CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE.
adrianna saint laurent
perspective
-
"YOU CAN'T JUST change the plan last minute! I can't pack everything in ten minutes!" I groan, falling back on my couch.
"Stop complaining and go pack up! We're going to the lake house in Hudson Valley," he grins, "Now, quick go pack up," he holds my arm, pulling me up from the couch.
"How many times do I have to tell you to give me a twenty-four-hour notice before you plan trips?" I groan, sending him a mini glare.
"Oops?" He gives me a lopsided grin as I walk to the spare room to get my mini suitcase.
"Kota, get this thing down for me!" I shout, pointing at the mini suitcase on top of the cupboard.
"Stay back in case this thing falls on your head," he gestures me to move back as he reaches out to grab the suitcase. He grabs the mini suitcase and puts it down on the floor.
"Wow, that was easy," he grins at himself before walking out and I shake my head at him.
I drag the suitcase to my room and dig into my clothes, throwing whatever I find good into the suitcase.
I zip up the mini suitcase after I'm done throwing clothes in it. Now, I just had to change. Not being bothered to dress up, I change into a simple outfit.
I change into a pair of blue jean shorts, a sweetheart neck crop top and an oversized white shirt over it. I wear some gold jewellery and put on my socks before walking out.
"Come on, quick! They are already here!" Kota shouts, rushing towards the door with my mini suitcase.
"Slow down before you trip," I roll my eyes at him, slipping into my trainers as Kota opens the door.
"Hurry up, Annie!" Kota whines as I lock my door before starting to walk behind him.
"I bet they aren't even there," I scoff as we walk into the elevator, waiting to reach the ground floor.
"They called me like ten times now," he groans, looking away from my gaze, "I thought they were gonna leave us due to Elijah's impatient ass."
"Elijah?" I arch an eyebrow, "Weren't we going with Nico and Theo? I thought Elijah was going to drive alone."
"That's what I thought too," he mutters, "But Elijah is with them and he's driving with them since none of us can't drive properly."
"At least my safety is guaranteed now," I sigh.
"I can drive fine for your information," he frowns, slapping my arm lightly.
"Last time you nearly crashed the car," I scrunch my face at him.
"No, I did not! I was just parking the car," he murmurs, knowing that he was indeed about to crash the car.
"Well, you're never driving when I'm around," I scoff, walking out of the elevator since we had reached the ground floor.
"At least I can drive better than you," he snorts, "How do you only drive with one hand on the steering wheel?"
"Don't be jealous that I look better than you when I'm driving, love," I tease, patting his cheek as we walk out of the building.
"I am not," he mutters, crossing his arms at me while I smile at him.
"Well, where are your drivers at? I thought they said they were impatiently waiting for us but I can't even see them." I scoff, looking around the parking lot for them but they were nowhere to be seen.
"I might have lied to you that they called me ten times," Kota awkwardly grins, looking away from my gaze, "But it's only because I didn't want you to take long so I just made up an ex-."
"I know," I state, "I knew you were lying since the beginning. You avoid my gaze a lot when you lie and you play with your curls."
"You studied me a lot, didn't you?" Kota smiles, "You know me better than I do."
"Thanks, dude," I let out a laugh, "You're really obvious to read so it's not hard."
"I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult," Kota mutters, "But I'll take it as a compliment, " he grins at me.
"Yeah, but where are they?" I groan, leaning on him since I couldn't be asked to stand any longer.
He shrugs, "I have no clue but let me just call the-."
"Why are you guys just standing there like penguins? Come on, get in here!"
We hear Theo's voice and turn around to catch sight of the three boys sitting in a convertible, jet black Jeep Sports Wrangler.
"Stop wasting time and get in, " Elijah hisses, lowering his shades as he glances at me.
"Says the one who was late, " I grumble, keeping my mini suitcase in the car trunk before getting inside the car, sitting in between Nico and Kota.
"Shut up," he groans, rolling his eyes at me while staring at the rearview mirror.
"Make me," I scoff, leaning back on my seat as I cross my legs.
He turns his head around and moves his hand towards my face, placing his under my chin and bringing my face closer to his. We both stare into each other's eyes intensely while our lips were seconds away from touching. He moves his gaze lower to my lips and I stay silent, waiting to see what he will do next.
"Well, it looks like you already shut up," he smirks, taking his hand away from my chin and turning his head around while I blink, processing what had just happened.
"That was intense," Theo mutters, pressing his lips together as he stares at the road in front.
"Oh, Whatever. Theo, play some songs!" Kota shouts, slapping his back.
"Jesus, calm down!" Theo hisses, pushing Kota's hand off his back, "Your slaps hurt even though you look weak."
"Thank you," Kota smiles at him, "Now, play some songs, loser."
"Fuck you. You're the loser here!" Theo scoffs, rolling his eyes at Kota.
"You're both losers," Nico scoffs, "Now, suck it up and play some music because I don't want to hear you two screaming like seagulls."
And with that, both of them fall silent.
"You're amazing at making them shut up," I laugh, pointing at their faces, "Teach me as well."
"Gladly," he smiles, "First you have to-."
Nico gets cut off when Theo blasts music from the car speakers. Theo turns around to face us and grins at us, increasing the volume slowly to the point we could barely hear ourselves speaking.
"Show me your playlist!" I scream but Theo turns around, arching his eyebrow at me. He didn't hear me thanks to the increased volume.
"Talk to me, baby! I'm goin' blind from this sweet-sweet cravin'!" Kota stands up, screaming the lyrics to Cake By the Ocean by DNCE.
"He's in the mood," I murmur as I glance at Kota screaming his lungs out. Nico and I look at each other before we start laughing at him.
I stand up, joining him and Kota wraps his arm around my shoulders, "Let's lose our minds and go fuckin' crazy!" We both scream, grinning at each other.
"You two have already lost your minds," Nico chuckles, shaking his head at us.
I glance at Theo scrolling through his playlist and I bend down to look at the songs. I wrap my arms around Theo's neck so I could get a better view of the songs in his playlist.
"What song next?" Theo hums, turning around to glance at me and our lips nearly touched.
"Play Chase Atlantic," I smile, moving my hand towards Theo's phone since he had moved his phone closer to me so I could choose the songs.
"This one?" He hums, pointing to the song and I move my face a bit closer to his, looking at the song he had chosen and from the corner of my eyes, I could see Elijah glancing at us from the corner of his eyes.
"Oh, Mami," I hum, pressing on the song before it starts playing on the speakers. I remove my hands off Theo's neck and I glance at Elijah when I see him letting out a deep breath as if he was holding it in for a long time.
Our eyes meet and we stare into each other's eyes for a few seconds before I take my seat, leaning back but our eyes would constantly meet through the rearview mirror.
"Oh, Mami, this a new 'Rari," Kota starts singing, bopping his head, making some hand gestures and I join him.
"Hit one-fifty on the dash I bent the corner," we both chorus, grinning at each other as we bop our heads at the beat.
And before I could even process anything, both of us were standing, screaming our lungs out while grinning at each other, holding our hands together while they all laughed at us.
"Okay, I'm done. I have no energy left," I groan as I fall back on my seat, gesturing Kota to continue singing.
"It's only been an hour, Annie," Kota frowns at me, pulling on my hand to make me get up again but I was dead on the inside.
"That's sixty minutes of screaming," I groan, "I'm gonna lose my voice if I continue screaming my lungs out with you. I'm taking a nap."
"Wanna take a nap on my lap, babe?" Theo muses, turning around to glance at me, smirking at me.
"Too bad you're in the front, love." I feign a smile, crossing my arms as I lean back.
"I mean," he drawls out, "If you want, I could move right there."
"Mhm, no thanks," I scrunch my nose, "Nico and Kota are better company."
"You raised my hopes for no reason," he feigns a frown, "That hurts a lot. You're breaking my heart, Annie," he pouts, putting his hand on his heart.
"How sad," I frown, "Now, go cry as well."
"Is that gonna get some pity and hugs from you? If yes, then I would gladly cry a river for you," he throws me a lopsided grin and I roll my eyes at him
"Mhm, guess I can manage to give you one hug if you bawl your eyes out," I hum, smiling at him.
"Fine," he groans, rolling his eyes, "I'll try to cry."
Kota laughs, "Why would you try to cry when Annie can make you cry easily?"
"Kota, I don't cry easily like you," Theo scoffs, "And you really think she can make me cry? Hell no."
"Is your male ego going to shatter if a girl made you cry?" I smile, "Is that what you're afraid of, Ambrose?"
He arches an eyebrow at me, pressing his lips into a thin line, "What? No," he frowns at me, "I'm just immune to your words."
"But are you immune to my actions?" I arch an eyebrow, letting out a chuckle. I watch him part his lips slightly but no words leave his mouth. I let out a laugh, dismissively waving my hand, telling him to close his mouth.
"This is where you're supposed to cry, Theo," Nico muses, sending Theo an amused smile, holding back his laughter.
"Please, I don't want to hear you cry now, Theo," I snort, "I don't want you to disturb my nap, so please cry later."
Theo frowns, furrowing his eyebrow as I lean my head back on the seat, "I wasn't even going to cry," he murmurs, giving me one last look before turning his head around.
"Mhm, we know," I mutter, glancing at the front and my eyes meet Elijah's eyes before closing my eyes. I could almost swear that I saw Elijah smile at me but maybe it was just a hallucination due to my drowsiness.
♔ ♔ ♔
I feel a hand pressing my shoulder before patting it, "Wake up, Anna. We reached," I hear Nico's voice and I open my eyes, squinting them as I adjust to the brightness here. My eyes meet Nico's amber ones as he moves my hair away from my eyes.
"Come on, let's get out," he hums as he opens the door of the car, holding it open for me. I let out a yawn before moving myself towards the door and getting out of the Jeep.
I glance at the lake house and admire it, gazing at the black exterior. I break out from my thoughts when I hear all of them shouting. I turn around to see Elijah throwing the stuff in the car trunk and them. I wasn't supposed to laugh but here I was laughing when the duffle bag is thrown at Theo's face.
"No need to throw mine, I'll grab it myself," Nico states, rolling his eyes as he takes his duffle bag out of the trunk before walking towards the lakehouse.
Elijah grabs Kota's mini yellow suitcase from the car trunk and glances at Kota who was moving sideways, trying to avoid getting hit.
But it was Elijah we were talking about, he pushes the suitcase towards Kota and it manages to hit Kota's knees, making him hiss in pain.
God, I wasn't supposed to laugh at Kota when I was about to get hit in the face next by the devil.
I glance forward to see Elijah grabbing his duffle bag and throwing it over his shoulder while my black suitcase was still in the car trunk.
Ah, he wasn't going to remove it out of the trunk.
I take a step forward, making my way to get my suitcase out myself but this guy takes my suitcase out of the trunk and locks the car. He walks towards me, dragging my suitcase with him.
"What? Do I need to drag you along with me as well?" He arches an eyebrow at me, staring at me while I stood in front of him.
"Can you though? You already have too much on you and I bet you can't handle more. You're too fragile," I frown, trying to take my suitcase out of his hold.
"Are you challenging now?" He scoffs, narrowing his eyes at me while I continue to take the suitcase out of his hold but he doesn't let me.
"Mhm, maybe," I shrug, giving him a tight-lipped smile.
"Alright," he mutters, letting his hold off the suitcase and I look at him in confusion as he adjusts the duffle back on his shoulder.
He glances at me and I take a step back but before I could run away, he grasps my wrist, pulling me closer to him. He puts his hand on my waist, lifting me into his arms and I let out a squeal as I adjust myself in his arms, putting my arms around his neck.
"Elijah, what the hell?" I groan as he tightens his grip on my waist, securing me.
"Challenged accepted," he hums, grabbing onto my suitcase's handle. This boy was holding onto me with just one arm while dragging the suitcase with the other.
"Are you Hulk? Cause you aren't human," I mutter, widening my eyes at him as we enter the lake house and his face looked as calm as usual even though he was carrying three heavy things, myself being the heaviest.
"No," he rolls his eyes at me, "I workout. A lot."
"Mhm, that explains this," I hum, grazing my hand over his biceps, going down his arm and damn, they did feel good to touch.
Imagine them around my neck- oh fuck me, I shouldn't be thinking about this.
I internally groan, burying my face into his chest, feeling way too comfortable in his hold. I glance up when I feel his stare burning holes into my body.
"Ah, sorry," I murmur, pulling my face away from his chest, looking away from his gaze.
"It's fine," he mutters, looking away from me.
"Please, let me down." I groan, "I can climb the stairs alone and I get it that you're strong as hell." I clasp my hands together, begging him to let me down.
"Although you were weaker than me when we were small," I murmur, holding back my laugh. He looks down at me and I'm guessing that he heard me.
"Mhm, but I kept my promise of becoming stronger than you, didn't I?" He whispers, gazing into my eyes.
"You still remember that?" I murmur, arching an eyebrow.
"Yeah. How can I forget that?" He mumbles, letting me down on my feet.
"I don't know," I murmur, "I always thought that you forgot everything when I left."
"Well, I didn't. I still remember everything," he murmurs as we start to walk up the stairs and I glance at the pictures as we continue climbing the stairs.
I halt in my spot when my eyes land on a very familiar picture.
It was us - Kota, Nico, Theo, Elijah and me. We were all standing outside this lake house as little kids. I was in the middle of the group, holding onto Kota and Elijah's hands. While Nico and Theo were standing at the ends, smiling at their camera.
I trace my hand over the picture, feeling awe in my chest.
"If you want, there are more pictures like that in the storeroom. I'll get them if you want to see them," Elijah murmurs and I nod as he walks past me while I stand here, admiring the picture.
"What are you looking at, Annie?"
I hear Kota's voice and I look up to see Kota walking down towards me. He was changed into his baby pink swimming shorts, ready to jump into the lake.
"You had a gap between your teeth," I let out a laugh, pointing at a younger Kota who was grinning at the camera, making the gap in between his front teeth visible to everyone.
Kota stares at the picture and groans, "God, we don't talk about that anymore," he cries, putting his hand over his picture, hiding his face.
"But you looked so adorable," I coo, pushing his hand off the frame.
"Am I not adorable anymore?" Kota pouts his lips, staring at me while I stifle my laughter.
"You are adorable. The most adorable person ever," I coo, pulling his cheeks and pinching them. He tries to push away my hands but he fails.
"That's enough of pulling my cheeks for today," he groans, pulling my hands away from his face.
"What are you two looking at?"
We turn around to see Theo walking down towards us. He had also changed into his navy blue swimming trunks. Damn, looks like they both want to jump into the lake right this second.
"You looked like a mini Jack Frost here," I tease, pointing to a smaller Theo in the picture who had his arm around Nico's shoulder.
Theo moves his gaze towards the picture I was pointing that. He squints his eyes, staring at every inch of the picture and warmly smiles to himself.
"I did look like him," he murmurs, laughing to himself as I nod my head in agreement with a smile.
"Ah, look at us," he smiles, tracing his fingers over their faces, admiring the smiles.
"Mhm, she's Adrianna Saint Laurent, right?" Theo glances back at us, looking into our eyes as he points at the blonde girl holding Kota and Elijah's hands.
Yeah, I had blonde hair when I was younger just like my mother but it had darkened over the years. Now, my hair was the same colour as my father's hair. Dark like coffee.
"Yeah, that's her," Kota smiles, "She looks so cute here."
"She's probably way cuter now," Theo murmurs, a smirk growing on his lips and I roll my eyes at him.
"Not cuter than Annie," Kota scoffs, putting his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him.
"Awh, Kota," I coo, pulling his cheek.
"Mhm, true," Theo chuckles, grinning at me while I roll my eyes at him.
"I want to meet her," Theo murmurs, glancing at the girl in the picture, "We should have a reunion," he chuckles.
"Me too," Kota grins, "I want to know who she grew up to be but we can think about that later," he hums, turning around to glance at me.
"Now, go and quickly change!" Kota pushes me, forcing me to go to my room.
"Chill, dude," I groan as he makes me walk up the stairs.
"I will, once you join us in the lake! Be quick!" Kota kisses my cheek before running down the stairs. I could swear that I saw him push Theo, nearly tripping him down the stairs but he was quick to regain his balance. They were a mess.
I walk towards the end of the corridor, knowing the last room was supposed to be my room since my suitcase was standing right in front of the door. Elijah must have dropped it here.
I turn the doorknob, entering the room as I drag my suitcase behind me. I lock the door behind before walking towards the bed and falling on it.
I take a deep breath in and let it out, relaxing as I close my eyes. I slowly open my eyes and look at the crystal chandelier hanging right in the centre of the ceiling.
I had exactly one week left till this month ended. If everything goes smoothly, I'll be free. No more hiding my identity. Hopefully, after this, my father will reveal that I'm the heiress to the business so I wouldn't have to hide my face from the media anymore.
This week had to go smoothly. If anyone else finds out about my identity then I'll be shipped back to Paris.
Back to that delinquent school, East High.
East High was the highlight of my freshmen year. It was amazing. But now, it was dead to me since all my friends there had moved on from their past selves.
I let out a sigh before getting from the bed. As much as I loved laying on that bed and feeling comfortable, I knew I had to quickly change and go downstairs before Kota comes shouting at me.
I open my suitcase up and quickly shove some of my clothes into the closet. I grab my black bikini and walk into the bathroom to wash my face, splashing the drowsiness away.
I look into the mirror once I had changed into the black bikini. God, my breasts had gone up by a cup and I hated having big breasts.
I pull on an oversized t-shirt over my body to cover up my body as I walk to the lake.
I stand at the edge of the lake, a step away from jumping into the crystalline body of water. Kota, Theo and Elijah were already in the lake, swimming and relaxing. On the other hand, Nico was sitting on the wooden chair next to the lake, seeming as if he was the lifeguard here which he was since he was the most collected one here.
"Remove that shirt off already! It doesn't do any justice to your hotness!" Theo whistles, smirking at me but he soon hisses in pain when Elijah slaps the back of his head.
I laugh at him as I take the shirt off my body, throwing it onto the wooden chair next to Nico.
I take a few steps back and run towards the lake, jumping into the lake with a huge splash. I move my head out of the water and laugh as I see Kota choking onto the water which I had splashed onto his face.
You know that strong feeling you get when you can feel someone's stare burning holes into your body?
Yeah, I was feeling that right now. I turn around and my eyes meet his eyes. His gaze goes lower and I move my gaze lower as well, down to his lips then going lower to his well-defined abs. Our eyes meet once again and he's about to swim towards me but pauses once I feel a hand grip my arm.
Kota turns me around, smiling at me as he looks back at who I was staring at.
"Even a chainsaw isn't strong enough to cut the tension between you two," Kota snorts, smirking at me before he looks at Elijah.
"Why don't you just kiss him? It'll be very nice to see my ship sailing," he muses, patting my shoulder and I part my lips slightly, not knowing how to reply to him.
How am I supposed to tell him that I had already kissed Elijah? More than once.
"Shush, Kota," I mutter, placing my hand on top of his mouth but he continues grinning.
I gasp and take my hand away from his mouth, "Did you just lick my hand, Kota?" I furrow my eyebrows at him as he nods his head at me, "You're such a kid," I groan, shaking my head at him.
"Can you adopt me as your kid? I swear I'll be a good kid and I'm pretty sure you'll be a great mother," Kota grins at me and I stare at him, confused whether I wanted to slap him or slap myself.
"I'm sorry, Kota, but I think I will lose the will to live if I adopt you as my kid," I feign a frown and I had to physically control myself from not laughing as I watch him widen his eyes and mouth.
"The only aspect I would like my kids to be similar to you is the cuteness. Otherwise, I think they'll be fine with my genes," I throw him a smile.
He nods, crossing his arms, "I agree with that. Your genes will be enough to make your kids perfect. Damn, they will be blessed."
"Mhm, yeah but right now having kids isn't as important as being successful in life and achieving all my goals," I hum as he pulls me towards, gesturing me to sit on his shoulders.
"Focus, focus, focus," he chants and I almost think that he was singing a song. I place my hands on his shoulders, trying to climb up but I couldn't.
I groan, giving up, "Kota, I can't manage to-." I gasp when I feel a pair of strong hands sit on my waist, helping me up to sit on Kota's shoulders.
I look back, knowing who it was. Elijah still had his hands on my waist, trying to keep me steady on Kota's shoulders.
He senses my gaze and looks into my eyes. I throw him a small smile, "Thank you," I murmur and he gives me a curt nod before taking his hands off me.
God, I was not missing the feeling of his touch against my skin. Not at all.
I was lying to myself about that.
Kota makes me wrap my arms around his neck and I could hear him grinning, "Make sure not to fall," he muses before he started twisting his body, attempting to throw me into the lake.
I let out a scream as he shakes me off his shoulders. I fall into the water with a huge splash and I hear them laughing at me. I come back up with a glare pointed at Kota, ready to take revenge but in a nicer way.
I splash water onto Kota's face as he laughs at me and some water goes into his mouth, resulting in him choking. This time it was my turn to laugh.
"Why don't you laugh more?" I tease, smirking at him but he stops coughing and glares at me.
"Oh, I'll make you laugh so bad," he laughs and it wasn't a nice laugh, it was an evil laugh. I scrunch my face in confusion as I watch him stare at me before swimming towards me, almost as if he was about to attack me.
"Oh, shit," I hiss, not knowing what to do. I look around, trying to come with a way to get away from Kota and that's when my eyes meet his.
I quickly swim towards him since he was not too far away from me. I hide behind him, placing my hands on his firm back. Elijah glances back at me and I look into his eyes, giving him a small smile before he turns around.
"Why don't you try making me laugh now?" I tease Kota as he stops in front of Elijah, pouting his lips as he narrows his eyes.
"Consider yourself lucky," he scoffs, rolling his eyes at me before he starts swimming towards Nico.
I look around for Theo and I let out a laugh when I see him. He was sleeping inside his pink coffin float, looking like a meme.
I take my hands away from his back and stare at it instead, admiring his strong, wide back. I clench my fists, physically restraining myself from touching him. I shouldn't be this attached to him this quick but I couldn't blame myself either. He was devilishly hot and I was mesmerised by him.
"Touch me, Adrianna," he whispers, turning around to look at me and my eyes widen, processing the fact that he had just called me by my name.
He had finally acknowledged that I was Adrianna Saint Laurent.
i didn't want to make this chapter any longer so it ends here.
yeah and the rollercoaster scene got moved a few chapters up since i'm done planning everything.
also!!! make sure to check out my new book "sinners of east high" and you'll see adrianna during her freshmen year over there!!! :)