Chapter 14.

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"I wish I could have seen his face, life is so cruel." Maximilian groaned as he leaned his head on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes.

He wasn't with Candice because she had left earlier, something about a spar and her mom.

We had decided to order pizza again and were currently in the Television room with our friends. We were playing Fifa while we joked around and just hung out, it was fun.

"Whoa, you guys are having a party and didn't invite us?" We all looked at the door to see Edward, Edgar and Adrian smiling at us.

"Because you're party poopers." Gabriel said.

"Amen!" Maximilian said raising his hand which held a glass filled with coke... and a little extra, "Not you, Edgar." He said glancing at his brothers without raising his head from my shoulder.

I saw Edgar smirk as Edward glared at his brother. I saw Adrian purse his lips as his eyes ran over Maximilian and me before he looked at me raising his brows.

I bit my lip before I turned to look at my blue Slushie while I drank some of it so I wasn't looking at him – because his eyes seemed to be accusing me.

"Are you all drinking?" Adrian's voice was shocked.

Maximilian shot up from my shoulder.

"No! No. Um..." Maximilian defended quickly.

"Do not lie to me! Are you kidding me?! Thandi, Shayne and Jaime are not even eighteen. Are you serious right now?! Go to your room, Maximilian, this little party is over." Adrian said grabbing a bottle of beer from Gabriel. "You guys go home."

"No. You cannot tell me what to do –" Maximilian began.

"Go to your room, or I will let our Father know about this – and yours too, Gabriel." Adrian glared at the two.

"Please don't –" Gabriel looked terrified.

"Adrian, come on. Calm down. They were just having some harmless fun." Edgar said.

"'Harmless'?" Adrian looked at him with disbelief. "Are you joking?"

Edgar opened his mouth but said nothing before he looked at Maximilian giving him an 'I tried' face while he shrugged.

"Uh... see you tomorrow, Man." Gabriel smiled making Maximilian smile as they man-hugged each other.

"I'll be taking this." We laughed as Jaime stood up with a box of pizza.

I got up and hugged all our friends before they left leaving an awkward silent cloud over the rest of us.

"Rooms. Both of you." Adrian frowned at us.

"But she did not do anything wrong, it was me. She doesn't even drink." Maximilian said, "Adrian." He pleaded. Adrian sighed, his eyes avoiding his brother's eyes.

"Fine. She is off the hook. You go to your room." Adrian said frowned. Maximilian gave me a smile before he attempted to leave but Adrian grabbed his arm, "Uh-uh. Give me that –"

Maximilian sighed before handing Adrian his glass. Adrian rolled his eyes as Maximilian stomped past him before grabbing each of the twins' arms and dragging them with him as they spoke in hushed tones.

Adrian sighed as he began grabbing all the alcohol bottles. There weren't that much.

"I have to get Arthur to make this disappear." Adrian said to me as he lifted the bag with the alcohol in it before he walked out.

I sighed gathering all the other things we had left lying around before I went to put some of it in the kitchen and throw the trash away.

I made my way upstairs and into my room. I walked in and stopped as my eyes fell on Adrian once again seated on my bed as he had been in the morning.

"Um... is this going to become a habit?" I joked.

"Honestly, it might, Jessica." He smiled back at me.

I laughed as I shut my door before I walked over to my dresser to get my laptop. I felt his eyes stick to me as I moved around my room. I dropped my laptop and phone beside him on my bed before I stepped back nervously as he still had not moved his eyes from me.

"Is – is there a reason you're here?" I asked self-consciously as I ran my hand through my hair and pulled it all over my right shoulder while avoiding his eyes.

My eyes followed him as he stood up and I frowned at the fact that he was now a foot taller than me when seconds ago I was looking down on him. He stepped close to me and I fought the urge to step back. My stomach was blowing up and I wasn't breathing, he hadn't even touched me.

What the heck is wrong with you, Aria? Stop being weird...

I decided to take my own advice and stood a little straighter as I looked up at him.

My persona crashed and I almost shivered when his hand lifted to my neck and his thumb pushed my chin up a little more. I swallowed unsure of what more to say before I realised I had been holding my breath from the second he had moved closer to me.

"Uh –" I began an attempt to somehow change the situation we were in or whatever it was.

"What was that with Max earlier?" he asked, his serious eyes studying my face.

"Wh-what?" I asked confused, my voice came out softer than I would have liked. I had no idea what was wrong with me; I never let other people feel more in control than I did in a fight... Well, this wasn't a fight... Point is, I felt pretty intimidated by him. I felt like I had less control with him here. Was it because he was going to be king? He just had that authority radiating from him...

"When we walked in earlier... What was that?" He asked.

Was he referring to how Maximilian was leaning on me when they had come into the TV room?

"Um... We were..." I drifted. What were we doing? It wasn't romantic, I knew that. Was that how best friends were? Best friends. I knew the guy for a week... But... if I had to choose one it would be Maximilian despite our differences. Fuck, when did we even become friends? This isn't good, what the hell am I doing here?!

"Well," I was snapped from my thoughts – and I mean snapped, because I gasped – when his lips brushed my ear as he spoke, "I did not like it... My brothers are off limits, Jessica." He said.

My eyes widened as he pulled back to look at me.

"You – you think Max and I? Um, no, no. Firstly: no. And second, he has a girlfriend... even if he didn't... no..." I said shaking my head. I could not even picture it. Maximilian was cool but he was absolutely disgusting when viewed in that sense... and probably quite a few others as well...

He smiled. "You are adorable..." he mumbled.

I felt myself blush as he leaned down and kissed my cheek gently. He leaned back a little, presumably to see my reaction and my eyes caught sight of his lips. He was really close to me... A few more centimetres and we could be...

I swallowed before I realised he was leaning towards me. I looked towards my dresser so I wasn't looking at him as I cleared my throat.

"So – how – how's Emily?" I spoke making him step back instantly.

I let out a silent breath of relief.

"Emily... right..." His voice was a husky whisper that made me want to pull him back to me for some reason, but obviously I resisted that. He cleared his throat looking at me. "She – she's fine. I mean... she's good." He said with a slight stutter.

The room went awkwardly silent for a few seconds after that before he moved to sit back down on my bed and smiled at me.

"Are you seeing anyone?" he asked. Oh right, he had been absent from my embarrassment this morning at the breakfast table.

"Yes..." I lied.

He chuckled. "Liar." He said smirking.

"You don't know that." I sat next to him.

"Actually, I do. I can tell when you lie, it is exactly like –" he stopped and glanced away from me quickly before he smiled, "Um... I know, trust me... That and my brothers do not keep things from me." He winked.

I groaned and covered my face.

"It is not a bad thing, Jessica." He said chuckling.

"Um-Hm." Was the only response I could muster and he laughed as my phone began ringing. "Hello?" I asked.

"Hey, little one."

"Papa." I frowned. I hated when he called me that.

"Alright, baby bear."

"Dad, that's worse." I groaned as I glared at the mirror. My mom came up with that one. I heard Adrian chuckle from beside me as.

"Hey, you are my youngest. Who is that?" he asked.

"Some guy..." Adrian raised his brows smiling as he pointed to him and shook his head before mouthing 'I am THE guy'. I rolled my eyes shoving his chest so that he fell back onto my bed laughing.

"How's my little girl doing?"

"I'm good, Papa... How are you?" I asked.

"A little angry that you didn't tell me you almost died, but other than that, I'm peachy, Honey." He said sarcastically.

"Sorry..." I mumbled, "I didn't almost die... I just got hit on the head, I'm fine now..." I said.

"No concussion?" he asked.

"No, like I said I'm fine." I rolled my eyes.

"Alright Sweetheart... That boy better not be in your room..." my eyes widened as I looked at Adrian who was lying on my bed like it was his own, he had even went as far as to kick his shoes off and put his sock-covered feet on my bed. He opened one of his eyes, probably feeling my stare and raised a brow before shutting his eye again.

"Um, you just called when we were talking to each other about Max." I said.

"Max?" I heard my father, "Oh, Maximilian."

"Yes, him..." I said.

"Alright. Well, I'll see you. I love you, Sweetheart."

"I love you too, Dad." I smiled as I hung up before I got up and glared down at Adrian.

"That's sweet." He mumbled into my pillow.

"Get off of my bed!" I said. He just rolled over so that he was facing the other wall before he pulled the blanket over himself. "Adrian, get out of my bed." I groaned.

He didn't respond, and after five minutes of my glaring at him I gave up when I realised he was asleep. Great. I frowned as I grabbed my laptop and put it away before I grabbed my phone.

I guess I'll just be in the gym until Adrian decided to move to his own bedroom.

*****