Pacing around in the living room isn't helping me a bit. Neither does it calm my nerves, nor does it make me more understanding. The clock on the wall isn't slowing down either, so why isn't he coming home?

"Avena, where are you going?"

I look at my little brother, who is watching me put on my jacket. I then realize that I haven't been aware of the fact that I'm not in the living room anymore. Being in deep thoughts I didn't notice that he was standing in front of me either. Obviously there are a lot things I don't observe today.

"I'm going out for a bit-"

The light in his angelic eyes darkens, at the same time as his natural smile falls. "But where is mom?"

Here is the problem. I don't like lying, at all, and especially not to my younger siblings. But what am I supposed to tell him? Looking at his honest face, I can't make myself plop out a lie.

'Mom won't come home, until very late, or possibly not at all, depending on how strong tonight's drink was.'

I can't possibly tell him the truth, he wouldn't understand. In fact I'm not even sure if I do. And I am almost two times older than him.

Luckily I have a sister, who doesn't think twice before throwing a couple of white lies here, and a couple of white lies there. So when she steps in for me, I give her an eased smile.

"Working. You know that. She'll come home later." I wonder how she does that though. Lying so effortlessly. Sometimes I wonder if she lies to me too, but I guess I'll never know.

Dani puts her arm around Jake's shoulders. She smiles looking down at him. He blinks. The suspicion only growing inside of him.

"Okay, kiddo. Time to go to bed." I know Jake wants to refuse, but he doesn't dare to go against Dani's orders.

One day he will find out the truth.
Luckily that day is yet to come.

When a car honks on the outside, I immediately tell my siblings good night.

"Avena", Dani says, "kick his ass for me, will ya?"

The worst part is that she isn't even kidding.

**

When I step outside, the rain kisses my cheeks. Setting up my pace, I open the door to the passenger seat.

"Hey, beautiful, where ya going?" says my life saver, also known as, my best friend. As I lean to the side in order to buckle up, Sylvia turns up the volume in the car.

"Sylvia, I can't thank you enough for this. I know it's late, but he's still not home and I have to find him before he does something stupid and I can't tell mom-"

She frantically waves her hands. "I understand. Just breathe."

"I can't put this thing in there", I mutter. She turns around to help me. It's only then I notice what she has put on before leaving her house. Scratch that, that's when I notice her heavily made-up face.

Sylvia's false eyelashes are almost giving me anxiety, at any point they might fly away. She is wearing a purple dress, which is rather too short. Her cleavage is on exhibition as if they were a masterpiece. I'm not even going to mention the tightness of the clothing.

Still surprised, I ask: "Why are you dressed like that? I thought you were already in your pajamas when I called you."

While turning on the ignition, she flashes me a guilty smile. "I was. But this is a party. I'm always up for that."

Oh I know you are.

I still don't see her point. She is only here to be my chauffeur. "But you won't even get out of the car."

"Life is a party", she tries to use that as a last resort for an excuse. We've been friends since seventh grade. I know her.

She helped me get revenge on Harley Singh, after she pushed me down the stairs (which hurt like being stung by thousand bees, by the way). I wanted the revenge to be bloody, so Sylvia ended up revenging me. She did what I was too afraid to; dropped a red stained pad when Harley stood up from her chair, making everyone think it was hers. The best day of my life. Inseparable after that day.

"Fine. The thing is that I was hoping we could maybe stay a bit, after finding your brother." Is this girl for real? Why didn't I expect something like this from her?

"No? Are you out of your mind? It's eleven o'clock. I should be at home putting my siblings to bed, and you should be in your pajamas."

Still smiling she blinks. "But that's not even a problem. I told my mom I was sleeping over at your house."

Maybe that's when I am the maddest I can be. However, I decide to not let my anger get the best of me, so I try to calm myself down. Doing as I should have done from the start, I smile. Everything is gonna be alright.

But it isn't. The first thing Sylvia does when we reach the party is to let me stand alone in the rain. I'm about to thank her for the ride, when she runs in through the entrance door. Like an idiot I remain standing on the same spot, waiting and hoping for her to come back, but she doesn't.

Thanks for nothing.

My eyes grow huge as I notice how big this house is. I wonder whose living here, but I didn't get the time to ask Sylvia. Drunk people are hanging outside of the building. I am surprised no one has called the cops yet. Someone should do it though, so that my brother could come home earlier tonight. Music is pumping me up even before I reach the house. Reaching the door I notice its being guarded.

"Are you on the guest list?" the young thin faced man asks me. His freckles look like they are moving, when he is speaking. They distract me. As I take too long to answer, he continues explaining: "It's 5 dollars for people who are invited. 10 for pretty ladies. 20 for strangers."

My saliva becomes harder and harder to swallow, as the guy sets the price higher and higher for each category he goes through. How will I afford that? I don't even have a job.

My mama hasn't raised me to be a liar. "I'm not on the list", I admit.

"That makes it 30 dollars."

"How does that even add up?" He whistles for himself, before speaking.

"The girl in the purple dress said you would pay for her. Don't complain. It was 40 bucks originally, but I made it cheaper, because of your friend."

Sylvia?

He must see how I am having a hard time trying to compensate the words coming out of his mouth, because he proudly explains: "Your friend falls in the pretty lady category."

The more I look at his face, the more dissymetrical it looks. His ears are not placed on the same line. His eyes don't even share the same postcode. Not being shady, just stating the obvious truth.

Who even came up with that name for a category? I'm not even saying that, because of the fact that he didn't add me in the same category as her, and I am certainly not complaining.

I didn't even want to attend this party. Had it not been for the egocentric excuse of a brother, I would still have had my 30 dollars in my pockets.

As I am about to hand the door guy the money, a voice, like comfy blanket on a cold evening, interrupts us.

"Adam. Stop kidding. We don't charge people on my parties." I don't even have to look up to know whose voice that is. I freeze.

His party? Why didn't Sylvia mention that he's the one throwing the party?

The redhead in front of me gives the guy behind me a sly smirk. "Oops? I forgot."

Yeah, sure you did. As he turns around and disappears in the house, I can't stop wanting to kick him. Should I run after him and give him a piece of my mind?

A hand is placed on my shoulder. A tingling sensation is spread from his touch and outward. "I'm sorry about that." The male voice comes closer to me, to the point where he is standing in front of me.

I am immediately being drawn to this blue eyes, not even noticing that he is handing me a red cup. Everything from his neat voluminous blonde hair, to his blending, yet heartfelt smile makes my knees weak. Even his outfit shouts 'Crush Material!' Inevitably, I will admit that I'm surprised why he's not every girl's crush on school.

Lucas Cipriano is most girl's dream boy. He's been mine since four years ago, when he finished my painting in art class, so that I wouldn't get in trouble for ruining mine. Don't worry I payed his favor back, with a pack of gum.

As he takes me inside, my body does its best to calm down the butterflies in my stomach. Shivers go down my spine, just by thought of him putting his hand anywhere near me. In an attempt of suppressing a squeal, I let out the weirdest noise ever; a mixture of a snort and a hiccup. Thankfully the music is too loud for him to hear it. In fact I don't even hear it myself.

"There are two rules on my parties", he explains to me holding up two fingers in the air. Why are even his fingers hot? "One, do not touch the door over there." Following his gaze it lands on a metal door, but that's it. Nothing fancy. No matter what you do, do not open it." I nod my head. "Do you know why?"

This time I shake my head. My mouth won't get a filter for all the money in the world. So when Lucas is being nice enough to continue his explanation: "The door is alarmed, that's why", I automatically answer him back with:

"Oh really? What startled it?"

***
A/N

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