That Stupid Word Called Love

3...

Amelia awoke to the sweet, familiar, musty smell of Drew's house. She opened her eyes and stared at his small bedroom, thinking about what she had heard him say last night. I love you. He had never said those words to her before, nor had she said it to him. But as Amelia mulled over the words, she realised that she did love him and decided to say it back to him as soon as possible. 

Expecting Drew to be lying next to her, Amelia rolled over, arms outstretched, half stretching and half preparing to hug him. But all she saw once she rolled over was the checked sheets of the bed and a blue pillow, no Drew. She suddenly felt cold inside, disappointed and quite alone, like the time she had got lost at the shopping mall. 

The cold morning air touched Amelia's skin as she slumped out of the bed and began walking towards the open door of Drew's bedroom. As she passed his cluttered desk, piled with books, sports magazines and pieces of paper, Amelia noticed a large yellow sticky note taped to the top of the mess. 

Amelia picked up the note and read in big black letters:

Babe,

Isaac called at 6:00am. He and Evie want me to drive them down early. I'm leaving at 7:00. 

Amelia hadn't finished reading the note but glanced over at the clock on the chest of drawers. It said 8:30am. 

There is cereal in the cupboard and milk in the fridge. I won't be back until around midnight, but feel free to stay here all day because my mum won't be home until tomorrow. 

I love you

Drew xox 

Amelia sighed and looked down at her bracelet tied around her wrist. She stood in Drew's room for a while, unconsciously twirling the bracelet around and thinking about what she should do.

Go home... Meh

Stay at Drew's house... Meh

Hug Drew and kiss Drew and say that she loved him... YES!

But Amelia knew that couldn't happen until he got back. 

She decided to stay where she was, because going back to her house would be no different than staying there. Amelia sometimes hated being an only child. 

Walking into the kitchen, Amelia half-heartedly got some Cornflakes from the cupboard and milk from the fridge. The sun glared into the house and the clock hanging from the wall ticked and tocked as Amelia ate her breakfast while watching the morning news on TV and checking her Facebook on her phone. Evie had posted a picture of herself, Isaac and Drew and commented: Going to the Ed Sheeran concert tonight! Can't wait! 

Amelia commented back: Have fun babe! Can you please tell Drew that what he said to me last night, I say back to him... <3

This made Amelia feel a bit better, but she still had no idea what to do. Since it was the start of semester, she didn't have much homework, and all the homework that she did have she finished yesterday morning or during the week. 

Amelia took her bowl of mushy cornflakes to the sink with a groan and limply walked back into Drew's room and sat on his bed. She looked around his room, and saw on the chest of drawers eight photo frames. Amelia grunted as she got of the bed and walked over to take a closer look at the pictures. 

Four of them were pictures of Drew and Winston, most of them when they were young. Amelia saw how cute Drew had been, and how strange looking Winston was, and giggled to herself. Another photo was of Winston and his girlfriend on their formal night. Another was a really good picture, probably Amelia's all time favourite photo, of herself, Evie, Drew and Isaac. In the frame next to that photo was a picture of Amelia and Drew kissing in front of the Eiffel Tower. This happened last year when they went to Paris on a French trip. The final frame was only very small and had two pictures in it. The largest picture was of Drew's mother. She was only about 25 in the photo, but still looked as pretty as she did now. In the corner of the frame was a very small photo of Drew's father. 

Amelia's expression turned sour as she remembered the story of Mr Tetslaff. (AN: thats Drew's last name btw!!!) She recalled Drew telling her about his unfortunate death. It happened before Drew was born and when Winston was only 1 year old. 

"It was a normal Saturday night," Amelia recalled Drew saying to her. "My mum, dad and Winston were just sitting around in the living room. Then they heard a motorbike drive past, but just dismissed it and kept going on with their evening. About five minutes later they heard their front gate open. My dad ran to the window to see who was out their, but he made a big mistake." Amelia remembered thinking that this story was starting to sound like how Harry Potter got his scar, but kept listening. "A bullet went flying through the glass and hit my dad right in the chest, and he died instantly. My mum called the police and the ambulance, but the murderer must have freaked out, so he shot himself before the police arrived. Nobody knew who this bikie was and no one knew why he killed my dad. And yeah.... the case was put on hold and nobody cares that much anymore. Mum worries that dad was in some money problem with drugs that she didn't no about. Oh well"

**************************************************************************************

The rest of Amelia's day was boring. She watched a dodgy $2 movie on TV because Drew's mum couldn't afford pay to view TV. Once Amelia had lunch, she got so bored she decided to call her mum to come pick her up. Her mum came and let Amelia drive home because she was trying to get enough driving hours so she could get her P plates. 

Once they arrived home Amelia was just as bored as before, but at least she had her puppy Logan to play with. 

Amelia's dad arrived home from work, and dinner came and went. Amelia watched some re-runs of America's Top Model and decided to go to bed at 9:30, which was pretty lame, Amelia thought.

Her ceiling fan whirled around and she tried to sleep. Only a few minutes after Amelia went to bed her dad ran into her room and turned the light on.

"Amelia!" he shouted, which surprised her as she was just drifting off to sleep.

She groggily sat up and said with a groan, "What?"

Her dad was panting, as if he'd ran from the other side of the house to her room. He ran over to Amelia's bed and sat down next her. 

"Dad, your freaking me out," Amelia said anxiously.

"It's..." he said

Please don't say Drew... Please don't say Drew, Amelia thought.

"It's... It's Evie."