When We See You Again

Chapter 20

*The next day*

*Niall's POV*

After we got to Maddie's house we all watched a couple more movies of the girls' sleepovers. There weren't any pranks in these, just them having conversations, playing games, and having jam sessions. They have a lot of those. I enjoy watching the videos. In a way, it's like we never left. Everybody went home after that. Now it's the next morning and I'm extremely bored. My mind wanders back to the girls not knowing about our family history. I still can't believe they didn't know. I wonder what else that's been kept from them. I pull out my phone. Hey, are you guys awake? I text Greta.

Yeah, what's up? She texts back almost immediately.

I smile. It's nice to get an immediate response from someone you care about. I'm coming over.

Ok, see you soon. Be safe, Ni. How sweet. She knows I'm just across the neighborhood but she still worries.

Always. I text her back and head over. Thinking about how I'm going to bring this up. They deserve to know everything. I mean it has affected their lives. When I get there, the front door is unlocked for me. I walk in to find Maddie sitting in an oversized chair writing in a book and Greta laying across one of the couches watching TV.

"Hey, Ni" Maddie says putting her book down.

"Morning Niall" Greta says with a smile.

"Morning guys" I say taking a seat on the other couch. It gets quiet as Greta turns the volume on the TV down.

"So what's up?" Maddie asks.

"Just bored. There's nothing to do at my house, it makes my mind wander."  I answer.

"I get it, that's why I don't like silence. There has to be background noise at all times." Maddie says with a soft smile.

"Did it go anywhere specific?" Greta asks.

I pause for a moment. "Actually, yeah it did. I kept thinking about something that was said yesterday. The history between our families." I answer.

They both look at me. "Yeah, it's so interesting, right?" Greta excitedly responds. Maddie doesn't say anything, just keeps looking at me.

"I want to talk to you about that..." I start.

"I had a feeling something was off. You looked shocked when it was mentioned but you weren't intrigued by the news. You've known about our history haven't you?" Maddie says with a blank face.

How does she do that? She reads us so easily and always knows when something is amiss. "Yeah, I know. I've known since the beginning. Which got me thinking, it's not fair that you guys don't know."

It's quiet for several minutes. Maddie is in deep thought and Greta is just staring at us. "Does it change anything? Does knowing the history change anything with us? Is it something we need to know? I know it's bad but how bad?" Maddie asks, there's a hint of worry in her voice but her face is still blank.

"Maybe but I really hope not." I answer honestly. This whole thing is about being truthful and open.

"Tell me first. Before you tell her." Maddie says immediately, looking at Greta as she finishes.

"I'm not going anywhere." Greta argues.

"I can't protect you if I don't know what I'm protecting you from. I can't control what comes out of his mouth. So if you hear something you don't have to know and it hurts you-" Maddie defends herself.

"I can handle it. You don't have to protect me, Maddie." Greta says so low it's almost a whisper.

"It's my job. That's my role." Maddie stares at Greta holding eye contact.

"Then you're fired. I can handle this. It's ok." Greta says in a serious tone.

Maddie takes in what her sister just told her. She just sits there for a minute. Finally she looks at me, "Fine. I guess you should start from the beginning, Niall"

So I do. I tell them everything I know. I tell them how our families had been close for generations before we had the falling out. How everyone was so happy with each other. The parties they had. The combo family vacations. How we came to live in the same neighborhood and open the business together. I pause for a moment, giving them time to let that part sink in. "This is where it gets bad..." Maddie mumbles to herself. She probably didn't even know she'd said it.

I nod a little. "Yeah it is. So now the falling out. Your dad-" I was cut off by the girls.

"Of course!" Greta yells.

"Knew that was coming..." Maddie grumbles.

I just continue where I left off. "He started working at the restaurant when he was old enough. After a while he started drinking on the job, coming in after hours to drink and party with his friends. Shortly after your mom was pregnant with you," I look at Greta, "he did it again but it was so much worse this time. He vandalized the place in a fit of drunken rage and stole everything in the safe. My parents were done then. They only spoke of you guys when I found the pictures as a young child. They told me to stay away from you, from your whole family. I did. That day we met you guys, I was begging the boys to keep moving, not to stop when we heard you, Maddie. I didn't want to know you. I was told to believe you were just like him. It broke my heart to learn that my parents were wrong. It broke my parents hearts when they learned that we were friends. Had my parents bothered to look past their anger, they would've seen that he skipped town that night."

It was silent for a while. A long while. "So my dad did some dumb shit and you all judge us before I was even born? The same night that he left us? The same night our entire lives got turned upside down. We could've been friends so much earlier, we could've had someone to go to, someone who understood what we were going through, someone who would've taken care of us. Our entire lives would be different, would be better. Except you judged us, your parents judged us. You. Judged. Us. I can't." Greta ran upstairs to her room, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"I understand Niall, I'm not upset. I get it. They were protecting you. They didn't know how we would turn out but they also didn't know he left. I would've done something similar. For her. I definitely wouldn't have introduced someone who I was worried about. I would've been cautious with them. But this is why I wanted to hear it first, I could've prevented this. Her being hurt, I could've protected her. She didn't have to know you actively took part in staying away. I need to go check on her. Stay here, don't leave okay?" Maddie says giving me a hug.

I mumble an ok and let her go. "Promise?" She asks, her eyes pleading me not to go anywhere.

"I promise, go check on her. Let me know how she's doing." I answer.

"Of course." She says running up the stairs.