If Only She Knew REVISITED

Chapter 14

  It has been a couple days since the police came to question us about the disappearance of Valerie. Mine and Nolan's bond is growing stronger by the day. Suddenly he's all I think about.

The memory of our kiss that cold night lives in my mind, sometimes I find myself letting my mind wander off to relive the moment once again. The way the fire was crackling before us, the world stood still for just a moment.

He spends most of his days over here while Amelia pops in every now and then checking up on us, but normally she's at home keeping up with Desperate Housewives.

When Nolan is over all we do is binge watch Greys and fight about how Romeo and Juliet is not the best romance story ever, he always wins.

Sat on the couch with Nolan to my side, I flip through the endless channels trying to find something good to watch, other than our usual choice, however I come to a dead end.

"Hey, what do you want to watch? We've basically watched all of Grey's Anatomy." I look towards Nolan but receive no answer, this is because he is already in a deep sleep.

Smiling to myself, I move my hand over to his body as I grab the covers and gently conceal them over him so he isn't cold. I top it off with a soft small peck upon his cheek.

"Someone's tired..." A feminine voice emerges behind me, I turn to meet with Amelia standing near the hallway with a smirk sprawled across her face as she looks down to her brother.

"He needs it after the last few days of being my personal security guard." I giggle to myself as my eyes have landed on his.

"What are you doing up so late anyway? I saw the lights on and came to check if everything was okay." She quietly asks as she walks over to the couch.

"Guess I lost track of time. I didn't realise how late it was." I place the remote back upon the coffee table carefully in order to not disturb Nolan's rest.

"I'll watch something with you." She states as she leaps over and grabs the remote.

"Really?"

"Sure, you don't have to ask me twice to watch some crappy reality TV show." I giggle from her words as she places herself next to me.

"Let's see what we got." She changes the channel and stops upon One of the Real Housewives shows as I narrow my eyes.

"Didn't think you would be into this sort of thing?" I question her lying through my teeth. Nolan has probably mentioned it a million times by now.

"What really?" Her voice becomes high in pitch.

"No, I totally would have guessed it." I reply as she jokingly pushes me to the end of the couch sharing laughter.

"You could read me like a book."

While my laughter fades, I start to think about her and Nolan in a lot more detail than I normally would. Probably because I have never been alone with Amelia up until now.

But the question that burns my mind is, where are their parents?

I've been wondering this for a couple of days now, ever since Nolan and I first became close, but I've never actually asked either of them. His past has kind of been a thing of mystery. Just wonders in my head.

"How long have you lived here now, you and your brother?" I bite the bullet.

"Everton? All my life. Same with Nolan, just moved from house-to-house a lot." Her answer seems real, genuine as she fiddles with a strand of her hair, her eyes still placed upon the screen however mine are upon hers.

"Nolan probably told you that I just moved here not too long ago."

"Yeah, he did, you know I was surprised when he mentioned you moved here from Seattle." Amelia speaks as she turns to face me for the first time since the start of the conversation.

"Does it surprise you?" I ask her curiously as I tilt my head.

"Totally. A city girl who moved to a small town in the middle of Pennsylvania for, above all, college."

"That's the one thing I don't understand. I don't know why it shocks so many people. I moved here to follow my dream, it just so happened that the course I needed was here in Everton. Although at first I hoped it would have been somewhere extravagant, like New York City." I jazz my hands in the air as Amelia nearly chokes on laughter.

"Maybe things happen for a reason." Her words feel like they have a deeper meaning.

"You sound like my best friend..."

"Maybe you should listen to her." Amelia gives me a smirk.

The room floods with a moment of silence. I know this is the right time to ask the question that has been bugging me for days. Quickly, I reposition myself within the couch preparing for the right moment.

"Can I ask you a question Amelia?" My voice lowers.

"Fire away." From the calm tone in her voice I don't think she knows what I am about to ask next. I take a deep breath after her response.

"Nolan hasn't mentioned anything about his parents, or any of his family, he's only mentioned you. I guess what I'm trying to say is I want to learn more about him..." I watch her eyes dim as I reach the end of my sentence. Amelia clears her throat and begins to lean up from the couch, maybe I should've waited a bit longer.

"Okay, here we go." She slaps her knees as she prepares herself as my eyes are focused upon hers waiting for her words.

The pauses between her words make my heart race; I push to the edge of the couch leaning towards her. My eyes are still locked upon Amelia's as I am about to uncover the truth I have been longing for about his mystery past.

"Nolan has never lived with our parents, only our mom for the first years of his life, but he doesn't remember what she looks like. He was young when she passed away." She pauses for a brief moment composing herself.

"I'm so sorry..." I try my best to comfort her by returning a loving touch on her hands below mine as I notice her pupils start to lightly glisten over. I wince as I make contact upon her cold bare skin, however I keep my touch upon hers.

"Our father..." Her words become cold arriving at this sentence as I watch her face become emotionless.

"He has never been fully involved in our lives; when he has been around it's not for the right reasons. Nolan hates him, and I don't blame him for one second. I don't want Nolan to know, but I hate him too."

Whatever their father has done has to be something vile and unforgivable for his own children, his own blood, to hate him.

"As far back as Nolan can remember it's just been me and him. Yes, we had to stay at friends' houses and cousins to get by, but the second I hit 18 I got myself a part time job, rented a small house and took Nolan with me and looked after him, raised him, protected him, something that our parents couldn't do. My mother didn't have a choice, but my father did. He just made the wrong one." She smiles over to her brother who look at peace laid relaxed upon the couch.

"You're amazing Amelia. He loves you..." I join Amelia's gaze as I notice his angelic features once more.

"That's in the past, right now I'm happy and he is too. I think that has something to do with you..." I feel her condescending eyes on mine.

"You think so?" I let out a small laugh ignoring her glances.

"Definitely, Ava, I can't believe you even have to question that."

I can see why Nolan tries to protect me now. He doesn't want me to feel alone the way he did growing up. I'm thankful he has Amelia, but we all need a parent in our lives, someone to lean on. I wish I could show him how much that means to me, but nothing I could do would possibly compare to his loss and pain.