•Chapter 6•

*Often In Life, We Forget The Things We Should Remember And Remember The Things We Should Forget."

••••••••

"Mommy I wanna go on the big ride!!" I said jutting out my lower lip.

"Anything for the birthday girl." My mom said smiling widely at me.

I jumped up and down in joy. My mom grabbed my miniature hand and dragged me to the biggest, fastest, most fun rollercoaster in the most biggest amusement park Chicago has ever had.

We waited in line for what seems like forever until we finally made it to the front. I was getting ready to sit in the rollercoaster when this tall, unpleasant man with a beard which was leaning on the edge of unattractive grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me out roughly.

I screamed as my mom ran in to remove his grasp from me.

"Hey!! What gives you the right to touch my daughter like that!?" She yelled in his face while I hid behind her legs.

"She's too young to go on this ride." He said with rough edge to his voice.

"So?? You could have told her that instead of grabbing her like she's one of your filthy bitches." My mom sneered.

"I don't give a fuck. Next time read the sign."

"Next time I will rip you beard off and shove it up your pathetic, narcissistic ass."

She gave him one last glare before grabbing my small hand and leading me out of the place.

"But mommy...I wanted to go on that ride." I whined. She sighed and then kneeled down until she was eye level with me.

"I know my angel, I know but you're too young to go on that ride and I don't want that nasty man near you again." She said softly.

My shoulders deflated and my head dropped. All I ever wanted to do was go on the ride. My mom placed her fingers on my chin and gently lifted my face up to face her.

"That doesn't mean that we can't go and do anything else. I will not let this ruin your birthday Elena. How about we go to the zoo and then we can lots and lots of ice cream. And then after that we can go to the movies and go shopping and we can do anything else that you want baby." She said with a little hope in her eyes.

My little 6 year old self jumped up and down and leaped into my mommy's big arms as I wrapped my arms around her neck.

"Would you like that??" She asked with a little laugh.

"Yes definitely." I said with a huge smile.

She stood up and we walked towards the car where we made our way to the zoo and all the other activities that my mom had planned.

"Mommy??" I said.

"Yes angel??"

"Thank you for the best birthday ever."

She looked at me and smiled at me quickly before laying her eyes back on the road.

"Anything for my babygirl."

And it was the truth....it truly had been the best birthday I had ever had.

••••••••

I woke up with small tears in my eyes as I recalled the dream of my mother and I.

I haven't had dreams like this since they died. They only recurred to me for a year until one day I didn't have them anymore.

Being here...in this house brought it all back. The memories. The pain. The tears that refused to fall. All of it.

I hopped out of the covers of my childhood bed and hauled myself into the shower. I turned the faucet to let the hot steam infill the room while I stripped myself bare.

Stepping into the shower I felt my tense body start to relax a bit due to the force of the hot water cascading on my body.

My mind began to wonder off again to my late family. All the smiles that we shared in this house made my heart ache.

Being here in this house makes me question whether it was such a great idea coming back to this town...to this place. What's the use of me being here if the only people that I've grown up with aren't alive anymore and when my other family hates me.

Well Rylen is the one that hates me. And Ricci I think because he didn't show any form of emotion when he saw me standing in his house. All I had gotten was widened eyes and the sound of a door slamming shut.

"It hurts doesn't it?? It hurts to have someone walk out on you with no explanation whatsoever doesn't it??"

His painful words were also ringing in my head. The more I let them sink in the more painful it was. Maybe Rylen was right about me being wrong for leaving. I shouldn't have shut them out. I shouldn't have made decisions while I was in such a state. Maybe I wouldn't have been how I am now....unable to cope with the past. I can't even stay in this house without wanting to break down into tears.

But they would have done the same thing had they been in my shoes. Right??

I never wanted it to get to this point. I never wanted Rylen to hate me to the point where he can't even look at me. Rylen was my second runner up after Rylie in the best friend category. Rylen was my everything. We never hid anything from each other. We always had each other's backs. We could tell each other anything without holding back. Now...we are just a disaster waiting to happen.

I miss Rylen.

I miss how we used to be. I want him to forgive me. I want my best friend back.

While Ryder on the other hand had accepted me with open arms...I know that he's still hurting.

Ryder had always been the kind one. Always been the accepting one. Always been the forgiving one. You could put salt in his cereal and sugar in his meat but he would always brush it off and say that everything is okay.

I always worried about him.

About always having this happy persona up. He's going to crack one day and it's going to be ugly.

The cold water from the shower head had brought me out of my thoughts. I stepped out and wrapped a towel around my naked body.

I went back into my room, put on some lotion and got dressed into my high waisted blue jeans and a tight black tank top. I towel dried my dripping dirty blonde hair and tied it up into a messy bun then went out my bedroom to go make breakfast.

I hopped down the stairs and made my way into the kitchen and opened the cupboards and the fridge only for it all to be empty.

I frowned when my stomach started to growl. I walked into the living room in search of my handbag and car keys. I found them on the table so I grabbed them and as I turned to face the couch I let out a scream as I saw someone sleeping on the couch.

The person's body fell on the floor and in a quick motion he was up ready to fight off someone.

"What!? What!? What happened!? Who's there!?" He yelled

I let out a breath as I recognized that it was the mystery guy that I had picked up from the alleyway last night.

"Oh my god." I let out "I'm sorry. I had forgotten that you were still here. I thought you had left already."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He said while scratching the back of his neck before he let out a groan of pain from when he had fallen.

"Oh no. That's okay. It's my mistake. I didn't mean to wake you." I replied.

"Actually I'm quite glad that you woke me up. I should actually get going."

"Are you sure?? I was actually on my way out to get a bite to eat since there's pretty much nothing but cobwebs in this house. Would you like to join me??"

"Um..."

I rolled my eyes. "Look dude...I'm not trying to rape you or anything. I'm just offering you a bite to eat considering that you had a pretty shit night yesterday."

"Why are you being so generous??" He asked. "You should've just left me out in the alleyway to die."

I reared back at the words he had just spoken.

"I wasn't raised in that manner. Now your window of opportunity is closing. You either take it or leave it."

After what seems like forever he nodded his head and began to walk to the door. Before he had turned the door knob he hesitated then turned around to face me.

"Do you mind if I take a shower first?? I uh...kinda smell like shit."

Nodding my head I guided him up the stairs into the guest bathroom.

"I'll bring you a set of clothes that you can wear for now since I highly doubt you want to walk around in those clothes."

He nodded his head and I began to walk away but has stopped halfway when he called out my name.

"Um..."

I quickly cut him off. "Everything that you need is in there. Unfortunately I don't have any male products so you'll have to use my stuff which I'll bring to you in a second."

He nodded his head and I was about to turn around before he called my name again. I turned around to face him.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

••••••••

"So um...thank you again. For this." Kevin said gesturing to the food. Right now we were currently sitting in a diner up town that I used to go with my family.

Fuck I need to get myself together.

"For the millionth time it's not a problem at all."

He smiled at me and I could've sworn that I had seen a dimple on his right cheek.

"So if you don't mind me asking, are you from here??"

"Born and raised." I replied picking at my burger and fries.

"How come I haven't seen you around??"

"I moved...and then I came back."

"Do you live alone??"

"Unfortunately."

"What about your family??"

I eyes him suspiciously. "Do you always ask this many questions??"

He looked down at his food. "I didn't mean to offend you or overstep any lines."

"It's fine." I sighed out.

There was moment of silence which gave me an opportunity to be able to check him out. In my brothers black v-necked short sleeved shirt you could see a few of his tattoos on his arm. The shirt looked extremely tight on him like it was about to rip into pieces. I remember bursting into a fit of giggles when he walked out of the bathroom looking like the shirt was cutting off the air circulation through his body. He had assured me many times that it was alright and that he didn't mind it. Surprisingly the grey sweatpants were a perfect fit which looked quite sexy on him if I do say so myself.

"Anyway...what about you?? Have you always lived here?? What about your family??" I asked cautiously.

"Um I actually moved here from L.A 3 years ago....and as for my family it's just my mom, dad and I."

"What about any siblings??"

"I had a sister."

"Had??" I asked.

"She's dead."

"Oh."

"I hadn't intended on making this awkward." He said. He looked me in the eye for any sign of discomfort.

"Uh that's okay." I replied for forcefully than I had intended. "So how did you end up in the alley like that??"

"I was walking home from the gym and there was this filthy looking man and his posey that jumped me and took all my things."

"I hope that they didn't take anything expensive."

"Well nothing but my---" His eyes widened and he searched his pockets frantically for whatever he was looking for. "Shit my phone." He muttered.

"I'm sure you can replace it." I said without thinking.

"No!! I can't!! I have to call my mother!! I have to make sure that she's okay!!" He lashed out. Everybody's eyes were on us now.

"Jesus okay you can just use my phone to call her." I pulled it out and he grabbed it out of my hand and immediately started dialing his mom's number.

"Mom!! It's me!!" He sounded very panicky on the phone. "Are you okay?? Please tell me that he didn't touch you..."

A small voice spoke frantically and Kevin's body started to relax. "I'm sorry that I didn't call you mom. I had an accident yesterday and I lost my phone. I'll get home as soon as I can. I love you and I'm glad that you are okay. I'll talk to you as soon as I get home."

The voice spoke again before he hung up and handed the phone back to me. "I'm so sorry for the way I was acting. It's just that---"

"You don't have to explain anything to me. It's---"

The chime of the front door and the sound of laughter cut me midway through my sentence. Walking in was Rylie, Ryder, Rylen and Ricci.

Rylen was the first one to spot me sitting with Kevin and his laughter immediately died down and his eyes narrowed down to where Kevin was sitting.

"What the fuck!?"

The other three siblings eyes wandered off to where Rylen was looking. I looked over and Kevin and saw that he was oblivious to the whole situation that was happening.

Rylen walked over to our table and his eyes shifted between Kevin as I.

"Kevin??"

He finally looked up. Idiot.

"What's up dude??"

"What the fuck are you doing with her??" He said it in pure disgust and my heart churned in pain.

"And you Elena...what are you doing with him!?" He yelled.

"Oh so now I have to run by you who I can and can't hang out with??" I spat in his face.

"Of course not I couldn't give a shit who it is that you hang out with."

"Then why are you here making a huge fucking scene??" I asked.

"Wait you two know each other??" Kevin asked confused.

"Wow how this is so funny. Not even been here for 3 days and you're already fucking my best friend."

"What!? How dare you!?" I shrieked.

"I'm still lost." Kevin admitted.

"Well it has to be true or else you wouldn't be here looking all fucking desperate busy eating with my friend. You really are a whore." He sneered.

I got up and slapped him so hard on his cheek that his face turned to the other side. I grabbed my drink and dumped it right on top of his head.

"Let this be the first and the last fucking time that you call me a whore. I never had sex with your best friend. Let him explain to you what happened because I'm not gonna waste my time explaining to somebody that obviously has nothing to do with me. You obviously hate me. You obviously just want to hurt me purposely but I will not allow you to bully me anymore Rylen. So fuck you and your stereotypical prejudice you prick."

I grabbed my bag and pulled out some money to pay for the food. I walked out the diner, unlocked my car, got in and drove off to the one place where I knew that I would be alone to think.

••••••••