"I'm just heading out to see some friends. I'll see you all later." He said as he exited the house.
In the end we decided on princess inspired dresses and the boys would have to also wear tuxes as well.
"This will be so great." Kira said,
"Yep we will look just like Cinderella." Heather said.
I could see them now dreaming their Disney style fantasies, but who wouldn't want a handsome prince at her party.
"Speak for yourself. I'll look more like Princess Fiona." I laughed.
They both frown at me and Heather hits my arm.
"I've had enough of your self loathing. We need to get you a boyfriend." She told me.
Kira got up.
"Why don't you two go to one of your friend’s house of something." Kira said trying to get us out of the house.
"If you want us gone you just have to ask." I say to her.
"I'm sorry honey, it’s just for a couple of hours." She said, shooing us out of the house and closing the door behind us.
I looked at Heather "So, where you wanna go?" I ask.
"Wanna go to mine? My mother's been baking." she said grinning at me.
Her mother was the best cook ever. I am just glad she wasn't my mother, because if she was I swear I would weigh three hundred pounds.
I nod 'yes' and we walked over too my car.
"Nice car. Birthday gift?" Heather asks, knowing from previous years.
"Yeah." I said getting into the car, shortly followed by Heather.
Heather lived about a mile away, so we were there pretty fast.
I drove into her driveway and parked the car, before stepping out.
Following Heather into the house, I was almost knocked off my feet by the smell of baking.
I could feel myself starting to drool.
I wiped my mouth as we made our way to the kitchen.
"Hiya mom." Heather said stepping into the kitchen.
She turned around from what she was doing and smiled when she saw me.
"Oh hi love, nice to have you back again." She says to me.
"Hi Lanie, it’s nice to be back." I reply trying to see what she was cooking.
She smiled at me. "You want some?" She asks pulling out a plate of freshly cooked brownies and cookies.
I nod eagerly and grab three at once. "Thanks."
Heather shakes her head "Calm down you and eat one at a time." She tells me, taking one from me.
"Leave her be. I hear you’re here to stay now and you’re starting school here?" Lanie, Heather's mother, asks.
"Yeah, I thought it was about time to settle, so I could finish my final year in peace without interruptions." I told her.
"I haven't seen Dean in a while. Did he run away or something?" I ask them about Heather’s younger brother.
I spent a lot of time here, but the last few months I haven't seen nor heard him.
He was a year younger than us and normally spent most of his time on Call of Duty and Halo.
"He's about..." Heather said in an almost questioning way.
I looked confused at the two.
Lanie sighs. "Well Dean has got some new friends and ..." She stops when she hears someone come thought the front door.
Heather stands up from the island where we were sat speaking.
"Hey Mom. We're home. Who owns the cool car outside?" I heard being shouted as whoever it was stepped into the kitchen.
CHAPTER TWO
Cookies
Hope
"Hey Mom, we're home. Who owns the cool car outside?" I heard being shouted as whoever it was stepped into the kitchen.
A tall dark haired man came in follow by another very similar looking one.
They were really familiar but I could place them, until I thought about what they said. 'Mom'.
'Fantastic' I thought to myself.
I never thought about Matt and Nathan coming home. I should have really because of the fact that Ricky came home today.
'God I am so dumb' I thought turning back to the cookies and hoping they wouldn't notice me.
I felt eyes burning into my back.
Lanie and Heather hurried over to them and pulled them into hugs.
While I just sat munching cookies, happy they were distracted.
"Hello lads. You’re early." Lanie said to the two.
"Yep mom, we wanted to surprise you." Matt replied.
Lanie did a squeal and jumped then I heard another set of footsteps.
"Mom have you burnt them again?" I heard another voice say, which I recognized as Heather's younger brother Dean.
Unlike the two older, I actually quite liked Dean.
He was a nice boy and would always try to get me and Heather to play on his game consoles with him and his little buddies.
"Oh hi." Dean said to his brothers, sounding a bit bored.
"And it's nice to see you too." said Nathan, sounding annoyed.
"What happened to you?" asked Matt.
'What do they mean?' I thought.
I haven't seen him in a while but he couldn't of changed that much.
I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard Heather walk over to me while the rest spoke among themselves.
“Oh my god! How many do you eat?" She laughed out.
I looked down at the plate and saw only a couple left.
"Oops." I say realizing, "That would explain my sick feeling." Me and Heather both laughed out loud, getting everyone's attention.
"Hey, I didn't see you there." I heard a very happy Dean rush over.
I was shocked and started to laugh nervously when he gave me a hug.
"Hiya, I missed you too." I laughed.
Heather grinned at me and I mouthed 'not a word'.
Yes, so I have known for a while now that Dean had a crush on me, but I thought it was harmless.
He will soon be getting a girlfriend and then he will forget about it.
I thought it was kinda sweet in a way and Heather and his parents thought it was funny.
I pulled away and looked at him and was shocked by what I saw.
"What happened to your clothes?" I ask but then realized it didn't sound very kind so I corrected myself but not before I heard a deep laugh behind me.
I tensed up for a second before continuing, "I mean you look nice but what happened?" making Dean smile.
Dean was no longer in his old clothes.
Gone were the blue jeans and sports shirts and now in there place was now black combats, a black hooded top with high military style boots and little eye liner on his eyes.
I was shocked that my friend had taken such a drastic turn in such a short time.
"I made some new friends love." He said, making me blush when he said the last bit.
Don't get me wrong, I had no romantic feelings for him, but it was always nice to have attention.
I felt bad like I was leading him on but I did speak to him about it once and told him my feelings and he said he understood but now I'm not so sure he did.
Heather was just standing there laughing quietly.
"Hey Dean." I heard someone say walking over to where I was sat, by this time Heather was sat next to me and Dean had moved to sat opposite me and was watching me wistful when he thought I wasn't looking.
"Is this your girlfriend?" he asks.
I quickly answer, "No!" Without a second thought.
I look at Dean who doesn't even seem to notice what I said much to mine and Heather's amusement.
"Leave your brother be." Says Lanie.
The brother just grunts, "OK." and sits down on the empty seat next to me and his brother who I now know is Matt sits next to him.
I tried best to avoid their gaze. It maybe childish, but I am still pretty traumatized from when I was younger.
"So is that your car outside?" Nathan asked me.
Heather knew how I felt about them and gave me a look of apology.
"Yes." I said turning slightly to him and giving my best fake smile
"
Sweet ride." Matt said
"So how long you known Heather?" Nathan asked.
Quickly followed by Matt asking, "Do you go to the same school?"
I looked at Heather to see she was as shocked as I was that they didn't recognize me.
I looked to Dean who was now grinning at his brothers muttering "Idiots." Causing them to give him looks as if to say 'what?'
I never thought about this happening, I didn't think they wouldn't recognize me because we spend so much time together when we were younger.
But it was pretty funny and so three of us just laughed as the other two brothers looked confused.
As we were doing this Lanie who was on the phone to her husband to tell him the boys were back.
She walked in to see the three of us laughing at the confusion on the others.
"We’ve been friends for a while." I said grinning.
"Yeah a long while." Heather confirms.
"So how old are you?" Matt asked while giving me a toothy smile.
"Seventeen, eighteen in a few weeks." I replied to them.
They smirked at each other and Matt said something under his breath so only Nathan would hear, but I was sat close so I heard too.
"Good."
I looked at Heather confused but because she didn't hear them she just shook her head as if the say 'I don't know'.
Lanie walked over to the cooker and got another batch of cookies out and then looked to the plate where the old ones were and glared at Dean.
While the other were busy watching Lanie scolding Dean, Nathan moved closer to me and whispered in my ear "Maybe you wanna go out sometime?"
To say I was shocked would be an understatement.
Here was I, a seemingly unknown girl, a friend of their sister’s and he was already trying to hit on me.
"No thank you." Is all I managed to say, still in slight shock.
Matt must of heard this because he laughed and said also in a whisper, "She has taste, how about me instead?" he asked smirking. Nathan glared at his brother.
'These boys! Really?!' I thought.
I shook my head to say no.
Nathan laughed and said, "Not so funny now hey?!" And then he looked to me and whispered even more quietly while breathing into my neck "Don't worry honey, we don't give up." He said in a deep almost erotic sounding voice which sent a shiver down my spine, much to their glee.
Turning my attention back to the others who were arguing about something.
"What?" Dean asked with the last cookie in his mouth.
"Don't give me that. You ate all the cookies." Lanie grumbled at him.
"What? No I didn't." he said.
I looked at Heather guiltily and she smirked at me.
"What does it matter anyway mom? You have more." Heather said.
"That's not the point." She replied.
I sighed and was just about to confess when Dean grinned at me and looked to his mother.
"If you want to know what happened to the cookies mom why don't you ask them." He said pointing to me and Heather.
Lanie looked at Heather too ask her but before she had a chance Heather almost shouted
"What? I only ate one." and then she looked at me and I gave Lanie an innocent toothy grin before Heather continued.
"You saw me earlier telling her to slow down." Lanie laughed at this. “And as soon as we turned our backs she ate a couple which Dean finished." Heather said and Dean smiled.
Lanie said smiling "Oh that's OK then." making Dean choke and the boys to laugh.
Lanie was always trying to fatten me up, saying I was too skinny.
"Hey that's no fair. How come I get shouted at but it's ok if she does it?" He pouts.
"Because you are big enough already. Plus Hope is a guest." she smiled.
"But she's here more than I am." He finishes but his mother isn't listening anymore.
Dean starts to walk out but before he can. I smile at him and mouth sorry and hold my arms out for a hug.
Heather laughs as his face changes from a frown to almost smug smirk.
He walks over and I give him a brotherly hug,which Heather joins in on.
We break apart as Heather says "Good now we are all friends again."
Dean goes to leave again and asks if we wanna a game of C.O.D and we tell him maybe later.
When he is gone I look at Heather and sigh, almost forgetting the two next to me.
"Can we have a hug now too?" Matt asks.
Heather stands up and hugs them.
"Not that that wasn't nice, but I meant her." he said pointing to me.
Heather slapped Matt's arm "It's rude too point and also she has a name." She told them.
Matt and Nathan were non-identical twins, so they would often speak for each other.
"He is sorry honey." Nathan said giving me a sweet smile.
'What had happened to them while they were away?' I thought again.
"So what's your name love?" Matt asked with the same smile.
Heather glared at her brothers "You two are stupid." I laughed at her.
"Why?" they both asked confused.
Heather pulled me up from my seat "Let's go to my room."
We started to walk out, but I stopped before we finished and turned to Nathan and Matt who were still looking confused at each other.
"Nice too see you again by the way." I said.
"Again?" Nathan asked.
Heather was growing impatient so decide to show them something they would recognize.
She walked closer to me and placed her hand on the back of my neck.
She looked at me to ask if it was ok and I nodded.
"Are you lesbians?" Matt asked smirking.
As if realizing how it looked, Heather jumped and shouted, "No just look!"
They both stood up as Heather turned me and moved the back of my hair to reveal a nasty looking scar in the edge of my hair line caused by one of their many pranks with went wrong.
I heard a gasp and Heather dropped my hair.
"See now stupid?" she asked,
I felt a hand on my shoulder, which made me turn around.
I looked down at the floor, feeling old emotions resurface.
I felt a couple of fingers under my chin as it was pulled up to look at the two twins.
"Hope?" Nathan asked as he dropped his hand from my face.
They both had looks of sorrow and regret on their face, which surprised me, because never once did they apologize.
I nodded as tears started to fill my eyes.
What happened next I swear never in ten million years did I expect, but neither did Heather.
They both said, "We are really and truly sorry for all those things we did to you all those years." And then they both pulled me into a group hug, just as my tears started to fall.
I stood there frozen, not sure what was happening.
All Heather said was, "About time." and I heard her mother who I didn't realize was listening, agree.
I have no idea what has happened to these two, but I sure wanna find out.
CHAPTER THREE
Regrets
Nathan
We had just arrived home from college to see a mini cooper which I had ever seen before outside.
I gave Matt a look to ask if he knew and he shook his head.
We both stepped out of the car and walked into the house
"Hey mom. We're home!" I shouted.
"Who owns the cool car outside?" I asked walking into the kitchen.
But instead of answering we were both attacked with hugs by our own mom and sister.
"Someone's happy to see us." I muttered to Matt.
I roll my eyes.
Anyone would think we had been away for years, but we see each other most holidays.