Love is for Show

17 - Come Over (Part 2)

For the hundredth time, I run the palms of my hands along my pants. I'm so nervous I'm scared my teeth are going to break from the way they're chattering and grinding together. A sharp exhale leaves my nose once the elevator beeps and my feet suddenly feel like boulders as the doors slide open.

Why am I so nervous?

Forcing one foot in front of the other, I mechanically make my way down the hallway and to the familiar double doors looming over me as I hesitate to ring the doorbell. The same doorbell above the hand pad that scanned Elias' fingerprints the other two times I've been here. The sound of the doorbell chimes and echoes around his space.

With the doors being so heavy, I can't make out any sounds on the other side, so all I have to rely on and listen to as I wait, is the sound of my own anxious heartbeat. That is, until the right door creaks open. A screech soon replaces the sound of my heartbeat, followed by someone grabbing my hand and pulling me in without any notice.

"Ah-"

"Oh my goodness, you must be, Nathan?!"

"Um-"

"It's so nice to meet you," I barely manage to catch dark hair flying past my vision as I try to catch my breath and place my hands on my trembling knees.

"Oh right, take your shoes off, of course," A woman?

Finally, once I manage to pull both my shoes off, I glance up to a beaming woman with hair as dark as shadows sporting purple highlights looking down at me. A septum glints under her nose from the sunlight shining right on her from the open windows.

"Hi," I rise to my full height and notice she's only the tiniest bit smaller than myself. "I'm Jade, Kalen's little sister!"

L-little sister?!

She holds a purple manicured hand out for me to shake, which I hold in a daze as her smile continues to shine right at me without faltering even for a moment.

"I've heard a lot about you," instead of releasing her hold on me, she drags me to the kitchen and sits beside me at the kitchen island. The side of her palm holds her chin as she gazes at me. "The others are in the bedroom and Kalen is in his office," she explains and then there's silence after I simply nod. I'm so confused...

She sends me a knowing smile and hops down from her chair, "I'm guessing you had no idea he has a sister?"

I shake my head, "not like it was my business to know," I finally find my voice again.

She shrugs and pours us both some juice, "perhaps, but not many people know of my existence anyway,"

I tilt my head at her and she slides over my glass with a small smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "Mom likes to keep me a secret from the public,"

My eyebrows jump at her words and my mouth gapes as my voice loses itself once again. With a shake of her head she rounds the counter and sits back down. "Anywho, enough about me," her smile grows again. "Tell me about yourself, Nathan," 

In the span of a singular second, it's almost as if her voice dropped by an octave and the mood dropped with it. Glancing to the side, I see her smile nowhere to be found anymore, even though it was just there two seconds ago, as she simply taps her fingers along the counter. Scary...

"What do you want to know?"

She shrugs, "what do you want with Kalen?"

I sputter into my glass, nearly dropping the drink completely at her question. What does she mean by that? That's such an odd way to phrase it. I don't want anything from him?