04. Presumed Dead

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"Miss Popular" Phoenix mumbled, laughing lightly as I punched him on the arm. "Shut up" I had to turn away from him so that he couldn't see the way my cheeks had now tinged pink, just like Elijah's. 

What a night. 

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- Elijah Russo - 

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- Elijah Russo - 

"Enzo, the girl I met last night, she had the same eyes as you, I swear" I spoke to my best friend, who sluggishly sat down beside me at the kitchen bench. I hadn't seen him at all last night, so, seeing him in this state was not a unusual occurrence. 

I knew his father would have had him plastered to his hip, just to show off his youngest son. He had only just turned 16, while I was about to turn 16 in a few months time. 

"It's not her, and I know it. She wouldn't have been at a party like that" Enzo dismissed what I had said. I knew he had heard it all before but, this time, this girl was like the carbon copy of Enzo and his brothers. "You have to believe me. I even got her number" 

This seemed to get the cog wheels in his head to start turning. "So, we could meet up with her, and see if it really is her" I continued the rest of my sentence, but by now, Enzo had lost interest.

"Lijh, I know your trying, but she's gone. She isn't coming back. She has her own grave for god's sake"  and before I could stop him, he grabbed his cup of coffee and was out of the kitchen. It was worth a shot. 

But Tahlia, the girl I couldn't stop thinking about, had really looked like my best friends little sister that had been presumed dead for 14 years now. That girl could not be a day over 14. 

The facts just all added up. 

"Morning Lijah" Nicolo, Lorenzo's second eldest brother entered the kitchen, ruffling my hair. He was best friends with my older brother and only sibling, Stefano. That was how I met Lorenzo and we have been inseparable since that day. "Hey" I responded, resting my cheek on the palm of my hand. 

This really was a bad start to my day, and now Lorenzo's. I never should have brought up Tahlia, because I knew he wasn't going to believe me. 

"What's got you all sour this morning, bambino?" Nicolo, Stefano, and Lorenzo and Nicolo's older brothers, Leonardo and Francesco both call me bambino because I am the youngest out of all the boys. 

They are basically calling me a little child or baby in Italian, so that it doesn't sound 'cute and childish' to the people who don't speak Italian. The word itself is not hard to figure out what it means. 

"Met this girl last night that looks like Enzo, and he didn't believe me when I told him" I spoke, my words slurring the slightest bit because of my hand on my cheek. Nic hesitated in his actions, halting at the mention of his sister, Florence. 

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