Exercising sucked.
I literally wanted to die after the intense workout routine Alex had put me through that consisted of weight lifting, aerobics, and some cardio. When I had my breathing under control, I pushed myself off the ground and lifted my body up. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and patted the top of my hair, hoping it still looked presentable.
"You look fine, Bell," John reassured me with a grin. "We'll be in the media room, so go take a shower in the meantime." He leaned away from me and scrunched up his nose. "You kind of smell."
I hit him on the shoulder. He closed his eyes and rubbed the spot where I had hit him. Seeing the laughter on his face, I knew my slap didn't hurt him in the least. "Ass."
He chuckled, throwing his head back. "Aw, you know I love you, sis."
"Yeah-yeah." I rolled my eyes at him. "I'll see you later."
I didn't wait for his response and ran over to Amanda, and told her I'll be back. She nodded her head, and gave me a hug. Heading towards the changing room, I waved at Alex on the way there.
After a hot, relaxing shower, I grabbed the spare clothes I'd stored in the open locker my family shared and changed into my sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. Shutting it closed, I walked past the open showers, opened the door, and entered the empty gym.
When I was back in the hallway, I saw the front door to the house creaking open. My eyebrows arched down looking at it. Who could that be?
Walking quietly over towards the door, I saw long blonde locks. When she turned around, I saw the eyes of my little sister. My smile immediately curved upwards seeing her and my dad.
"Sabby," Lily exclaimed the nickname she gave me once she saw me. Running into my arms, I picked her up and spun her around, and hugged her tightly.
"Lily. What are you doing home? I thought you were filming an ad?" I asked. From what Dad told me, she wasn't even suppose to be home for another week or so.
"We were, but we got done early," she said, as she ran her small fingers through her hair. "Plus, Mommy called yesterday."
"She did?" I asked, and turned to Dad, arching my brow. She didn't . . . did she? As he darted his gaze away from mine, I immediately knew the answer. She did.
"Sorry honey, but your mother called last night and told us everything," Dad said, staring hard at me, and watched me carefully.
I bit my lips, cursing under my breath. Great. He knows. Even though my dad wasn't nearly as protective as my brother, he's still equally as bad.
"Really?" I gulped. "She told you everything?"
"Of course. Why didn't you tell us the kids at school were teasing you?" he asked with a frown.
"Because, I didn't want you getting involved," I told him, as I placed Lily down.
"Why? I could've gotten things straightened out with their parents for you, you know."
"And that's exactly why I didn't tell you." I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "'Talking' would have only made things worse."
"But you should've at least told me about it," he insisted.
"Fine." I gave out a loud sigh and ran my fingers through my hair. "I promise I'll tell you next time if I have a problem, all right?" I asked, hoping he would just drop the subject. I really don't need another reminder of my pathetic life.
"Deal," he said, his laugh lines turning visible.
I gave him a smile in return and then turned to my little sister for a distraction. "So, Lily, want to go see, John?" I asked her.
Her whole face instantly lit up. "John's home?" she asked, practically bouncing where she stood.
"Yeah, he came home early last night," I told her, while I crouched down to her level. "Want to surprise him?"
"Yes!" She smiled, her bright eyes lighting up.
I laughed, ruffling her head. "All right, let's go then." I smiled, offering her my hand. Standing back up, I grasped her hand, and turned back to my dad. "We'll be in the media room if you need us."
"Sure thing, honey," he replied with a wide smile. "In the meantime I'll be looking for your mother."
"She's probably upstairs in her room."
"Thanks." His grin got wider. "Have fun guys." He gave each of us a small hug before he headed upstairs, skipping the last two steps probably in a rush to see her.
As I turned my attention back towards my sister, I tugged on her hand, and lead her towards the media room. Everyone was sitting close to the front, their attention on the big screen to even notice Lily and I walking in. Realizing that the movie on the screen was a horror movie, I let an evil smirk appeared on my face, thinking of a plan. It's payback time.
"Hey, Lily," I whispered. She stared up at me with her doe-like eyes. "Want to scare John with me?"
She placed a hand over her mouth to cover a giggle. "Sure."
I smiled, motioning my hand for her to follow my lead. "When we get behind him, wait until I count to three and then we'll scream as loudly as we can, got it?"
She nodded. "Got it."
I grinned, as we both made our way over to where everyone was sitting, making sure to go as quietly as we could. When we were directly behind John, I held my index finger up to my lips, and silently counted to three. Sucking in our breaths, we both let out a loud ear-piercing scream, causing both John and Alex to jump up in the air, as they both let out a scream of their own. Amanda—however just continued watching the movie, snacking on her popcorn, completely unaffected by us.
"What the hell?" John bellowed, his eyes narrowing into slits. Twisting his body around, his whole demeanor changed when his eyes landed on us. "Lily, I didn't know you were home."
"That's because I just got here, silly." She giggled, giving John her smile.
"Well, come over here and let your big brother give you a big ol' hug." John grinned, opening his arms wide for her.
Laughing, Lily stood up on her tippy-toes and wrapped her tiny hands around John's neck. He lifted her small body with ease, putting his arm behind her back and his other hand underneath her legs. Setting her down on his lap, he hugged her close to his chest.
"Is that your little sister?" I turned my attention to the sound of Alex's voice, and nodded. "She's cute," he said a moment later with a small smile.
"Yeah, she is," I said, sighing softly. If only I was that cute. Eyeing him from the corner of my eyes, I noticed he was still shaking a bit from our little prank. "Also, um . . . I'm sorry for scaring you earlier. It was only meant for John."
"Oh, it's fine—you didn't even scare me." I rolled my eyes, seeing the obvious lie when his eyes started drifting to the side.
"Sure you weren't . . ." Before he could protest, I decided to change the subject. "So, what movie are you guys watching?"
"I think it's called Quiet Ones or something like that," he said, taking a quick glance at the screen.
"You mean The Quiet Ones?"
"Potatoes, potatos." He shrugged, causing me to laugh. He smiled with me. "Do you want to sit down?" he asked, offering the seat next to him.
"Ah, well—" I began before John's voice interrupted me mid-sentence.
"Bell, why don't you sit next to Lily and I?" he called rather loudly and pointedly, patting the seat next to him.
"Yeah, Sabby! Sit with me," Lily exclaimed, her round blue orbs just begging me to say yes.
I whispered a soft, "sorry" to Alex, biting my lips. He shrugged, and smiled at me. I returned his smile, and then went around the rows of chairs, and took the open seat next to my brother.
"Want some?" John offered a minute later, pushing the bag of popcorn towards me.
I held my hand up, shaking my head. "Nah, I'm good."
"Can I have some?" Lily asked.
"Of course, you can have all the popcorn you want, Lily." John smiled, feeding her some of his popcorn, making me roll my eyes at him. Lily was totally and utterly spoiled by my brother.
When the movie ended, Lily was dead asleep in John's arms.
"I'm going to bring her up to her room," John whispered to me. He then gathered her tiny frame up in his arms. "I'll be right back."
I nodded.
As he left, I caught the slight glare he sent Alex.
"So, what now?" Amanda asked as soon as he left.
"Don't know," I said, and faced Alex. "When do you have to be home?"
He arched a brow at me. "Didn't your mom tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"That I'm staying here until your training is over."
"Say what?" I ignored Amanda's low whistle and focused on this new tidbit. He was staying here? In my house? For the next twelve months?
"I thought your mom told you?" he answered in response.
"No, she never did." I shook my head and filed a mental note to talk to my mom later. She really didn't tell me anything about Alex. Not even the fact that he was coming over today. And now this? Did she want to surprise me or something?
"Guess, I'm telling you now. My room's up on the second floor, fourth door on the right," he recited and smiled at me. "Just letting you know if you need anything."
I nodded, not knowing what to say. "So . . ." I faced Amanda, "are you sleeping over tonight as well, or are you going home?"
"Oh, I'm so staying over. I don't want to miss a thing," she said winking in Alex's direction, which caused him to chuckle.
"Well, I guess that's settled then," I said, clapping my hands together. "You guys hungry?"
"I am," Alex answered, clutching his stomach. "I haven't had anything to eat since this morning."
"Me too," Amanda chimed in. "What's for dinner?"
"Not sure." I rolled my shoulders. "I guess we should head to the kitchen and ask Mr. Baker."
They both agreed, as we made our way towards the dining area to see my brother and my parents chatting amongst themselves.
"She's still asleep?" I asked John, referring to Lily. Sometime she has the tendency to wake up if her body has been moved a bit.
"Yeah. She's still out cold," he said with a laugh.
I smiled, knowing that Lily must've had a long day at the studio. "Are you having dinner with us tonight?"
"I ate with your sister before we came home, so I'm not really hungry," Dad answered, while Mom said she just ate.
"I guess it's just us then," I said with a shrug heading towards the kitchen.
"What do you mean us?" John asked, his eyes flickering towards Alex. I swallowed and paused.
"Um, well...you see...Alex is staying here with us until my training is over," I mumbled quickly under my breath, trying not to cringe under my brother's hard stare.
"What?" he yelled, jumping up from his seat. I nodded my head slowly in response, trying not to look at him or Alex. "Please tell me you're not serious about this?" John asked.
"What's wrong, John?" Mom asked, as I looked back up at them. "You don't like, Alex?"
"Well," he started off scratching the back of his neck, "you know I don't trust people easily. Especially around my sisters."
"Don't worry sweetheart, a family friend recommended him to us. Plus we already ran a background check on him this morning before he arrived," Mom reassured him, rubbing his shoulder. "And if it makes you feel any better, his room is near our room so he won't be able to do anything without us knowing."
"Sort of, but I'm still not happy about it," he grumbled, and crossed his arms. In order to appease him, Alex chimed in as well.
"John, you don't have to worry." Alex gave him a smile. "I'm not going to harm anyone. I'm not like that."
"Yeah, okay," John said, obviously not feeling any more comfortable with him.
I cleared my throat. "Let's just eat dinner, shall we?"
"Fine," they both replied in unison. I groaned, when John shot a glare at Alex for copying his choice of words.
Eyeing them both, I could tell by the tense atmosphere that these next few months were going to be so much fun . . . Not.