Once Upon A Love Story

Chapter 9

Once I was calm enough I smiled at him. "Let's get this party started." I said enthusiastically. "Yeah, mom isn't home at the moment" he winced. "I'll call Avery downstairs, so make yourself at home it's gonna be a long day." He said ominously. I was too restless to sit so I paced the room.
After a few minutes Ryan came and behind him an adorable little girl with two pigtails a cute little dimple and the bluest eyes I've ever seen emerged. She looked just like Ryan, except the blue eyes. She clutched a pink teddy bear and was looking at Ryan with a sullen.  expression but as soon as her eyes landed on me she ran towards me and hugged my waist. To say that I was surprised would be an understatement. "Brother says you'll play house with me, and that he don't have time for my girly games." She said with an adorable lilt to her voice. I leveled my eyes to hers and grinned. "I love playing house, but you have to be the wife." I said and her eyes lit up. Yes yes yes!!! She squealed and made me follow her upstairs with Ryan following on my heels. "She haven't had her lunch yet, so first we gotta feed her then you can play 'the husband' for as long as you want." He said with a smirk. I had an insane urge to throw him down the staircase. When Avery led me to her room I had to close my eyes, for the blast of pink in her room was blinding my eyes. "Avery, what's your favorite color?" I asked her and I knew the answer even before she told. I used it as a tactic to make her like me. "My favorite color is pink, it reminds me of Disney princess and fairies." she said. "Wow, but I have to say, you're no less than a Disney princess yourself, Avery. I said to her. "Do you think so?" She asked with a hopeful expression. "Why, of course you are." I assured her. "Now if you'll eat lunch we'll play house. I know you must be very hungry. Cause I sure am." I told her just so she'd agree to eat. She pondered over it for a few minutes then nodded enthusiastically. Phew. That went well so far. Ryan had disappeared as soon as I entered Avery's room. He had informed me that lunch was ready and placed on the dining table no doubt by their high class chef.
I was once again gobsmacked by the sheer size of their kitchen and was surprised to see three steaming plates of enchiladas made with blue corn tortillas arranged at the dining table which can easily seat over twelve members. Avery started to eat and within a few minutes she made an absolute mess of it. I tied the napkin around her dress to prevent it from getting soiled. I tried a bite of it and sighed, it was damn good. "What's your name?" Asked Avery between bites.

"Her name is Paige." Said Ryan descending from the stairs. "Paige?" She giggled I gave him a dirty look

"I can introduce myself, thank you very much."

He sat on the chair in front of me. It looked as if he had recently taken a shower as his hair looked wet and he looked absolutely delectable wearing a dark, well fitted faded jeans and a Tee which accentuated those biceps. His eyes looked a soft hazel and that darn dimple appeared when he was teasing Avery about something. God help me, he looked good enough to eat. Stop it brain!! Focus on his imperfections I squinted at him there must be something imperfect about him that I can gravitate to. There. A slightly faded scar on his forehead. I wanted to touch it but a scar was hardly an imperfection. He tends to drive me insane and has no manners whatsoever, yeah I should focus on that instead. We finished lunch me, eating silently and both the siblings bickered back and forth I dont know how it might be to have a sibling being a single child I've learnt to stay aloof and don't find it difficult to be left alone with only my thoughts for company. Now I sound like a loser.

"Paige, let's go play house! You promised!" Said Avery jumping up and down. "Yeah, house. Let's go." I smiled sardonically. Ryan gave me a wink and a salute while I smirked at him.

Avery fell asleep after playing house for seventh time. Thank goodness I wouldn't be able to bear it any longer and had to drink the fake tea a dozen or so times.
I crept silently across the floor and sagged in relief once I was safely outside the door.

I walked downstairs to the living room and noticed him talking to a woman who had striking features on closer inspection I realized that she's Ryan's mom or maybe elder sister perhaps? Her hair was styled in an elegant bob. She wore a chic royal blue sundress that hit just above her knee and had the same ice blue eyes as that of Avery. The expression on Ryan's face was unreadable but there was a stiffness with which he was replying to her. After a few minutes they seemed to notice me standing at the periphery.

"So, you're the good friend Ryan mentioned to babysit Avery?" Her tone wasn't hostile but neither was it warm I nodded. She turned to Ryan
   "See that your friend doesn't teach Avery anything improprietary" he hung his head and nodded while I was outraged but I cannot mouth back at her as it was my first day and also I was kinda afraid of her. She seemed nasty.

"Sorry about that" Ryan winced.
"Is she usually this welcoming or am I special?" I asked him.
"Anyone who are from an aristocratic family or the one's from her country club or their daughters, well let's just say she's partial to them." He said not caring that he made her seem shallow.

"She's never gonna warm up to me, is she?"
He grimaced. "Alright, how about we start with those trig problems, now that Avery is asleep?"
I nodded that'd be a good idea. He went upstairs and gestured me to follow him.  Was he taking me to his.. room? Butterflies fluttered in my stomach, heck I was so nervous that my legs were shaking. I'd never been to a boy's room before. He opened the door to his room and then closed it behind me like it's an everyday thing. I surveyed his room of course it was huge. There was a king size bed smack dab in the middle of the room, an enormous window overlooked lake Gerar. And the walls were lined by shelves. I was curious about what kind of books he read but kept this curiosity to myself. Ryan flopped down on his bed and I looked around for a safe place to sit. Then took a seat on the chair next to his study table. I opened the books. "So are we studying or do you need your beauty sleep?" I asked sarcastically. He looked up from where he was lying on his bed.

"I can think of some other activities I'd rather perform" he said with a devilish grin. That shut me up. He sighed and got up from his bed.
"I was kidding, Paige." Of course he was. "Now come on let's get on with it" he said taking the text book from my hands.
I showed him the problems which I couldn't solve and he taught me and explained where I was going wrong. Surprisingly he was good at teaching. After only half an hour the whole lesson was done and I can't be more thankful. His close proximity was affecting me and I didn't wanna do something I'd regret, like touch his soft hair or poke at his cute little dimple.
     I stood up and he removed a check from his drawer and handed it to me. It had an amount of fifty bucks, my eyes widened. "Isn't it too much?" I asked
He shook his head no. "25 dollars an hour."
"But I hardly took care of her for two hours. This is insane I cannot accept it." I said vehemently.
"You can and you will. Its the first day, consider it as your bonus." He said and dropped it in my backpack.
     "Thank you" I said and went to open the door just as my cell phone rang. It was mom. As soon as I picked up I could hear her sobbing and dread filled me up. "Mom? What happened? What's going on?" I asked her afraid. "It's..it's your dad, Paige please come at Beebe healthcare" she said and before I could ask her what's wrong she hung up.
Ryan was looking at me concerned.
"Are you alright?"
"I don't know" I whispered

"What happened Paige, tell me" he said
"It's my dad, he's in the hospital. I don't know what happened to him" I said and without a word he took me downstairs and out the door I barely registered as we were moving down the driveway.
"It's not necessary Ryan I can drive" I said
"You're stressed I cannot let you drive in this condition, which hospital?" He asked and I told him. He entered it into the sat nav and we were off. I was scared for dad, for mum and also for myself.