Page 52 of Hunter

“Oh, my God!” she cries, a few octaves higher than her usual tone of voice. “This is their house?! And I’m in jeans and a Guns’n’Roses t-shirt!”

“So? I’m in jeans too!” I shrug as I pull out my phone from my back pocket so I can text my sister.

“Yeah, but your jeans probably cost more than my brother’s bike, not to mention you’re wearing a perfectly respectable button-down. Why did you not tell me about this before I came over yesterday?!”

“Because you wouldn’t have come, and…” I smile mischievously, “I only thought of doing it this morning.”

“I hate you,” she pouts, still gripping onto the dash with white knuckle force. “I can’t go in like this, Daniel, please don’t make me!”

“Hey, jerk-face!” Charlotte calls over from the front door with a little red dress in hand. “Charlotte to the rescue, as always. Oh, hi, Louisa!”

Lou looks up to see my sister, her face morphing into an expression of confusion before finally putting two and two together.

“Wait a minute,” she says, waving her finger between the two of us, “you’re related?”

“Unfortunately,” Charlotte replies with a smile. “Don’t worry, I didn’t say a thing!”

Charlotte winks, while Lou blushes, and now I look like the one who’s confused. What on earth did they talk about when Char was hired to style Lou?

“Wait, what?!”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, brother.” Char grins before reaching out for Lou’s hand and dragging her up to the house. “I’ll have her back in about twenty minutes. Mom and Dad are out in the backyard. They’re very excited about meeting the first ever girl you’ve brought over to meet them.”

She then winks at me before continuing to take a very scared-looking Lou through the front door.

_____

Louisa

Charlotte does an incredible job of making me look more befitting of being inside this ridiculous mansion of a house. I guess she is a stylist after all. However, the reflection in the mirror isn’t really me; it’s just a vision of me. She looks at my reflection in the mirror and smiles at her handy work before spinning me around to face her again. She asks if I want her to do my makeup, but I politely decline, because that’s going too far. I’m pretty damn far from being a Stepford wife and I don’t intend to change myself for some guy. I may as well have stayed with Tony if I was going to do that.

After some deep breathing, Charlotte eventually leads me down toward the kitchen before entering the backyard where two older-looking people are sitting with Daniel. In contrast to me, he is now looking so laid back, he’s almost lying down. Last minute nerves have me pulling back a little bit, prompting Charlotte to stop and offer a reassuring smile, though it doesn’t quite convince me to fall into step.

“This isn’t me,” I whisper, because she’s the only person here to try and convince. “I haven’t had interactions with anyone’s parents since I was in my teens!”

“Louisa, trust me, my parents are very chilled,” she says, then smiles and pulls me back to walk alongside her. “They’re just happy he’s finally found someone he actually likes.” She laughs and we end up crossing the gap between us and them in less time than I would have liked. “Mom, Dad, jerk-face, this is Louisa.”

I sort of wave at the three pairs of eyes that fall straight on me, wearing their daughter’s clothes no less. It feels like they’re studying me like a science experiment of which they’ve been dying to see the result. Daniel, on the other hand, looks me up and down with a darkening, mischievous expression that seems to relax me somewhat.

“Finally, hello, Louisa!” His mother beams as she gets to her feet to kiss me on each cheek. I wince, trying to hide the fact I now feel somewhat invaded. “It’s so nice to meet you. Daniel’s been raving on about you for the last few weeks!”

“Jesus, Mother, I’m trying to be cool and nonchalant back here!” He laughs at the same time I feel my cheeks heating up with embarrassment.

“Please, come and sit down,” his father cuts in, gesturing to the chair next to Daniel’s. “Can I get you a drink at all?”

“I’ll get it Dad, I know what she likes,” Daniel says proudly before getting up, essentially leaving me on my own with his family.

“So, you work with Daniel and Theo, what’s that like? Terrible no doubt.” His father laughs as I sit and smile, probably looking like a weirdo.

“Er, well, no, they’ve been very good to me,” I reply honestly. “Although, I guess it took Daniel a little while longer to warm up to me. He’s very…professional.”

“That’s code for he’s a cold bastard!” Charlotte grins, then takes a large gulp of her wine.

“Oh, no, that’s not-” I start to fluster just as Daniel walks back out.

“Don’t worry, dear,” his mother says as she pats my leg, “Charlotte and Daniel like to spar with one another on a regular basis. I guess it’s a brother-sister thing.”

“I understand, I have a big brother myself,” I utter before taking a desperate mouthful of wine.

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