Chapter 18: Sister Shenanigans
Ember Corbin
I woke up the next afternoon, feeling a thousand times better than yesterday. Lance did a wonderful job taking care of me last night.
"Lance?" I called out when I didn't see him anywhere inside my room.
As my health felt better, I marched towards my living room to look for him, but he was nowhere in sight. I was slightly disappointed.
"It's already the next day, Ember. Do you really think he'll stay in this humble house of yours?" I joked to myself and just shook my head with a smile.
When I passed by the couch where we ate ice cream, my mouth suddenly watered. Damn, period cravings.
I know Lance just bought me a gallon of ice cream, and I already ate it all. Should I go to the convenience store to get some more? Or should I call Lance for it? Gosh, what a dilemma!
I sighed, making my way into my fridge. Just then, I noticed a piece of paper stuck with the magnet on my fridge stating to call Lance if I felt sick.
I smiled widely at his concern. He really was a good person. Whenever he showed me care, I felt so warm inside; sometimes, I even felt like I would combust, especially since last night when he came to tack care of me.
With that thought, I opened the fridge to search for something to eat and saw another two gallons of ice cream with a note on the top of it.
'For you'
He just wasn't a nice person. He was the nicest person!
"Thank goodness I won't have to go to the store to buy more or call Lance for it." He probably already knew that I would call him for more if there wasn't any. I chuckled at how well he knew me already.
I immediately grabbed one of the ice cream tubs and jumped onto my couch to browse through Netflix. I reached for my phone and texted Lance a simple thank you.
"Maybe he's busy," I said to myself when he didn't respond.
"Well, I guess it's just you and me," I whispered lovingly to my sealed ice cream tub as if I was talking to my boyfriend.
# # #
When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was, that I was laying on the couch, hugging one of my open ice cream tubs, and some of the melted ice cream was dripping from my hand to the floor.
"Shkt." My eyes widened when the word I was supposed to utter didn't come out of my mouth correctly. I tried to speak again, but my throat suddenly felt itchyâreally itchy.
"S-so...re..." I immediately grabbed my phone and dialed Lance's number. My eyebrow furrowed when he was not answering. This was his fault for giving me that much ice cream, because I could never have any fault here. I was innocent.
After a few rings, the phone was answered at last. Before Lance could say anything, I decided to start speaking.
"Tiez is yoer fiaulet," I said, using my unrecognizable voice, and I knew that no one could understand what I was saying. God!
"Hello. Who is this? And why are you saved in Lance's phone as Crazy Lady?" My eyes once again widened, and I suddenly choked on the hot water that I was trying to drink. It wasn't Lance's bored stern, calm, and classy voice over the phone. Rather, it was a feminine voice laced with amusement.
Besides, Lance saved me as Crazy Lady. Like really?
"WhokâWho are yorku?" Did Lance have a girlfriend? Come to think of it, I never asked him if he did. Or, was this the girl like in some dramas who was chasing the Mafia Leader before the female lead arrived? If it was, I would like to know who was writing Lance's cringy story. Anyway, I didn't like the fact a girl received Lance's phone.
"Umm, I think you got a coldâOh, wait! Are you Em? The lady who had cramps?" I wonder how her voice shifted from worried to excited so soon.
"Mmhmm," I said, nodding even though I knew she couldn't see me.
"Oh, I see..."
Shivers started flowing through my back when her voice suddenly sounded like she was interested, as if a detective found her most interesting case.
"Okay then, text me your address on Lance's phone. Don't worry. I am not your lover's girlfriend. I am a good person, and I want to meet you," she said and hung up on me without letting me answer.
Well, if she knew Lance, I was sure she was a good person. Plus, she sounded like one. Without giving a second thought, I texted her my address and started cleaning the floor because of boredom.
###
I marched to my main door when I heard the calling bell, and I almost fell backward when a body suddenly jumped onto mine, pulling me into a hug.
"Oh, my God, I'm so glad to meet you," the ginger woman said delightfully.
I smiled at her brightly, even though I was not sure who she was. Her smile was contagious to me.
"Oh, silly me. I haven't really introduced myself, right? I'm Alena, Elian's girlfriend, and Lance's future sister-in-law," Alena said politely, and I was too shocked to even respond.
"I knew Lance had lovely family members, but to think that I'll meet one of them like this? I haven't even taken a shower yet, and I smell like ice cream!" I muttered without even thinking. My voice was a little better after drinking some warm water, at least it was understandable to some level.
"Don't sweat it. You'll have time for being presentable later," she said cheerfully. I thought she'd be grossed out by me, but she wasn't. Instead, she leveled up my insaneness. She already had the aura that she would vibe with me just perfect.
I happily invited her inside, and she helped me clean the house while saying that she used to live alone as well before moving in with Elian, so she knew how much it sucked to live alone and take care of the house. While she wasn't officially a Storm yet, she had that strong vibeâcaring but strict, yet full of love.
After cleaning up, she gave me the medicine she said was very effective and waited in the living room as I took a warm bath afterward.
Once I was showered, I joined her on the couch and put Netflix on in the background as we talked about random things. My heart felt so at ease while talking to her. Was this how it felt when someone had a sister?
"What theâ!" Alena exclaimed when my door burst open suddenly, and we found Lance staring at us in boredom. I must have forgotten to lock the door, by the way.
"What are you doing here? I swear to God that one of these days I'll put a bullet through your head," he said, extending his hand toward Alena.
She quietly handed him his phone and mumbled, "You will make Elian cry if you do that."
"I hate you," he hissed in annoyance. "And him as well for bringing your annoying existence into my life."
Alena pouted.
"Hi to you too, Lance," I said sarcastically with my hoarse voice, and he looked at me with narrowed eyes.
"You have a cold?" he asked me with a dark aura that made my eyes go wide. Shit, that wasn't the best time to speak up.
I shook my head frantically without uttering another word and shifted my eyes to Alena's and saw her smirking.
"I swear, Ember, I won't give you even a scoop of ice cream next time. I even came back just to put that in your fridge, but you ate... both of them, no doubt. Really? In one day? How can a person eat that much ice cream in a single day? Did you really expect your throat to be okay after that? Heck, I would be surprised if it was. You deserved to have this happen to you. Take a lesson from this, and from next time, for God's sake, refrain from eating ice cream likeâ" he stopped in the middle of his rant.
I lowered my gaze in shame while Alena burst out laughing.
"What?" Lance asked, glaring at Alena. She shook her head and motioned her hand like she wanted Lance to continue talking while controlling her laughter. She must have noticed how much and how fast Lance spoke in a breath. I would have been amused too, if only I wasn't the one he was scolding.
"What? Do you need privacy?" Alena teased him when he just stared at her with indifference, and I couldn't help but giggle. I stopped when Lance suddenly sent me a thousand daggers with his eyes.
He turned back to Alena. "Go back to California, Alena. Don't you have an office? Why did you come to annoy me here in Vegas? Also, couldn't you have let me know in advance if you were coming to my penthouse for the first time? You didn't even tell Elian before leaving. Plus, how the hell did you get your hands on my phone?" Lance demanded, raising his eyebrows, looking displeased to see Alena sitting on my couch. But I knew he was happy to see her deep inside his heart; I understood that from his third questionâso that he could have prepared something to welcome her.
"First of all, I had some office-related work here, which is done by now. Secondly, yes, even if the office was part of the reason, but the real reason is I came to check up on youâ"
"In other words, you did come to annoy me," he interrupted, but she paid him no mind and continued.
"Thirdly, no, I didn't let you know because I wanted to surprise you. Fourthly, yes, I did inform Elian through a note, asking him to call me, and I have talked to him already, don't worry. He even told me to take this as a vacation and enjoy my time here. Finally," her expression turned mischievous, "You were in the shower, so I sneaked in and stole your phone."
He shook his head in disbelief after she finished talking.
"I'm sorry, Ember, but don't talk to her if you don't want to. She's a real annoyance, so it's pointless talking to her," he said, staring at me flatly, then he walked over to me. He placed his palm on my forehead; maybe he was checking if I had a fever, so I sat idly. "You don't have a fever. Have you taken medicine for your cold yet?"
"Yeah, Alena made me," I told him with a smile.
He sighed, shooting Alena a side-glare. "At least she's being a little useful."
As if waiting for her cue, Alena spoke up, "Oh, my God, is this real? Did Lance Storm just apologize to Ember? I must be in the parallel universe where Lance actually has basic speech manners." She was obviously shocked by Lance's attitude towards me. Even I had to agree that Lance got softer with every counter of ours, and it surprised me as well.
"Alena, that is what I am thinking. I guess I can say that we are on the same team now. Did you know he rescued me from getting almost raped?" I chirped at her, and she was over the cloud by what I was saying.
"Really? Give me the details!"
We immediately got to talking. I told her everything from the beginning up to what he did for me yesterday. She even laughed at our first encounters, especially when I was kidnapped and the last ice cream story.
"That's so funny," she said, clapping her hands in excitement. I continued talking but stopped when she suddenly spoke.
"Where's Lance?"
I forgot all about him in the midst of gossiping with Alena. I immediately turned and saw no one aside from the two of us in there.
"Wasn't he here just a few minutes ago?" I questioned her as well. I scanned the living room very carefully. Maybe he was hiding on the back of the kitchen counter? I was about to check when Alena suddenly talked.
"Did he leave with his phone?" she asked herself, checking everywhere near her. "I am getting hungry. Can you cook?" she asked after a few minutes of us just staring at my door, waiting for Lance to make his comeback.
"I can, but I don't have the ingredients."
We both sighed in despair while still looking at the closed door.
"Did you know that Lance makes amazing food?" I suddenly uttered when Lance's soup kept passing my mind.
"Yes, he is one hell of a chef," she muttered in agreement, then her face lit up. "I just had the best idea." She grabbed her phone. "Come on, let's call him to make some tasty food for us."
My lips automatically smirked at her brilliant idea.