Lila ✔

28I Jealous

This chapter was actually rumaisakhann idea so thank you for that and I hope that it's lived up to your expectations ❤

I let out a groan and groggily pulled my left arm out from under my covers. I blindly reached over to my bedside table and fumbled for my phone, picking it up and answering the person on the other end who so rudely decided to awaken me. I didn't even bother to check the ID.

Lazily swiping up to accept the call, I brought my phone to my ear and murmured a tired, "Hello?"

"Lila?" the person on the other end of the line answered. The person who joined the army and I hadn't spoken to in four years.

My cousin. Hunter.

Hunter went into the army when I was ten and hadn't been able to make contact with me and the rest of our family since then. He hadn't been here for Christmas, thanksgiving, Easter, birthdays, Halloween and even my dad's wedding. I was almost starting to doubt I'd ever have contact with him again.

Growing up, he'd basically been my brother. He was twenty five and was there with me through everything. He and my uncle and aunt lived across the street from us but he basically live with my mom, dad and I.

The fact that I was hearing from him almost made me tear up.

"Hu- Hunter," I stuttered in shock.

"Hey, little maple," Hunter breathed out, voice laced with a large number of emotions.

Only Hunter had ever called me little maple. The nickname started after I was reaching for a packet of hula hoops in the cupboard when I was five, and I accidentally knocked over the syrup. The lid fell off in the process and the sauce practically exploded all over me, covering my hair, my clothes and my skin in sticky maple syrup.

"I missed you," I said, my voice breaking slightly as I held back a sob.

"I missed you too."

"I really do love you, bro," I practically whispered.

"I love you t-" he said but my attention was diverted by someone speaking from the doorway.

"Why are you saying 'I love you' to a boy," they growled.

I twisted around to see Noah stood in the doorway, glaring at my phone. My eyes widened for a moment before an excited grin spread across my face.

I covered the microphone with my hand so that Hunter wouldn't hear our exchange. "It's my brother!" I exclaimed happily.

"What?" Noah asked with furrowed brows. "You don't have a brother."

"He's my cousin Hunter. I call him my brother," I grinned.

Noah's face fell slightly and his shoulders sagged, but I was too focused on listening to Hunter asking what was was going on to absorb his reaction properly.

"Hello? Maple? Are you still there?" Hunter's muffled voice spoke through my phone. I immediately took my thumb off the microphone and held it up to my ear.

"Sorry. Yeah, I'm here," I replied quickly.

"I'll see you later then," I heard Noah mutter from the doorway.

"Bye!" I called distractedly, before turning my attention back to the phone in my hand.

"So. How have you been?"

LILA

I let out a long chuckle and sighed contendly. "I'm just naturally annoying," I retorted to Hunter's irritating remark.