Where Do We Go From Here?

The two quickly wrapped each other in an embrace, laughing as they did so. I took this time to observe Maria since—from what I could tell be the way Tony spoke of her—Tony was close with her. Maria had long brown, nearly black hair that had slight waves in them. Her skin was fairly darker than Tony’s, pulling towards her Spanish background. She was a little shorter than me and her smile was wide like Tony’s. I smiled because they seemed to faintly resemble each other.

“So, this is the girl you were telling me about.” Maria commented as she walked towards me and wrapped me in a hug.

I wasn’t used to these kinds of greetings since my family didn’t really hug. We would offer handshakes rather than hugs.

Stepping back, I asked “Did you call him Turtle?”

Maria laughed while Tony’s face flushed red. “Yeah, he’s been my little turtle since we were kids.” She replied while nudging him in the shoulder.

“Great, you’re embarrassing me in front of the girl I like. Thanks.” Tony muttered, his face still flushed with discomfiture.

“Tony used to be really into Ninja Turtles as a child and even went through great lengths to keep one as a pet.” Tony’s mother explained. “He would rotate with names—if it wasn’t Star Wars it was the characters of Ninja Turtles.” She smiled.

“You have a pet turtle?” I asked skeptically, enjoying the way Tony’s mother and sister seemed to dish out facts about him as if they were candy.

Tony kinda winced before saying “No. Unfortunately, I was never really good at keeping them alive.”

With my eyes widening, I asked “You killed them?”

“Not on purpose!” He replied defensively.

Maria laughed. “It was tragic to have another pet turtle die under the care of my baby bro. By the way, what’s with the monkey, tiger combo?”

I cringed. “We were at Carna-Palooza.” I explained.

“Carna-Palooza!” A tiny voice yelled from one of the rooms down the hall. Out came running a little girl dressed in a pink dress with fake pearl necklaces hanging from her neck. “Why didn’t you take me to Carna-Palooza?” The small girl asked as a few of her brown ringlets fell in front of her eyes.

She looked a little like Tony, but had Maria’s bone structure. Her hair was lighter than her siblings and her eyes looked hazel instead of brown. Rosie’s name matched her since her cheeks seemed to have a constant blush on them.

Tony chuckled. “It’s because you were at school.”

“You had school today too.” Rosie argued back.

“That’s right young man. Did you miss school?” Mrs. Perry chastised.

Tony cringed. “Mama, there was a good reason why I skipped today.” He explained softly.

Maria rolled her eyes while sitting on the couch, propping her feet on the coffee table while Rosie climbed onto her lap. The two had amused looks on their faces. It seemed that Tony got into this kind of trouble quite often by the way his two sisters held smirks on their features. I stood there awkwardly, wondering if I was about to hear an earful from Mrs. Perry as well.

“Antonio Ceaser Perry!” She scolded with a stern look on her face. “What could have possibly been important that you skipped school?”

“I had to cheer up Verity.” He explained.

I winced because I was partially at fault for Tony pulling the truancy card today. I felt a small pool of guilt wallowing in my stomach.

“Don’t blame Verity for your irresponsibility.” She remarked with a chastising finger.

“I’m really sorry.” I cut in. “It was my fault because well—I didn’t really start my day off good, and Tony really was trying to cheer me up—which I know is not a good enough reason to skip school at all.” My words fell out of my mouth like vomit; messy and clumpy.

Mrs. Perry glanced from me to Tony. “What happened?” She asked.

Biting my lip out of nervousness, I replied with “I was visiting my sister at the hospital and I knew from there I wasn’t gonna go to school. I’m sorry that I dragged Tony into it.”

Mrs. Perry no longer looked upset. Her eyes resembled the calming ebbs of sympathy. “I’m sorry to hear your sister is in the hospital.”

“Thanks, and I’m sorry for getting Tony in trouble. I usually don’t skip school like this.” I hunched my shoulders apologetically.

Mrs. Perry waved me off with a warm smile. “It’s fine darling. I’m used to Tony skipping school; I just like being an overbearing mother.”

I laughed. “Well, I can assure you that Tony will not skip school for me again.”

Rosie cleared her throat, capturing the attention of everyone. “Tony, aren’t you gonna introduce me to your princess?” She said lowly.

Tony smiled. “Right, Rosie this is my princess Verity. Verity, this is my little sister Rosie.” He introduced.

Rosie gave a slight curtsy, earning a small chuckle from me. “It’s nice to meet you Princess Verity.”

I curtsied back. “It’s nice to meet you Rosie.”

“Do you think you could paint my face?” Rosie asked while looking at me with wide brown eyes.

“I don’t have face paint.” I replied.

“It’s okay, I have!” She said excitedly. “Tony said that you were a really good painter.”

I was put on the spot with her request. I wasn’t great at painting and I knew for a fact that I wasn’t great at face painting. I mean, I can barely paint a decent circle on a canvas let alone on skin.

“No mija, you cannot paint your face. You just took a bath.” Mrs. Perry dismissed.

“But mama, I want to match Tony and Verity.” Rosie countered.

“No.” She replied sternly.

“I can take another bath.”

“Rosie, I said no. You can face paint another day.”

“Okay.” Rosie retired.

“How’s about tomorrow I’ll come over before you take a bath and we can face paint.” I offered.

Rosie smiled. “That sounds awesome!”

Tony smiled while draping an arm around my shoulders. “My family loves you.” He whispered while kissing the side of my head.

Notes

Expect another update today :)

Thanks for reading everyone! <3