Sunkissed

chapter three.

"Mishti?" A foggy voice calls out. I blink. "Mishti?"

"Mishti?" Lola's voice snaps me back to reality.

"Yes, I did my homework," I mutter slowly, absent-mindedly, blinking out from the reminiscing. "Oh shit, sorry, I spaced out for a second. Hi."

She laughs. "You idiot." She laughs, again. "Look. There they are."

I follow her gaze to find a stunning, tall girl climbing out of a black car, and I instantly feel my guards coming up. I feel the dull scorch of her gaze on my skin, and I shiver. Is it because she looks so splendid? My mouth parts slightly as I blow out a little breath, her form approaching us swiftly, her face breaking out into a grin as her sleek cut shoulder length hair sways with her movements. Should I ask her out? Could I?

"Are you... okay?" Lola mumbles. I nod, blinking away.

"You never told me she was this pretty!" I reply, inhaling sharply as she shrugs me off and steps forward to greet the girl.

"Daiyu," Lola addresses her, and then turns towards me, gestring at me. "Meet Lutfanessa, my sister. We are twins, yes, but if you look carefully," Lola stopped, a giggle hanging at her lips like a dew does on a blade of grass at five a.m. "You can see that I am the prettier one." Lola laughs. I laugh. I know she is joking, but she is right. Look at the two of us even once, and you can so easily distinguish between the two of us. She has an ethereal charm and grace about her which I can only ever dream of possessing, maybe in my wildest dreams.

"God, you're lovely, Nessa," Daiyu murmurs instead, and I am pleasantly surprised and flattered. She finds me lovely. Or maybe she is just saying it because she is nice. I wonder which. "You mind if I call you Nessa?"

"I don't prefer it, but you may if you want it so. And look who is saying," I say good-naturedly, my smile genuinely grateful. "You have to be one of the prettiest girls I have ever met because trust me, I'd remember a face that pretty."

Daiyu smiles, and I notice how the left side of her lips tips up higher than the right side. A truly crooked smile. I smile, partly as a reflection to her smile, partly at the unusual nature of her smile.

"Now that all pleasantries are aside," Lola interjects, her smile buttery and charming. "Where's the car? Let's get this party going!"

The route to the house was shorter than what I had been anticipating, and I quietly memorized the route, trying to learn the roads of this new, unfamiliar town. The night was warm and slightly windy - exactly what I had expected - and when I stuck my head out of the car window on the empty road just to look aesthetic, I inhaled a mouthful of sand that flew in with the wind. It took about fifteen minutes for us to roll to a stop at our destination, and what was in front of us didn't look merely like a summer house, but more like a small mansion fit for a royalty away from home.

"In case it isn't evident already, Neil's parents are kinda loaded," Daiyu informs us as she turns off the ignition of the car. "He mostly hangs out with the rich Upper East Side kids, but during summers, when his friends go to the Hamptons and other places where the rich people go to waste their money by throwing unnecessarily huge parties, he comes here with his family."

"Must be nice to be this rich," Lola wonders out loud as we get out of the car - that is neatly pulled up at the curb. I quietly take in the massive grounds surrounding the... beach house that is the size of a mansion, and needless to say, I am impressed. And feel utterly out of place.

Daiyu barks out a loud, short-lived laugh. "I wouldn't know. Ask Neil when you meet him."

"Is everyone here?" Lola asks as Daiyu leads us through the slightly ajar door and through the massive foyer that looked like it belonged to a fairytale. Did summer houses usually even have a foyer, or was it just a rich people thing?