A Known Stranger

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

                Halloween came and went, November passed in a daze and before I knew it, my eighteenth birthday, and Christmas had passed, and the New Year was in a few days. Three months- that was how long Noah and I had been dating. And for the first month, I had suspected Noah’s fan club to kidnap me and kill me in the middle of nowhere just so Noah could be all there’s, but after the second month was rolling to an end, I soon realized that they weren’t going to do anything.

                Things at home were still a bit bumpy, my relationship with my mother was still the same and things with my dad were still sketchy. I wasn’t holding any grudges against them like I had promised Adam, yet the tension between us hadn’t lessened. My mother, like usual this time of year, worked more hours, while my dad actually made an effort to be around the house more. Although, I was either at school, work or over at Noah’s, he would be home when I left early in the morning and he would be home late at night when I got back in.

                Noah had fully healed and if it were possible, better than before. There were times when he and I argued over idiotic things like Kimberly’s lies about Noah cheating on me, or Ryder’s murderous glares he sent us when he caught sight of us in the hallways, in class or the cafeteria. Zoe and I still talked, yet even all these months later, there was still something between us that neither of us could push our way through. Things were slowly getting better, but the last time things had started to look for me, my mother dropped the bomb that I had a brother that no one ever bothered to tell me about.

                I hadn’t gone out onto the beach late at night since the first time Noah and I fought- which was a few days after my parents had told me about Ezra. I had been distant with him, and he had gotten frustrated how I wouldn’t open up to him about what was going through my head. The fight had went back and forth between the two of us, throwing things back and forth at each other about how we both trust issues and more secrets that still hadn’t seen light. Our fight had ended when I had broken down crying, blurting out that I had had a brother and my parents hadn’t told me.

                Although he had scooped me up into his arms, days later I had still felt utterly alone- which was why I had gone to the beach.

                Now- three months later- things were slowly starting to piece themselves back together. It wasn’t until New Year’s Eve, that my mother decided it was time to face me.

                I stood before my full length mirror, looking over my outfit for the night. Cole was throwing a New Year’s party at his house, and had invited both Noah and I. So, an hour before Noah was supposed to come over to pick me up, my mother knocked on my bedroom door and lightly pushed it open.

                Through my mirror, I could see her standing at the door, arms crossed over her chest, her hair cascading down her shoulders. She had a small smile on her lips as she looked at my reflection through the mirror.

                “You look lovely, honey.” She said.

                Staring at my reflection, I took in my attire. My hair- much like my mother’s- cascading down my shoulders in natural brown waves, my make-up was done to perfection, my smoky eye shadow surrounding my grey eyes. I wore a sweetheart, red and crème ombre colored dress- blood red at the bust which then faded into a light pink in the middle which then faded into a crème/ white at the bottom which stopped mid-thigh; a pair of crème colored flats on my feet instead of high heels. Knowing Cole and having been to one of his parties, I knew that wearing heels wasn’t recommended.