Chapter 4: Shawn is back

Aaron's pov:

Now that I know what Alyssa goes home to everyday I feel sorry for her. All this time I've spent with her and I only find out now what her parents put her through. I honestly can't imagine having abusive parents.

Well I can't imagine it cause I'm adopted. My adoptive parents give me so much love that sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve it. I don't really know about my biological parents but I know I wouldn't want to find them. They abandoned me so I'm not going to look for them.

"I have to go back home." Alyssa walks in to the kitchen and looks at Theo. "No you are not going back to that house and I will not allow you." He says sternly. "Why do you have to go back home?" I ask her. It has to be something really important if she's willing to go back now.

"Shawn is visiting and he just phoned me saying he's on his way." She says calmly, which honestly kinda scares me. "Does your brother know about what your parents do to you?" I ask her curiously. Well can you blame me I just found out my best friend is being abused by her parents.

"No. And he will never know." She says while looking down at the floor.

"Well let's grace my brother-in-law with my sexy presence." I say smirking at Alyssa. She looks at me with wide eyes. "What the hell are you talking about?" She asks glaring at me.

"I mean I'm his sexy brother-in-law. I know you find me irresistible Alyssa no use denying it now." I say with a huge grin on my face. "You and irresistible don't belong in the same sentence." She scoffs.

I put my hand to my chest. "That hurt babe." I tell her acting hurt. "I am not your babe and I will never be your babe." Alyssa is now full on smirking. I just stare at her with my mouth open.

"You might want to close your mouth before you start catching flies." Theo says while closing my mouth. "Am I really that bad?" I look at both of them sulking. "No, you're just a lot to handle. And honestly we don't have that kind of energy to handle you." Alyssa says while walking upstairs.

She comes back downstairs with her school bag and an extra bag. "You ready to go?" She asks me while zipping up her school bag. "Yeah let me just get my dignity before we go." I say jokingly. "You lost that a long time ago." Alyssa shoots back walking out the door.

We get in the car and I drive her to her house. When I pull into the driveway she breathes a sigh of relief to see that her parents still aren't at home and neither is her brother. She jumps out and I'm about to follow her.

"Its fine you don't have to come inside besides my brother will be here any minute so it would be best if you left." She says giving me a small smile.

"I understand you don't want me to meet my future brother-in-law its fine." I say wiping a fake tear. She rolls her eyes at me and unlocks her front door. "Oh, and Alyssa." She turns around. "Yeah." She answers me. "Thanks for telling me your story. I hope now at least I can be there for you when Theo can't." I tell her honestly. She gives me a small smile before closing the door.

As I'm driving away I hear my stomach growling. "Oh well looks like I'm going back to Theo for food." I say to myself and turn the radio up. I am a terrible singer but my song is on so I can't help it. People are staring at me while I'm jamming out to Duality by Slipknot in my car.

So a little bit about myself. Might be late but better late than never right. Like I said before I'm adopted and I've never met my parents. That is why I have a carefree attitude. I try to brighten up everyone else's day because I can't stand to see someone sad. It just reminds me of the days I used to spend in an orphanage.

You're probably thinking my parents are dead but in actual fact,I honestly don't care. My adoptive parents are good to me and they treat me well. Why would I want to look for my real parents who abandoned me when I can just ignore the fact that they exist.

Before we moved to Michigan,we lived in Toronto. I had a girlfriend and everything was going great until she cheated on me with my then best friend. After I found out about them I distanced myself from everyone. Then we moved and I got a fresh start. That's the reason you will find me hitting on girls but I won't have a relationship with them other than friends and I'm too nice of a guy to use them.

My heart has been broken and maybe one day when I learn how to trust again I will think about forever. As of now I'm still healing.

I've reached Theo's house and park in the driveway. I walk up to the door and before I can knock on it, the door opens. "What do you want now?" Theo asks me. "Food." Is all I say before pushing my way through the gap between Theo and the door.

"All you did was drop Alyssa off at her house and you got hungry." Theo looks at me in disbelief. "Hey, I'm a growing boy and growing boys need food." I tell him with a smirk. "Sometimes I wonder why I had to be so nice and befriend you 3 years ago." Theo says while shaking his head.

"You befriended me so you could feed me, now what's there to eat?" I ask walking into the kitchen.

Alyssa's pov:

I enter my house and all the memories from last night and all those years ago come rushing through my mind. If only they were at home I tell myself as I stand in the spot where my sisters lifeless body lay all those years ago. I feel a hand on my shoulder but don't turn around because I know who it is.

"Its not your fault. It never was and it never will be. She would only want to see you happy and not sad like this." Shawn tells me as he engulfs me in a hug. "I could've still done something." I cry into his chest. He holds me close to him and I cling to his shirt,scared to let go in case he disappears as well.

I don't think I'll ever be that girl again,the one who used to run around the house laughing, the one whose world was carefree and full of smiles and laughter. Everything ended the day my sister got shot.

After I calm down Shawn and I walk into the kitchen. "Did you just get home or did you cook already?" Shawn asks me while taking the orange juice out of the fridge. "I hope you're not planning on drinking straight out of the bottle and I just got home." I inform him while giving him a glass.

"Good,then I'll cook tonight. Thanks for the glass." He starts taking out the pots. "Do you need help?" I ask him while trying to figure out what he is making. "Nope. I'm good besides you probably have homework." He says chopping an onion.

I go up to my room hoping that I didn't make a mistake by leaving my brother alone in the kitchen. I do my homework that Aaron thankfully got for me. When I'm done I head down stairs,as I get off the last step the door opens. "So you finally decided to get up? Did you even go to school today?" My parents say glaring at me.

"Yes, she did and don't worry about dinner I made it." Shawn says walking out of the kitchen with a washcloth on his shoulder.

"Shawn! What are you doing here?" My parents stare at him wide eyed. "Wow,I feel so loved. I never knew I wasn't allowed in the house after I got a job." He says sarcastically.

"No not at all my dear its just that we never knew you were coming." My mother quickly replaces her shocked look with a huge smile. Wish I got those more often.

"Obviously you never knew. I wanted to surprise you." Shawn gives her a smile. "Well we're glad you're here." My parents say while giving him a hug. I wonder what would happen if Shawn knew what they do to me. I get lost in my thoughts but am quickly pulled out when I hear my mother gasping.

"What? Why did you cook? Alyssa normally does that and she's supposed to cook for you not the other way around. She's getting so lazy, what will I do with her?" She says the last part mainly to herself but everyone hears her.

After a few minutes of awkward silence Shawn speaks up. "Alyssa could you please set the table?" Shawn asks me with a small smile. I go into the kitchen and take out the plates and glasses. Once the table is set everyone sits down and Shawn places the casserole in the middle of the table.

I look at it skeptically while my parents dish some in their plates. "What is that?" I say pointing at the bowl of food. "Its lasagna,and it's delicious." My brother states proudly. I dish some in my plate and taste it after deciding that if I do die it would be alright.

"Who taught you how to cook?" I ask him after swallowing the mouthful of food I took. "My roommate,she does most of the cooking in the flat. One night I decided to surprise her and cook something but we ended up ordering pizza instead." He says rubbing his neck nervously.

I burst out laughing. "You mean that you,a person who has never tried cooking before,thought it would be easy. I'm sorry Shawn but cooking takes a lot of practice." I inform my bigger brother and burst into a fit of laughter again.

"Laugh at me all you want but in the end I got cooking lessons from my very hot roommate." He said confidently. I scrunched my nose in disgust. "The food is delicious,thank you Shawn for cooking dinner." My mom says sucking up to her lovely son. Note the sarcasm.

I have to admit though the food was delicious. Make mental note to thank Shawn's roommate when I meet her. We eat in silence for a while until my parents seem to be very uncomfortable with the situation.

"So,Shawn how long are you staying for?" My dad asks him while finishing his lasagna. "I'll be staying for 2 weeks if that is fine with you." He asks them with a small smile. "Of course its fine with us, why wouldn't it be?" My mother says with a small laugh.

We finish eating and I wash the dishes while Shawn packs them away. "How is it that my sister is so pretty but doesn't have a boyfriend?" Shawn asks me with a smirk. "I'm far from pretty. I focus more on my studies which doesn't get me much friends." I tell him with a sad smile.

"Are you being bullied?" He asked me packing away the last plate. "There are people who don't like me but I've learnt to just ignore them." Besides who needs enemies when you've got parents that hate your guts.

"Alyssa you don't have to always be the strong one. You should talk to someone." Shawn places both his hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eyes. "There's no-one to talk to and I'm fine I don't let anyone harm me so relax." I tell him honestly. Well not completely honestly because I still let my parents harm me.

We walk out of the kitchen and go upstairs. I go into my room and get ready for bed. After a few minutes I hear a soft knock on my door and Shawn enters. "Goodnight princess." He comes to the bed and places a kiss on my forehead. I'd forgotten what those felt like.

He gives me a small smile and walks back towards the door. Just before he can close the door I call him. "Goodnight brother bear."

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