Smoke & Fire || Evan Buckley

Chapter 5

A L E X I S _ P A R R I S H

ALL THE LIGHTS in the apartment burn brightly, lighting up every room. Ma spent the entire morning cleaning up the place for her guests tonight.

The balcony is beautifully decorated on this humid evening as the wind breezes through the living room. A tiny table is situated in the center of the balcony with a variety of red and white wine along with a charcuterie board with different kinds of cheeses and crackers.

Ma always goes all out when hosting. The kitchen smells heavenly as she removes her favorite lasagna dish from the oven.

"Mira, for once, you look beautiful!" My mom smiles as she sees me descend from my bedroom. I roll my eyes at her words but thank her anyway.

A casual black dress adorns my body, flowy as it reaches my knees. My hair runs straight down my back and my make up is kept very minimal. Hours of YouTube videos would never be enough for me to advance to the eyeliner stage.

"Are you hoping to impress a certain someone tonight?" she continues with a playful smile dancing on her lips.

My mom is no doubt a very beautiful woman. From head to toe, I estimate she's spent about 2 hours in the bathroom and came out looking like a goddess. Her golden skin glows flawlessly under the lighting, emphasizing her cheekbones and perfectly curled eyelashes. She's dressed in a red jumpsuit, formal as it reaches her ankles protected by an apron.

"Really mom? And when Evan gets here, you do not, under any circumstances embarrass me again..." I command watching as she dances to the music that plays lowly in the background, ignoring my very serious statement.

"I though his name was Buck?" she questions, her playfulness never leaving her.

I ignore her obvious attempt to catch me slip up. The thought of Buck being here again makes me nervous, not in a good way. He's my coworker, we've never crossed such boundaries before, and I worry that he's not okay.

Last shift was rough on him, and I assured him that it would be okay if he wasn't up for tonight. I was kind of hoping he wasn't, is that bad?

A knock on the door brings me out of my thoughts. My breath hitches in my throat as I look to see my mom rushing to answer. I subconsciously straighten out my dress and make sure my posture is straight.

"Aiii mi amor, I've missed you!" my mom exclaims, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Hey ma" Matteo's voice sounds and my shoulders relax a bit. Ma throws her arms around my brother who embraces her tightly. The small petite figure behind him almost goes unnoticed if it wasn't for her annoyingly bright pink dress.

"Lex, it's good to see you dork" Matteo walks over to me after letting ma go, a smile adorns his face as he does so. I don't miss how mature he looks with the light scruff that forms on his face. His eyes resemble our father's but when he smiles, he looks just like my mom.

"Nice to know you still remember us" I say with a smirk before he moves to ruffle up my hair. I immediately slap his hand away and move to smooth it out.

"Haha" he lets out dryly

"You remember Rachel, right?" he says wrapping an arm around the small waisted woman. Rachel gives me a tight smile as she clutches her Chanel bag with her perfectly manicured hands.

"How could we forget?" ma announces before taking a big sip from her wine glass, which somehow always magically appears since I never see her actually pouring.

"Yeah, hi, how are you?" I ask in hopes of distracting her from the fake smile my mom sends her way.

Matteo ventures into the kitchen leaving us to chat. Rachel looks uncomfortable as she looks around my apartment. I breathe in deeply, finding the strength not to be offended at the look of distaste on her face.