Nicole

Chapter: 05

Nicole didn't want time to slip away as fast as it was going. She needed time to think of what she was going to say. But with every passing minute, she felt as if she couldn't think straight and had no idea what she was going to say to her father and her siblings. She needed time desperately but unfortunately, she was unable to get that as the plane was now landing in Los Angeles, California.

She hadn't packed much; just a few shirts, jeans, and jackets. Aside from her phone, laptop and toothbrush, there was nothing else in her bag. She didn't bother packing her books; almost all of them were available as ebooks now.

She took a cab to get to the meeting point her father had mentioned to her in the email. It was a No Parking sign on the sidewalk. There was a railing on its right and a park behind the railing.

At the No Parking sign stood four people. A familiar-looking, middle-aged man with bright green eyes and hair dark as ebony accompanied by three teenagers: two boys and one girl. The girl and the younger boy - the boy seemed to be the youngest of them all - had bright green eyes, the same as the man but the older boy who seemed the oldest of the three had sky blue eyes, just like Nicole.

Seeing them, Nicole's heart started pounding. She took a deep breath to calm herself and walked toward them. The man - most probably her father - looked speechless at the sight of her. The older boy rolled his eyes while the younger two looked blank.

As Nicole neared them, her anxiety increased. "Hi," was all she spoke when she reached them. Her voice was so close to cracking and she cursed herself for not speaking anything for the past two days. Her throat ached.

"Nicole," her father muttered breathlessly looking at her. "Wow, you look so much like your mother."

It was a constant effort for Nicole to keep her tears in and not let emotion take over her. She smiled a weak smile at her father who was unaware of her mother's recent death.

"Well, Nicole, these are your siblings, Axel, Isabelle, and Nathan," he gestured towards the blue-eyed boy, green-eyed girl, and green-eyed boy respectively. "But I don't think you remember much of them." Nicole shook her head slowly, looking at her siblings.

"I'll get the car," the blue-eyed boy muttered, rolling his eyes, and walked away. The girl was looking at Nicole intently and the boy with his eyebrows furrowed.

"It's good to see you, Nicole," her father muttered and she nodded.

"It's good to see you too," she muttered back.

It was good to see him, the man her mother had been asking for before she died, constantly repeating his name. Nicole couldn't imagine how important he must've been to her for her to long for him like that. Her mother never longed for anyone like that. She was the strongest and the most independent person Nicole knew and she was the person from whom Nicole had developed such qualities herself.

Axel brought the car and Nicole's eyes widened when she saw it. It was a silver Mercedes-Benz, looking brand new. Her father was amused at the surprised look on Nicole's face.

"I call shotgun," Axel muttered as he got out of the driver's seat just to sit in the passenger seat. The rest of them got in the car. In the middle sat Isabelle. On her left was Nathan, and on the right sat Nicole, exhausted.

She hadn't gotten much sleep in the last two nights. She kept on waking up every hour or two and then wouldn't be able to fall asleep again. She knew she had light bags under her eyes because of it. Shifting from side to side, getting up to drink water, and changing her position didn't help either.

She had drunk a lot of coffee to keep her awake but the caffeine was wearing off now and she could feel the tiredness crawling up her veins again. She leaned her head to the side, putting it against the window, and stared out at the passing cars. Her eyelids got heavy and it was a constant effort to keep them open.

She thought of her mother. The way she had apologized to her at the time of her death made Nicole feel guilty. She shouldn't have been apologizing about anything. In fact, Nicole was the one to apologize since she pushed her mother so hard despite everything she had done for her.

"Nicole?" Her father's voice snapped open her eyes. She hadn't realized she had fallen into a light doze. She hummed in response and then cursed herself. She had only met him. She wasn't casual enough around him to hum in response like that. "Do you have your report cards with you?"

"No, but you can check them online," Nicole said and then cursed herself for not bringing them with her.

"Mhmm, okay," was his response. He didn't say anything but kept his eyes focused on the road. Nicole saw Nathan look at his father carefully before pulling out a thick book with a bluish cover and a title that read Lady Midnight from his side. She didn't think he had it before. He opened the book a little way before the middle and leaned back to read.

Nathan was thin, wearing a dark blue shirt with flannel on top and dark jeans. A lock of his overgrown dark hair fell over his eyes. He moved it away impatiently as his eyes swiftly darted through the words.

Christopher seemed to notice though, as he sighed and looked at Nathan through the rearview mirror, "Nathan, how many times have I told you not to read in the car?"

Nathan rolled his eyes and shut the book. "Fine." Nicole hid her smile and turned back to the window, wondering if she would ever be able to be a part of this family.

After a while, Christopher pulled over and everyone stepped out of the car.

Something pinched Nicole's heart as she looked up at the house. It was a two-story house. There were patches of green grass between the white pavement. Huge glass windows reflected the light on both floors Flowers of different colors bloomed on the small lawn with a wooden fence surrounding it.

A strange feeling had dawned upon Nicole like she had been there before. But it felt so far, like a dream fading away from one's memory. She bit her lip, gazing at the house.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Christopher asked and Nicole nodded as they all made their way inside the wooden door. An airy, wide, and well-lit hallway was revealed that ended as an opening to the living room. The white tiles were polished and Nicole could even see her reflection in them

"Your room is upstairs on the left," Christopher said, jerking his chin toward the marble staircase. "You can unpack and then we'll talk." Nicole nodded and started walking toward the stairs but Axel cut her way and ran up the stairs first. Nicole stopped and knitted her eyebrows at that but then sighed inwardly and went up the stairs.

The stairs ended in a wide hallway with marble tiles and white painted walls. There were leaves wallpapered on the corners and edges and pots of flowers hung from the wall. There were four rooms: two on the left, and two on the right.

She knew the first room on the left was hers because the door of the last room slammed shut just when she entered the hallway.

She didn't know whether Axel was always like that, or just towards her. She knew she should've expected this kind of behavior from her siblings but Isabelle and Nathan didn't seem to mind her arrival as much as Axel did.

Shaking the thought away, she walked forward and opened the door of her room.

It was a medium-sized room. Indigo curtains hung in front of the window, flowing as the wind pushed them. The walls were painted indigo too, and the bed cover was also of the same color. There was a dresser on which a few things were already there like a perfume, a hairbrush, and a cup that held a lip gloss and concealer.

Nicole walked forward and moved her hand on the bedspread. It was so soft that it almost felt unreal. She sat down and realized how comfortable it was. She grinned and stood up, walking to the closet.

She opened it and saw three floral dresses hanging along with a leather jacket. There were a few folded shirts, jeans, and trousers. There was a pair of sneakers, two pairs of black boots, and a pair of rain boots. There were feminine belts as well, two black and three brown.

Nicole zipped open her bag and took out the clothes she'd brought. She put them in the closet with the rest and took out her laptop. She set it on the bedside table and put her deodorant on the dresser.

Once she was finished setting everything up, she went to the attached bathroom to take a shower. She changed into a pair of clean jeans and a black shirt. Still barefoot, she made her way downstairs and into the living room where her father sat on the couch, waiting for her.

"Should we talk then?"