C h a p t e r   3 2

With my fingers on the stair rail, I lazily walked southwards on the staircase for dinner.

"...it can't be deferred any sooner." Aunt Crissa's voice was faintly heard and the smell of a savory roasted pork soon emanated from the kitchen.

I entered the kitchen to see Crissa already placing her phone down on the counter top to slice the pork into pieces and get the dish ready with the boiled potatoes, sauerkraut and gravy.

Yum.

"Hey, I hope you're okay with eating Senfbraten." She chimed.

"A what?"

"It's a traditional and popular pork roast served throughout Germany. I'm sure you'll love it together with this delicious mustard gravy."

"Wow, well why not have something new for dinner?" I smiled then offered to get the table ready.

I arranged the plates on the table, atop each place mats, neatly, with the spoon and fork. Afterwards, I stood silently, my stomach rested on the back board of the chair in front of me while I stared outside the window with the ribboned up curtain.

The streetlight illuminated towards the ground. There was nothing much to be mesmerized so I looked away and pulled the chair to sit down, just in time when Aunt Crissa came out from the kitchen with our meal.

"Here you go." She spoke, setting the dishes down on the table.

"Thanks-- uhm, by the way, I need to tell you something." I said.

"Oh, me too." She smiled, walking back inside the kitchen, then went out again with a pitcher and the gravy.

"Well, what is it?" I asked, now taking a slice from the pork and pouring a spoonful of mustard gravy on top.

"I believe you should be the first one?" She addressed with a smiled as she took a seat and grabbed her fork and knife.

I bet she already knew what I was about to tell her. I mean there was no point of hiding it, especially if she already had speculations to herself.

"I believe you already knew?" I spoke, imitating her voice.

"I know nothing. Now speak." She ordered, while I gave her a bland look.

"Okay. Chase..."

"I knew it!" She cuts me off with a piping voice, with her eyes beaming with brightness and surprise, along with her shoulders lifted up.

I remained mute for a second with a smile on my face. This is just so unbelievable...

"You're not mad?" I questioned, already forgetting the dish in front of me.

"Of course not! I knew you two are gonna be perfect together, ever since he came over, and that night he asked you to go out with him!" She spits out her words which suddenly made my whole face froze.

She knew? She knew that Chase was there the night he asked me to go out with him?

Aunt Crissa grins as she lets her eyes speak for her while I faked a grin and let out a nervous chuckle before answering.

"Well, that's good. Actually, I think he's becoming a nice person."

She gave me a confused look, "Was he bad?"

"Was a jerk. But he changed.. a lot." I admitted.

"Which only means he's serious about you." She smiled, as she took the spoon to her mouth.

My eyes gazed Aunt Crissa as I sucked her words to my brain with my hands down as they rested on my knees.

After I let out a breathe, I silently looked down on my plate. I hadn't even touched my food yet.

"You see Nikki..." She trailed off as I lifted my head up to face her. "A person won't and can't be changed by someone or something unless they do it on purpose, on their own reason." She quoted while scooping a potato from her plate.

"He was that person, because of something. But why do you think did he change to become a better one? There could be a couple or reasons why, and some we don't know. But, you're one of them, for sure."

I couldn't think straight so I stayed silent as I carefully hearkened.

"Think about the differences between the two of you... I knew you're not like him, and I bet he's not like you. He changed, simply because he likes to fit in to you." She spoke as she chowed down her meal with a loud gulp. "And don't get me wrong, but bad boys can't be tamed easily." Aunt Crissa chuckled,

She was right. I thought, as I viewed Chase in my head on our first encounter up to now. The football at the cafeteria, the wild rides... I just couldn't stop myself from smiling.

"So, how long have you two been dating?" She probed.

"Not long. I... I actually haven't answered him, yet."

"But would you?"

I nodded, "I might."

"Aww, Nikki! Wait, you haven't eaten anything yet!" Aunt Crissa whined, slicing through my deep thoughts.

"Oh, I... uhm... yeah well, what was that you were about to say?" I asked, lifting my arms as I grabbed the two cold metal utensils and began eating.

For a moment, Aunt Crissa looked uneasy as she shifted on her seat.

"I... already said it." She stammered while letting out a fake laugh.

I raised an eyebrow, as I chewed the okay chicken.

"Did you rehearse that?" I probed, after gulping down the meal.

"No, yes, no actually."

"Are you hiding something from me?" I curiously asked.

"I said, no."

"But you said yes too."

"But I said no, twice." She smiled, standing up on her feet as her seat dragged a little backwards.

"I'll just clean the kitchen." She addressed as she walked away with her plate.

My dark room lit up after I clicked the switch on. The cool wind then, gushes inside the room through the open window, and I shivered as it brushed on my skin and blew my hair. Ambling, I headed towards the window to close it, but stopped at the sight of the night sky. Grabbing the curtain, I twirled it, then slithered it on the iron bars to stop it from flapping.

Gazing up the sky, the moon smiled down at me. At least this part was better than what was down there.

From billions of stars up the dark background, one blinking star caught my eye. It was in a distant but shone brightly than others.

"I miss you all." I muttered, assuming those were my loved ones.

After the words left my lips, I felt the air kissed me and I sighed at the lovely day. Suddenly, my phone buzzed, quickly cutting my connection to the stars. I walked over to my desk where my phone was and picked it up.

"Hello?" I don't know who called, but the number looks familiar like I just forgot to save it on my contacts.

"Hey." Chase's deep voice spoke on the other line, making me flushed red like it was my first love. But the real reason why I acted that way was because of what my aunt told me at dinner.

There was a pause for a second so I plucked myself up and straightened to ask him.

"So, what made you call?"

"Is it bad to call you at night?" He spoke, and I could see him smirking even if he was nowhere in sight.

"I didn't say anything." I lightly chuckled and stopped with a smile as I flopped myself on the bed, staring at the moon peeking on the window.

"Can you stay up with me?"

His words brought butterflies in my stomach, I joyfully sighed before responding, "Sure."

"Is there something wrong?" I asked, right before a sound of a door shut was heard, making me jerked up my head, but dropped, realizing that it was Aunt Crissa who just entered her room.

"Nothing, I just... couldn't sleep."

I glanced at the wall clock before answering, "Well, it's just nine in the evening."

"Clock here says it's ten." He chuckled.

What? The time clicked and my mind travelled back earlier after school hours.

"I was cleaning your room earlier and noticed your clock wasn't timed correctly." Aunt Crissa said as she switched on a different channel on the television while I sat down on the other couch, to take my shoes off.

I wasn't fully aware, was she talking to me? I thought as I casted a glimpsed at her, but only to find out she was on her phone.

"Nikki!" Aunt Crissa called my name as I snapped my head to face her, again.

She lifted her index finger in the air and spoke with someone on her phone, "Rachel, had you received the e-mail I sent?"

I groaned and rolled my eyes before I carried my shoes with me to my room.

"Oh, must have been the battery fault." I answered, focusing my eyes on the ceiling with the lights attacking me.

Chase chuckled, "My dad wanted to meet you, and I said I'll invite you on Thanksgiving?"

Thanksgiving? That's in three days. I quickly scanned on my calendar, hanging on the wall, next to the door, highlighting the said date.

"Yeah, sure." I smiled.

The night goes on and I was now laying sideways while hugging my pillow, my clock tics quarter to eleven, and Chase yawned a goodnight since it was twelve on his clock.

"Goodnight to you, too." I smiled with my tired eyes, closing them for a moment, and hearing Chase breathe on the other line.

"Be ready at.."

"Six." I cut off.

"Seven." Chase corrected.

"My clock is one hour late, Chase. If you'd asked me to be ready at seven, I might be down by nine."

"Eight."

"Yeah, whatever." I giggled.

A few more breaths, he spoke, "Goodnight, Nikki."

"Goodnight, Chase." I whispered with a smile on my face and the line went dead.

A/N: Ahhhhhhhh!!! They're so cuteeeeeee!!!

Anddddd, I'm so sorry this chapter came up late as promised xD

Q: What do you think of Chase and Nikki?

Also, I wanna know this from your own judgments. XD Do you think Aunt Crissa was hiding something? If so, what was it??

Hmm... well, let me know what you think of this chapter!! I would love to hear from you!!

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