One Touch

Ashlyn POV

“ASH GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!” my mom yelled as I heard her stomping up the stairs, shit she can’t know right?? It’s impossible, I think as I run my hands through my hair. My mom is amazing, honestly my entire family is. We truly fit the stereotype of the ‘All American Family’ and to be real, I love it.

Suddenly terrified, I managed to get out a “yes mama?” as I get to the bottom step. My fears seem to vanish as I see mom laughing and smiling with my aunt Chey. “Oh honey I have missed you so much!! I brought gifts for my favorite babies! Where is your brother?” aunt Chey questions. Now she’s not really my aunt but her and mom have been inseparable since second grade and mom was an only child so Chey really was like a sister to her.

“Um, I think he should be back from Uni here soon. He said he was planning on visiting this weekend, I will give him a call and double check,” I smiled before grabbing my phone and running back upstairs. On the third ring Adam finally picks the phone up, “Adam? Hey, aunt Chey is here and was wondering when you were gonna be here. I told her you should be here soon but wanted to double check.”

Adam chuckles, “Hello to you too sis, I just stopped for gas I will be home in about twenty minutes.” I begin grinning from ear to ear and we end the phone call. My brother is my absolute best friend, when we were little (like most siblings) we never got along but as we got older we became inseparable and now he’s the person I confide in for my deepest and darkest secrets.

I run downstairs and tell my mom and aunt that Adam will be here soon before getting dressed. I decided to actually put in some effort so I put on a black pair of skinny jeans, a white cropped sweater, and some cute white sneakers. I add a light curl to my hair and put a thin layer of mascara on before hearing my brother’s deep voice echoing from downstairs.

“ADAMMMMM” I yell while stomping down the stairs, “Hi big brother! Hows Uni?”

“Hey Ash,” he smiles, “Uni is good and we can talk more about it at dinner okay?” I nod my head in agreement and we spend the rest of the afternoon talking and laughing about everything and nothing at the same time. Mom and Aunt Chey can’t stop smiling and I know that it’s because Adam is home.

Once we finally get caught up the front door opens, “Hey guys where are you at?” my dad shouts.

“Dad, long time no see!” Adam shouts from the sitting room. As my dad walks in it’s obvious that he didn’t know he would be here and his eyes light up.

“Son, how are you doing? I didn’t know you were going to be home this weekend.” His arms go wide and he pulls Adam into a hug before leaning in to kiss mom on the cheek, giving aunt Chey a hug and lastly pulling me into a hug and kissing my forehead.

“Well I figured tonight would be as good as any to announce the news that we’ve been talking about.. I actually think it would be a perfect time.” Adam coughed.

Fast forward to dinner and ever since Adam said something about an announcement everything has been tense. Am I the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on? Why would everyone keep a secret from just me? I think to myself. “So does someone want to tell me what’s going on or are we just going to spend the rest of the night in dead silence?”

My dad was the first to speak up and what came out of his mouth brought tears to my eyes, “You are going to school with Adam. Of course only if you still want to.”

Jumping up out of my seat I run over to my dad and fling my arms around him, “Oh thank you dad! Yes of course I want to go. I’ve always wanted to, what made you change your mind though?” I question. My dad has always been against me going to college out of state which is why I’m still home with them.

“I just don’t want you to miss out on it because I was scared of you going and I’m sorry that it took me so long to realize that.”

“When do I get to go?” I ask everyone.

“I was actually hoping you could come back with me this weekend. I don’t live in the dorms so you would have some time to get use to living there but you wouldn’t be able to start classes for another couple of weeks when the new term starts.” Adam smiles and my dad nods hesitantly in agreement.

“Okay!” I squeal, standing up from the table, “I’ll start packing now and be ready in the morning.” I hug my family and thank my mom and dad over and over again before running upstairs to get ready to leave. I’m really excited to go for this roadtrip with Adam, to spend a whole Twelve hours just me and him.

Once I wake up I get ready, I want to be comfortable so I throw on a cute yellow sundress and a pair of Birkenstock sandals. As always I loosely curl my deep brown hair and smile as it falls mid back, and again I put on a thin layer of mascara. Happily strutting down the stairs I know I will be cold seeing as its March and it doesn’t get warmer than 65 degrees here in Eugene Oregon but once I hit L.A. I will be cooking like a sausage. We load all of my stuff into the car which isn’t much because I won’t need my warm clothes once we get to the house, I also make a mental note to make sure to get some new clothes once I save up some more money. Next step in the process is to say goodbye to mom and dad while simultaneously trying to keep it together and not cry.

Looking over at Adam I smile, “I cant believe you actually got them to let me go, thank you.”

“Hey, what are big brothers for?” he shrugs, “I was only able to get them to agree by promising I would be keeping a close eye on you and making sure you were safe. I plan to hold up on that promise so please don’t make it hard on me.” He winks, he knows that deep down I have a bit of a party girl in me. I have only let it seep through a handful of times but I don’t want to mess this up so I will keep it down for good.