Banned To Touch | jenlisa

Chapter 31

LISA

Once again I'm in the subtitles, sitting outside on the folding benches with a bunch of Leo's roommates. This time I'm here alone, without my best friends and because I practically lived here last week and the week before last to take care of Leo, I got to know the boys better and better. I quickly became friends with them, but I always avoided Justin. I think he's the only one of the eleven roommates I hate - and that's not going to change.

There's no real party going on today, more like a barbecue. Nobody is really drunk, but maybe tipsy.

"Your Chaeyoung is really a hottie! Too bad that you two have boyfriends. But soon you won't be able to resist my sexiness anymore." Jokes Nathan, with two buddies agreeing.

I look at him confused and laugh. "Uh, Chaeng doesn't have a boyfriend?"

Startled, he theatrically clutches his chest and asks. "What? She lied to me like a stone?"

I have to giggle and everyone around me does the same. "Well, you're not as sexy as you think you are." I tease him. "To be honest, she has a girlfriend. She's gay." The others look at me in surprise, which makes me laugh.

"And what about me?" Asks Joe now, who is sitting on the bench across from me and is looking at me like a pedophile. At the same time, he wiggles his black eyebrows, which makes me laugh again. These guys are just totally dumb and I love them for that.

"Hey, you perverted pigs!" Kai suddenly interferes, squeezes between me and Conner and puts his arm around me before he presses me tightly against himself. "I saw this hot Thai girl before all of you. I'm in line after Leo!"

"Has your hair burned your brain again?" I punch Kai a little too hard, playfully against the chest.

"Oh yes, baby! Give me hard!" He continues to joke, making all the boys laugh.

My face turns red and I laugh and put my hands in front of my eyes. A useless attempt to hide.

"You are all totally dumb!"

"We know this." Nathan replies.

"Why don't you find another girl your own age to tease like that?"

"Because you're funny and more fun to tease." Conner.

Without me wanting to, these guys just melt my heart. I wish I could put them in my purse and take them out whenever I'm feeling down.

"Guys, stop being so nice! Y'all gonna kill me."

We keep talking and laughing about all sorts of things while my stomach growls with hunger and the smell of grilled meat makes me drool.

I look around. Apart from the people who live here, there are just over a dozen other people here in the garden drinking beer while I sip my coke. The sky has turned in a beautiful pink.

"Meat is ready!" One of the boys yells and a crowd forms in front of the grill. When it comes to food, it's a matter of life and death.

"Where is Leo?" I finally ask, noticing that he's been gone for over half an hour.

Kai shrugs. "He must be doing big business."

I punch him slightly with my knuckles again while he just smiles at me. "Yeah, right. A person goes for forty minutes to the toilet..." I say in disbelief.

"You have no idea what Joe's chilli can do..."

"Cook yourself then, Conner!" Joe tries to throw a piece of his bread at Conner, only to catch it in his mouth and happily let out a "Thanks, bro."

We laugh again and for a moment I forget that Leo has disappeared again. In the last few weeks he has been gone for an hour on and off. Was it while I was chatting with the boys or when he thought I was sleeping. I asked him about it once and all he said was that he was either on the late shift at work or he had something important to talk about with his professors about his homework.

Of course, I'm visibly skeptical about all of this, which is why Rosé and I spied on him at the party last Friday to see what he was up to, and sure enough he went to the diner. How ironic that I, who cheated on her boyfriend, accuse him of hiding something. Good, sometimes I really hate myself!

When Kai puts a juicy burger in front of me, my mouth waters and I remember that my pasta salad is still in the fridge. However, I'm so hungry that I can't resist and have to take a bite first.

"Sweetie, you really can't eat." I suddenly hear Nathan laughing and take a look down. Indeed. As soon as I start to eat, I have ketchup on my yellow sundress. Everyone at the table starts laughing, including me.

"I'll go clean up then."

"Do that." It comes from Kai, who wiggles his eyebrows like Joe did earlier.

"You won't get pasta salad for that!"

Kai sulks while Conner just yells. "Yes! More food!"

As I stand up, I can't help but laugh. These guys are tough and lovable at the same time. I took them all straight to my heart.

The first thing I do after entering the house is rush to the kitchen to wash the stain off the sink. As I rub the red stain on my dress with wet kitchen paper, I hear Leo's voice. I smile and turn to look for him and explain how dumb his roommates are, but I don't see him.

"Thanks. Double next time." I now hear a different voice and footsteps that are getting closer and closer.

"I have to thank." I hear my boyfriend again.

They both come out of the hallway into the kitchen and shake hands, and when Leo sees my confused expression, he quickly puts his hand in his back pocket. Suddenly I have a really bad feeling. Something is more than fishy here.

His tattooed friend senses the tension between our eyes and disappears outside after saying goodbye. "See you later."

The slamming of the door seems to have pulled Leo out of his trance again, because he shakes his head briefly and comes towards me. "Hey, Lis, my love."

He wants to kiss me, but I step back. "Where have you been for the last three quarters of an hour?"

"Why do you ask? Don't you trust me?" He pouts and his gray eyes widen.

"Leo." I say seriously and cross my arms in front of my chest. "What did he just put in your hand?"

He hesitates.

-

A/N: Finally I was able to write the 31st chapter. There aren't many regular updates on this book lately but I'm working on it whenever I can, so yeah, thanks for reading. 💁🏻‍♀️