She swore that Seri lied. There was no way they had been driving for
45 minutes. It seemed more like five. What was she supposed to do? Were they going to cry? Would they hug her? Maybe they would decide that they didn’t want her and she could just stay with Seri until Julius found her.
“You okay?” Seri asked
, as they turned down Sky-Ranch road.
“No
, I don’t want to go here. You’re making me,” Aquilla replied not looking at her. She was staring at the neighborhood. The houses on this road were a lot closer, with yards, swing sets and porch swings. There were dirt roads branching off the county road. She wondered where they would take her.
“Fuck!” Seri yelled, coming to a complete stop. Who the fuck called the press?
Aquilla looked up to see the television crews, reporters, and cameras lining the house that she assumed would be hers. Seri took the next dirt road and called Liz.
“Hello,” Liz answered. Something was wrong. She wasn’t coming. Something happened. She just knew it.
“Liz, we’re here. Do you have a garage that I can get her in?”
Liz breathed a sigh of relief, calming the threatening asthma attack. “Yes
, give me a minute to move my car out, it’s only big enough for one car. She can come in through the kitchen,” she explained.
Seri eased her way back toward the house. “You can put your head down if you want
, Quill,” she offered.
Aquilla didn’t want to. She couldn’t believe all the people. Her new neighbors were all outside waiting to see the kidnapped girl. FUCK. She hated this.
The cameras were going crazy as Aquilla stared with deer in headlight eyes at the flashing lights. Her chest suddenly felt heavy as Seri pulled into the garage. A middle aged man quickly hit the garage door button, closing the door behind the black government vehicle. Aquilla wondered if he was her
real
father, assuming that he was, she looked to the women. She knew without a doubt that was her mother. She had the same long blonde hair and dainty features, just like Aquilla’s.
Seri squeezed Aquilla’s wrist with a reassuring embrace. It broke her heart when Aquilla looked over to her with the most frightened expression she had ever seen. Fuck
, what the hell? She didn’t get emotional, she didn’t have those kinds of feelings. She didn’t get involved with sentiments. She wasn’t weird in that way. She had her reasons and damn good ones. What the hell was wrong with her?
Aquilla noticed the blonde woman…her mother…holding her chest with one hand as the other one covered her mouth.
“Seri?” she nervously spoke.
“Just get out of the car and get it over with, Quill. Once you get past the initial reuniting
, it will be better,” Seri tried. What was she supposed to say? Monica should be the one there dealing with this shit, not her. She wasn’t a therapist.
Aquilla felt sick again. Her knees wobbled and she was suddenly hot and clammy. She was sure she was going to pass right the fuck out. She
hated Julius at that moment, not believing that he was allowing this to happen to her. Where the fuck was Julius?
Liz tried
, she tried so hard. She had told herself all morning that she wasn’t going to attack her. She was going to give her space and not suffocate her with her arms. It was hopeless, as soon as Aquilla was out of the car, she had her arms around her, crying and sobbing uncontrollably. She couldn’t even speak. Was she breathing? She didn’t hear any wheezing.
Aquilla stood immobile
, feeling very awkward, while this woman sobbed into her hair. Her arms dangled to her sides and her eyes looked over her mother’s shoulder at her father and sister. Her sister had the same blonde hair, who also looked like she was a bit nervous and extremely uncomfortable. Of course she was, she was gaining a sister that she never knew. She was probably a spoiled only child, and Aquilla was ruining everything. She was probably going to hate her. Who cares? She was getting the hell out of there as soon as she could anyway. She didn’t need a family. She had a family. She had Julius. Stupid fucking Julius. She hated him.
“Aquilla?”
Seri said, interrupting the rant going on in her mind.
Aquilla hadn’t even realized that her mother had let her go.
“Uh?” Aquilla said, turning to Seri.
Her father hugged her next. Fuck
, get the fuck off of me. “I can’t believe you’re home,” he said in her hair. “We’ve missed you so much. There hasn’t been one single day that I haven’t thought about you.” How nice, wish I could say the same. Aquilla noticed her mother shake the little device and breathe it deep into her lungs. Was she sick?
“Come on
, I have lunch ready, I’m Liz,” she spoke to Seri with her hand out.
Seri firmly shook her hand. “Sarah,” she offered.
“I’ll get your things,” Emmanuel offered.
Seri turned around and hit the trunk button. Emmanuel lifted the blue duffle bag and then Seri’s small bag. She didn’t have much with her
, hoping that Monica would swing by her apartment and bring her some clothes, otherwise she was going to have to do some shopping. How long was she going to be there? Aquilla needed to get onboard and fall in love with her family, QUICKLY.
“Would you like to see your room before dinner, Shelby?” Liz asked.
Seri instantly shot Aquilla a look, telling her to keep it cool.
“Yes, p
lease, but if you don’t mind, could you please just call me Quill?” she asked. Only two people called her Quill, her father and Julius, well three now, since hardheaded Seri insisted as well. She figured her parents could better cope with Quill rather than Aquilla. What did she call them? She wasn’t calling them mother and father. No way, she wouldn’t do it.
Liz only smiled at her. She didn’t want to call her a name that a man
who ripped her from their lives named her. For now she would do it, she would try anyhow. However, she was sure if she just showed her how much she was loved, she would love her name in no time at all. “We’ll go shopping for a new bed once Sarah leaves,” Liz assured her as she opened the door to Aquilla’s new bedroom. “Your grandparents sleep in here when they visit. We’ll just move the twin beds to the downstairs bedroom.”
Aquilla only smiled. Her king size bed would never fit in that room. “May I please use the restroom?” she asked.
Liz smiled and hugged her. “It’s right across the hall.”
Are you fucking serious? She was sharing a bathroom with her sister. Who lived like that? She needed her own bathroom, right inside of her own living quarters. What the hell? The sink barely had any counter space at all, and her sister….um. Shit
, what was her name again? Who gives a fuck? She had the whole counter full of her makeup, perfumes, hair straighteners, and a full basket of hair ties.
Aquilla splashed cool water on her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She didn’t look like Shelby. She looked like a sad Aquilla that wanted to go home. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
“Quill?” Seri called with two quiet knocks to the door.
Aquilla took a deep breath and opened the door. Everyone was gone except Seri
good.
“I fucking hate this
, Seri, I don’t belong here,” she said in a loud whisper.
“Quill, you haven’t even given it a chance yet. Maybe you could open your mouth and talk to them.”
“About what? I don’t fucking know them!”
“
Shhh, stop using that language. I’m sure it’s not as acceptable here like it was in the Chavez home.”
“Actually, my father would have grounded me for talking like that. You don’t know shit about the Chavez home.”
“Quill, Stop it, you don’t need to be difficult. You’re only making a bad situation worse, for you and your family. Will you try?”
Aquilla only snorted and moved past her into her new
, teeny tiny bedroom. She opened a couple of the empty dresser drawers, but didn’t open her bag to deposit them. She would live out of her duffle bag. She wouldn’t be staying that long.
“Come on
, your mother has lunch ready.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Aquilla, get your obstinate ass down those stairs and let’s sit down and eat with your family. Don’t do this, don’t make it harder than it has to be.”
“Yeah, and maybe you should go fuck yourself. Let me take you to some family you’ve never met and drop you off and then you can tell me how not to make it harder than it has to be. Okay, Seri?”
“What do you want me to do, Quill?”
“Get me the fuck out of here until I can find Julius.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Of course it’s not. Come on
, Mommy, Daddy and Sissy are waiting for us,” Aquilla smartly remarked.
Liz and Manny stopped talking when they saw Aquilla and Seri enter the dining room. Seri sat across from Aquilla as they both looked at the food and then back to each other.
Great, Sloppy Joes, red meat, yuck.
“Reese, pass the buns to your sister,” Liz requested.
Really? She was going to do that?
“Um…That’s okay. I’ll just have some macaroni and cheese and lima beans. I don’t really eat meat that much,” Quill replied. She noticed the eye roll from Reese. Fuck her. Quill didn’t want to be there anymore than Reese wanted her to be there.
“I don’t really eat red meat either, thank you,” Seri said, smiling at Reese, declining the bun, as well.
Lunch was quiet, not to mention awkward. Aquilla ate her food and glanced around the table at her very white family. She didn’t think she was so white anymore. Her beach tanned skin was nothing compared to her families. She wondered if she would lose it and be as white as them since she wouldn’t be living by the pool and the beach. Did they have a pool? She doubted that they did.
“Do you have a pool?” she asked. Fuck, she didn’t mean for that to be out loud. She was only thinking it.
“We don’t have one here, but your dad has one at the house in N
ew York,” Liz explained, glad she was talking.
He’s not my dad.
“It’s not really his pool. He lives in an apartment building with the pool as part of the amenities. There’s a gym and a track there too. Do you like to swim?” Reese asked.
“Yeah, I’ve always had a pool and have grown up by a beach.”
Seri felt a little pleased that she was talking. Keep going Quill. You’ve got this.
OR NOT.
“May I please be excused?” Aquilla asked, turning to her “
father.
” She wasn’t sure why him, probably because she wasn’t used to asking for things from a female.
Emmanuel looked a little taken aback
himself. Reese didn’t ask to be excused. He turned to Liz, not knowing how to react. She nodded with a look that told him he was stupid or something.
“Yes
, you can be excused.”
Aquilla heard Reese’s laughter as soon as her foot hit the first step. She was making fun of her
, spoiled little bitch.
“Reese, stop it,” Liz demanded in a loud whisper.
“Did she really just ask to be excused?” Reese asked, still smirking.
“Quill has had a different upbringing where she came from
, Reese. Give her some time. She’s not sure how she is supposed to act here,” Seri said, coming to her defense. Really? This little girl was going to do this? She should turn Quill loose on her and let her beat some etiquette into her smart little ass.
“Why don’t you go up and talk to her, Reese?” Liz suggested.
“Um, no, I’m not doing that. Dad, will you take me to Lil’s?”
“No, Reese. Your sister has been here for less than an hour. We’re spending the evening here tonight.”
“Why? Can’t you tell that she doesn’t want to be here? She doesn’t want me to be her sister. She doesn’t want you to be her mother and she doesn’t want a dad. Why would you try to force that? She doesn’t even want to be Shelby. She wants to be called something that makes no sense at all. You can’t expect her to come home after all of these years and just be Shelby again. She’s not Shelby.”
“Reese, she is going to be here. You are her sister and we are her family. Don’t make this any harder for her than it already is,” Liz demanded.
Seri knew everything Reese was saying was true. Quill didn’t want to be there anymore than Seri wanted to be there. Fuck, why couldn’t this just be easy for her?
“Reese, Quill isn’t like your typical kidnaped quarry. She never knew she was kidnapped until a couple of days ago. I know this is hard for you too, but try to recognize what it’s like for her to lose the only father she has ever known and be taken from her home to a family that she never knew existed. She’s going to need you to be there for her,” Seri explained.
Reese shamefully dropped her eyes. “I’m sorry, I’m sure it is very difficult for her. I’ll try to be there for her, I just don’t know how.”
Seri smiled and patted her hand. “Just try to understand.”
Reese finished her sandwich and reluctantly walked upstairs to her sister’s room. Aquilla was sitting on her twin size bed trying to get logged onto the purple laptop.