The big sister

His side of the story.

A high-pitch scream echoed through the enormous room, making more than a few heads turn towards the woman.

Allen rolled his eyes, slowly turning his body around to face the mad female approaching him. She was running, ready to jump on him. He opened his arms and readied himself for impact. She wrapped her arms and legs around his hip, practically like a baby koala. He hugged her back, holding her up and swaying from side o side.

"I missed you so so so much, Ari." She said with a huge smile.

"Missed you too, Pris."

He slowly put her down, her hand still resting on his broad shoulders. "Oh my God. Look at you!" She looked at him up and down, her deep blue eyes watering in the process. "Now I got a hot little brother!"

Allen scoffed, but a swift smile appeared on his face. "Right. You're still the same annoying, pain-in-the-ass older sister." She laughed.

"Always, bro. Always."

They started to head back to Allen's truck, Priscilla talking in an accelerated pace out of excitement. She has always been the talkative type, contrary to Allen, and likes to be the center of attention. Allen always believed that she was born to stand out, as she always did whenever she went.

He put the bags on the back and hopped on the car; quickly checking his phone. He typed fast, noticing Priscilla had opened the door.

A: Just got in the car with my sister. Text you when we get home.

He put his phone aside, and started the car."Wanna go grab something to eat?" She asked.

Allen thought about it for a second. "Yeah, I could eat something."

"Still like Rayllie's burgers as much as before?"

"Pretty much." He laughed. "Some things never change."

"You're right." She nodded. "Sometimes that's not so bad." A smile appeared on his lips, but turned bitter as she pronounced the next words. "How's father?"

Allen remained silent for a moment, grabbing the wheel firmly. "As usual. And before you ask, I haven't seen mother in a couple of months."

"I supposed that much. Is she coming for the dinner?"

"No idea, but I guess she will. You know what father thinks about involving family in his business."

Priscilla looked through the window. "Yeah. He'd be pissed if she's not there to keep appearances." Only a couple of seconds passed when her cheerful tone reached her voice again. "Anyway. Let's have a blast while I'm here!"

He laughed. "Right. What about Franco? He didn't come."

"I know." She pouted. "He had to be somewhere else for business. Next time I'll bring him along."

"I'm glad he got you out of this shithole." His eyes narrowed a little, a faint smile on his face. "I'm happy knowing that you're fine."

His face was soft, almost as warm as his voice was. Priscilla turned her head around to look at his expression, surprised to hear those words from him. He almost never spoke about what he thought or felt. Actually, the last time was when he was around six years old. He sobbed, cried, and left her brand new dress full of snots as he begged her not to go to summer camp. She was sixteen at that time.

Her eyes watered once more.

Allen noticed, awkwardly laughing it off. "What? Can't say anything nice once in a while?"

"Silly, it's not that. Just—" she stopped, shaking her head and smiling. "You've grown so much and—"

"Stop, Pris. None of it was or is your fault." Allen smiled. "I don't want to spend your stay thinking about that crap, OK?"

She nodded frantically, cleaning up a couple of tears. "You're right. I'm happy to see you!" She half screamed, making Allen laugh once more.

His phone buzzed beside him a couple of times while on the road, catching Priscilla's attention as she noticed a girl's name on the notification bar. She knew better than to ask and discarded her curiosity almost immediately.

It took him a good forty-five minutes to arrive at the restaurant, where they order right away. The waitress recognized them from years back, a now thirty-something woman with honey-brown eyes and black hair. She's always worked in that place, reaching to the manager position; yet, she could not just stay still in the office, so she worked as a waitress from time to time.

Both siblings talked about how life has been the past three years they have not seen each other, omitting family matters, and joking around the old days worth remembering. They learned the waitress became a mother a couple of years back, inviting her to a beer to celebrate. They were never close, yet they felt a strange sense of familiarity towards the woman.

After eating, Allen drove back to their place, helping his sister with her suitcase rather to let their butler do it. They called it a night after a couple of hours of chit-chat, as they were tired of the drive and the whole excitement about seen each other after a long time.

Her side of the story

After that night, the following couple of days at school were pretty calmed. Rumors were now more like confirmation rumors, as their repeated physical closeness since Wednesday and the following days made things pretty clear for the rest of their classmates.

They looked more like a couple than they would ever admit. Isabelle was just enjoying the moment as she considered Allen to be pretty much an emotional enigma, and Allen was finally starting to believe all "that" was not so bad after all.

Their night routine kept pretty much the same, as they started calling each other before going to sleep. Of course, those talk would last until late at night, keeping them from having a full night of sleep. They did not mind at all, though.

Saturday morning arrived, the day when Isabelle and Allen set their date to the amusement park. She was overly excited, trying her clothes one after the other, cursing she did not have anything to wear.

"Drama queen who?" Cassidy asked as her friend took another dress and got in the bathroom for the twenty-seventh time that morning.

"Relax, Iry. It's not like you're meeting the president" MJ said, laying on Isabelle's bed and checking his phone.

"Yeah, just relax!" Cassidy said, sighing. "You looked nice in everything you showed us, Iry. Just pick one already."

"I think I like the first one I tried the most…" Isabelle mumbled coming out of the bathroom.

Cassidy rolled her eyes, but smiled at her. "I told you that one was pretty."

The red-head grabbed a half thigh white short with big pockets, and a short and light floral tank top. This matched with her favorite all-white Vans. She turned to look at them.

"I know I'm not meeting the president, ass. That's exactly what I wanted to avoid! But I want to look pretty too." Isabelle pouted.

MJ rose, walking until he was in front of her. He grabbed her face with both of his hands. His eyes were warm, calm; looking at her sweetly. "It's going to be great. Don't worry. You look nice on these, so relax." MJ gave her a reassuring smile.

"Thank you, guys."

Cassidy, who was sitting on the floor, rested her back on Isabelle's bed. "For letting you freak out by your own for an hour? No problem." She laughed.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." MJ walked back to the bed, throwing himself on it. "But I'm not helping you picking up all this shit."

Isabelle opened her mouth, her eyes traveling to Cassidy. "Don't."

She pouted again, this time accepting her destiny.

It took her a good couple of hours to clean up the mess and get ready, when it was already time for Allen to arrive. MJ insisted on waiting for Allen's arrival, hoping he could make a point about how serious he was about Isabelle's happiness. Cassidy didn't want to miss the chance to see the hot guy outside of school, so she stayed, too.

It took them less than ten seconds to reach the front door when Allen parked in front of the house. This time, since her mom and dad were at home, they insisted on meeting the famous savior. As it was to be guessed, Isabelle just ran out of there before they could insist any longer.

The day, bright and sunny, hit her red locks until hey turned into a set of glowing sunset clouds. The wind, moving her hair to one side as she playfully jogged to approach the truck that just parked outside her house.

Allen stepped out of the car wearing black jeans, a pair of gray converse, a cream white long sleeve shirt and a thick light gray sweater over it. Isabelle stopped right in front of him, with a shy smile on her face, and looked up to meet his gaze. Under the sun, his light-blue eyes turned into a sky-blue color; a warmer tone than his usual pale ones.

His lips curved up a little and his head fell to one side, a lock of his black hair falling over his forehead. He could only guess, but maybe all the audience was making her uncomfortable.

The faint smile turned into a wider, crooked smile. His body shifted, quickly surrounding her frame with his strong arms and dragging her into a tight embrace. She felt her face grow hot, but hugged him back without a word. Allen kissed the top of her head, to then look up front.

"Hi, guys." He greeted, landing his eyes on Cassidy and then up to MJ.

He felt a sting of embarrassment as he watched the guy in front of him smile sweetly. Allen had hugged her in front of everyone not only because he missed her and wanted to see how cute her face was being all worked up; deep inside, he wanted to show off in front of the guy who confessed his feelings openly to him. He wanted to mark his territory. Yet, MJ's warm expression made him feel self-conscious. Am I really this pathetic? He thought as he averted his eyes down.

The hug lasted a little longer, parting only when he noticed the door open behind her friends. Allen's throat closed as a reflex when he saw both of her parents go out.

A mid-age man, with strong build and squared face, approached them with a stoic face. He was not very tall, yet his sturdy frame was dissuasive enough. Her mother, on the other hand, was barely shorter than him, with the exact curly red hair as her daughter. A fairly slim women, with pale skin.

Allen stood half frozen in his place as they stopped in front of them, Isabelle smiling awkwardly at their arrival.

"So…" Her father strong, nasal voice startled him. His hazel eyes started scrutinizing him up and down. "So you're the guy, huh?"

Isabelle's eyes widened, her mouth dropping as she looked at her father in disbelief. Her mind was running wild with thousands of excuses, yet no words came out whatsoever.