"How dare you!"
It was Sunday morning and I had just finished a workout, walking into the kitchen I saw Brody sitting on one of the bar stools eating 'special K'.
"Morning sis,"
"Good morning Brody, up so early on a Sunday?" My brothers didn't sleep until 12 ever but they certainly weren't ever up at 7 am.
"Yeah, I umm- I couldn't sleep." He looked down at his bowl and moved around the cereal with his spoon mindlessly.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" He took a deep breath, preparing himself to speak.
"I miss them, how come they are never around? I made the basketball team at school, I texted mom and dad both, no response, that was two days ago." He frowned.
"Brody I know they aren't around much but- wait. You made the basketball team?! Congratulations Brody that's awesome! But why didn't you tell me?" I was a little hurt that he didn't tell me, he had been practicing for weeks.
"Sorry, you're just always so busy with the twins and taking care of Xavier... I didn't want to bother you." He said quietly, almost a whisper. My heart dropped, had I really been that neglectful towards Brody? I felt awful, I'm his big sister, I should've known.
"I am so sorry, I din't realise I was being like that. I'm your older sister, you should be able to talk to me and I'm sorry if you felt like you couldn't. And about mom and dad, don't worry about them, hopefully they will be back soon. Until then you have me, you always will. I will never stop being proud of you. I love you." I hugged him tight.
"Ugghhh too much love, too much sentiment, I can't bear it! Get off me you smell like sweat!" He said in between laughs. I let go, smiling. "I'm sorry I din't talk to you, I should've, but I will next time, I promise."
"Thanks Brody, I'm gonna go take a shower now, anything else before I head up?"
"No, thanks sis, I think i'm just gonna go work out after eating breakfast. The brothers and I are going to finish that game we got a few months ago, when they wake up that is."
"Ok have fun, don't work out too hard ok?"
"Ha! Says you, I went down there before when you were working out, that poor punching bag." Yeah, he's back.
After taking a shower, getting dressed, brushing my teeth and doing my hair, I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling deep in thought when I heard a car pull up in the drive way. Looking out my bedroom window, I saw a black SUV. Unbelievable. I jogged downstairs to the front door.
"Hey Amazon,"
"Hey Amazon?! Where the hell were you guys, it's been 2 months!" I was filled with anger at the fact that my parents just showed up without calling or texting since they left and then they have the nerve to say 'Hey Amazon' like nothing happened. I understand it's their house but they didn't even bother checking up on their own children.
"Don't speak to us that way, we have news. Go get your brothers please and meet us in the living room." My father said. I scoffed and went upstairs to my brothers' room.
"Cover me Oscar!" Xavier yelled.
"On your right! On your right!" Oliver exclaimed.
"Hey, guys!" I yelled, so they could hear me through the headset, they all looked at me. "Mom and dad are home, they want us all in the living, they say they have 'big news'." I made air quotes at the last two words. They all jumped up from their gaming chairs and rushed down stairs excitedly, wish I felt the same.
"Mom, dad!" They yelled, hugging them while I stood at the entrance of the living room.
"So what's the big news?" Oscar asked.
"Right, here it is," Mom said pausing for dramatic effect.
"Will you please get on with it mother, I have homework to do." That was a lie, I finished all my homework with Tasha yesterday. Mom gave me a sharp glare before continuing.
"WE ARE MOVING TO DUBAI!" They said together. Xavier, Brody, Oscar and Oliver's faces all fell including mine. I knew they weren't happy about this and neither was I. "Your father just wrapped up a deal to add a new connecting airline there so we will be relocating for a year, maybe two while he gets everything started."
"Oscar, Oliver, Xavier, Brody go upstairs now please." I told them not taking my eyes off my parents. They all hesitated for a moment. "Now please." I wasn't their parents but they listened to me and I knew I pretty much had no right in telling them to do so but I didn't want them to hear our conversation, no doubt they would be listening anyway.
"How dare you!" My mother said.
"How dare I?" I scoffed in shock. "No, how dare you guys. You can't just come here after almost two months and say that we are all relocating for at least a year. We have lives here in LA, I have Tasha, the boys have their friends at school, Oliver and Xavier are practically geniuses, Oscar and Brody have bright futures as athletes, Brody even made the basketball team on Friday, but you guys wouldn't know that because you never bothered to check in on us, you sent Marie to do it instead!" My anger was rising rapidly and I knew I needed to calm down, but this needed to be said.
"Where is all of this coming from?! All we do is work hard for you guys and this is the thanks we get? We are moving to Dubai and that's final!" Father yelled. I stormed upstairs to my room, grabbed my phone, wallet, keys and left the house.
✨✨✨✨✨
I have been walking around for at least 40 minutes blowing off steam. I pulled out my phone, about to call Tasha when I put it in my pocket again. She's too busy to deal with your bullshit. I know I sound like an ungrateful brat about everything because let's be honest, who wouldn't want to move to Dubai? But my parents don't actually care about us, I don't even know why they had us in the first place, we were all basically collateral damage to them. The second Xavier was born they just hired us a nanny they barely even knew. My parents couldn't care less about how smart my brothers are, they wouldn't care if they were dumb as rocks.
It was now 5 O'clock at night and I decided to go the mall and get food.
Walking towards the entrance of the mall I spotted a familiar-looking car. After a second I realised that car belonged to Adrian. Wherever I go, he seems to be. It was weird, maybe it was just a coincidence. Doubt it.
Once in the food court I decided on 'burger king', I was in no mood to even be remotely healthy.
Receiving my meal, I sat down at a table and started eating. I heard a chair get pulled out beside me. I turned my head to see none other than Adrian himself.
"Fancy seeing you here," He said in his deep voice, holding his signature broody, all together pissed off-looking, face. I din't say anything, just continued eating. He got up and just as I thought he was about to leave, he sat down across from me, getting a better view of my face. I looked down trying to hide my puffy red eyes. "You've been crying." He stated in a slightly annoyed voice, but his annoyance wasn't directed at me.
"What do you want Adrian? Why are you here?" I asked bitterly.
"Well I WAS shopping with someone but then I saw you, thought you might be stalking me." He smirked. Did he say he was with someone? Of course he was with someone he's hot, it's none of your business Amazon, he doesn't belong to you, why do you even care? "So tell me, what's wrong?" Adrian said, interrupting my thoughts.
"What's it to you?" I said rudely, why are you being so bitchy Amazon, he is just asking a question. "Sorry, i'm just not having a great day." I said shamefully, feeling bad about how I responded.
"Yeah, I can see that. So who pissed you off?" Genuine concern was evident in his voice.
"I got the food- Oh, who's this Adri?" A sweet voice said cheerfully. I looked up to see a girl who looked about Xavier's age, 14 years, possibly 15, carrying a few shopping bags. She was really pretty, grey eyes, dark brown wavy hair hanging down passed her shoulders, small porcelain light face, rosy red cheeks and a small figure.
"Uh, is this legal?" I asked.
"Ew gross," she said in disgust. "Adri's my brother."
"That makes so much more sense actually." I said, cringing at myself.
"Amazon, this is my sister, Bella." Adrian said.
"Wait, you're Amazon? OMG My brother hasn't shut up about you since Friday." Bella gushed in awe. My cheeks heated up to the point of no return.
"Bella!" Adrian said, his embarrassment made me smile.
"Oh, you talk about me Adri?" I said, teasing him, he was never going to live this down, not if I had anything to do with it.
"Oh, my god, ALL the time." She said emphasising the 'All'.
"Really now? What kind of things does he say?"
"He always goes on about-"
"Ok that's enough Bella thank you so much for your input to this conversation, would you please give us a minute? Sit where I can see you." Adrian said cutting off Bella.
"Oh of course, i'll let you two catch up." She winked at me discreetly, walking to another table within view of Adrian. Once it was just us again I smiled stupidly at Adrian.
"Don't," He warned.
"I won't," I said, unable to stop smiling. He rolled his eyes.
"So are you gonna tell me what's wrong?" I drank my milkshake and stayed silent. "Fine, we are going home, do you need a ride or did you you drive here?" He asked, getting up from the chair.
"I'm not going home, not tonight." I stated bluntly.
"Ah, parent trouble, where are you gonna sleep then?"
"I'll probably just go to the hotel down the street."
He was silent for a moment, "How about you stay at my house tonight?"
"I don't know, I don't want to intrude, this is my problem, not yours-"
"Amazon, just stay at my house, we have extra rooms and my parents won't mind, I know Bella certainly won't mind. Think of it as a way to apologize for me almost busting a glock on you" He said, clearly amused.
"Ok, I- Uh- Thank you." I had only just met Adrian, but I trusted him for some weird reason, even after our very first encounter at school which wasn't very pleasant but then with every thing that happened at Walmart, I felt safe with him.
We drove for 20 minutes to Adrian's house, it was up in the beverly hills area, not that far from mine. The house was huge, it almost looked bigger than mine, it probably was.
"Here we are," Adrian said. We climbed out of the car and he helped Bella with her shopping bags.
"Thanks Adri, See you later Amazon." She said giving me a wide grin, flashing her pearly, white teeth.
"Later Bella," I waved before she disappeared into the house. We walked in after her and Adrian guided me to a room, down the long hallway.
"This is my room," He said. It was clean with white carpet and bare walls, all except for one picture, I assumed it was him and Bella when she was a baby, he looked like he was around 3 or 4, and an Italian flag hanging above his bed. His bed had black sheets with two bed side tables on either side of it, both containing one lamp and that was it. He had two doors which I assumed led to a bathroom and a walk-in closet, like my room. In the corner of the room there was a desk with a lamp, a computer and a few sheets of paper spread across it.
Adrian opened the door to his closet and pulled out tracksuit pants and a jumper. "Here, you can wear these, I assume they will be more comfortable than jeans and a shirt." He said handing me the clothes. I looked down at my black jeans and crop top, he was right it wouldn't be very comfortable wearing this to sleep.
"Thanks," I said taking the clothes, he nodded.
"I'll show you to your room," We walked to a room next to his and opened the door. The room looked similar to his except everything was on the opposite side. "Get changed and I'll give you a quick house tour, also there is some spare things in the bathroom, all the essentials," He walked out and closed the door behind him. Getting dressed I had to tie up the drawstring on the pants really tight and roll them up a few times, I put on his hoodie and went to the bathroom. There was a big bath tub and on the sink there was a toothbrush, mouth wash, soaps, and other things, it was like a hotel room. I walked out of the room to find Adrian leaning on the wall across the door, hands in pockets.
We walked down the hall to a big kitchen where someone, i'm assuming his mom, was cooking pasta.
"Amazon, this is my mother, Julia," He walked over to his mom and kissed her on the cheek, "It smells amazing in here."
"Lei è bellissima!" She spoke in Italian, as she hugged me. "It's nice to meet you Amazon, Adrian never brings girls over." That was definitely nice to hear.
"Ma, it's not like that," Adrian said. Julia put her hands up in mock surrender, returning to her place near the stove.
"It's nice to meet you too, Julia," She smiled warmly.
"Dinner will be ready in 20 minutes, I presume you will be joining us?" She asked hopefully.
"Amazon will be staying the night Ma, if that's okay with you?"
"Of course! Of course! You stay as long as you want, just keep the noise to a minimum please." Adrian leaned on the counter and buried his face in his hands, embarrassed.
"We're sleeping in seperate rooms Ma."
"Oh, ok." Julia said, rolling her eyes, clearly not completely convinced.
Adrian walked towards a set of stairs nodding his head into that direction, I followed him up the stairs.
"Sorry about that," He mumbled.
"Between your sister and your mother, your family is pretty great." I smiled. "So where's your father? I'm sure he's just as fun."
"Right, no he's more of the serious type, anyway he's in Italy, taking care of some business, he'll be back tomorrow." I just nodded.
After walking past multiple guest rooms which I learned were reserved for Matteo, Stefano and some of Adrian's dad's 'co-workers'. We also walked passed a room with a pool table, the entrance to the actual water pool outside, some bathrooms, a gym room, a small kitchen area with a stove and a fridge and some other kitchen items.
"So that's all the important areas, we also have a basement, for your own piece of mind, don't go down there. Other than that feel free to go wherever." Adrian said. I couldn't help but feel a little disturbed at the basement part, but I decided to leave it. "Any questions?" He added.
"Not about the house no, what do your parents do for a living? You don't have to answer I was just curious."
"Well, my mom doesn't have an actual job, she prefers to stay at home to cook and take care of us, and my dad is a business man, he goes to Italy a lot for his work, sometimes I go with him, one day I will take over his... business." I nodded, just as I was about to ask what his business was when I was cut off by Bella.
"Dinner's ready!" she yelled from down the hall in the kitchen.
✨✨✨✨✨
After dinner I had offered to help clean up the dishes but Julia refused to let me and after a while I gave up. Bella and I talked about school and what she wants to do once we get out while Adrian listened carefully assumably to make sure Bella wouldn't talk about all the things he's said about me before. I learned that Bella went to the same private high school as Xavier and she wanted to be a doctor when she finished. A while later Adrian said he was going to go work-out and left swiftly. Bella and I talked some more and by the time we had finished it was 10 O'clock and Julia had told her to go to bed as it was a school night. I din't see Adrian so I decided I should at least try to get some sleep.
As I got into bed after brushing my teeth I saw the 2 missed calls from my mother and the missed calls and messages that Tasha had sent me a while ago.
Tasha (6:02 PM): Hey I just got a call from your Mom asking where you were, she seemed worried. I told her that you were at my house, are you ok? Where are you? Please Answer!
Tasha (Missed call, 6:30 PM)
Tasha (6:46 PM): Amazon I'm serious please answer, just tell me you are ok, please.
Tasha (7:35 PM): Amazon!
Tasha (Missed call, 8:05 PM)
Tasha (Missed call, 8:25 PM)
Tasha (Missed call, 8:48 PM)
Tasha (Missed call, 9:00 PM)
Tasha (Missed call, 9:15 PM)
Tasha (Missed call, 9:33 PM)
Tasha (Missed call, 10:01 PM)
Me (10:08 PM): Hey, I am so so sorry I didn't answer, my phone was charging, I am at Adrian's house, my parents and I had an argument and I had to leave I will explain everything tomorrow, I promise. I love you, goodnight ❤️✨
Tasha (10:09 PM): OMG Amazon thank god your ok!! I was seriously so close to send out a missing person's report, I'll see you at school tomorrow, don't leave out a single detail about mr. Hot, I love you ❤️
I felt so bad for making her worry like that, I scrolled through my contacts about to call Xavier who had texted me, when I saw Adrian's contact on my phone, when did he put that there, where did he even get the password to my phone?
Xavier (6:10 PM): Hey sis, mom and dad told us you were at Tasha's house, we heard the argument, Brody and I, are you ok?
Me (10:14 PM): Hey Xavi, I am ok, I will be staying the night at Tasha's but I will see you tomorrow, I love you, you probably won't see this until tomorrow but go to school tomorrow ok? Don't let that jackass Luke push you around, if he touches you, fight back, I don't want to see any new bruises or cuts or I will be going to that school and fighting him myself.
I switched my screen off and did my best to go to sleep.
A.N/ That wraps up chapter 4, hope you guys like it, also I changed Adrian's friend's names from Luca and Alessandro to Matteo and Stefano, sorry if it's confusing. Also this chapter was really long, hope it didn't bore you guys. If you liked it share, vote and comment, if you didn't, as always let me know what you didn't like about it <3
- J💛