Beyond the lies

Chapter 11

"But-"

"Enough."

The last word came from Remo, "she asked Vincent, not any of you."

The attention was back on Vincent, whose calculating eyes were still on his sister.

"Will there be anyone else?"

"Well, the boys will stay for the day, but for the actual sleepover it's just me, Nicole and Vera."

At the sound of boys the disapproval on Dante and  Marco's faces grew, as did Sofia's determination to go.

"This weekend we're all busy, how will you go Sofia?"

She looked directly into her oldest brother's eyes, not hesitating with her answer.

"Vera said she'd be fine to go with me by bus."

"Bus?! That's so dangerous, absolutely not-" Marco was then shut up by a sharp glance by Vincent.

If only she had the same power to make that boy be quiet whenever he was talking too much, (which was all the time).

Vincent leaned back in his chair, looking even more serious than he usually was, if that was even possible.

"Alright," Marco's jaw dropped and Dante shook his head, "but I have a condition."

Her eyebrows furrowed, "what is it?"

"You must keep your phone on you at all times."

That seemed quite simple.

"Ok."

Luca joined in, "Sof, it's really important that you keep your phone on you and responds as soon as any of us text or call you."

She nodded once again, thinking how everything went more smoothly than she had initially imagined. Marco tried to protest again, though he went back to his food after Vincent threatened to cancel his weekend plans.

Everyone went back to eating, although the girl had already finished her portion. She was just waiting for the others in order to be polite. In the corner of her eye, she could spot Remo trying to make a move to start conversation with her.

They hadn't talked much since the...incident.

"So Sofia...you excited for the weekend then?"

"Uh...yes I suppose."

"Erm...what will you do then?"

"Um we might watch movies or something."

The girl could have sworn that she heard Rocco whisper that the two were terrible at conversing, however decided to ignore it.

"Nice! Did you do that with your old friends too?"

She raised an eyebrow, "old friends? I didn't have any."

The awkward conversation caught the attention of every brother with the sister's statement, though they tried to be subtle about it.

"What? Why?"

"Too risky, so I scared everyone off."

Dante broke the tension, "piccola Sofia and scary? That's funny."

She glared at him, trying to copy Vincent's signature look. Unfortunately it did not work on her annoying brother as he continued to laugh.

Later on, Sofia was laying in her bed, waiting for her pills to do their job. As she did, she thought about the conversations she had during dinner. It was no secret that the Carmine brothers were protective of their sister, so the fact that Vincent of all people agreed so easily was suspicious.