The party was in full blast by the time Brian, Katie and Nick showed up. AJ opened the door and immediately whistled when he saw Katie. "You go girl!" he greeted her happily. Katie hugged AJ and stepped into the house, followed by Brian and Nick. She began to mingle with the other guests, yet the whole time, she kept track of what Nick was doing. And every time she looked at him, he returned her gaze. But she wasn't daunted. She continued staring until he looked elsewhere.

She wanted so much to confront him and get their misunderstandings over with, but Brian kept by her side all the time. Just then, she saw her chance! Nick was heading upstairs, alone. She turned to Brian. "Uh, Bri, I have to go to the restroom. Why don't you go catch up with Kevin over there."

"Sure," Brian replied. He didn't fail to notice that Nick had just gone upstairs alone, but he didn't want to confront Katie just yet.

He needed to talk to someone, and Kevin was the only one he trusted to confide to. Both Katie and Nick were acting so weird around each other that Brian suddenly became suspicious, paranoid. He smiled at Katie, "Talk to ya later then." He kissed her on the cheek and went to seek Kevin

Finally, Brian spotted Kevin talking with a bunch of people near the swimming pool. He quickened his pace. Kevin caught a glimpse of Brian. Sensing that his cousin was troubled, Kevin immediately excused himself from his audience and walked towards Brian. "What is it, cuz?" Kevin immediately asked a perturbed Brian.

"Kevin, we need to talk, now!" Brian said desperately.

"Okay, let's go over there." Kevin pointed to a nice secluded spot near a tree. Brian simply started heading that way. When they were out of earshot, Brian leaned against the tree.

"I don't know where to start," he began, but Kevin broke him off.

"It has something to do with Katie, doesn't it?" Kevin replied understandingly.

"Yeah, Katie . . . and Nick."

Kevin had a shocked expression on his face. "What does this have to do with Nick?"

"I don't know," Brian answered, frustrated. "Well, actually, I think I do know. See, when I brought Katie to Nick's house last time, she kept on staring at him."

"Umm," Kevin began. "I think I saw that. Yeah, Katie was pretty obvious. But Nick . . . well, he didn't respond."

"No," Brian agreed. "He didn't respond at that moment."

Kevin looked interested. "You mean . . . "

"Yeah," Brian answered Kevin's thoughts. "After I dropped Katie off, I came back to Nick's house only to find him gone. Then AJ said that he was at the beach so I headed for the beach. And true enough, Nick was sitting on the rocks. And you know what? He was crying. He was so upset. If that wasn't because of Katie, then I don't know what else could have caused him to be so upset."

Kevin remained silent, not knowing what to say. Finally, he gathered his thoughts. "So you're saying there's something between Nick and Katie, some relationship that you don't know of."

"I guess you could see it that way." Brian felt guilty for doubting his best friend, but he couldn't help it. "And another thing was strange," Brian suddenly remembered. "Nick refused to tell me why he was so upset, but he did say that he has amnesia."

"What?!!!" Kevin cried out in surprise.

"Yeah," Brian continued. "He said that he didn't remember anything before he was 13."

"So you're saying that they had something going on around the time that Nick was 13?" Kevin asked doubtfully. "That would mean that Katie was how many years old?"

"19," Brian replied, realizing the silliness of his suspicions. "But you know, she could have been a well-developed woman and Nick could have started entering puberty. I mean, it's not entirely impossible, is it?"

"I don't know," Kevin replied. "I mean she could have gotten sued for, you know, seducing a minor."

Brian ignored their digression and pulled the conversation back to the present. "They both deny that they know each other, but it's so obvious. I mean, well, you know, I kinda tricked Nick a little this morning. I told him that I would give him a ride to AJ's house for the barbecue, but I didn't mention Katie's name. So he agreed to come with me. Finally, I brought him to Katie's house just to see how they would react. Well, when Katie came out of the house and saw Nick, she jumped back, as if she were scared. I don't know of what. Then throughout the whole ride, she was very quiet. Nick was too. He didn't say a single word. "

"So what exactly are you saying?" Kevin asked, unsure of where this conversation was heading.

"I think they know each other. I think they had a past relationship and that something bad must have happened, but now that they see each other again, who knows, maybe their feelings for each other are relived."

Kevin stared at Brian incredulously. "You think Nick would do that? I mean, he's our little brother. Would he?"

Brian suddenly became defensive. "Well, you know, right before now, Katie actually tried to get rid of me by saying that she had to go to the bathroom. That was seconds right after I saw Nick head up the stairs!"

Kevin stared at Brian sadly. "Why don't you just talk to her? Or is she not saying a single word about it?"

"I don't want to make things worse, but Kev, I'm hurting. I really love her." Brian said.

Kevin looked at Brian and saw the melancholy in his cousin's eyes. Brian was so pure, so gentle. Kevin didn't want to see him hurt. And the only people who could hurt Brian were those who Brian cared most about.

"Let's give it some time, Bri. Maybe, things will resolve themselves before anything bad happens. Let's not be the catalyst." Kevin said calmly, patting Brian on the back. Brian tensed up at first, but then relaxed.

"I'll try," he said half-heartedly. He looked into the house to see that Katie still wasn't there. Kevin followed Brian's gaze and suddenly felt a pang of curiosity.

"You think, she's . . . " Kevin began, but Brian cut him off.

"She's up there, with Nick." Brian was almost sure of it.

For some reason, the thought of Nick and Katie in a room together troubled Kevin. He suddenly felt bad for telling Brian to sit there and wait until something happens. "Come on," Kevin grabbed Brian's hand as they both headed upstairs. Brian didn't resist. He too was very curious as to what was taking Nick and Katie so long.

~Katie's point of view~

Katie headed for the stairs. She looked up and swallowed hard when she saw how dark it was upstairs. Slowly, she climbed up the stairs. He wouldn't dare hurt her when so many people were here, would he? Soon enough, she was at the top. At the end of the hall, she saw a room that was dimly lit. Slowly, she made her way towards it making sure that the floor didn't creak as she walked across the hallway. The door was opened, and she peeked in. There Nick stood by the window, calm, quiet, and rather sensous in her opinion. Stop! She forced the dark thoughts out of her mind.

Gathering all her wits and courage, she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her cautiously. She didn't want anyone to eavesdrop on her. She could go to jail if anyone knew.

Nick didn't seem to notice her enter the room because he gazed intently at the night sky. He was so withdrawn, standing so still and quiet. The moon reflected on his blond hair, and for a moment, he reminded her of the innocent, cute boy she knew from six years ago-the youth who had softened her heart somewhat and made her feel loved.

She didn't mind standing there all night, watching Nick gazing out the window actually. He looked so harmless. But realizing that if she didn't say anything then, he would not step away from the window. "Nick," she whispered softly. He seemed startled by her voice and stepped back. Finally, he realized who had called his name.

"Katie?" he said incredulously. "What are you doing here?" He stepped back a little more, as if from fear. "What do you want?" His voice slightly wavered.

"No, what do you want, Nick?" Katie replied evenly as she approached him. She kept a straight face, not wanting him to see her full of fright.

Nick stared at her. "What do you mean?" he demanded. "What do I want? What are you trying to say?" He thought he detected some hostility in her voice. He knew that they didn't hit it off that well, but it almost sounded like she was accusing him of some heinous crime.

"Oh Nick, let's stop this beat-around-the-bush stuff. I saw that note. Look, I know you wrote it. You don't have to look so innocent," Katie said, a little more harshly than she wanted, but she had to get him to confront her. Feeling a wave of courage, she stepped even closer to him. She needed to see his facial expression to get a better hold of the situation. However, his face was ambiguous. His eyes were wide and lost in thought.

"You saw the note," Nick repeated, not really understanding what Katie was trying to say. His eyes drifted to the floor slowly and he became quiet. 'What note was she talking about? Did she know something he didn't? Her voice seemed desperate. Does she know about the past?' These questions raced through Nick's mind as he struggled to make sense of Katie's strange behavior towards him.

Suddenly, he lifted his gaze and looked into her eyes. "You know about the past?" Nick asked ambiguously. He stepped forward so that he was barely inches from Katie, making her shift her weight nervously from one side to the other.

For some strange reason, maybe it was intuition, Katie felt as if they weren't connecting. Nick asked the last question as if he didn't really know about his past.

She looked up into his eyes and saw the emptiness, the confusion, the sadness. Those beautiful blue eyes always softened her. She looked away. 'Don't look at his eyes,' she told herself. But his eyes looked the same as when she first met him-hopeful, naïve and angelic.

Suddenly, she felt a pang of uncertainty. A strange thought floated through her mind-Nick doesn't seem to know a single thing. But how could that be? How could he have forgotten something that was so terrible. She herself couldn't stop thinking about it for the past 6 years.

And although the event that day seemed to point to him, her intuition cried out that his soul was not vengeful, that maybe it was not him that left the note. But if it wasn't him, who else could it be? Who else had reason to leave that note there?

She once again lifted her gaze to meet his. She swallowed hard, not knowing how much more to reveal. 'If he was the same pure youth she had deceived 6 years ago, then he wouldn't try to hurt her,' she reasoned to herself.

"Nick," she whispered. "You recognize me, right?" she asked hoping that he would show recognition of her, but dreading his reaction at the same time.

Nick shook his head sadly, but did not utter a sound. Katie looked confused. "What do you mean? Say something. Don't be silent. . . please," she begged him to explain.

Nick heard the pleading in her voice and thought that this was as close to a chance he was getting to squeeze the information out of Katie. "First of all," Nick responded, "answer my questions. Then I'll answer anything you want me to."

Katie smiled slightly, knowing that they were progressing. She nodded eagerly, feeling more comfortable with him being so close to her.

"Do you recognize me from before I was 13?" Nick started.

Katie's deepest fears were starting to form. "Yes, I knew you from before.. We . . . were . . . um . . . close. We . . . umm. . . hung out together." That was not totally a lie. They were pretty close.

"How were we related?" Nick questioned, uncomfortable with them being 'close' in the past.

"I was your tutor," Katie didn't want to elaborate more than she had to. Her curiosity overcame her and she began quizzing him. "Are you asking this because you're testing me or are you asking this because you really don't remember?"

Nick knew he was taking a risk by telling her the truth about his amnesia, but he needed someone to inform him. His family had refused to discuss with him the events that lead to his amnesia. He knew they wanted him to not look back with fear or regrets, and for six years, he didn't press them for the details, but Katie's sudden appearance peaked his curiosity. He wanted to know why people wouldn't tell him about the past.

He knew all along that Katie had something to do with it. He felt her eerie presence the day Brian first introduced him to her. She seemed to trigger some memories, but none of the images that flashed through his mind made any sense. And then there were the nightmares in which Katie constantly attempted to hurt or kill him. Was it a sign that he should heed? Was she back to haunt him? Or could he entrust his life to her?

Nick decided to go ahead with his story, exposing his vulnerability to Katie. "I ask those questions because I . . . don't remember. I . . . had .. . . err have amnesia. I don't remember anything that happened before I was thirteen."

>>>>>

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