Erik double checked the invitation to Liona's birthday party that he held in his hands. It said it started at two in the afternoon. It was now fifteen minutes until the start of the party, and he was nervous about showing up too early. But he was also afraid that arriving on time was going to be seen as late. He wasn't savvy on fancy rich people etiquette rules, hell he barely knew to use a napkin at a dinner table let alone what time they expected you to show up to a party. He didn't want to message Liona and ask since it seemed like such a stupid question.
Right now, he was hiding at a park he found that was near her address and was hoping that somehow miraculously he could find it in himself to just show up. Sure, he had on the new clothes that Liona had bought him, and he had her invitation in hand, but after looking at the other houses in this neighborhood, and after getting a look at Liona's address when he arrived in this neighborhood, he suddenly felt so inadequate.
All the houses were large and imposing, most of them had tall fancy fences and gates in front of them. Liona's house was no exception. There was an obvious security system that he saw fancy rich people had in movies that allowed you to ring up the house and announce yourself, as well as a tall imposing person standing in front of the gate when he had gotten close enough to see the house. He wasn't sure what to do in this situation since he was still afraid of showing up and somehow being turned away when they saw him.
Finally with just five minutes until the listed start time to the party, he took a deep breath and gave himself a mental pep talk. Liona had invited him and had made sure to tell him to bring the invitation to allow him entrance to her party. He crossed the street and walked up to her house and stood in front of the man who was checking the invitation of a person arriving in a fancy car before the gate slid open and allowed the person entry.
He tried not to appear nervous since he was arriving by foot and seeing that there were at least a dozen cars in the driveway, all of them looked really expensive and fancy. The person that had just arrived screamed filthy rich and elite. Everything from their clothes to their demeanor said they belonged in this world. When the front door opened he could hear the loud beats of a popular artist playing before the person disappeared inside, only to cut off the music as if it never was there in the first place.
"Can I help you?" The intimidating person stood tall and looked down at him. Once again, he cursed his short stature as an alpha and felt intimidated by this bulky person that was dressed in a suit and wore a communication device at their ear.
He tried not to stutter as he gave his name and held out the invitation to the person in front of him. They didn't say anything as they took the invitation and read it, before speaking some kind of code into his earpiece before he was handed back the invitation and waved inside as a small gate to the side of the large gate opened for him to enter. He made sure to thank the person before he nervously walked in and approached the house. It was so much bigger up close as he strode up the walkway.
When he reached the house, the door swung open even before he could raise a hand to knock or find a doorbell of some kind. Another intimidating person was standing there at the door in the same kind of suit and earpiece as the person at the gate. He wasn't sure if the person said anything since the music that was blasting was so much louder this close to the house, but they gestured for him to enter, so he did.
Inside the house screamed luxury and finesse. There was a grand staircase leading up to the second story in what he thought was called a foyer in rich people's houses. At least that was what movies called these entry points. On either side of him on the walls were numerous photos, with many of them featuring Liona in various stages of growth, along with those he recognized as her siblings, even though he hadn't been formally introduced. There were others in the photos, some had Liona's mother whom he recognized from the mall the other day, and there was a tall handsome man with the same color hair as Liona with a slight curl to it that stood next to them in several of the pictures. He figured from the strong resemblance, that he must be Liona's father. She really took after him in her looks. It was almost uncanny, but even so, she had her own uniqueness to her that he was able to recognize right away.
Since no one greeted him other than the woman that had opened the door and closed it behind him, he had just stood in the entryway looking at the photos. With the music blasting, and the sound of rowdy teenagers coming from an area just beyond a closed off room with glass paned double doors with curtains covering the inside so you couldn't see inside. Walking towards the rowdiness he stopped dead in his tracks as his path was now blocked.
In front of him were two sets of twins, Liona's siblings, he thought as he waited for them to do whatever it was they needed. He didn't think he would be heard over the noise, so he didn't ask anything and just waited. He watched as each of them looked at their twin before circling him and studying him like he was some kind of strange specimen. They still didn't speak but it seemed there was some kind of unspoken agreement between the four younger teens. He saw the two boys flank him and drape their arms over his shoulders, while the girls grinned at their brothers and redirected him away from the noisy party.
He was led up the main stairs and to the second story for some reason and he was terrified of asking what was going on. Soon he was directed to stand in front of a door that had a fancy name plate on it declaring that this was Liona's room. It was written in a fancy gold script with clovers covering most of the sign. The two girls knocked on the door with some kind of pattern or code, but he was too nervous to ask anything. He heard the clatter of something falling before he saw the door open a crack before the flushed face of Liona peeked out, squeaked and the door closed again.
It was silence for what seemed an eternity as he nervously stood in front of her door, wondering why the hell he was here instead of downstairs with the other people that were here for her party. Finally, after what felt like forever, the door opened again and this time, the slightly less flushed face of Liona appeared before him, this time with the door thrown wide open. He was pushed inside by the boys, while the girls flanked him and closed the door behind them.
"We brought your boyfriend, Sis!" The boys grinned at Liona and somehow he sensed no malice in those words. In fact, all he felt was giddiness and excitement from all around him. He didn't know why he knew this and didn't understand what he was feeling from the room, but whenever Liona was around him, he tended to give up trying to understand his environment. She always made things topsy-turvy.
Liona sighed and rolled her eyes at her brothers, "For the last time! He's not my boyfriend! He hasn't agreed to that, for now we're friends. Give it a rest, Nolan, Noah." After he heard her sigh, he finally raised his head. She was radiant even as she scolded her brothers with that smile on her face.
"Whyever not, Sis?"
"He's good looking enough!"
"He's too quiet!"
"He's polite!"
Erik found it strange as he looked back and forth as the two sets of twins spoke about him as if he wasn't here. Well, that part wasn't strange. The part that was strange was the differing opinion between the two brothers and the two sisters. One always came to his defense with optimism, while the other was more pessimistic about him. He finally laughed as the argument, if he even wanted to call it that, got more intense. Liona jumped into the fray with positive things she liked about him, and it made him feel less nervous. While they were arguing, he took the time to really study Liona as she spoke amongst her siblings.