Chapter Ten: Three Weeks Later


ASH

It has been three weeks since Paul came over. We mended things over the phone so we're back to being the normal brothers that we were. I seriously felt like such a jackass after that fight. I definitely crossed the line by bringing Amy into it; it was totally uncalled for.

Paul had apologized for punching me. "We never resorted to violence; mom taught us better," he said. I agreed with him, but I deserved the punch all the same. Hopefully next time, I'll be more careful about being an idiot.

Speaking of Paul, he and Dawn are dating; secretly of course and so far, nothing in the papers. Paul says that he's happy at the moment which makes me happy. As long as he slowly pushes Amy to the back of his mind, things will go smoothly. But if this relationship gets out to the public, no matter how happy they are, I'm pretty positive dad and Cyrus will kill them.

Speaking of dad, since Paul came for the short visit, he's rarely here. He's been home only about two hours every day and mom constantly looks depressed. Every time I ask her about dad's absence, she always feeds me the same bullshit, "your dad is out trying to get votes", and then changes to a topic that she loses interest in quickly. Always.

I feel sorry for her. Dad was never gone this much.

Maybe if I could be more like Paul, he'd want to see me and he'd be home more often. Dad clearly doesn't care about me and he'd be home more often if he would. Just wait, one day I'll be the son he wants to have; one that would make him proud.

Just as my thought ended, Lea came into the room. She's been here for two days straight because her parents went on vacation to Cinnabar Island in the Kanto region. She didn't want to be alone.

Lea's presence makes me happy; this is the reason that four days ago I asked her to be my girlfriend. I took a chance and took Paul's advice and I'm glad I did. She distracts my thoughts about favouritism in the family.

"Hey," I greet her as she walks into my room.

"Hi Ash! I have a question to ask you," she says excitedly clutching her phone as she comes to sit next to me.

"Go ahead."

"How would you like to see your brother for a week straight?"

Her question confuses me. "What?"

"Well Dawn called and we spoke for about an hour and then she invited us to stay at her place for the week," she explains.

"Uh, Lea, I'm sorry but my dad is going to be livid if he knows I went there intentionally. Especially if he knows my girlfriend is best friends with a Berlitz, so I have absolutely no valid excuse to go."

She pouts at me. "To see your brother of course. Come on, your dad is barely home anyway, he won't even know you're gone." Even though she didn't mean it in that way, her comment stung, a lot.

"You could just lie and say you're staying over at my house," she suggests.

I hesitate a bit. I don't lie much.

"Ash?" Maybe a bit too long.

"Uh- this is difficult. Has Cyrus even agreed to this? Lea, while you're being welcomed with open arms, I'm still Giovanni's son which means I'm still a Sicara. I don't think your warm welcome will be transferred onto me."

"Ash~," she whines, "you worry too much, Cyrus isn't home for more than the first half of the days that we'll be there. Dawn and I talk Ash, she knows that my boyfriend is her boyfriend's little brother. She invited you!"

I sigh, then look at her with a smile. "Fine, you win."

Her smile grows as she cuddles close to me, "thank you."

I kiss her forehead in response.


PAUL

As far as the secret relationship is going, it's definitely a secret alright. No one has any idea. And now that Cyrus is away, being in a relationship with his daughter will be easier to carry out with the big man being off site.

It never appealed to me to keep a secret. After all, Ash always knew what was going on with my life. And with my family, I never really kept a secret, I just never spoke to them about my problems or really about what was going on with me; omitting is a lot easier than admitting. But only Ash knew. That's why I asked for Dawn's permission to tell my brother what was going on between her and I. She agreed as long as her best friend would be allowed to know about us as well. The relationship isn't so much my secret as it is hers, so I don't really care who she tells.

I don't like keeping more burdens than I have on my mind, so as long as someone close to me –such as my brother- would know, I don't quite keep it a burden. Ash is good with secrets. It's not so much that he forgets about them, he just puts it in the back of his mind and doesn't think about it. If I bring it up though, he'll know what I'm talking about. He's good to have around. That's why I told him about my kiss with Dawn, he'll tell me his thoughts about the situation without sugar coating it, and he won't judge… much.

Nobody would guess that we're best friends because we're so opposite. We're like light and darkness, except… I don't know who's who anymore.

"Hey Paul," Dawn says, interrupting my thoughts.

"Hey," I answer her back.

Her eyebrows furrow together, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking."

"Oh, alright," she says simply. She then takes my hand and leads me to her room. She often does this because there are no cameras in her room. I close the door behind us while she jogs to her bed and jumps to sit on it. She pats the place beside her indicating that she wants me to sit beside her, and I do. Though, I don't run and jump as she did. I don't do that.

"What's up?" I ask her.

"Nothing," she says as she leans her head on my shoulder.

I give her a curious look. "Why don't you lie down," I suggest.

She nods her head. She's tired. I look at the time to see that it's already 11:30pm. We're both in sweatpants so we don't bother with pyjamas and we get under the covers. She places her head comfortably on my shoulder and her hand on my chest, while I shift my position around so that I'm holding her protectively.

About ten minutes later, she's so quite that I think she's fallen asleep. I was wrong though. "I'm happy," she says suddenly.

I turn my head to look at her, but she isn't looking back at me. "I'm glad I met you, you know, and gave you a chance instead of just judging you like my dad did, because I really like you, and with you, I'm happy. It sucks that we have to keep our relationship a secret though."

I kiss her head which makes her tilt her head upwards to look at me.

"I'm happy too," I whisper. Her smile grows before she shifts upward to kiss me deeply. I'm about to kiss her back returning the emotion, but she pulls away.

"I have to tell you something," she says.

"It can't wait?" I reply.

"Nope," she says excitedly, "I've invited my best friend over for a few days, the same best friend who's dating your bother, so I invited them both. They'll be here tomorrow."

I'm actually so happy that I break into a smile. I miss Ash, especially since I'm not counting the last time we were in each other's presence. Then, he wasn't my brother, but the one I've been speaking on the phone with recently is, and I'm excited to see him again. I cup my hands behind her neck and bring her closer to me. She isn't breaking away from me this time.


DAWN

Paul and I woke up around 11am. Though, it took forever to get Paul up because it was, to him, an "ungodly hour". I guess since I'm a morning person I don't understand his need to sleep in wasting away half a day.

Today is the day my best friend is coming over, therefore today is definitely not the day to sleep in.

I walk to the kitchen and fix myself a large glass of orange juice. Paul walks in as I'm doing so.

"Why are you drinking orange juice? Where's the coffee machine?" he asks as he comes behind me and pulls me closer by the waist as he playfully kisses my neck.

I let out a giggle. "Coffee is so overrated and it's bad for you. Here," I say, offering him my glass, "have some orange juice."

He lets out a sarcastic laugh, "yeah, and no caffeine is bad for my mental state."

I roll my eyes at him. "You know where it is." I lightly shove him playfully as he goes to prepare himself a coffee. I immediately feel the loss of heat as he lets go of me and I regret telling him to make his own coffee, I much rather he be holding me.

When we both have our drinks with us, we walk towards the dining room table to sit down.

"When are they coming; my brother and your best friend?"

I look at the grandfather clock stationed to the left end side of the table from where Paul and I are sitting. It reads 11:45am. "Lea told me that they'd be here around 3pm. That gives us three hours to get ready. Should be enough time."

He raises his eyebrow. "It'll take you three hours to get ready?"

I nod my head. "Need I remind you of the Ball."

He rolls his eyes. "You take way too long to get ready. A ten minute shower and throwing on clothes is all you need."

"Are you for real? There is the shower, then hair, then choosing which outfit will work according to the weather and how long it's been since you've worn said ensemble, then there's accessorizing, and lastly makeup. And of course, multiple checks to the mirror to make sure that even when you move around, you still look fabulous," I explain with a smile.

"Uhgg," Paul replies while rubbing his temples, "I would hate to be a girl."

"It isn't so bad when you get used to the routine," I say with a wink.

He slow blinks at me before saying, "I'd rather not."

I let out a chuckle. "Alright, I'm going to start getting ready," I say as I get up, taking my orange juice with me.

At precisely 3pm, the doorbell rings and I can barely hold my excitement. I haven't seen Lea in almost a year. We usually just talk over the phone but now we can finally hangout like we've been planning on doing since we last saw each other.

Paul stands by me as I open the door.

"Lea!" I say enthusiastically as I pull her into a tight hug.

"You're choking me," Lea says in a choked voice.

"And you must be Ash, Lea has told me so much about you," I say as I pull him into a brief hug.

"And my brother has told me a lot about you," he says as we pull away, "nice to finally meet you Dawn."

I notice that Paul only smiled a friendly smile towards Ash, which he returns. "Nice to see you again," Paul greets his younger brother.

"Same here."

I clear my throat. He obviously forgot about his brother's girlfriend standing right beside him. But he got the message.

"Oh, and nice to meet you Lea. Ash has told me quite a bit about you," he says with a polite smile.

"To be honest, I don't know much about you because Ash doesn't open up much about his family. But Dawn has told me a bit from our last phone conversation. But I do know that I'll be out for blood if you hurt her," she says as she smiles back brightly.

My mouth is literally hanging open.

"But nice to meet you too," she finishes telling my boyfriend.

I only laugh when Paul raises an eyebrow.

"Come on, let's go inside," I say as I open the door wider.


Author's note: I actually thought I already posted this chapter, turns out I didn't :P. Sorry about the long wait guys but this semester is a real bitch & work isn't helping either. But I do plan on finishing this story by the end of the summer, I'll try hard for it.

Now that they're all in one house... well, something is definitely gonna go down, and I'm currently writing the chapter for it :). Hopefully next chapter will go up at the end of next month :).

Keep Reading & Review for cyber hugs :D
PorcelainDollxx