The Favor

Chapter 4

The rest of the week passed by quickly. Therefore, this is me sitting in my room on a Saturday evening. I thought about doing something with Jon, but then I remember how he called me yesterday, complaining about this weekend's family trip.

Him and his parents are going to hike somewhere in the woods. Jon isn't that type of person you'd think of if someone showed you dirty forest paths, sticky shoes and a lot of little insects. He's rather the 'snorkeling at the beach' kind of guy.

To which I totally agree. There're aren't many thinks that gross me out, in fact I love animals to death, but it takes one of those tiny creatures and I run away faster than you could close your eyes.

Suddenly, I hear my phone ringing. An unknown caller. After a while simply staring at the display, I decided to answer the call.

"Hello?", I greet the person on the other line.

"Good evening, took you a while"

I sit up straight, recognizing the owner of that voice, "Grace."

"How did you get my number?", I ask him.

"I have my connections you know. Anyway, this is not the reason I'm calling you", he pauses.

"Which is?"

"I want you to meet me at seven", Nicolas tells me. If I could sit any straighter than I already did, I would. I look down, to glance at my outfit. Right now, I'm wearing a way to big sweater and some random shorts I recently found in my wardrobe again. I sigh, "but that is literally in less than one hour – Where?"

"At Max's house, he throws a little party".

Max, I thought. He's one of Nicolas Grace's gang, and not quite the person I'd consider myself safe with. That dude has a pretty bad reputation and is a literal drug dealer.

"And since your friend is throwing a party, you want the company of your 'girlfriend'", I clarify.

"Correct, Sherlock", he mocks, "plus I figured it'd be more realistic than showing up with you on a random Monday at school."

"Yeah probably."

An awkward silence falls between us, and I almost catch myself wanting to talk about baby rabbits. Luckily, he finds his voice again and speaks up, "see you in half an hour then."

I'm about to say 'goodbye' or something, but he ended the call already.

----

When I arrive at Max's house, there're people everywhere, probably all arriving now. 'Little party' my ass. His front yard is huge.

I look around, searching for one boy in particular. I texted him ten minutes ago, saying I'm here, and that shithead doesn't even have the courage to answer me. Feeling slightly uncomfortable I make my way to get something to drink.

The music pains my ears, and the people make me feel exposed. Of course I've seen most of them in school, but I don't know them. This isn't exactly the way I planned my evening to be like. I fanaticize about laying in my warm bed, and reading the book I just bought-

"Hey there." I look around.

A girl with dark curls and a kind smile approaches me, interrupting my thoughts. "You look lost, are you okay?"

"Yeah - yeah I was just wondering about something", I reply. "Well, would you like a drink, I was just about to get myself one... Or you can just continue standing here like a lost puppy." She stands now right in front of me. I notice that she's not the tallest, in fact she barely reaches the high of my eyes.

I nod and answer with a short, "sure." She starts walking to somewhere what must be the kitchen. I try my best to follow her without bumping into another person. We reach the kitchen counter, and she grabs us two of those plastic cups, before starting to pour beer into them.

"I'm Liz by the way, don't think I've ever seen you around here", she says as she hands me my drink, which thank her for.

"I'm Isabell, and no this is actual my first party. The plan was to meet someone here, but it seems as he abandoned me", I smile shyly.

She takes a sip from her drink before asking, "who?" I open my mouth and close it again, unsure what to say. Should I say boyfriend? I mean surely, she knows him but-

"Me."

Both of us turn around to see a tall figure walking towards us. Nicolas stops right next to me, and in the same second throws his arm around my shoulder. Liz looks at us alarmed. "Are you two, like, together?"

She now looks directly at Nicolas. "Nicolas Grace has a girlfriend and didn't insist on telling me" - she stops, looks at me - "can you imagine, I'm his favorite cousin, and this dude didn't even mention one single word?" Now I'm the one who looks alarmed, eyeing the two of them.

"You're my only cousin", he says slightly annoyed.

"And?", she mimics his tone. "What do you think I wanna hear when I ask you about some new tea?"

I lift my hand up. "Wait, you guys are cousins?" I feel stupid. I feel the need to slap Grace in the face, no, slap myself in the face. I should have seen that coming, should I?

Liz is the first one to speak, "I mean not by choice, that dude is useless, but yeah, we're cousins." I look up to see Grace's face, and to my surprise he even has a slight smile on his face.

"Well then, I leave you two alone for now. I saw Max and Phillip a while ago, might just say 'hello' to them." She hugs me, before quickly nodding goodbye to her cousin. As soon as she's out of sight, I turn to face Grace.

"You didn't tell me that you have a cousin." "Don't you think it's important for me to know such things?", I add.

"I didn't think you were going to meet her so soon", he replies unfaced, looking at his phone.

I sigh, "where the hell have you been by the way? I texted you."

"I was busy."

"Doing what? You got me into this shit. I mean the least you can do is being on time at the place you told me to be."

He looks up, putting his phone back into his pocket. "Listen, I don't need to explain myself to you, at least I got here in time to save you from my somewhat annoying cousin."

"I like her"

"What?"

"I said I like her, she's nice", I repeat myself.

"Huh." He studies me for a second, before nodding to no one in particular. "How come I've never seen her before?", I ask.

"She goes to a different school", he simply says. Deciding not to push any further, I take a sip from the beer that is still in my hand. After a while, he says something unexpected, "you wanna dance?"

I look at him confused, "what?"

"Don't be too flattered, we're in a relationship. That's what people normally do at a party", he calmly says. I consider his words for a second, and of course, he's right. In the end of the day, we want people to believe this act of ours. So, I awkwardly take his hand, and together we walk over to the people dancing. 

----

A.N.

Helloo, so it's been a while, and to be honest I sort of forgot about this book. I'm sorry if it's a bit boring in the beginning, but if you're reading pleasee continue to do so, I have big plans for this book. And just to clarify, this is some kind of a slow burn, so don't expect them to kiss at like chapter seven.

Before I forget, do you have any thoughts about Liz?

Again, please don't be a silent reader! I'd really appreciate if you'd vote and comment.

Lots of love, lea