chapter one
take me home

FLORENCE CASTILLO LAID on her stomach, suitcase on the floor, clothes spread around the room as she held her phone up to her ear. It was the start of summer, and Florence was supposed to be getting ready for her annual family trip to their summerhouse in Cousins. However, instead of packing, she was on the phone while her mum and siblings all finished getting ready.

She had been on the phone for at least the last hour, the rest of her family bustling around and ignoring her as the seconds tick closer to their departure from their house. Florence pushed her hair out of her face as she listened to her best friend complain about her not being in Cousins yet. The brunette was on her bed, on top of the lilac sheets with a smile on her face.

"I'm coming to the bonfire tomorrow, okay? I'll see you there." Florence told her best friend, Shayla, once again. Florence and Shayla were in the same school year and had met during summer around six or seven years ago. They could only see each other during the summer, neither of them old enough to travel to see each other at any other time of the year. But they made up for it with constant phone calls and facetimes.

"That's not nearly close enough." Shayla complained. "I want to see you now, it's been a year Flo. I miss you!"

"I know you do." Florence smiled, despite her not being able to see it. "I miss you too."

"For the love of god, Flo, you need to pack before we can leave for you to see Shayla." Her older brother, Camden quipped from the doorway. Camden was a full time student at Southern California University where he played football, one of the main reasons he chose to go however being it closeness to the beach allowing him to visit his favourite place on earth. He always came back to see his family whenever he could, including the summer because he was so far away the rest of the year.

"You haven't packed yet!" Shayla shrieked down the phone, making Florence pull a face, which Camden laughed at.

"Gotta go, see you tomorrow." Florence quickly hung up the phone, before throwing one of her pillows at her brother. "You're an ass."

"I have an ass yes." Camden retorted. "A nice one too."

"God, you're disgusting." Sydney, the two's younger sister, spoke, standing next to him. Sydney was a smart girl who loved photography and the environment. She often went to protests and constantly tried to help animals, especially turtles in the ocean.

"Can you two just help me pack?" Florence pouted, the two huffing as they nodded, making Florence smile.

Sydney quickly picked up some of Florence's tops, folding them and placing them in her suitcase, while Camden started to pick some of her dresses out of her closet, chucking the ones he didn't like on the floor and the ones he liked in her suitcase. Camden had a decent sense of fashion but to be honest he knew what he could allow his sister to wear all summer. He was protective over his two younger sisters and would do anything to protect them, including monitoring the guys they were talking to.

The three worked quickly, Florence's music playing in the background. They were working so hard that none of them noticed their mother, Emmeline, standing in the doorway. She smiled at her children, loving the time that they got along. The Castillos were a close-knit family, they had their arguments but they loved each other more than anything in the world.

Florence always loved the way everyone in her family was a family person because it meant they all would die for each other despite wanting nothing to do with each other most of the time. It made her feel loved, especially after her mum revealed she was adopted.

Emmeline had a miscarriage after Camden was born and the doctor told her that having another child naturally was extremely unlikely and very dangerous for her so her and Florence's father decided to adopt Florence a few months after she was born when her biological mother abandoned her at an adoption shelter front door.

It was a surpise to Emmeline when she then got pregnant with Sydney a year later but instead of being scared, the young girl completed their five person family. And when Emmeline told Florence she was adopted after she turned 13, her family was there for her through her momentarily identity crisis, the girl now happier than ever.

Emmeline watched for just a moment before her eyebrows furrowed, picking up one of the bikinis that sat on Florence's floor.

"Wanna take this one, Flo?" Emmeline asked, making the three kids jump before turning to her.

Sydney quickly snatched the piece of fabric, "God, Flo, you are such a hoe."

"Don't call your sister a hoe!"

"It's true!" Sydney defended herself, "This is barely a bikini, its practically a flimsy piece of material, how does this even fit you?"

"Yeah, Flo, who're you trying to impress with that piece?" Camden asked.

"All the hot dudes in cousins, you know me." Florence shrugged seriously. The family all shared looks before bursting into laughter, knowing that Florence was not the kind of person to flaunt her good looks to impress a guy.

"Pack you three, we leave soon." Emmeline told them, throwing a top at each of them as they laughed.

"Home, let me come home!" Florence began to sing loudly, Sydney and Camden joining in as they continued to pack. "Home is wherever I'm with you."

When they finished packing the three grabbed their respective suitcases, lugging them down the stairs and out the front door. Their father was already at work and couldn't come this summer due to business stuff. None of the kids minded considering that Laurel's nor Susannah's partners ever come to cousins either. Summer was kind of a mum and kids thing, dad's weren't really permitted because it wasn't really their place, with them their it never felt right.

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

THE WIND BLEW through the car as Camden sped down the road, him deciding to drive instead of their mum this summer. Emmeline sat in the passenger seat, a smile settled on her face as she listened to Florence and Sydney fight over the aux.

"Fine Syd you choose!" Florence exclaimed, giving up. The two had been arguing for the last ten minutes because neither of them could agree on what to listen to. "But if I have to listen to one more girl in red song I'll cry."

"She just understand me, Flo!" Sydney stressed as Camden laughed. Florence jokingly rolled her eyes, shaking her head as Sydney leant forward, connecting her phone to the aux and pressing play on her playlist. Florence checked her phone as Sydney was busy, typing out a quick message to Shayla who was constantly checking her status, her impatience growing every minute that Florence wasn't in Cousins.

The familiar tune of Style by Taylor Swift began to play, bouncing around the car as everyone smiled. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the Castillo family worshipped Taylor Swift and her music. The family all began to sing as they sped down the country roads towards Cousins, taking in the beautiful scenery they see every year.

"I said I heard, oh!" Florence sang loudly, turning towards Sydney, who did the same, both singing as if they were accusing each other of the lyrics. "That you've been out and about with about with some other girl."

"Some other girl." Camden echoed.

"He said 'what you heard is true but I can't stop thinkin bout you and I', I said 'I've been there too a few times." The three sang together, practically screaming the lyrics like it was their national anthem.

The chorus started up again, Emmeline laughing at her children, a fond smile on her face. The smile dropped when a thought crossed her mind, her sighing as she shook her head. She placed the smile back on her head, ridding her head of the sad thought as she listened to her kids sing. The bridge began, Emmeline joining in as the family screamed the lyrics, each one of them feeling it deep in their soul as they continued down the road.

"Take me home. Just take me home. Yeah, just take me home."

The smile shined down on the car, a smiling family inside as Camden took them home, ready for a summer they would never forget.

( 💌 ) isobel's notes
the shittiest first chapter ever but some cute castillo family fluff
taylor swift >>>
flo is the loml and syd is my baby girl so no one and i mean NO ONE is allowed to say anything bad about this because i will hunt you down