Juliana's POV
I feel like the drive home was longer than the drive there. Like, why couldn't the drive to the place I was avoiding not take a million years, but when I have to pee? Forget it. Looking out the window that my head was resting on as we pulled into the long driveway, I saw that sun was just beginning to set, casting the first hints of a dark orange hue across the sky.
It was views like this that I would miss. Do dead people get to see the sunsets? I hope so. If there was one thing I would miss, it would be that. Looking at the sky as it portrays so many beautiful colours that you wouldn't think to mix together, yet still work so well. It was a moment of peace among the chaos. A time when you could forget about your problems and worries, even if for just a couple seconds.
I hope my couple seconds lasts for a while.
"It's my turn!" Justil yells, trying to snatch the remote back.
"No it's not! You're after me." Elliot snaps back, smacking the top of his head. Justin's eyes widen, and he lets out a high pitched shriek.
"DADDY! He hit me!"
"No hitting!" Uncle Stefano yells back from the kitchen. He really didn't seem that bothered by it, it sounded more of an instinctual reply than anything. Justin and Elliot were fighting over the Wii remote, Elijah was cackling because thanks to the distraction, he was now in first.
Elliot was about to break the remote by how tightly he was gripping his. He was trying everything to get back into first place. Since this was Mario Kart, and not real life, he couldn't play dirty. Which meant he was having his ass kicked. But having a regressed Justin throwing a temper tantrum next to you probably doesn't help a lot.
I'm honestly surprised Elliot hasn't hit him again. I guess he has a once per five minutes quota.
Massimo is sitting in a recliner to himself, trying to block everyone else out while he laid there, somehow reading. As a huge bookworm myself, I understood the need to read anywhere and everywhere, but even I wouldn't be able to focus with all this noise. I must say, no matter how many times I see it, it's still a little weird to see Massimo without a suit on.
Makayla and Angelo had disappeared into the kitchen about twenty minutes ago to "learn from Uncle Stefano" who was trying to cook. Honestly, I would do the same if the people in the kitchen weren't so boring. Seriously, what is it with adults and their odd fascination with cookware? Maybe that's just an Italian thing.
My parents haven't come home since we left the hospital. At least, not to my knowledge. Part of me was worried, but another part of me rationalised that they were adults and they could take care of themselves. Uncle Lorenzo and Aunt Teresa had disappeared up to their room not long after we got back. I really don't even want to think about what they could be doing right now.
"Justin!" I cry out as his foot stomps down on the lego NASA structure Hunter and I had been building.
In all truth, had it even resembled NASA, or any type of building for that matter... No. We may or may not have thrown out the instructions before we realised we would need them. But it still pissed me off, we had been working on that for a while!
And do you even realise how long it takes to stack even two lego pieces when you only have one functioning arm? A pretty long freaking time!
Justin curses before I'm even finished yelling his name, jumping from foot to foot, hopping on one leg as tears form in his eyes. Good. I hope that fucking hurt.
"Justin, language!" Massimo scolds in a bored tone, not bothering to look up from his book to see why he was cursing.
"Justin, how could you!" I know that he probably didn't do it on purpose, I mean, he's upset with Elliot, not Hunter and I.
"Juliana, it's fine. We can rebuild it." Hunter says, starting to scoop all the pieces back into a pile. Even though he sounds annoyed, he's more than ready to just forget it and move on.
"I didn't mean to!" Justin snaps at me, finally stopping his overreacting. Seriously, lego's can't hurt that bad. I mean, it's a tiny little block. "You shouldn't have built it in the middle of the room."
"Maybe your fatass should watch where you're going." My words were sharp and immediate, and caused Hunter to snap his gaze up to me with a sharp intake of breath.
"Maybe you should get a brain in your head!" Justin stomps his foot, the one he didn't just imbed a lego into. Talk about temper tantrums.
"Everyone has a brain, dumbass, you obviously just don't know how to use yours."
"-language" Massimo calls out, clearly over the whole situation.
"Juliana, it's fine. We can put it back together."
"Shut up!" Both Justin and I snap the words at the same time, neither of us taking our eyes off the other.
To make matters short, three minutes later, Justin and I found ourselves standing in the kitchen, back pressed to opposite walls after we kept trying to smack the other. Uncle Stefano was stirring a sauce of some kind, muttering to himself about how stupid it was that he and his siblings had so many kids.
"She started it." Justin mumbled, loud enough for Uncle Stefano to hear, making me gasp. That dirty little liar. "I did not! It was his fault, he destroyed m-"
"-I don't care who started it! A vase got broken, and frankly, I don't care who did it. You're both accomplices." He interrupts, pointing the spoon he was using the stir at us both, one at a time, tiny droplets of the red liquid falling onto the floor, reminding me of blood.
There goes my appetite.
"You're both going to stand there until you can get along with each other and give me a reason as to why you were both acting like you were five."
"Rude" I mutter under my breath, and Uncle Stefano gives me a look that tells me to shut up. I just cross my arms, leaning into the wall. It's not my fault the vase broke.
Sure, maybe I threw the pillow, but Justin's the one that deflected it into the vase. Not to mention he broke my stinking legos. If anything, he should be the only one in trouble.
I'm not apologising. It wasn't my fault, it was his! So what if I bit him? He deserved it. I hope it scars.
Honestly, if there was anyone more annoying than Justin on this planet I would seriously doubt it- OW!
The little assho- Did he just throw an orange at me?
I look down at the small orange ball rolling across the floor from where it just hit me in the forehead. I glance over as Miceleo snorts from his spot at the bar, hiding his laugh in his drink.
Justin has a shiteating grin on his face, like he's just done something he's proud of. I'm actually going to beat his ass. Sure, I've got a dud arm, but I'm going to figure out how to kill that son a bitch.
Can oranges kill someone? Can't hurt to try.
"Juliana, don't you dare." Uncle Stefano's voice rings through the kitchen the moment my left arm is raised and prepped to launch the orange right back at Justin's eye.
"He did it first." I find myself whining. Why did he have to conveniently look up when I was trying to do something bad?
"I don't care, put the orange down. And Justin, stop making the situation worse. You're supposed to be learning how to get along."
Justin just crossed his arms, letting out a loud, childish huff. Yeah, because that's really gonna help.
I end up chucking the orange at Justin regardless, Justin crying out in pain.
"She hit me!"
"You did it first!"
Uncle Stefano groans, turning the stove off before he stomps over to us. He grabs my arm and pulls me further away from Justin, who was looking like an angry, harmless, kitten right now.
"I swear, I regret having children." He mutters, and I snort. Maybe he should have stopped with Hunter.
He stops, turning me so I'm facing him, still holding onto my good arm, not painfully though. He points a finger at me, giving me that signature look that only parents can perfect that silently says, 'stop, or I'm gonna legally beat your ass'.
"You need to cut it out"
"I didn't even do anything, he did it first!" I defend. Come on, can you really blame me? Justin's been more than annoying this afternoon.
"Juliana. Stop it. You need to calm down." He cuts me off when I open my mouth to rebut. "-I'm not going to tolerate the whining. You and Justin can both either talk like normal people, or spend the rest of the night staring at each other from opposite sides of the room. Choose wisely."
Okay, so maybe Justin didn't do it on purpose. Plus, he's earned points in my book because he dug through the trash cans to find the building instructions. Now, we've got something resembling a NASA space station.
I'm still trying to pry apart two pieces that Hunter and I had forced together earlier when Justin shoves a toy firetruck in my hand.
Giving him a look I dropped it on the ground. "I was doing something with that hand, thanks." I say, rolling my eyes when Justin glares at me.
"Well now you're doing this." He snaps, shoving the red truck back at me, making me huff. I don't want his stupid toy! The second these people turn their backs, Justin is going in the dog crate.
"Juliana, you have a fascination with getting on my nerves tonight, don't you?" Uncle Stefano groans, snatching the truck that I was two seconds from chucking at Justin's head, out my hand. Dang it, too slow.
Justin whines, wanting his toy back as I'm leaning forward, staring intently at his arm. Just a little closer and I can do it... Right as my teeth are about to sink into his forearm, I shriek as the world tilts and I'm flung into the air.
I can practically hear the air around me whoosh as Zeke hoists me up and away by the waist. Dang it, too slow again. Man, I'm really off my game tonight.
"I thought you were in Columbia?" I ask him sadly, looking over my shoulder in time to see his brow furrow.
"Who the hell told you I was in Columbia?"
"No one, I was just hoping you were in any continent I wasn't." I say, smiling innocently. Zeke rolls his eyes, jerking me, letting me plop onto the couch with a yelp. God I'm glad I remembered to take that pain killer earlier.
"Jerk" I mumble, and he bounces down next to me, jostling me as he imprisons me on his lap. Groaning, I flop back dramatically, showing my fake displeasure.
"Oh shut up, I know I'm your favourite."
"Favourite idiot." I mumble and he makes a melodramatic "aww"-ing sound.
"You called me your favourite." He hugs me to his chest for a moment before he pauses, pushing me back. "Did you just call me an idiot?" He exclaims as Hunter snorts, Aunt Stephanie covering her face with her hands at her child's density.
"My mommy told me it wasn't nice to lie." I say with a sweet smile and Zeke scoffs, pushing me off his lap.
"Well my mommy taught me a little thing called 'manners'. Little witch child." I gasp, swinging my head around to look at him, offended.
"I'll have you know, I'd make a great witch!"
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Hola amigo's! (Like how my Spanish class is totally paying off there? ;)
Here's what I'm just gonna refer to as your monthly update... See you in October! 😂