Purple.

Chapter Five

A boy who cries is a boy who cares.

-Ian-

I stared at Nicole in confusion. I shook my head and put the dinner beside and explained, "No, we've met earlier than that. I've knwon you since i was thirteen." I waited for her reaction. For a moment there i thought that she was going to burst into laughter and sigh in relief, saying, "Oh yeah, Ian! Hi! Long time no see How have you been? How's the family?"

But as i waited for her response, I finally realize what she was like, Blank. Her face showed no expression as she searched my face for an anwser. No, my face doesn't tell you the answer. You do! It's all in you head. It's all in your memories! She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She had no voice, no words and no feeling. I sighed when i heard my dad calling out to me, "Who's there?'

"Hey, um, Nicky," I replied to her in silence. "Thanks for the dinner."

She nodded. "You're welcome," the sound of her voice was shaky, it sounded almost like she was suprized or scared or maybe a mixture of both. I didn't bame her. I blamed myself for suddenly making her suprized by sharing the unexpected new to her. But how could she have forgotten me?

"Who was that?' a voice said suddenly which made me jump a mile. I looked up to see my dad with his phone in his hand. He was probably chatting with the women he fell for. He just couldn't wait to meet her already. I shut the door. "It was the girl next door. She gave us this," I said, showing him the dinner Nicole, I mean Nicky made for us. I took off the lid and the smell of fresh made lasagna flew all ove the room. I sniffed it and itmade my stomach grumble.

"That's a nice thing someone has done for us," my dad said as he cut it into three equal pieces. "What was the name?" he asked, taking his first bite. "Hmm, this is so good. We should thank them soon."

"Nicole," I said out of nowhere. I shook my head. "Nicky," i said clearly. "That was the next door's daughter. She gave us this." Using a fork, i played with the lasagna. Suddenly i didn't feel like eating. By just saying her name a couple times made me want to cry.

"Why aren't you eating?" Matthew asked curiosly. "Can i have yours if you don't want it?"

"I've suddenly lost my appetite," I mummbled. "Take it," I passed the plate of my share to Matthew.

Disappointed, i went up to my room and started into space until i realized that i had photos of me and Nicole together in my backpack. As i flipped through those photos. I began thinking to myself, "Perhaps this is the wrong Nicole." Besides, when she introduced herself today, she said 'Nicky' not 'Nicole.'

Back before she left, she preferred being called Nicole and hated it when they called her Nicky. She complained to me that it was a boys' name. The Nicole i used to know had a bubbly personality, a cute face, adorable laugh...

All those years we used to have so much fun together, how could she have forgotten my name now?