Lily |18+ [Paraíso, #1]

twenty one

|J U L I A|

"So. . . how've you been?" Steph asks carefully.

I just wish she'd apply the same thoughtfulness to her driving because we're going over ninety now in her car and I'm honestly scared of my life right now.

In all truth, it's my fault we're even this late to our mom's birthday dinner. There was a minor disagreement over my choice of clothes, of which I blame Steph because of her poor styling skills.  

And yes, it's not party but dinner because mom's standards are high and she doesn't subscribe to messy, over-the-top, parties with liquor as the main source of refreshment. Her words not mine.

"Well?" Steph's voice jars me out of my thoughts.

I've been alive long enough to know that my sister's perceptive tone is always accompanied with a not so nice piece of news.

"I've been great. Just anxious for the audition on Thursday."

"Anything in particular I should know about?"

"Like what?"

"Like. . . how the hell you ended up trending on twitter."

Okay. That's not the news I was expecting. "What are you on about—"

"This." She throws me her phone and

It's a picture alright. Of me. And Jake. In a very compromising situation and by compromising, I mean practically standing close to each other, the back of his is hand stroking my jaw and it sort of looks like we're about to kiss. My eyes are closed and my lips are parted and now I want to kill whoever took this picture.

"Should've known." This town thrives off drama and controversy, I'm not even shocked this found it's way to social media.

"I mean, the picture itself is kind of hot but I'm still mad at you for not telling me that you guys are back together. I thought we were sisters."

"That's because we're not back together and clearly, this picture is photoshopped."

"Sure," she drags the word. "Let's say, hypothetically, that it wasn't photoshopped. Would it be correct to assume that my little is in kahoots with her former flame?"

"First, I can't believe you just said 'kahoots'. Second, your hypotheses would be incorrect because there's nothing going between me and my old flame," I practically yell the last part.

"You can color me hypothetically impressed at the obvious lie you've just uttered."

"Say the word hypothetically again. I dare you," I threaten her. "And please, for the love of God, slow down. I'm sure mom would appreciate it if we didn't arrive in body bags on her doorstep."

Steph chuckles and slowly hums as she drives, a smug look on her face. I'd slap it out of her if she wasn't my sister and right now's not he ideal time to think about whatever's going on between Jake and I. That file is exclusively saved in my mind and I'll worry over it the moment I successfully get what I want from dad's study. Which is another problem all on its own but I'll work through it.

We arrive at our childhood home in no time and I take a deep breath before alighting from the car.

The lavish estate is just as I remember it. Excessive, extravagant and devoid of any homey warmth. It's just a symbol of saying "Hey! I'm far better and well off than you peasants". But I grew up in this house and I won't take the low road of saying how much I hated it because I know I could have had it much worse and it totally wouldn't be fair to my parents. They did give me everything, as dad said, and I'll forever be grateful for that. But my gratitude does not extend to covering up for them when I learn of where they really get their money.