The Girl He Loved

13- Nick

I study my sister as I listen to the guys talking. I see a smile cross my mom's face as she hands Lily back her sketchbook. "Those are really good, Lil! I can take them to your Aunt's shop and see if she can help make these as well."

I see her smile. "Really? Thank you! She did such a good job on my dress for tonight! And Nick's suit look awesome. And you did a good job on our masks as well, momma Jay." She smiles and turns to me. "What do you think, Nick?  Should I ask her to try and make some more of my sketches?"

My eyes widen at her question "Are you kidding me? Of course! She did such an amazing job with your sketches for tonight. Maybe she can do our Halloween costumes?" Seeing her smile makes me happy. She walks back over and sits back down in front of me. I see something on her that bothers be. I'll ask her about it later.

I see Charles stand and walk so he's sitting in front of us. I begin to braid and unbraid her hair, watching over her shoulder as she begins to sketch ideas for Halloween costumes. I see Charles studying her intensely, which makes me kind of nervous. I clear my throat, and see her smirk as Charles and the rest of the guys jump.

"What do you find so funny?" I hear Jack ask "Oh, just the fact that you seem to have known my brother for quite a while, yet him clearing his throat still scares the ever living hell out all of you." She smirks "It took me 2 days to get used to it."

All of them look between me and Nick, and I can almost hear his smirk. The silence was broken by one of the boys, Alex.

"Wait, did you say "brother"?" I nod "Nick, I never knew you had a sister! Why did you never tell us? This isn't the kind of thing you keep from us!" I feel Lilly's back straiten against my legs. "Nick? Dad? Momma Jay? Do we have anymore lollipops?" I look up at my parents, their eyes wide? I reach down and wrap my arms around her shoulders. I lean down and whisper.

"Stand up. We can go back up to your room and have our bonding time there. I'll be up in 5 minutes." She nods as I sit back up. I look at my dad and he gives a slight nod. "I don't know, Lil. I'll go check." She nods and stands and begins walking out of the room as I walk to the kitchen. My mom soon follows, leaving dad to make conversation with my friends.

I'm assuming she can sense what's wrong, seeing as she followed me in here. I hear her sigh and take a deep breath. "Nick...? I don't really know what that exchange was... But I can tell it's really affecting both of you. Please, talk to me if you need to. I want to be able to help." 

I look up, realizing she really did have no idea what happened. I take a deep breath. "Okay. Well I know that question she asked was out of no where, but after what happened with Him, we noticed that there are things that would make her react like she did just now. So, the three of us came up with a phrase she would say to help tell us without telling us that she was uncomfortable. She decided "Do we have any lollipops" would be one she would use. And, so far, it has worked everytime." I see her expression, and continue. "We don't always react like that. We only reacted like that today because she hasn't used the phrase in months. So now, both of us will be on high alert, making sure nothing happens again." I sigh, and look up, hearing her door close softly. I walk to the fridge and grab a bottle of water before walking up the stairs to her room.