VII: Two Lives Combined

Adriann was really getting worried. She didn’t know where An- Jessica had gone. She hoped nothing bad happened. Probably not though. She probably just went somewhere with her aunt. Yeah, that was it. Adriann wondered if Anna- Jessica would decide to see her family again. That would be pretty cool. I’d love to meet her family, she thought. I mean, does she have siblings, or what? Of course she did! She figured she could probably ask Elizabeth or Lucy and find out. They knew everything about that family. Except that it would probably be more fun to find out from Jessica, who might let her meet them. That would be really cool to meet her mom and dad and all.

“Adriann!” her mom called upstairs. “Phone!”

“Coming!” she yelled in reply. Maybe it would be Jessica.

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I picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number. I really hoped Adriann was there ‘cause I really needed to talk to her now. Mom had said that we were going out to eat and if I wanted I could invite a friend too. I couldn’t decide, but I figured I should let my friends sorta know what was going on. After four rings, Adriann picked up. “Hello?” I heard her say. “Hey, how’s it goin?” I asked timidly.

“Well, I was just gonna ask you the same thing,” she replied.

“Hey, ya know what? Um, well, you’ll never guess where I was awhile ago.”

“Oh, really? Try me.” I could hear her chuckling.

“Well, I was at my mom’s hotel room.”

“You’re kidding! Oh my gosh, you didn’t get in a fight with them did you?” I think she was worried.

“No! No! Of course not! Trust me, Adriann, you don’t know my family. I couldn’t ever fight with them. I had a great talk with my brother. He was really cool about the whole thing. But, my mom wanted to know if I wanted to invite a friend to go to dinner with us, so I called you. Do you wanna come?” I took a nervous breath.  Please, please say yes, I thought to myself.

“Sure, of course I wanna come! Lemme just go ask my mom.” I heard the phone hit the floor. “She thinks it would be really cool for me to meet your family. What time do ya need me?”

“Well, I guess we’ll come pick you up around 6, k?”

“K. I’ll be here.” I hung up the phone.

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As we drove up to Adriann’s large traditional colonial home, I was really starting to get nervous. I didn’t know how my mom and the rest of my family would react to meeting the people who existed only in the life that they had never known. My biggest fear was that they would be hurt that I had come so close to someone whom they had no clue even existed. I just didn’t know how things would go at all. “Jessie, is this it?” my dad asked.

“Yeah, it is Dad,” I replied. We turned into the driveway. I shivered in my seat even though it was totally warm outside. “Well, are you gonna go get her?” he asked.

“Sure Dad. Be right back.” I hopped out of the car and walked quickly up to the door. I decided that I should just get it over with as soon as possible. Adriann would probably love my family, almost everyone did. I could hear Adriann’s 5-year-old little brother, Tim, running to the front door. Tim was Adriann’s only sibling (other than her older brother who had already gone off to college and was only seen on Christmas) and I had always been jealous of her, even though I was alone when I lived with my aunt. Tim threw open the door. “Hey, Tim, what’s up?” I asked.

“Nothin’!” he said happily. He reminded me of Mack, except he was a little bit older. Mrs. Holly came to the door. “Oh, hi, Anna. I mean, Jessica. Gosh, this must be so hard on you. I can’t even imagine!”

“Oh, it’s not as bad as you think, trust me! It’s really not.”

“Well, I’ll still think about you. Adriann should be ready any time now. She’s upstairs still, so there’s no telling when she’ll come down. You can go up if you want. Does your mom want to come in or something?”

“I don’t know. Probably. I’ll go ask her.” I ran back outside into the warm night air. “Mom?” She looked up. “Do you wanna go in and meet Adriann’s mom? She said Adriann’s gonna be a minute or two. I think she wants to meet you.”

“Sure, sweetie.” My mom opened the door and I led her up the walk back into the house. As I walked up the curving staircase to Adriann’s room, I could hear my mom introducing herself. I ran over the upstairs walkway into Adriann’s purple room. She was sitting on the bed tying her boots. “Hey, Jess, what’s up?” She had already gotten used to my real name. Adriann got used to things pretty easily. “Oh, not much. My mom is down talking to your mom in the kitchen.”

“Oh, really? I was hoping my mom wouldn’t ask her in till we got back, but I guess that was asking a little too much! You know how my mom is.” She smiled, a little embarrassed. “Well, I guess we should go, huh? I can’t wait to meet your mom! She sounds really cool, from what you’ve said, anyway.” Adriann nodded and started walking out the door and over to the stairs. “Yeah, I guess she is.”

We walked downstairs into the kitchen. It looked like my mom was getting along just fine. She always did. She got along with everybody. “Hey, Mom, we really better get going,” said Adriann. I could tell she really wanted to get out of there.

“Ok, hon. It was nice to meet you, Diana. You guys have a great time.” She leaned over to whisper something in Adriann’s ear. “Don’t forget to invite them over afterward!” I smiled. Of course my parents would take the offer. This was good. Things were turning out very well. Adriann and I climbed into the car and we drove off.

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