𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬.
~𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐡 𝐆𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐚~

𝐋𝐢𝐚

"Are you okay with me coming with you?" I turned toward Serena with a puzzled look. Why the hell wouldn't I be okay with her coming with me? What the fuck was going on in that pretty mind of hers.

With a frown, I waited for her to qualify the question, at least before I could answer. There has never been, and will not be, a time when I wouldn't be okay with Serena...unless...I paused that thought, shaking my head slightly as I focused on the sad-faced girl seated beside me.

She didn't qualify the question, though. "I will always be okay with whatever you need. Always." I told her, linking my fingers with hers. "What happened, S?"

She shook her head, putting her head on my shoulder, her fingers tightening around mine.

"I will wait until you're ready to tell me."

I heard a weak thank you, and I gently placed my head on hers.

"You can tell me why you thought it was a good idea to lavish Luc in between our meeting with Carrie."

I gasped, looking horrified, pushing her head off my shoulder. She yelped; I didn't care; I was too mortified then. "You knew?" I covered my face with my hands, cursing Luc silently for awakening a sexual being within me that I didn't stop to consider it had been my idea, not his.

"Come on, Lia. Your lips were swollen when you returned, an ocean scent stubbornly clinging on you.

"Oh, my God!" I huffed, still with my hands on my face as if that was enough to erase the shame I felt.

"Who else noticed?"

I peered at Serena between my fingers, and she smiled. This conversation did some good if it made her smile, but at what cost?

My eternal shame? But should I feel this deeply embarrassed when I felt non of these when I came out of the bathroom and found Matteo and Dev? They knew what Luc and I had been doing in there, yet it had not evoked much of what I felt when Serena said she knew what I had done.

"I think Zion guessed."

That had me dropping one of my hands off my face, feeling another wave of mortification flush on my face. "Your face still resembles your hair when you are embarrassed," Serena commented, slapping the other, then cupping it between hers.

"You mean I look like an overripe tomato?"

She chuckled, rolling a strand of hair around her finger. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't think the young ones noticed."

That did make me feel better. " What about Carrie?"

Serene shrugged, "She doesn't count." I smiled at the way she said that.

"I don't think you should be embarrassed about any of it." She said after a while, her gentle tone sounding wistful, her face looking through the jet window.

I didn't say anything for a moment, lost or perhaps thrown into the memories and the emotions being with Luc evoked in me.

Serena was right; I shouldn't be embarrassed. I liked how he made me feel, how I made him lose control and the numerous times I teased his body with mine until he lost the battle of keeping it together.

I liked the smell of him in my body. The feel of his hand in mine, his petty competitiveness. I decided then that I would tell him I was ready for us to tell our parents about our relationship, though I suspected the mothers knew.

"I think you're right," I told her, and we flew the rest of the way in silence.

Once we landed, we walked hand in hand while Russo and Dev carried our luggage to the car.

It didn't take long to arrive at the house; I heard Serena sigh with relief when the house came into view. "Are you tired?"

She nodded, "I didn't sleep well last night. I want to shower and sleep."

"Okay," I mumbled without asking her why. It must be related to her and Zion anyway, and she has already made it perfectly clear she wasn't ready to talk about it.

I took my bag from where Dev had left it at the top of the stairs to drag it to my bedroom. It wasn't much, just a few things I picked up from my home bedroom.

I didn't open it; I put it at the closet entrance, then dived on top of the bed; immediately, the scent of Luc filled my nostrils, slipping through my bloodstream.

Oh, how I missed him.

I don't know how long I stayed like that until I saw Serena walking into my room in silk bedwear.

"Can I sleep with you?"

"Sure," I told her, getting off the bed, " but we need to change the bedding," I added, pulling them out.

"Why?"

I bit my lip with a smile. "They also have an ocean scent clinging to them."

In a wrinkled nose, lips pressed together, Serena wrapped her hands across her chest, giving me a measured look.

"Hey, you told me not to be embarrassed about it." I defended myself, carrying and dropping the bedding in the laundry basket.

"Yeah, I guess that meant to rub in my face."

I sobered, pausing to pull out clean bedding from my closet.

"Is that what I'm doing? Rubbing it in your face?" I asked when I rejoined her. The last thing I wanted was to make her feel sadder than she already did. But how was I supposed to know what to say around her if she won't talk to me?

"I'm sorry, no. Please don't feel as if you can't talk about Luc with me." She said, pulling out one bedsheet from my hands and spreading it on the bed while I stood still, holding the rest of the bedding, staring at her with a puzzled look.

"Did you sleep with Zion?"

She let out a mirthless laugh, "no."

"Kiss him?"

She spared me a glance before returning to her task, " I kiss him often."

My eyes widened, not sure why I was shocked, considering I knew how they both felt for each other.

"Don't tell me you're shocked," she frowned, pulling another sheet out of my hands.

I bit the inside of my cheek, carefully eyeing her
" Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Was that hurt in my tone?

Serena threw me a quick look, signalling for the blanket. I tossed it onto the bed, waiting for her reply.

She didn't say a word until she finished making the bed. I moved over to sit on the couch while she sat on the bed.

"I didn't want to say anything at first because I knew it would remind you of Luc."

I nodded, fair enough, though I would have wanted to know.

"What about later?"

"Later is now. " she whispered, giving me a quizzical expression which I didn't know how to interpret. I could have grilled her further, but my phone rang. I jerked up quickly, dragging my purse from the corner of the couch to fish it out. I thought it was Luc, but it was Estelle.

With a puzzled look and an alarmed feeling, I slid the answering icon of my phone, "hallo," my voice sounded unsteady as my heart was.

"Why do you sound like you're in a ditch somewhere?" She asked. I exhaled softly, forcing myself to laugh.

"I'm in the house," I told her, getting up. I saw Serena's confused look. I ignored her, walking to stand by the window. I felt her footstep coming towards where I stood until she was beside me, wiggling closely to my ear, trying to listen to the call.

"It's good news, darling. Don't sound so depressed."

"It is? Good news, I mean?" she laughed at the scepticism in my voice.

"Very, very good news. " I held my breath for what felt like an eternity, waiting for her to continue.

"They fired Trixie Goldberg, and Camille recommended you as the show regular. " I yelled; no screamed would be more accurate; my lungs demonstrating how perfectly in good shape they were with every scream. I was crying and laughing simultaneously; Serena stood before me, brushing my hair from my face while wiping the tears off with a scarf.

"I want to say I'm sorry for her, but I won't mean it," I say after calming down.

"Pssh, don't worry about it. She is to blame." Estelle said. I shake a little as a realisation comes to me, "I haven't heard she was fired. Shouldn't this be in the entertainment news?"

"I'm told the news will be out in an hour or so. Estelle told me, her excitement resembling mine. "Was it because of drugs?" I knew she was into drugs; any sane person could see it.

"Yeah. " Estelle confirmed, "You're expected to be present on Wednesday for the promotion poster."

Thank God Wednesday was the day after tomorrow; I had a day to rest and cool off from excitement.

I squealed with glee, wrapping my arm around Serena's neck.

"Thank you, Estelle. I know you've worked harder than I have." I murmured, pulling Serena closer.

"No. I was doing my part. The rest is up to you."

"I won't disappoint you," I vowed just before she disconnected.

"I have just become a regular for children of blood and oil," I announced, and Serena hugged me, whispering congratulations in my ear.

____________________________________________________________________

Serena came with me to the photoshoo.  I wasn't sure how the cast felt about a new person getting a regular part; I shouldn't have cared; I wasn't there to make friends anyway, I had enough of those to last me a lifetime, but I didn't want animosity between us. So I humbled myself as I interacted with them, made small talk, and answered a few questions about myself: Serena helped a lot. She is a ball of fire.

It also helped that I knew a little about them from that one drink we had after I shot my second episode. Plus, Maxwell Vanderbilt seemed to be okay with me around.

While we were doing our make-up, I heard someone mumble an enthusiast wow. I turned, and I saw Zion and Sebastian walking towards us.

I cursed, looking at Serena to find her scowling at the two figures walking to us.

"Who the fuck are these?" Ann, the girl who sat beside me in class in the last episode asked. Her real name was Jessica staring at them with a little too much salacity.

"My brothers."

I said, getting up from the makeup chair. She took a step to where I stood." are you sure, you don't look anything alike?" She responded

I shrugged, "the one on the right is my biological brother; the other is the son of my mother's best friend.

"Oh, my God!" Jessica breathed, unshamelessly gawking at them.

"They're so cute," she whispered.

"Cute?" I rolled my eyes.

She followed me as I sauntered to Serena, where I knew they were headed.

"How did you know we were here?" I asked Zion after hugging Sebastian.

"Called Dev," he answered, kissing my forehead. Serena didn't acknowledge him, but she did jump into Seb's arms.

Sebastian was tall and lean, with thick black hair like his mother and honey-brown eyes. Although we did not interact much with his family because his father left the Mafia, his mother, Gabriella, was my mom's best friend since they were teenagers.

I felt Jessica poke at me, egging for an introduction.

"This is Jessica. I told them. And this is Zion and Sebastian.

When Seb zeroed his eyes on her,Jessica sucked in her breath, almost in surprise. Here is the thing I wanted to tell Jessica, leave, run, don't let him get close, I knew him enough and although Sebastian's father left the Mafia he still had connection, and Seb was emerging like a powerful warrior.

Jessica would never know how to handle him; he was fire, passionate and ruthless. While his eyes were beautiful, I have seen them turn cold, like a dangerous caged animal determined to break off by any means necessary.

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𝙸𝚏 𝙸'𝚖 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚠 𝙶𝚊𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚕𝚕a 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙰𝚕𝚍𝚘'𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗, 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚘, 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝?

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