beyond the monotonous city

nineteen

Lauren spent the last remaining days of school in good spirits despite Camila not being there. There was plenty else to occupy her mind with. She had spent them studying for her tests and focusing on her academics.

Shawn was going to Canada over the break, while Dinah was going to a beach resort in California. She said goodbye to her friends one last time, getting a group hug as they all left to go home.

Lauren's mom picked her up since it was the last day of her school for the year. Clara was in high spirits by the time Lauren got in the backseat. Lauren knew it was because that day her siblings were finally spending Christmas at home. During Christmas, they always acted like a real family for once.

Clara asked her where her friends were up to in the break and Lauren told her, mentioning that Camila left earlier that morning to Alaska. When they arrived at their driveway, Lauren saw that her grandpa's old pickup truck was parked there, a faded blue gray pickup from the early 90's.

Clara parked on the street and Lauren just went down from the vehicle when their front door opened and Lauren saw her grandpa and her two siblings.

Lauren didn't expect to run to them but she did as her feet started moving. She collided with her younger sister, who was now taller than her.

She could tell Taylor had been holding back tears and now she just let it out. Lauren felt her eyes water at the sight and feeling that her younger sister did miss her a lot. She squeezed her.

"You've grown so tall now, Tay. Look at you. I've missed you." she said, her voice quavering.

"I missed you too, Lo." she said, her voice a bit hoarse. They separated and she wiped her tear stained cheek and smiled.

"Grandpa!" she hugged the old man next, feeling how cold his body felt and how thin he looked compared to before. "I've missed you, Abuelito."

"We all do, Lauren." He said a bit sadly, though keeping a smile.

"I even missed you, Chrissy." Lauren teased as she hugged her younger brother who had definitely turned into a man. Chris carried her in the hug, which made Lauren yelp.

"I've missed my oldest sibling," he said as he jokingly peppered Lauren with watery kisses. She recoiled and pulled down the beanie on his head.

Clara joined the hugging session and hugged both her kids and her father. "This is amazing, now let's all go inside."

They spent the entire afternoon catching up about what's been happening. Lauren found out that her brother had become the captain of the volleyball team and that he and the girl he'd been seeing for a while had already become a couple. Taylor was excelling as well as she was almost always chosen to represent the school in academic competitions.

Her siblings and grandpa told her that it was nice to see Lauren look the healthiest they had seen her. Lauren felt proud of herself that she came that far already, determined still to continue on.

Lauren bid goodbye to her grandpa as he drove back home to their house, leaving her siblings to stay over.

When dinner was cooked, they all ate together and finally the table felt more lively than usual. Lauren was really happy her siblings were with her because the last time she saw them was before she went into rehab that year. It was a terrible moment, something she'd rather forget but seeing them all happy and at home made up for it. She saw how happy her mom was as her eyes glistened as she listened to Taylor's story.

They didn't really ask Lauren much what she was up to as she knew her mom always filled them in how she was doing. She appreciated it actually, for once she didn't want the extra special attention to be on her during gatherings. She wanted to experience it as she would have normally would before.