Rena: Code 143

3.7

 It was nighttime now, with the moon above the clouds, and I was happy. After Nick and I ate both American food and a little Greek food, he introduced me to the rest of his family. Well, the ones that were here, anyway. Which consisted of his cousins, aunts, uncles, and a few of his parent's friends. Though he said they were practically family.

He told me he had a larger family back in Greece from his father's side. Not all of them came to America. The ones we were seeing now were from his mother's side of the family.

I wasn't sure why this surprised me, but his family was very nice and receptive to me. I found myself at the pavilion chatting with a group of Nick's cousins while he went off to talk to his brother. They had me laughing the entire time as they talked about the happenings in their family. Even as far as going back to their childhood days. Telling me stories of themselves and Nick.

"He's always been a goodie-two-shoes," his cousin, who I've come to know as Claudia, informed me. "Nicolaus has never been one to get into trouble. We were never able to convince him to do something rash."

"His brother, on the other hand, was a handful!" The group laughed.

"Oh yes, he always got himself in trouble, but Nicolaus would do his best to get him out of the trouble he caused. My, that man is handsome. I'm surprised no one has snatched him up-"

Um, what?

"Claudia, Lionel is your cousin-"
"Oh," she choked on her drink while the other cousins around us hollered. Yet I felt alarmed and confused. "Yuck! I'm not talking about Lio, I'm talking about Nick's best friend. The two are like brothers, so that's what the family calls them. They grew up together. Except, I don't call them brothers simply because-"

"Because she has had a major crush on him since she was born!" Claudia's sister said and yelped when Claudia reached over and pinched her.

"Oh, I-I haven't met his friend yet," still sheepish about what I assumed. "What does he look like?"

Claudia took a sip of her drink before giving me a playful smile. "Hot, sexy-" Someone threw a water balloon at her and she gasped. The front of her shirt became wet as she looked up at the culprit.

Lionel.

"You seemed a bit thirsty," he shrugged. He slowly began to back away when she placed her cup down, stood up from her chair, and walked over to him. Actually, more like stomping. She grabbed a water balloon from the bucket and started to chase after him when he ran. The rest of us laughed at the two. Then I realized that if Lionel was back-

A hand placed itself on my shoulder gently, interrupting my laugh. I turned around in my chair to Nicolaus, smiling. He leaned down to whisper in my ear, making my stomach flutter as I felt his breath brush against me.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Ρένα?" Rena? I nodded my head, drawing back to look into his eyes. God, the man was beautiful as he stared at me. It was as if I could feel a spark between us. Tingling me. "Good. I want to show you something." He reached his hand out and I took it. We snuck away from his family and headed to the far back of the backyard, where trees blocked the view.

"You won't kill me, right?" he chuckled.

"I promise I won't. There's a path that leads somewhere I'd like to show you. Do you trust me?" I looked behind us to see his family having fun and then looked back at him. Though I wasn't too keen about going into the woods, I did trust Nicolaus. He hasn't proven that I shouldn't trust him. I nodded and went to move, but he stopped me, causing me to look into his eyes. "Words Rena."

"I trust you," I said honestly. He squeezed my hand a little before leading me into the woods. Taking out his phone to use his flashlight. It took a few minutes, but he was being truthful about there being a path. A small, dirt path that seemed to be used often. I also noticed that while we stayed on the said path, we were heading downwards. Nicolaus was confident in his strides while he took me to who knows where. A few minutes later, I saw a spectacular view.