Bittersweet (Jenna Ortega)

chapter twenty one.

Maise's POV

SATURDAY

I show up to Jenna's house at eleven on the dot, not before triple checking that her uncles car wasn't in sight.

A girl answers the door with a pink daisy onsie on. She looks maybe a or two younger than me with light brown hair with blonde highlights and deep brown eyes. She gasps when she sees me and her cheeks flush pink.

"Hey, is Je-"

She slams the door shut in my face and I can practically hear her fleeing footsteps.

In confusion, I remain in the same spot until the door is opened once again. This time by Jenna.

"That was Aliyah. She's nervous about meeting new people. Sorry I forgot to mention tha— I told you not to bring gifts." She sighs, but her eyes count how many I'm holding.

"You brought too many."

"I got one for you." I say. "But you can't have it now."

"Am I the only one with restrictions?"

"Precisely," I chuckle and shuffle inside once she shifts over. I place the gifts down on the table by the front door. "Is that a baby groot sticker?" I point to the mirror and Jenna smiles.

"Issac put it there. You somehow deepened his obsession when you bought that lego for him."

"So that's good news." I keep hold of the light blue present. "Where is he?"

"Upstairs showering. I can give you a tour while we wait for him?"

"Sure," I slip out of my shoes and offer her a shy smile. "Lead the way."

She takes me into the kitchen first. The cupboards are dark green and the backsplash is an olive colour. Different cereal boxes are scattered across the countertops, making me smile a little to myself. Five siblings, of course they need options.

"This is the living room. We used to watch a lot of movies in here, but our uncle took over. Said he needed complete silence otherwise he couldn't work." She says, looking at me to see my face drop slightly. "But it's ours for the day so Issac settled for a fort."

The sofas had been pushed together to form a huge square with blankets and pillows in the centre.

"To my room?"

I nod and follow her upstairs. She opens the last door to the left. There are two beds, one in the middle and another in the corner, covered by nets to give privacy. From the soccer and band posters, I'm guessing that half of the room belongs to Jenna. Through a seperate door was their bathroom, which the girl who slammed the door in my emerges from.

She freezes when she sees me and her cheeks flush pink.

"Aliyah, hey. This is Maise."

"Hi!" She squeaks out then runs out of the room.

"Am I that scary?"

"She's just really socially awkward so sometimes her only resort is to run."

"Understandable," I chuckle and walk over to what I assume is Jenna's side. The little funko collectables of movie characters and black headphones on charge confirmed my suspicion, as well as the photo frames of her and her siblings posing goofily.

I pick one up and smile.

"Issac threw a fit two minutes before this photo was taken. If you look closely, you can still see the tears." She chuckles, pointing her finger, and sure enough, his little brown eyes were brimmed with tears.