Jonathan decided to stay with Nicole, Isabella and A.J. were asleep in her room, Emalia decided to stay with Kevin and have the whole house to themselves that night, and Mariah lay awake in hers and Cassandra's room. She played the conversation with her and her sister, Cassandra, over and over again in her head. Would she say the right thing? What would happen? Would a fight break out? Should she tell her tonight or tomorrow?
Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw car lights shine through her window.
"That must be Nick and Cassie now," she said to herself, and looked at the clock. It was eleven fifteen. She heard the front door close and two pairs of feet running up the stairs. She pulled the comforter over her head and hoped they wouldn't notice her. If they did, she would end up telling them tonight. She heard the door open so she slowed her breathing.
Cassandra reached for the light.
"No, don't turn the light on," Mariah heard Nick whisper. Mariah laid very still and listened to every word and move that they made.
"Why not?" she heard Cassandra ask.
"Just because." She heard them kiss, Cassandra giggle, and then a soft crash as they fell onto Cassandra's bed.
"Come on, come on," thought Mariah, "just go to sleep already." She heard them stand up then start talking again.
"Are you gonna keep that offer of yours?" she heard Cassandra whisper.
"What offer?" he whispered back.
"I'll give you a hint." She heard her walk over to her dresser and open a drawer. "Here's a shirt, but I don't think that I can put it on alone."
"Oh God," Mariah thought. Next she heard a zipper, and what sounded like a dress hitting the floor. Then she thought she heard a jacket hit the floor then another zipper, but she wasn't sure. She heard them jump back into her bed and one more kiss.
"I need you because I love you," he whispered.
"And I just love you," she whispered back.
"I don't think they remembered about me being here," Mariah thought to herself. "Well I guess that they will in the morning. I guess I should get some sleep. On second thought, if I sneak downstairs now and sleep on the couch, they won't notice me. Yeah, that's a good idea."
Ever so silently, Mariah slipped out of bed and quietly opened the door and snuck out and downstairs.
"You hear something?" Cassandra asked Nick.
"Nope," Nick replied and rolled over and looked at her. "I like that shirt."
"Um, okay. That was a little unexpected. Um, I, uh, I like your hair," she replied.
"Why, thank you." He kicked at the comforter until it fell onto the floor. "It's too hot in here," he said.
"Oh really?" she said. "What about the sheets?"
"They can be next?" he kind of asked, kissing her.
"I thought that it was too dangerous to make out in my house?"
"Oh, I suppose. We'll be on our honeymoon soon enough."
"God, I can't wait!" She kissed him once and rolled over. He put his arm around her and they both fell asleep.
Downstairs, Mariah lay awake on the couch.
"I just can't sleep. This is too much. Maybe I should just tell them now. No, then I'll have to face the rest of the night. Wait, it's five thirty! I have to start getting ready anyway! I'd better hurry!" Mariah got up off of the couch and ran upstairs. She ran into the room, not realising that she had slammed the door. Cassandra jumped at the noise.
"Mariah!" she exclaimed.
"Cassie, I'm sorry to have waken you up."
Cassandra looked over at the clock. "Mariah, it's five thirty! Why didn't you wake me up half an hour ago?"
"Oh, I didn't know that you wanted me to."
"Mariah, we have to leave in forty five minutes!"
All of the commotion soon woke Nick up.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he said groggily.
"Nick, it's five thirty. We have to take Mariah in forty five minutes!"
Nick jumped out of the bed. "Oh, I guess we should get dressed then," he said then fell back onto the bed. "Just give me five minutes," and he closed his eyes.
"Nick!" Cassandra said and hit him with a pillow.
"Wait you guys. I have something to tell you, and, I, uh, well it has to do with my past." Nick and Cassandra stopped wrestling, and sat up.
"What about it?" asked Nick.
"Yeah," started Cassandra, "that Andrew said that we shouldn't blame you and that it was an accident-" Mariah cut her off.
"Nick I know that you're stronger, so, will you hold her?"
"That I can do!" said Nick and Cassandra crawled off of the bed. She sat down on his lap and he put his arms around her stomach.
"Okay, now tell us," said Cassandra.
"Oh, I um-"
"Okay, what does it have to do with?" asked Nick.
"It has to do with Andrew," Mariah blurted out.
"Okay, what about Andrew?" said Nick. Mariah looked Cassandra and Nick right in the eyes.
"Mariah, you're scaring me," she said.
"Okay, okay. Andrew didn't commit suicide! He was murdered!"
"What?" said Cassandra. Mariah saw the look in Nick and Cassandra's eyes, and knew that she couldn't tell them the truth. It just wasn't right. If Isabella knew, which she does, that would be okay, but Cassandra, and Nick for that matter, were so much closer to him than anyone.
"That's right, I, uh, saw him being murdered."
"What? What? No! No, that's, that's not, possible!" shrieked Cassandra
"How is that possible?" Nick tried to ask calmly.
"It, it's true. He was murdered-"
"Oh God," breathed Cassandra. "But, but that note. The, the good bye n-note-"
"He wrote that before he was murdered. He didn't have time to kill himself. He had second thoughts about killing himself, and he probably would be alive right now-"
"You mean to tell me, that, that he c-could be still alive, r-right now?" Mariah nodded her head. Cassandra took a deep breath and stood up. Nick stood up behind her.
"Are you sure?" Nick asked. Mariah nodded again. "Oh my God." Nick looked at his hands and noticed that they were shaking. He began to tremble and he knees felt weak. Mariah really knew that she couldn't tell them the entire truth now. At least after she leaves the morning, if Isabella told them, it wouldn't matter because she would be gone.
Cassandra slowly turned around, and collapsed onto Nick. It threw him off balance and he fell onto the bed and she fell on top of him. Tears started to stream down Cassandra's face, she began shaking and pounding on the bed around Nick. He felt sick to his stomach, but couldn't let himself freak out like he wanted to.
"Cassandra," Nick said, feeling her body shake over his. "Cassandra," he said louder. She didn't say anything, she just kept mumbling to herself. "Cassandra!" he finally yelled. He pushed her off of him. He rolled over and sat over her, pinning her down. "Cassandra, listen to me!" he said pinning her arms down with his hands. "Cassandra, look at me!"
Cassandra stopped tossing her head and looked up. Her eyes met his. His gaze was so strong, she felt her eyes being burned.
"Nick, get off of me!" He slowly let her go and stood up, but he soon grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up to him. "Mariah, when? How-"
"When you got that note from him, he wasn't dead yet, but I think he was the next day."
"Mariah, I think you should get ready," said Nick pulling Cassandra to him and hugging her tighter, and tighter.
"But-" started Mariah, but Nick gave her a look and shook his head. Mariah bit her lip and walked out of the room. She closed the door and leaned against it. She banged her head back on the door, then walked into the bathroom to grab her stuff.
Cassandra got out of Nick's strong grasp, and started pacing around her room. Nick sat down on the end of the bed and watched her pace, pulling at his hair.
"I don't get this. It, it's just, I, I don't understand any of this! How could he have been murdered? Who would have murdered him? No wait, I don't want to know."
"Cassie-"
"Nick, he was murdered! I don't think I've ever heard of anything like this-"
"I know, I know! Listen, Andrew made me promise, to always be strong for you because he knew that you needed someone strong during times like these."
As Cassandra walked past him, he grabbed her around the stomach and pulled her down onto his lap. He looked her deep into the eyes. "I intend on keeping my promise, forever." He saw her lips begin to quiver again. "It's okay, go ahead," he said pointing to his shoulder.
She drew her arms up around his neck and began to cry again, on his shoulder. He rocked her back and forth. He felt like crying himself. Andrew was his best friend also and to find out that he was murdered? He couldn't even imagine if that had happened to Brian. Brian was a part of him, and practically his brother and other half. That was how Andrew was to Cassandra, like Brian was to him.
He wanted to stand up and run. He wanted to punch walls and kill whoever did this to Andrew, whoever would cause so much pain in everyone, but he couldn't. For his sanity and Cassandra's, he just couldn't. At least not now, but maybe later.
"I didn't know," Mariah said to herself. "If I had known who it was, oh, it was dark-" She didn't want to think about it anymore. If she could just get to the airport, and get on her plane, Cassandra would never have to know, unless Isabella told her. She had to make sure that Isabella wouldn't tell her. She saw how upset both her and Nick had gotten over just knowing that Andrew was murdered, but knowing that her own sister had done it, could probably drive her over the edge.
"I'll be right back," Nick said to Cassandra.
"W-where are you going," she asked.
"I'm just gonna go ask Isabella and A.J. if they can take Mariah instead of us." Nick lifted Cassandra off of him, and started towards the door.
"Nick! Don't leave me."
He held out his hand to her. "Come with me then." They both walked down the hallway and into Isabella's room. Nicole, Isabella and A.J. were asleep so they were very careful not to wake up Nicole. Nick shook Isabella and A.J.
"Hey guys. Wake up," he whispered.
"What Nick?" Isabella said looking up. "Cassie! Oh, Mariah told you."
"How did you-"
"She told me first."
"Oh," said Cassandra.
"Hey," said Nick, "do you guys think that you could take Mariah this morning? We're really not up to driving."
"Yeah, of course. When does she need to be taken?"
"Well it's about quarter after six, so, actually, now!" said Nick.
"Okay, we'll go. We're practically dressed anyway," said A.J.
"Thanks guys," said Nick, and he lead Cassandra back into her room as A.J. and Isabella got up and walked downstairs.
"Hey Nick, can we go to your room?" Cassandra asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"I just love your bed better. It's more comfortable then mine. And besides, we've been in here a lot lately." He smiled and they walked downstairs, and out the front door. They went outside just in time to see A.J., Isabella, and Mariah getting into Kevin's car.
"Wait!" yelled Cassandra, running up to the car. Mariah stepped out and faced her sister. "Thank you for telling me. I needed to know that. We needed to know that," she said referring to her and Nick.
"Well you never let me-" Mariah stopped.
"What? I never let you what?"
"Uh, say good bye."
"Well, good bye, Mariah," Cassandra said giving her sister a hug. "Hope to see you soon."
"No, you won't," Mariah said to herself. Cassandra let her go and watched as she got in the car and Isabella drove off.
Cassandra let out a deep breath and followed Nick as he walked silently into his house, and up to his room. He silently closed the door and she fell back on the bed.
"I really love this bed," she said. "It's so much better than mine." She crawled under the covers and held them close to her. Nick took his shirt off and ran and jumped on the bed beside her. "Nick thank you." She rolled over and looked at him, still huddled up in the covers.
"For what?" he asked, getting under the covers, too.
"For always being there for me."
"I said that I always would. I told you before, you can always count on me, no matter where I may be." She let out a sigh and closed her eyes. Slightly smiling, she drifted off to sleep. "Finally, she sleeps. It'll be good for her to actually get some sleep." He watched her for a while, and soon yawned. He put his arm around her, closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, too.
"So I take it that you told them?" Isabella said in the car.
"I didn't get a chance to tell her who did it. Just that it happened."
"You know, I think that was a smart decision. She doesn't need to know, at least not now."
"Who? What happened?" A.J. asked.
"Should we tell him?" Mariah asked Isabella.
"I don't care."
"Well, um, I-" started Mariah.
"She didn't tell Cassandra what, um, Bobby had done to try to break her and Nick up. Just that he had tried," Isabella said and bit her lip hoping that A.J. would buy it.
"Oh, okay, whatever," A.J. said. Isabella looked at Mariah in the rear view mirror, and they smiled at each other.
"Thank you," Mariah mouthed. Isabella only nodded her head.
When Nicole woke up, she saw that Isabella and A.J. weren't in the room asleep.
"Hmm," she thought. She walked down the hallway to Emalia's room. "Not there. She must be with Kevin." She then opened Cassandra's door. "Wait a second. I knew that Mariah was leaving today, but Nick and Cassandra aren't here. They're always in a bed somewhere!" Nicole laughed at that and walked downstairs shaking her head.
When she walked downstairs, she saw an envelope under the door. She picked it up and saw that it was addressed to her. "I wonder what this is?" Nicole asked herself. She opened the letter, saw that it was a poem and read it outloud. There was no other writing except for the poem.
Nicole,
You can hardly wait to tell all your friends how his kisses taste sweet like wine
And how he always makes your heart skip a beat every time he walks by
And if you're feeling down he'll pick you up he'll hold you close
He's everything you've been dreaming of.
You probably spend hours on the phone talking about nothing at all
It doesn't matter what the conversation is just as long as he calls
You're lost in your love so real and so sincere
And you wipe away each other's tears your face lights up whenever he appears
I see you all the time, the way you look at him
I wish it was me sweetheart
I wish you'd look at me that way, you're beautiful eyes looking deep within mine
Telling me more than any words could say,
But you don't even know I'm alive.
To you all I am is the invisible man.
Love, Burke
"That's so sweet!" Nicole said out loud. She quickly slapped herself across the face, remembering Jonathan. "That Burke has some nerve sending me something like this! Well, is he gonna get hell from me!" Nicole stomped upstairs remembering that no one else was home, she walked into her room and slammed the door. She jumped back on her bed, and read the note over again. "I'll wait until Cassie gets back, then I'll ask her what I should do. Well, she's probably with Nick, so if she isn't here in an hour, I'm going alone."