Reunited

Chapter 4

Aidan's POV:

Ellie slowly turned to look at me with wide eyes and her jaw hung open. I just gave her a smile in response.

This is awkward.

Not exactly how I planned on first meeting her. But I just couldn't help myself!

Would you wait if you found out after 17 YEARS that you have a long lost twin?

Yeah. I think not.

Ellie seemed to be at a loss of words too. Just for a different reason. She still hadn't closed her mouth and her eyes were still wide.

So I grabbed her chin and pushed it upwards to close her mouth.

"You don't want to catch a fly. They taste nasty." I said.

She snapped out of her trance and shook her head.

"You know what? We're all going to the kitchen so you both can talk." Mrs. Roberts said.

"Mom, the kitchen is-" Blake started to say by his mom immediately shut him up with a glare.

She gave us a smile and ushered everyone, including my dad, in the kitchen. She gave us one last smile before she went inside and slammed the door shut.

Ellie and I were shuffling from foot to foot, still standing in the same spot. Neither of us knew what to say.

Which is why I said, "Nice weather. Don't you think?"

Ellie looked at me for a minute before she smiled at my lame attempt to start a conversation.

"Is that really what you say to people when you first meet them?" She asked.

I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. "Not really no. I'm usually good at making conversations. But it's just different this time. You know?"

She nodded her head and looked down.

I sighed at the lack of communication between us. "Look, this isn't exactly how I wanted our first meeting to go."

"You think? I didn't even know about you until a couple minutes ago." She said.

"Yeah. Same for me too. Just that I've know for a couple hours."

"You found out about me today as well?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Our mom... She uh.... She left an envelope for the two of us. And I just happen to have," I said as I dug into my pocket to take out the picture I previously kept in it, "a picture of them and us."

I held the photo to her. She took it with shaking hands. When her eyes landed on our parents, tears started to form in her eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey. Ellie...what's wrong?" I asked as I took a step closer.

She sniffed once and shook her head. She put her hand on her mouth and looked at the picture one more time before handing it back to me.

"Nothing. It's just, I haven't seen them my whole life. This is the first time I have." She said with a small smile.

I smiled back at her and put the picture back in my pocket.

"She also left a cassette. I don't know what s inside it since I came to find you as soon as I found out about you."

"Really?" She looked at me with wide eyes and... Thankfulness? Like she didn't believe me.

"Yeah. I did." I looked at the couch and said, "Come here. I don't want to stand while we talk."