to cough. "I think that seafood I had earlier yesterday got to me, I guess. I just--give me some space, please."

"Look, about last night..I didn't mean anything I said. I was being really childish and-"

"Save it." Luciana said putting her hand up. "I don't even want to hear that right now."

"Luciana, I don't care what you say. When you're feeling better, we're talking this over." Dalani said walking out of the bathroom. Luciana was irritated, but at the same time, she wanted to hear what Dalani had to say. She picked up her cellphone to try and call Michael, remembering she had to tell him something. He didn't answer, so she left a message. "Hi Michael, it's Luciana. I just wanted to call you and tell you to not call my house phone. I'm not going to be there for a little while-" she stopped and began hacking and coughing again. ".. so if you want to contact me you can on my cell. Thanks." she said hanging up. Not too soon after she began throwing up again. She eventually ended up taking a nap on the bathroom floor.

She was awaken by her little sister Daniella. "Cici! Cici, wake up!"

"Huh? W-what's the matter sweetie?"

"I'm okay. Your phone was ringing like four times!"

"Oh, oh okay. Thanks honey."

"Welcome! Feeling better?"

Luciana smiled. "Yeah, I am."

"Good! Come downstairs, we got a suprise for you you."

"A surprise? Oh no." she said with a giggle.

"Oh, just come on!" Daniella said taking Luciana's hand. She followed right behind. When she walked into the kitchen and saw Dalani helping the kids cook. She laughed and was happy at the sight of her brothers and sisters getting to be kids.

"What's all this?"

"Dalani's helping us make your favorite stew, so you can feel all better." her brother Armando said.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are so cute. Thank you guys." she said kissing their foreheads. "What's this?" she said picking up a small box off of the table.

"Read the note attached to it." Dalani said.

"Okay. Did I leave my reading glasses on the table last night?"

"Right here." Dalani said handing her glasses to her.

"Thanks..okay. Dear Cici, we love you so much. We hate seeing you sick, so while you were sleeping we went to the store and bought you all the ingredients you like in your stew. You deserve it. You deserve this special gift too, because you're special and you always do what's best for us. Julissa,Armando,Marco, and Daniella. P.S Dalani says she's really sorry that she was mean to you and she hopes you forgive her. Love you." Luciana couldn't stop grinning after she read it. "Aww guys, this is so sweet."

"Open your present!" Marco said.

"Okay, okay." she said with a giggle. She pulled a silver necklace out of the box with 'Cici' chained to the bottom in diamonds. "Oh my God, how much did you pay for this?"

"Doesn't matter. It was worth it." Dalani said smiling at her. Luciana couldn't help but smile back.

"Thank you, it's beautiful. We'll talk later. Right now I've got to eat this special stew you guys made." They sat there together, as a family. Chatting up and having fun. Luciana was happy to see them happy, and wished they could live that way all the time. She had many thoughts running through her mind, and she couldn't get herself to stop. Dalani and Luciana  had let the kids play while they went upstairs to Dalani's room to talk.

Dalani took a deep sigh and shook her head. "Luciana..I don't even know where to start. You're probably used to what I have to say, the sorry, 'blah-se-blah' but I'm serious. "

"Lani, I understand what a big fan you are of Michael's, I do. But to really get agrravated with me becuase I have a thing for the guy you're crushing on? You are a 28 year old woman with a beautiful home, and a job that pays well. A woman like that shouldn't have the temper of a spoiled child."

"I know, I hate it. Luciana, I want you to be happy, and I'm sorry I've let you down. I know I've changed since we were teenagers, my head's really been in the clouds since then. I guess I finally felt in control of my own life, and independent. But me having that confidence and wanting everything shouldn't effect anyone else and take them down. I'm sorry."

"I understand what you're saying, every word. But how do I know you're not going to turn this around in the future? You're goals of staying consistent haven't usually worked out well, to be honest."

"I know that,girl. But trust me, this is a reality check. I've been an airhead and I always let my jealousy get the best of me. As long as you're happy, I'm happy okay? Like the common expression, there's plenty of other fish in the sea. This particular fish just didn't hook on to my rod."

Luciana laughed, "Oh my gosh, where do come up with this? No, but really, I love when you talk like this, be consistent with it. This is the adult I know you are. The lady who I looked to as a mother, not a younger sister. Promise me you'll be the woman I know you really are,please."

Dalani smiled,"I promise."

After they'd finished talking, Luciana went into the room where her guest bed was and plopped right on it. She looked through the phone and saw 4 mised calls from Michael. She gasped and hurried to call him back, hoping he answered.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hey Michael, it's Luciana."

"I already knew at 'hey' ". he said. "Are you okay? I got worried, you sounded awful on the phone."

'He cares!' she thought to herself. "Oh,that. Yeah, I'm okay, I was just really sick earlier."

"Good. Are you out of town or something?"

"Nope, just visiting my sister for a little while, brought my other brothers and sisters along too."

"Awh, that's nice. How old are they?"

"Two of them are seven, and the other two are six. They're both a set of boy-girl twins. Crazy,huh?"

"Wow, that's cool. I'd love to meet them some day."

"Oh, and they'd love to meet you! They really love you."

He giggled. "Isn't that cute. From the things you've told me about them they seem like really amazing kids."

"They really are. Hold on a sec." She said getting off the bed to close the door. "Okay, sorry I'm back."

"Okay, so how are things going?"

"Good, I'm not complaining. How about you?"

"I'm doing fine. Just trying to balance my schedule."

"Ah, I see. I have to do that majority of the time."

He laughed. "Uh-huh. Not an easy job."

"So,when will I be able to see you again?"

"God knows when we will, but I can assure you it'll happen. That I know." he said with a smile.

Luciana was smiling non-stop. "That's what I like to hear! I just hope it's not too far from now, I really enjoyed the time I spent with you."

"I enjoyed my time with you too, you're really something special."

"Aww, I'm not that great!" she said teasing him.

He laughed, "You really are, and to be honest, I'm crazy about you."