Rage

Chapter Twenty

Suddenly, Julio was sleeping in my bed every night.

I think the first night, he'd just done it to appease me but, after that, I think he realized that it actually wasn't so bad.

Chase obviously didn't know and, thankfully, my mother's mansion had thick walls, because we'd had some pretty heated make out sessions of late, that had progressed more than I'd expected them to. We hadn't had sex yet— I definitely wouldn't do that with my brother right next door— but there were a lot of things that led up to sex, anyway.

After four days, it was time for my mother's Christmas Eve party, which meant that Julio would either have to come in really late, hide out in my room or just not come at all. I'd toyed with the idea of him being my date to the party, but I knew that wasn't a plausible idea. It would be a nightmare if Julio, who I'd found to be pretty protective of me, met my mother, who was always making some or the other sly comment.

During those four days, I'd tried talking to Chase, but I hadn't met with any success whatsoever, since any time I tried broaching the subject, there were ten different things to do.

He'd met Ally, Chris, and even Charlie. Jack had brought Charlie for a little family dinner the day after Chase came to town, and I'd spent all day prepping Chase on what to do and what to say around Charlie that our mother couldn't object to. Chase proclaimed immediately after the dinner that he wasn't a fan of Charlie. Charlie didn't really seem to like him, either.

The next day, Ryo had shown up spontaneously to the house, and I realized that I'd forgotten to tell him that my brother was going to be in town. He and Chase spent the entire damn day playing video games and, that night, we had dinner with Jack and Charlie again.

The day after that, we'd just hung out together and both of us had been so calm and relaxed that I didn't have the heart to bring up anything that could make the mood more serious.

Then now, today, I was determined to ask Chase about it before we had to get ready for the party.

I swallowed nervously as I knocked on the door to his room, wringing my hands together.

"Uh, come in!" He called, and I opened the door. I was met with the sight of my brother sprawled on his bed, laptop rested in his lap as he smiled at something onscreen.

"Hey, Liz, one sec." He said, and I almost squealed. He was talking to his girlfriend?! Did I get to meet her?

"What's up, Tay?" He asked, grinning easily.

"I just wanted to talk to you." I said calmly, although I was freaking out on the inside, "Is now an bad time?"

"Actually, you wanted to meet Liz, right? I'm talking to her right now, so..."

I took that as an invitation and immediately plonked myself into bed beside him. "Hi!" I exclaimed excitedly, waving.

"Hi." The girl on the other side responded, chuckling. Her British accent came through even with that single word. She was, without a doubt, gorgeous. She had wavy black hair and eyes the color of milk chocolate. She had high cheekbones and a sloping nose. Her jawline was sharp, too. The girl was basically perfect.

"I'm Taylor. It's so nice to meet you! Chase has told me so much about you." I said, grinning evilly at my brother who buried his face in his hands, embarrassed.

"All good things, I hope." She smiled, adding, "Well, Taylor, I'm Liz. Your brother has told me a lot about you, too."

We made small talk for a little while longer and it was slightly awkward, because our first meeting was through Skype and not in person. After some time, I left the two lovebirds to talk in peace.