The Awakening

Chapter 4- Brother

    'Who is that guy standing next to mom!?'
    She sat and studied the photo for several minutes. In the photo there was her mom, smiling, she looks so happy and, once again, sober. The boy beside her was in a graduation gown and cap, he was also holding a diploma. She looked at the back of the photo to see if there would be a date or a name on it. No- no date, no name, no clues at all to who this guy was. She studied the picture a little harder, when suddenly something clicked.
    'Why does he look so much like mom?!'
They had the same nose. The same colored eyes. She threw the picture at this shocking sight. She looked around where she was for clues before she started to overthink, but when she looked up, she could only see about 2 feet in front of her. It was so dark in the room, almost foggy in the distance. She starts to overthink.
    'WHO IS HE?! Mom looks younger but it could just be that she looked sober. Where's dad? Is this in the past or future? Who is this guy and why does he look like mom?'
    Her thoughts run faster than an olympian track runner. Finally they slow down and it hits her.
    'What if I have a brother? But that can't be, why would nobody have told me about him?'
    Her thoughts start to stir up again but then they suddenly stop. She wakes up. For once something good that makes sense. She was woken up by a kiss on the forehead from Aspen. She smiles and blushes.
    "Good morning Apryl, sorry I didn't mean to wake you up. Did you sleep well?"
    She didn't sleep well at all and her mind was kinda boggled but also didn't wanna worry Aspen.
    "Good morning, and yeah I slept fine." She said nervously. She was never good at lying. Especially to Aspen, he could read her like a book.
    "Ok something's up, you didn't sleep last night did you? Was it a bad dream, or... was it... w-was it about last night?" Aspen says hesitantly.
    "No! It had nothing to do with last night!" She says with the cute giggle Aspen loves. He smiles in relief.
    "That's good because I really liked last night, maybe we could make a repeat of last night," He pauses "RIGHT AFTER you tell me what's wrong with you."
    She hesitates to tell him anything. She wants to tell him everything. She knows that she can tell him anything, plus they are closer than ever now after last night.
    "Ok listen, I know this is gonna sound weird so I need you to believe me and don't tell anyone. Promise?"
    "Uh? Ok I promise I won't tell anyone." He says. He has no idea where this is going and gets nervous.
Apryl starts to explain the things she's been seeing and tries to explain to Aspen everything in as much detail as she can remember. Aspen at first thinks she can't be serious, but he knew she wasn't lying. He could read her like a book. She was obviously worried about it. She then tells him about how she thinks the guy in the picture could have been a bother she doesn't know about.
    "Now I know everything I just told you is shocking but I have a favor to ask you. You can say no if you don't want to help, but would you please help me see if I do have a lost brother?"
    "Of course Apryl. I can tell that this means a lot to you so, yes, I will help you."
    "Thank you so much Aspen!" She hugs him. "Now what were you saying about having a repeat of last night?" She says with a smirk and getting closer to Aspen.
    Aspen smirks back "I don't know? What did I say?" He says in a sarcastic tone.
    Apryl puts her hands on the side of Aspen's neck and pulls him in for a kiss. Apryl starts to run her hand down Aspen's exposed chest, his body was cold. Her warm hands on his cold chest sent a shiver down his back. She pulls away asking if everything was ok. He nods and pulls her back into his lips. The kiss becomes a little more passionate and intense before Apryl pulls away and takes her hands off of Aspen.
    "We should probably go wake up the others." She says nervously with a giggle.
    "Good idea." Aspen gets up and throws a shirt on before following Apryl down the hall and downstairs.
When they get into the kitchen they are shocked to see Jasper and Enya already up and enjoying their morning coffee.
    "Woah, Apryl, get sommmmeee." Enya laughs.
    "What are you talking about?" Apryl says with her face slowly turning red.
Enya and Jasper look at each other and then Enya points to her messy hair and her wearing Aspen's shirt.
    "Not to mention you both just came from upstairs." Enya teases.
    "Ok that's enough Enya." Aspen says while blushing. "Do you want any coffee?" He asks Apryl. She nods and Aspen soon sits a cup of coffee in front of her on the table. She takes a sip and notices a hint of vanilla.
    "Does this have vanilla in it?"
    "Yeah I just picked up some vanilla creamer the other day, cause I know you love vanilla in your coffee" Aspen says shyly.
    "Ok what happened between you two? You are never this weird around each other?" Jasper asks.
     "Nothing dude! Butt out!" He blurts out as everyone else laughs. "Apryl, we should get ready to head out, you two," He says now facing Jasper and Enya, "Me and Apryl are gonna step out for a bit, if you leave please lock the door. If you don't leave, then don't burn the house down and for the love of god if you decide to do anything stupid, DO IT AT YOUR HOUSE NOT MINE, this is not a brothel."
    "You got it boss man!" Jasper says with a wink to Enya.
    "I'm serious Jasper!" Jasper and Enya laugh.
"Ok, ok we won't, not here at least, but where are you two going?" Jasper asks.
    "Nowhere, we'll be back in about 3 hours at the most, if you happen to still be here when we get back I'll go get groceries and I make dinner." He says
"Oh well now we gotta stay!" They all chuckle and Apryl and Aspen go back upstairs to get ready. After they get ready they head out the door and head to the library. While they are in the car Apryl turns down the music.
    "Thank you for thinking of me, I mean with the vanilla creamer, it means a lot. I know it's such a small thing but it meant a lot and..." Aspen interupts her. "Hey it's all good you're welcome I just wanted to get you something for the house since you're there all the time. Ya know?" Apryl smiles, nods, and turns the music back up. They jam to music until they get to the library.
    As soon as they get there they immediately start looking for old year books looking for someone with the same last name or someone who looked like the guy beside her mother in the photo. They get tired of looking in the year books and just go to one of the computers at the library. Apryl signs up for a free ancestry analysis. After finally getting onto the sight she starts her search. Aspen walks over and puts his hand on her shoulder, but quickly takes it off, blushing. Apryl grabs his hand and puts it back on her shoulder with a smile. She looks at Aspen with stars in her eyes. She looks back at the computer and looks at her family tree. She doesn't find anything about a brother or even a cousin that she doesn't know about.
    After 2 and a half hours of looking they decide to call it quits and Aspen calls to see if the other two are still at his house. To his surprise they aren't. Jasper took Enya to his house to smoke and have some fun. Aspen and Apryl head to the store to get things to make dinner anyway, and soon head home. After heading home they throw the pizza they bought in the oven.
    "Sorry I didn't have enough money to make us something fancy, I have a nice paycheck coming in this week, so if you'd want to maybe I could take you out to eat." Aspen says shyly.
Apryl can't help but smile and giggle at him, He was being so shy and cute. She's never seen him act this way but she found it adorable. She started to think that he's never had a relationship before but didn't want to ask.
    "Thanks Aspen," She blushes, "I'd love to go out sometime."
    Aspen gets a big smile on his face and kisses her forehead before kissing her lips.
    "So do you want to keep looking online while we eat?" Aspen asks kindly.
    "No I have a better idea, why don't we watch a movie and chill for a while. After all, today was a little crazy." Aspen agrees and they go search for a movie on TV. They eat dinner while they watch a funny movie and they have a few laughs. After that movie they decide to watch a romance movie. Apryl curls up into Aspen's chest as she drifts off into a deep sleep. For once she was able to sleep properly. No strange dreams, no interruptions. Aspen later carries her to bed and crawls into bed with her. They both sleep soundly throughout the whole night.