Old Me

3 - Sleepover

The drive home took some time as our house backed up into Mission Trails Park. I tapped the garage door opener as we approached and parked in the driveway. As soon as the car was in park, Cat unbuckled herself and zoomed inside through the garage door.

Si and I chuckled at her goofiness and took our time walking in.

"Hi, ma!" I shouted as Si and I entered the laundry room from the garage and made our way to the kitchen.

"Hey baby, come taste this," she said with her back to us at the stove.

I walked over and she shoved a spoon in my mouth as soon as I was close enough.

"Salt. And maybe some chili flakes," I added.

She nodded and grabbed some salt from the counter and threw it into the bubbling red sauce.

I pulled a piece of cooked pasta from the pot on the counter and popped it into my mouth.

"Ehi, that's for dinner. Go grab a snack if you're hungry. It'll be another 20 minutes."

I huffed and walked over to the walk-in pantry.

"Want anything Si?" I called from inside the pantry.

"Pretzels and Nutella," she hollered back.

I grabbed it off the shelf and joined her sitting on the stool next to her at the kitchen counter. I could hear some tv show being played in the background behind us by Cat and turned to see her curled up on the sofa watching Mini Mouse.

Si opened the Nutella and dipped a pretzel in popping it into her mouth. She moaned with content and I chuckled thinking back to that client Michael's reaction at the shop before I followed suit with my own Nutella-dipped pretzel.

"How's it going Si?" My mom said turning away from the stove and washing a dish in the sink.

"Good, I'm trying to change departments, but the charge nurse is being a bitch."

"Which department?"

"I wanna move to the ER because I'm tired of being in med-surg."

"Hm, well keep prodding, don't give up."

"Wait, so the ER charge nurse is being a bitch?" I asked confused.

"No, no. My charge nurse is. She doesn't want to give me a recommendation because she doesn't want to have to find another person to hire."

"Maybe if you find someone who wants to move to the med-surg unit and take your place she'll ease up about it," my mom suggested.

"Yeah, it's worth a shot. I'll chat around and see if anyone's looking."

We continued to munch on the pretzels and Nutella in silence until I remembered that I had yet to ask Si about how it went with Michael.

"What were you and Michael talking about?" I asked screwing the lid on the Nutella jar shut.

"Eh," she shrugged, "just stupid shit."

"So, did you get his number or what?"

"Nah, he's not my type."

"See, that's what I said. He looked like an arrogant coglione," I said to Si.

"Who's not your type?" my mom interrupted.

"This cute guy that came into the shop today," Si explained.

"What cute guy?" a voice asked behind me as they placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Cavoli, you scared the crap out of me dad!"

"Sorry, tesoro," he chuckled walking over to my mom to give her a kiss.

Most kids get grossed out when their parents show any form of PDA, but the way my dad looked at my mom so endearingly it just made me want to scream OTP. I honestly hope that I end up like them. They've been together for 24 years and he acts like they just started dating.

"So Siena, who's this boy you were talking about?" my dad asked raising his brows in curiosity.

"Well, his name's Michael and he came in for a tattoo today. He said he just relocated here from L.A. a couple months back and found the shop on Instagram."

"What'd he look like?" my mom teased.

"Total bad boy," Si gushed, "Kinda tall, blonde hair, lots of tats, and I think he had piercings, right Bea?"

"I think so," I shrugged trying to stay out of the conversation despite clearly remembering what he looked like.

The last thing I need is for my dad to think I'm interested in him. He's known for making a big deal out of nothing when it comes to boys. In high school, he found out that I had a crush and made all my cousins go intimidate the guy. Let's just say I didn't have any more boys talking to me for the rest of my high school years.

"Anyways, he's hot, just not my kind of guy. You sure he's not your type Bea?"

She nudged my arm and I glared at her to shut up.

"No way, my Bea isn't dating some coglione who walked into my shop. She's gonna date a respectable Italian man, eh?" he nodded his head in my direction.

"Yes, babbo," I said rolling my eyes at his protective nature.

"Cena!" my mom shouted to break up the discussion.

"Caterina, come on," she hollered over to Cat in Italian.

We helped my mom bring the food outside onto the patio and set the table for dinner. The view from our yard was breathtaking. I mean, the whole back wall of the house, which included the kitchen and living room, was windows so that the view wouldn't be missed.

Our backyard wasn't really a yard, more like a long extended deck. It overlooked the regional park and mountains and in the distance you could glimpse the ocean. We had an in-ground jacuzzi and lots of seating options to enjoy the view. Having moved into this house when I was nine from a small and run-down apartment complex in Lemon Grove, I have definitely appreciated the rest of my childhood in such a large home in a wealthy neighborhood.

Dinner was filled with small talk, and after helping clean up, Si and I headed for my room to binge-watch old episodes of The O.C. all night.

My room was fortunate to have a large bay window that overlooked the back of the house and faced the ocean. Being in the hills had its perks, a view of the sunset was one of them. I slipped off my shoes and threw them in the shoe basket in my closet.

Si did the same before going over to my dresser and throwing me a pair of comfy sweats and an oversized t-shirt. She found some loose pajama shorts and a tee for herself and we slipped into the bed in our comfortable clothes.

"Agh," she sighed throwing her bra across the room.

I chuckled and grabbed the remote from my bedside table. She fluffed the pillows behind her head and sighed with content as she settled into her position on the bed.

"Why is your bed so damn comfortable? Can we trade?"

"Sure," I chuckled loading up Season 2 on Hulu.

Si crashed around midnight and curled up against the wall. I went to the bathroom that Cat and I shared and prepared for bed.

The feeling of splashing warm water on my face always made me feel so relaxed, and I took my time washing my face. After drying it with a clean washcloth, I grabbed my toothbrush and spread some toothpaste on the end. My tired eyes must be playing tricks on me because I could have sworn my toothpaste was blue, not red.

I spit into the sink and gasped with shock at the blood coming from my mouth. I smiled into the mirror and sure enough, my gums were bleeding.

"Cazzo," I swore slurping some water into my mouth to rinse it thoroughly. It took a while for my mouth to stop tasting like blood, but when it finally did I made my way back to my room. I plugged my phone in and searched for Si's in the bed. Her body was literally molded to the wall and I laughed to myself wondering how on earth she was comfortable laying up against the hard surface.

When I found her phone underneath her pillow I plugged it in too and turned out the lights.

I sighed with exhaustion and drifted off to sleep quickly.