Friendzoned…?

Today is a lovely day. The night before at the movies may have gotten Amelia to freak out a bit but other than that, everything went fine.

A woman with long, wavy, blonde hair, about Amelia's age stood outside Amelia's condominium before knocking on her (Amelia) door.

"Amelia…" a loud, but nearly whisper-like, tone called from outside "Are you home?"

"Come in!" Amelia responded as loud as she can from inside, her voice slightly muffled when heard from the outside.

The woman opened the door to the condo carefully with her spare key. "Where are you?" she asked

"I'm here in the kitchen!" Amelia answered

The woman went towards the direction where the kitchen is. The first thing she saw was a man trying to change the light bulb (and it seems like that he's struggling to get it done) before spotting Amelia cooking what probably was lunch. Amelia looked behind her and saw the woman before approaching her and greeted her with a bear hug.

"Maddie!" she exclaimed with a huge grin, releasing Maddie from the bear hug "You came! And your hair's down. What's up?"

"E-everything's wonderful Amelia," Maddie replied with a small smile, trying to catch her breath from the bear hug "But I'm wondering… who is he?" She glanced towards the man's direction before looking back at Amelia

"Oh that's Miggie," Amelia said "You know; the guy I was telling you about these past days. Hey Miggie,"

Maddie noticed the man (or Miggie, according to Amelia) slightly stiffening because he gasped quite loudly

"Y-yes, what is it, Amelia?" Miggie responded as he slowly got down the stool that he was standing on earlier

"Miggie I just want you to meet my stepsister slash almost biological twin sister, Madeline." Amelia said all these with one breath "Maddie, this is Miggie. Miggie, Maddie."

Miggie slowly held out his hand "Nice to meet you, my name's actually Juan de la Cruz. Miggie is just a nickname A-Amelia gave me." He said sheepishly. Maddie noticed, for a man that looks kind of tough, he's quite a shy person.

"It's nice to meet you too, I'm Madeline Kirkland." Maddie responded, shaking Juan's hand

Madeline Kirkland. That's Amelia's stepsister. She is a freelance photographer that specializes on nature, help saving endangered animals, and, occasionally, haunted houses (much to Amelia's delight and horror).

"What's with almost biological twin sister?" Juan asked Amelia, a confused look on his face "Aren't you twins?"

"No we're not but I wish we are though," Amelia answered with a shrug "I mean look at us, we nearly look alike!"

Juan looked at Madeline before going back to Amelia. Well they dolook a lot like each other… except for the hair length and eye color. And without Madeline's curl for Amelia.

"Oh I see…" he mumbled before clearing his throat "Anyway, I think I should go now, Amelia, I still have things to do at home." Said Juan before starting to walk away and bring his bag of groceries that was on the table.

"Why don't you stay for lunch?" Amelia offered but Juan modestly declined, saying that he's going to have some relatives over and that it would be a trouble for Amelia to cook more.

"I would love to, Amelia." Said Juan, who turned light pink, "But I need to leave. I have relatives coming over for lunch." He turned towards Madeline's direction and nodded at her "I-it was nice to meet you, Ms. Kirkland. A-and have a good day, Amelia." So with that, Juan went ahead back to his house, leaving Amelia and Madeline alone.

"Aw man, I even want him to try my homemade burgers…" Amelia whined with a small pout. And she looked disappointed, Madeline noticed.

"It's alright, Amelia." Madeline told her sister

Amelia let out a sigh before turning back to her cooking. There was a moment of awkward silence between the two before Madeline broke it.

"Why was Mr. Juan changing the light bulb?" asked Madeline "It was usually you or an electrician who does that…"

"Oh I ran across him at the grocery store when I went to buy a new light bulb. The old one died." Amelia answered, moving a cooked burger to a plate "Anyway, he asked me what I was doing, I answered, and then he offered to do it."

"Well that's sweet of him to do that for you…" Madeline muttered softly

"I know right…" Amelia replied with a giggle

"Are you two dating?" Madeline asked

"Yes, but, technically, I'm just helping him out with his unfortunate love life." Amelia answered dramatically, continuing her cooking. Madeline decided to keep quiet about why Amelia's helping him out.

"Anyway, what brought you here? And why's your hair down?"

"Um-actually-uh-I…" Madeline stammered, taking the plate of cooked burgers away and on to the table

"Maddie," Amelia began, suddenly being serious, turning off the stove before looking at Madeline with slightly narrowed eyes, her overly protective sister mode on "You're not pregnant are you?"

Madeline's face flushed a bright red "A-A-Amelia, I'm not!" she cried "W-why would you think of that?"

Amelia looked very relieved. "Oh… I thought I'm going to have to murder Dmitri (1) for sure." She said, feeling very relieved at that answer as she removed her apron and hung it at one of the cupboard handles

"U-um well, that's not what I'm going to tell you, because-um…" Madeline stammered, rubbing her hands, as if trying to warm her freezing hands but Amelia's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Oh my god, is that what I think it is?!" Amelia exclaimed, immediately grabbing Madeline's hand and examined the gorgeous engagement-looking ring on her sister's right ring finger "He didn't?"

"He did." Madeline responded with a light blush on her cheeks and a small smile

"Really, he did?"

"Yes, he proposed…"

Amelia squealed in happiness and gave her sister a bear hug again.

"Aw, Maddie's getting married!" She squealed before faking a sob

"Amelia, I'm older than you." Madeline joked, her light blush fading "I should be the one reacting like how you reacted."

"You're only older by three days." Amelia pointed out with a pout before letting go of Madeline as they sat at the table. "Now, spill."

Madeline then began to proceed to tell Amelia about the proposal and possible plans for the wedding (that would be held in a few months or so, by the way), but what surprised Amelia the most is when Madeline told her that Dmitri had already proposed last November and that she never told anyone yet.

"What? And you didn't even tell me?" Amelia remarked, mocking hurt "But I'm your sister…"

Madeline rolled her eyes "Well I didn't know how to tell anyone so…"

Amelia chuckled "It is A-Okay Maddie, I totally understand." She said "But still, I mean, have you told mom and dad?"

Madeline shook her head "Not yet," she replied, that peculiar curl on her head bobbing slightly "You're the first to know."

Amelia squealed in joy before she gave, yes may have guessed right, Madeline another bear hug "Oh my god, Maddie! You don't know much my love for you has risen for choosing to tell me first!"

"A-Amelia, I-I can't breathe!" squeaked Madeline as she is being crushed by Amelia's rather strong bear hug

"Can you believe it, Maddie? I mean, all the women would envy you!"

"A-Amelia…"

"And then I'll be an aunt to very adorable nephews and nieces!"

"Amelia…"

"This is so awesome! I can't-"

"AMELIA!"

"Yes Maddie?"

"Can you let go of me?"

"Oops sorry, got caught away!" Amelia apologized, sheepishly laughing as Madeline rolled her eyes

"Sometimes, you just need to keep calm." Madeline said with a sigh "It's as if you're the one who's getting married."

Amelia rose her hands up in defense "Hey, you can't help me being excited and all! I mean hello, you're getting married to a hot guy, duh!" She exclaimed, stating it as if it's the most obvious thing in the world (Well it is, mind you!)

Madeline sighed deeply. As much as she loves her stepsister and their closeness, she never can quite understand Amelia.

"Well, you look interested in Mr. Juan." Madeline bluntly told Amelia, who suddenly went silent and she began to blush lightly (and Madeline is not joking about it).

"I-I'm not, we're just friends, hahaha!" Amelia responded, trying to hide her blush. Madeline is very amused. She knows that when Amelia started to go all 'Hahaha!'-ing, it's a sign that her sister's not telling something or hiding her feelings or something related to those.

The Canadian-French blonde smiled before remembering something "Oh the food!" she exclaimed and now she only saw a nearly empty plate as the burgers were eaten by Amelia's cat, Burger, who, if cats could smile, would have smiled smugly in triumph.

"Burger," Amelia groaned "That was supposed to be our lunch!"

But Burger just meowed contentedly before padding away, his fluffy tail high up in the air and proud of what he just did. Amelia pouted at that. Her cat ignored her. Burger never ignored her. What the heck?!

"Now I have to make more again." Amelia whined, slightly glaring at her cat, much to Madeline's amusement.

"Amelia, do you like Mr. Juan?" Madeline suddenly questioned, not knowing how she managed to ask about it.

Amelia laughed loudly "Of course I do! We're good friends and he's a nice guy. Who wouldn't like him anyway?" She answered with a huge grin

"That's not what I meant…" Madeline muttered to herself then her eyes slowly widened "Did you just friendzone him?" Well, let's just say Amelia heard some part of the last statement…

"Who got friendzoned?!" Amelia demanded, interested in the topic

"Toris… he got friendzoned by Natalia again…" Madeline lied smoothly. And it's not a whole lie; it's actually quite true… just the friendzone thing because, the Belorussian is still infatuated with her brother (yes, you read it right, her brother) and that the Lithuanian is still chasing for the knife-wielding girl's heart.

"That's old news, Maddie!" Amelia remarked with a raised eyebrow "Are you sure you're updated with the gossips from our college buds?"

"I am updated." Madeline said as she rolled her eyes "Anyway, Amelia, I just received an e-mail from maman. She wants us to go visit her and dad for New Year's dinner tonight. Do you want to come?"

"Yeah, sure, why not, I mean, I am available anytime today until maybe a few days after New Year's for the next photo-shoot." Amelia replied with a smile on her face. She would love to see her dad again. "Oh and be sure to tell mom and dad about your engagement." She added, waggling her eyebrows

"And maman told me that dad says that you should bring Mr. Juan too." Said Madeline "And he's been suspicious about the news about the two of you these past two weeks. Maman is very interested to get to know Mr. Juan too."

"T-they saw it?"

"Yes, they did."

"Oh I see..."