Secret Singing Superstar

Twenty-one ~ ♫♪♫

Caitlin paused in front of Anna's house. Anna's family had formally invited her to spend the day at their house after school so they could get to know her better (since she was their eldest son's girlfriend). And she was completely freaking out over it.

Anna was the one who opened the door for her. "Oh, hey," she said, smiling and opening the door even wider. "Come in. Daniel's been waiting for you," she added with a wink.

Caitlin made a face. "Don't gross me out."

"Hey, it's your boyfriend," said Anna, closing the door after Caitlin walked inside. Daniel immediately walked towards her. Caitlin braced herself, but all he gave her was a big hug. Beside them, Anna sighed in relief. 

Daniel glared at her. "Why are you still here again?"

"Hey, I was the one who welcomed her in this house!" Anna retorted. "And I'm her friend too, you know. Show some respect!"

"You're younger than me," said Daniel.

"She's older than me," said Caitlin suddenly. "Aren't you?"

"When's your birthday?" Anna asked her. Caitlin told her, and Anna nodded. "Yeah, I'm older. That's weird. My brother's got a girlfriend who's younger than me."

"That is nowhere near weird," said Daniel, but he frowned at Caitlin. "But I can't believe you're younger than my sister. You're so tall, or maybe she's short."

"I'm offended," said Anna. 

They were interrupted as Anna's mother walked into the room. Without hesitation she crossed the room over to Caitlin and gave her a hug as if she were her daughter as well. 

"Hello," she said warmly. "It's nice to meet you. Can you tell me a bit about yourself?"

Caitlin shot Anna a You sure this isn't stalking? look. Anna merely smiled and shook her head. Caitlin felt uneasy talking about herself, but she did. The more she talked, the easier it was. She kept the most personal details to herself, like Brian, her first boyfriend. 

When she was done, Anna's mother didn't say anything bad about her. She only started to talk about her family and about her children, especially Daniel. 

Caitlin found out Daniel and Anna both had a passion for art and drawing, something that their youngest sibling, Anthony, had not inherited. Then the two siblings had a quarrel over who was the best drawer until Anna's mother told them both to be quiet. 

"You're giving Caitlin a bad impression of our family," she scolded them.

"It's alright, she doesn't mind," said Daniel. He looked at Caitlin. "Do you?"

She smiled. "Not at all. I wish I had siblings."

"You're an only child?" questioned Anna.

"Anna, were you even listening to what Caitlin was saying to Mum before?" Daniel chided her.

"Sorry, I was on my phone!"

"You're hopeless!"

For some reason, their arguing never made Caitlin feel uncomfortable. It made her happy watching them. They both fought a lot, sure, but they radiated this sort of love that Caitlin had never felt before. 

So for the rest of the afternoon, Caitlin didn't spend time with Daniel alone (she didn't want Anna's mother thinking of her in the worst way), she also spent time with Anna, and played Osu with Daniel, since he also loved the game. She spent the rest of the afternoon feeling cheerful and content. But the others felt quite the opposite.