Liona was beautiful in a white stunning dress that gleamed with bright green gems of some kind on the bottom of the skirt, creating a sparkle effect every time she moved. There was a matching green sash at her waist, pulling in the full skirt and separating the bodice from it. The top of the dress was a bit plainer, but no less pretty.
Resting just off her shoulders and slightly scalloped heart shaped, it drew the eye to her ample, but not overly large bust. It had longish sleeves that rested just below her elbows that were bell shaped with the same scalloped edges as the top of the dress. At her neck she wore a gold necklace with a shamrock dangling from it, resting just above her slightly exposed cleavage. It matched earrings she had on that peeked from behind strands of her strawberry hair framing her face from a partial updo.
Her face was perfectly made up as always and her beautiful blue-green eyes shone brightly as she animatedly argued with her siblings. She just counter argued everything they threw at her about their observations of him, which weren't much, but it was still fun to watch a side of her he had never seen before. When he laughed again it seemed to have gotten their attention, so they all looked his way.
"Liona your siblings are pretty funny, they don't even know me, yet half of them are coming to my defense!" He laughed. He didn't feel nervous at all now.
"We've seen you more than you think! You work at our favorite burger place, and you also work at the coffee shop in the mornings. The two sets of twin siblings spoke in unison.
"Yeah, I do work there, but I'm pretty sure I would have seen you guys while I was working. You both have pretty distinctive faces, especially since you look a lot like Liona."
"We don't look anything like her!" The boys said together.
"We look too much like her!" The girls said in unison.
Erik laughed as the two sets of siblings denied and agreed in stereo.
"You even sound like your sister when she pouts!" Erik laughed some more as he noticed Liona's dimple peek out with the big grin on her face at his comment.
"Alright, Noah, Nolan, Rora, Ari, leave us alone for a minute and guard the door so that when Auntie Yui patrols, she doesn't come in."
"What? Why would we leave you alone?"
"Why would we miss out on your smoochy face!"
The two sets of twins teased and laughing, saw themselves out of Liona's room as he stood there dumbfounded, wondering what the heck he was even doing here in her room in the first place. He had come full circle of questioning this. He saw her door close and then felt that slight nervousness come back, but this time, it was a different nervousness.
He took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. "So, uh, um, happy birthday…" He managed to get out, but he squeaked at the sudden closeness of Liona as she smiled and invaded his personal bubble.
"Thanks! By the way, you look good in that! I like your taste." Liona laughed as she backed up a bit and smiled again with that dimple showing.
"I, um, uh, I couldn't afford to get you something fancy, or anything at all, really, but I did find this for you…" Erik reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object that he had carefully worked on since stumbling across the perfect present for Liona. He held it out to her, hoping that she wouldn't criticize the sloppy work he had done to preserve it.
Liona took the small object that he held out to her and examined it. As he held his breath, he saw her smile widely and then delight lit up her eyes as she carefully turned it every which way. "I love it! Thank you!"
"Really?" He had to ask.
"Really! How could I not love it! You found a real four-leaf clover and preserved it just for me! This is the neatest present I've seen yet!" She held up the small clover pressed and sealed with clear packing tape against a small cardboard backing. It had been the best he could do on short notice and with the materials he had on hand.
"Yeah, it was just something I stumbled across on my way to work one day." He explained.
"You were lucky to find such a rare thing! I really do love it! Thank you again for the gift! I'll put it right here…" Erik watched as Liona placed the small card with the clover on her vanity.
This was the first time he actually paid attention to his surroundings. Before he had been too distracted and nervous to look around the room that was Liona's space. As he scanned the room while she found the perfect spot for his gift, he took in his surroundings. Across the spacious room to the right of the room was a large bed with a fluffy seafoam colored blanket. The headboard looked sort of like something you'd see out of an old movie with the padding and the dimpled fabric. He didn't know what it was called, but it was strangely suited to Liona. Here and there were darker accents of aqua and teal pillows scattered around the bed almost haphazardly. Over her bed was a gauzy canopy in white that was draped to either side of it.
Next to her spacious, large bed, was an elegant nightstand with a couple of small drawers that had spindly legs in white that matched the edges of her bed frame. On it was a charging pad for her phone and a couple of books. It was strange seeing novels on her nightstand since he hadn't exactly pegged her as a reader, let alone one of physical books. Moving further over the room was a bay of windows that overlooked the front yard of the house. From here he could see the fence and the tree overhanging it along with even more people still arriving for Liona's birthday party. The windows were framed in gauzy seafoam curtains that matched the color of her bedspread.
To the left of the windows was her vanity where she was currently placing his gift. She had a few pictures tucked into the edges of her mirror. They all seemed to be pictures of Liona with her friends and siblings, along with a few other people he didn't recognize. Although there was one of her holding a baby that looked a lot like the little toddler he had seen at the play place in the mall. He supposed that these people he didn't recognize were her cousins or something. She did say she had a big family with a lot of aunts and uncles.
Beyond her vanity was a built-in closet, he supposed, as well as a stand alone wardrobe that was partially opened and had clothes peeking out of it haphazardly… Before he could turn around and look further at her room, she came back over with that breathtaking smile of hers and beamed it at him.
"I'm so glad you made it. Thank you for coming to my party. Now I have you, Chloe, and Allison, here as my friends and I won't feel so outnumbered by my classmates. They aren't really bad people or anything, but I don't really consider them my friends…"
Just then there was an urgent sounding knock on the door before one of Liona's twin siblings stuck their head in. Erik didn't know enough to tell whether it was who Liona called Rora or Ari, but it was one of the girls.
"Liona! You gotta get Erik outta here! Aunt Yui is on her way up and the boys have her distracted! If she finds out you have a boy in your room alone with you, she's gonna tell Dad! If Dad finds out, you know Mom will too!"
"Got it, thank's Rora!" Liona said before she turned to him. "We gotta go downstairs now, but I wanted to catch you before you were confronted by anyone at my school. Some of them may not be as nice as I am and will be a little crass. Your best bet is to try not to talk to many of them and if I introduce you then you can be assured they won't say anything bad about you. Just stick close to me, my siblings, or Alli and Chloe if you feel like you're being pressured to tell anyone about yourself. You just need to remember that you're my guest and ultimately, I get to decide if you belong here or not. No one but me gets to veto you being here. Well, my parents can too, but they won't do so without talking to me first. Oh, and don't worry about the people in the suits, they won't bother you unless you cause a scene."
"Um, okay…" Erik didn't get a chance to say much more. He was summarily dragged out of the room by Liona and then ushered down the hall and then down some stairs just as he heard the next song start playing and then the thump, thump of the beat resonating throughout the house again. Come to think of it, it had been quiet in Liona's room. He hadn't heard the partygoers or the loud music at all while he was there. He wondered if the rooms of this house were just really well insulated since he had only lived in apartments with really noisy neighbors that you could hear everything they did through paper thin walls.