The Phoenix Returns

Chapter 20 - Never, Have I Ever Jumped From A Roof

(Scarlett's POV)

Awkward silence.

Slogan of the night.

No one has spoken for a good fifteen minutes.

The only sounds echoing were the forks and knives off of plates. This is not how I wanted this night to go, and I thought that since Kyson and Lyle are here that I wouldn't be shy and quiet.

But literally, I am just that.

Shy...

Quiet...

And awkward...

Oakley hasn't looked up at me since the dead air began, and I don't blame him a bit. I invited him over here just to say nothing all night.

I'm an awful host.

Looking up at Kyson, I gestured for him to say something or to get a conversation started. This is what he is here for, but when he looked up at me, he shook his head shortly and shrugged his shoulders.

He had nothing to say.

My eyes widened as I mouthed the words. "What do you mean you have nothing to say?"

So, I nudged Lyle under the table, tapping his leg as he looked up at me. With my head, I motioned towards Oakley. I needed somebody to say something, we can't sit here the whole entire night and not converse.

Lyle cleared his throat causing Oakley to look up from his plate of food. Thank God he was eating it because if he wasn't, I would feel even worse. "So, Oakley..." He trailed off, turning to my brother. "Where were you born?"

"Staten Island." He nodded. "Apparently, it's where our birth mother went after leaving Brooklyn. I'm guessing a few years after she had you."

He's my little brother...

"How old are you?" I asked him.

Oakley looked over at me and gave me a small smile. "I'm 19."

"You're adopted?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Yes, our birth mother wasn't able to care for us. That's why she gave us up, or at least that's what they told me." Oakley continued. "What did they tell you?"

I dropped my head. "Nothing. I don't know anything about our birth mother."

This really makes me sad, I thought that maybe he lived with his father.

That doesn't make sense for any women to have, not one, but two children in the system; especially since we were born apart. She had me, then moved on and had him. We both ended up in the system with no real parents to care for us.

She created life and threw us away like trash.

"I'm sorry." Oakley apologized. "I have a picture of her back at my hotel, if you want to see it..." He trailed off. "The adoption agency gave it to me when I was younger, I had it ever since."

My heart raced; I was nervous just to see a picture of her. I've always, always wanted to know what she looked like. "I would love to see it the next time you come over." He nodded. "Do you know who your father is?"

"I've met him." Oakley spoke softly. "He has another family; a wife and two kids. He doesn't want to have anything to do with me." He shrugged, pretending not to care, but I can see that it hurts him.

It would hurt me too.

With the money that I had over the past years, I could have already searched for information about my birth parents, but I chose not to. I don't want to find out that they are alive and well with whole families and other children that are loved and cared for. I don't want to find out that I was just the one that they did not want in their lives.