My nose twitches and I rub it, inhaling deeply as my eyes open. I yawn and stretch, scratching my brows once I stop. I look at my phone on the stand, it's still on FaceTime.
I must have fallen asleep while talking to Austin last night. And he let me sleep, he watched me sleep. He's also asleep, on his bed, a frown on his face as he blinks.
His eyes flutter open and he stares directly at the camera. A small smile graces his lips and he inhales.
"Hi."
"Hi." I reply, smiling at him. He yawns and stands up, stretching and showing off his absolute ripped back muscles. I almost sigh.
He grabs a shirt and tugs it on, then walks to the phone and grabs it, turning it up for me to see his perfect face.
"How long were you watching me?" He asks, licking his lips as he reaches the bathroom. He sets the phone down again and I sit up, pulling a lock of my hair away.
"I just woke up and I guess you felt me looking at you." I answer and stand up, grabbing my phone. He shrugs and slips on some toothpaste on his toothbrush. He sticks it in his mouth and starts brushing furiously, I wonder how his gum isn't bleeding.
I look around my room, rubbing my eyes.
"April!" I groan and roll my eyes, walking down the stairs. I hear Austin spit out the toothpaste and rinse his mouth.
"Who's that?" He asks as I reach the end of the stairs. Macy comes into view and furrows her brows, nodding towards the phone.
"My friend Macy, Macy say hi." I say and turn the camera to face her. Her eyes grow wide and she waves shyly, muttering a hi under her breath. I roll my eyes and laugh, walking to where I know June will definitely be.
"She's cute." Austin says, pulling out his cereal box. I don't think he eats actual food when he's the only one in his house.
"And married. Cute and married." I say and he rolls his eyes, pouring the cereal into the milk in the bowl. I see June grabbing a bottle of water and I walk to her.
"Hey, how you doing? Hangovers?" I ask and she nods, rubbing her head.
"May hit my head pretty hard last night, and Temi wouldn't let me stop dancing. It was pretty fun, I don't think I'll be able to take any more Capri-Sonne's for the next month." She says and I laugh.
"Who're you on the phone with?" She asks, gulping down her water.
"Austin, someone wants to meet you." I say and walk until I'm standing beside her.
"Oh my gosh, that's Austin Henderson! Ohmigoshohmigosh!" She squeals, jumping and holding my arm. Austin laughs, showing his pearly whites and I melt. June sighs and puts her hand to her forehead.
Kill me now.
I shake my head and walk away from my blushing sister. Temi comes into view and waves at the camera.
"Hey Luke." She says, popping a mint in her mouth.
"Temi right?" He asks and she nods, I give her the phone and they start talking, I walk to the fridge and grab the milk carton, pouring it into a glass. I gulp it down and see May walking into the kitchen, her hair sticking everywhere. She pats it down horribly and grabs the glass from me, pouring milk into it. She sips it and looks around, brows furrowing. I look and see Lola and Temi laughing at something Austin must have said.
"Who's on the phone?" She asks, pointing to them. I shrug like I don't know and walk over there with her.
"Oh, your baby girl is here." Temi says and hands me the phone, laughing away with Lola. I roll my eyes at her and show him May.
He gasps and holds his mouth, eyes widening.
"All of you look the same!" He says and I raise a brow, looking at May.
"We're identical triplets, of course we'll look alike." I say and Chase walks in, a frown on his face.
"I heard you were talking to a boy. Who is he?" He asks, his deep voice hard. I roll my eyes and turn the camera to him, he raises a brow and looks at me.
"Writer guy? Nice pick." He says and takes the phone from me.
"Alright people, I'm going to shower." I say and Austin nods, waving me off.
Bath time.
°>°>°>°
"Um, Mia?" I ask as I walk into the house, she's still dressed in her night robe and she turns to me, her slippers making funny noises.
"Uh-huh?" She smiles awkwardly, her glasses way too big for her.
"Why are there cops outside your house?"
"Oh, um, you know how I've been so tired lately, so I kinda googled how to escape a cop if you kill someone and they just showed up this morning, guarding my house and yeah, I've been ignoring them and here I am, drinking tea." She replies and I blink.
My P.A is crazy!
"Should I be worried?" I ask as I grab some Froot loops from the box, popping them in my mouth.
"Nah, this happens all the time, I might even see Mike outside." She says and I laugh, closing my eyes.
"Anyways, the painting is done and I'm thinking if you want to see it, like before we take it to the gallery. What do you say?"
She looks at me.
"Let's do it right now." She grabs her house keys and starts walking towards the door.
"You're going out like that?" I ask and she looks at me.
"What's wrong with my outfit? Besides, I'll be in the car throughout."
"Okay, I guess." We walk out and she smiles at the cops, waving at some of them. They give her a bored look and turn their face, getting in their car. She catches one guy and waves, blowing a kiss in his direction.
"Hey Mike."
God help me.
°>°>°>°
"Yes! Yes, yes yes! Absolutely love it! I may even end up buying it myself after the showcase at the gallery." She cheers, her beanie almost falling off. I smile at her and she gives me a side hug.
"Thanks, it was really tiring and I'm surprised I finished it in three days. I'm putting it in the glow in the dark section." She nods and we walk out of the room, I can't wait to submit it tomorrow.
"Hey, have you guys seen April's new painting?" Mia asks as we reach the kitchen, they pause, looking at her and shaking their head.
"I want to keep it a surprise until, the revealing tomorrow." I say dramatically and she laughs, eating my Froot loops.
"You know it's one in the afternoon right?" June asks, staring at Mia. She nods, her mouth full of the Froot loops. June shakes her head and turns to me.
"I got a call, I have to be in China by next week for some photoshoot, and the latest fashion line in Spain, so basically I'm not going to home for two months, three?" She says and I raise my brows.
"Oh,"
"But I'm going to be here when you submit the art for the gallery." She says and I smile at her.
"Talking about leaving, our um dance tour is next week also." Temi says, studying me carefully.
"Oh, where is it?"
"Mars."
"What?" Is she serious?
"Don't mind her, it's in New York." Lola days and they all look at me. Why are they looking at me?
"Why are you guys looking at me? Even you Mia? And where is Macy?" I ask and they sigh.
"We know you have a tendency to throw a tantrum when people around you leave." June says, fixing her fingers into each other.
A tantrum?
"How dare you? When have I ever?"
"At camp. For the summer holiday when the twins left. At the lake house when mom and dad were to leave us. When Ethan got married and moved out. When Kira moved out. When Chase was leaving for college. When I went for my-" June starts listing and I cut her off.
Okay maybe I do throw a tantrum.
"It's okay guys, I'm fine now! I'll probably go to England and stay with mom and dad or chill here, get myself back in the game again." I say and Mia blows out a breath of relief.
"Thank God! I thought I'd have to come over everytime to help your aching heart." She says.
"Oh but I think she already has someone helping her with that." Lola laughs and the rest join in.
"What are you guys talking about?" I ask them and June raises a brow in my direction.
"Someone like a writer guy, probably goes by the name Austin Henderson?" She says and Mia gasps, holding my shirt.
"No way guys, black hair, blue eyes?" They nod and she squeals, jumping up and down. May giggles and holds her hands under her jaw.
"Stop it okay, and no he's not helping my aching heart or whatever." I say and shove her. She rolls her eyes and hugs me from the back.
"Awn, no need to be shy about it Ap." I shove her off me.
"Don't you have a cop issue to solve?"
All the girls jaws drop.
°>°>°>°
Music is on in the background, playing softly and Chase is beside me, on his laptop while answering what I should wear to the gallery tomorrow.
Now normally, I don't have issues with this but he decided to help and it's been a while since we've actually done any sister-brother bonding.
"How about... This one?" I ask, pulling it out of the closet. He looks up from his laptop and does a face.
"You don't like it?" I ask and he sighs.
"It's nice but it's going to be colder tomorrow than it usually is, maybe even a lot windier than it should be for fall." He says, and I nod. I look at the vintage dress and put it back in my closet, searching for more.
"So, the writer guy seems pretty cool." He says and I stop. Why is everyone all of a sudden talking about Austin?
"Yeah?" I ask and pull out a sleeved shirt. He nods and I set it on the bed, going back to look for some pants.
"Yep, so does he touch you?" He asks and I almost choke. I stop for a second and look at him, seeing him watching me. I grab the pants and pull them out, he nods and looks at my face expectantly.
"Well, he's stopped." I say truthfully and he furrows his brows.
"What do you mean stopped? He was touching you before?" He asks, sitting up straighter.
"Chase, I can handle myself, and yes, he was. I kind of forgot and never actually reacted when he touched me, but then I met Damian, you know, the one from highschool and he was there and Damian touched me and apologised and said that I don't like when guys touch me and ever since then, he hasn't tried to. Always pulling on my sleeve or calling me." I say and Chase nods.
"That's good, overall he seems like a pretty nice guy, but I won't wait to bash his head in if he hurts you, I think Ethan will back me up on that, even Adam and Storm." He says and I laugh, shoving his shoulder.
"But really, are you okay? With everyone leaving all of a sudden, I also have to go too soon, but that's going to be in three weeks. Maybe we'll go back to the house?" He asks.
The family house, right here in California. I haven't been there in a year. Wow, that's a long time.
"Obviously Macy and Adam need a place to stay and they surely can't stay in Adam's place, his mom is still ruthless. They'd probably have to sleep in different rooms." He laughs and I find myself laughing with him.
"It's done then, when everyone leaves, we'll go to the family house and stay there with Adam and Macy." I say and he nods.
"But then you'll have to drag your thread mill all the way back to the house. All the Doritos and Cheetos are in danger. I think the cooks are going to be happy to have me back, but you, not so much."
"Hey!" I yell and smack him with a pillow, his laughter gets me smacking him more.
°>°>°>°
"So, what do you plan on getting her when you get there at her dance?" I ask Storm as he wraps up the next gift box. His niece is having her birthday and I helped pick out the gift for her. He doesn't want Lola to feel bad since the little girl loves anything that has a lot of color. Preferably glitter.
But I'm sure she's past it, she doesn't get mad again when she talks about her colorblindness and I'm proud of her. Middle school and highschool really did something on her. But Storm was there and he helped her, and I'm glad she met him.
"I don't know, we're back together again but it's been so long since we've seen each other, two years is enough for her to change and I'm not sure if she'll love what I get her." He says.
The twins birthday is next month and Temi doesn't really give a shit what anyone gets her so we're all getting her something together. Lola though, she's getting something special from her boyfriend and he's worried if she won't like it, they're basically the same person.
"She will love whatever you get her. Even though it's just a poeny, she's not picky." I say and he smiles at me, wrapping up the gift.
"I hope you're right."
"Pfft, please, I'm always right." I counter and he throws his head back and laughs.
My phone starts ringing and I see it's a call from Austin. I answer it and press it to my ear.
"Hey, you free right now?" I ask and look at Storm, we're almost done, I guess.
"Yeah. Where are you right now?" I ask and he waits for a second.
"Outside your house."
What?
"Why?"
"I was bored and I ended up here, now would you please, take me somewhere? I'm still bored out of my life." He whines and I roll my eyes, standing up and walking to the door. I pull it open and see him standing there, his phone stuck between his shoulder and neck and he stares at me, a cup of coffee in his hands and the other about to reach for his phone.
"Come in." I say and cut the phone. He smiles at me and hands me the cup of coffee, I smile and take it from him, standing aside for him to enter.
"Babe, who's there?" Storm's voice asks and I close the door.
"Just my friend." I call back and look at Austin's face. His brows are furrowed and I make a face.
What's wrong with him?
Oh, oh!
"Oh, no, it's not like that." I say and Strom walks out.
"Not like what? Hey, you're that author guy, Austin right?" He says and Austin nods silently.
"Austin, this is Storm Perkins, Lola's boyfriend." I say stressing on Lola. He nods in relief and smiles at Storm.
"Hey." He says and Storm nods back.
"Okay, thanks for your help, you were really great, I'll help you tidy your room later when I get back so no worries about that, have fun." He says and ruffles my hair, walking out.
"Your room is messed up huh?" He asks, and I roll my eyes at his smug smirk. I hate it when his room is messy and he finds out mine is messy, perfect. But mine has always been messy.
So...
"Wanna play COD?" I ask and he looks at me weirdly.
"Tell me you don't know how to play." He pleads and I smirk.
"I once had a podcast, gave it to my P.A though, had almost a million followers before graduation at highschool." I say and his jaw drops.
"You literally killed my besties gaming career." I flip my hair.
"What can I say, I'm a badass."