The week passed quickly, and before I knew it, it was Friday night.
I was standing in my walk-in closet trying to figure out what I was going to wear.
What do you wear for such an event?
I was frustrated because not a single dress seemed appropriate.
A knock on my door pulled me out my thoughts.
It must be Cole because he seemed to be the only one that had heard of knocking.
"Come in!" I yelled.
He entered the closet and was holding something behind his back.
"How is the search for a dress going?"
"Terrible," I sighed.
"I thought so, that's why I came to bring you a present," Cole smiled softly.
He gave me the bag that he was shielding behind his back.
I gasped when I realized what was in the bag.
Cole had brought me a beautiful, elegant black dress.
"When I saw the dress, I immediately thought of you. I was hoping you would wear it tonight," he said while scratching the back of his neck.
A bright smile crept across my face.
"You're a lifesaver Cole, thank you so much," I squealed and jumped into his arms.
"You're welcome bambina," he chuckled and gave ma a kiss on the head.
He checked his watch and frowned.
"They will be here within half an hour. You sure you will be ready in time?" Cole added.
"I don't have a choice, do I?" I grinned.
"The dress will be beautiful with a pair of heels," he suggested while walking away.
"Ooh hell no! Cole we already talked about this."
"Remember we played rock-paper-scissors to decide, and if I recall correctly, you lost."
"That's not fair, you cheated!" I accused him
He quickly turned around before leaving the room.
"How?" he almost yelled.
"I don't know, I just now you do," I shrugged my shoulders.
"Too bad, I already picked your shoes. They are standing next to your bed."
"Klootzak," I smiled, so that it seemed I was complimenting him.
'Asshole.'
Cole returned my smile and closed the door.
Let's get this over with I thought to myself.
It took me twenty minutes to put my hair up, so I looked a little more elegant, and put on some natural makeup.
I put on the dress and stood before the mirror looking at myself.
The dress was casual and elegant at the same time. It was a loose and airy dress, but hugged my waist.
The fuller sleeves concealed the worst scars and reached my elbows.
My dress complemented my figure, slightly showing my roundings.
The cleavage was cut deep, but not deep enough to make me feel insecure or uncomfortable.
I put on the silver medallion from my mother and Isaac's earrings that matched perfectly.
It bothered me that the 'N' was this visible, it contrasted ugly with my tanned skin.
Again I choose to put a plaster on it, so that no one could see it, including me.
I glared at the heels that had the same black shade as my dress.
Cole would murder me if I didn't put them on.
This one time, just because he had bought me this beautiful dress.
I checked the time ad cursed when I saw I only had five minutes left.
The boys were waiting in the stairwell.
Their heads shot in my direction when they heard me descent the stairs.
I hadn't even reached the bottom of the stairs, and Ethan had already taken a picture.
"Seriously?" I frowned.
He kissed my head and mumbled I looked beautiful.
"Great, now that everyone is here we can finally take our picture," Isaac clapped his hands together.
"It's a tradition to take a family picture when everyone is dressed up," Aiden groaned.
I guess he wasn't a big fan of it.
"Julia would you mind?" Cole asked politely.
She smiled and accepted his phone.
I had to hold back a laugh when I stood next to my brothers, even when I wore heals, they still towered over me.
We posed at the stairs. I was in the middle, between the twins. Kayden and Cole each at the far end and Isaac behind me.
"Okay fuck off now, I want one with Julia too," I waved them off.
They all sighed, probably due to the words I used.
Julia stood next to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek, saying she loved the dress.
When Ethan was done, I asked if I could see them and he handed me the phone.
I couldn't help the smile that formed on my lips when I saw the pictures.
"Hey Cole, can you print them, so I can put them in a frame?"
They would join the frame on my night stand.
"It will be the first thing I will do tomorrow," he smiled.
The bell rang before I could answer him.
"That will be our guests," Isaac stated.
He opened the door and my mouth was wide open when I saw those familiar brown eyes.
What was Samuel doing here?
"Luna this is Andrès, Evillia and Samuel Garcia, our business partners," Isaac introduced me.
"It's nice to see you again Luna, how are you doing?" the man, who looked like a copy of Sam, asked.
"I'm well, nice to meet you."
My gaze landed back on Sam, giving him a questionable look.
When Aiden noticed we were staring at each other, he put a protective arm around my shoulder while glaring at Sam.
"Seriously?" I quietly hissed at him.
Isaac led us to the living room, where we would wait till dinner was ready.
My brothers were talking to Mr. and Mrs. Garcia, so I took the opportunity to separate Sam.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked him.
"You didn't ask," he grinned.
"Really Sam?"
"Fine. I just wanted to see you the look on your face when you saw me. I must say it was priceless," he joked.
I rolled my eyes.
"You're so lucky that I'm amazing and can't be mad at you," I sighed.
"By the way you look breathtaking," he mumbled into my ear before heading toward the dining room.
My heart skipped a few beats when he said that. I desperately wanted to say something back, but like always my body refused to properly function around him.
We sat at the dinner table, not the one where we normally ate, and were waiting for Julia to bring our plates.
I had offered to help her, but she politely declined my proposition, saying I should focus on getting through the dinner.
Julia knew I wasn't a big fan of this whole business dinner because I didn't like being around people I didn't know. I must say that Sam's unexpected presence made it less bad.
When Julia put the plate before me, I gave her an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry you have to eat all alone," I mumbled, so no one else could hear but her.
She lightly squeezed my shoulder and left.
Samuel sat right before me sitting next to his mother, and I sat next to Kayden.
It was challenging to not stare at him, but I must say I glanced at him every now and then.
The guys started talking business, so I decided to completely zone out.
About thirty minutes later Cole shifted his attention to me.
"Luna, why don't you show Samuel the garden?" he asked.
Aiden cleared his throat.
"Cosa fai?" Aiden hissed.
'What are you doing?'
"Dobbiamo discutere il lato meno legale della nostra attività. Non possiamo farlo mentre è qui, quindi la mando via," Cole said.
'We need to discuss the less legal side of our business. We can't do this while she's here, so I'm sending her away.'
"Per favore, spiegami perché il ragazzo deve andare con lei?" Kayden nodded at Sam.
'Please explain to me why the boy has to go with her?'
"Perché altrimenti lei otterrà sospetti," Ethan answered.
'Because otherwise she will get suspicious.'
The Garcia's seemed a bit confused by their incomprehensible discussion.
"You will get used to it, just nod and smile," I joked to lift the akward atmosphere.
"You have your sense of humour from your father," Andrès laughed.
I chuckled and stood up.
"Come on brown eyes, let's get going."
Kayden was glaring at him and I sighed.
"Be nice," I hissed at them.
"You can thank me later," Cole mumbled while nodding in Sam's direction.
The others were watching us with curious expression, trying to figure out what Cole just told me.
Sam was waiting at the front door, he wanted to go outside when he saw me coming, but I stopped him.
"Wait a second," I said.
I took off my heels and replaced them with my blue crocs.
I looked at my foot and cursed. If I had whined about my ankle, Cole would never have forced me to wear heels. What a missed opportunity.
"Is your ankle hurting you again?"
"No, I just don't like wearing heels," I reassured him.
"Such a shame," he sighed. "But seriously Luna, crocs?"
"No judging my crocs when you're under my roof, understand?" I joked.
"Shall we?" he asked while opening the door.
I nodded and smiled at him.
Lanterns illuminate the garden along with the moon and stars, making the garden look more beautiful than it already was.
"You like being here, don't you?" Sam pointed out.
"Yeah, I really do. It reminds me of my mother," I said.
"How come?" he asked curiously.
"We used to garden together before she died."
"It's a pity that the best always have to go first," he sighed.
Suddenly I got goosebumps from the cold, the dress offered little warmth.
I subtly rubbed my bare arms, trying to chase away the cold.
Sam stopped walking and took off his jacket.
"Here take this," he offered.
"No, you really don't have to. I will be fine," I assured him.
"I won't take a 'no' as an answer," he stated.
"Fine, thank you."
When I accepted his jacked he stared a few seconds at my scarred arms. His eyebrows turned into a frown while he looked away.
"How?" he silently asked.
I reached his brown eyes after putting on his jacket.
His eyes softened a bit, but there was still lurking anger in them. I know the anger wasn't aimed at me.
"I have had a rough past," I admitted.
I was in a dilemma right now, should I tell him or not. I knew for sure he wouldn't push me or judge me.
"My mom died a few years ago, I didn't know I had siblings, so he became my guardian. He was an abusive asshole," I blurted out.
I could almost see flames dancing in his eyes.
"He left a few scars on my body," I tried to be casual about the topic.
But to my dismay, one lonely tear followed the well known road to my cheek.
I looked at my feet in shame, I should have kept my mouth shut.
He slowly wiped away the tear with his thumb.
"He's responsible for your ankle," he stated.
"Yeah," I confirmed his suspicion.
"Thanks for trusting me," he said with his hand still laying on my cheek.
I didn't flinch away from his touch, like I would have thought. Something in me wanted to stay like this forever.
"We should probably head back inside before my brothers will go mental," I sighed while taking a step back.
"Yeah you're right," he said while offering his arm.
I gladly took it and we walked back in a comfortable silence.
Alex was right.
Telling my friends wouldn't be as bad as I thought.
This was a step forward to acceptance.
"I hope your brothers will invite us more if that means I get to spend some time with you," he chuckled while letting go of my arm.
The door flew open before I could answer him.
Aiden was standing there watching Sam like a hawk.
"Aiden, happy as always I see," I grinned.
He snorted, took my hand and pulled me away from Sam.
"We are leaving Samuel. Luna, it was nice seeing you again," Andrès stated.
"Goodbye Mr. and Mrs. Garcia," I smiled.
"It's Andrès and Evillia for you," Evillia winked.
We stayed outside till they had left and then headed back inside.
I realized I was still wearing Sam's jacket and immediately felt guilty.
"Did you hurt yourself," Ethan asked, stopping me from going upstairs.
"What? No, I didn't."
"Yeah, I wanted to ask you the same thing, but then the Garcia's arrived and there was no time anymore," Kayden stated.
Shit. They were talking about the plaster on my collarbone.
"Do I need to take a look at it?" Cole questioned.
"No," I immediately blurted out.
"Is something wrong? You know you can tell us,' Isaac said with a concerned voice.
"I just, I have a scar that I can't bear to look at," I admitted, I had hid this long enough from them.
Cole carefully removed to plaster, exposing the scar to their eyes.
I looked away from them, I refused to look at his mark because it reminded me of him.
"I don't want to talk about it," I stated coldly.
The room became quiet, none of us dared to talk.
"You shouldn't be ashamed of your scars," Kayden broke the silence.
I looked him dead in the eye.
"It's not a scar but his mark," I said and left the room.
I locked the memory away, forcing it in the back of my mind.
The 'N' began burning, as if it was making fun of me for feeling disgusting by it.
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If you have a hard time imagining the dress Luna was wearing, here is my inspiration.
I do not own the picture, it was taken of off Pinterest.
Peace out.
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