Scarred Hearts

3 | The Master

Nicholas was pissed the fuck off.

He had spent the last three years pretending he saw through her, that she had no voice, that she was nothing. Only ever acknowledging her presence when it was impossible to dodge if his father or Amelia were in the room. And both Nicholas and Valeria knew those moments didn't count. And then it all cracked.

She had no business getting into his father's bedroom without knocking first, and she had no business reprimanding him. What right had she? None. She had none.

It was his house, not hers.

"Juice, Nicholas?" Amelia asked, bringing Nichola's attention back to reality.

Nicholas was in the kitchen of the Palacio, seated on a high stool at the peninsula where he usually had breakfast. He shook his head but then changed his mind. "Yes, thank you, Amelia."

Amelia. He pronounced it like the English form of the name, uh-MEE-lee-uh, instead of the Spanish form, ah-MEH-lee-ah.

She smiled at him. He liked how her smile was always warm and tender when it was directed at him. It was nothing like his father's, who rarely smiled, and when he did smile, it struck Nicholas as something unnatural. Not because it was fake but because it always took him by surprise.

He felt like shit for the previous day. The last thing he wanted was to upset Amelia, but she had also been the last thing on his mind when Lana was bouncing her tits in his face and Valeria was invading his space.

But he was not a child. That nothing of a person had called him a child and he refused to abide such label.

"Amelia, I want to apologize for yesterday. I didn't remember the floors had been clean, and Lana got in before me. I was just chasing her, and I wasn't thinking. I apologize for that," he poured it all out like he was reading a list of facts, stern and serious as if he had to say it and she had to listen.

He cursed himself for the lack of sincerity in his voice.

"It's fine, Nicholas, don't worry. If only all problems were that easy to fix."

He grabbed her wrist gently as she was turning away. She stopped with the jar of juice in hand, looking her boy in the eyes.

"I'm serious, Amelia. I'm sorry."

She offered him a smile and rubbed his shoulder tenderly before going to the sink to wash the frying pan she had used to prepare Nicholas some pancakes. With her back turned to him, she said, "Nicholas, I was thinking... would you be so kind to help me with something?"

Nicholas, who had just taken his blackberry out of his pocket, looked up at her. It was rare for Amelia to ask anything of him, but on those occasions, Nicholas always rose to the task, proud to say she had needed him and he had delivered.

"Anything you need," he said, and he meant it.

She finished rinsing the frying pan and put it on the dish rack before she turned to him.

This was the perfect opportunity to prove himself as mature and responsible. He would do anything Amelia asked, and he would do it perfectly, better than that Valeria ever could ever. He would do it without any complaints, and then he would find a way to rub it in her face, without actually talking to her, of course, he could never as much as direct his voice at her ever again, not even to-

"I needed you to give Valeria a ride to school," Amelia said, and Nichola's plan to impress her and prove Valeria wrong shattered.

Amelia saw it in his face so she added, "I know you two are not close, but she studied late last night, and she still needed to go through some notes this morning before school, but... I forgot my contact lenses, and she went back to get them for me and lost the bus. She's waiting for the next one now, but it won't arrive in time for first period."