The Words I Never Said

Chapter Thirty One

Ashley's fiancé, Ian, turned out to be quite the chef. Emily found winter mornings quite lovely and fine, but it was made even better due to Ian's surprisingly good talent at cooking. Anne and Mr. Night were out for the morning, and Grandma Night was still fast asleep, which gave him the chance to showcase his unlikely ability.

"Damn, I wish I grew up with you instead of Ashley," Alex said with his mouth full of Belgian waffles. "No offense, sis, but you couldn't cook to save your life." Aria, who sat right across him, nodded vigorously in agreement as she wolfed down her plate full of pancakes. "We were stuck with TV dinners and cereal whenever she was in charge," she even added. Ashley gave her siblings a look of distaste but nevertheless dismissed their comments and went on to eating what her soon-to-be-husband prepared.

"My brother knew how to cook," Emily shared as she took a bite out of her cheese flavored pancake. "He was good, I guess; but not this good." Ian had cooked three towering plates of pancakes, a batch of waffles, and French toast. Everyone was surprised when they saw him working in the kitchen, but was of course even more surprised to see how much food he had made.

"Sucks that Adrian isn't here," Dylan put in. "He would've loved these waffles."

"You know who else should be here?" Jack said. "Grandma Night. This would totally make her take back everything she said last night." That cued on to a recollection of the said eventful dinner. It was something worth remembering, but that wasn't what stood out in Emily's mind. At the mention of Adrian's name, she suddenly remembered what Alex had told her before she fell asleep. It made her feel sorry for Adrian, but at the same time, her respect for him grew twice as much.

After breakfast, the boys decided to move the Xbox from Alex's room to the living room. "You do realize mom will kill the three of you when she gets home, right?" Ashley, with her arms crossed, said as she watched Alex, Jack, and Dylan set up the gaming device.

"She won't," Alex said with a snort. "Besides, what's the use of buying a plasma TV when you're not using it?"

As they did that, Emily sat on the couch and thought about whether or not she should come and swing by her own house. She had received a message from her mother saying that she should come over since she was home after all, but Emily felt unsure. She felt like she needed to muster up some courage before she could do so.

"You're being abnormally quiet," Alex commented as he plopped down next to her with a controller in hand.

"Still sleepy, that's all," Emily replied with a small shrug. Alex raised an eyebrow and gave her a look, but decided to let it go just as Jack declared for the games to begin.

"I'm going to smoke all you bitches," Jack said manically as he hopped onto the couch himself. Dylan, who he was looking at when he said this, gave him a shove with his elbow. "We're on the same team you dimwit."

"That would make your game two against one," Emily noted, deciding not to immerse herself in her thoughts for a while. "Wouldn't that be sort of unfair?"

"Adrian's usually my teammate," Alex explained. "Actually, he almost always is. He's not here right now, but yeah, the show must go on."

She would have offered to play so as to make it a fair game, but she didn't know how and she wasn't exactly in her best state to learn.

Her mother's reply came in late, but it still came all the same.

"come by for lunch. Your father and I miss you. Bring alex with you," the message had read. She had been thinking about it all morning, even during breakfast despite the amazing meal. Whenever she gave it some thought, she couldn't even point out what she was apprehensive of in the first place.