Pretend

➳ s e v e n

| Chapter 7 - Ghosts from the past ; Addison Shepherd's point of view |

I remember when I was about four, I was colouring in the living room when someone knocked on the front door. My mother told me to go upstairs to my room, so I collected my crayons and ran upstairs.

But before I reached the top of the stairs I heard the door open, and I turned around to see a man standing there talking to my mum.

That was the first time I saw him.

When I asked my mum about him she said that it was time to play the quiet game, so I knew I wasn't allowed to ask any questions.

This happened about every year, someone knocked on the door, I had to go upstairs, and I was not allowed to ask questions afterwards.

Last time he visited was 6 years ago I think.

So I was sure surprised to just see him casually walking in a café with my across-the-hall neighbour.

I think the man didn't expect to see me here either, because when his blue eyes crossed mine, I thought to see a little surprise twinkle in his hard and professional expression.

Faintly I saw Louis following his stare and finding me in the background, but my eyes were focused on the blue pair staring back at me. The way he was staring at me sent shivers down my spine but I did not break my stare of him. His blue eyes held nothing but ice, his was face unreadable as he just stood there staring at me.

I don't know what it was about his eyes, but he was standing a solid 15 feet away and it was still the first thing that I saw about him, maybe it was his pale skin or his ginger hair that made them come out more.

I tried to look away from him, but something in his glance just kept me captivated. That until, I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder, liberating me from the stranger's eyes.

I looked up finding another pair of blue eyes, familiar ones this time. I had always compared Louis' eyes to ice, but after seeing the eyes of the strange man, I saw how warm Louis' eyes really were, warm and comforting.

I quickly looked back at the strange man, but at the place where he was standing was now no one to be seen. I scanned my surroundings looking for his tall muscular frame but it seemed like he had just disappeared out of thin air.

"Addison." Louis said as he took a seat across from me.

"Addy." I corrected him, with a little smile.

"Of course, Addy." he laughed. "You don't mind me sitting here right ?"

"Oh no, I was just shielding from the rain." I explained.

"So, how are things going ?" Louis asked me while looking down on his phone.

"Uhm, things are going great I guess."

"Do you have any sisters ?" He asked out of the blue, still looking down on his phone

"I'm sorry what ?" I was a bit surprised of the sudden question

"Do you have any sisters ?" He repeated, this time he looked up from his phone. I trained my eyes on him as he fidgeted with a small piece of crumpled yellow paper between his thumb and index finger.

"Uhm, no. I'm an only child."

"Oh okay, are your mother and father still together ?"

"Uhm, no. But I have a stepfather." I shook my head. "Why are you asking these questions ?"

"I'm just trying to start a conversation." he mumbled, still looking down at his phone.

"Oh." My eyes dropped from his face, that was still turned to his phone. I have never had a real conversation with Louis before but this is certainly not what I expected.

Silence overtook the room, the only noise were the faint chats at other tables, and the soft music flowing through the speakers. I let my eyes wander around the room, trying not to look at him. But when I finally did I was surprised to see that he was looking at me, too.

"I got to go." He shortly announced before getting up and pushing is chair back under table.

"Oh, okay. Bye." I tried to say, but all I got in response was the cafe door slamming shut.

I was left without an explanation, my eyebrows knitted together as I stared into the bottom of the recently-emptied coffee cup.

I'm just trying to start a conversation.

As far as I'm concerned, first conversations are generally deprived of such personal and intrusive questions as 'are your mother and father still together'.

Surely the mysterious man is just curious. I've noticed that about him. The amount of interest held in his blue eyes, the depth from which his emotions arise.

But there was something more than curiosity behind his intentions. The sudden change in attitude, his abrupt departure. The way he seemed more intrigued by his phone than to the answers I was giving him.

And not to mention his cold friend, who's eyes I would recognize anywhere. The one I never did understand.

"Ma'am?" I broke my fixed gaze from the patterns left by remnants of coffee in the bottom of the cup and retrained it on the middle aged waitress who stood before me. There was slight annoyance in her brown eyes that suggested she'd been trying to get my attention for a while, but she spoke with a sweet voice.

"May I take your cup?"

"Oh, uh, sure..." I slid the empty cup towards her, offering her a small smile. She returned the gesture before swiftly moving to the next table, the cup in her hand. I stood up from my seat, checking the table for anything I may have left behind when a crumpled piece of yellow paper caught my eye from where Louis sat.

I looked around as if expecting someone to be watching me, before scooping up the piece of paper and hurrying out the door.

I stared at the piece of paper as I leant against the cafe wall, just outside the door. The thought that it was something I wasn't meant to see tugged at my mind, yet I found myself uncrumpling the paper. I ran my fingers over the creases, a jagged line making up one edge of the paper and cutting off words. It had been ripped.

The words had been scrawled on the paper in black pen, messily, yet readable.

➳ do you have any sist
➳ are your parents still toge
➳ what does your father d
➳ do you still live near your mo

I could've sworn that although these questions were incomplete due to being ripped, I'd heard some of them before.

I also could've sworn that some of them were the questions that Louis had asked me not five minutes ago.

-➳        ➳        ➳

Yo yo yooo! So it's been a while since the last update, but hopefully this makes up for it.

It's summer holidays soon, so I (Erin) will be able to work on a few more chapters and that way you won't have to worry about the updates taking 53827392837 years.

#lazyfact101: you were too lazy to read that number ^.

And I (Chloé) will be on winter holidays for 2 weeks only (Erin I don't like you anymore omg) but yeah, more frequent updates guaranteed !! :)

Love you all, enjoy!

~Erin & Chloé