What could have been.

- Chapter 7 -

Why is it that the percentage of guys that I meet have a higher percentage of being an asshole over being a genuinely nice guy?

That was a stupid thing to do. Coles words have been playing repeatedly in my head since our little encounter. It's been nearly a week since I last saw him, yet, I still have enough anger pent up that I could...Well, I don't know exactly, I'm not one for violence. Maybe enough anger to wish for someone to shit on his parade the way he seems to have the tendency to shit on mine.

Goddammit. Why can't I get that stupidly tall guy out of my head? Like, who needs to be that tall? Considering we have step ladders nowadays, his long body is more of an inconvenience, always obstructing peoples view.

And does he have a change of clothes? With his stupid black hoodie and black bomber coat. We get it, you think you're cool, get over yourself. I need a distraction from the thought of him before I scream down this heavily bodied bus, I'm sat in on my way to the college campus library to meet Brody. That would only lead to another embarrassing experience for me, then he would win, again.

To occupy my mind, even if it's for a brief moment, I'll call my mum, I haven't spoken to her through a phone call in a while, it will be nice to hear her voice.

My parent's and I are very close, they mean the absolute world to me. Rarely can people admit that if their parents weren't their parents, they would still love them for who they are. Luckily, I can.

My mum is an amazing artist, both through her work and with her values. She can effortlessly shine a light on the beauty of life through her passion for life itself, it's truly mesmerising.

Whereas my dad can come across as extremely serious, however, I know he's simply the wisest person that lived. He can have a laugh, no doubt about that, however, he sees the hardship of the world and feels it's his burden to bear.

My parents are truly the two most selfless people I know.

The hardest part of leaving for college was leaving them. I made a promise to do regular check-ins with them, at least once a week. At first, my check-in with my parents was daily, as time progressed and I became more engrossed by college life, my check-ins became weekly to monthly.

My parents being the most understanding people that lived weren't hard on me for it. Even after they found out how involved I got with the partying side of college. Instead, they visited for the weekend, had a meeting with the dean and made very clear how disappointed they were in me. That enough was the kick I needed to start getting my shit together.

My life is still very busy, thankfully for better reasoning. They asked me if I couldn't find the time to call, or even text, to send a picture. They wanted to see that I was ok and have an insight into how I was spending my time and that's completely understandable. 

In the last few weeks, my parents and I have sent a collection of photos to one another. I've sent them pictures of my piles of books, the dinner prepared by either Jocelyn, Eden and me, photos of weird things I see on the Greenline and some of just my face while I walk.

Whereas, I've received photos of my family dog, my brother Tristan's music performance at school, my mother's new artwork and an array of book recommendations from my dad.

My younger brother is only seventeen years old. We have a very stereotypical brother-sister relationship, we show no emotion to one another, not even hugs. Yet, if we're ever needed by one another, without a blink of an eye, we've got each other's back. 

On the day before I left for college, we had a family barbecue with friends, neighbours and other family members in the day then in the evening it was just the four of us eating my favourite foods and we watched movies of my choice. It was sort of a tradition we had, if it was your birthday, if we accomplished anything at school or if it was a day to celebrate someone, we would eat their favourite food and do an activity of their choice. Mine was always pizza, my mum's homemade peanut butter dark chocolate chip cookies and a classic movie.

When my parents had gone to bed, my brother came into my room with a sticker of a light pink hibiscus flower which is my favourite. I asked Tristan where he got the sticker from as it's the same picture I have as my wallpaper on my phone and laptop, he just shrugged it off and asked for me to put the sticker on his guitar.

Tristan is a musician, his guitar is covered in stickers of his favourite band or singers as well as skulls.

I made sure to ask if he was sure as it didn't suit the look he had going for his guitar but he told me it was how I would always be there with him even when I'm gone.

The next morning, my parents finished putting my last box in the car, warned my brother that the neighbours had eyes on him while they were gone for the day as he had to stay behind because of band practice.

As my dad drove off, sat in the backseat I turned around to look at my family home one last time as I embarked on my next chapter. Sat on the front porch steps was Tristan playing his guitar, I smiled and said a silent goodbye to my little brother. Although we never vocalised it very much, we were each other's befriends and truthfully he's the person I miss the most.

With Tristan and me, it was always the little gestures, that's all we needed with each other.

"Sienna Darling, what a surprise. How are you?"

"Hi, mum. I'm ok, just on my way to the library to meet Brody."

"Oh. Hold on, your dad's here, let me put you on speaker"

"Sienna, Hi, it's dad".

I let out a little giggle because of my dads greeting, I mean, who else would it be? "Hi Dad, how are you? I miss you guys."

"We miss you too darling." My mum yells through the phone. I can hear that she's in the kitchen, probably preparing dinner.

"We look forward to seeing you for Christmas." My dad adds.

"Me too."

I catch up with my parents for the remainder of my journey to campus, once I'm outside the library I let them go so that I can text Brody to tell him I've arrived.