Cara's POV

"Darn him and darn his silly pretty eyes! Son of a bucket!" I exclaimed annoyed as I put on my seatbelt. "Who does he think he is?" Just when I was about to start the engine, I realized I left my door open. I rolled my eyes angrily and closed the door hard. It closed, but it bounced back and opened again. "Oh my god." I sighed exasperated. "I need to fix this door."

After a little fight with it, I drove towards my house. I was incredibly tired and my mind wouldn't stop going back to the conversation I just had with Nico.

Why did he have to say all those things? Why stick up his nose into my life? It's none of his business.

I bit my lips hard, tapping my fingers against the steering wheel as I drove. There wasn't even a radio, so the music was just in my head.

Why not just shut up? Why did he have to screw things up?

When I finally arrived home, I found out that Brandon's car was missing. My heart stopped.

It was not too late, maybe they hadn't arrived home yet?

Oh, but it was Saturday. They didn't work on Saturdays.

Please god, if you're up there, don't let me be right.

I parked where Brandon's car was supposed to be and walked to the front door. The lights in the living room were on, the faint sound of TV in the background. I opened with my keys and walked inside. These past two weeks, I'd been leaving the kids for about an hour with Ben. Usually when I arrived, the twins threw themselves at me, since they said they got really bored because Ben was no fun.

Today, however, they were all laughing as they played a game on Ben's laptop. My older brother was sitting on the couch, the twins on each of his sides.

Justin was between Oli's legs, watching the screen but not paying much attention as he distractedly played with the zipper of his monkey patterned onesies. He had a hard time with his social skills and Ben didn't really play with him much since he said he couldn't understand him, so Justin was not very comfortable around him.

"This is a surprise." I exclaimed entering the living room. Justin quickly got up from Oli's lap and ran towards me, gesturing for me to pick him up. I did so, and he wrapped one of his arms around my shoulders, sucking on his thumb.

"A pleasant one, I suppose?"

I nodded, smiling down at Justin, who tried to suppress his smile as I pinched his belly. The twins didn't even glance at me. "Where's grandpa?"

"With Sandro, he's trying to put him to sleep."

"Who gave him his bottle?"

"I did." He glanced up at me, which earned groans from both Oscar and Oli. He had probably killed his player on the game.

"Oh."

"I'm not useless." He pointed out.

"That's debatable." I coughed. Ben gave me a pointed look. I smiled. "So, Sandro's here?"

"Why wouldn't he?" He asked as he resumed the game.

"Oh, nothing." I shrugged, relief coming over me. "So, have you guys had dinner?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My phone buzzed on my bedside table for the third time in five minutes. Tomorrow was Sunday, I didn't have to practice, but I still wanted to get up early. I could heard the twins' snickering on the other side of the room. Sighing, I extended my hand and grabbed my phone, squinting due to the brightness of the screen.

Cara

Can we talk?

I can't sleep

Nico knew how overwhelmed I got with texts so he always tried to be concise. I licked my lips and pressed his name, putting the phone against my ear.

"Cara." He whispered, the accent that I once thought was funny comforting me a little. He had that effect on me, even if it wasn't his intention, he managed to calm me down.

"Nico." I replied.

"You can't stay mad at me." He said stubbornly.

"Mhm, I think I can?" I rolled over and stared at the wall.

"Come on, I'm leaving to Paris in a few hours, I don't wanna leave like this."

Nico was right, I didn't want to be mad, I wanted him to tell me everything that happened while he was there, even the silliest things, I wanted to be able to talk to him. He had become a really important person in my life, someone I could always go to, someone I missed when he was not there. And I'd never had anyone play that role apart from my family. But some of the things he said really hurt me, and I needed to know that he felt sorry for them.

"Okay, then apologize."

"I'm not going to apologize." He scoffed, his voice a little high pitched.

"You're kidding, right?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"I'm not sorry for what I said." He added, tone serious.

"Then why are you even trying?" I asked irritated.

"Look, I'd say all those things a million times more if it took you to believe them. Your family doesn't treat you the way you deserve, Cara. I'm just trying for you to see it." He talked fast, as if he was exasperated.

"And I'm trying to tell you you know nothing about my family, Nico."

"I just think that someone needs to tell you, you need to hear the truth, you can't keep on living like this-"

I groaned and ran a hand along my face. He was insufferable. "Hear my truth, Nico. You're an asshole."

Maybe I had said that a little too loud, the twins gasping to confirm it.

I hung up and put the phone back on my table.

"You didn't hear a thing." I whisper-shouted so they could hear me. "You hear me?"

"Yes." They both said at the same time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Breakfast the next day was a little awkward, both of them couldn't keep glancing at me.

"I'll buy you candy if you stop staring at me."

"Deal." The twins agreed.

The park was crowded as it usually was on Sunday mornings. Mom was sleeping, Ben had gone who knows where and Brandon went help Ash assemble some furniture for Ash's new house. The baby was about to pop out and they wanted to have everything ready before he did. Yes, it was another boy.

Brandon took Sandro with him, he wasn't as mad as I expected him to be this morning, but he still said he didn't trust me.

So here I was, at the park with the twins and Justin. What twenty one year old soon-to-be twenty-two didn't want to spend a beautiful Sunday morning keeping an eye on three kids in the park?

I'm so lucky.

Oli and Oscar were pushing each other in the swings and Justin was climbing up a wall with little colorful rocks sticking out. He was like a monkey. I sat on a bench, my hands inside my pockets letting the early sun heat up my skin. It was really cold and I didn't get on well with it. I glanced at the boys here and there, Justin waving at me to show me how high he had climbed or how fast he went down the sliding pole. I smiled and him and gave him a thumbs up, the little smile on his lips warming up my heart. He payed no attention to the kids that wanted to talk to him but it was alright, he sometimes played with Oli and Oscar and for the time being, that was enough for me.

"Hey, can I sit here?"

Turning around to the deep voice, I scooted over and let the guy sit. He was tall, maybe a head taller than me. His skin was tanned and he had really short black hair. He had a cigarette in his hands and he smoked as he watched the playground.

The instant smell of cigarettes brought me back to Nico. Nico and his silly and soft curly hair.

"Is that your son?" He asked, pointing at Justin who looked at me a little concerned at the sight of the man. He was protective like that, it ran in my family. I shook my head without even looking at the guy. Why couldn't he mind his own business?

I didn't like guys, in fact, I hated guys. They scared me. I knew what they're capable of and they made me really anxious. What did he want? Why talking to me?

My legs wouldn't stop bouncing as my heart hammered hard against my chest.

"Oh. Nephew?" I shook my head again. "Brother then?" I nodded. "That's my daughter." He pointed to a beautiful brunette girl who was around Justin's age. I nodded again. I'd say it surprised me, since he was around my age, but most girls around here got pregnant really young.

Dude, leave me alone.

"I'm not with her mom." He added. "I've never seen you around, do you come here often?"

"Yes." I gritted my teeth, my foot anxiously tapping the ground.

"Oh. That's weird. I would've remembered a face as pretty as yours."

Unconsciously, I stood up quickly and walked closer to the playground.

"Are you leaving?"

"No." I shook my head. He scared me, and I knew how guys acted around here when they were challenged, so I gave him a little polite smile. "I'm just going to get closer to my brother, he's a little clumsy." He was the furthest thing from clumsy.

The guy nodded, spreading his arms on the back of the bench and checked me out with a smirk, showing dominance with his opened legs.

Quickly grabbing my phone, I didn't hesitate when I called who I knew would distract me, even if I had to swallow back my pride.

"I thought you were mad at me." Nico said with a raspy and deep voice when he picked it up.

"And I still am, I just need you to talk to me."

"I thought I was an asshole."

I pursed my lips, rolling my eyes. "And you still are, just distract me."

"Why?" When I didn't respond, since I didn't want the guy to hear me, he started talking. "Well, I landed in Paris a few hours ago, it's five pm here. It was all a little chaotic since I'm in a wheelchair now and the guy my mother sent to help me couldn't get inside the airport so I had to make all my way down to the parking lot all by myself, with my suitcases and all. I hope they let me start walking with crutches this week, I can't stand this anymore." He let out a breath and I heard him lick his lips. "What else can I tell you?" He asked softly to himself. "Oh, yeah. I haven't seen my mom yet and my dad's supposed to pick me up to have dinner but I think he forgot. I.... I honestly don't know what else to tell you. I never talk this much." He chuckled humorlessly.

"I- I went to Paris once." I said, glancing back at the guy who gazed back at me, probably sensing my nervousness as his smirk grew wider.

"Oh, yeah? Did you like it?" Nico asked, somewhat a little excited.

I shrugged. "I went for a competition so I couldn't see much, but the hotel was nice."

"Yeah." Nico agreed. "They usually are."

"Are you seeing your friends?" I asked out of curiosity, I couldn't help it but my irritation towards Nico was fading down. I didn't want for it to go, since I still couldn't believe he wouldn't apologize for what he said about my family but it was somehow inevitable for me.

"Yeah, maybe tomorrow. They'll have to come here, though. I'm not going anywhere with this stupid chair. Maybe I'll ask Mélanie to come. She lives nearby."

"Who's Mélanie?" I didn't want for it to sound so harsh, but the fact that he could probably meet another girl for some reason bothered me. I didn't understand why, maybe I was just jealous he was out there having fun without me while I was here stuck in this place.

"Oh, a girl I used to fuck before I left." He said, always so casually. A stinging pain settled on my chest, my stomach sinking down. I didn't like this feeling. My hand trembled a little as I waved at Justin.

"Are you going to do it again?" I asked, voice cracking at the end. What is wrong with me?

"Maybe, I don't know." Nico replied softly. "I'm still in recovery. If she doesn't mind to be on top..." he chuckled.

I stopped listening, the guy on the bench was approaching me. The little girl ran towards his dad, he picked her up quickly and turned to stare at me, nodding his head. His signature smirk still playing on his lips.

"Bye gorgeous, hope to see you around more."

I nodded. "Bye."

"Who was that?" The question came fast from the other side of the line.

"A guy."

"You're with a guy?"

"I was." I relaxed my shoulders. "I don't need you anymore, bye, Nico."

"Are you ser-"

I hung up and kept my phone inside my pocket, pushing my baby hairs out of my forehead.

"Why are you smiling?" Oli was next to me, his arms crossed as he stared at me with a smirk.

"I'm not smiling." I scoffed. "Want that candy now?"

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Hey guys! Change of POV???

I know I've updated quick, don't get used to it, I was just excited to write on Cara's POV haha

So, did you guys like the change?

Thoughts about the chapter?

What do you think will happen next?

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote and let me know what you think in the comments ❤️