Familiar Strangers

Chapter 4

Jasmine's phone rang.

Melissa eyed the noisy machine with her 'You're-about-to-take-a-trip-out-the-window' look. She had been laying lazily on the bed for quite a while now, drawing her thoughts away on a notebook she found. The way she saw it, there was no reason in moving any time soon. Any time soon being the next hundred years.

But there it was. The phone was ringing. Again. Seriously, if Jasmine called her one more time...

"I swear I'll flush your phone down the toilet! Are you going to..." she was interrupted by a male voice.

"Easy tiger!" he said laughing "Why so upset princess?"

Melissa's eyebrows united in a questioning look. Where had she heard that voice before? It sounded vaguely familiar somehow. She removed the cell from her ear and looked at the screen, searching for the name of the caller. A :) was calling. Who the hell is A smiling face? She sighed deeply, as if by doing so she removed all the negative energy that had been built up in her.

"Hey, how is it going?" she said unenthusiastically deciding to approach the matter carefully and staying on the safe side.

"I'm bored...Wanna hang out? There's this movie tonight and I'll have pop corn, with extra butter! Tempted yet?" They boy sounded relaxed and confident, as if he had done this a million times before, so Melissa dismissed the option of him being a random guy asking her on a date. He was either a boyfriend or a cousin or something. She didn't remember Jasmine talking about a boyfriend though.

"Uh-huh, very. But actually,I can't." She was now walking up and down in the room, flipping her hair, thinking of an excuse. "I'm taken. Promised my best friend to help her with something! You know girl stuff!" she smiled bitterly at how easy it was for her to lie already.

"What a remarkable coincidence!" he said sarcasm dripping from his words "And I thought I was your best friend...", he said half suspiciously half teasingly.

"Of course you are! I'm talking about my other best friend!" she answered hoping her annoyance wasn't too obvious. Clingy much? 

"Funny...I am your only best friend", he said his voice turning a bit cold. A guy friend? Melissa thought trying to resurface all the information her sister had given her. A...A...Yes, now she remembered. A as in Adrian, Adrian as in Jasmines best friends since ever, Adrian as the guy in the shop.

"Look if you don't want to just tell me okay? You don't have to lie. You never were a good liar anyway. See y..."

"No wait!" Melissa blurred before she could stop herself. Making a mess out of Jasmine's life wasn't part of the plan. Whether she wanted to avoid that because it would blow her cover or because for a moment she wanted to practice her right as a sister, she didn't know. "Please! I'm sorry...I didn't mean to. You can come and pick me up if you want. But no extra butter! Do you know how much calories butter has?"

"No and I'm not planning on finding out any time soon!" he had regained his hearty tone. "I'll be there in an hour princess." The line went dead. Melissa was left staring at the wall, wondering what had just happened.

She realised that she was looking forward to meeting Adrian. It would buy her some time, since she knew she wasn't ready to see her parents yet and she had to admit that it would be interesting to find out what kind of friends Jasmine had. She was her sister after all.

Melissa's brother pulled back from the hug and led Jasmine to the kitchen.

Jasmine sat on a stool and cursed herself for crying so easily. This was no way to meet your new brother. After all this was over they would become family. She was back on her feet now and no one could take her down again. Especially that faded conversation she had overhead. It didn't mean anything. She must have misunderstood something, she decided and shoved it to the back of her head suddenly feeling freed from a heavy burden. The important thing now was to find what she had supposedly been told so she wouldn't be discovered.

"I'm sorry for acting like this." she said smiling, for a moment she considered a way of asking his name without arousing suspicion but she understood it would be too weird. He laughed surprising her.

"Since when is Melissa Brown ever sorry?" he asked with amusement. "Or is it that we're not blood related and you think is proper to treat me better?"

Jasmine laughed too having no idea what else to do. She figured he would give away everything she needed to know if she just played along and let him talk some more.

"Adoption... It's not a big deal. Not for me." he continued his expression becoming more serious all of a sudden. "At least we had the chance to grow up with a decent family. I wouldn't change that for anything. It's maddening to think how different things might have turned out. We've been lucky Mel, never forget that. You may not be the best sister I could ask for..." he winked "but I love you and that's not going to change because you're not my biological sister. Neither am I going to stop loving mum and dad because they're not my biological parents. They gave us a good life and we should be grateful about that...", he stopped suddenly and looked at her curiously. "Wow! You didn't tell me to shut up! You must be more shocked than I thought!"

"No...no...I would never tell you to shut up. You...you know that we are both adopted too.", she said politely,wanting to confirm that she understood what was going on, forgetting to act like Melissa. To be honest she felt a bit disappointed by the revelation. That was all? Melissa had told her that she had discovered the adoption papers a little while back but never thought she would have the chance to meet her biological parents. She said it would break her parents heart if they learned she found out this way or that she wanted to meet them. That was also one of the reasons they were keeping this a secret.

"Yeah...right!" he said shaking his head "Of course I do! Want something to eat?", he asked opening the fridge.

"You wouldn't believe how much!", Jasmine said, her stomach conveniently growling, emphasizing her words. She hadn't eaten anything all day. She couldn't help but think that Melissa was lucky to have such a brother, it was like Adrian for her.

She frowned imagining Adrian. She wished he was with her right now but she couldn't afford bringing him into this. At he same time she knew that if he ever discovered that she had kept it from him, she would have a hell of explaining to do. She silently prayed Melissa was taking good care of him. 

 Melissa leaned back making herself comfortable on the huge couch, in Adrian's living room. The kid had some serious money to live in a house like that, in Melissa's opinion. So if Adrian was in fact quite rich, why did Jasmine say he had a hard time with rich people? Maybe Melissa's memory wasn't as good as she thought.

Adrian wasn't half as bad as Melissa had originally thought, yet she couldn't bring herself to like him. It was that weird way he looked at her. As if he knew everything about her, as if he could see beneath all her defences. It made her feel nervous and exposed, like any moment now he would figure who she really was. She hated feeling like that.

"So what should I order?" Adrian asked picking up his cell half way through the movie. "I was going to suggest Chinese but..."

"No objection to that. I love Chinese!" she interrupted without thinking, distracted by the movie. "Back home there's a restaurant that has the best sweet and sour you can possibly dream of..." she paused realising she had said "back home". Oh god...Eyes wide she turned to look at Adrian.

"As I was saying I was going to suggest Chinese but you don't like Chinese! And where is that amazing restaurant again?" he asked raising an eye brow.

"Ow...we just went there with mum and dad! Hey isn't a girl allowed to change her mind?" Melissa laughed faintly waiting for him to uncover her sham. Wishing for a miracle. It's never wise to try to fool a best friend...

Hi again! Sorry for taking so long to update. I hope it's worth the wait ;)