Chapter 4: Meeting New People
2576 Words
Lil's POV
Jazz walked into the dining room. “Hey guys, I didn’t expect you to be up or here?” she said shyly to the room while standing right in the doorway in front of me.
“Well, are you going to move so we can meet your friend?” came a gruff voice that sounded different from the other voice.
“Damn, your friend is hot.” Came a younger man’s voice.
I looked to the left and saw two empty chairs, then looked to the right and saw a young male leaning back in a chair.
“Hi there,” he said with a wave.
“Hi,” I said with a wave.
“Jazz you, okay?” I asked, worried about my friend standing in front of me as if she was protecting me from everyone in the room.
“Yeah, I am good.”
“Great, can you move then?”
“Jazz move to the side. We would like to meet your friend who will be staying the night.”
“Ugh fine,” Jazz said, moving to the side, so I could walk into the room.
I could finally see everything in the room. The table had 8 spots for sitting and two were empty while all the others were filled. Across the table sat 4 very attractive men that seemed too attractive to be real. I knew I needed to not stare, but it was hard to pull my eyes away from them. I finally and sadly moved my eyes away from the four very hot men and looked to the right and saw the guy that had called me hot and a girl sitting next to him. They looked like siblings, so I guessed these two were neighbors.
“Hello everyone.” I smiled and gave a short wave.
“Well, aren’t you adorable.” the female said.
“Umm thanks.”
“Oh, sorry do you not like being called adorable.”
“Not really, to be honest. I get called that a lot just because of my height.” I told her with a shrug, I wanted to be honest.
“I apologize. Anyway, I am Alice, and this is my brother Zach,” she said, pointing to the male sitting next to her.
“Hi, nice to meet you both, and thanks for the compliment, Zach.” I said, smiling widely at Zach.
“Anytime.” He replied with a flirtatious grin. “How old are you if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Zach, stop flirting with Lil please,” Jazz said while holding her head in her hand.
“Jazz chill, he is harmless. Plus, he looks like my little sister's age,” I said, laughing and shaking my head. I turned around to face Zach, “I am 27, which I have a feeling is older than you.”
“Age is but a number, but yes, you are older than me.”
“You're even older than me, but you look so young,” Alice stated.
“I have always looked younger than I am. How old are you?”
“I am 25,” she told me with a smile.
“Well, you met the two neighbors, but these four are the ones that wanted to meet you,” Jazz said, motioning to the four across the table from us. I noticed that their eyes were wide and one of them was tight-lipped and another had his jaw clenched.
“Hello, it's nice to meet you, and thank you for letting me stay here so I can spend time with Jazz here.” I said calmly, trying to not let it show how nervous I was, since they all looked pissed.
“Hello. It’s nice to put a face to a name my cousin here has talked about you so much over the years,” the man on the far left side of the table said with a true smile.
“Wait cousin?” I said, looking at Jazz, who just shrugged.
“Yeah, he is my cousin on my mom’s side,” Jazz stated.
“Well, it is nice to meet you, not sure which cousin you are, but still nice to meet you.”
“Oh, sorry I am Luka,” he said with a kind smile, which I returned. “The one at the other side of the table is the one who owns the house” he said, pointing to the man sitting across from Alice. Who was looking at me with either distain or something else but didn’t look like he liked me.
“Hi. You have a very lovely house. Thank you again for letting me stay over.” I said with a smile on my face, trying to be as polite as possible.
“Hi. Thanks.” He said, then ignored me.
'Oh….kay.' I mouthed.
“Aaron, don’t be rude,” Alice said.
“Its fine Alice. If you would like me to leave, I will, Mr. Blackwell.” I am not going to stay where I am unwelcome, so at least I gave him a reason to kick me out if he wanted.
Looking me straight in the eyes “One don't call Mr. Blackwell, Aaron is fine. Two you can stay, and Alice is right.” He let out a sigh and smiled. “I am sorry for being rude. It's nice to meet you, Lillian.”
I was shocked that he actually apologized to me and then called me by my first name. Most just hear Jazz say Lil and assume that it is my name.
“Thank you for apologizing, and you can call me Lil if you want most do.” I told him with a smile.
“Why are you two girls standing? Sit down already and grab some food to eat.” Ms. Sally said, coming into the dining room.
Jazz and I walked over to the empty chairs. She took the one at the end of the table, leaving me to sit in the chair next to Zach.
“Here is your soda dear, you left it in the kitchen.” Ms. Sally said, handing me my Coke.
“Oh, thank you sorry I didn’t even realize I set it down.”
“You don’t drink coffee?” Zach asked.
“Never been a fan of coffee or tea, but I do love a nice cold Coca-Cola.”
“Huh, okay, I don’t think I ever met a girl that doesn’t drink coffee or tea.” He said, grabbing a plate filled with pancakes. “Would you like some pancakes?”
“Well, now you have and yes, thank you,” I said, grabbing the plate from him and putting two pancakes on my plate.
“Can you pass me the waffles and bacon?” Jazz asked, down the table.
“Here, pass me the waffles, and you take the pancakes,” I said to Zach.
We swapped plates and I handed the waffle plate to Jazz. He then handed me the plate with bacon. I added 4 strips to my plate and grabbed 5 for Jazz, since she always had 5 pieces of bacon for breakfast if it was offered. Then handed the plate back to Zach.
“Thanks girly.” Jazz said, passing me the waffle plate which I passed to Zach. “Are there any eggs?” Jazz asked.
I could reach the plate since it was in front of me and handed it to her.
“Wow, I’m not awake yet and slow this morning.”
“Well, if you did not drink so much you would be more awake this morning.” Ms. Sally scolded Jazz like a little child, which made me laugh.
“Why are you laughing at what she said to me?”
“Because she has a point, that’s all. Besides the way she said it is how a mother gets after a child,” I said, trying not to laugh more.
“Do you gentlemen need your coffee to go? I know you said you would all be going to work today after meeting Jasmine's friend,” Ms. Sally asked.
“Yes, please, that would be much appreciated, Ms. Willis.” The man in front of me said.
I was having a hard time focusing on my food since I could feel several sets of eyes on me.
“Okay, I will get four cups to go.”
“I will be staying here, so just three Ms. Willis,” Luka said.
“I thought you were going to work today?” asked the man across from Zach.
“They sent me a message right before Lillian got here saying all was going well so I can stay here today.”
“Fine.”
The dining room got really quiet, and I just kept my head down eating because the silence and the eyes on me were bothering me.
“So, Lil, are you in college or do you work?” Alice asked.
I finished chewing up the pancake I had just put in my mouth. “I went to college but graduated, and now I work.”
“Where did you go to college?” the man across from me asked.
“I went to college online while working since my job offered to pay for it. I went to Wisteria College.”
“What is your degree in?”
“Okay, not to sound rude, but I don’t know your name or his” I said, pointing at the guy next to him. “You both keep staring at me, and he looks like he wants to hit someone or something.” He was starting to scare me by his looks. “So how about a deal you tell me your names and I will answer your questions?” I said raising an eyebrow while crossing my arms and laying them on the table.
“Why do you think I want to hit someone or something?” The one across from Zach asked me.
“Your jaw has been clenched since I came into the room. You seem like you are pissed or in pain,” I said, staring right back at him.
“It’s not smart to stare a beast down little one.”
I ‘scoff’ at him. I couldn’t believe he just said that to me, and why call me little one?
“I have stared a beast down before, and you don’t scare me.”
“Lil chill” Jazz whispered to me.
He raised both eyebrows and looked away. “Trust me, I am a beast. You don’t want to mess with little one,” he said, grabbing his cup of coffee. “Also, my name is Damien.”
Finally, I got his name now for the other one. “And what is yours?” I said to the man across from me.
“Lilly, I love you.” Alice laughed. "I have never seen someone be so bold and direct with them before, and they not blow up on the person.” She said with a smile.
“That’s a new nickname for me and I kind of like it,” I said, looking over at Alice with a smile.
At that moment, Ms. Sally came back into the room with the coffees for the three that were about to head to work.
“Thank you, Ms. Willis. You two ready to leave?” he said, looking at Damien and Aaron.
“Yep”
“Yeah”
They all got up to leave. “Also, Lilly, my name is Marcus,” he said, looking at me before leaving the dining room.
“Well, as much as I would love to get to know you better, Lil, I do need to go. You ready sis?” Zach said.
“Sadly, yes, I am ready to go, but first, Lilly, what is your degree?”
All eyes were back on me. “I have two degrees, actually.”
“You do?” Jazz asked.
“Yeah, I earned another one. They are both in history, but one is for teaching history at the high school and college level, while the second one is for museum curating and archiving. So, I get to teach history while also taking care of historical documents and artifacts.”
“Damn girl, you got to be super smart to do all of that,” Alice commented.
“It was easy for me to get the second one. It was just a year and a half more of school, plus my boss wanted me to get that degree, and since he paid for it, I didn’t mind.” After that, the three guys left the room while Luka stayed.
“You like history?” Luka asked, sounding really interested.
“I don’t like history. I love history.”
“Don’t get her started on history. We will be here forever,” Jazz said.
“I seem to recall you calling asking for my help passing your history classes. Not that long ago,” I said, laughing.
“History is not my thing, you know that.”
“I do girl.”
“Also, last time I called you gave the phone to Matt and Drake.”
“You know, we all love history. Besides the history, you needed help with was their favorite time period and kind of history.”
“Those two coworkers or classmates?” Zach asked.
“Well, they are actually my roommates, but they are also coworkers. We all live together and work together.”
“You live with two guys?” Luka asked.
I noticed he looked pissed. “Yes, I live with two guys and a girl. The house belongs to Matt, and he offered Drake, Amber and me to live with him since he had enough room for all of us.”
“Well, on that interesting note, we are going to head out. I have to drive this dumb ass to UNT for class,” Alice said.
“Hey, this dumb ass gets straight A’s in school,” Zach said to defend himself.
“Yes, the straight A’s dumb ass that crashed his third car and now has no car, so I have to drive you everywhere.” Alices said, standing and putting her hands on her hips.
“Whatever,” Zach said, getting up. “It was nice to meet you, Lil,” Zach said.
“It was nice to meet you as well. It was nice to meet you as well, Alice.”
Alice slapped Zach upside the head as he walked past. “Nice to meet you as well, Lilly. You are a cool chick, you and I should hang out sometime.”
“I would like that. You want my number now or do you just want to get it from Jazz another time?”
“I will get it from Jazz another time. Nice to meet you again,” Alice said, heading out the door.
“Are you done eating Lil?” Jazz asked.
“Yes, I am done.”
“Cool, well, let’s head up to my room.” Jazz got up and started heading to the kitchen door so we could grab my bags before going up to her room. I stood up and started to follow her.
- Writer
