Chapter 5 | Welcome back barbecue

Isabella:

As a welcome back home, my abuela is hosting a barbecue in honour of our arrival, infact she had invited the entire neighbourhood and my friends.

But there is one tiny problem.

She had completely forgotten about telling us...until this morning.

"Isabella you're making the lemonade all wrong!" My mom screams running around the kitchen in frantic mess, trying to get everything sorted before the guests arrive.

My mom is an organisation freak. She absolutely loathes last minute plans. In fact my mother organises everything and everything and when things don't go according to how she arranged it to....this is what happens.

"What am I doing wrong? I'm still only squeezing the lemo-"

She glares at me with such intensity that I immediately shut up and quickly begin to squeeze in double the speed before smoke begins to fume out of her nose and she murders me on the spot.

From my peripheral vision I see my grandmother tread into the kitchen warily, trying not to catch the attention of my mother who is extremely mad at her, and I mean mad mad.

"Ma," she calls out sternly and I see my abuela visibly tense up. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" She seethes and I swear the vein in her forehead is seconds away from bursting. "I told you to get the barbecue grill from the shed!"

"I-I did," my grandmother trembles, sweat forming on her upperlip. "I just came to get some wipes from the kitchen because it's dusty."

My mother narrows her eyes, staring at abuela for a second before curtly nodding. "Hurry up, you have to clear the garden next."

After things are a tad more organised and my mother has significantly calmed down, I head up stairs into my room to get ready for the barbecue.

As I get onto the second floor I hear my baby sister crying loudly and I quietly sneak past her room, trying not to catch her attention.

I have confined Sofia to her crib so that she won't get in the way of my mother in her unhinged kerfuffle and accidentally get trampled on, but my baby sister, like all babies, hated my guts for taking away her freedom. I know she loathes me now but she'll be thankful in the future that I saved her from experiencing my mom in this deranged element.

As I'm about to walk into my closet to pick out an outfit I see Lucas standing by his window and I do a double take.

He's on his phone, by the window, not taking any notice that I'm staring at him from my room. He must have just come out of the shower because a towel is wrapped around his waist and is hanging dangerously low, displaying that lovely v-line.

Water drips from his hair and trickles down his naked abdomen and I swear I stop breathing for a second as I watch that lone drop of water run down over each crevice of his abs and disappear under the towel.

I'm not proud out myself for this stalker moment, especially because he is the last person I should be ogling, but I can't help it.

I've also seen Lucas stare into my room in the past so this is just a...gesture of return.

He shifts slightly and my gaze snaps back to his face and I see that he's caught me staring, my eyes widen and I quickly turn around but not before I notice the grin on his face. I trip over my feet and fall head first into my closet, humiliation of being caught leering at him coursing through me.

***

"Bella get the door will you?" My mom orders as she rushes from the kitchen to the backyard carrying a multitude of burger buns and sauces in her hand.

I quickly finish tying up my hair and rush to the front door to open it.

"Isabella!" Mrs Miller greets as the door flies open revealing Lucas' dad and mom smiling from ear to ear. "Welcome back!" She says before thrusting the flowers she is holding into my hand and pulling me into a bone crushing hug.

"Hii," I reply back, my voice muffled as she squeezes me tightly, my cheek squashed against her chest.

"Honey, I think you're suffocating her," Mr Miller chuckles from beside us prying his wife off of me.

He sends me an apologetic smile as I giggle and straighten out the tulips that got squished in the midst of our embrace.

I beckon them to follow me to the backyard.

"So how have you guys been?" I ask as I pour them both a drink. "How's the business?"

"Ah it's great!" Mr Miller replies as my mom rushes past us at that moment, holding Sofia in one arm and a spatula in the other, Mrs Miller tries to catch her attention but my mother whizzes past us in frenzied mess and doesn't take notice.

The Millers own a huge wedding planning business that specialise in international weddings so the two are barely in the US, always constantly travelling thus leaving Lucas at home by himself for majority of the time.

"Business has been booming over the last year or so because we're able to take on more weddings as we don't need a nanny to look after Lucas anymore," Mrs Miller adds.

"That's good," I nod politely. "Where are you guys off to next?"

"Indonesia." She stares off into the distance with a wistful smile. "We're leaving in two weeks and I can't wait!"

"Ooo Indonesia," I sigh dreamily. "I've heard it's beautiful there!"

"It really is, we've had two weddings there before." Mrs Miller's nods and her smile broadens as she pats my arm. "Anyways enough about us! How was London!"

I delve into a couple stories of my experience in London as the Millers listen intently. They share some of their stories about their travels to England too.

The two are in the middle of telling me a story of they salvaged an outdoor wedding that got ruined because of rain when Mr Miller's gaze catches something over my shoulder and he pauses the story to acknowledge it.

"There you are," he says with a frown. "You took your time."

I look back to see Lucas strolling towards us, looking a little flustered. "Getting your car from the shop took longer than expected." He presses his lips into a thin line and throws his father the keys. "I parked it outside."

Mr Miller simply nods and excuses himself from the conversation and walks away, probably going to check on his car.

I take a sip of my drink and look around the rest of the garden, trying to avoid Lucas' eye as I still burn with the embarrassment from being caught staring at him this morning.

My gaze lands on my mom who is stood infront of the barbecue grill, her hands flailing in the air in frustration as she yells angrily. I notice that Mrs Miller is also staring at the scene my mom is causing. "I'm gonna go help your mother," she tells me, with a pat on my arm, leaving me alone with her son.

Lucas, much to my dismay, uses this as an opportunity to begin talking. "Hey."

"Uh..hi," I reply, still avoiding eye contact with him.

Please don't bring up this morning. Please don't bring up this morning.

"So about this morning," he begins.

Fuck.

I quickly interrupt him before he can continue. "How do you like my outfit?" I practically scream in his face in an attempt to to change the subject and spin around awkwardly, to showcase my clothes.

Surprisingly my tactic works because he smiles. "It's nice," he replies politely. "It's very...nice."

"Thank you," I smile awkwardly but it probably comes out as a sort of grimace. "I think it's very nice too."

I'm wearing a red/maroon spaghetti strapped dress paired with a denim jacket. The jacket sort of ruins the outfit but I needed something to cover me.

"I like yours t-." I cock my head to the side. "Wait why are you wearing a jumper? It's the middle of August."

I use this as an opportunity to rake my eyes up and down Lucas, taking in his outfit. Yep, that's right, just taking in his outfit.

Lucas is wearing a slightly over sized, dark green, crew-neck jumper paired with black jeans and white airforces and has a black bucket hat balancing on his head. It's a nice outfit - very refreshing from what the boys in London consider as style (cough cough tracksuits and huge black puffer jackets that they wear all year round even in the suffocating British summer).

I'm totally not checking out his long, slightly muscular legs and his hands that look absolutely exquisite, especially with the rings on his fingers. Nor am I staring at how his full mouth is curled up into a little smile or how his cheeks are flushed slightly pink from what I'm assuming is the sweltering heat or that jawline that could probably cut through stone. Nope, not at all. Especially after this morning, there is no way I'm ogling him.

He sighs. "My shirt got dirty with car grease so I had to swap it and plus it was cloudy when I left the house," He points out staring up into the sky. "Now it's so sunny!"

He turns back to me and quirks an eyebrow. "Why are you giving me shit for wearing a jumper when you're wearing a jacket?"

"Denim jackets are summery," I state, not giving him the real reason why. I look back up at Lucas before kissing my teeth. "Hats are not."

He furrows his eyebrows. "Hey, leave me alone! My hair was not cooperating today." He pulls off his hat, letting his wavy locks tumble out over his forehead. Some bits of hair are sticking up all over the place but it looks more cute than bad. "Look."

I giggle. "You're right you are having a terrible hair day."

Lucas narrows his eyes. "Hey I said my hair wasn't cooperating, not that I was having a bad hair day! It doesn't look that horrible."

He pauses for a second. "Wait does it?"

I nod my head slowly and let out a huff of breath in an exaggerative manner. "I'm afraid it does."

He points a finger in my direction. "You're mean."

I laugh as he reaches out to pull me into a headlock. He rubs his fist on the crown of my head, messing up my hair completely and I cry out in annoyance. "If I'm having a bad hair day so are you."

"Lucas!" I groan trying to escape from his arm. "I spent ages curling my hair!"

Too bad," he says with a wicked grin, finally freeing me. I take a step away and begin patting down my hair as Lucas chuckles. "It's what you get."

I narrow my eyes and make a beeline for his hat. I pull it off his head, letting his wild hair tumble down again before making a run for the treehouse, Lucas hot on my heels.

I try to climb up the ladder as quickly as possible but it's a struggle especially with the shoes I have on. I'm almost at the top when I feel a hand encase around my ankle, tugging me down.

"Lucas!" I shriek. "I'm gonna fall, let me go!"

"Give me my hat first!"

I shake my head. "No!"

"Well I guess you're gonna fall then." He tugs at my leg a little harder now and I fall backwards with a scream, but before I hit the ground, I feel two arms wrap around me. I try to steady my breathing and whilst I'm distracted by having an 'omg Lucas is holding me' moment he plucks the hat out of my hands and let's go of me, lifting his arm up so the hat is out of reach.

I huff and put my hands on my hips in a defeated manner before jumping up and trying to make him drop his arm, to which he laughs at. "You're feistier than I remember Belly."

Him using my old nickname is like a jolt back to reality and I stop jumping and take a step back.

Oh my god what are you doing?
This isnt distancing yourself! This is borderline flirting!

I clear my throat. "Sorry, you can have the hat, I shouldn't have taken it from you."

His face scrunches up in confusion. 'What-"

"Oh look!" I suddenly interrupt. "My mom is calling me I gotta go."

I make a beeline in the opposite direction leaving Lucas standing by the treehouse looking as confused as ever.

I hide behind my abuela who is arranging drinks on a table.

"Um Bella what are you doing?" A voice calls out from behind me as I'm clinging onto my poor old grandma for dear life.

I spin my head around to see both Mia and Grace peering down at me in bafflement.

"Shush!" I whisper-yell, dragging Mia down beside me at the foot of the table. "I'm hiding!"

Grace raises an eyebrow. "Hiding from who?" She asks as I drag her down on the floor alongside us.

"Uh I think she's hiding from me."

I stop for a beat, slowly looking up. I see Lucas staring down at us with an amused expression on his face, his arms crossed, across his broad chest. I begin to laugh nervously. "Hiding?" I say, my voice coming out extremely high pitched. "Whose hiding? I'm helping Mia look for....her EARRING! That's right her earring!" I begin to frantically move my hands across the grass acting like I'm looking for something. "Aha!" I pick up a coin and stuff it into Mia's palm. "Found it!"

"Right..." he says nodding his head slowly. "Okay, um, well I came to say hi to abuela...so yeah."

He turns to my grandma who has been ignoring this whole situation and begins to talk to her as I quickly get up and pat down my jumpsuit, getting rid of any leaves or grass that is attached to my clothes, before I walk away as fast as I can without it seeming like I'm fleeing, leaving Mia and Grace stranded in the garden.

I'm greeted by a couple neighbours who stroll by me and I send them polite smiles and quickly rush past, not quite in the mood to make awkward small talk as I make my way to the kitchen.

I slap my palm against my forehead a couple times as I burn with humiliation and cringe at the second time I've embarrassed myself today.

"Ah mija," my mom calls out the moment I enter the room. "I need your help!" Before I can even protest, she throws an apron on top of me and chucks me a chefs hat. "You need to cook the barbecue."

"Uh what?"

"Please," my mom pleads after seeing my absolute horrified expression. "I need to run to the shops to get some paper plates and some drinks."

"Ma I don't know how to use a bloody barbecue!"

"It's easy," she retorts making a dismissive gesture with her hand. "I'll set up everything all you have to do is flip the burgers and sausages."

"Uh," I say hesitantly. "I'm not sure-"

"Isabella!" she interrupts, using that firm tone of voice that scares the shit out of me. "I'll make you babysit Sofia the next time you wanna go out!"

I close my eyes and sigh. "Fine! But if I burn the food you can't shout at me!"

"Okay, okay thank you," she ushers me back into the garden. "Put on your chefs hat."

***

Surprisingly, I don't burn the food. Well maybe except the odd two or three but that doesn't really count and at least nothing went on fire!

I'm flipping the last handful of burgers when I feel someone looming over me from behind.

I'm bracing myself for what's about to come next but when the person comes into view I let out a breath of relief.

It isn't Lucas.

"Aidan!" I greet as I watch him stuff his face with burger.

He groans in appreciation. "This is so good," he mumbles, his mouth still full of food and he makes a chefs kiss gesture to emphasise his point. "So good."

"Thank you," I chuckle and flip over the hot dogs on the grill. I pick up the meat once it's done and place it in one of the hot dog buns and gesture towards it. "You want another one."

Aidan's eyes widen and he nods his head vigorously. "Hell yes."

As he's squirting sauce on his food, he side glances my way. "So Lucas told me you're acting weird today."

"Oh god." I shut my eyes and wince. "What did he tell you?"

"That you guys were playing around and then you suddenly tensed up and started being weird and then went to 'hide' from him."

"Oh."

Whew at least he didn't tell Aidan about this morning.

He clicks his tongue as he remembers something. "Oh yeah he also said that you were spying on him from your room whilst he was half naked." He raises an eyebrow. "I didn't think you were that creepy Bella, I can't believe you pulled a Joe from 'You' moment."

I practically shrivel up into a ball on the spot as I cringe. "I know, I don't know what's wrong with me."

He merely smirks and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. "This isn't anything got to do with your little crush on him is it?"

"No!" I yell shaking my head profusely. "Of course not! I only had a silly crush on him when we were kids, that's long gone now."

Aidan gives me a weird look. "Okay, if you say so." He raises his eyebrows in a manner that screams 'I don't believe you." And I swat his arm.

"Whatever go back to Grace," I retort immaturely as I check to see if the rest of barbecue is cooked. It's not quite done yet.

He rolls his eyes but a small smile appears at his lips. "I still like her you know," he says wistfully, to which I nod my head at in reply and grin cheekily.

"I can tell."

When we were about 9 years old, I took notice of the looks Aidan would always shoot Grace when we were hanging out.

He always looked at her with adorning eyes. Whenever she cracked a joke he would laugh like it was the funniest joke he had ever heard and when she would speak he would listen like it was she was saying the most important thing in the world.

One night when he was the last one left to leave and I was waiting with him in the living room for his mom to pick him up, I asked him if he liked her and after taunting him annoyingly for a while I managed to pry some answers out of him and he caved in and told me how he felt about my best friend.

He told me that he thought Grace was the most prettiest girl he'd ever seen and I asked if he thought she was prettier than Megan Fox - who the guys used to die over (yes, even including Dylan's gay ass) and he had nodded yes. But he told me that he didnt just like her because she was pretty. He said he liked her because she was caring and sweet. Because when a kid in our elementary class said rude things to him, she stood up for him. Because she spoke kindly with everyone and was always nice, even if people were rude to her.

He liked that she was smart and funny and didn't make fun of him for liking weird things or didn't laugh at him like the other kids did when he would read slowly because of his dyslexia.

He had made me promise that I wasn't going to tell anyone and in exchange I told Aidan how I liked Lucas. He claimed that he knew I did, because I would always blush when he pulled my pigtails and would always stumble over my words whenever I was talking to him.

Aidan was the only one who knew about my little crush. I didn't tell Mia or Grace even though I wanted to so badly, but I knew that if I told them they would constantly tease me and probably force me to tell him that I liked him and I that was something I did not want to do because I already had a strong feeling by then that he didn't like me back.

Aidan didn't want to tell Lucas or Dylan either for similar reasons. So for all those years I kept his secret and he kept mine.

"Are you gonna make a move on her," I say nudging his elbow as he takes a bite of his food.

His almost chokes on his hotdog. "Make a move? Uhhh, I don't know."

"Why not!"

He scratches his neck awkwardly. "I'm not sure she likes me back."

"Are you kidding me?" I send him a look and continue flipping over the meat that's now about to burn on the grill. "Didn't you see the way she was drooling all over you when we were hanging out the other day?"

Aidan's face lights up. "She was?"

I nod my