Forever and Always, Olive

Chapter 9: Meet Mr. Ortega, the Cop

Chapter 9

It takes me a moment to realize that Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I have yet to ask my mom if she'll be able to pick me up so I can go home to visit, so when I get home on Monday evening from job hunting seeing as we we're on vacation, I dial her number. "Hey, mom?" I prompt the conversation.

"Hey, Liv, how's everything?" she asks me. We've been talking every so often, typically through text. Conversations don't last long, but they never really did. I'm more of a daddy's girl, so being away from home and only being able to learn about the family through my mother isn't doing me much good. Don't get me wrong; I love my mother. I just have more in common with my father, despite the fact that he's the one who came up with the idea to send me here.

"It's good," I tell her. "Do you think I'll be able to visit you guys on Thanksgiving?"

"Actually, we're heading up there," my mother responds as if revealing a surprise.

"'We?'" I ask her.

"Yes, me, Dylan, Charlie, and your father," my mom spoke. Even my older brother's coming? I thought he'd rather stay home during his break, but I guess not.

I grin widely at the news. "Oh, okay. I guess I'll see you on Thursday. Tell everyone I love them."

"I will," she responds. "I love you, Liv."

"I love you too, mom," I reply, preparing to hang up the phone.

"Wait, how's Maddox?" she blurts. I sigh and roll my eyes. Last time we talked was when I convinced her to give Charlie his candy back; however he hadn't done a very good job at convincing her that Maddox wasn't my boyfriend and I wasn't his girlfriend.

"He's fine, just like all of my other friends," I stress the last word.

"Just wondering," she laughs. "I'll see you Thursday."

+ + +

I'm anticipating Thursday very much, so when it comes, I wake up happy. My family, who set out at six in the morning in order to get here to help my aunt cook, should be arriving at around noon, considering the fact that they probably stopped for breakfast. I get ready and am already downstairs in the living room when they walk inside.

I greet my little brother with a hug. I also hug Dylan, my older brother, who I rarely see now because he's in college. I then hug my mother, who kisses my cheek. I hug my father once he returns from the kitchen, where he had to put the bowls of food he and my mother made, and he surprisingly hugs me back. I don't know what I expected, but I didn't think he'd be so happy to see me. They enter the house and I close the door, feeling odd at the fact that they're now standing in the house in which I live. I wonder if this is what it feels like to live in your own apartment.

My mother sparks up a conversation with my aunt while Dylan and Charlie talk about the food we'll be eating shortly. Vivica is still asleep and probably won't leave her room until the food is ready. I join my father on the couch, hoping I can spark up some conversation. "Since you two are just standing around, would you mind running to the store to get a few things?" my aunt asks me and my dad.

I look at my father and he nods at my aunt. "What do you need?" he wonders. I have my hands tucked in my pockets as I wait for him at the front door. When he finally meets me, he walks to the car, which is parked in the front of the house. I get in the passenger's seat, sitting in silence as he starts the car. After putting the stores address into the GPS, we set off.

"So, your mother tells me you have a boyfriend?" my dad starts a conversation and my eyebrows shoot up. Why is he so calm? 

"No, no, no, she thinks I have a boyfriend," I correct him with a strong shake of my head. "He's just my friend." Again, I don't think I'd even go as far as to call him that but for clarifications sake.