The Reason I Love The Rain

=Regret=

"The past is never where you think you left it."

-Katherine Anne Porter-

Two Years Later...

ARIANNA COX

"Ari, may I come in?"

"Sure kiddo," I answered.

Eden came in with a bright smile and her hands, behind her back like a little angel.

"I need some help with moving these boxes," I told her. "Could you pass me that?"

"What?" she asked.

I had my legs spread apart over a large box. It was taped real good. I was trying for the last eight minutes to get it open by picking at the end of the tape. I just decided it wasn't getting anywhere.

"Hand me that spork," I told her as I propped the box up on a chair.

She laughed, "What spork?′

I tilted my head and looked at her, "The one you're hiding behind your back." I returned the smile.

"But- How did you?" She groaned, "Fine." She handed me the spork.

"Thank you very much." I jammed the spork into the tape and it tore open. I was trying to unpack everything before Oliver got here later today. It has been a while since we saw each other, considering I moved to Italy two years ago. So many years since I've seen my best friend. Two years ago I left this place only to end up here again. Ironic, isn't?

Moving back to California, a lot of things have changed. I found out a lot about my origin and Eden's. For example, I found out that dad was Italian and mom was Mexican. Eden was Mexican too but she's also African American. Eden was my half-sister.

Another thing that has changed was that over two years I've fallen in love with art. My new room was going to be the embodiment of my favorite type of art, street art. It was illegal but I liked it. The only problem was we had a cop in the family.

I was emptying the boxes, while Eden stood looking at me. It was that look that your younger sibling gave you when they wanted something but they know you're gonna say no. However, they're about to ask anyway just to make sure.

"Can Liam come over for homework?" Just as I suspected.

"Eden, you're almost fourteen. You know I know you don't mean homework as in homework when you say homework." I put my hands on my hips like the responsible adult I am. "Besides, I'd love to have Liam over for 'homework' but as you can see I have a lot of work to do. Unless you'd like to help."

She smiled at me and shook her head, "It's fine, I'm alright." Slowly, she started to back out of my room and I went back to unloading the boxes. As Eden was about to close the door, I asked, "Where do you think you're going?"

"To check on the bacon and make sure it's ready for breakfast ." She lied. Eden was a vegan. When she found out that the same sweet and crispy bacon we loved to eat came from the cute little piglets that she loved, she refused to consume meat. Ever since mom told her the truth, Eden has hated the sight of anything meat.

"Okay, so why are you hiding that gallon of ice cream behind your back?"

"What ice cream?" She shrugged innocently.

I raised a brow at her and folded my arms. I looked at her with one of those looks and I guess she got the memo, enough that she sighed. "Come on, give it up. No ice cream before breakfast." I told her holding out my hand.