The Downside of Popularity

21|Ace card

Alina
✿-----✿

Shock.

Shock is that feeling that causes your heart to skip a beat when you walk into a room and makes your breath get caught in your lungs. In literal terms, it takes your breath away.

And no, I'm not describing the feeling that engulfs a person when you find yourself trapped in a small box with your crush. There were zero butterflies involved in this. Just me feeling like I'd been hit on the chest with a candlestick.

When Jake suggested he walked in to greet my parents, I knew something was going to go wrong. But I wasn't expecting this magnitude of wrong.

Sitting on one of our living room cushions with an excited Brynn right next to him was Pablo.

For five complete seconds, I stood rooted to a spot. What could I do to prevent this from tiring sour? And why in cupid's name was Pablo in my house?

Oh, holy smores...

The air in the room felt like the depths of a black smith's furnace even though the air con was switched on.

I whipped my head around when I felt Jake beside me to watch his reaction. The grin he had plastered on while he walked in with me had been replaced by a frown, and his fingers were clenched tightly.

"Hey, look who's here!" Brynn announced, once her eyes landed on Jake. I swear she barely even registered my presence when she strode over to us wearing a sugary sweet smile on her lips. How could she when I'd managed to serve her two hot movie stars on a platter?

I was meant to stay invisible.

"Hello Jake, I'm Brynn. Alina's little sister," she gushed excitedly.

Jake's eyes lit up at the sight of Brynn, glazing over her for a while. "Your sister's really cute Lee. I guess I could call you beautiful then," he muttered thoughtfully.

Brynn's face twisted into a frown-she hated being called pretty and I couldn't form any words, so my jaws were hanging wide open.

Hello flies and insects, here's a free pass to Alina's throat.

"Don't call me cute," Brynn grumbled, stomping away from us, toward the staircase.

"Why?" Jake asked, holding in a laugh.

Brynn stopped her stomping at the foot of the stairs. "Because only soft girls are cute." She tipped her chin up and rolled her eyes, before continuing with her stomping.

The room fell silent, and only the sound of Brynn's feet against the floorboards and the ticktock of the kitchen clock could be heard. I instantly realised that my parents were probably not home at the moment.

"Where's mom?" I hollered just as the creak of Brynn's bedroom door swinging open reached my ears.

''She ran over to the grocery store!" Brynn hollered back.

"How long has she been gone?"

"Just a couple of minutes. She should be arriving any time soon."

Great.

I breathed into my palm, turning to face the two boys in our living room that were engaging in a stare-down. If either of my parents walked in on the both of them here, I'd have a lot of explaining to do.

Coughing overdramatically, I broke the spell of their heated stares and grabbed both their attention. "My parents aren't here Jake, maybe you should leave," I announced, shrugging.