"Jesus Christ, Amelia, will you please stop Looking at your phone every five minutes?" Margaret hissed next to me.

"Sorry, just checking the time."

"Really? Every five minutes?" She raised her brows and the irritation behind her eyes was something you wouldn't miss. "Let's just watch the movies. Okay?"

"Okay, okay," I said, putting my phone back down on my lap.

I tried to watch the movie. I really did. But I just couldn't concentrate on it. I had no idea half the time what was happening. My mind just wasn't there. I kept on subtly looking at my phone, trying to see if I had any messages or missed calls or something from him but nothing. Every time I looked, there was nothing. That slowly got me more and more irritated every passing second.

I mean, we kissed for crying out loud, such a heated kiss at that. It's only natural I would expect at least a message, right? Even if the message would be nothing but a simple 'hi' but nothing. Not a peep.

I had given up on the notion I would receive any message or call from him by the time we got back home from the movies that evening. I was agitated and had an unwelcome feeling of dread in my stomach. I felt like I had been, I don't know...used? I shouldn't have expected anything from him, but I couldn't help it. It was my first kiss, and I thought at least something would happen after.

"Hey girls, welcome back! Are you guys hungry?" Melissa asked from the kitchen. "We just finished eating, but there's plenty more left."

We walked into the kitchen and found Melisa busying herself with washing the dishes while dad stood next to her. "Yeah, we could eat, we didn't eat at the mall," Margaret answered.

"How was the movie?" He asked, "Did you enjoy it?"

Dad was trying to walk around the biggest elephant in the room and it was taking forever. We were all thinking about it, my little outburst earlier and now that we all found ourselves in the same situation just like when I first walked into the kitchen earlier, I couldn't help but feel ashamed.

"It was good," Margret said as she pulled up a chair.

"Dad." I took in a long breath, but before I could start on my apologies. Maybe it was my remorseful face or probably even my body language that gave me away, but dad spoke before I could say anything.

"It's okay, Kiddo. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"No, I had no right to act that way. This is your life and I'm sorry. Melissa, I'm sorry too."

"Oh, honey." Melisa washed her hands and walked to where I sat before she pulled my head against her side in a hug. "We should have told you, and we are sorry too."

"This is cool," said Margaret. "Addressing the elephant and all."

"Margaret." Dad rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

Thank God things seemed to have gone back to the normal I was used to.

"Alright, now that that is out of the way, I have something to tell you, girls." Dad reached up and removed his reading glasses. "We've been invited to my boss's house for a family brunch tomorrow. Will you guys be okay to go?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, it's okay. What time do we leave?"

"Around ten-thirty, or so. You girls better be ready by then."

"We will," Margaret answered.

"Yeah, we will," I clarified just as a small yawn escaped me. "I think I'm gonna retire for the night if that's okay? I'm a bit tired."

"Of course, but are you gonna eat first?" Melissa asked.

"No, I'm good really. I ate a lot this afternoon."

"Well, have a goodnight then."

"Goodnight, kiddo."

"I'm coming with you; I need to grab something from my room." Margaret stood up from her chair. "Mom, I'm gonna eat a bit later."

I knew she could feel the distress, or the feeling of letdown, or whatever the vibe my body language was giving, and I knew her being her, she wanted to help somehow. But the truth was, this was mine and I needed to deal with it on my own.

"Hey, are you feeling alright?" She finally asked what I knew she wanted to ask all along, once we were outside my room. "Is this about that Logan guy?"

"No, I mean..." I took and deep breath and let a small reassuring smile. "I'm okay. I'm just exhausted, I didn't sleep very well last night." I took her hands on mine and gave a small squeeze. "I'll see you tomorrow, yeah? We will have fun, I promise."

She adorned me with a small smile and a node. "Okay, bye. Goodnight, Amelia."

"Goodnight, Margaret. "

*****

You know how crazy it is when girls feel rebellious after things didn't work their way especially concerning a boy? That's how I woke up the next morning. Bright and early with only one main goal. I wasn't going to waste another minute of my time thinking about Logan or the kiss. In fact, I didn't want anything to do with him at all. If I could forget the kiss ever happen, the better.

He was dead and done for.

The brunch was going to be a good distraction and the fact I promised Margaret a good time, I was quite looking forward to the day. Needless to say, when I walked down to the kitchen, I was a new, refreshed, and happy Amelia.

"Good morning kiddo, you ready for today?"

"Morning, dad. Hi, Melissa. Yeah, I'm ready. Where is Margaret?"

"She was just here, I think she went back to her room to get something," Melissa said. "We will be leaving soon; you want some coffee?"

"Yes, please."

"So, how is school? We didn't have a chance to sit down and chat properly yesterday," she said as she handed me a cup of coffee.

"School is great." I took a sip. "I recently made some new friends."

"What about the other redhead girl? Still friends with her?" Dad asked this time.

"Suzy? Yeah, she's still my friend. Best friend actually, and she was the one who introduced me to these new friends."

"Oh, you're here. I was just about to go knock on your door," said Margaret as she entered the kitchen. "How did you sleep?"

"I woke up quite early, actually," I said as Margaret pulled up a chair next to mine. "And I slept much better. So, do you know this place we are going for brunch?"

"No, I haven't been there before. But dad said it's a huge house."

"Yeah? Sounds interesting."

"Okay, girls, we need to start moving. Its time." Melissa said, looking at her wristwatch. We finished our coffees, and together, we walked out of the house and into dad's car.

*****

My jaw hung when the house came into view. The 'house' was an understatement. It was more of a mansion. The walls were all in small squire bricks aligned in a way that was attractive to watch while the reddish hue to it added to the beauty. Huge glass windows covered different parts of the house, allowing natural light to bask the insides. Different colored flowers coated the land, and the welcoming smell they produced, made my lips curl in a smile.

When we finally entered inside, the foyer took my breath away. Grand, with marble floor and dark undertone colored wood covering most of the walls. Small areas, mostly in the corners, were a completely different story, covered in exquisite wallpapers that made pop of colors. Big chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, and the whole place had an antic looking design to it. On the corner, closer to a big window overlooking a breathtaking view, was a big -white piano that sat perfectly. This house was beautiful.

Dad and Melisa dragged us to say hello to a few people they knew among the many that hung around the area before they finally let us go explore on our own.

Our exploration took us to the back of the house where to our awe, found the biggest swimming pool I had ever seen in a private house. Around it, rows of chairs and tables neatly organized in a fashion that left enough room for everybody to enjoy the view but still be able to chat with each other.

"This must be where the brunch will take place," Margaret leaned in close to whisper.

I bobbed my head as I looked around. "Looks like it."

"Amelia, Margaret. There you are." Dad's voice behind us caused both Margaret and I to turn around to see him, Melisa, and an interesting looking man walking towards us. "I wanna introduce you guys to my boss."

Let me tell you, Dad's boss, was quite the man of the hour. First was his hair. He didn't appear to be too old, maybe around fifty years old or so, but there was not a single dark strand on his perfectly cut hair. He almost had the whole George Clooney look going on. His strides had screamed power, but the easy-going smile on his face made him look welcoming. Don't even get me started on the expensive Tuxedo he wore, but I will tell you this, it made him fit perfectly to the house he owned.

"Girls, this is Mr. Larry Walton. My boss," dad introduced. A cheerful smile on his lips.

"Hello," both Margaret and I said.

The man, Mr. Larry, stuck his hand out for a handshake. "Wow, I didn't know you had such big daughters, Alfred," he said. "Welcome to my home, girls. I hope you will enjoy the brunch."

"Thank you very much for having us," I said as I shook his hand.

"You have a beautiful home," Margaret added.

"Why, thank you." He smiled. "You are welcome to look around. Now, if you'll excuse us, your parents and I have somethings to discuss. Don't stray too far, brunch will soon start."

"He seemed nice," Margaret remarked once they were far enough.

"He did, right? You wouldn't expect that for a man as rich as he is."

"No, you wouldn't," she agreed. "I'm gonna go look for a bathroom. I'll find you later, okay?" She asked, and before I could answer, she was already taking steps away.

"Yeah, okay. See you," I mumbled.

Once she was gone, I walked to a table full of drinks and got myself a can of Soda. Two minutes later, I was still trying to get the darn thing open and I could already feel the frustration creeping up on me when a smooth voice of a guy started me.

"Need any help with that?"

That voice, somewhere at the back of my mind I knew that voice and when I looked up, I almost dropped the can of Soda from my hands. It was him, the good looking, gray-eyed boy from noble ancestry heritage.

"You!" I said, rather stupidly.

The guy only smiled his million-dollar smile at me. "Nice to see you again."

"What are you doing here?" I asked another rather stupid question.

"Well, I saw you struggling with that, and I thought you could use some help. Plus, you looked familiar, and oh, look, I met you before."

"Right, that you have. Here." I handed him the Can of Soda and while he busied himself with opening it, I shamelessly run my eyes across his body. He had dressed for the occasion alright. A white button-up shirt with a few of those buttons unbuttoned to show off a small part of his smooth chest. The black slacks he wore fitted perfectly and the contrast between the black and white of his clothing highlighted his already highlighted looks.

"Here you go," he said, handing me the Can. For some reason when our eyes met, I flushed. "My name's Ethan, by the way."

As I took back the Can from his hand, his eyes lingered a bit longer on mine, and I found myself reddening even more. To hide that fact from him, I looked down on my legs and with my free hand, I absently reached on my head and tucked my hair behind my ear.

"Amelia."

"I always kind of imagined you would have a nice name like that since I didn't get to ask you the first time we met," he said and extended his hand for me to shake. "Nice to officially meet you, Amelia, who are you here with? If you don't mind me asking."

"Just, my dad, my sister, and my stepmom." I looked around. "My sister was just here with me, actually."

"Cool." He raced his fingers through his hair. "So, seemingly this is the second time we meet, and I kinda just saved you again, would you be free to have coffee with me sometime? Not a date or anything. I would just like to get to know you more. You seem cool."

My eyes widen, no one has ever asked me out for a coffee before.

"A coffee?"

"Yeah." He chuckled. "Coffee."

"Well..." I started, but before I could start my rant on the answer I wasn't sure about yet, Mr. Larry Walton approached us.

"Ah, Amelia, I see you have met my son."

Naturally, my eyes widened as I twisted my head around to stare at Ethan. Now that they both stood there, I could see the remembrance with their eyes. Although his dad's eyes were a lot greyer than Ethan's, they still looked almost the same.

"Oh, I didn't know he was your son actually," I said. "We just met."

Ethan scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, um. We just did."

"Well, sorry to interrupt you guys, but, Ethan could you and Amelia help me get people to start sitting down? we are going to start brunch soon."

"Of course," I said and nudged Ethan to start moving.

It wasn't hard to get people to move to the brunch area. All I had to do was approach, smile, and speak my rehearsed line from my mind. "Excuse me, the brunch is about to start, so if you go through that do," pointing my finger towards the door, "You'll find the arranged chairs and tables. Thank you." I even began to like doing it.

Sometime during my telling people to go sit, Margaret had joined me, which made the job a lot quicker. After we were done, we looked around for the remaining chairs that we could take.

I was about to pull out a chair when in a flash, Ethan was behind it. Pulling it out for me to take. "My lady," he said. Looking at me straight into my eyes.

I staggered; this was new, even a little flattering. Heat climbed to my cheeks as I turned away to look at Margaret, who looked back at me with her own wide eyes before she mouthed, "Wow."

I shrugged and give a little 'Thank you' to Ethan, who still stood there holding out the chair. He made sure I was appropriately settled before he took his own chair next to mine.

Ethan was actually pretty fun to talk to.

A lot was going on in his life. Even though the boy was pretty young and a first-year college student, he was apparently already some National champion horse rider.

I didn't know that was a thing.

Aside from that, he was the sole heir of his father's whole business once he was going to be done with college. I laughed at most of his jokes seriously, the boy was handsome, funny, and had a wonderful life out of school. I liked that about him. Somewhere between the time we met, to sitting for brunch, we'd become good friends, exchanged our contact information, and agreed to meet for coffee sometime soon.

He'd escorted us all the way to our car when brunch was concluded and planted a feather-light kiss at the back of my palm as a way to say goodbye. Needless to say, I was surprised by most of his actions. He acted way above his age.

*****

"So, Ethan seemed like a good kid, don't you think so Amelia?" looking back at me through the rear-view mirror, dad asked.

"Uh, yeah he is, he was welcoming."

"Don't forget a gentleman," said Margaret. "The guy pulled out a chair for her."

"He did? Wow, I didn't see that. Are you guys planning to see each other more?" He asked again, peeping at me through the same mirror.

"Maybe. We have plans to have coffee sometimes, but you never know, plans can change," I said, acting disinterest. I knew what he was fishing for.

"Really? That's wonderful." He threw me another glance. "What do you think of him?"

"Dad, where are you going with this conversation?" I raising my brows at him.

"Yeah, where are you going with this conversation, am I missing something here?" Melissa turned her attention to him.

"Nowhere," he said just before he threw me one last glance. "I'm going nowhere with this. I'm just asking. Curious, I guess."

"Right." I rolled my eyes and shook my head.