Ocean Of Lies

Welcome to the neighbourhood

I walk back through the front door and see Jay hunched over a laptop at the bar in the kitchen. I walk up behind him and peak over his shoulder, I see that he was creating party invitations. I sit down beside him and watch as he fills in all the details, I frown as the date he writes is tomorrows.

"Jay, where are we having this party." He stops writing for a moment and turns to me.

"I hired out a marquee to set up in the garden, we're going to get in a caterer and I'm going to run to the shop tomorrow morning to get the decorations and anything else we need. I want you to post these invites to everyone in the neighbourhood tomorrow while I am gone." I nod and take my coat off, hanging it on the hanger. I walk up the stairs and into my new room. My bag was placed on my bed, Mathew must have got them from my car and dropped them off while we were shopping.

I unpack my very few belongings and place them in the draws of my cabinet. I really need to go shopping before this party, I can't wear anything I brought with me from Louisiana. I sigh and throw my bag under my bed and climb into bed. Cuddling into my pillow, I think of all the nights me and Zay would lay together just talking about anything and everything. The warmth I would feel as he pulled me closer to his chest and placed small kisses on my head.

I fall asleep with tears falling down my cheeks and memories racing around in my head. I wake up the next morning and feel fully refreshed, I open my draws and pull out my gym gear. After getting dressed, I walk down the stairs while tying my hair into a pony and shout to Jay that I was going for a run. I don't bother waiting for a reply and walk outside, I open google maps and plan a route that looks decent enough to run. As I look up, I see the dude from across the street standing outside, I give him a wave as I put my earphones in and turn the other direction not bothering to see if he waved back.

Halfway through my run I come to a stop outside a run down building, in the window there was a sign that read 'for sale' I peer in and see a fairly decent sized room. Dialling the number, I start walking back home, half way through my walk someone answers the phone.

"Hello, I saw that this number was placed on a sign within a property that I am assuming is for sale?"

"Ah yes, you must be talking about our studio. Would you like to view it?" I think for a moment, not sure if it would be suitable for what I wanted to do.

"Yeah that would be great."

"Okay um." I hear some pages being flicked from her end. Probably looking through a pocket calendar. "How would tomorrow work? About half 2?"

"That would be great. I will see you then" I hang up the phone and decide to run the rest of the way home as I haven't got that far to go. As I arrive home and walk through the front door, I see a massive pile of party invites sitting on the kitchen side. I roll my eyes and run upstairs to take a quick shower and change as I have to distribute this invite for tonight.

Walking out the front door, I place my headphones on my head and turn up the volume. I get all the way around the neighbourhood and before long I'm standing outside mystery guys home. I walk up the path and the front door suddenly opens; I look around to see if there is anywhere I can hide but I come up with nothing. I look back at the front door to see him standing there just staring at me. He has a leather jacket on, and I notice him holding a bikers helmet.

I quickly pause my music and take my headphones off. Smiling at him I hand the invite over and turn to walk away.

"What is this for?" I stop in my tracks. His voice was husky yet also sounded velvety. I close my eyes as my heart races. Turning around I smile again.

"An invite to our moving in party. We thought it would be a good idea to have a get together as a whole neighbourhood and get to meet everyone properly."

"That's cool, I'll pass it onto my mother then." He turns to walk indoors, and I suddenly spurt out a load of words.

"Will I be seeing you there, you don't have to stay for long. Its just my brother wants to meet everyone properly, so we feel part of the community." As he turns around, I see him smirking.

"Yes, I will be there, I don't have a choice with things like this." He lets out a little chuckle. "I wouldn't cook much food, mom always goes all out when someone hosts a party, bless her." I smile and take a step forward.

"I'm Annalise by the way." I hold my hand out and just look at him, we stand there for a couple of minutes. At this point it feels like he's just going to leave me hanging so as I go to put my hand back into my pocket he quickly steps forward and takes it in his. Shaking it firmly he introduces himself.

"I'm Alexander, but everyone just calls me Alex." I smile.

"Well it's nice to meet you Alex, looking forward to seeing you tonight." I smile, turn around and walk back down the drive away. Putting my headphones back on, I walk the short trip home. I walk into the house to see a massive white thing being flung around in the garden. I roll my eyes and walk into the kitchen, grabbing two glasses of water and placing my phone on the side and I walk into the garden. I stand at the back door shocked at what I see before me. A bunch of shirtless men all in the garden.

I try looking for Jay within these men but fail to find him, so I decide to use my voice instead. "Jay, What the hell is happening here?!" All the men stop and stare right at me, I have never felt so self-conscious in my life, I wanted to run up the stairs and hide in my room.

"Boys stop staring, she is my younger sister." I start to blush as everyone quickly looks away, apart from one, and I see Jay come out from inside the white mess. Also not wearing a t-shirt. Smiling at me, he takes the glass of water from my hand and drinks it in one mouthful. "I made some friends while out on the bike." He looked at me as I eye up all the guys. "They don't have to stay if you don't want them to." He obviously saw the discomfort on my face, I trust Jay 100% but I am always going to be wary of Derek sneaking up on us.

"No honestly it is fine Jay, it just a new place and I am always going to be wary to begin with." I look at him and he registers what I mean.

"We're going to be okay here Annalise" He pulls me into a hug and kisses the top of my head. Jay eventually joins them, and I sit on our bench sipping my drink while I watch. One of the boys keep catching my eye, every time he sees me looking, he throws a quick wink my way and returns back to work.