Invisible

Nick

I look out the window and see the sun is starting to set. Sam is asleep with her head on my lap. I lightly stroke her hair, then nudge her a bit to wake her.

"I should probably get going," I tell her.

"Awww. But the movie was just getting to the good part!" she hugs her arms around my waist. "Don' go." She buries her face in my chest.

I laugh but try to pull her arms off me, gently. "I have to. My dad hates when I'm outside after dark."

"Fine. I can walk with you if you want."

"No, it's okay. I don't want you walking home alone in the dark," I say, and kiss the top of her head.

"Okay. Just text me when you get home so I know you get there." She stands up and stretches, then walks me to the door.

I kiss her goodbye and start my walk in the cool evening air.

Millions of thoughts are circulating through my head as I make my way to my house.

I love her, right? I definitely don't have feelings for Ethan, at least anymore. Did I like him? But I'm straight. I'm straight and I love Sam. And her sense of humor, and how warm she is when she hugs me, and her blue eyes, and his kind smile, and his black messy/neat hair, and how soft his lips were...

Wait, fuck. What am I doing? I care about her. She's my favorite person. Ethan stabbed me in the back. Sam would never do what he did. She is amazing. She loves me. Ethan doesn't and never will. I don't want him to.

I continue convincing myself the entire way home.

When I open my back door, Chris is sitting on the couch with another guy, talking.

I stop in my tracks when I see who the guy is. Dropping my bag to the ground, I stand and stare in shock taking in the black hair, blue eyes, and soft lips. Both of them look at me, confused as to why I'm staring. I blink hard, and when I open my eyes, Ethan is gone. Instead, there's a different guy with tan skin and acne.

"You okay?" Chris asks, concerned.

"What? Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry," I stutter. "Who is this?"

The guy stands up and puts his hand out for me to shake it. He's wearing khakis and a casual collared shirt, the opposite of Chris's distressed jeans and black hoodie.

"Hi, I'm Nick, nice to meet you, Connor. I've heard a lot about you."

"Hi," I awkwardly shake his hand back.

I look at Chris, but he doesn't look like he wants to explain why this guy knows "a lot about me", so I just walk up to my room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sit down in my seat at the table, and Nick is sitting next to me, in Chris's usual seat. Chris is next to Dad, where Mom usually sits when she isn't working late. Nick is happily chatting away with Dad and Chris. I silently pull cheese off my slice of pizza with my fork. I'm surprised when Nick loudly asks, "So, Connor, you have a girlfriend, right?"

"Um, yeah," I mumble, still picking at my food.

"What's she like?" his loud voice startles me every time.

"Uh, I don't know."

"Do you love her?"

I throw down my fork and slam my other hand on the table. "Dude, why do you care so much about my fucking girlfriend?"

"Connor, he's just making conversation," Dad glares at me.

The room stays silent.

"I should probably get going. Thanks so much for dinner, Mr. Westfeld, and for letting me come, Chris." He looks at me. "Ethan says he's sorry."

Just then, the resemblance hits me. Nick is Ethan's brother.

The door closes behind him, and I stare in awe at Chris.

"Did you know?" I just shy of scream at Chris.

"Yeah I knew, but I didn't bring him over because of it," he defends himself.

"He was only here to grill me about Sam since I blocked Ethan's number and he's too much of a coward to talk to me in person!"

"Connor, stop yelling." Dad snaps.

But now it's Chris's turn to yell. "Not everything is about you, Connor! I finally get a friend and have him over and you make it about you! I mean, Jesus, you seriously think he went up to me and asked to spend the entire day with me just so he can get one small piece of information about my brother for his brother!"

The whole table goes silent. Chris slams his hands on the table, and leaves.

"Chris, sit down," Dad tells him. He continues his way through the kitchen and up the stairs. His door slamming is the only thing making sound.

I grab all the plates, and put them in the dishwasher. Then I grab my laptop and head off into my room, not saying another word to Dad.

Lying on my bed, I fight with myself as I hover my finger over the "Unblock" button on Ethan's contact. I keep pulling my finger back, then almost clicking the button, and then pulling it back again.

After about 5 minutes of deciding, I close his contact and put in my earphones.

I can feel myself drifting off to sleep, stillin my jeans.