Babysitting the Bad Boy

Chapter 32

The rest of the Six Flags weekend went great, as did most of the summer. The Hunters were on vacation pretty much all summer, so while I was glad I didn't have to see Lucas, I was also sad I couldn't babysit Clara. In order to keep making some money over the summer, I babysat one of Clara's friends, whose parent's had gotten my info from Tessa.

She was a sweet girl, but it wasn't quite the same. Max and I hung out quite a bit as well. Whenever we hung out I wasn't thinking about Lucas, or Katie, or anyone but him, and that was really nice. Eventually it was time for Maya and I to leave for Ireland.

We were going there by ourselves, alone with my family for a week before my parents flew out for our family reunion, and then they would leave two weeks later for us to stay ourselves for another week before heading back home two weeks before we kicked off senior year.

We picked up Maya at 5 in the morning and she walked out of her house after hugging her mom, looking worse than she had when she was hungover just a few weeks before. Her dad brought her over-sized suitcase and hauled it into the trunk with the help of my dad, and she then hugged her dad goodbye before hopping into the backseat next to me.

She looked at me, clearly excited. I smiled, "You ready?" I asked her.

She nodded, "Oh I'm ready to go." She said and I laughed.

My parents dropped us off at the airport and I led us through all the checkpoints, all the way until we got to our boarding gate. We grabbed some snacks for the flight and then hung out.

Finally, we boarded the plane and took off to Ireland. Once we had landed, Maya bounced on the balls of her feet excitedly before we made out way off the plane and into the airport. We went to baggage claim and got our suitcases.

"Alright where's your family?" Maya asked excitedly as we walked towards the main portion of the airport where my aunt and uncle were waiting to pick us up.

"I have no idea." I said as I looked around for them.

Finally, I found them and introduced them to Maya. After the introductions, they led us to the car and we headed to the house. Once we'd gotten there, pretty much the whole family was awaiting our arrival, and I spent fifteen minutes introducing Maya to all of my aunts and uncles as well as cousins, 95% of whom she wouldn't be able to remember the names of.

And thus started our vacation.

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Maya greatly enjoyed herself over the few weeks that we were in Ireland. We showed her how to party (parents were not fully aware), she got to know a bit more about my childhood, which she found extremely entertaining, and she got to see all of the sights in the country.

The night before we were going back home, while were were finishing packing everything up so we could sleep in as much as possible, Maya spoke up, "Hey Ariel?"

I turned and hopped on the bed next to her, "Remember that party we went to at the beginning of the summer? The one where you met Max?" She asked me.

I nodded, "Of course I remember." I said.

"Well I remember it too. Everything." She said quietly.

I looked at her as my stomach dropped, "Everything, everything?" I asked quietly.

She nodded, "It's kind of foggy but...yeah. I remember." She whispered the last part.

I wrapped my arms around her in a tight hug, "Maya I'm so sorry. I wish I had gotten there sooner." I said.

She hugged me back tightly, "But you did get there. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't." She said, her voice breaking slightly.