1 Chapter 1

I couldn't believe it was Christmas break already. I was so happy that I would be home to see my parents and sisters! I was beaming with joy when I heard a knock on the door.

"Aria, you've been in there for 20 minutes, I also have a family to see soon too!" The impatient voice shouted. I rolled my eyes.

Emily, is my roommate and we're both going to visit our parents for winter break. We decided to get up early at 6 to get started on the road quicker. Lucky for me I was able to get in first.

I pulled open the door, noticing her eyes trained on me, and exited out with a quick mumbled word "sorry."

Emily and I were good friends but I found it best to not get on her bad sides in the morning. She was a rebellious girl with a mean streak. Everyone knew her as the brown-haired girl with purple streaks who not to mess around with. Even though she had a blank stare, Emily was actually nice, she just wanted everyone to fear her.

I went through my luggage to make sure I had everything for the week and a half I would be staying with my parents. To be honest I wasn't really fortunate with the idea of going home this break. I was thinking of staying home, go ice skating a couple of times, and lots of studying for the exams after but once my mom asked me, more like begged me to come this year and that she would have a surprise, I just couldn't say no. I was there for the surprise after all. I continued to bag a few of my summer dresses and pants for the trip. I bought a couple of shirts and short pants and also two bathing suits since it would be warm down in Florida these days.

I missed it down in Florida. The warm sunrise and sunset every morning and afternoon was my favorite. I also loved going to the beach but mostly around the ring when it was less busy with tourists and traffic. While here in New York it was a completely different story. It was always cold. I remember it took my body a month to get used to the chill when I first moved. I would sometimes put a jacket over my plain turtle necks and double sweaters. Fortunately, it wasn't weird for people in New York to bundle up so I mostly loved the chilling warmth I felt in my wrapped up blanket and coats.

I decided to just put on a long sleeve shirt with my red hoodie since it was going to be really hot once I stepped down in Florida and I didn't want to suffer from damp clothes.

Soon, my thoughts traveled back to the surprise. My parents had told me the day before that they had some amazing news to share with me. Knowing my parents they weren't big on money spending so it was surprising when they said they had something big to tell me. I wondered what it was for the night, waiting for sleep to catch me. My parents weren't rich but they were well off. My dad was a well-known chiropractor in Florida and my mom was a news reporter. I was also happy to see my sisters, Aurora, and Melissa.

Melissa was the eldest in our family while I, the second. She is married to probably my favorite brother-in-law ever, Lucas. Lucas and I had a great bond, he wasn't bothered to invite me and Aurora to the places they would go. He treated us like his very own sisters. Aurora was still in high school and was now in her senior year. She still acted like a little child but I couldn't blame her since I still treated her as one.

After I checked that I had everything prepared, Emily and I gave each other hugs and we exchanged our gifts to each other early since we wouldn't be able to do it later this year. We always did this for the last 2 years living together but since we would both be busy this holiday, we decided to do it early. I and Emily said our goodbyes after and we left for separate directions. I finally got on my Lyft and made my way to the airport.

Finally, reaching my destination, I paid the driver and got off to grab my luggage from the back trunk. I thanked the driver one last time and entered the airport.

Arriving inside the airport, I had to do the usual, taking my shoes off and getting checked by the detectors. After at least 20 minutes of that, I started boarding my plane.

I woke up from sleeping at some point and looked at the time. It had been 2 hours since I was on the plane.

Being on an airplane, I'll admit it was tiring but thankfully I was finally out. I went outside and the heat felt like Heaters in your own house. How I missed this, I thought.

I did the usual again by finding my luggage. I was waiting for Lucas to come pick me up since my mom had already told me to not worry about getting another Lyft. I was so excited to meet him and catch up with how he and my sister was doing.

I stepped outside and felt the heat leisurely linger on my face.

I heard a familiar honk and looked to my left to see the familiar Jeep. I ran over with my two bags and encountered my favorite brother in law. We hugged each other tightly and forgot how much I missed him and my family.

"I missed you so much, Lucas," I whined.

He laughed heartily and we gave each other some space. "Same here, Aria. You've got to tell me all about college." He grabbed my bags and went to put them in his truck.

I smiled remembering those days. He always wanted to know about me when we didn't see each other for months and when after talking about all I had to do over those periods of times not seeing face to face, I'd ask about him and about Melissa. I knew my sister could give him a hard time sometimes, I mean I literally had her at my home for 16 years and I probably knew my sister more than she knew herself.

Of course, Lucas knew her more than herself too, but it was always fun to just talk about it some more and we'd laugh at how silly she was sometimes.

"And you have to tell me when you both are planning to have a family." I teased him. He looked at me a little shocked but changed it by laughing lightly. I didn't pay any mind to it and we got inside the car and left.