What's That Supposed To Mean? - 2

Chapter 2

I looked for my father, my eyes scanning the crowd for a dark olive skinned, tall man with grey hair. And found him. There he was. I felt the tears building up in my eyes as I pushed the door open and ran towards him, almost knocking him off his feet.

"Dad," I whispered, burying my face in his neck. I had missed him so much, I had missed his smell. My dad.

"Samantha," he said, his voice shaky. If he started crying I would probably start sobbing of joy, even though it was my nightmare to cry. My dad, Arianna and Mason were the ones who had seem me truly cry and I would never let it happen again. I hated it.

My dad squeezed me with his big arms, his face in my hair. We stood like that for a long nice moment. I wasn't going to leave him again. I couldn't even figure out why I left in the first place. My dad was my everything.

He pulled back after a while and put his hands on my shoulders as he took a good at me. Okay, so he was crying. I felt the tears just running down my cheeks like a freaking fountain. I pushed back the sobs that wanted to come out and tuned out everyone on this field except for my dad. But to be honest, I didn't care that I cried. Not now, these were tears of joy and love.

"You are so beautiful," he said taking me back into his embrace. I smiled, never wanting to let go.

"I missed you so much, dad, you have no idea."

"I missed you, too, Sammy. I missed you like heck." He chuckled, taking my face in his big warm hands, wiping my tears with his thumbs. I never thought I would actually react like this when I saw him. He laughed out loud, caressing my cheek.

"My beautiful baby. You've become such a beautiful young woman. You look a lot like your mother."

"I might, but everything else is from you." I smiled at him, kissing his cheek. This was family and this was home. Nothing could top that.

"Come on, go say hi to everyone. I'm going to have time with you after this and you can tell me everything then," he said

"Absolutely," I said. Then I turned and ran straight into the arms of my Aunt Bianca, the mother I never had. She was still the mother I never had. She was the one who helped my dad raising me, being there for me as a mother.

"Samantha," she said to me, while crying, "you've become even more beautiful. What happened to you?"

I laughed." Thank you, Aunt Bee. I missed you so much."

"Oh we did, too," Willa said from behind her with a grin. I hugged her hard and then Joseph, telling them how much I missed them. The one I looked for wasn't there though but it didn't take long for her to show up. She jumped on me, literally, with a hug and I was surprised that I managed to still stand on my two feet, clumsy as I was.

"SAMANTHA!" she screamed in my ear. My head automatically pulled back from the pain but the happiness of seeing her took over and I laughed out loud, hugging her.

"I can't believe you're in my arms after five years!" I screamed as she jumped back down on the ground again. "And that you just made me deaf on my right ear."

"Do you know how long I've been waiting for you?! I could barely sleep! Skype is so not helpful; look at you! You've become a freaking model!"

"Thank you and look at you! You look so freaking hot!" I laughed. "Aaron must be ecstatic that you're his mate."

"Oh my, we have so much to talk about! So much has happened but at the same time so little! But first, go say hi to Uncle John," Arianna said, chuckling. As she said his name, my mind immediately came back to the reality that I had come back after five years and I hadn't seen my Uncle John (A/N: not her real uncle, her father's best friend, like it says in the beginning).

My eyes went behind Arianna, right where the Black family stood, all smiling and looking as handsome as ever, all eight of them. The first one was Uncle John. I could recognize that dark olive skin anywhere together with that black-turning-grey hair. His smile, big and familiar and he reached out his arms as I ran over to him. This man had been by my fathers and by my side ever since I was born. There had not been a single moment that I doubted him or thought that he was mean or annoying. His seven sons were lucky to have him as a father, may I say.

"Uncle John!" I said, hugging him. His arms wrapped around me as he chuckled, hugging me back. "I missed you so much!"

"Sammy, you little beauty. Look at you," he said, smiling proudly. "What happened to our little tomboy, huh?"

"She's still in there, just not on the outside," I said, smiling. "And look at you, Uncle John! Five years and you still look younger than ever."

"Oh, now," he said, shaking his head in amusement. "You're not the only one to joke about my age. I must say, though, wrinkles look good on me."

I laughed and moved on to his seven sons. They were all standing next to each other, all good-looking and handsome and so much older. But... one was missing. Noah. I didn't have time to look for him, though, because Mason lifted me up in his arms and squeezed me hard.

"You monkey!" he said, laughing. I laughed, too and hugged him back.

"Mason! You have no idea how much I missed you and how much of an ass I feel for not being here when you found your mate!" I said. "But I missed you freakishly much! You look so good!"

"Dear, Sam, when you come back looking like this, there is no problemo and everything is forgotten and forgiven. I mean, I never thought you'd turn into this goddess, seriously. You probably had all guys after you back at New York, didn't you?" he chuckled, wiggling his eyebrows. I laughed, shaking my head.

"No, I didn't. Well I had a short one but he was an ass, so. But anyways! More talk later, more hugs now. You need to fill me in on everything about your life later!" I scolded, moving on to his brothers. Jacob and Tresh stood next to each other, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh my God! Look at you two!" I said, shocked at how much they had grown and changed. It was clear that the Black gene was good looks and all that. I mean, it's amazing how every one of these seven guys got the looks and the charms. Just by looking at them, I knew that they knew how to use it.

"Who are you and what have you done to Sam?" Jacob said, looking shocked. I chuckled.

"I'm still me, I just wear different clothes. But, gosh! I can't believe you two. You guys look so good!" I said, hugging them. They were three years younger and I knew they didn't want to be treated like children but I just had to. I pinched their cheeks just for the fun of it and laughed. Tresh, always being the cute nerdy guy blushed, still that same guy and I couldn't help but hug him again. Jacob used to talk much back then and he seemed to be even worse just by looking at his smile but he was always like Caleb, nice and helpful.

Caleb on the other hand. I hugged the life out of him. He had always been so nice and helpful, always getting crap from Noah for it. Just because Noah hated me, he wanted them all to hate me, too, but it turned out the opposite way. No one hated Noah, we just didn't like the fact that he treated people like he did. Exception: I hated him as much as he hated me, though. He bullied me to death that guy. I could only hope he wasn't the same today and that we had gotten over that little thing. "Little", psh.

"Caleb, you look amazing," I said. He was taller than me already. I felt like a mom that came back to her children and found them all grown up and taller. I don't know why, but except for Noah and Mason, the rest had always felt so little and young those years I grew up with them, even though they were my only friends. And Arianna, of course. But I pretty much always hung out with guys; I don't know how Arianna wanted to be with me, cousins or not.

"Thank you," he said. "You do, too. You look different but you look like Sam."

"Thank you," I said, smiling at his beautiful face. I felt tears building up again and I knew it was because coming back and seeing everyone made me realize that if I would've known it came to this, five years later, I would never have picked staying with my mom. How I left all these amazing people that I loved, I don't know. And this place, my home. But I was back and what was done, was done and there was no turning back.

"I missed you very much," I said to Caleb. "But... where is Noah?"

The brothers all stopped talking, raising their eyebrows and scoffing as if saying, "Yeah right. You'll find him somewhere."

"What?" I asked. "Well? Where is he?"

I was glad that everyone else from the packs weren't focused entirely on me and this situation because I kind of started to feel awkward. What was Noah now? What kind of person was he? And how on earth did I say hi? I mean, I wanted to hug him and to tell him I missed him because, lets face it, even if I hated him for how he treated me, I had matured and grown and I had grown up with the guy. It was normal to miss someone you saw everyday and talked to. Well, not "talked" maybe, but still. We fought a lot. With legs and fists. I know, how boyish of me. But like I said, I was a tomboy and if it came down to that again, just for fun, I'd be in.

"Mm, mm, mm!" said a voice from behind Mason. Mason stepped aside, letting the two trouble makers come up to me. Leonardo and Theodore, the twins. Trouble makers since birth and obviously still today. I laughed, amused by the way they walked over to me, walking like two gangsters checking out girls.

"Who is this girl?" Leo asked no one in particular.

"Who is this fine girl?" Theo added. Caleb smacked him on the head but Theo only glanced at him.

"Hey, you, two," I said, chuckling. "Still players I see? From the very beginning 'til today. You must be getting all the ladies."

"Hun, they throw themselves on us," Theo said, winking.

"Sam, I must say... You look like a girl now," Leo said, and I started laughing as Mason pushed him.

"Shut up and say hi already," he said, shaking his head but still amused. I hugged the twins and they continued to joke around. I just shook my head, knowing it would be fun hanging around them.

"I'm going to look for Noah," I said, smiling, as I passed Mason. Mason just gave me a smile that I knew meant something but I don't know what. What were they all so... I don't know. They seemed to not care that Noah wasn't there, as if it was expected and to be honest, I kind of felt that he was worse than before. He'd be there otherwise, trust me.

As I walked around, I didn't find him where everyone else was. Until I went a little further away, to the corner, almost in the backyard. What he was doing there, I don't know, but he was sitting on a chair as if he was the king of the world. Even though he looked so good I melted and felt proud I knew him, the way he smirked at me brought back all the memories. I tried to stop the hate from coming back but I knew that wasn't going to work.

At least not on the first day, Sam.

"Noah," I said, walking over to him with small and slow steps. "You look good."