Song: Carry My Heart by Martina Stoessel and Jorge Blanco from the telenovela; Violetta

Chapter Sixty-four: Either a necklace or a bomb

"I am not particularly little." 

That was my reply as I walked past him, stringing Zane along with his hand in mine. I heard Shane close the door after him.

"Who is this boy?"

I stopped with Zane and turned around. "Well, since you destroyed our introduction plan, we'll just get right to it. Shane, Zane. Zane, Shane." I gestured to the boys, but I doubt they were listening. They had their eyes set on each other. Was this a boys' thing? I hadn't even introduced him as my boyfriend yet.

"Shane, sit!"

He turned to glare at me. "Do I look like a dog to you?"

I tapped my chin and then chuckled. "That's a very tricky question."

I heard Zane snicker from beside me. Shane's eyes turned to him.

"You think this is funny?"

Zane put his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, actually. My girlfriend is really hilarious."

"Girlfriend?" He asked as his eyes turned to me.

I smiled and nodded. "Yup." 

Shane turned to Zane with a little smile playing on his lips. "Well he's an upgrade from that prick."

I rolled my eyes at him. "I never dated th-"

Shay's voice cut me off. "Rivers? Is that you?"

Huh? She knows him?

She came into my vision as she pulled Zane into a hug.

He smiled at her as they released each other. "Shayna? What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that."

"How do you two know each other?"

Shayna decided to explain. "I'm an intern for his Mum. We met last summer."

"He's the son of Shayan Rivers?" Shane asked. "That means he's also the son of Zion Rivers."

I ignored Shane's realization. "I'm confused." I blinked. "I thought you were into fashion. What does Z-Tech Industries have to do with that?" I asked Shay.

"My father owns Z-Tech Industries and asides from helping my dad in meetings, my mother has her own clothing line." Zane answered for her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came here to see my girlfriend."

Shay turned to me with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You're dating him?"

I hummed an approval.

She just nodded, still smiling. "Well, your girlfriend is my sister." She explained to Zane.

"Now that introductions are out of the way, I should-"

I was cut off, the second time this night by none other than Reveka. "Is Bruny here?!" She yelled as she jogged fast down the stairs. When she caught sight of him, her eyes lit up. She ran towards us and stood in front of him. "Did you bring it?"

He nodded and held up a gift bag I hadn't even noticed he was holding. He reached into it and removed a smaller gift bag. Then he held out the larger one to her. She snatched it from his hand and opened it. What she saw inside made her eyes light up. She dug her hand inside and brought out a small black gorgeous bag. She squealed really loudly. "Thank you. Thank you!" And then she hugged him, and ran back up the stairs, ranting to herself.

I turned to him with a puzzled look on my face. He turned to me, still laughing. "That's my mum's latest." He explained. "It's not out yet."

"How did she know your mum owns a clothing line?"

He just shrugged. "You're not very observant."

"Why did you bring her a bag that's not out yet?" Shayna asked.

"She asked."

"And your mum just let you take it. No questions asked."

"Oh she asked questions."

Shane nodded. "I see." Then he turned to me. "Can I borrow your boyfriend for a while?"

I groaned. "Can we skip the whole big brother talk thing? He already said he loves me."

"No." And Shane started out the room, expecting Zane to follow him.

Zane chuckled beside me and then kissed my forehead. "It'll only be a minute." He waved at Shay before going after Shane.

Shay turned to me with a smile before dragging me up the stairs towards her room.

*********************

It was not only a minute. Not only a minute at all. It had been almost an hour and Zane was still with Shane doing who knows what.

I had narrated my whole love story to Shayna, including the Avery part, because why not? I planned to tell my friends tomorrow, I've only been holding it back because I felt guilty keeping a secret for them all this while. Nothing else, none of them really had a connection to Avery so that wouldn't matter. It's just the keeping secret part. I mean, we told each other everything.

Rev and I were with Shayna in her room. It was still neat even with Grace feeling pressured to clean it more. I was heading to the bathroom when I spotted something glinting under Shayna's bag. I raised it up and saw a ring box open with a diamond ring in it.

"Shay..." I said slowly as their eyes turned to me. I had a large smile on my face. "Is this what I think it is?"

She looked nervous, as she bit her lip and nodded.

"Tommy proposed!!!" I squealed, really loudly. Soon enough Rev joined in, shaking Shay hysterically.

They'd been dating since she was 16 and now she's 21. Five years.

"Quiet down." She hushed us.

"Why? We should be celebrating. Throwing a party." Rev replied.

Shay had a nervous look on her face.

"You haven't said yes yet?"

She nodded. "I told him I'll have an answer for him by the time we're back. Don't you think it's too early?"

"No it's not." I replied as I settled back in bed beside her. "I mean you guys have been dating for five years. You love him, don't you?"

She nodded.

"And you don't plan on being with anyone else but him." 

She nodded.

"Then there's no problem. There's nothing to be confused about. You're of age."

"What did Shane say about it?" Rev asked.

"He doesn't know." She mumbled.

My brows creased. "Why not?"

"I mean you guys tell each other everything."

"I'm just worried about what he'll say. When I first started being friends with Tony, he didn't really like him, but he doesn't bring it up anymore, so I'm not-"

"He was just pulling the big brother card." I gave her a side hug. "Tell him. He loves you and he'll respect your decisions no matter what."

Rev commented. "Except if it's stupid, then he'll definitely disrespect it."

We laughed at that.

I stood up from the bed. "Well, I'm going to see what Shane and Zane are up to."

They nodded as I left the room.

Where to look for them was the problem. I headed to the ground floor and just started wandering around. I felt calling them was unnecessary. After a few turns, I heard yelling. I couldn't really hear what they were saying, but I was already panicking. 

I ran towards their voices and noticed they were in the game room. I barged in with the words. "Shane!! What have you-?" My accusation was cut short when I saw what they were doing. They both stopped to turn to me. One had a nervous look and their face, and the other one looked annoyed. You could guess who was which. He has the nerve to look annoyed!!

"Zane!!" I yelled. "I have been waiting for you for 45 minutes, and here you are, with my idiot brother, playing Foosball?!"

He walked up to me and cupped my face, but my angry eyes were placed on my brother. "Cherry, love, it's not what it looks like."

"It's not? Then please explain."

"Well..." He turned around to look at Shane.

"Just tell her she's interrupting us so we can continue with our game. I'm this close to beating you."

Zane scoffed. "You wish. I am the pro of pros."

"Zane!"

His eyes snapped back to mine. "I'm talking to you, here."

Shane walked up to us and put a hand on my shoulder, a smirk on his face. "I guess my charm doesn't only work on girls."

I rolled my eyes and peeled his hand off me. He laughed and turned to Zane and said, "Later." Zane had the nerve to nod.

"Was that the talk you were supposed to be having with my brother?"

He scratched the back of his neck. "We were talking, and then that happened."

"You could have at least told me. Do you know how long I've been waiting for you?"

"Yeah, you told me. 45 minutes."

I glared at him, and he just laughed. He started pushing me out the room, and then stopped. "Wait. I forgot something." And then he went back into the room. He came out again with that small gift bag I saw earlier.

I was about to ask what's in there, when he told me to close my eyes and turn around. I did because I was feeling sort of giddy.

I heard him fumble with the bag then I felt him raise up my hair and place something cold around my neck. Either a necklace or a bomb.

Guess.

I placed my hand on my neck and opened my eyes. A necklace. I looked down at it. It was a golden necklace with the letter 'Z' as its pendant. I turned around and smiled at Zane who was standing there awkwardly.

"Do you like it? I wanted to go with a cute name that had our names joined together like Chane or Zerry but they just weren't sitting right. For one, Zerry sounded like Jerry, you know, and I wouldn't want our couple name to sound like a mouse from-"

I cut him off with a kiss on his lips. "You talk too much."

He smiled. "So you like it?"

"I love it." I kissed him again. "Thank you."

"That's just the tip of the iceberg for what I plan to give you on your birthday next week Thursday."

Oh yeah. My birthday. December 5th. Can't wait.

"Don't overdo it." I warned him.

"I'd give you the world if I could."

I smiled as I stared into his hazel eyes. 

"Also, endeavor to shut me up like that more often."

I laughed at his idiocy.

******************

"What happened when you went to Wren's today?"

"He was getting ready to head back home."

"He was?"

I was very excited. I missed Wren and I wanted to see him again. Without all those things he claimed he saw when he looked at me. I didn't want the Wren who was friends with Avery. I wanted the Wren who has gotten to know Charvi in the last few months of meeting. That's only if he wanted Charvi now he knows she's Avery.

"Yeah. Thanksgiving's on Thursday. He has to be with his family."

"Oh right."

"He wasn't too excited to see me, but I'm his best friend so he got over that fast. At least, he was sober or that would have been pretty frustrating. I explained your original intentions to him and that you never meant to hurt him. He said he's not pissed at you, but just doesn't want to see you right now."

I looked down. "That means I can't go meet him."

Zane put his hand on my chin and raised it up. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

I stared into his eyes. "But what I did was horrible. I sent my sister to be his date. He must feel so uncomfortable. I don't know how I'd feel if I found out that you weren't really Zane, but Xander. I'd be so pissed and heartbroken especially if Xander had no feelings for me whatsoever because he's with Mia." I paused to think about what I had just said. "Okay, I think I'm confusing myself now."

"Don't worry. I understand you, and it's nothing like that. Avery made it clear she wasn't into Wren and we've been dating for a while so that's different."

Maybe it's a little different.

"If it counts, I look nothing like Xander and he has half my sense of humor."

I smiled at his attempt to cheer me up. I gave him a hug.

"I know Wren. He's going to come around. Just give him time."

I groaned. "It's taking forever."

Zane laughed as he released me. "Well, I better get going."

"But you just got here." I whined.

"It's almost 8."

"Why can't you sleep over?"

"Wouldn't want your brother to cut my head off with a chainsaw."

I laughed. "Don't worry, he likes you now."

"Yeah, but the threat is still hanging in the air."

"Fine."

I walked him to his car. He kissed my cheek before entering it. I watched his car drive out and I was heading back into the house when another car drove in. I stood. The car was parked and out came Anastasia and Aaron.

I sighed. Well, it's about time the twins met the steps.

*******************

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