Broken Pieces

Untitled Episode 15

After falling asleep with more questions, I woke up to the smell of breakfast. Dog and I walk down the stairs. Ava and Eva's breakfast smells so great I’m starving. "Reiley, we didn’t make breakfast," Ava said from the couch. Who made breakfast then I said as I let dog outside to do her business. Eva laughs and says your boyfriend did. My what did, I said, turning around facing both of them sitting on the couch. Last time I checked, I don’t have a boyfriend, so who made breakfast, and why are you just sitting there smiling at me like that? Ava was the first one to speak, well Reiley, when a man shows up with everything to make you breakfast and cooks for you. That is called a boyfriend. Eva chimes in too. Yeah, even when you are mean to him and push him away after he showed up to make sure were not hurt last night after falling asleep on the beach like a dumb ass. Now I’m going to blow a f*****g gasket. Why the hell are you, my 2 best friends, taking someone else's side and not mine? I was not mean and asked the dam questions that needed a f*****g answer. I stormed up the stairs and packed my bag, and called Oscar to come get me. I will not stay here and deal with this bull s**t. What the f**k did he say to my friends for them to act like that? I was so mad I didn’t notice Ava followed me. Reiley, calm down, we were just messing with you. He didn’t say anything to us. We walked upstairs and heard everything before he walked out of your room and shut the door. He told us that you needed space, so we left you alone. We didn’t mean to upset you; you just have a man down there trying his best to get to know you and you’re pushing him away.

Get out Ava, I’m so mad right now I could explode. She slams the door close and yells" f**k you walking down the stairs. I sit down on my bed and put my head in my hands. Man, it is not the time for my friends to give me s**t and mess with me. I totally just flipped my s**t on them. Great way to start off my Saturday morning. This was supposed to be a girl’s trip to unwind, now it’s been highjacked. I called Oscar back to tell him I had overreacted, and I didn’t need him to come get me. Now I need to go downstairs and apologize for being a b***h. I opened my door to see both my friends standing there. I was coming to apologize to you both. "We are sorry too; we shouldn’t have started first by teasing you before you had your coffee," Eva said. "We know how stressed you are and wanted to joke around to make you feel better," Ava said. I know you guys are joking around now. I didn’t have a clue you heard the end of my talk with Lorenzo last night and I did not sleep great after he walked out. Did I really push him away last night? Both of them said yes at the same time. Just great. I will have to apologize to him too. Ava half hugs me, yes sweet friend, he totally needs an apology.

We got downstairs, I walked into the kitchen and saw Lorenzo’s brother setting the dining room table. I took a seat on the island and waited for Lorenzo to turn around so I could apologize. Before I could open my mouth and apologize to Lorenzo, he handed me a fresh cup of coffee. Thank you for the coffee. I need to say I’m sorry for the way I treated you last night. You were trying to be nice, and I was a complete ass. He looks at me like I have grown a second head, then says you are not an ass and have every reason to think what you are. You just made me think about what is running through your head. We never talked in depth about how you are feeling. You just made me realize that I need to handle this situation differently. I have known for the last two years that if we found you, what would happen when that time came? So, I have the time to come around to all this. You have only had a few weeks. I need to let you get to know me more. So, you feel safe and have the understanding that I only want the best for you. That is my answer to you from last night. Wait, so you were not mad about last night. I mean I would have been pissed and not have shown up to make you breakfast. He laughed at me and said," I was pissed. That is why I walked out of your room. I had a talk with my brother and your friends this morning to understand your side. So, I say let’s start fresh and build a friendship. Breakfast is a peace offering. I jumped up and ran over to my friends and hugged them. You have my back. They laugh at me; you really need to have an open mind and try. I love you both so much, I will have an open mind and try.

Breakfast is ready, said Lorenzo. We all sit down to eat, so where did you learn how to cook? Liam answers for his brother. Our mom taught us how to cook. Lorenzo looks at his brother, thanks for answering for me. So, what do you ladies want to do today, said Lorenzo. First, we need to find that dog's owner. "We can’t leave her here alone," said Eva. Eva the dog is fine. She will not mess anything up. "You don’t know what that dog will do. "She almost ate me for dinner last night when I tried to touch her, Eva said. What if you don’t find the owner, Ava asked. I will keep her and find a better name than dog. There is no way that dog is riding back in my truck on our way home Reiley Eva said.

Then let’s have a beach day and maybe her owner will be looking for her. Sounds like a good plan, Reiley, I will call Luca to come hang out with us. Do you really have to do that, Ava? You can go a day without your boyfriend. She throws a biscuit at me and hits me right between the eyes. You will have to get to know him because he may be your cousin and I really like him. Fine Ava, you didn’t have to throw s**t at me, so your boyfriend can come hang out with us. The whole table busted out laughing at us. I need to check on the dog and see if she wants to come back in. I opened the door, and she ran straight to Eva and jumped in her lap. "Aww, it looks like she loves you now," Ava said. "She just wants my breakfast," Eva said. Lorenzo gets up and puts a bowl on the floor with dog food and eggs for the dog. She jumps down and eats her food. He walks over to me and says looks like you have a new dog. Thank you for stopping and getting her food on your way here. I will have to go to the store and get some things. I will take you, so we can get stuff for our beach day. "We can post a picture of her too, so her family can find her," said Lorenzo. Now why do I have to go that far to help find her family, Lorenzo? He smiles at me. Do you not want to give her back? I mean, do I have to really try that hard to find her family? She likes me and I would love to keep her. Well, if you keep her, how are you going to get home? "Eva will leave you here with the dog," said Ava. I will call my driver to come get me and my dog. No need to call your driver. I will take you both home if you don’t find her owner, Lorenzo Said. Really, I gave him the biggest hug. He hugs me back and says in my ear. If you find her family, I will buy you a puppy and kiss my cheek. I pulled back thank you, but when her family comes for her, I will give her back. You don’t have to buy me a puppy, that is very sweet of you to offer. I’m going to get dressed so we can go to the store.

We walked down the aisle to find the hamburger buns. When I heard a little girl crying about her dog that hadn’t come home last night, I stopped and asked the mom what her dog looked like. She told me a brown lab mix and her name was Dolly. I asked Lorenzo to see the picture his brother sent him of the dog. He hands me his phone and I show it to the little girl and her mom. The little girl screams," Mommy, that is my Dolly. I told the mom what house we were staying at for her to come get her dog. We walked off to finish our grocery shopping. As we were standing in the check-out lane, the little comes running over to us. She tells me that her mom needs my phone number so she can let me know when they are coming to get Dolly. I walked to the mom and gave her my number. Walking back to Lorenzo, he leans over, guessing I’m buying you a puppy. No, you are not buying me a puppy. I don’t need one because I’m always working and don’t have the time for a puppy. We paid and loaded up the car and went back to the house. We pulled up to the house and started to unload the car. Eva and Ava; is the dog still in the house. Yes, she is in your room, Reiley. I yelled at Dolly, and she came running down the stairs excited to see me. I sit down petting her and tell her that her girl is coming to pick her up. The dog starts barking and running around the house happy that her girl is coming to get her. The mom and see if we were back home so she could come pick up Dolly.

We are making our way to the beach to set up for our day. Eva would not stop talking about how cute the little girl was and how happy she was to get her dog. Eva, I’m glad you’re so happy to get rid of the dog. Will you shut up about it now? Wow, Reiley, you are a little salty about having to give the dog back. Ava tells us both to shut up and help put up the canopy. Lorenzo and his brother are bringing the ice chest and chairs. We get everything set up for a day at the beach. Ava, when is your boyfriend showing up? He should be soon with the grill and volleyball stuff so we can beat you guys. Ava, you do know that the game will be uneven. There are seven people. "I know one of us could be the judge and switch out to play winner," Ava said. How about we do boys vs girls and I will judge, since there are four boys and three girls, said Liam. I take a seat and look out into the ocean. It’s so beautiful. Everyone is joking around and laughing and enjoying the beach. Luca and Nico showed up, and now they are setting up everything to play volleyball. We played round after round of volleyball, so we were tied up 3 to 3. Now we are in the tiebreaker, I’m up to serve the ball. I jumped to spike the ball over the net for it to hit the dead center of the boys. Ava yells that is my b***h, we are going to win this all. We only need one more point to win. Eva screams. I was laughing so hard I almost missed the ball coming over the net. I dived and hit the ball for Ava to spike it back over the net to get the point. I was standing up to wipe off the sand when Ava and Eva tackled me back down screaming. We won. The girls get up and run around taunting the boy about winning. I’m sitting there laughing at how crazy fun my best friends are.

We are eating lunch and the girls are still bragging about winning. When Luca looked at Ava and said," You know sweetheart, we let you win. She jumps up and throws her hamburger down. You better not let us win. Luca, you just got yourself in trouble because your girlfriend will make your life hell. She is a very competitive person. Reiley stayed out of this. He was about to learn his lesson, Ava said. Get up pretty boy because you and I are going one on one to see who is the best. Ava calm down he is probably picking on you. Nope, too late for all that I’m teaching this man to lose correctly. Because I’m going to spank his ass one on one. We all get ready to watch a rematch between Ava and her boyfriend Luca. This is going to get crazy; she is too fired up to win. I feel sorry for poor Luca because he had no idea his girlfriend played volleyball in high school and won state in her senior year. I grabbed my coke and sat on the blanket ready to watch the game. Eva came to sit next to me, leaning over to me to make a bet that Ava would win by 5 points. Nico heard her and bet her his brother Luca would by 3 points. He sits down behind her, and she cuddles up in between his legs. She turns around and takes the bet. I tuned the rest out because the terms of the bet just got all kinds of dirty. Lorenzo sat down next to me and asked when they become a thing. I shook my head because I didn’t know they were together.

Lorenzo leans into me, I was going to ask you to take a walk with me after the game. I would love to take a walk with you. Sounds like a great plan. Are you having fun Reiley asked Lorenzo. Yes, I am enjoying my time hanging out with you all. Do you want to make a bet on who wins? Lorenzo said with a wink. Nope, I’m good at not making a bet. Nice try Mr. Night. We watch as Ava and Luca go back and forth from point after point. Ava is up by 3 points, and she needs 2 more to win. Luca looks beat, Ava looks like she can go to another game. Luca spiked it over the net, Ava blocked and sent it over to get the point. She jumps up clapping her hands, one more point to go pretty boy and I win. Luca takes her shirt off to distract Ava. She whistles and takes her shirt off. "This man is going to lose, and she will never let him live it down," said Eva. I agree because she is the most competitive person I know. Ave spikes the ball over the net and Luca blocks it and sends it back over, so Ava can send it right back over for the win. She runs around the net and tackles Luca, screaming I win. We all stood up cheering her on for the win. Lorenzo takes my hand, ready to go on a walk with me.

We told everyone we were going to take a walk and asked if they needed help cleaning up. Liam was the first to speak up. No, we can take care of everything here and you guys have a good time together. Ava hands Lorenzo a blanket, just in case you find a great place to watch the waves. It was almost 4pm, and we started our walk down the beach. You know, I find it strange that my friends are dating maybe my cousins. Do you know Ava asked me before I ever met any of you to go on a double date with her, so Luca twin brother had a date. I agreed because I owed her one and then everything happened to me, and she asked Eva instead. "Well, that would have been a problem for so many different reasons," Lorenzo said. The first reason you are family and the second reason you are mine, said Lorenzo. I don’t belong to anyone, Lorenzo. It is a small world we live in Lorenzo, like fate had its way of bringing me in touch with the Masino’s. Fate has it way of putting you where you need to be, said Lorenzo. Let’s set the blanket up here and talk to Lorenzo. He stretches the blanket out on the ground, and we sit down looking out at the ocean.