Chapter 19

Dan wanted to throw up. Amy had specifically told him to be very patient with Natalie, seeing how she only trusts Dan at the moment. Sinead thinks it's adorably cute and tragically forbidden at the same time. Whatever that's supposed to mean. He's sure her thoughts are in the same lane as Ian Cobra and his disgusting ideas. Seriously, that dude just won't let up and stop giving him all those murderous stares.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Dan shuddered from where he sat.

On Natalie's bed.

Which was in her room.

Gross.

Dan was sure there is some written law from all those old people's time that said it was absolutely forbidden for a teenage boy to be in his girl cousin's room.

If there wasn't, well... There should be!

This is pure torture. Dan doesn't like it. Ian is doing more than not hating it. Hamilton and Jonah are useless when it come to questioning Ian's decisions.

Natalie held up a poster for him to see. "See? Justin Drew Bieber," she said happily.

"Oh god," Dan blanched at the sight of all the CDs and posters and cr- trash in Natalie's room. It was all so... wrong. When Ian announced that Natalie's most important things from their mansion are going to be delivered soon, he wasn't expecting all this... horror. Dan personally thought they would be clothes, or personal maids. Heck, he even wish a living pony with pink bows arrived in their doorstep rather than all this junk.

"This one's One Direction," she told him, her amber eyes devoid of any joking. She began naming all of five boys. "This is Harry and this is Niall. Oh and this is-"

"Gay," Dan interrupted, glaring at all the Bieber and 1D posters.

"Pardon?" Natalie asked, looking as though he just interrupted her from a lecture about life.

Dan frowned at her, shoving the CDs as far away from him as possible with his foot. "Natalie, they're gay," he said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. Enough is enough. He'd rather put a poisoned dart in his mouth rather than endure all this.

"No, they're not," she replied seriously. She held up another poster, unperturbed by Dan's sudden hostility. "Big Time Rush -"

"No," Dan cut her off, standing up from where he was seated and getting ready to leave.

"But -"

"Natalie?"

"Yes?"

Dan gripped her shoulders and looked at her directly in the eye, holding her gaze steady and looking all serious and humorless. "They're gay," Dan repeated firmly, the matter not open to any more argument. They were silent for a long minute.

"I bet you can't sing like them," Natalie said defensively, yet quietly.

Dan stopped at that. "Excuse me?" he asked with his jade green eyes glinting dangerously and narrowing to slits.

Natalie swallowed nervously, but she hid her anxiety with a stubborn set of her jaw and her arms crossed over her chest challengingly. "You keep on saying they're gay and that they don't sing. That they only shriek. I bet you can't sing half as good as them," she told him.

"You really want to bet on that, princess?" Dan said. He has his challenged face on and if this girl thinks that those... guys are better than him, ha. Ha. Ha. "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you."

With that, he left Natalie standing alone, wondering what just happened.

xxxOOOxxx

"Under the mistletoe," Sinead sang quietly, dusting the top of the fireplace. She stood on her tiptoes, balancing her weight on Hamilton's back.

Hamilton is on all fours, not the very least bothered by Sinead's feather weight. "Why are you singing that?" he asked, crinkling his nose as dust bunnies fell near him.

"Hm?" Sinead looked down at him. "Oh, nothing. It's just usually this is where you put a mistletoe."

Hamilton considered that for a moment. "You mean that little piece of grass they put every Christmas?" he asked confusedly, faintly remembering having seen a tiny sprig with little circles of something on it. He also remembered excited squeals from girls, some sneaking glances at him.

Sinead stomped her foot on his back, annoyed. "It's not a little piece of grass," she said exasperatedly. "It's a symbolical and sweet plant."

Oh god, there's the rare girl voice, Hamilton thought with a sigh. "I don't get it," he told her truthfully. "You cut up some leaves from a freaking tree and you put it on top of the ceiling and then what?" He just couldn't see the point of it all. It was pointless.

Sinead jumped off his back and glared at him. "You have no idea what it means, do you?" she asked with her arms crossed, looking slightly upset but he couldn't be sure.

Hamilton stood up and brushed the dirt of his pants. "No, ma'am, I do not – but you could tell me?" he called out quickly when Sinead turned on her heels at the word no and stomped off.

Girls.

xxxOOOxxx

"Adhiraj is a git," Ian told her, the dishtowel making squeaky noises everytime he wipes the dishes. "He could've told me everything the moment he saw me, but he didn't because he's an idiot."

Amy smiled, biting the inside of her cheek to keep herself from laughing. Ian sounded so much like a kid who's throwing a whiny tantrum because he wasn't given what he wants. "He has his reasons," she assured him, holding out a dripping plate.

Ian took it with a roll of his eyes. "Yes, he does. And it's to annoy me," he replied matter-of-factly. "Seriously, he hates me because he always says that I'm so much like Vikram and he couldn't just get over their childhood." He saw Amy's questioning look and quickly explained. "Vikram ruined Adhiraj's childhood. Bossing him around, using darts with sleeping concoctions on him, bullying at its best mostly." Ian shrugged as if he couldn't believe that Adhiraj couldn't take such petty things.

"Typical Lucian brotherhood," Amy said drily.

Ian nodded seriously, completely missing Amy's sarcasm. "I know."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Despite that cute anecdote, I don't think your uncle's reason was merely to annoy you. Obviously, he thinks you're smart enough to figure things out. You're his nephew after all," she winked at him.

Ian shot her an exasperated look. "Me being sharp has nothing to do with my relation to that idiot."

"And," Amy said pointedly, "he must have deeper reasons of his own, so stop being a kid and be thankful."

Ian grumbled under his breath and Amy caught the words 'Madrigal thinking'. They worked in comfortable silence after that.

"What do you think about Vikram's story?" Amy said quietly, handing Ian a dripping glass.

Ian took it, breathed out and started up at the window above the sink into the starry night. "I don't know, Amy," he told her truthfully. Amy looked at his thoughtful face which as usual is devoid of any other emotion aside from curiosity. "He could be telling the truth, or he could be lying again." He looked at her with a sad smile. "I'm afraid his cunning surpasses my Lucian abilities."

Amy swallowed at the sudden eye contact. It was very, very rare that Ian looks at her in the eye and Amy looks right back. She had been extremely careful not to look at those amber orbs again for fear of falling without anybody to catch her. That would hurt. That would hurt a lot. Amy cleared her throat as she washed another dirty plate. Ian noticed that she did so with sudden ferventness. "I think," Amy started. Ian must have imagined it, but Amy's voice sounded a little shaky. "I think that it's about time we look for Isabel."

Ian nodded. He smiled that sincere smile of his. "It's going to be alright, Amy Cahill. Whatever we decide for tomorrow will go perfectly well." He laughed suddenly as a flitting thought passed his mind. "I mean, you have me on your team, right?" The sincere smile was quickly replaced by cocky smirk, although this one was more teasing than annoying.

Amy swatted his arm. "What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, finally laughing despite of his presence.

"That means our future plans will be foolproof because I'm amazing," he said with a wink.

xxxOOOxxx

Jonah looked over at Hamilton who was sulking unattractively on a corner. If only he knew how ugly he looks, Jonah shook his head sadly. He knows he's going to regret what he is about to do much, much later, but the bro code is just too strong.

"What's up, Hammer?" Jonah asked lightly, brushing Angelle's hair out of her face. "You look like they just banned Call of Duty."

Hamilton snorted, glaring at the wall. "Nothing's wrong. Why does it look like something's wrong?" he replied snappily, a frown threatening to embed itself on his face.

"Well, no, not really. It's just that there's a huge sign plastered on your forehead saying, 'I fought with Sinead again and I need someone to complain to'," Jonah said calmly, shrugging it off. "Probably just my imagination."

Hamilton let out an annoyed breath. "What am I supposed to do? Apparently being her boyfriend requires me to know about stupid plants as well," he grumbled, frowning deeper.

Jonah gave him a confused look. "I thought Amy assigned the both of you to clean the living room?" he asked. Apparently the others who had been at home during the time where Ian and Amy's group are trying hard not to get killed had somehow found a way to destroy the house and make it look... decent in fifteen minutes flat. However, missing Armani polo shirts from a certain somebody's wardrobe has caused suspicion and it went downhill from there. It wasn't a pretty sight especially when ruined clothes started resurfacing. The only one who didn't seemed bothered by everything was Dan. He actually looked impressed.

Hamilton chuckled darkly. "She cleaned. I became a footstool," he said.

"Okaay..." Jonah does not even want to go there. "So what is it about plants?"

"Something called missile blow," Hamilton muttered grumpily. "She started singing a weird song that I'm pretty sure was from one of those Nat's 'crushes'. And I innocently asked why she was singing that. She went on about lecturing me about a 'sweet and symbolic plant'. Then, she walked away."

"Missile blow?" Jonah looked confused again before realization smacked him in the face. "Oh no. You don't mean to say 'mistletoe', did you?"

Hamilton glared at him. "That's what I said," he insisted stubbornly.

Jonah chucked a shoe at him. "No, you idiot! Missile blow is what you're gonna get if you don't bring your sorry butt over to where she is and apologize."

Hamilton threw the shoe back at him, hitting him square in the chest. "Why do I have to apologize every. Single. Time?"

Jonah slammed his face on the warm and soft sheets of Angelle's bed. Without raising his head, he said, "Because a girl mentioning mistletoe means..."

Jonah watched as his burly cousin left the room, noticing how red Hamilton's ears were.

"Yeah, that was Hamilton," Jonah told Angelle. "He hasn't changed one bit. He might have gotten himself a smart girlfriend, but that didn't improve his common sense. Not one bit."

If Angelle could only talk past her coma, she would have told him just how alike they were.

"Sinead's making your antidote though, so who am I to complain, right?" Jonah shrugged, chuckling good-naturedly to himself.

Angelle wanted to roll her eyes so bad, especially since she can't smack him upside the head just yet.

oooooOooooo

Kinda felt weird... Not having any AN on top.

I hope I've cleared out most of the misunderstood concept of the story so far and if there are major knots I've missed, please tell me. XD

Also, to those people who have received the confirmation for the DocX connection, I hope to be hearing from you awemazing people soon. If all goes well, I will be posting that story on Wattpad. Yep. I have an account there, for those who fell off their seats in shock. Haha. I'm tantei_mika_chan there, so if you want to look me up on Wattpad, feel free to leave a message. XD

Read, re-read and review?

Anyways, here is something I missed doing.

QUESTION of the DAY:

Have you guys read The Fault in our Stars? What have you been reading these days?

And,

SNEAK PEEK for Chapter 20:

Ian pursed his lips. "The others who had... devastated the mansion while we were gone are now in Fiske's safekeeping, Natalie," he reassured her. "He's a good man, if not strict."

Hamilton snorted distractedly. "Yeah. Strict is what I'd call grounding the whole boys' dorm because a certain Kabra thought it would be nice to play Romeo in the middle of the night and –" A flying pillow came soaring down Hamilton's mouth. Hamilton looked up at the innocent look Ian is wearing, but he could have sworn the moment their eyes locked, Ian glared at him with a look of murder.

"Ham, just shut up and try not to get yourself killed," Sinead stage-whispered. Hamilton frowned at her, said nothing and went back to fiddling with her fingers.

Amy went back to her leadership dress. She has been wearing this persona more often than what she hoped she is required to. "Sinead, how's the antidote going?" she asked her best friend.

Lastly... I have found this cute little website where you could ask people anonymously about anything under the sun or over the moon. Here is my profile: (slash)AngelicSpring. So ask me anything. XD I'll be waiting for your questions. :)

Last TWO chapters when I update next, you awemazing people!

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

See you real soon.

AngelicSpring loves you all.