"You're here!" Ella said, rushing to hug me as soon as I walked through the doors.
I laughed. "Hey, birthday girl," I told her, giving her a big squeeze.
When she pulled away, I admired her outfit. Ella was wearing light blue skinny jeans with slits at the knees, a loose-fitting sleeveless white blouse that fell to the waist, and it had two tied bows at the side. Then she was sporting all-white converses, and topping it off, she had her jet black hair in a high ponytail, but it was curled with a few locks falling down her back.
"You look beautiful," I told her with a soft smile.
"Thank you. I decided to put in a little more effort than usual, considering it's my day and all," Ella said with a bit of sass.
"Of course, I don't blame you." She giggled. "I have a gift for you, but I left it at my place when I was rushing to get over here." I looked at her apologetically.
Her eyes widened, and she shook rapidly shook her head. "You didn't have to get me anything!" she blurted.
I flitted my wrist. "I wanted to." I brought her into a side hug.
"Thank you," Ella said, peering up at me.
"Don't mention it. So what are we going to do first?" I asked, finally taking in the place.
Most of the arcades I've been to had a retro theme to them. This one had nicely polished dark wood floors and dark blue walls adorned with framed autographed movie posters. Televisions were plastered almost everywhere. Some grey couches were in the middle with a few coffee tables. Then there was a super sleek wood counter that took up this whole corner, and it looked like they had prizes, snacks, and beverages back there too.
Ella shrugged in response to my question. "Anything, really." She looked around with me. "When I visited Japan, I think I tried playing one of everything until I found something I liked. OH! I forgot. They also have a bowling alley. It only has three lanes, but it's still pretty cool."
I quirked. "You like to bowl?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "Don't mean to brag or anything, but I'm kind of a pro." She grinned, dusting off her shoulder.
"Hmm. What do you know?" I got eye level with her, "So am I."
Ella clapped her hands together. "Okay, game plan. We make our way through the classic arcade games," she pointed to where the Pac-man and Tron machines are. "Then we travel to the pinball machine area." She gestured to the middle-ish area. "Followed by the air hockey, skee ball, and basketball." I nodded, my eyes following hers. "Lastly, bowling." She pointed to the furthest corner.
How big was this place?
I saw a food and drinks sign right next to it, and I think I spotted some dining tables and a kitchen in the far back. "Do you want to grab some lunch in between too?"
"YES! They have the best hot dogs and chicken nuggets."
I laughed. "Okay, let's grab some tokens and get started then."
Ella responded by grabbing my hand and pulling me behind her.
After about two hours later, we had a bucket filled with tickets, a half-eaten pack of those rainbow Twizzlers, and some Oreos. Plus multiple video clips and photos on our phones, and now grumbling tummies.
We made our way to the bowling alleys, and I ordered some food to be sent over.
"I'm going to the restroom before we get started. Can you put our names into the computer?" Ella asked, walking backward.
I gave her a thumbs up. "Yup."
As Ella ran off, her phone began to ring, I turned to call out to her and let her know, but she was already out of sight. I scooted over on the love seat and looked at it.
It was her mom. I could let it ring, but if she was calling to check in, it might make her nervous if Ella didn't pick up even though she could call back in five minutes.
I answered the phone for her. "Hi, Mrs...." Crap, I just realized she didn't tell me her last name. "Hi Ella's mom," I said instead. "This is Mia. Ella just ran to the ladies' room, and she accidentally left her phone behind," I told her.
I waited for a response, but it was silent on the other side. I had to double-check to make sure I had answered it.
"Mia?" I heard a voice say from the other end. A voice I knew all too well.
"M-m-mom?" I sputtered.
"What are you doing with Ella's phone?" she said in a rush. "Are you with her? Wait, how are you two together?"
"Mom?" I said again. It was like my brain couldn't fully grasp the facts.
"Yes, honey, it's me. Is everything okay? Why do you sound like that?" she asked, panicked.
"Ella is..." I thought it through in my head. All the conversations we've ever had and how weird she used to get when I asked about her family.
I came to meet someone. She had told me at the café.
My mom and dad split up when I was younger, but they got back together a few years ago.
I have a big sister, but we're not super close.
"MOM!" I shouted into the phone as the realization hit me hard, forcing me to jump to my feet.
"MIA?" She responded in the same tone. "You're making me anxious talk to me."
"I didn't know," I told her vaguely.
"You didn't know what?"
"Ella's my sister, and I didn't know," I said softly.
"How could..."
I cut her off, palming the top of my head. "She never told me." And if I hadn't answered the phone. I wouldn't have known.
"Mia, you're not making any sense."
"MIA!" I heard Ella call out my name.
"We'll call you back," I told Mom.
"Okay, sure thing," Mom said all too calmly.
"Mia, I was thinking..." Ella began to speak, but she noticed me with her phone in my hand. "Th-that's m-my phone," she stammered. Her brows caved in, and she looked from me to her phone, then repeated the action.
"Did someone call?" she asked cautiously. I could see the rapid movement of her chest rising and falling.
I nodded silently.
"W-who was it?"
I stared at her. How come I couldn't see it before? The striking resemblance to our mom. Especially the eyes. The same brown hues as my own. But Ella's were more beautiful.
Ella stared at me. "Who was on the phone?" her voice was hoarse.
I gave her a small smile. "It was our mom," I told her.
Ella's eyes began to water, and her bottom lip trembled before all the words tumbled from her lips. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep it a secret. It's just that I was dying to meet you, to know what you were like, and to see if I could get you to like me too. I met you, and I thought you were so nice and sweet." Tears are flowing down her cheeks, but she does nothing to stop them. "I thought if you knew who I was, it would make things weird, and or you'd hate me. And I didn't want to lose you." She shook her head, forcing her ponytail to swing from side to side. She said between sobs, "I'm so sorry, Mia." She covered her face and cried into her hands.
I immediately pulled them away and wiped all her tears. For a few seconds, I was speechless, but I found the words. "You're my sister Ella. I could never hate you."
She hiccupped.
I cupped her cheeks, "I love you," I told her, giving her another reason to start crying again. Except for this time, I cried with her, bringing her into the biggest hug ever.
"I love you too," Ella whispered.
My heart was grateful to hear it. I kissed her cheek.
"Okay." I pulled away, resting my hand on her shoulders. "My little sister, I can't believe I've had you here with me the whole time." I shook my head in disbelief. "That's why you wanted to celebrate with me?"
Ella gave me a firm nod. "It's my first birthday with my sister."
"In that case, I think we have all the more reason to go all out. I have a lot of catching up to do."
Ella blinked up at me a few times. "You mean it?"
"Of course. I'm not missing a single moment of your life, starting now." I pointed to the ground to affirm my statement. Ella flung her arms around me. It caught me off guard and nearly had me stumbling back. I laughed regardless.
Smoothing down her hair, I said, "How about we wrap up this game?" I checked the clock on the wall. "Then we can go over to my place and talk. You have a lot of explaining to do."
Ella lifted her head and cheesed at me. "ME?" she asked innocently.
"Hmm," I confirmed.
"Fine, fine. You're right. But it's a long story," she told me.
"I'm sure it is."
Back at my place, Ella explored the apartment, going from room to room, looking amazed by it all. Even the tiniest little touches of décor, she took the time to admire.
It was cute.
"I love this place!" she exclaimed in the middle of the living room while doing a little twirl.
My family hasn't visited yet. I was a reasonable distance away from home, and it's only been about two and half-ish weeks since I've seen my dad, but we talk all of the time. He promised to take the time to visit soon. So did Grey's mom.
Having Ella in my apartment, though, I don't think I could put into words how exactly it made me feel. I loved that she was here, and I was going to try my best to incorporate her more into my life. I felt comforted that Ella liked my place and seemed so happy to be here.
I nodded. "Yeah, Greyson and I have similar tastes when it comes to décor. So it was easy to decorate the place."
Ella smiled then her eyes caught the balcony. "OHMYGOSH, A BALCONY!" she said, running over to unlock the double doors. "This is so pretty!" she shouted over her shoulder.
I went over to switch on all the lights, including the ones in the living room. It wasn't dark enough to appreciate the beauty of them, but oh well.
"WOW, WOW, WOW!" Ella ran her fingers along the hanging string lights.
I laughed out loud. Stepping outside, I told her, "Okay, all of this is practically new." I gestured to the furniture and potted plants. Grey surprised me with a charming dinner date the other night, and we ate out here for the first time."
Ella placed a hand over her heart. "AWE, that's so sweet of him."
I felt myself beginning to blush as a flashback of that night played through my mind.
"Mia?"
"Hmmm," I replied absentmindedly.
"You're blushing," She sang teasingly, pointing to my cheeks.
I covered my cheeks with my hands and playfully glared at her.
"My sister is in love." She made little kissy faces at me.
I rolled my eyes. She was living up to that little sister stereotype right about now.
"Nothing to be embarrassed about." Ella looked down at one of the chairs. "Can we sit out here?"
"Of course." I sat across from her.
Ella looked up and down the street. "This is a great view. It almost makes me wish I had my sketchpad to draw it." She pouted a little.
"You can come back and bring your sketchpad anytime you want."
Her face lit up like a firework. "OKAY!"
"So now that we're settled spill the beans. Give me the whole story."
Ella's eyes flitted around, focusing on everything but me. "What did mom say when you answered the phone?"
She was stalling. "She was just as surprised to hear my voice as I was to hear hers. She wanted to know how we were together," I said.
"But she didn't sound mad or anything, right?" Ella asked carefully.
"No, she wasn't mad. Just confused."
"Okay, okay, that's not bad. I guess." She nodded to herself.
"Yup..."
"So," Ella began. I had believed she was about to explain how she found me but instead, she asked, "When's Grey coming back?"
"Ella," I said firmly.
"Hmm." Her face looked entirely too innocent for a girl who was skating around an important subject.
"You don't want to tell me?"
"Does it matter at this point? I mean, we're together now." She shrugged.
I let out a soft sigh. "I'd still like to know."
Ella thought about it. "Fine," she grumbled. "I did something bad," Guilt was written all over her face.
Ella told me that she had overheard her parents talking about me late one night. Unlike me, she always knew she had a sister, but she never knew where I was. When she found out that I had just moved into town with Greyson, she went snooping around mom's office. She searched through her phone, reading her texts until she read the ones sent to my dad. They talked about where I worked, how I was doing if mom should reach out to me, etc.
After that, Ella concocted this plan to visit me at the café, but she saw me and chickened out when she got there. So she took the table furthest away from the counter and tried her best to stay quiet, keeping herself busy with homework.
When I had gone over, it took her by surprise. She wanted to talk to me, and she didn't care what we talked about or how we hung out just as long as she was around me. She thought it would have been best for us to know each other before she told me the truth. She was afraid if she told me too soon, I wouldn't want anything to do with her because she heard mom say that I wasn't sure if I wanted her back in my life.
I had interrupted Ella and told her whatever was going on between mom and me, doesn't affect how I felt about her. Had she told me the truth sooner, I would have been spending more time with her like this from the very beginning.
"Do you think Mom will get mad once she finds out?" Ella bit her bottom lip as her eyebrows pinched together with worry.
I shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think she will be happy that we're together and getting along. So I hope not."
Ella's shoulders relaxed.
"Listen," I leaned forward, resting my elbows on top of my thighs. "I can understand why you did what you did, but you should have been honest at some point to the both of us. If mom gets on your case about anything, it will be that."
"I know, I know." She hung her head. "I'm sorry."
I walked over to where she was sitting, and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, giving them a big squeeze. "Don't worry about it." I kissed her temple. "It's going to be fine."
My phone interrupted our sisterly moment.
"It's mom," I announced to Ella before handing the phone over to her to answer.
Ella looks at me disapprovingly and shakes her head. "Hey, mom... Yes, she's right here..." She looked over at me, and I lifted a brow. "I don't think that would be a good idea... Yup... I know... I will... Okay... I'll ask her now." She met my gaze. "Mom asked if you can drop me home, please."
I nodded.
"She said 'yes. Okay, we'll leave now. Bye." She hung up and handed me back the phone. "I thought big sisters were supposed to be the mature ones," she snickered.
"I'm new at this." I elbowed her. "Come on, let's get you home." I stood and held out my hand to her. "WAIT! Crap!" I slapped my forehead. "I don't have a car."
"What do you mean?"
"I lent it to Grey and the guys."
Ella slowly nodded with understanding. "You're terrible at this sister thing," she joked.
I pouted. "Learning curve. Cut me some slack." I had a light bulb moment. "Wait here!" I ran inside, through the front door, and across the hall.
I double tapped on the door and waited. Robbie opened it up, and Freya stood behind him. "Hey, guys. I need a massive favor." I gave them a huge grin with the prayer hands in front of my chest.
Thirty-five minutes later, we pulled up at Ella's house.
"Wow, you managed to make it right on time despite driving ten under the speed limit," Ella said sarcastically. I narrowed my eyes at her in the rare view.
I thought when I knocked on Freya's door and asked to borrow her car. I would have hopefully gotten the keys to her Kia SUV, not the keys to Robbie's BMW. I swore I tried my best to reject his offer, but he insisted. Freya had looked at me like I was crazy for even thinking of turning him down, so I took it.
The next thing I knew, I was driving turtle slow all the entire way over here. It would eat me up inside if I let something happen to his car. The last time I remember being this nervous about driving was the day of my driver's test.
"HA HAHA. My little sister is a comedian." I clapped my hands.
Ella stuck her tongue out at me before unbuckling her seatbelt. She grabbed the gift bag by her foot along with the giant Pikachu teddy sitting next to her. When we cashed in all our tickets, we decided that we wanted a giant teddy bear. We instantly chose Pikachu when the lady at the counter brought it to our attention.
Ella reached for the door handle to step out.
I saw Mom open the front door at the same time. She waved at me, and I gave her a half-smile.
"You know, you can come in and join us if you would like. Mom wanted me to let you know," Ella said, glancing back at our mother.
"It's okay. Maybe some other time." I promised. I still needed more time to think through the whole Mom thing.
"It's okay. I figured you'd say that." While Ella had expected to hear me say that, I could still see that she was disappointed about it. "Even if you don't want to come by today, you can totally stop by anytime you want. Alright?" she added.
I gave her a firm nod. "Got it. I'll see you later, okay? Enjoy the rest of the birthday."
"Okay," Ella gave me a huge smile. "Thanks, love you!" she blew me a kiss.
My heart just about melted. "Love you too!" I waved.
I caught Mom smiling, watching the whole display.
I knew things had to change if I wanted to keep this relationship with Ella. I knew it would be best to have that talk finally. But I couldn't help but wonder if I was emotionally prepared for it all.
This talk would involve potentially forgiving my mom for leaving me the way she did and choosing not to come back until years later.
I felt like we would have to open all the old wounds that I liked to ignore and finally give them a chance to heal.
And that seemed so scary to consider, but I'd do it if I had to.
I'd do it for Ella, and ultimately, I needed to do it for me too.