Chapter 13: Chapter 13

As I had suspected, Aly took me shopping. She entered the first store under the pretext of seeing a blouse she loved and wasted no time in telling me to try on the first thing I saw. Although I understood her intentions, Aly had already given me too much with the iPhone. I couldn’t even face her to accept more. I was determined to refuse.

“Aly, please, don’t do this to me,” I said, taking her by the arm and almost dragging her out of the store. “Please, I understand that you want to do this and that you insist it’s not your money you’re spending, but your parents’ credit card. But please understand that I feel really bad about you paying for my things.”

I don’t know if I was too harsh with her because she looked at me with some annoyance, but after a few seconds, her gaze softened, and she seemed to understand my point of view.

“Okay, I’m sorry, you’re right,” Aly said after a few seconds. “Maybe I’m rushing things.”

Now the situation was uncomfortable because it would have been normal for me to accept her buying me at least a pair of socks, but I was determined not to accept any more gifts from Aly. The iPhone had been more than enough for the next few years.

“Well, since we’re here and it’s still early…” Aly said, her hands in her pockets. “What do you think about visiting my house?”

She could have offered to take a tour of a ceramics museum, and I would have accepted anything just to leave the mall. I gladly agreed, but then I remembered that Aly was the twins’ neighbor. There was a high chance I could see them, and it made my stomach turn.

“The last thing I need right now is to see them with their girlfriends,” I thought as we headed toward the parking lot.

We left the mall, and Aly quickly took the route out of town. After a few minutes on the main road, she took a detour that, if she hadn’t been driving, I might never have noticed. The road led into the infinite forest that surrounded the town and stretched beyond the mountains.

“Is it far?” I asked, actually trying to start a conversation to overcome the awkwardness from the clothing store incident.

“Not too far,” Aly said, offering me a smile as if she also wanted to move past the clothing store topic. “It’s less than half a mile from this road. Then we’ll enter a paved one.”

I couldn’t imagine where that road could lead, as if we were heading to some reserve or natural park. But as Aly had said, in no time we were back on a paved highway, and a few more miles ahead, we entered what seemed to be another town.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, observing the place we were approaching from the window. “Is it another town? So close to where we came from?”

Aly explained to me that, although it seemed like another town, it actually wasn’t.

It’s just a common area that we, the people who live on the outskirts, share,” she said. “A kind of plaza with a few shops, but it’s not a separate town.”

However, as I observed the place we were entering, I could see much more than just a simple plaza and commercial stalls. It was a true village of happy people. Individuals conversed around a beautiful water fountain decorated with gorgeous multicolored flowers. The pathways were paved, and pots with plants lined the streets. The facades of the shops seemed to have been designed to give a unique and picturesque atmosphere to the place. I couldn’t help but compare that site to a small Italian village, as I had seen in movies, and I let Aly know. She looked at me as if my comment had made some kind of discovery that I shouldn’t have made.

“Italian, you say?” she asked, dismayed.

I nodded, confused by the way she was now observing me. But I soon forgot about the detail when she mentioned that we were about to arrive.

“Is it there?” I asked, pointing towards a huge house that stood at the end of one of the beautiful cobblestone streets of the small town.

“Can you guess who owns that house?” Aly asked me before answering.

It was a luxurious property, large, three stories high, with multiple windows and a grand balcony overlooking the street. I imagined a girl leaning out from the balcony, listening to the serenade her lover sang from the street.

“Is it the twins’ house?” I dared to suggest.

Aly shook her head.

“It’s my house,” she said. “The twins live next door.”

We entered a spacious parking lot, and Aly pointed out which house Liam and Ethan lived in. Although it couldn’t be seen from the cobblestone street, the twins’ house was right next to the beautiful three-story property with the lovely balcony. It was an impressive house as well, and seeing it reminded me of the dreadful place I lived in.

“So, the house with the balcony…” I said.

“That’s where I live,” Aly replied as she parked. “And the balcony leads to my room.”

I smiled at the mere idea of being able to lean out of that window and feel like a Juliet waiting for her Romeo.

“Well, you have an impressive house,” I said as I looked towards the place where Ethan and Liam lived. “And it seems you really are neighbors with the twins. I even think you must hear them when they’re at home.”

Aly didn’t say anything about it and got out of the car. I followed her and soon found myself face to face with the forty-year-old version of my friend, who had come out to greet us.

“I thought you would take longer to arrive,” said the person who undoubtedly had to be Aly’s mom.

“We didn’t stop by the shops,” Aly replied as she approached to give her mother a k**s on the cheek. The scene touched me and made me think that this was the kind of relationship I would have liked to have with Lia. “This is Sussan, Mom.”

I extended my hand to greet Aly’s mother.

“So it’s you,” the lady replied as if she had been waiting for me for several years and after having heard about me countless times. “It’s a pleasure, Sussan. I’m Bertha, Alisson’s mother.”

“Pleased to meet you, ma’am,” I replied, still feeling confused by the formal way Bertha had greeted me.

“And why didn’t you go to the shops?”

I exchanged a glance with Aly and let her answer that uncomfortable question.

“They didn’t have anything interesting, Mom,” Aly hurriedly said.

“Well, girls, it doesn’t matter. I was still expecting you. Come on. Sussan, please.”

I thanked Bertha for her kindness with a smile, and we entered the house. Although I had already imagined a luxurious decoration, I couldn’t help but be surprised. Just by glancing at the hallway, I realized there was sumptuousness in every detail of the decor. Each vase, frame, even the frames of the family photographs not only projected a highly elaborate aesthetic, but also turned out to be very fine pieces, quite expensive. It tempted me to stay outside just to avoid the risk of damaging something and being obliged to pay for it for the next three years.

“I have a fruit cake that I know you’ll love,” Bertha said after Aly and I had settled in the living room, and despite still feeling full from the breakfast waffles, I accepted the offer.

Bertha called the housemaid to serve us the cake.

“Aly told me you just moved,” Bertha said after settling herself on one of the spacious sofas. “How do you like everything? Do you like the town?”

I nodded somewhat shyly because I still didn’t know how to answer that question. On the one hand, I was satisfied with having moved, or rather, it was the part where I associated the town with having met the twins. But on the other hand, I would have wished to never arrive in that place and to have continued my normal and peaceful life beside my grandfather, without having to live with Lia and Dub.

“I’m glad to hear that you like it here, but I also imagine that you left your friends from the other school.”

The housemaid arrived with the trays and cake, and I thought the interruption would help me dodge the last question, but I soon realized that Aly’s mom was waiting for my answer.

“I actually didn’t have many friends before,” I replied, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

“Really? Because you don’t seem like the type of girl who doesn’t have friends,” Bertha said.

“Mom,” Aly protested, sensing my discomfort.

“I guess it was because I was busy with studying and work,” I replied as I took the plate with a slice of cake and thanked the housemaid with a smile.

“But how diligent. How long have you been working?” Bertha said while giving her daughter a glance, from which it was easy to guess that there was a story behind the fact that a privileged girl like Aly was working.

“I’ve been doing it since I started high school,” I replied. “I need to save money for college.”

“I thought it was because your parents made you work,” Bertha pointed out.

“Oh, no, not at all. Dub and Lia don’t interfere with that.”

“Dub and Lia?”

“Yes, well…” I realized that I had used my mother and her boyfriend’s names instead of referring to them by our family relationship, which must have sounded strange to Bertha. “My mom and my stepfather. I’ve been living with them since my grandmother’s death.”

I saw Bertha was about to comment on what I had just said when we heard a commotion outside that caught our attention.

“It’s the twins,” Bertha said, anticipating what I already suspected. “Sometimes they can be very noisy.”

The sound of a car stereo came through one of the living room windows, which faced the twins’ house parking lot. I saw them arrive in a jeep accompanied by two guys I recognized from school. It was strange because despite the glass and the distance between us, they seemed to sense my gaze and turned around at the same time. I thought they wouldn’t see me due to the reflection on the window, but I was wrong, and our eyes locked.

“They are good boys,” Bertha said. “A bit loud, but good boys.”

I barely paid attention to Aly’s mother’s words because my eyes remained fixed on the twins’, who kept staring at me.

“Do you want to see my room?” Aly asked, as if she had noticed the need to divert my attention from the twins.

“Oh, yes, of course. I would love to,” I replied as I turned around, but I couldn’t help feeling Ethan and Liam’s gaze on my back.