𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐘 || 𝐆𝐗𝐆 ||

CHAPTER TWENTY

Noa

The Jones family has arrived, well there car is pulled up in front of our house and my mum is having a slight panic about the state of the house. She has cleaned it many times today so it's looking well to me.

Even though our two families have been amazingly close since before my brother and I were born, they still panic about going to each other's houses. It's understandable, I'm trying to calm myself down too.

"Alright guys, they are walking up the path." Our father says and I help my mum finish cleaning the pan, she leaves me alone to do this once the front door opens.

"Naomi Carter, Dorian Carter, what an honour it is to see you after so long!" Mr Jones (Malcom) grins from the door as more footsteps follow.

I finish up emptying the extra sauces and things onto the plates with lobsters on them and then take in a deep breath.

"Zara dear, you look wonderful." My mum's voice came and that's when I smell the familiar scent of Vanilla and my heart raced.

The two families greet each other and then a few moments pass. Everyone parted to go wherever to chat about work and everything.

I take the pan and put it into the water just for it to sizzle and crack which startled me.

"You absolute idiot! You don't put oil into water!" A voice gasps and then I look and see the blonde girl dressed in a red dress that looks very formal and her hair is down in its natural state, "I swear to god, Noa."

"Jesus, I'm sorry calm down. I happen to be quite stressed right now." I roll my eyes and she smiles and comes over to help clean up the pan and everything, "Hello to you too."

"My bad, did I forget my manners?" She mockingly says and I scoff and we turn to each other, "It's an honour to see you again, Carter."

"The honour is mine, you look beautiful, worth the almost breakdown?" I raise a brow and she nods.

"Definitely." She finishes up on the pan and it seems to me she is doing the washing up which makes me feel terrible.

I dry it off after asking her multiple times.

~~~

We are all seated at the table. My parents sitting beside each other with Caden by my father's side. I sit beside my mum and then it's Malcom, Zara and Loren on the opposite.

There's an awkward silence over us all, I am rather uncomfortable by it as I break part of the claw of the lobster that's set out on our plates in front of us.

"This lobster is delicious," Loren spoke up and the rest of the family agrees, I saw my mum's face light up. She loves it when people compliment her food which she makes.

"Thank you, there's pasted also if you want a side." The woman mentions and Malcom takes a scoop of pasta.

I see my father glancing at Loren, he looks quite nervous for a split second and so does Mrs Jones. I smirk down at myself as it all makes sense. We didn't think this through, those guys have hooked up a few times. The most recent being last month or so. It must be so unfortunate for them.

"So, how are relationships going?" Malcom asks, ideally to the three teenagers here, Loren looks at him and then at Caden and back at herself.

"Good." Caden answers and my mother laughs under her breath and I nudge her which makes her look at me, we both crack a smile.

"It's complicated." Zara answers and there's tension between the two families all of a sudden, we all know what happened, none of us are pleased about it only Caden himself.

That guy has cuts on his face and stitches so I'm feeling like I did an amazing job. He should be embarrassed for sitting here after all he did.

"Haha, well." I started and all eyes were on me.

"It seems like you have a lot to say, please tell." Loren smiles and I laugh and smile as I clear my throat, "A whole story?"

"You bet I do." I joke and she laughs and so does my mother, these two have something going on.

"To start off, there's mixed signals. One minute she's like, oh I see stars in your eyes and there's signs like she's trying to tell me she likes me. But then there's the other part where she looks like she wants me dead and she's cursing me off and everything. Damn yeah, it's complicated with all the mixed signals and we see each other a lot, cheer, school, all of that. She told me to make a move but I'm like, no I can't make moves so now I just sit and wait to see what happens." I explain, my heart racing in my chest with every word, my cheeks heating up and then I look at my brother.

He wants to murder me.

Loren and my mum are smiling widely, all the adults are almost so I take a bite from the lobster.

"My advice is to make a move, she's probably waiting for it to be done." Loren smiles and I hum and scoff.

"The only move she wants is a knife in my throat," I confess and there's a chuckle from Zara which causes me to look at her. She's watching me, a smile on her face and her cheeks a light colour of red.

"She wouldn't dare." She admits and I roll my eyes at her, "Make a move, I am sure she's waiting for you to do so, for a long time possibly."

There's silence and then a shatter of a glass, all eyes go to Caden who has a glass fallen on the floor. He muttered an apology as he gets a dustpan and brush to clean it all up.

My eyes move to Zara who is eating a piece of pasta, she seems like she's zoned out and there's a small nudge which brings her back to reality.

"Zara, I've heard you've been doing well in ballet?" Naomi questions and the girl's face lights up and she smiles.

"Yes, I've been offered the role of the white swan in 'Swan Lake' next year." She announces and I smile, she deserves this.

"She tries her hardest with ballet and it's very successful, we are very proud of her," Loren adds and Caden takes a seat back down at the table after cleaning up his mess.

"She's very good at it too, very flexible." He says and I look at him, "She looks amazing in the tutu and tights, absolutely amazing."

The last part pulled a string in me I didn't want him to pull, but now he has done and there's no going back.

"I will be right back, Caden upstairs," I say and he groans and follows me upstairs.

"Noa! We have guests!" Our father calls out but I ignore him and slam the boy into the wall of his bedroom.

"What the fuck? Stop speaking about her like she's some doll that you can fuck, I really want to hurt you right now." I say quietly and he chuckles.

"You can't get me wrong, she does look good in them, I can picture her bent ov-."

I punch him before he can let another word out and then glare at the boy who looks at me with a tint of fear in his eyes, it satisfies me but not enough.

"Sort your shit out, you are not okay." I whisper and he laughs and I punch him in the stomach, "I dare you to say another word about her."

"She looks so hot in them." He smiles and I slap his face and punch him.

I then leave the bedroom and head back downstairs, shaking my hand to numb the pain that was felt in it. I sit back down at the table, apologise for what happened and then smile.

"What did you do?" My mum asks and I shrug, "Noa, what did you do?"

"He's fine, I just told him a few things, verbally and physically," I whisper back and she sighs and excuses herself to go upstairs.

It was just me. my father and the Jones seated at the table now. I can't help but chuckle.

One question about work was asked by me, and ten minutes of conversation went along with that from Loren and Malcom. I'm thankful it passed time but my eyes were only on Zara.

And her eyes were only on me.