The delicious smell of pot roast filled my nose as soon as I entered my front door. Gold stumbled in after me, laughing about something I didn’t quite catch. After kicking off my shoes I ordered the boys to do the same.

            “What if Rian’s feet smell?” Noah asked, making a face as he dropped his shoes to the ground.

            Rian turned to give a sarcastic look to him. “I do believe it’s you who has the smelly feet.”

            Noah rolled his eyes. “My feet smell like fresh pine.”

            Ignoring the boys, I headed toward the kitchen where I could hear the sound of the sink running. A smirk came onto my face when I reached the doorway. My mom’s back was to the door as she washed the dishes, giving me the perfect chance to sneak in and scare her. Slowly, I began to creep towards her, holding my breath tightly. When I was about a foot away, I put up my arms, ready to grab onto her shoulders.

            “Boo!”

            A small scream of surprise escaped my lips as my mom turned, flicking the water off her hands into my face. She started laughing while I stumbled a few steps backwards, rubbing the water off my face.

            “What happened?” Rian demanded, nearly jumping through the doorway. “What is it?”

            My mom’s eyes snapped to him, a curious expression coming onto her face. “Nothing happened. You must be one of our guests.”

            “That’s Rian,” I told her, wiping my wet hands off on my pants.

            “I’d shake your hand, but mine are wet,” my mom said, smiling at him. “I’m Amy.”

            Rian grinned. “It’s fine. Nice to meet you, Amy.”

             “Nice to meet you too,” she responded, shooting me an impressed look.

            I returned it with a raised eyebrow. What was so impressive about greeting someone? It wasn’t like he was being extra polite about it or anything…

            “Are you Iris’s boyfriend?”

            “Mom!”

            “Yep!”

            My head snapped to Rian, who was grinning like a maniac. Shaking my head, I turned back to my mom. “He’s not—”

            My mom furrowed her eyebrows. “I swear I read in that stupid magazine of Brendon’s you were dating a member of Gold.”

            My eyes widened in bewilderment. Even my mom knew about that? What, did the whole world know?

            “That would be me,” a new voice announced and moments later Noah appeared in the kitchen, closely dogged by Luke and Chloe. “I’m Noah.”

            My mom snapped her fingers. “Noah! That’s it!”

            “We’re not really dating though, mom,” I interjected before Noah could say anything misleading. “It’s fake.”

             “Fake?”

            “Long story.”

            My mom looked curious, but let it drop. Instead, she walked over to Luke and held out her hand. “I’m Amy.”

            “Luke,” he responded, shaking her hand.

            “Nice to meet you,” my mom said with a smile. “And nice to see you again, Chloe. How are you?”

            Chloe beamed at her. “I’m excellent! And hungry.”

            My mom chuckled. “You’re always hungry, like usual. Dinner will be ready in about an hour. In the meantime, Iris, want to show the boys to their room?”

            “I was hoping I’d get to share with Iris,” Noah muttered, only loud enough for Rian, Chloe, and myself to hear.

            Rolling my eyes, I gestured with my hand for them to follow me. “Will do, Mom.”

            “And will you call Brendon and have him pick up some dessert?”

            “Yeah.”

            “So,” Rian started as we ascended the stairs to the second floor. “Your mom seems like a nice person. From the three seconds I’ve seen of her.”

            I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Yep.”

            “Would she happen to know what your favorite band is?”

            “You’re still going on about that?”

            He gave me a pouting look. “I want to know.”

            “Well you won’t.”

            “Will you tell me?” Noah questioned, giving me his puppy-dog face. One day I’d have to build up a resistance to that.

            Instead of replying, I just decided to ignore them again. It was easier. They followed me to the guest room, where my mom had set up two futons. Immediately Rian claimed the main bed, dropping his suitcase onto it before the other two boys could even step into the room.

            “I hope you guys don’t mind sharing the same room,” I said, frowning slightly at the lack of space. “Our house isn’t that big, if you haven’t noticed.”

            Luke smiled at me. “This is fine. It’ll give us a chance to have that closeness we never usually have.”

            Chloe snorted, quickly covering her mouth with her hand. “Sorry,” she apologized, her face heating up.

            “I was joking, you know,” Luke responded, grinning sheepishly.

            Rian caught my eye and he wagged his eyebrows. I bit my lip so I wouldn’t smile. Whatever he was thinking, it was best I didn’t know. If he wanted to believe Luke was interested in Chloe, I’d let him. Although there was a part of me who wished it was true— Chloe definitely liked him.

            “Why don’t I, er, give you guys a tour of the house?” I suggested, feeling the growing awkward silence.

            Rian was the first one up to me. He slung an arm over my shoulder, pushing me out of the bedroom. “That sounds like a grand idea.”

            “Grand?” Noah echoed, appearing at my other side. “Who says that?”

            “Apparently I do.”

            “Iris has a ping-pong table in the basement,” Chloe said excitedly. “We could play ping-pong later.”

            Rian gave me an interested look. “You do?”

            “I’m the queen of ping-pong.”

            “We’ll see about that,” he responded with a grin. “You’re looking at the national champ right now.”

            My eyes grew wide. “What? Really?”

            Luke snorted. “Yeah, national champ of Gold. I don’t think Rian’s played anyone in ping-pong besides Noah and myself.”

            “I always beat you guys though.”

            “That’s because we don’t know how to play,” Noah pointed out, rolling his eyes. “Iris, Rian literally told us just to smack the ball when it came toward us. And then he’d be like ‘that’s against the rules’ when we did something wrong. Of course we didn’t know what we were doing wrong, so we just eventually gave up and let him win.”

            Rian pursed his lips. “You didn’t let me win.”

            “Yes we did,” Luke and Rian deadpanned.

            Chloe put a soothing hand on Rian’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Rian. I’ve never beat Iris in ping-pong, and she’s even tried to let me win.”

            Rian pushed her hand off. “I’m going to win.”

            “You might want to try beating Brendon first,” I advised him. “It’s easier to lose to a guy than a girl, right? He’s just as good as me.”

            Rian seemed taken aback by the idea. “Me play Brendon?”

            Luke nudged Rian in the side with his elbow. “Could you play your secret love?”

            “I don’t love him,” Rian snapped, his face heating up. “I just admire him.”

            “Uh-huh.”

            “Really!”

            I grinned, not even bothering to remove Rian’s arm from around my shoulder. He wasn’t doing any harm by it. “Actually, I’ve been thinking lately my brother might be gay… he seems just your type too.”

            “No! I don’t— it’s not— you guys are annoying,” Rian finally finished, scowling at Luke, then Noah, and finally me. “I’m sure you all have idols.”

            I nodded my head in agreement. “Yeah, the lead singer of my favorite band.”

            Rian paused for a moment. “What’s his or her name?”

            “Never mind,” I teased, slipping out from under his arm. “In this room there’s the bathroom—”

            “Just tell me!”

            “If you want to take a shower,” I continue, cutting him off, “the towels are in the closet next to the sink.”

            Rian scowled at me as I continued to ignore him. It was actually kind of funny how irritated he got when I didn’t tell him something he wanted to know. Of course I wanted to know why he was so curious, but it was more fun to make him wonder. If I told him, I could lose the one thing I could hold against him if the time came up.

            “Where’s your room?” Noah asked, falling into step with me. “I want to see it.”

            “Why?”

            “Why wouldn’t I want to see my girlfriend’s room?”

            A sigh left my lips. “Should have guessed. Well, I guess I can show you. It’s right here.” I stopped in front of my bedroom door and put my hand on the handle. “You guys ready?”

            “Yes,” Rian and Noah chorused.

            “You sure?”

            Rian nodded his head eagerly. Chloe caught my eye and raised an eyebrow. I resisted the urge to laugh.

            “Okay… One. Two. Three.” With the last word I swung open the door.

            Rian and Noah excitedly filed in, looking curious. Luke was the first one to notice something was off. He grinned, shaking his head.

            “Iris,” Noah started, slowly turning towards me. His face was twisted into a horrified look. “I didn’t realize…”

            I cocked an eyebrow. “Realize what?”

            “You’re so poor you have to live in a laundry room? Surely Brendon would have taken at least a little pity! Look at this!”

            I pressed my lips into a tight line so I wouldn’t laugh. Too bad Chloe gave me away and burst out laughing, slapping my back. Rian wasn’t fooled. He turned to me with a scowl after slapping Noah on the back of his head. “She fooled us, stupid. This is her laundry room.”

            “No, it’s really my room,” I tried to assure him, but the smirk I was trying to hold back made itself apparent on my face.

            Rian shook his head. “Noah may be stupid, but I’m not.”

            “I’m not stupid!”

            “Right.”

            I cocked my head to the side. “But aren’t you the one who needs a Spanish tutor, Rian?”

            He pursed his lips at me. “Why can’t you be like all the other girls and just bask in my glory? You know, bend to my every will and stuff?”

            “Because I’m not blinded by your fame,” I told him, frowning. “If I were you, I’d find that really annoying.”

            Luke shrugged. “It kind of is. But you and Chloe seem so chill about us, so it’s a nice break.”

            Chloe grinned sheepishly. “Actually, I was one of those girls… but Iris kind of put me out.”

            “It comes with having a famous brother,” I told everyone. “I’ve met a lot of famous people before. They like it best when you keep your composure.”

            Rian still looked unsettled. “Are some of the famous people you’ve met part of your favorite band?”

            “Yep.”

            A shimmer of excitement appeared in Rian’s eyes. “Really?”

            I watched him warily, not sure of what he was thinking. “You’ll never find out.”

            “We’ll see about that,” he responded, looking smug.

            “Dude, just drop it,” Luke advised. “It’s really not that big of a deal.”

            Rian sent him an annoyed look but said no more.

            “Hey! I found Iris’s room!”

            My head snapped in the direction that the voice came from. Noah was standing in front of my room, holding the door opened. My face flushed as I quickly hurried toward him. Rian beat me, however, shoving me out of the way so he could get in the room first. Luke followed closely, and finally I stepped in.

            Fortunately I cleaned it before I left for school last time I was here. There really wasn’t anything exciting in my room though. In one corner there was a king sized bed with blue and white comforters. In another there was a closet, filled with all my old clothing I didn’t really wear anymore. Posters of boy bands covered the walls, along with drawings and pictures people have made or given me. And lastly a stereo with surround sound was placed next to my bed— a typical teenager room.

            Noah went over to my desk, which held my old desktop and a few pictures of Chloe, my brother, Colton, my parents, and myself. He picked up my sophomore picture and stared at it, smiling slightly. “Your hair used to be so short,” he commented, turning his head towards me. “It was cute.”

            I blushed slightly, going over to him, and taking the photo. “Thanks, but I didn’t really like it.”

            “I agree,” Rian commented, snatching the photo from me. “It looks okay, but your long hair is much prettier.”

            “Thanks,” I responded flatly, taking the photo back.

            “What? I was giving you a compliment.”

            Noah rolled his eyes. “You’re not supposed to tell a girl which hair style suits her better. Duh.”

            “Sorry,” Rian apologized, furrowing his eyebrows. “I didn’t know it was such a big deal.”

            I shook my head. “No, it’s not. Don’t worry about it— Luke! What are you doing?”

            Luke turned to me, one of my bras over his shirt. He grinned sheepishly. “I, er… I just wanted to see my size.”

            Chloe was standing behind him, her face completely straight. I narrowed my eyes at her. She noticed me looking and quickly turned away, starting to whistle. I stomped towards Luke, feeling my face burning. “You’re a pervert,” I stated, ripping my bra off him, and quickly balling it up in my hands.

            He shook his shaggy hair out of his face. “Hey. I’m not the one who leaves her bras hanging around on her desk.”

            “So you put yours away?”

            “Yeah— I mean, no! I don’t have bras,” Luke responded, looking embarrassed. “Besides, Chloe was the one I suggested I put it on.”

            I gave her a hard look. “She said the same thing to Colton last time he was here.”

            “I can’t help it,” she responded, finally bursting out laughing. “Your faces are so priceless!”

            “Okay, we’ve had enough fun in my room,” I announced, my face still hot. “Out. Let’s go downstairs to the game room.”

            Luke was the first one out the door. Chloe followed by closely, sending me another amused grin. After glaring at Noah for a second he left my room as well. Rian started for the door too, so I turned back to my closet, quickly chucking my bra into it. Letting out a small sigh, I ran my hand over my face. Hopefully that would be the only embarrassing thing that would happen tonight. Unless my mom whipped out Brendon’s and my baby photos… Rian would get double the thrill out of that. I chuckled at the thought.

            “What’s so funny?”

            My heart leapt into my throat and I twirled around to see Rian giving me a questioning look. “I thought you left?”

            Rian smirked. “I thought it’d be polite to wait for the lady.”

            “Oh.”

            “Yep,” Rian responded, walking over to my bed, and throwing himself on it. “You have a comfortable bed.”

            I watched him carefully, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. “Thanks?”

            “I didn’t mean to offend you earlier,” he started, keeping his eyes on the ceiling. “I just like the way you look with long hair. But if you cut it short again, you’d still look pretty.”

            I paused for a second, staring at him. Was he trying to apologize? But he didn’t have anything to apologize for. “Um, it’s fine,” I told him awkwardly. “I really didn’t mind.”

            “But just in case you did, I wanted to apologize.”

            A small smile spread across my face. “Well thank you for that.”

            He waved his hand. “Don’t mention it.”

            “You’re actually kind of nice, huh?”

            Rian sat up, giving me a confused look. “What do you mean?”

            “I never thought you’d apologize for something so silly,” I told him, shrugging my shoulders.

            He quickly looked away. “I only did it so I wouldn’t feel guilty later.”

            “Uh-huh.”

            “Seriously!”

            I smirked, putting my hands up in defense. “Whatever you say, Rian.”

            “Iris!”

            “You’re so cute, Rian.”

            Rian blanked at my words, his mouth opening slightly. When I realized what I said, I quickly turned away, clearing my throat quietly. His ego probably doubled in size now. That was the first time I’d complimented him.

            “We should probably go catch up with the others,” I finally suggested, still keeping my back to him.

            “Right,” he agreed quickly, and I heard him getting off my bed.

            He fell into step beside me, but neither of us looked at each other. Or maybe he did look at me— I didn’t know. There was no way I could meet his eye right now. Saying he was a cute was a sign of attraction, and attraction usually meant I had an interest in him, and if I had an interest in him, that meant he was keeping his word up. My face felt a little hot again.

            There was no way I liked Rian. He was an arrogant, selfish, bratty, playboy. With good looks, and a surprisingly sweet side. And when he smiled a small dimple appeared on the right side of his face and not his left. There was also the fact that he looked embarrassed every time he needed help with something that was also cute. But that didn’t mean I liked him. Nope. Not me.

            My foot suddenly caught on something, sending me stumbling forward. Rian quickly wrapped his arms around me, catching me before I could fall. My heart skipped a beat at his sudden proximity.

            “Pay attention,” he warned, our eyes meeting.

            My mouth went dry. This wasn’t good. I quickly pushed myself away from him, putting distance between us. It was just because I had the brief thought that he was cute I was thinking like this now. It wasn’t true. I couldn’t like Rian.

            Rian suddenly grinned at me. “Iris, you look lost. It’s kind of cute. What’s wrong?”

            New warmth spread across my face and I quickly turned away from him. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening.

            Did I actually like Rian?

_______________

Omg sorry it's been so long. I've literally worked two weeks straight from 6-12 and have had class. But THEY SAID THEY WERE HIRING ANOTHER CLOSER BUT THEY STILL HAVEN'T JESUS CHRIST.

I just want more time to write D: