Cruel
Twists of Fate
2012
Loren invited
herself into her new 'brother's room and sat down on his bed. "So, now
that the proceedings are complete...maybe you'll feel like telling me a little
about yourself."
The boy sat beside
her, but fixed his eyes on the floor and shook his head. "Nope. Like
I've been telling you for the past month, I haven't got a name. I haven't
got a past. I'm nothing."
Her
heart broke. She knew how true that statement was. "Not anymore,
you're not. The court made you my brother, and I'm making you my best
friend...whether you like it or not." Gently, she turned his face up to
hers. "Although, I think you'll like it." She added with a
wink.
There were tears in his
chocolate brown eyes. "You can't keep me
here."
Lori stared at him with
supreme confidence. "You'll
stay."
"You
think?"
"I know." She stated
defiantly. "Let's see about a name shall we?" She asked after a
moment's hesitation. Lori produced a baby name book, seemingly from thin
air. She already had a name picked out, she just didn't want him to know
it yet. "Hmmm...." She flipped through the book nonchalantly, aware
of the young man's eyes upon her.
She was giving him a name. She was giving him a family. X4-316 could
hardly believe that this was real.
"Nicholas!" Lori declared
with a broad smile. "Nick for
short."
He bit his lower lip in
thought. "Nicholas?"
Lori
nodded emphatically. "Yep. I think it suits you. You look like
a Nick. I've always been partial to the name myself, don't you like
it?" She cocked her head to the side
questioningly.
God! She looked
so cute when she did that! He shook his head again. "No, no. I
like it. Nick."
Lori surprised
him by wrapping him in a tight hug. The intensity of his emotions from
that one touch were enough to make him forget his training. All of
it. "Welcome to the family,
Nick."
Nick pulled back a little and
grinned sheepishly. "Thanks."
X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4*X4
Nick tossed a few more
items into the pillowcase he was carrying. He couldn't stay. He
wanted to, but he just couldn't. Mrs. Davis had wanted him to get his hair
cut today. She said he was 'unpresentable' in the shaggy cut he now
sported. He had been trying to come up with a response when Loren had
jumped in.
"Mother! That's a
horrible thing to say! I can't believe you! *I*'ll cut his hair this
afternoon. I'm not going to let you turn him into one of those yacht club
dorks you're always going on about! I'll trim it so its even, but he
determines the length."
His
appreciation must have been evident in his eyes. Later that day, Loren sat
him down on a chair in the bathroom and began to carefully trim down his wild
hair. He was so relieved at being spared a trip to the barber's that he'd
forgotten why he needed to avoid them.
Loren lifted the back of his hair
and paused. "Nick? You mind telling me why in the world you have a
UPC code on your neck?" She asked
incredulously.
Nick froze.
"I...They...It's a form of identification." He finally explained. He
couldn't lie to her, even when he needed
to.
Lori's eyes flickered with
surprise. He hadn't lied. "Sort of like a gang tattoo?" She
asked finally. Nick nodded silently in reply. "Well, at least that
explains why you wanted to avoid the barber. I'll take care of your hair
from now on, don't worry."
That had
been one crisis averted, but there would be more. He just couldn't
stay. He was heading silently to the front door when a noise to the left
startled him. Nick was even more surprised when a light came on in the
living room. Curiously, he poked his head in. There sat Loren with a
pained look on her beautiful face. His mouth gaped open in shock.
"Lori?"
"Good evening, Nick.
Don't tell me you were actually going to leave without saying good bye?"
She asked with a sad tone.
Nick
swallowed. "I...I didn't think you'd
care."
"You know better than that,
Nicholas. You know I care about you. If you wanted any of the things
in that pillowcase, you only had to ask. But, you do at least owe me a
goodbye." She pushed herself up from her seat and walked slowly across the
living room. Loren stopped just in front of him. Her deep blue eyes
staring intently into his dark brown ones. Slowly, she perched on her toes
and placed her lips near his ear. "Good night, Nick. I'll see you in
the morning." She whispered. Before she pulled away, she placed a
delicate kiss on his cheek. Then, she went back upstairs to
bed.
Nick stood stone still for
several minutes, the fire of that innocent kiss burning him to his core.
His eyes flitted back to the empty staircase. With a sigh of resignation,
he followed her lead and went back to bed.
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