The Strength of Us

Chapter Twenty-Five - I'm Not A Complete Weirdo

Chapter Twenty-Five - "I'm Not A Complete Weirdo"

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"Hey," my voice sliced through the quiet of my room.

"Hm?" Nicolette hummed beside me, flipping over and facing me now. She rubbed her eyes sleepily, yawning afterwards and staring at me with her keen, wide eyes.

Even half asleep, she still looks so intrigued in what I have to say.

I sucked in a breath and rolled my lips into my mouth, forming my sentence in my mind beforehand and then spilling it out. "Why did you really come here?" I asked, hoping it didn't sound rude or anything.

She leaned up on her elbow, cocking her head to the side and keeping that keen, curious look in her eyes.

It's almost one in the morning and we're both lying in my bed, attempting to fall sleep. Oliver had left around midnight and my dad had gone to bed after our heartfelt family meeting. He said he was tired and that "we could talk all about his date tomorrow morning", which isn't so far away now.

It's odd, because I've never shared my bed with anyone else other than Alex. Being best friends (practically siblings), we've had countless sleepovers in the past. My bed is big enough to fit two people comfortably and seeing as that I'm a relatively tiny person, it's always been fine for Alex and I to share it.

The only weird part is that I'm understanding the feeling of having a sister. Sharing a bed and a room and everything. It's really weird, after thinking I've been an only child my entire life.

"What do you mean?" She cleared her throat of the crackling in the beginning of her question.

"I'm wondering because I noticed that something was wrong when you first got here. I'm not trying to kick you out or anything, don't get me wrong. I could tell that something was off though, and I didn't want to ask you right away because I didn't want it to seem like I was pushing you out," I shrugged, looking down at my hands to avoid her gaze.

"Oh," I heard her say.

"I want you to know that... you can tell me anything. I know that we haven't spent much time together, but you are my sister. And I want you to know that I love you and I'm here for you," I chewed on my bottom lip, playing with my fingers.

"I know," she sighed, falling back down onto her pillow. I looked up finally, seeing her staring at my ceiling with a blank look in her eyes now. Then her brow furrowed and she shook her head. "It was nothing. Just... Mom and I got into a fight, that's all."

"A fight?" I questioned, wrinkling my forehead.

She nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't a big deal. It happens pretty often. But she wouldn't stop screaming and I couldn't take it anymore. So I packed up some stuff and left for the weekend.

"Usually when this happens, I'll just stay at a friends house. But I thought, you know, why not come see you and Dad? It was a perfect opportunity to do it and yeah... so here I am," she shrugged it off with another sigh.

She seems to do that a lot. Things that would normally be a big deal, she just shrugs off and acts like nothing happened.

Now I see why we're twins – we both have killer strength.

"Oh... well, is everything alright?" I gently asked. I really don't know what to say, so I figured I'd start with something easy. Knowing how our mother is just from meeting her once, I can't even imagine what it's like living with her.

"Yeah," she shook her head again. "Just another stupid fight that will be replaced by another one soon enough."

"That's not okay, Nic," I pointed out the obvious. She turned to look at me now, smiling a little.