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Chapter 1 — The friend zone

Chapter 1 — The friend zone

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Liliana Van Doren woke up to the curtains suddenly opening up. "Rise and shine my dear!" Her personal maid, Alexa smiled at her. "What time is it?" She groaned squinting her eyes.

"It's seven, milady." She smiled brightly. "Alexa, I know you came from the fancy British nanny companies but how many times do I have to tell you not to call me milady! It's been a year." She said slipping into her bunny slippers.

"Oh yeah, you're right. My apologies Miss Lily." Alexa nodded shyly making her bed. "Thats more like it." She said as she went to bathe.

Her name is Liliana Van Doren. She came in a long line of wealthy family. Her grandfather actually owns the Van Doren energy company and someday it's going to be passed down to her.

That is only if her older brother Jackson Van Doren decided to bail on his duties or mysteriously die in a freakish accident. Her mom Valeria Van Doren passed away when she was little. Her father Calvin Van Doren raised them both as a single father.

He never plans to remarry because why would you, when you have to look after kids and take care of a multi million dollar company all by yourself? Adding more to the party will distract his focus from work and he knows it.

Thats why his brother and father are rarely at home. Jackson Van Doren is a Harvard graduate. He came first in his class with a perfect GPA destined to continue their family legacy.

Sadly for Jackson he never experienced the childhood he deserved. Thats why he always came home bringing woman into the house just to full-fill his pleasure.

The chairman doesn't mind since he knew Jackson needs it to get his mind off things. But Lilia thought it was just disgusting to have different girls every night banging them across her room. Sometimes she can't even sleep.

What if he turned out to be HIV positive? What if he died out of AIDS?? Lilia doesn't want his position to be hers. He thought being a CEO of a powerful company was dreadful.

Lily finished shower and head downstairs as she skipped inside the kitchen. "Lily, you're up early." She spotted her brother drinking coffee sitting on a barstool. She bow her head slightly as he looked at her.

"Liliana Van Doren, the dean called me, he said you kept bullying freshman is that true?" He asked. "All I do was trip them because they kept cutting in line during lunch." She shrugged.

"Lily, don't lie to your brother." He gazed at her with his sharp, intimidating eyes. "Y–yeah well maybe I did call them a cheap prostitute because they kept flirting with seniors–"

Jackson sighed as he looked at her. "Oh my god, Lily. Is it because of Josh again?"

Her heart skipped a beat at the mention of his name as she gulped. "W–What are you talking about?" She stuttered making herself a toast. "You always get crazy when some girl talked or even look at Josh."

"Talk about possessive. Why don't you ask him out already?" Jackson sighs glancing at his sister. "Are you crazy? I can't do that! Josh is my best friend and I am comfortable with this thing we have now."

"Which is?"

"Well you know, this thing we have. ." She paused eyes darting everywhere. "You mean the friend zone?" Jackson chuckled. "I thought you're this beauty guru on instagram that does makeup videos."

"I never thought you turned out to be some insecure chicken." He rolled his eyes. "Hey! I am confident in front of my supporters but when I'm around Josh. . I don't know why, we're better off as friends." She gulped.

"Oh for fuck sake! You're such a pussy," Jackson exclaimed. "I don't even see what you saw on that guy anyway, he's just a white boy who does tik tok for a living. Actually I find all of you millennials annoying!"

"I mean if I made money for dancing in front of the camera I would invest on them instead of buying stuff you don't even need." He ranted.

"Okay boomer." Lily whispered.

"Okay what did you just call me–" He was about to strangle her when Josh came inside the house with his signature bright smile. "Hello, Van Dorens!" He waved.

"Hey Josh!" She ran up to him as they do their handshake. "Yo! My man, Jackson!" Josh exclaimed placing his arm around Jacksons shoulder. "Don't touch me." Jackson hissed. "Okay geez, no need to be a grey cloud here."

"Josh, you seem all bubbly and happy about something. Whats up?" She asked. "What do you mean? He's always bubbly and annoying." Jackson said finishing up his coffee.

"Alexa, I'm ready to have my breakfast now." Jackson ordered with Alexa bringing him breakfast.

"Actually he is right. Do you really wanna know what happened to me last night??" He asked. "Oh sure. What is it??" Lily smiled. "I asked Charli D'Amelio out to make a tik tok video together and she actually said yes!"

"Well it did cost me a hundred bucks because apparently thats how much she charged people." He said. "A hundred freaking dollars?! Why don't you just ask Lily to film with you?" Jackson asked.

"About that um, Jackson?" Her smile turned into a frown.

"You can save yourself a hundred bucks by filming it free with Liliana and instead you can invest your hundred dollars for a brighter future." Jackson said.

"No haha, who even does that now?" Josh asked weirdly.

"I swear to freaking– you know what Alexa? Take my breakfast to my room. I feel like having breakfast in bed." Jackson said stomping out of the kitchen.

"Whats up with the boomer?" Josh asked. "Thats exactly what I've been thinking." Lily chuckled. "So about what Jackson said–"

"Oh no, please. You know how stiff I am and I can't even act on tik tok. Forget what he said. And look at the time now! We're going to be late for school."

"But–"

"Josh! School!" She chirped.

To be continued

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