Fallen Families

Chapter 8.

Going to LA without parents would be insanely insane. Ava was sitting with Nikki on the bus and unlike her best friend who seemed fairly calm, Ava was practically shaking in her seat. Now the girls couldn't actually drive so they boarded the bus. 

The address that Nikki found was only an hour away from their town. And since they were going at night there was no traffic. Nikki looked over at her friend and frowned. 
"Will you stop shaking like that. If people see you then they are gonna think we are runaways."

"Well technically we are," Ava said. Nikki shook her head no. 

"No, we are coming back." She said. "besides anyone who looks at you will realize one thing. You don't have guts to run away. Heck, you don't even have the guts to skip class." Nikki said rolling her eyes to the back of her head. 

"Yeah, so why did you think I would do good on this trip?" Ava asked, but was ignored by her best friend. Nikki was looking at the letter from her birth mother in her hands. It was pretty old looking and the words were obviously starting to fade out. They were lucky that they could even read the address. Ava saw the look on her friends face. 
"Are you okay Nik?" She asked and Nikki held her head down. 

"I never knew I was adopted. And now I am going to find my parents. It is weird to think that if this works out I will be meeting my actual birth mother. And that scares the heck out of me. What if she doesn't like me? What if that was the real reason why she gave me away. Because she took one look at me and decided she didn't want me?" Ava placed her hand on her friend's lap. 

"You know, I don't think that is true," Ava said. "I have been your friend since we were in diapers.  And I can't find a single thing not to like about you. There was a reason they gave you away and you read it. I think if they would have given you a chance they would have loved you. But I am glad you were given away." Nikki looked shocked at Ava who had a smile on her lips. "Because then I would have never had met you, and I don't know what I would have done without you." 

"I love you, Ava. Thank you so much for helping me." Nikki said giving her a hug. a sigh of relief washed over Ava. 

"thankfully that speech worked. I wouldn't have known what to say without it." She laughed before getting serious again. "so you never showed me the letter. Do you know the name of the women we are looking for?" 

"Well, sort of," Nikki said. "I know her last name." 

"Okay, so what is her last name?" There was silence between the two girls before Nikki looked at her friend and said it. 

"Johansson."

:
:
:
:
:

Scarlett was looking on her computer to try and find anything about the day they gave Nikki away but she couldn't focus because Chris was watching her for the last hour. She couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes, but she wanted to know why, and when she asked she couldn't help but let a smile grow on her face. 

"Why do you keep staring at me?" She asked smiling and not taking her eyes off the computer screen. 

"Because I like looking at beautiful things." He replied. A blush appeared on Scarlett's cheeks and finally looked up to meet his blue eyes. "Scarlett, can I ask you something?" He asked. For some reason, she felt a sense of nervousness. She nodded her head and Chris moved a few chairs closer to her. "Did that night, the one we shared mean anything to you?" He asked looking into her eyes. Scarlett didn't really know what to say. 

The first nine months she was obviously focusing on the baby. She never really had time to stop and think about what the night had meant. Of course, he had always been her best friend and the night just shifted things a little bit. But that doesn't mean she didn't like it. He was her best friend, which made it even more special. Because she didn't go to bed with some stranger. She went to bed with Chris. Her best friend. That had meant something to her. 

"Of course it did." She said, not even a drop of denial in her voice. Chris didn't know what he should say to her. "did it mean something to you?" She asked the same tone of curiosity the filled Chris's voice earlier. 

"You know it did." He replied. The silence that filled them was anything but awkward. They were very comfortable with each other. So comfortable that if you see the two around you would have believed they were dating. 

"Would you have ever taken it farther if things hadn't gotten so messy?" She asked him. A certain gleam of hope was seen in her eyes that only made Chris smile brighter. But he looked at her seriously to answer her in a proper way. 

"Had you allowed me I would have taken it as far as you would have allowed. Do you know the real reason I invited you that day?" He asked her but she shook her head no. "I asked you as a date, but when I tried asking you, you were mad at one of our co-stars hitting on you. You said you needed a night with friends. So I figured I should be there for you instead. But had you said yes, I would have taken you on a proper first date then and there."  He smiled and Scarlett couldn't help but let a tear fall. Not of sadness, but because of how sweet Chris was to her. How he still is. She stood up and set on Chris's lap to embrace him in a hug. 
"Why are you crying?" He asked softly as she put her face in the crook of his neck. 

"Because you are the best thing to ever happen to me." She replied. Chris got a warm feeling as she said that. "You make me happy." 

"I am glad." He said. Scarlett took in his scent. 

"I wanna try." She said in a very soft voice that he barely heard. Scarlett wanted to stay like this forever because of how much more safe she felt. 

"Try what?" He asked rubbing her back up and down. He had to admit he loved having Scarlett so close to him.  You would think a friend sitting on your lap would feel awkward but he liked Scarlett there. It felt right. 

"Us."