Sincerely Yours || Lana Del Rey & Bruno Mars

9

A shrill screech echoed throughout the venue as Peter adjusted the microphone stand. "Erm, I believe everyone onstage has said every possible thing they could say about and to the birthday girl, but I'm gonna switch it up a bit," he said, sending a look to his youngest sister, who paid close attention to him. He chuckled, knowing exactly why.

"Now Elizabeth Aria Hernandez is every sibling's nightmare," he started off, earning him a laugh from all the visitors. "And I know every younger sibling is a devil, but she's a little more than that. I mean, come on! She's been arrested at the age of fifteen – way before I did. My first juvie experience was sixteen by the way." Laughter.  "At sixteen, she tried running away from home, circling around the neighborhood, only to come back crying fifteen minutes later." More laughter. "The following year, she attempted to elope with her hot-shot boyfriend who was ten years older than her at that time, but thank goodness I caught them climbing down a makeshift twine using my bed sheets. If dad hadn't noticed the sheets were gone, she was probably somewhere in a house trailer with her jobless 'soul mate' or was the new face of MTV's Teen Mom." And that was when everyone broke down into hysterics.

"All I'm saying is, man, she's gone through more things, and caused more trouble than any other decent adult would in their lifetime. Which is why we never trusted her with a car—"

"OH MY GOD SHUT UP!" the petite brunette screamed, running onstage and yanking the mike out of her bullying brother's hold. Eyes fuming and cheeks pink, she glared at her brother, almost on the edge of crying.

"—but, all that is gonna change now," he smirked, digging into his back pocket and pulled out a key.

She gasped, along with the partygoers, realization finally dawning on her. Her gaze stayed glued on the metallic object and he laughed before taking her hand in his and enclosing it in there.

He gently took the microphone from the bewildered lass and raised his wine glass half-filled with punch towards the audience. "To another year of havoc! God forbid not with that new Audi though."

The younger of the two gasped louder and the size of her eyes doubled, tears suddenly slipping from them. She lunged herself unto Peter and embraced him so tightly, he stopped breathing for a few seconds. "Thank you so much, Peter!"

.

"Bro," Katy whispered to her brother over on the driver's seat.

"What?" he murmured in reply, careful not to awaken the sleeping beauty and his nephew Vance on the backseat of their car. It was well past two o'clock in the morning and the two were on the brink of surrender when the clock hit midnight. And they understood. They exhausted from all the travelling, preparations and the merrymaking all in one day.

"Why were you and Charlotte so...uneasy tonight?" she asked. "And you two were actually fine earlier, but it became really tense between you two after your speech. I had to stop myself from leaving the table because the atmosphere was so heavy."

"We, um—," he chewed on the inside of his cheeks, hesitating whether he wanted to share his girl problems with his sister. "—we almost kissed."

"What?!" she gasped as if she got a new car herself. She smacked the man on his chest, not caring if he was behind the wheel. "Was that what happened with you and Charlotte at the beach? Did I interrupt the both of you?"

He nodded, scratching the back of his neck. "Thanks a lot for that by the way, sis. Now she's as shy as ever around me again."

She covered her mouth, still in shock that her brother was falling in love again – not that it wasn't obvious enough. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Peter. Did you tell her you loved her?"