Aurora Book 1: Soitera

29. Nancy

When we get back to my house, Everett is on the porch. I give him the biggest hug and don't let go. I missed him.

"Where did you go?"

"We wanted to see the garden." Armen points at the van. "Unload that."

"They saw an angel." I hug him tighter.

"I see one all the time." Everett chuckles and kisses my head. "What's in the van?"

"My stuff from the islands."

"Alright, I'll get it. You show Armen the house."

I open my mouth, and Armen pulls me into the house. "Sounds good."

We hide in the kitchen while they unload everything. Then Dante yells, "WE UNLOADED IT. WE'RE NOT UNPACKING IT."

I laugh and run to them. Everett is cutting the boxes open. "Why do you have cases of pads and tampons?"

I point at Armen.

"Yea, the help went a little overboard."

"And I sent you a cake. You were being spoiled."

Armen nods. "That cake was a big hit with the girls. I'm getting the recipe for that."

"OH YEA. Armen has a girlfriend now."

Dante catches himself on the door. "What?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"YET." I jump up and point at him. "YOU BE NICE TO LILAH. NO MORE SEXCAPADES."

Armen rubs his face. "Sexcapades is a word Jack..."

"DO NOT CHANGE THE SUBJECT." I stomp closer to him at every word. "YOU TEXT HER AND ASK HOW HER DAY IS."

"WE'RE BUSY." He gestures around to all the boxes.

Everett nods. "Yes, you were very busy helping with this."

"Text her."

"I'll text her later."

"Later you'll say it's too late. Take 5 minutes and text her. I know you want to. You've been checking your phone every 10 minutes."

"FINE." He pulls his phone out and sends a text. "Are you happy now?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now unpack."

"Aww." I plop down on the couch again.

Dante's been watching us go back and forth and finally comes out of his trance. "Who is this..."

Armen phone dings and suddenly, none of us exist to him. He looks at it and smiles.

Dante watches him. "I'll be damned. You do have a girlfriend. I need to meet the girl who tamed you."

Armen waves him off and walks out of the room.

"Alright, baby. Start unpacking." Everett pushes a box towards me.

"Where am I going to put six cases of tampons, Everett?"

"Woman. You can unpack the clothes."

Dante goes for the door. "Unpack the clothes. We're going to figure out what to do with the garden."

"Fine." I drag box after box of dresses to the closet and hang them up. Then I smell my old clothes. Nothing smells like the stinky house. That's weird.

I walk outside and Everett and Dante have a table set up in the front yard with produce on it.

"What, baby?"

"My clothes don't stink like the old house."

Dante nods. "We washed them."

"YOU TOUCHED MY UNDERWEAR?"

He backs away from me. "NO. WELL, YES. BUT NOT LIKE..."

Everett leans on the table. "They're in your dresser. Not folded. I didn't want to spend an hour trying to match bras with underwear either. But yes, we washed everything that came out of that house. It wasn't a bad stink, but I could smell the house on them. We didn't want to leave them like that."

"Fine. I guess I'll go match bras to underwear now."

By the time I get that done, the boys have a sale going in the front yard. They seem entertained. I check on Armen, and he's on the phone at the dining room table.

"I'm hungry."

He hands me his credit card and laughs into the phone.

I'm not sure what to do.

I take it out to the boys and show them. "I told him I was hungry."

"Well, don't eat that. I'll get us some pizza for tonight." Dante takes the card and goes into the house.

After we eat, I pass out in my own big bed. I could get used to this.

Everett wakes me up in the morning for school. I try to take a bath, and he pushes me to the other bathroom. "We don't have two hours for a movie and snacks, baby."

The water falls over me and I let the last few weeks wash away. My life is so different now. It's all so sudden. But I'm happy.

I get dressed and stand by the outside table eating a cucumber.

Armen, Dante, and Hugo show up in the van. "Where is Everett?"

I glance at the front door and shrug my shoulders.

Hugo grabs a cucumber. "I'll stay here and wait for the food delivery. You can take her to school. I'll let Everett know you took her."

"Good deal. Get in the car, kid." Armen opens the door.

I climb in and put my bookbag between my feet. "I miss Lilah."

Dante and Armen get in the front. Armen drives. "Yea, you two bonded quickly. If you want to come back with us, I can put you in the island's school. You can finish high school there and see Lilah on the weekends."

Dante tenses and turns to Armen. Armen doesn't seem to care.

"No." I don't want to leave Everett and it's only five months. Plus, these guys did so much for me to be able to stay here. I can't walk away from everything they did. It would make me a monster. They pulled off a miracle. "I want to stay here."

"Ok. Let's go in."

Mrs. Young gives me a hug. "I'm glad you're back." Then she spots the boys and clicks her bracelet. "Hello, gentlemen. How can I help you this morning?"

The principal, Mr. Nelson, and two security guards come out of the office.

"This is Armen. He adopted me."

"That changes things." She waves off the security before they get to us. "You can go to class, sweetie. I'll make sure they get to where they're going."

"Thank you."

I sit in my seat at the back. It's weird being back now. My entire world is different. Nothing feels the same.

Holly smiles. "Welcome back. I am so jealous of your tan. Everett showed us some pictures. It looked amazing."

I stretch. "Private beaches as far as the eye could see. It was amazing."

"I wouldn't want to come back."

"Oh, I have pictures too." I rip my phone out. Then I plop my ass on an empty desk and the girls crowd around me. I flip through pictures so they can see.

"Who is he? He's sexy as hell."

"Dante." Honestly, I do have a lot of pictures of him. "I think Nyx may have taken some of these."

"Yea, blame him."

I giggle and change to the next picture of Dante in swim shorts. "Ok. I took that one."

They giggle with me and look closer.

Out of nowhere someone is yelling.

Two boys in the back of the room are fighting. "LIAM NO." Alice goes after him. "You'll get in trouble."

It's too late though, he tackles the other guy and punches him.

Security runs in and grabs them. Then Mr. Nelson, Dante, and Armen come in. The girls look from my phone to Dante in his suit about ten times. I can feel myself getting redder. Then Holly leans in and whispers, "I would have never came back."

We burst out in another giggle fit.

Dante smirks.

Armen pulls him out. "Don't."

Everett and Brock come in as they're leaving. Everett hands Armen a half-eaten cucumber without saying anything.

Alice fixes her shirt. "Suddenly our boys are boring."

Everett helps me off the desk and sits at the empty desk beside mine. Brock gives me jealous looks through half of class.

During lunch, I figure out I have money in my lunch account now. I can eat whatever I want. I pick a peanut butter sandwich and an apple with some milk. Then I get a huge cookie to go with it.

Everett sits with me and laughs for two minutes.

The rest of school goes normally. During last period, I get summoned to Mr. Nelson's office.

"The drivers' education class officially starts Friday. It's 45 minutes after school, daily for three weeks. At the end of that, you can take a test for your permit."

"Then I can drive?"

"Only with a licensed driver in the car with you. It's not your license. It's a permit. You can't drive without someone until you get your license."

"I can't wait."

"You also can't miss any classes. Attendance is mandatory. If you miss a class, you have to make it up. I know you have good attendance. I just want to make sure you know."

"I won't miss any classes. I'll come even if I'm dead."

"That's the spirit." He laughs and walks me out of the office as the bell rings.

Everett must have been close. He puts his arm around me and walks me to my locker. "I have basketball practice in 20 minutes. Do you want me to take you home first?"

"No. I can walk. It's perfect outside. You can do whatever you normally do."

"Brock and I normally raid the cafeteria."

"That sounds fun. You have fun with that."

"We will." He pulls me against him and gives me a sweet kiss. "I love you."

I wrap my arms around his neck. "I love you too. Are you coming over after practice?"

"Of course. I need to grab some more clothes from my parents' house, but I'll be there as soon as I can."

"I can't wait. I want to take a bath with you."

He sucks on my lip then takes another kiss. "I want to..."

"Break apart, or you're getting detention, Everett." Mr. Walker walks by us.

Everett steps back and his lips lightly touch mine. "I think you could murder someone in front of him, and he would pretend he had something in his eye."

"I really doubt that." I give his neck a little nibble.

"Do I get a kiss too?"

"Damn it, Brock." Everett rubs his face.

I laugh and steal one more kiss. "I'll see you later. Have fun."

He smacks my butt. "See you soon, baby."

The lady from Armen's kitchen is standing in my kitchen when I get home.

"Am I seeing people?"

Dante bursts out laughing. "No. She's going to stay in town until next Friday. She's going to teach you how to use the kitchen appliances."

"My name is Nancy. I'll make sure you know how to use everything and cook basic things. We'll work on cooking eggs and noodles. I'll show you how to make sure meat is done. Things like that. Then we'll make a few recipes together before I leave."

I point in the direction of Everett's. "Everett's mom made a casserole. Can you show me how to make one of those?"

"Yes. I know how to make casseroles. I can help you with that."

"I am so excited." I jump around. "Oh, drivers ed starts Friday. I'll be 45 minutes late every day after that. Mr. Nelson said I can't miss those classes."

"That's understandable. We'll just start 45 minutes later."

"Ok. What's today?"

"I need to put dinner together, and they wanted to make sure you met me and understand what I'm doing here. I'll make an official plan for us to work through tonight."

Armen comes in. "I don't like you eating cucumbers for two thirds of your meals. She'll be here for a week and a half to help you learn the kitchen. If you need her longer, that's fine. But it's a start. The rest of us need to get back."

"Aww."

He wraps his arms around me. "You'll be fine. If you need anything, you know how to get a hold of me. Call me for anything. Where is Everett?"

"Basketball practice." I don't want to let go of him.

Dante pulls me away and hugs me. "We'll be back in a few weeks to check on everything. If you need anything at all, call or text. We'll get someone here before you can blink."

Nancy smiles. "I'll be keeping an eye on everything while I'm here too. But I know everything is going to be fine. You want to help me with dinner tonight?"

"Yes."

She smiles. "What's Everett's favorite cookie? We can make it for him."

"I have no idea."

Armen laughs and gives me a hug. "You'll be fine. We'll be back in a few weeks or sooner if you need us."

I wipe my eyes off. His hugs are so different. Then I finally let him go.