Three

(Sunday)

"Hey. It's good to see you again." my sister said unpacking her things.

I nodded, though she couldn't see me. She got back about 5 minutes ago, and came right in to unpack.

"Alina?" she came into the room. Even though the store is small, it contains four rooms. The main room is the store, the back room -we call it- is the break room, then, my sister and I share a bedroom, making the fourth room a bathroom. I spend most of my time in the shop. I even sleep in here sometimes.

Esmeralda slapped her hand down on the hard wooden counter top. I didn't jump or even look up at her.

"Alina, what's your deal?!" she asked angrily. "You've been staring at that frikin telephone ever since I walked through the door!" she grabbed the black and silver cordless phone. I automatically grabbed her wrist in reaction.

"Put the phone down. Now." I threatened in a dark voice. She did as I asked, probably scared to death.

"What's your problem?" grabbing a chair from the break room and pulling it up to the front of the counter, she sat down and waited for my answer.

"I don't have a problem." I got up and went to the bathroom.

(Esmeralda's POV)

I heard the door close as my sister went to the bathroom. That was the only room in the back that had a door on it. I sat there appalled by my sisters actions. She was hiding something from me, I knew it. I waited for her to come back out.

Then, the phone rang. 'Is this why she was staring at the phone? Was this the call she had been waiting for?' I thought to myself, picking up the phone.

"Ceres', may I help you?" I answered.

On the other end of the phone, "Alina?" a very appealing voice asked for my sister.

He sounded sexy, and I was curious, so... "may I ask who's calling?"

"It's Zack." he sounded a little confused.

Zack? That name didn't seem familiar at all. I looked around the corner real quick to see if Alina was coming. She was still in the bathroom. More than likely she was either trying to find a way to explain her odd behavior, or she was stalling. Stalling was something she did a lot, so I assumed it was the second.

"I'm sorry. Alina is deathly ill, I would be glad to help you." I lied.

"What?! Well, what's the matter?!" he was nearly shouting at this point.

I knew it was wrong to lie like this, but I was going to find out who this guy was, and why Alina hadn't bothered to tell me about him. "Hm, we aren't really sure."

*click* he hung up. "bingo." I whispered, putting the phone back on the receiver. "He should be here any minute." I smiled.

Alina came out and narrowed her eyes at me. "What?"

"Did someone call while I was in the bathroom?" she sat back down.

"Yeah."

She jumped, and her eyes widened. "Who? What did he want?"

"He? How do you assume that is was a guy?" I had to admit, toying with her was wrong but oh-so-fun.

"Oh. I-I..." she started to blush.

'Oh my god, she's... she's got a crush on that Zack guy. It's totally obvious. But, how long have they known each other?' there were so many questions I wanted to ask, but I knew they'd be answered soon enough.

The door flew open. "Is she okay?!"

I smiled widely. He was hot. Muscular, beautiful blue eyes, flawless. "She's great, thanks for asking, handsome." I laughed.

"What? Zack?" Alina was staring at him.

He ran over to her and felt her forehead. He looked at me. "She seems fine, a little red, but..."

I laughed again.

"Esmeralda right? Oh, no, was I tricked?" he asked slumping forward.

"So she's told you about me." I looked over at Alina. We all had some explaining to do, especially me."

We were all sitting. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TOLD HIM SOMETHING LIKE THAT!!!" Alina yelled at me.

"What about you? You've only known him for 4 days and you're already crushing on him!" I blurted out. 'Oops'

She shot her head towards him then looked away. Blushing again. Zack even blushed a little. He was looking at her out of the corner of his eye. If I knew any better, I'd say he liked her too. Alina was easier to read. I have never seen her this way before, she never cared about guys before. Maybe I was being too quick to judge about the situation. She deserves nothing but happiness, and clearly, she was happy to have met him. She's never been in a relationship. I started to feel bad after thinking about that.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have butted in and lied. Alina..."

She stood up. "Esmeralda, I'm not angry at you. You've been pulling crap like this ever since we were little. But..." she looked at Zack.

"Huh? What did I do?" he asked nervously.

"I can't believe you fell for her trick!" Alina pointed at me. "Even after what I told you about her and her conniving little..." she stopped.

It was quiet until we all started to laugh.

Later that day, I got to know Zack a little better. We all talked for a while until he had to leave.

"Hey, um... can I talk to you privately?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Bye, Alina." he waved to my sister.

"Bye, Zack. Esmeralda, don't keep him too long." she said, annoyed.

Zack and I stepped outside before he left.

"What's up Esmeralda?"

"Well, it's just..." I trailed off.

"I'm not going to hurt her. I know we've known each other for a short time, but I like her." he smiled. "It was really nice to meet you."

"You too." I replied. He had took the words right out of my mouth.

He was gone a few seconds later. 'He's such a nice guy.' I thought to myself. Sighing, I went back into the shop to apologize once more to Alina for my sick, insinuated plan to interfere in her life.