"So tell me why I have to do this?"
I ask Izabella, she grabs a dress from
me and Aleksander's closet
"Because my mom wants a family
photo before you go,
and she never takes no for an answer"
Izabella lifts the dark plum-colored
satin dress and presses it against
my body, a smile grows on her face
and she steps beside me so I can see
myself in the mirror, even though
it's a basic dress it still looks pretty.
"Do we like it?" Isabella asks,
"Yes, we definitely do." Aleksander
replies with a smirk,
While he leans against the doorframe,
his black shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, my eyes trail down
his muscular, veiny arms, and I realize there is dark dried blood on his hands
My eyes widen and I look back into his
eyes. his eyebrows furrow in confusion
then he realizes what is wrong.
He lifts his hands "It was a work thing."
he says as if that's a good explanation,
I leave it alone and walk toward him
"Are you okay?" I question, a little
worried he got himself hurt.
A deep laugh leaves his mouth
"You see my hands drenched in
blood and you ask me if I'm okay?"
I roll my eyes "Yes and I didn't
ask for a replay of the question."
Izabella laughs, shaking
her head while she walks past us
"You are both made for each other."
Aleksander shrugs and points toward
her "See she agrees with me."
I look down at his hands again,
I want to ask more questions like,
whose blood is on
his hands and why is it there?
But I don't know how to say it
without sounding scared or worried,
mostly because I am a little worried.
"I don't know the person's name but
they tried to break into one of my warehouses, supposedly they work
for another mafia,
I don't know the answer to that either"
Sometimes I wonder if he can read my mind, it's as if he knows what
I want before I even realize I want it.
I nod my head, grabbing his arm,
making sure not to get the blood
on me and I lead him into the bathroom.
he lets me put his hands into the sink
and put soap in the palm of his hand
"Xavier's coming," he tells
me as he washes his hands,
I lift myself onto the bathroom
counter and cross my legs "Why's
your boyfriend coming?" I ask him
He grabs the hand towel off the rack
and dries his hands "He's sort of our
family, so he's always in the photo,
Why don't you try to get along with
him?" I think we do get along,
Xavier is similar to Louis which
makes him likable,
but I play along so I can ask him
"Why don't you get along with Louis?"
He drops the towel and makes a
disgusted face, strolling past me
and into the closet
"I heard him quoting Mickey Mouse,
that's a kid's cartoon." Aleksander says from the closet, I laugh and get off the counter "So?" I walk toward the closet.
I step inside to see him pulling off his
shirt and grabbing another similar
one from a hanger "So, he's childish,
he doesn't act mature at all." I scoff
"Xavier's the same way!"
Aleksander stops to think
for a second, which means
he is realizing I'm right.
"Well, Xavier's mature when he
needs to be" he explains,
"Louis is the same, you just haven't
been around him enough," I tell him.
He slides his arm into his black satin
shirt "Maybe." he says, even though
he doesn't seem to believe it.
My eyes fall to his abs, They look like
if I traced my finger along them I'd
get cut, they are so defined and sharp,
I work out and my abs don't
look anything like his, I'm telling you,
God has favorites. He is one of them.
His fingers fumble around with the
buttons, attempting to button his shirt,
I take a few steps closer to him
and button up his shirt,
which is my excuse to get closer to him.
"Marceline" I look up at him,
waiting for him to speak again,
but he doesn't say anything else,
his eyes just look into mine,
I feel electricity run up my spine
and through the rest of my bones,
His dark brown eyelashes
make his eyes stand out even more.
the almost golden brown and green
merged make me decide
my favorite color is hazel.
Nothing is more comforting to me;
then the thought of it, of him.
I think of the past few days and
how everything feels so perfect,
I let myself fall
into the fantasy of Him and I.
We've spent the last three nights talking
for hours, we talk about everything and surprisingly I don't have any fear of him using any of my confessions against me.
It's nice to not be on guard,
I feel like I'm on a
vacation after working for years.
His eyes kind of remind me of
evergreen forests in spring,
so many different colors and they complement each other's shade.
but his hair reminds me of fall, his
blonde hair has somewhat of a yellow
tint with red streaks and brown roots.
"What are you thinking about?" He whispers, his hot minty breath hitting
my face. "You" I answer truthfully,
He looks taken back for just a
second but quickly falls back into
his somewhat careless demeanor.
Pulling my gaze away from him,
Xavier walks into the room
"Listen, Aleksander, I already told
your sister I'm not wearing a light blue shirt, why did you agree with her?" Aleksander looks up at him and smiles
"Because it brings out your eyes"
He tells him sarcastically, even
though he's being sarcastic he's
right, I guess everyone
but Xavier is on Izabella's side.
"Can you tell her to leave me alone?!"
Xavier complains, "Why can't you just
wear the stupid shirt?" I ask, He turns
to me as if he's just realized I'm here
"Because, Marceline, it's called fashion" Aleksander grabs his arm and pulls him
out of our closet "Come on! She'll listen
to you, you're her brother!" He whines;
Aleksander starts laughing as he
pushes him out of the bedroom "That's exactly why she won't listen to me."
Izabella walks past them and
into the bedroom, sticking her
tongue out at Xavier. "Do you want to
get ready in my room?" I nod my head
and follow her into her room.
When we step in I see a white
canopy bed with light pink velvet
covers, sitting next to each side of
the bed are two side tables with
crystals for knobs and handles,
I walk on the bright white carpet,
following her into the bathroom.
A spread of different types of makeup
lay on the bathroom counter,
including brands like Dior, Charlotte Tilbury, Estée Lauder, and a few others.
I've always thought makeup was
pretty but never worn much of it,
mostly because I'm not good at it,
and if I try to do a full face
I look like I work for a circus.
"I can't really do makeup" I admit,
a little embarrassed,
she just shrugs and smiles
"I'll teach you, but right now I can do
it for you!" Before I could reply Viktor strolls in, followed by Veronika.
"как я был- о, привет, Марселин," Veronika says, I forgot how light and
calm her voice is, [ᴛʀᴀɴsʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ:
ʟɪᴋᴇ ɪ ᴡᴀs sᴀʏɪɴɢ- ᴏʜ, ʜᴇʟʟᴏ ᴍᴀʀᴄᴇʟɪɴᴇ,]
Before I could respond Viktor
turns to her and speaks "She's
an American, Veronika, she
probably doesn't speak Russian."
His Russian accent is more
apparent than Aleksander's,
however, they both have that mood
that makes me what to smack them.
"I speak both," I say politely,
He laughs and walks
toward the door "Сомневаюсь."
[ᴛʀᴀɴsʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: ɪ ᴅᴏᴜʙᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ.]
I smile and raise one eyebrow,
realizing he forgot, I say "Ты?" [ᴛʀᴀɴsʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ?]
He clenches his jaw and glares at
me, before muttering something
and stomping out of the door.
"Are you both doing makeup?"
Veronika asks, Izabella nods
and invites her to join us, she
accepts and starts to do her hair,
the braid looks gorgeous because
of all the different tones in her long
blonde hair, it's very similar to
Aleksander's except her hair is lighter.
"So, are you planning on staying here?" Izabella asks me, but I don't know how
to answer her; even though Aleksander
and I have been talking it wasn't about anything, particularly serious.
I don't want to move to Russia and
even if Aleksander wanted to move to America (which he doesn't) He can't,
He has his mafia and I'll have mine.
I still don't even understand why
my father would accept the offer,
he knows that I'm taking over when
he leaves; that's why he had me,
That's what he trained me for;
my whole existence has been
preparing for that specific position.
If I don't take over then all of
that would have been for nothing,
all the work, the tears, the time,
the torture, the tests, the plans,
all of it would be for nothing.
Pulling me away from my thoughts is
Marina, walking into the bathroom
with a cheerful smile on her face
"Are you three almost ready?"
Izabella picks up the makeup brush
and apply's blush on my cheeks
"Yes, we'll be down in a minute"
Veronika nods her head in agreement
then follows her mom out of the room
"You never answered?" Izabella
reminds me, I think for just a
second, trying to form an answer
that doesn't sound offensive or rude
"Sorry, I just don't know" She makes
a humming noise and walks toward the door "Let's go downstairs before Mom sends someone up here to get us"
I laugh and follow her out of the room
•~~~~~~~~~~❀❀❀~~~~~~~~~~~•
"Alright everyone, we're done,"
Marina says, Everyone
lets out a breath and sits down.
Even the photographer looks relieved.
Karina told me that they
take photo shoots very seriously.
"Now that we've successfully wasted
our time on a photo, can I go now?"
Viktor pleads in a stuck-up tone; I hate people that act like their time is more valuable than everyone else's.
if it isn't clear he's one of those people
Marina raises one of her eyebrows
and gives him a look that says
"excuse me?" I don't remember
much of my mom but I
undoubtedly remember that look.
Viktor's eyes widen, he clears
his throat and walks toward
the photographer with Karina.
"Are you packed yet?" Aleksander asks,
I nod my head and return the question
"Yes I am, we're leaving in a few hours."
He tells me, Xavier walks up
to both of us, looking angry and
worried "What is it?" I question,
"Can I speak to you" He looks between
us "alone" I take the hint and walk away from both of them, Izabella grabs both
of my hands, smiling and pulling me
up the staircase "I want to talk to you."
She starts giggling mischievously,
making me worried
about what she wants to talk about.
I shut the door behind us and as
soon as the door lock clicks she
blurts out "I slept with Xavier!"
She throws her hands over her
mouth and I repeat the action
on myself; I guess we're both
astonished by what she said.
"Tell me everything!" I say as if we've
done this a million times before,
or like we're the best of friends.
"We were arguing about the suit and
well-" I start uncontrollably laughing
it's so hard to breathe, I feel like
my lungs are collapsing or a huge
weight is on my chest, tears fill my
eyes before spilling onto my cheeks
"So it was make-up sex?" I choke out
She laughs and nods her head, us
laughing sounds like something is
dying, I lay my head against the wall
and cover my mouth while
Izabella drys the tears from her face,
She grabs my shoulders and shakes
me, in a poor attempt to stop my
laughter. Unfortunately for her, it
only makes it louder.
The door opens and we both stop
laughing for just a second to see
Aleksander and Xavier looking at
us with confused faces;
We look back at each other
and our laughter starts again.
She lifts one finger and motions it
between them "So it was make-up sex!"
I barely get out, she nods her head and
I point to Aleksander who says
"How much have you two had to drink?"
Not even an ounce of alcohol,
although the suggestion
makes us laugh even more
"Who had make-up sex?" Xavier
laughs, I don't know if Izabella wants Aleksander to know so I just say "Us"
while pointing to Aleksander,
Izabella falls back onto the
sofa laughing, Aleksander
glances at Xavier and shrugs
We finally catch our breath and stop
laughing, Aleksander walks up to me
and dries my tears with his hands,
His pretty eyes examine my face
"Xavier and I have to go to a meeting,
but I'll meet you at the tarmac."
He kisses my forehead and walks out
The room falls silent, and I think over
what just happened. I look over
to Izabella who is already looking at me
A big smile grows on her face
and I can't help but do the same,
and we start laughing, again.
__________________________
𝟣𝟤 - 𝟣𝟩 - 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟤
𝖨 𝖺𝗉𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗂𝗓𝖾 𝗂𝗇 𝖺𝖽𝗏𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾.