your hair as soon as I can find another place.”
“No way, Kait. You’re not going anywhere. You think I’d kick you out because of this? What kind of asshole friend do you think I am?” She looked hurt.
“Thanks, but you haven’t met my sister yet.” I half joked, rolling my eyes.
“How old?”
“Nerina, Neri, is fifteen. Sam, my brother, is five.” Ara whistled, she shook her head, combing her blonde hair over one shoulder with her fingers. I envied the length of her locks as I self-consciously thought about my own dark haired mop that I could barely grow past my shoulders.
“Fifteen. Shit, the trouble I got up to when I was fifteen.” Ara smiled, caught up in memories. I shook my head. Somehow, it didn’t surprise me that Ara was a bit of a wild child, she hadn’t changed that much.
Ara (her full name Arabella) and I met in first year of college, after I had answered her ad for a roommate. Moving so far away from home with no friends or family around me had been hard, but meeting Ara had made things so much easier. Though we’d only known each other a couple of years, it felt as though we’d been friends for life. Ara had the big loving family I had always wanted, and I loved that they always insisted on involving me whenever possible.
With her Italian heritage, her two biggest loves were talking and eating, and she did a lot of both. She was the only person I knew who had won an eating competition. A year ago she’d won a pancake eating competition by devouring thirty-five pancakes in less than four minutes. That’s a pancake every 6.85 seconds! Despite her huge appetite, she was tiny. Looking at her, you would be forgiven if you thought she was one of those girls who only picked at salads.
I’d met Ara’s wonderfully huge extended family on several holiday occasions where she’d dragged me home with her after insisting I wasn’t going to stay home by myself. Her family was lovely, and it was obvious where Ara got her bubbly outgoing personality. Both her mum and her three sisters were exactly the same, in personality and stature. I’d never eaten as much in my life than I had when around her family.
Ara had met Luke in high school. After chasing her for years, she’d finally agreed to go out with him just after their graduation. They’d fast become joined at the hip, until six months later, Luke had joined the Royal American Air Force. Ara coped well with him being away, though I knew she worried about his safety. That was definitely something I didn’t think I could handle. Worrying about my boyfriend every day, wondering if he was still going to be alive wasn’t something I could do. I got anxious not knowing if the bin was going to be emptied on a public holiday. And don’t even get me started on the long distance thing. They were lucky if they saw each other twice a year. As you can imagine, when he was home, they barely surfaced from her bedroom.
Ara’s voice brought me back to reality, “Seriously Kaitlin, you even think about moving out I will hunt you down and kill you.” Ooh, she must be serious, she used my full name.
“Okay ‘Arabella’.” I replied, holding my hands up in surrender. I chuckled, shoveling down the last few mouthfuls of cereal, “I guess I better get a move on then.”
“Where to?”
“I have to organize a few things. For the kids. And I need to look for a job.” I had no idea how I was going to juggle college, working and two kids. Even though I knew I shouldn’t depend on her, I knew Ara would help out as much as she could. “I have no idea where to find a job that will work around such a hectic schedule.” I added. Finding a job, period, had been a mountainous task.
Ara jumped to her feet. She came running back into the kitchen with the paper, “Start here.” She slapped the paper at my chest. “Good luck.” She called over her shoulder as she sauntered into the bathroom. Making a face, I sat down with the paper open at the classifieds.
Chapter three
Coffee. I needed coffee.
This was going to be a hell of a day. I was looking forward to seeing Neri and Sam, but at the same time I was nervous as hell.
What if they both hated me?