5. Different light

Chapter 5: Different light

Kelsey's POV

*****

At about 5:30 I decided to take a shower and start preparing things for the barbecue until Meg and May arrived.

I couldn't hide the fact that I was excited. I honestly loved barbecues and I was on the edge of my seat to see what Noah had prepared to play for us. He had worked really hard, and I was so proud of his commitment. The fact that he wanted to invite May over to thank her for her help was also really sweet.

It wasn't that long until Meg and May arrived, and after asking Meg to help me set up and decorate the backyard, I called Noah down so that he could watch a movie or play some video games with May.

"I'm pretty sure May has a crush on Noah. She couldn't wait to come here," Meg said with a giggle while she was helping me decorate the yard with fairy lights.

I smiled, thinking how adorable it was for May to have a crush on her neighbour. I remembered wanting a cute neighbour when I was younger, one I could talk to from across the window or the balconies, or one who I could walk to school with every day. Instead, I was stuck with an elderly lady who owned three dogs, often keeping me up with their late night barking.

"Then the feeling's mutual. Noah really wanted May to be here. He said he wanted to thank her for all of her help, but honestly I just think he wanted her around. Besides, didn't you see how he rushed down here? He doesn't even run that fast when I call him down for food," I replied, making Meg laugh.

After a while of decorating, the sound of footsteps made us both turn around, only to find Ethan walking towards us.

"Do you guys need some help?" Ethan asked us, stopping right in front of us.

Meg practically did a double turn at the word 'help', her eyes as large as saucers. Her reaction was quite understandable, considering that Ethan would have normally turned the other way when hearing that somebody needed help. I couldn't help but remember that one time at school when the principal needed a volunteer to help decorate one of the dances, and Ethan ended up having to make up an elaborate story just to get out of helping.

"Since when do you help? I remember hearing your mother yelling at you a couple of weeks ago for not helping around the house," Meg bluntly said, making Ethan's cheeks burn red.

"I'm a changed man!" He proudly said, probably trying to hide the fact that he got offended.

I couldn't help but laugh at his silliness. I really appreciated the fact that he wanted to help, and I was happy that our talk had gotten us slightly closer.

"Well then, if you're so eager to help, you can do the cooking," I told him, directing him towards the barbecue. "You can cook right?" I asked, suddenly weary of my decision, fearing that it would end up leading to the house burning down.

"Your lack of faith in me hurts," he sarcastically said before grabbing some of the food and placing it on the grill, grabbing the tongs and snapping them towards me, a playful smile on his lips.

I shook my head and walked back towards Meg so that I could help her set up the table, only to find her looking at me with a raised eyebrow, her arms crossed.

"Since when are you and Ethan friends? Last time I checked you couldn't stand the guy," she said as soon as we were out of Ethan's hearing range, giving me a questioning look.

The question caught me off-guard and I didn't know how to answer. It was true, when I first got there I wasn't exactly his biggest fan, but after getting to spend more time with him I realised that there was more to Ethan Walker than met the eye.

"I don't know, I'm not even sure what we are. I guess the more I got to know him, the more I got to see who the real Ethan was. But Meg, I don't know if we're friends or if he's just being nice to me because he has to," I sighed.

It was true that Ethan seemed to be a lot nicer to me, but he could have just been doing it because of the fact that we were living together and had to take care of everything with each other.

It would not have been good for either of us if we ended up disagreeing with every little thing the other said, allowing arguments to arise every ten minutes. We had to set an example for the kids, and not act worse than them.

"I don't think he would offer to help you if he didn't actually want to be your friend," she said, giving me a knowing smile.

"Maybe he felt like he had to do something to help around. Look Meg, Ethan has many friends, surely he doesn't need me," I said as I walked over to set up the other side of the table.

I did not want to get my hopes up thinking that Ethan was finally learning to be civil with me, only to end up getting let down. I was not one to trust people much, and I certainly was not going to trust someone like Ethan straight away.

He might have been acting nice to me, but Ethan and I had known each other for practically our entire lives, and we were never friends. Why would he want to be my friend then?

****

We all gathered around the table as soon as the food was ready, and everyone was caught up in their own conversations while Ethan was unusually quiet, tapping on his phone, making me wonder what had suddenly gotten over him.

He was normally very talkative around the table, often finding it entertaining to talk about himself for a while, wanting to remind everyone of his numerous achievements. It was not normal for him to just sit quietly without even interrupting any conversation.

After all the food was ready, I gave everyone something of each item before all the kids let out a squeal of delight.

"Oh my god Kelsey this is delicious!" Lara said as she took a bite of the large marinated rib with barbecue sauce.

"I agree. Best dinner ever!" Noah said stuffing his face with his burger.

"Thanks, but I can't take the credit for this. It was all Ethan," I said before all of the kids erupted in to laughter.

"Ethan cooked this? Since when do you cook?" Lara asked looking at her brother, stuffing her face with her burger before letting out a content sigh.

"You try to do something nice one time, and everyone still questions you," Ethan said, rolling his eyes at her before stuffing his own face with food, trying to hide a smile which was about to betray his tone of voice.

"Eat slowly you're all gonna choke," I said, laughing at how funny everyone looked with their faces stuffed with food.

I had to admit, the food was amazing. I never expected Ethan to be such a great cook, but I certainly didn't want any of them to choke. What would I have said to their parents?

It made me really happy that everyone was enjoying their food. I was glad that Ethan was doing something to help around and that it was appreciated. Ever since we had that talk, I couldn't help thinking about what he told me.

It was true, he was the oldest one in the family, but that didn't mean that he didn't deserve to be looked out for and appreciated.

He was one of the brightest people in school, and he was also the best basketball player we had. Those two things in themselves were enough for his parents to be proud of him.

"So Noah, what song have you prepared for us?" Meg asked, grabbing everyone's attention.

"It's a surprise," Noah said looking at May and sending her a wink, making her smile while Meg gave me a knowing look.

"They're so cute together," Meg whispered in my ear, making me instantly nodded my head in agreement.

Those two seemed to have a special friendship. The fact that May spent her time helping Noah out with his songs and his guitar playing showed how much she cared about him, and I was pretty sure that the same could have been said about Noah.

After everyone ate I told Noah to make us listen to his song because I could tell that everyone was looking forward to it, including me.

"Right now?" He asked, sounding slightly nervous.

"Yes Noah, I'm sure you'll be great. I believe in you," I said causing a huge smile to appear on his face.

"I believe in you too Noah, you can do this bro," Ethan finally said looking straight at Noah with a small smile.

I couldn't help but smile at Noah's reaction to what his brother had just told him.

The smile on Noah's face was indescribable and it made me happy to see Ethan encourage his little brother like that. It was evident that it meant a lot to Noah.

After gaining some courage from his brother, Noah got up from his chair and went up the little steps to get in to the small gazebo they had before looking towards the table, his guitar strapped around him.

"Okay so the song I decided to play is 'Night Changes' and I hope you all like it," he said, pretending that he was at an actual show.

He looked like he actually belonged up there, and as soon as Noah started singing, I saw Ethan and the kids' eyes grow huge, making me smile. I knew that Noah would surprise everyone, and to say that he sounded good was an understatement.

When he finished singing everyone stared at him with their mouths wide open. It was when May started clapping that everyone got out of their trance.

"Noah that was amazing," Ellie said running up to hug him.

"Thanks Els," he said, hugging her back.

"I underestimated you. You have a bright future ahead of you bro," Ethan said earning a huge hug from Noah.

"Thank you Eth. You have no idea how much that means to me," Noah said, making everyone gush.

He smiled as soon as his eyes met mine, walking up to me and giving me a hug. "Thank you for believing in me. It means a lot, I'm so glad that my mom and dad hired you to take care of us with Ethan," he said smiling at me making me smile like a dork.

His words showed a lot about his character. He was not like most fifteen year olds I knew. Noah was a lot more innocent than they were, unlike the way his brother was when he was his age. The fact that his parents were not around much to let him be a kid, the small gesture from me made him embrace his innocence, and I admired that so much about him.

Guys his age would try to start seeming cool, looking forward to getting away from their parents and to hang out with friends. Noah wasn't like that, and I knew that it could have had something to do with the fact that he did not want to be like Ethan in that aspect. It was clear to me every time I saw Noah get disappointed at Ethan for leaving to go out with friends when asked to do something.

"I didn't do anything Noah, it was all you," I replied in all honesty, wanting him to give himself all of the credit.

****

After Meg and May left to go home, all the kids were tired and headed up to sleep while I stayed and cleaned everything up, trying to keep my eyes open despite how badly they wanted to close.

As I was washing the dishes I heard footsteps from behind me, making me turn around only to find Ethan standing behind me.

"Hey," He said.

"Hey," I replied with a tired smile. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought that it was unfair you had to do everything on your own so I came to help you, to show you my appreciation for everything you've been doing," he said, making me smile.

I was too tired to question his motives, so I just nodded and handed him a dishcloth so he could dry the plates that I was currently washing.

"There's also something I have to tell you," he said as he grabbed the cloth and started drying some of the already washed dishes. "I may have heard what you told Meg earlier, about not knowing if we were friends," he said, making me almost drop the plate that I was currently rinsing.

I felt embarrassed that he had heard the conversation. He practically heard me telling Meg that I thought that he was just being nice to me for convenience.

"I'm not just pretending to be your friend because I have to Kelsey. I mean sure, we were never the best of friends, but that doesn't mean I'm not able to be civil with people," he said, sounding slightly hurt that I had thought that.

"I didn't mean it like that," I said, trying to explain.

"It sounded like you did," he replied, letting out a fake laugh as he grabbed another plate, making me frown.

"No, Ethan, I just didn't want to think that we were friends and then we just go back to being strangers after these couple of months end. I just didn't want to have the wrong impression," I explained as I gave him my full attention.

I wanted him to try and understand me. I was never one to have a lot of friends, nor was I one to let people in. After the loss of my mother I started fearing the loss of other people I cared about, so I made it a point to make sure that that number of people was a small one.

"Do you still think that I am this jerk who just plays around with people's emotions?" He asked in all seriousness, shocking me.

"I don't think you're a jerk Ethan," I said in barely a whisper.

I had told him that he was not a bad guy, and I stood by that statement. I just couldn't find it within me to trust somebody who had never shown me any signs of wanting to be around me.

"Kelsey, I would never pretend that I don't know someone, especially not after spending four months with them in the same house," he continued with a hurt tone.

I just nodded, not knowing how to reply to that as I carried on washing the dishes.

After seeing that I wasn't planning on answering any time soon he decided to continue. "To make it all clear, I do want to be your friend. Maybe it will take some time for us to trust each other, but if I'm being nice to you it is not because I'm forced to," he said, offering me a smile.

I was really glad to hear that coming from him. He was right, we weren't going to instantly trust each other, especially not after what had happened in the past, but that didn't mean that we could eventually get over it and become friends.

"But this doesn't mean that I'm suddenly going to stop annoying you and start being nice and help you 24/7," he said, his usual humorous tone back.

"I would be concerned if you did," I replied, earning a contagious laugh from Ethan before he hit me with his rag.

Ethan may not have been the easiest guy to talk to or be around, but I could tell that he was making an effort to try and be a better brother, and I honestly admired him for that.

I was finally starting to see Ethan Walker in a whole new different light.