| 14 |

~ Banks Woods ~

I push an annoying strand of hair behind my ear, looking at the tall, huge mansion standing before me, vast and proud.

Kaylee lets out an appreciative whistle. "Babe, your man is rich rich."

Lance invited her too and she ended up picking me and Caleb. I'm glad for her company. At least she'll keep any awkwardness out of the way.

"Once you and your man are married, make sure to include me in your will as the best friend who got you two together."

"We're not getting married, Kaylee," I grumble.

"Banks getting married? Ew. I can't even imagine her holding hands with someone." Caleb shudders as if the thought creeps him out.

"Hey, your sister is gonna get married and have seven children and you're going to be a wonderful uncle with me being their awesome, cool aunt." Kaylee grins, slinging an arm around his shoulder.

Caleb frowns. "But...but Banks can't marry."

"Why not?"

He opens his mouth but then bites his lips, hesitating, before shaking his head. "Nevermind. Let's go inside."

I made a note to ask about what he was going to say later. Right now, I'm too busy trying to remain collected and not let the elegant mansion intimidate me.

Kaylee already parked her car in the parking lot. Yes, they have their own parking lot within the gates of the mansion.

Making our way towards the grand doors, a man standing outside greets us before pulling open the doors and gesturing us to walk inside.

Kaylee, Caleb and I share a look.

Walking inside feels even more daunting. It feels like stepping into those grand castles from movies.

"Banks," Caleb whispers, pointing to a painting. "Lance has a painting of a butt."

"It's a painting of the famous Rosa Lie's double head." A lady, probably a housekeeper or something, says sternly from where she's standing a few feet away.

Caleb clamps his mouth shut, shuffling closer to my side.

The housekeeper's stern face vanishes in an instant as she takes me in. "You must be Miss Banks?"

"Um, just Banks is fine."

She nods. "Very well, Banks. It's nice to finally put a face to the name. And you must be Kaylee. Follow me." She turns on her heels and walks further into the long and wide mansions.

"Bitch, I swear if I don't see some hot men with this mansion, I'm leaving." Kaylee whisper-yells to me.

I shake my head at her. When I look back ahead I catch the housekeeper trying to stifle a smile.

She leads us to another set of large elegant doors. Inside, there's a massive room that looks like a dining hall with a large dining table enough to fit forty people.

My attention is grabbed by a man sitting at the head. Almost immediately I can tell that he's Lance's father. They look exactly the same except that his father has dark hair.

Adjacent to him is another man with Asian features and a small scowl. Both of them look up at our arrival. Lance's father smiles at seeing us while the Asian one deepens his scowl.

"Damn," Kaylee whispers to me, appreciatively. "Both look like such DILFs. I can't choose."

"Behave." I quietly scold her.

The housekeeper places a fist to her mouth, clearing her throat. "I, personally, would avoid Feng. He's a pain."

"Got it." Kaylee nods.

"You must be Banks." Lance's father rises from his seat. He walks in our direction with a smile on his face that looks equally formal and inviting. He's two heads taller than me, making me crane my head to meet his eyes.

"I am. Nice to meet you." I reply.

"Nice to meet you too. It's finally good to see who has been keeping my son busy to the point where he started slacking off at work."

"That's his own doing," I mutter, but I didn't do it low enough because his smile widens.

"It is." He nods before gesturing to the table. "Please, sit. Lance will be down shortly. He's getting dressed."

Kaylee, Caleb and I follow his lead. During the short trip to the table, Kaylee keeps mouthing the word 'daddy' to me behind his back.

"You need help," I whisper to her.

She grins, twirling a thin braid, from the many others, around her finger.

Just as we settle down into the chairs, sitting beside each other with me in between Kaylee and Caleb, a loud voice echoes outside the hall. I pause at the familiarity of the voice. There's no mistaking who it belongs to.

"Theo!" Caleb all but nearly squeals.

Said name enters the room, wearing a huge goofy grin on his face, raising an arm in the air. "What's up, motherfuckers?"

Following him, enter Xander and Castle.

I release a sigh of relief. I was sure there was going to be awkwardness in the room without Lance. Now it won't.

"Oh no." The Asian one with glasses groans as if he's being tortured. "Please tell me your son didn't actually invite his friends too!" 

"Nice to meet you too, Feng-Peng." Theo flops on the seat directly beside him as if choosing it on purpose.

Feng, I'm guessing the name belongs to him, shoots a very displeased look in Theo's direction.

"Great. Everyone's here except for the boy who decided to hold this dinner." Lance's father rolls his eyes.

Castle nods at us before taking a seat opposite us. Xander sits beside him.

"Lance! Where are you, you dumbass? I'm hungry!" Theo yells loud enough to make me wince.

I swear to god, sometimes I'm so thankful I have Caleb as a brother and not Theo. I don't know how Xander tolerates him. I would've been kicking his ass every minute.

"Sir, please excuse me." Feng gives a pleading look in Lance's father's direction. "I'd rather strike a business deal and share ninety percent of our profits with our rivals than attend this dinner."

I furrow my eyebrows, whispering to Kaylee. "What's his problem?"

"I have no idea but damn, look at that hot jawline." She gapes. I face-palm.

"Remain seated, Feng."

"But sir—"

"Don't make me repeat myself." He glares.

Feng deflates in his seat, before shooting a glare at a grinning Theo.

"Sorry, I'm late! I couldn't get my earrings on!" I hear a female voice before she enters the room. My gaze drops to her face, lips parting when I take in her shining blonde hair that's twisted into an elegant ponytail. She has red lips that are curved into a warm smile and blue eyes coated with a thin layer of mascara. Her green dress flows behind her as she cascades into the dining hall.

She's gorgeous, this woman, and looks very much like Lance too.

Her eyes flick around the dining room, taking in everyone's faces before they land on me as if she were looking for me.

"Banks?" She asks.

I nod, hesitatingly.

Within a second, she's standing beside me, grabbing my hands and pulling me up.

"Oh good! I've heard so much about you! It was such a long wait and now finally I get to see you." She doesn't give me time to respond before she places a kiss on both my cheeks and then turns toward Caleb. "You must be Caleb. Gosh, you look like such a darling. And you must be Kaylee! I've heard so much about you too. Wonderful. Everyone's here."

"Except Lance." His father grumbles.

His mom huffs a breath. "He must be doing his skincare now."

"And he calls me a pussy for using Holly's face cream." Castle mumbles, rolling his eyes.

"Lance! Lance! Lance! Lance!" Theo starts yelling and I don't know if it's on purpose to annoy Feng further or just because he wants to.

Lance's parents take their seats while Theo continues yelling. It makes me want to stand up and punch his mouth to shut him up. I look at Xander to see him pointedly ignoring the scene.

Feng is still giving a pleading look, covering his ears. Theo leans further in his direction. "Lanceeee! Lanceeeee! Lancey-Pancey!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Xander finally seems to lose his cool.

Lance's mother rubs a hand to her forehead, giving Theo an annoyed look too.

"Why do you always let this one inside the house?" Feng points at Theo, scowling. "I thought you promised me that I never had to see his face again if I kept my thoughts to myself about how annoying I find Mrs. Vitalo's voice."

"I changed my mind after you called my wife a disease." Lance's father flicks an invisible lint off his shoulder.

"You called me a disease?" Lance's mother narrows her eyes at Feng.

"I was only expressing my views, Miss. I did not mean to offend you."

"Of course." She rolls her eyes. "First, I'm an infection. Then a virus. Now a disease."

"Don't act annoyed, Miss. I heard you calling me a stick inside the bottom and various other inappropriate things to the housekeepers."

"Oh right! She started the rumour that your dick probably has glasses too!" Theo bursts out laughing.

Caleb snickers.

Feng widens his eyes. "That was you, Miss?"   

She looks proud, holding up her chin. Her husband looks tired, releasing a sigh.

"LANCE!"

"Coming! Coming!" The voice I've been waiting for finally calls back. My shoulders sag down in relief.

A few seconds later, he pops into the doorway, rushing towards the table while trying to get the top of his buttons done.

"Have patience, you fucker. I was taking a shower." He tells Theo before his eyes immediately meet mine. Something about it makes my insides tingle. His smile widens, taking me in. "Banks. Hey."

"Banks. Hey." Theo imitates in a high-pitched voice. "Fucker. Don't forget all your other friends. Castle was dying of heartache the night you decided to ditch us and have dinner with Imouto."

"I was having no such thing." Castle grunts.

"Don't lie. I know tears when I see them. He cried into Holly's lap and stayed up late to see if you were alright or not."

"Aww, that was so sweet of you." Lance playfully tugs on Castle's hair while Castle glares at all of them.

I look at Xander to see him not even bothering to make himself present. He's busy scrolling through his phone, one strong arm propped on the table with his head on his palm.

"If everyone's here now then let's start dinner, shall we?" Lance's father calls out and immediately, four people walk into the room carrying trays and glasses. Within a minute, the entire dining table is covered with food and all sorts of drinks that'll probably take a single person ages to finish. 

The housekeeper places a steaming plate of mouth-watering steak in front of me. It looks so good, sizzling and wafting up to my nose with flavours hinting at rich spices.

"Oh no. Banks and I are hardcore vegetarians." Caleb says.

"Really? Merde." One of the housekeepers curses under his breath before quickly picking up our plates and scurrying away with them.

Something in my chest violently shatters. Caleb smiles at me as if showing me what a good deed he did. I nearly tackle him to the floor for opening his mouth, before reminding myself to calm down.

Meat is expensive. Meat is expensive. Meat is expensive.

If Caleb finds out I've been lying, he'll increase the grocery bills by buying all sorts of non-vegetarian stuff. 

The housekeeper returns with two other plates, placing them in front of Caleb and me. While I still crave the steak, the food in front of me looks nothing short. It's a mixed platter with fries in one section, chickpeas with gravy in another, falafel, pasta and fried rice. My stomach growls at the sight. Luckily, no one hears it.

The dinner goes by surprisingly smoothly. There isn't a trace of awkwardness like I thought there would be. Mostly because Theo, Lance and Kaylee carry the conversations like the expert social birds they are. Caleb speaks up too, becoming comfortable enough to talk or laugh out loud.

The food's really good too and I can't stop eating even though I tell myself to take it easy.

The dining table is lively, loud and filled with conversations about random topics. Lance's parents are super chill and playfully argue back and forth. Feng tries keeping himself to his dinner but Theo doesn't let him go unnoticed.

Soon Kaylee and Caleb join in bothering Feng too.

"Why do you stick your glasses way up to your eyes?" Kaylee asks.

"Does your dick really have glasses?" Caleb peers at him.

"Did you know you have a permanent scowl on your forehead?"

"How many girls broke up with you when they realized you talk about profits during sex?"

"Sir! I am being bullied!" Feng yells, looking red in the face.

"They're just questions, Fengy." Theo shrugs.

After much begging, Lance's father finally lets Feng dismiss himself. He doesn't waste a moment, throwing his chopsticks on the table before marching out of the room.

The more time passes, the more at ease I feel. So much so that I find myself cracking a smile and even laughing along with the others. They don't ask questions about where I'm from or what I do. They're just plain random questions that make me feel good to be around these people.

In the middle of Caleb's dramatic stories about how he saved me from a huge spider, my pocket vibrates.

I pull out my phone to check it.

Lance: follow me after five minutes

I furrow my eyebrows, before looking up at him. He shoots me a suggestive smile before standing up. "I have to go to the washroom."

With that, he walks out of the dining hall.

My palms turn clammy at his look. Why does he want me to follow him?

Five minutes later, I excuse myself from the table, heading outside the dining hall. The same lady housekeeper is standing by my side.

"Follow me."

I do since I don't know where I have to go anyway. She leads me to a set of large spiral staircases. Following her upstairs, the anticipation of what Lance wants from me has me nervous.

She leads me to a door at the far corner of the hallway, before nodding. "Here you go. Enjoy." Saying that, she leaves.

I push open the door and walk inside, entering a huge bedroom with cream walls and a brown decor. The room has a wide bed, enough to fit three. There's a chaise lounge in front of the balcony and a big office desk in the corner of the room. My eyes follow to the dressing table where Lance stands, fixing his hair.

He turns around when our eyes meet through the mirror.

"Hey."

"Hey." I meant to sound firm, but instead, my voice comes out as a whisper.

"Close the door behind you."

"So you can finally carry on Ted Bundy's legacy?" I ask but close the door anyway.

"Yes. Come here so I can stab you."

His playful tone eases me up a bit.

"So why did you separate me from your friends and family?" I ask, walking further into the room.

"So you can have a taste of this." He smirks before he turns around and grabs something from the dressing table. My mouth drops open when I realize Lance is holding a plate of the huge juicy steak that the housekeeper took away from me earlier.

"Seriously?"

"Yup." He holds out a fork towards me, before guiding me towards the chaise lounge near the balcony. He sets the plate on my lap, before taking a seat beside me.

I stare at the steak, no doubt looking like a hungry dog even though I'm stuffed with pasta, rice and fries. I know I won't be able to finish this, so I cut the steak into half with the knife, before pointing at it with my fork.

"You can have the other half."

"Thanks." Lance pick up another fork and we both dig into steak at once.

The meat literally melts in my mouth, the spices and the spicy flavour mixing with my saliva. I can't help but close my eyes and let out a 'mmm'.

"I guess I don't have to kick Caleb after all."

He chuckles. "You looked as if someone killed your dog when they took the steak away."

"I felt as if someone kicked me."

I take another bite of the steak, marvelling at the taste of it. Soon within three minutes, the plate is empty and I'm fully satisfied. Lance puts it away, handing me a tissue to wipe my mouth.

"Your parents are cool," I say, throwing the tissue into a dustbin across the room.

"They're the best." Lance agrees, standing up too to discard the tissue.

He's standing way too close to me, I can feel the heat radiating from his body and seeping into mine. I look up at his face only to find myself getting flustered when I see them already fixed on mine.

Fuck. Why does he always look at me with that intensity? It's not like he's even doing anything. His gaze is deep, and mesmerizing as if he can look past all my barriers and strip me bare.

He draws in a breath, his lips parting. "How are you so beauti—" he stops himself at the last second, clearing his throat. "Sorry. I couldn't help myself."

My cheeks are already warm though, making me want to hide my face behind the curtain of my hair.

He steps away from me, flopping down on his bed. A playful smile comes over his face. "You know, my bed's really soft. Really comfy too. Wanna test it out tonight?"

"Why wait tonight?" I lean over him, "We can test it out right now."

I see the moment the amusement slips from his face. His eyes widen, being caught off guard, and his lips part in surprise.

The moment I see the look on his face, I jerk back.

What the fuck? What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I say that? I thought we were playing around.

"No. Wait!" Lance's hand closes around my wrist and he tugs. I stumble and place a hand on his shoulder to stop myself from falling on top of him. His hand comes over my waist to steady me.

My eyes widen when I realize the position we're in. I'm standing between his legs with my hand on his shoulder and his around my waist. My natural instinct urges me to pull away quickly but the way Lance has his hand on me stops me.

"I was just surprised." He says, and my cheeks flame in embarrassment.

"I was kidding," I mutter.

My heart starts beating loudly in my chest. Almost that I can feel it in my throat, making my hands shake. Shit. Why am I nervous? I look at Lance below me and gulp. He's too close to me. Way too close that I feel his breath on my skin.

He must've noticed the distance between us too because his pupils dilate and his hand goes firm on my waist. I tell myself to move back, to get out of his space and clear my head, but my brain gets too foggy to think.

For a moment, I close my eyes and think about giving in. To lose myself in the touch of another person and feel comforted in someone else's arms. For a moment, just for a moment, I want to be someone who doesn't think about the past before making a decision.

Opening my eyes, my gaze meets Lance's again. My heart beats erratically against my chest but I think, just for a moment. Just one tiny moment.

As if reading my train of thoughts, Lance's hand slides further around my waist, slowly, as if to not startle me. He draws me closer until there's a breath of space between us. I bite my lip in anticipation and his eyes fall to them, licking his own. His other hand comes up to my face, brushing away a strand of hair before wrapping around the back of my neck. A zap of electricity goes between us, making my stomach dip. I lean in closer, bending my head.

My eyes fall shut on their own accord when I feel Lance's warm inviting breath on my lips. I can almost feel his skin against mine. My other hand goes up to his shoulder too and soon we're both drawing towards each other, slowly, gently.

That's when something heavy slithers around my ankles.

My eyes startle open and I look down. A ball of black and white fur curls around my feet. Snake-like green eyes stare up at me and a pink tongue pokes out, licking its teeth.

"Meow,"

I scream.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Cats or dogs?

How is the book so far and what are your opinions?

Words: 3,500

Date of publishing: 23rd June 2024