C14 Dresses, booze and stupid men

***POV - Melaena

A neon sign lights up above us. INFERNO. I drive around the building and park at the back, knowing that there’s always paparazzi lurking in the front. Enrique and Logan are both famous and the reporters just love to hang out at their club, to write about their spicy social lives. And with Damion and Jackson also being here most of the time, this is a paparazzi paradise.

Lucinda’s eyes grow big with astonishment. “We’re going in there?” She points to the club, pushing back her glasses again, and I nod my head. She types a message on her phone and puts it back in her handbag.

“It’s my brothers’ club, so we can eat for free.” Her eyes grow even wider.

“I didn’t know you have a brother.” She’s almost prancing with excitement next to me.

“Actually, I have four.” Her mouth drops open and then she just shakes her head. The guard opens the back door for us without a word. I take Lucinda by the arm as she’s almost frozen with amazement and we walk up the stairs to the VIP area.

“Mel, what are you doing here?” I recognize my brother’s voice, but before I can answer, I’m swept off my feet and swinging through the air.

“And who's this lovely lady?” Enrique puts me down and pulls out his charms, kissing Lucinda on her hand. I introduce them. She blushes beet-red and I swear her eyes are going to stay that big forever. I know Enrique won’t try anything with Lucinda, as she’s not his type. He’s into slutty models, not nerdy students – but being Enrique, he’s always the charmer.

“You are not here for the company, so I guess you need some food? It’s the only reason my sister ever comes to my club.” I notice he looks dashing as usual and he then pushes a strand of dark blonde hair behind his ear. Enrique has a unique look, his hairstyle changing continuously depending on what’s needed for his job, but it’s his eyes that make him stand out. He has Heterochromia and one eye is bright blue, while the other one is hazel. Combine this with those thick eyebrows and you have the inexplicability of a storybook stare.

“No way, and here I thought you tech students work your asses off!” Jackson’s voice springs up from the bottom of the stairs, seemingly in a good mood. Unlike his twin, he doesn’t flirt with Lucinda. Hell, he barely looks at her.

“Even nerds need to eat!” I scold him as he pulls me into a hug. I introduce Lucinda to him and he shakes her hand. I swear this girl is having a seizure and I’ll have to explain to Professor Anne how my brothers broke her shy student-body-president. Jackson looks just like Enrique, duh they’re identical twins, but his hair is shorter and both his eyes are blue – or rather a combination of hazel and blue – but bluer.

Lucinda’s mouth opens and closes again, like a fish out of water, when Ilkay comes into view, her eyes now big as saucers. I bump her with my elbow and slowly see the light returning to her hazed orbs. I guess seeing 3 hunks looking something like superhero actors in fitting jeans will rattle any girl. Hell, if they weren’t my brothers I probably would be rattled. I look at my brothers and pout my mouth.

“And why was I not invited to this get-together?”

“Well, it’s supposed to be a guy’s night, and last time I looked you had tits and no penis, so stop sulking.” Jackson winks at me.

“And they’re pretty nice tits, thank you very much!” I grab my boobies in my hands, pushing them up, loving the way my brothers' faces turn sour. I know exactly how to piss them off and it feels GOOD. The last thing they want to know about is my body parts, especially the feminine ones.

“I agree!” A very familiar voice softly whispers in my ear. Damion! I quickly remove my hands from my jugs and suddenly I’m the fish out of the fudging water.

I haven’t seen him since his party 'cause he left soon after to go racing in France. And since the party, the media has been speculating about a secret forbidden romance between us, and how we’re the perfect couple and crap like that.

Photos of us were splattered all over the internet – one where he was lying on top of me, wiping my cheek. Another I was in his arms, his eyes closed and his chin leaning on my head. Then one of him protecting me against Chloe’s shots. And so on and so on – you get the drift. With each photo came some questions – Is she the one? Is this true love? Can the badboy be tamed? Will he give up his playboy ways? Will he break the rules?

And the worst one was of us dancing, lost in each other’s eyes where they had a field day speculating about the song choice and why he selected it. But I know pretty well what it was about - he was teasing me after our discussion in the truck. Typical Damion style.

I must admit that we do seem to be deeply in love in each photo - if you don’t know the story behind them. And to make matters worse, they added a love square by mixing Ren and Chloe into the whole thing. Ren finally gave me an ultimatum - taking our relationship to the next level. I told him I had to think about it, but there’s no way I’m having sex with him just to prove a point. I just hope the whole Damion thing will blow over soon. I don’t like being associated with the likes of him in every news post.

He slides into the booth, sitting next to me and Axel moves in next to Lucinda. She is for sure having a seizure now and I can already see Anne grinding my bones into her morning coffee. She stares openly at Damion, and then at Axel, and I don’t think she’s breathing. I look around for my youngest brother and notice Logan’s pretty baby face behind the bar.

“She okay?” Ilkay asks looking worriedly at Lucinda. I kick her shin under the table to get her out of her trans.

“Yep, she’s good, just not used to seeing such a bunch of cocky testosterone douchebags in one group. The people we study with are nice and friendly.”

Damion puts his hand on my leg as if it’s supposed to be there and I eye him with an angry face. Hell, he hasn’t even been here for 5 seconds and I’m already pissed off. And I haven’t forgiven him for forcing me to dance with him to that song at the party. He put me on a spot, knowing I couldn’t refuse in front of everybody. And because of him, my face is on every front page – something I try desperately to avoid. He used the song to tease and humiliate me after what I told him in the truck about wanting something real.

Typical Damion move. He’s not right in his mind, this guy.

And mostly I’m mad at myself, cause I want the song to mean something. Stupid, I know. I take his hand in a tight grip and move it over to his leg forcefully. But when I try to release his hand, he grabs it back and holds on tight, lacing his fingers through mine, giving me a winning smile. I’m doomed now, cause if I struggle to get it free, the whole table will notice, and that’s the last thing I need right now. It will just raise my brothers’ suspicions even more. Yep, they were also not too happy about the photos … asking all kinds of difficult questions I didn’t want to answer.

“Sounds boring.” Enrique pulls a face at me. Uh, what’s boring? Think Mel! Oh, the guys studying with us.

“Ug, you guys are the human version of a headache.” I get up and go to the bathroom to spat some water on my face and to pray for better brothers with better friends. When I get out of the bathroom, Lucinda is standing in front of the door talking on her phone in a whispering voice, as if she doesn’t want anybody to hear the conversation. I wait for her to finish before we go back to our table. She looks rattled again and her eyes move all over the place not to look at me.

“Sorry, it was my dad. He’s a bit … “ She pauses, probably looking for the right word, and then goes with “… intense.” I can relate to that. My whole damn family is intense.