Under Your Influence (GANG Series)

Chapter 40

Arias POV

"Finally you're home." She says as she puts her mug down on the coffee table.

"Sorry. Sierra and I had a lot of catching up to." I tell her. I check the time, it's only one twenty-five. I take a seat on the couch.

"It's fine. We really have to talk though." She says in all seriousness. I become intolerably anxious.

I need to calm down, maybe it isn't as bad as I am imagining it to be.

"Okay." I say as I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding in.

"Well you know how I work as a flight attendant, right?" She looks at me briefly as if waiting for an answer.

"Um yeah. Why?" I ask. I have absolutely no idea where this conversation is going.

"Well I never exactly told you why I work as a flight attendant."She says. Still don't see what this all has to do with me.

"Isn't it because you wanted to see the world?"

"Well yes, but there is a bigger reason. A much bigger reason. I've been meaning to tell you. Well everyone in our family, but especially you because I know that we've had a special relationship before I left. We kept in touch. You were much closer to me and your grandmother than anyone else in the family. I've been keeping something from you, all of them." She says.

My heart starts racing fast at the thousands of possibilities that could come out of her mouth right now. It's true we were super close. She could not relate to what I went through, she had it easy, but she always cheered me up when I needed to be. Flying back and forth to be with me.

"What is it?" My mouth has completely run dry.

"Well the reason why I had left when you were two was because I found out I was carrying a child." She says and I'm in complete shock.

"You what?" my voice cracks.

"I was pregnant, so I moved immediately. I didn't want him to grow up around such a messed up family. Well, it was messy. I know things are different now." She let's it all out.

"It's a him?" I ask.

"Yeah he's um fifteen, only four years younger than you." She says.

"So ,you lied to me? To all of us? The whole entire family. We have a family member that we have no idea even existed." I process the words as I say them.

This whole conversation seems so unreal to me. I'm in shock. I didn't even realize I had stood up from the couch and walked a few feet away.

"I knew that you would be upset, that they all would." She admits.

She's right. I am. Out of all the family members  the only people that I actually felt like I could trust were my Aunt Aleina and my grandma. Aunt Aleina was more like a distraction from my life that I already knew was messed up. We'd always go out making me forget about all the stuff I was going though. And out of everyone in my family, she was the only person who never ever lied to me. So yeah. this little lie of her hurt me. My grandma, well she was my hero. She kept me safe when my whole world was falling apart, as a child.

"Why did you do it then?" I question her again.

"Because Aria, our family is so messed up. I didn't want my baby to grow up with a family like that. I may not have experience in such a messed up life, but that doesn't mean that I don't notice when there are messed up things going on. Everyone lies, talks shit about each other. It's just so toxic. Everyone is so messed up. They did. And I know everyone is in a better place now." She says her hands making gestures.