Untouchable

4: Medusa

Alexa's POV

It was 5 pm on a Monday. Cayson, Zayden, Lukas, Grace and even Lace were gathered in my apartment, we were all studying calculus, that damned subject.

"UGH! All these numbers are giving me a headache" Lace shouted as she turned the music up "LET'S DANCE!"

Cayson scowled at his twin, his hazel coloured eyes filled with frustration "Well, some of us are still in university and we'd like to pass, thank you very much" He reached for the remote and lowered the music down

Zayden chuckled inwardly "Why'd you drop out of university anyways?" He addressed Lace

"Because I'm good at what I do and I think I'll make it. You know, rich, pretty and whatnot"

"Not going too well right now" Cayson said absently as he furiously wrote on the paper as if he was going to understand the subject better if he wrote it down with more pressure on the pen.

"Yea, because we have to keep cancelling gigs because you're always busy with school"

"Priorities" Cayson said sharply

"Privileges" Lace snapped

Lace's eyes bored into the side of his head, it was obvious they've argued about this before. Her angry expression softened and was replaced by a sad one before she turned to me and smiled "Hey, Alexa, you've got ice cream?"

"Yup, make yourself at home" I pointed towards the kitchen

"Thanks" She got up and walked towards the kitchen

I clapped my hands at Grace, trying to lessen the tension in the room "Chop chop, Grace, explain this to us"

"Not the best teacher, so don't blame me if you fail"

"No, no. No ones failing"

"It isn't the end of the world if you do, Alexa," Lukas said in a mocking tone "I didn't take you for the uptight type"

"I'm not!"

"Obviously" Lukas smirked at me

"Some of us here have got scholarships hanging on the line" I threw a cushion in his direction but he didn't have time to react so it hit him square in the face. Lukas narrowed his eyes at me before throwing it back at me.

I got up to check on Lace, noticing that she had been in the kitchen way longer than getting ice-cream required. A smile creeped onto my face when I realised why she had been in the kitchen for so long; setting down bowls with ice-cream and other goodies she continued rummaging through the cabinets when I entered, not noticing that I had taken a seat at the island. She turned around just as I was about to reach for some gummy worms, lifting an eyebrow at me, she smacked my hand as I grabbed a bunch of them "Put those back right this moment, miss" she said in an authoritative tone. I blinked at her in shock and dropped the gummies back into the bowl.

I frowned when I noticed that her nose and the rims of her eyes were reddish "What's wrong?"

"Nothing" her voice was low and her tone uncertain

"You sure?" I asked, skeptic

"To be honest," Her words lured me in "I have authority issues" she paused "and Cayson is like seven minutes older than me"

I raised my eyebrows at her, not sure if she was being serious "Um, it's alright.." I trailed off, not knowing what to say. Suddenly Lace's face reddened as she burst into laughter

"I can't- believe- you- bought- that" She breathed out as her laughing fit continued, her laughter was contagious and soon enough I joined in. When our laughter died down, I looked up to see that Zayden was standing in the doorway smiling goofily at the sight in front of him, a look of curiosity on his face. His eyes lit up when he noticed the snacks.

"Don't even think about it" I warned him "She'll turn you into stone"

"Alright, Medusa" Zayden smirked at Lace then picked up two bowls and left the kitchen. Lace and I followed behind him with the rest of the snacks. Everyone gathered around on a circle on the ground, the snacks in the centre. Lace turned the music up again, knowing that this time her brother wouldn't protest as everyone had abandoned their books and placed them on the table.

Lukas eyed my guitar before raising his eyebrows at me

"Oh, I don't play" I told him

"May I?"

"Sure"

Lace turned the music down when she spotted the instrument in Lukas's hands.

He grabbed the guitar and sat next to Grace, as he started playing on it Grace gave him a knowing look along with a wide smile that spread across her face. He hummed as he was playing.

Loving can hurt, loving can hurt sometimes

But it's the only thing that I know

When it gets hard, you know it can get hard sometimes

It is the only thing that makes us feel alive

Lukas sang, his voice deep, as he nodded his head at Grace encouraging her to sing as well. Grace took a deep breath and took over the next verse of the song.

We keep this love in a photograph

We made these memories for ourselves

Where our eyes are never closing

Hearts are never broken

And time's forever frozen still

Lukas sang along with Lace, their voices flowing around the apartment. Our eyes widened as we realised that both of them are very good singers and together they sounded even better. Where Lukas couldn't hit the high notes Grace did, and where Grace's voice wasn't deep enough for the lower notes Lukas took over.

So you can keep me

Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans

Holding me closer 'til our eyes meet

You won't ever be alone, wait for me to come home

When they stopped, everyone clapped and Grace's cheeks became a bright shade of pink. Lace didn't hold back the compliments and you could tell by the excitement in her voice that she was very passionate about music.

"That was very impressive" Cayson said in a monotone 

"Thank you"

"We know most of Ed Sheeran's songs, so we're up for requests" Lukas offered jokingly

At some point Cayson had scooted closer to his sister and whispered something to her whilst the others weren't paying attention as they talked about their favourite songs, she just sighed and laid her head on his shoulder, whereas he frowned then wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

A sudden banging at the door startled all of us, I got up to see who it was, the banging getting louder and more frequent, but Zayden caught my arm, shook his head at me and beat me to the door knob.