Sunkissed Serendipity

Chapter 28

Julian

Bringing Isla home to where half of my extended family lived did not go how I wanted to. After the both of us brought in the drinks from the car, the door opened up to Jack. He has been quiet since the family arrived not too long ago, so when I see him, I don't expect him to greet Isla or anything. But he does; his face transforms into a smile and an enthusiastic look as he says, "Isla!"

"Hey, buddy," she says, dropping the cans on the floor and stepping forward toward him. Jack throws his hands around her torso first, shocking me back a step because last time I had to force him to hug her. Isla giggles as she hugs him back, and Jack says, "Hi. I didn't know you were coming over today!"

"I was invited by your mom, and your brother wanted me here," she says to him in explanation, and I try not to let my cheeks heat up because she made it sound like I insisted on coming. I mean, I did ask her and let her know, but I didn't want everyone around to know that. So, I like her company, but everyone else would blow it out of proportion.

"Julian!" I hear a shout from behind Jack, the curly hair of my oldest cousin, as he makes himself toward us. "And you brought your girl!"

"Yeah," I say, moving past Jack and Isla and dropping the water bottles on the floor. I head back outside to get the cans and find my cousin, Leo, giving me a look. I sigh, running a hand through my hair, and say, "This is Isla."

He gives me another grin before turning over to her and holding out his hand toward her. "Hi. My name is Leonardo."

"Isla," the blonde girl says with a light smile, "nice to meet you."

"It is nice to meet you!" Leo says, and before he can elaborate on the reason why he sounded so enthrusiastic, someone else spots the girl on the porch.

"Oh my god," Aunt Cecilia says as she makes it through her son and toward us. She places a dramatic hand on her heart, her eyes darting from me and to the guest I brought with me. She gives me a grin then and says, "Aw! Julian brought his first girl home."

"I know!" Leo says enthusiastically, still with a vibrant look in his dark brown eyes. Cecilia beams at this and turns to me with a grin. "So, Julian. Who is your girlfriend?"

I cannot feel my face before it has reached its maximum. I also cannot feel the blood rushing through me because it went all to my head. My family was embarrassing me here in front of a girl I invited just as my friend. I wonder what she is thinking of everyone teasing us when, in reality, nothing has helped between us. It was beyond humiliating, and yet none of what I said went through with them.

"Auntie," I say with a shake of my head, "her name is Isla, and she's just a fiend."

"Just a friend!" Cecelia says, downright shocked at the term I've used. She glances at me and then at Isla. "A pretty girl like her, and you have yet to make her yours?"

"Please stop," I say, forcing myself to not look at Isal. I didn't want to see how she was taking it; if I was feeling this way, I wondered how she was. I was too humiliated to be looked at, and I knew that my face was red. But even so, I glance at Isla and find that her face is coated in red, but she still steps forward and holds out her hand.

My aunt takes it, and Isla says, "Hi, it's nice to meet you."

"Very nice," Cecilia says with a glint in her dark eyes. "This is Julian's first ever girl! This is so exciting for all of us."

I slapped a hand over my forehead, trying to ignore the commentaries, and grab the rest of the drinks. I make the mistake of taking them to the kitchen to cool them down because once I come back, Isla is surrounded by my family, and all of them were pestering her about things I already had a glimpse of.