chapter 3

Skylar POV

I landed in Milan, my first plane ride and didn't even realize until I boarded, that she gave me tickets for first class. She really went all out for me but come on sis you know I will never be able to fly first class in the future and you put me on my first plane in first class.

After retrieving my bags I go to buy a prepaid phone to use here since overseas data is way too expensive. I dig out the card with the phone number and call them. A female answered the call.

“Good morning Skylar, I'm guessing you made it safely.” She says to my surprise.

“Hello, I'm sorry but I don't know who you are since my sister did not leave a name. Yes I just landed at the airport.” I tell her

“I am sorry, Stormie had told me about her plan before she passed and I didn't know if you were actually going to go through with this. I am Alexandria but you can call me Alex or Dria if you want.”

“Hi Alex, what exactly am I supposed to be doing now? All she said so far is to call this number.” I asked her

“Go to the front waiting area that they have. I was told that if you did come to pick you up and give you the instructions then. I am in a purple car, can't miss me” She explained.

“Okay I will make my way over there now.” I say as the call ends.

I make my way out of the airport and to the waiting area with the cars. It took me 10 minutes to find a purple car but I didn't expect Alexandria to be a masculine female with caramel skin and arms covered in tattoos. I don't know why it surprises me since Stormie while growing up made friends with everyone from every background.

“Hi, you must be Alexandria,” I asked her.

“Yes, and you're Skylar. Wow you and Stormie look so identical, almost twin-like,” she says while shaking my hands. “ Sorry, I didn't want to be too personal and hug you.”

“No worries, I am not much for hugs to begin with.” I say as I step back.

We load my suitcases into the car and start driving to her home, she says.

“So I take it that you live here. Were you born here or did you move here?” I ask her

“I moved here from Canada about 10 years ago. I met your sister about 2 years ago right before everything happened.” She tells me

“ Oh, that's a long time, if you don't mind why did you leave Canada?”

“I needed new scenery and decided to go to college abroad. I didn't think I would stay here for this long, but I fell in love with the culture and people here." She explains

"I can understand that. The history and scenery Italy has is surreal even just reading it in books. I just didn't expect that my sister would come here since her dream was to visit Paris," I say

"She did try Paris before but she didn't like it as much as she loved Milan when she visited."

"I always believed Paris was overrated."

"Same here, and she mentioned before that you were planning to go to Howard in the fall?"

"Yeah, I was abled to get a full scholarship there and they have great programs for psychology."

We talked the rest of the ride to her home and getting to know things about each other. Alex was similar to my sister in many ways I realized so far. They both loved art, had a snort type of laugh and loved the same bands. I can totally understand how they became friends.

We finally arrived at her home and she shown me around her two story home and to the room she is letting me stay in.

"Your home is beautiful and these paintings are magnificent," I tell her

"Thank you, some of these I painted myself and your sister painted the other ones," she says

"I can tell this one she painted, since she always loved her flowers," I point to a painting of a girl made out of moss with a flower bouquet covering her face over the bed in the guest room.

"Yeah she did have a love for them. Not the real ones but painting them. I'm going to let you get settled and I also have this to give you," she says handing me a brown envelope.

"I didn't say this before but thank you for being there for her and doing this."