What You Caused

05.

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.