𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞.
~𝐆𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐝~

          𝐋𝐢𝐚

Carrie sat at the corner of the room, her hair tightly done exactly the same way it had been when we first met. She wore a jungle green mini dress that was a cross between casual and official, and a slight touch of lip gloss shone on her lips. From the angle of the entrance door, she looked sad, yet gorgeous.

Elbowing Sienna, I gently pushed her toward where Carrie sat.

"You must be Carrie," I heard Sienna say when one of the servers waylaid me with a request to take our order. I shook my head, then told her we would call when ready.

"I'm Sienna," Carrie's head shot up, looking at Sienna in surprise.

She cleared her throat and, with a hand stretched out to sienna, "you look a bit..." she paused, her face turning crimson with embarrassment.

"I think the political way to say it is I'm toner than the other family members."

Carrie flushed again, "I'm sorry, that's not what I mean... I meant you..." she paused again, looking desperate and uncomfortable.

"It's okay. I'm beautiful anyway." Sienna said calmly, flipping her hand, a smile stretching her round pink-painted lips.

"Now, since we are more than acquainted, given that you have commented on my complexion,"

"Sienna!" I called warningly.

"What?" she mumbled, looking innocently at me as if I was overreacting. "I'm about to offer some unsolicited advice."

"I know! Don't!" I growled, pulling a chair beside her.

"But you know I love giving unsolicited advice," she whined, pouting, her eyes almost turning golden from the sun's reflection, a touch of a grin making her face glow in amusement and mischief.

"Yeah, well, it's rude," I told her, touching my earlobe, not from unease, though I could feel awkwardness begin to slip into me slowly and in small doses, but because I felt Luc enter the room. I could feel him, God helps me because I smelled him too.

We all turned toward the entrance almost at the same time, Sienna groaned, palming her face feigning embarrassment when Nick jumped on Luc's back, his arms wrapped around Luca's neck.

People turned to look at them, Alessa slapped Nick's shoulder when he pulled down her ponytail. This family was chaos, to say the least. I thought, watching as Serena burst out in laughter from something Nick said, her face falling on Zion's shoulder, wrapping both her arms around one of his, her eyes closed, yet still, she walked, anchored by Zion, like her body knew how to follow him.

"I know Luca, who are the others?" I heard Carrie ask, I didn't answer, I knew Sienna would, my eyes and all my senses were otherwise engaged in watching him— Luca, his body straight, Nick's weight did not seem to strain him one bit, but it was the way he quickly shifted his head, that little deep laugh when Nick playfully blew in his ear.

Nick jumped off Luca's back when they reached where we sat before Sienna could tell her who they were. Nick openly stared at Carrie until she shyly averted her eyes.

"You must Carrie," She blushed. I don't know whether I could blame her, Nick could charm the pants off any woman. He had an innocent naughty smile rolled into one really striking grin, eyes that seem like they could look through your soul and read all your secrets, his lengthy, curly hair brushing the collar of his shirt.

She nodded, reaching out to shake Nicks's hand. He held it for more than it was conventional.

"Stop messing around, Nicolo," Sienna exclaimed, pulling Carrie's hand from his hand.

Carrie blushed again.

"That's Alessa," Sienna pointed at Alessa, Zion, and Serena, and of course, you know Luc."

"And this is Carrie. We were about to start." Sienna, murmured, pulling out her phone from the back of her jeans and placing it on her right.

"Why do you tie your hair so tightly? Doesn't your head hurt ?"

I cringed. I swear I wanted to pull Nick by his hair and drag him out of the room. I looked at Carrie, her face had turned crimson again. At this rate, red was going to be her complexion.

"You need to learn something about tact, and it's really none of your business how she ties her hair," I told him, my glare promising retribution.

"They won't take you seriously even though you go out of your way to look like a school matron."

I groaned, hiding my face in my hands.

"Losen it, let it fall on your shoulders."

"Shut up, Nick!"

"What? I'm surprised you haven't told her this already. There is nothing you like more than giving unsolicited advice."

"Lia says I can't. "

"Why the hell not?" I could have laughed at the look on his face. He looked bewildered

"She says it's rude."

"It is rude," Serena confirmed, pulling Alessa from the chair beside Carrie and then sitting on it.

"I'm just pointing out that men won't accept you in their world even though you try to look stern and unattractive."

"My goal is not to be accepted," Carrie mumbled, her voice disappearing into her throat she had to clear before she could add," my goal is to be unattractive."

"Why?" I asked, looking into her still-flushed face.

She shrugged.

"I don't want the kind of men in my life to hit on me or even find me attractive."

She smiled—a small sad smile that almost broke my heart. This was a girl whose life was filled with pain, fear, and uncertainty. I couldn't help but think of how lucky we were.

None of us spoke, we somehow couldn't find the words. We knew or at least had an idea without her saying it, of the life she alluded to.

"You're beautiful." Nick's hoarse voice filled the silence. As expected, she blushed. I felt like there were no attractive men in her life whom she could have liked to have flirted with her.

"He is sixteen," Sienna whispered, leaning back into her chair, hands across her chest with an apologetic smile on her lips.

Carrie shot up, her eyes resting on Sienna for a second before moving to Nick's.

"No, he is not."

Was that disappointment in her voice or embarrassment? I couldn't tell.

Sienna said, "yap!" awkwardly tapping on the keyboard of her laptop.

"He is my twin."

"What?" but you're..."

"Don't say tiny. I will accept small, but tiny is a dealbreaker."

Carrie smiled. A genuine one this time.

"But still, he is so..."

"Handsome?" Nick interjected, winking at her.

"Eww. "

"I meant you're so big...He doesn't look sixteen." Carrie added, turning to Sienna.

"That is because he ate all the food when we were in the womb and left me the crumbs. Greedy bastard."

Carrie threw her head back with laughter.

"You should laugh more often; you're gorgeous when you do."

"Stop flirting with her, Nic." Serena said sternly, "let's begin."

Carrie powered up her laptop, her head bent over it with concentration, her fingers shaking a little, perhaps because she could feel all our eyes on her.

"You could tell me the overall basics of the app," Sienna said when Carrie took more than a few minutes scrolling or looking for whatever had her so focused.

"Oh, sorry."

"don't be. Tell me what you have in mind."

"I want a medical App", she stated, looking into Sienna's face. She nodded, prompting her to continue.

"I want people to be able to connect with a specialist doctor nearest to them depending on where they live.

"That's commendable. But getting a specialist doctor isn't an issue because to get to one, a recommendation must be made. "

Carrie narrowed her eyes as if she didn't understand.

"so it's not possible?" her voice broke, sighing with disappointment.

"No, don't get me wrong, it is possible. But getting a specialist doctor is not a task; it's not complicated. It's not unique."

"But my mom..."

Her voice broke, but she didn't cry. "she died because she didn't have an oncologist."

"Did she have the money to go through the treatment?"

Sienna asked without acknowledging or even empathising with what she had said.

Carrie shook her head.

"Look. I'm not sure what kind of an App you expect to build, but I have a rough idea."

Carrie nodded enthusiastically as if Sienna would solve all her problems.

"First, we have to figure out the finances," Carrie's shoulders fell, suddenly looking dispirited.

"how will the patients pay these specialists? Medical care is expensive."

"What do you think we should do?"

Sienna looked at her endearingly, "I thought you at least had the basics."

"All I know is that I want an app where poor people can reach out to good doctors without going through so much trouble for treatment. Like a doctor in the palm of your hand."

"You need money. Sienna is right." Zion spoke for the first time, his deep voice shocking Carrie."

"I'm beginning to see the full picture now," she responded in a small voice.

"but there are so many apps in the market today that I thought surely one more meaningful one couldn't hurt."

"All the others are meaningful too. They have their target market."

Carrie unconvincingly nodded, but I could tell she wanted to argue.

"I don't think paying for treatment will be an issue once the app is established in the market. What we need is starting capital."

"It's not a business," Carrie said in righteous indignation, regarding Nick with an appalled stare.

Nick gave her an arrogant smirk, "with all due respect Miss Verratti, you seem to be out of touch with how the world works, and quite frankly, too naive. "

There were times when Nick scared the shit out of me. He could be so gentle and act his age, but at other times like now, he looked dark and dangerous, his eyes staring down at Carrie who finally turned away from his scowl.

"This isn't charity, not by a long shot. Do you think these doctors will treat poor patients for free? " There was frown on his forehead, an intense look at Carrie who had somewhat gotten the courage to look at him. She seemed as if she was in a daze, mesmerized, perhaps by his raspy smoky voice.

"Almost ten million people die yearly for lack of high-quality medical care." he paused for a heartbeat." Nobody, not even those equipped to save lives will do it for free. I'm not tech savvy, like Sienna, but I know numbers, and so does Zion, and he will tell you this app will require more than five million dollars."

She gasped and turned to look at Sienna who nodded.

"You need money, miss Verratti. "

"Are you sure you're seventeen?"

He gave her a crooked smile, biting the corner of his lips. I saw Sienna roll her eyes.

"I feel twenty."

"So what do we do?"

"You have an idea but no plan. Did you at least do any research?"  Alessa asked. She had taken her hair down, absently running her fingers through it.

Carrie shook her head, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Alessa will help you, Zion and I will come up with a budget, and Sienna will build it."

With shocked eyes, she regarded each one of us with a questioning look.

"It's not for free, miss Verratti." Nick insisted, making Carrie exasperated.

"Don't look at me as if I'm the scam of the earth, I'm not. I'm realistic."

"How do we raise the money?" Carrie asked, looking at Nick.

"That's not the problem. We can raise it. How to get our money back is the question."

"You mean it's not a problem to raise more than five million dollars?" she asked in an incredulous tone, her eyes wide with shock and skepticism.

"Do we get a loan?"

"There is no we, Carrie," Nick said her name in a smooth, flirty tone. "

"Stop messing with her?" Alessa told him,  between her teeth.

"How much can you raise?"

"I don't have much, that is why I was looking for investors."

"How much do you have?" Nick insisted.

"Nothing." she breathed, closing her eyes for a second as if she hoped the moment would pass faster to save her from feeling like a freeloader.

"When this is done, you will owe us a favor, and we always collect those." Nick earnestly said. Carrie must have seen the intensity in his gaze because she blinked a few times and then said 'okay.'

"This has taken more time than we expected," Luc murmured, standing, and shoving one of his hands in his pocket.

"Lia, I need to talk to you for a minute," he came to where I sat, pulling me up with his other hands before leading me toward the private lounge. Before we disappeared from view, I heard Carrie ask why Serena, Luca, and I were not involved.

"They have jobs, but we will have their money, don't worry."

The audacity of that boy.

꧁•⊹٭𝙷𝚒, 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚎𝚜. 𝚂𝚎𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛٭⊹•꧂