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We had all finished lunch, I ended up sitting between Aiden and Mia with Miles directly across from me. Earlier when I had tried to make the twins more comfortable it worked really well and now they were both really comfortable with me, especially Mia. Mia refused to sit anywhere except for beside me and it kind of made my heart warm. Ella was still cautious around me, but I knew it was something that would get better.

Aiden hadn't tried anything under the table like he had at his house and I was glad, even though a secret part of me missed his touch.

"Emmy, can we play hide and seek?" Mia whispers in my ear excitedly.

I beam at her cuteness and whisper back; "that's a fantastic idea" as I tickle her stomach making her laugh.

Tiffany had already thankfully left, preparing for cheer and I knew that Charlie had to leave within the hour; "You know what, I think we can fit in a couple of games before Charlie leaves" I whisper, she smiles happily.

After asking if we can be excused the children all sit in the living room to plan our extravagant game of hide and seek for the twins, Tiffany's surprisingly cute younger brothers and Mason. The people agreeing to play were me, Ella and Mia, Lij, Charlie, Luke, Tom, and Travis who were Tiffany's little brothers, Aiden, Mason, and even Miles who had always shared his love for children with Maddi. That was another thing that didn't change when he did.

"Okay so we're only allowed to hide downstairs INSIDE, and we have to count to 40 before we seek" Luke repeats, we all nod, the younger ones and Miles nodding excitedly.

Okay, so we'll partner up so nothing bad happens to the kids, Emilia and Mia, Aiden and Ella, Charlie and Travis, myself and Tom and Elijah, Mason and Miles can be a group of three. Miles and Lij fist pump, neither needing a partner but loving each other anyways. Mia grips my hand excitedly and my heart melts a little further.

"Miles, Mason and Lij can be in first seeing as they're the oldest group, and there are three of them, " Luke suggests, he had always been one for planning things out and perfecting everything.

Everyone nods before we all rush off giggling.

"Where to?" I ask a beaming Mia.

"The kitchen," she shrieks nervously, I laugh at her seriousness for the children's game and we make our way there.

"What about in the pantry?" I ask smiling, Mia shrieks excitedly as we enter the large pantry and hide in the furthest corner away from the entrance.

Mia giggles and shrieks excitedly throughout the whole game and I don't have the heart to tell her that she's gonna be the reason we get found. It was a wonder we hadn't already gotten found.

"Are you having fun Mia?" I smile at the adorable little girl.

She nods enthusiastically and shrieks in excitement, "We're never gonna get caught" she giggles.

As soon as she finishes her words the pantry door swings open and Aiden stands at the entrance with an excited Ella. Mia slaps her hand to her mouth quickly trying not to make a noise but It's obvious that we had already been found, and Aiden was only doing this for the girls sake.

"Hmm I wonder where they are, do you know Elle?" He says purposely.

I almost laugh at his terrible acting but my uterus explodes at how good the bad boy was with his sisters.

Mia giggles, muffled by her hand before Aiden closes the door purposely, "I guess they're not in here."

Mia sighs in relief but squeals when the lights suddenly turn on and Aiden 'finds' her.

"Did we win?"Mia asks excitedly after she calms down.

"Well, you guys are the last to be found, we've all been searching for you girls for ages, I thought you turned invisible," Aiden smiles, obviously making a big deal out of it for her, she squeals in delight and Aiden winks at me, I find myself smiling in return.

"Found them," Aiden yells, everyone quickly returns to the living room for the next game.

"We found Charlie and Travis first so they're in," Lij states proudly.

Charlie nods in agreement, smiling along with Travis.

"Okay, ready, set, go," Charlie says, everyone runs off, Mia pulling me along excitedly.

"Where to now?" I smile at Mia, "In here!!" she replies excitedly pulling me into the theatre room.

I laugh and follow her as she pulls me behind the curtain.

Charlie and Travis have almost finished counting when the curtain gets pulled back and Luke joins us with an excited Tom.

A few seconds later Aiden and Ella run into the theatre room and hide behind some recliners close to us.

The kids giggle together and Luke and I smile, Charlie had finished counting and by the sounds of it, she had already found Miles, Mason, and Elijah.

I hear her footsteps enter the theatre room and all the children instantly tense up.

I turn around and only then notice how close Luke and I were, I smile at him even though our faces are inches apart and before I can register what's happening Luke begins to lean in.

My eyes widen, and I was glad that the kids were so caught up in the game that they didn't notice what was happening.

I'm just about to push Luke away when the curtains open revealing a smiling Charlie and Travis, well until Charlie sees what's happening. Her smile instantly drops off her face and she runs out of the room.

Luke pulls away from me and looks as confused as I was, Aiden stands up, matching our expressions.

"What happened?" he asks.

"I have no clue," I reply as I quickly tell Mia to stay with Aiden and rush after Charlie.

I find her quickly in Luke's room and walk over to sit beside her on the bed.

"Charlie, what's wrong?" I ask, pulling her hands away from her face gently, my heart breaks when I see her tear-stained face. I stand up, pulling her with me and enter Luke's bathroom where I sit her on the closed toilet lid and kneel in front of her with a box of tissues from Luke's nightstand.

"Charlie, why are you crying?" I ask gently.

She looks up at me through her teary eyes, "you really don't know?" she asks, although it was a question it came out as half question, half statement.

"No idea, Charlie if I've done something I'm sorry, just tell me what?" I continue gently.

She looks down at her hands in her lap for a minute before she looks up to get eye contact; "I'm in love with him," she begins, I'm just about to question her when she interrupts me and continues, "I'm in love with him and he's in love with you."

"What?" I question, what is she talking about.

She begins to cry again; "Luke, he's been in love with you forever and you've never realized, the same way that I've been in love with him forever and he's never realized."

"Luke? Charlie, he's not in love with me" I declare, why does everyone bring this up!?

"Yes he is Emily, he thinks you're the most beautiful girl in the world, he would do anything for you, he would have before Maddi died and after, how can you not see how hopelessly and pathetically he loves you, he looks at you all the time, he get's jealous when you get all that attention from other guys, he always wants to be around you, he has always been there for you, and not the way that I have. He has hated every single one of your boyfriends, hell, he's only had girlfriends for the sole purposes of 1, getting over you, or 2, trying to make you jealous." She states strongly.

I'm about to deny her, but then I think. Could she be right?

Fuck, how have I never noticed that Charlie was in love with Luke but he was always focused on me?

I'm the worst person ever, I'm a terrible older sister, and now I'm not even a good cousin or friend.

"I'm so sorry Charlie, I've never noticed before," I whisper sadly.

She laughs a little with no humor through her tears, "it's not your fault Em, I'm the stupid one that's in love with my best friend who's in love with my other best friend."

"No Charlie, you're not stupid, you're amazing and beautiful Luke knows and admits that and if he can't see you in that light then we're just going to have to make him." I smile a little.

Charlie instantly lights up, "really? You'd help me get him?"

"Of course, he's my best friend and I'm never going to be able to see him like that, and you're one of the most amazing people I've ever met, he already knows how perfect you are, all we have to do is make him realize he wants to act on it and any guy would be stupid not to want to make a move on you," I state honestly. Now that I know I can't believe I was so naive for so long.

***

Charlie had left to go to cheer an hour or so ago but everyone else was still here, I guess the lunch had been a hit. We had set the kids up with The Lion King playing in the theatre room but ended up staying with them.

Charlie left a lot happier now that she knew I had pushed him away and that I was rooting for them, she seemed excited even. She and Luke would honestly be perfect together.

I was sitting beside Aiden who was surprisingly as engrossed in the movie as Miles and the kids. Luke had left a little while ago to help David clean up.

We had just watched Pumba, Timon and Simba sing 'Hakuna Matata' when my phone chimes. Aiden looks over at me as I open my phone to see a message from Luke. My heart dropped a little at his name but I knew I had to confront him sooner rather than later.

Aiden looks at me curiously but doesn't ask any questions, I was surprised at how little questions he had once Charlie and I returned, but a part of me knows he does have a lot of questions, he was just saving them.

I sigh and stand up, smiling small at Aiden who was following my every step with his eyes.

I quickly make my way to the bench at the river where I know he was referring to. It was already 4 and I was surprised how quickly lunch had gone.

🎵🎤🎶

"Hey," I smile as I sit beside him on the bench, he doesn't reply.

"Em, we need to talk about what happened earlier in the theatre room," Luke sighs, not giving anything away.

I'm about to reply but once again get interrupted; "Em I love you and have since the moment I knew what love was, I remember proposing to you right here with one of those lolly rings when we were 7 and you accepting the ring but saying we were too young to get married, but that we would when we were old enough, I remember all those times that I would look at you when we got older, thinking about how beautiful you were and how I was going to marry you one day, you promised after all" Luke chuckles a little at the end, I crack a smile at his joke but don't attempt to chuckle.

"I remember when Maddi was diagnosed and I was the only one that could get you out of bed, not even Charlie could, or when Maddi died and you cried yourself to sleep every night but I would stay with you as often as I could because I knew you slept better when I was there. I remember when you moved away and in the meantime, took a little piece of my heart with you, even though we had spoken every day. I remember how happy I was when I heard you were moving back, I couldn't even pretend to be empathetic you were leaving that town behind. You wake up every day and just get more beautiful, I've loved you forever and you've never even realized it." He finishes.

My eyes got a little teary at the mention of Maddi but I knew what he was saying was true, he did love me, he had been there for me forever and I had always taken it for granted.

"Please say something," Luke begs.

Miles's words briefly appear in my head; 'it's my fondest hope for you that you'll love someone, and be loved in return the same way Maddi and I loved each other.'

I knew that Luke loved me, but I also knew that I would never return that feeling, especially knowing that Charlie felt like that towards him and I know what I have to do.

"You're one of the best guys in the world, you've been there for me forever and I would literally be dead without you. You were my person in a time where I needed you so so so much, and I will always cherish that. You're funny, and kind, and caring, and attractive, and protective and you've literally kept me not only alive but sane and I'll love you forever and ever, you have no idea how much you mean to me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I do love you more than anything in the world, but not the same way you love me." I reply quietly.

He nods, he didn't look very hopeful before, but now he looked hopeless.

"I understand if you can't hang around me anymore," I say, tears welling up in my eyes as I stand up and walk back towards the parents. I wasn't sure what I expected but it definitely wasn't him continuing to sit on the bench, not even acknowledging that I had left, confirming the horrible mindset that Luke didn't want to be around me anymore.

Wiping my tears away I walk to my mom and squeeze in between her and Robert, she instantly knows something is up; "What happened baby?"

"Luke just told me he was in love with me," I admit, I was glad that Robert was in a heated conversation with the other adults so only my mom's attention was focused on me.

"Oh," she nods in recognition, I expected her to be shocked at the news, or at least surprised but she was neither.

"You knew?" I ask her sadly, how come everyone knew but me?

"Of course baby, that boy has been in love with you forever and a day, I was surprised he took that long to admit it," my mother smiles at me warmly.

I sigh. "When can we go home?" I groan loudly, accidentally gaining all the adult's attention. I look down at my shoes in embarrassment and my mom chuckles.

"We were going to stay for dinner because we've both had too much to drink, but if you want we can leave now, you'll just have to drive," my mom says, the attention still on us.

"I'll take her, I was about to head off anyway and we live next door so it isn't a problem" I hear Aiden offer, my head snaps up to where his voice is coming from and I inwardly slap myself for not noticing his presence earlier.

Damn naivety.

"No that's okay," my mom declines, but I know that she wants to stay, and by the look of it, so did Elijah. I only knew that because he wasn't bugging mom or sitting out here on his iPod.

"No mom it's fine, thank you Aiden that would mean a lot," I smile, my mom smiles gratefully before she makes sure I have my bag and house key and then Aiden and I are walking side by side before I step into his beautiful car, the silence engulfing me and giving me a little time to think.