Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

There was a clatter of feet against wood as Nicoli followed Amelia up to her room. The first thing that stuck out to him about the old Fairbrooke house was the smell. The mouthwatering aroma of fresh cookies and other goodies tickled his nose, but there was an underlying musty smell of age, mothballs, old paint, wood, and a mixture of other scents that all melded together into one. It was as if he could smell the history of the house.

“Yeah, so anyways,” Amelia continued to ramble. There had been nothing but a gush of words from her mouth since Nicoli entered the house. “Preston ran to a friend’s house to help them with something really quick, but he’ll be back as soon as he can.”

“Are you sure he didn’t just want to get away from you?” Nicoli said with a smirk and had to quickly take a step back when Amelia kicked at him.

When they reached the top of the stairs a voice carried up to them from down below.

“Have fun kids. If you get hungry I have plenty of snacks waiting for you down here,” Cecile Fairbrooke said, smiling up at the teens from the bottom of the stairs.

“Okay, Mom. We’ll be down to devour the kitchen sooner or later.”

Cecile nodded and wandered off out of sight. Nicoli released a breathy sigh as he stared after the woman. It wasn’t everyday he met the woman of his dreams. She was simply the most beautiful vision of loveliness he had ever seen and he wished he could stare at her all day long. He must have been lingering at the top of the stairs a bit too long because Amelia soon took notice.

“Nicoli, are you going to stand here all day? What are you looking at?” she asked, gazing at the spot he was.

“Oh, nothing much,” he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

“No, seriously, what? I’ve never seen you with that goofy expression before.”

“You suuure you want to know?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Amelia, your mom is hot,” Nicoli said with a wide grin.

Amelia stared at him for several seconds. As if she couldn’t quite comprehend what he had just said. Then, once it finally processed she socked him in the arm.

“What the hell!? You do not say that about someone else’s mom! God, men are such pigs.” She grabbed Nicoli by the ear, much to his dislike, and dragged him the rest of the way to her room. “Come on, lover boy, you have some studying to do even if I have to cram the damn textbook into your brain.”

**************************************************************

“Wow you actually got a room in the tower? This is awesome,” Nicoli said as he slowly wandered around the circular room. Sunlight poured in through the three windows that looked out into the world, casting a warm glow into the room. A bed was pressed up against one wall and sheer drapes hung from the ceiling and created a sort of tent-veil over the bed. Other furniture like chairs and dressers speckled the room, but Nicoli was much more interested in the walls.

A forest landscape painted every surface of the room, looking suspiciously like Twilight Forest. Trees shot up to the ceiling and flowers and grass seemed to sprout up from the edges of the carpet. When he studied the scene he could just make out little figures hiding in the foliage. They were fairies, little fairies peeking out mischievously at the occupants of the room.

“Yep, ‘cause mommy loves me that much,” Amelia said with a proud grin as she closed her door.

Nicoli moved away from the window he had been staring out of and went to a dresser that had many picture frames standing on its surface. His eyes roved over all that faces that stared back at him. There were pictures of Amelia and her mother. A couple looked as though they were from Hailey and Lloyd’s wedding and other various pictures of random family members.

There was one picture in particular that drew Nicoli’s attention. It was of Amelia, Preston, and two people he didn’t recognize. One was a little girl with glossy black hair and very light amber eyes and the other was a tall woman with hair a few shades lighter than Amelia and Preston’s and she had very striking green eyes. Nicoli guessed the little girl was Hailey and Lloyd’s daughter Nicole and that the other woman was Preston’s older sister Serena.

While that picture held the youngest generation of the Fairbrooke family, the picture next to it had the previous generation. There were three women and one man in the portrait that stared proudly out of the photograph. He recognized Hailey and Cecile – how could he not recognize Cecile? – and the man he had met at the Halloween party. Uncle Roderick. He was a very strong, well-built man with wiry, dark copper hair and a matching beard that hid a broad chin. He had laughing black eyes and Nicoli knew that the man was good-natured and likable with a booming, rumbling laugh.

That meant that the last woman had to be Preston’s mother and Amelia’s aunt, Tabitha. She was much smaller than her siblings – especially compared to Roderick who stood beside her – and looked almost fragile with her petite frame. Wispy, pale orange hair framed her kind face that held the barest of smiles and her deep blue eyes seemed almost sad with internal suffering.

Nicoli realized that the siblings were arranged by age, from what he had been told by Amelia. Little Tabitha was first, which Nicoli never would have guessed that she was the oldest what with the towering Roderick beside her with his big hand on her small shoulder. Cecile was next, as regal and lovely as ever, and bringing up the rear was the viciously intelligent looking Hailey.

Nicoli stared at the two pictures for a moment. They seemed like any other normal family, but the longer his gaze lingered the more he got the pesky feeling that there was more to them than met the eye. He just couldn’t put his finger on it. His eyes continued on and settled on a peculiar picture that showed someone he didn’t recognize, neither by sight nor from what he had heard.

The image was that of a young girl who was anywhere from nine to eleven, he guessed, and he had to admit that she wasn’t the nicest thing to look at. She was rail thin and seemed to be swallowed up by her kitten checkered red and white dress. Freckles stood out from sickly pale skin and the gleaming metal of braces filled her mouth. She had a mop of outrageously frizzy red hair that was wrangled into two pigtails and looked more like two poof balls and the girl stared out at him with thick bottle glasses. As he stared he could feel nothing but pity for the poor, unsightly creature.

“Amelia, who is this?” Nicoli asked as he picked up the picture and showed it to her. “Is this girl really related to you? Seems hard to believe with all the attractive people in your family,” he murmured as his eyes studied the girl once more.

“…What is that supposed to mean?” Amelia asked slowly as she crossed her arms.

“Well, I don’t mean anything by it,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “It’s just, well, I mean look at her. Compared to you guys she really is an ugly duckling.”

Amelia snorted in disgust.

“You really are a pig,” she snarled as she snatched the picture out of his hands and held it to her chest. “It’s nice to know how you really feel.”

“Huh? Why do you say that?”

“Because, Nicoli, this is me!” she yelled as she held the picture out in front of her so he could see both her and the girl trapped in the frame.

Nicoli’s jaw fell and his eyes darted from face to face. He couldn’t believe it. There was just no way.

“That is not you. Stop pulling my leg,” he said.

“Yes, this is me when I was eleven, you ass. Why would I lie about that?” she huffed angrily.

“No, no way,” he insisted as he took the picture back from her. “That’s just not possible. She’s really…ick. And you’re—you’re—”

“I’m what?” Amelia growled.

“You are way too pretty to be her.”

Amelia was caught off guard by that statement and her face visibly reddened at the offhanded compliment.

“Er, thanks, I guess, but I’m telling you the truth, that’s prepubescent me,” she told him.

Nicoli studied the image for a moment before holding it up beside Amelia’s face and comparing the two.

“How the heck is this you? You look nothing like this.” The rolling eyes didn’t escape his notice.

“Well, duh, you think I wanted to look like this the rest of my life?” she asked, pointing at her old self. “It took a lot of work to beautify myself into this.” The finger pointed to her own face. “Nature filled out my body for me, thank God, and it took three long years to get these guys into tip top shape,” she said before baring her pearly white teeth.

“What about the glasses?” Nicoli asked.

“Contacts.”

“The hair?”

“Auntie Hailey and Serena attacked me with every hair product known to man when I was thirteen until we found the combination that could finally tame my wild hair. In order for my hair not to freak out I have to spend at least two hours working on it in the morning. It’s hard being beautiful,” she said with a cheeky smile, proud of her own accomplishments.

“Well, damn. I guess it really is the story of the ugly duckling, and, look at that, you really did turn into a swan.” He grinned when her face flushed a rosy red again, but the next second a yelp escaped him when she pinched his arm. “Ow! What was that for?”

“You can flatter me all you want, Bub, but I don’t care how bad I looked when I was younger. That gives you no right to ever say that to a lady.”

“Okay, fine, you looked perfectly fine back then,” Nicoli grumbled as he placed the picture of the young Amelia back on the dresser with the rest of her family. Cherished memories frozen in everlasting time.

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Nicoli sat on Amelia’s bed next to Preston, who had finally shown up. The older man had the teen’s math book on his lap and was going over a few key problems Nicoli needed to get down to pass the test. It was hard to concentrate, however, as a flash of light would periodically blind him. The culprit was none other than Amelia, who was taking pictures of the two with, what Nicoli defined as, a manic grin.

“Amelia, knock it off!” Preston yelled at her, unable to ignore it anymore. “How am I supposed to help Nicoli if you insist on being a constant distraction?”

“I am not being a distraction,” Amelia huffed in offense as she lowered her camera. “Am I being a distraction, Nicoli?” she then asked her friend.

“I’ll tell you as soon as my retinas grow back,” he replied as he rubbed at his eyes.

“See? Now either sit there quietly or go away,” Preston told her.

“This is my room. If anyone is going away it’s you two,” she pointed out.

“You’re the one who demanded we do this here!” Preston’s voice was reaching all time highs as his frustration grew.

“Why are you taking pictures of us anyways?” Nicoli asked curiously before Preston popped a blood vessel.

“Noooo reason,” Amelia said innocently as her fingertips drummed against the camera.

“It’s because she has sick, deluded fantasies about us being together or something,” the male red head informed him.

“Uh…what?” Nicoli said in confusion.

“What? Don’t look at me like that. You two would be cute together,” Amelia preened with an ecstatic smile.

“…again I say, what?”

“Amelia likes to try and set me up with any male within a hundred yards of me. Her idea of some kind of irksome joke, even though I keep telling her I’m straight,” Preston explained, all the while giving his cousin a dirty look.

“You’re just in denial, my dear cousin,” Amelia said coolly.

“I am not,” Preston snarled.

“Wait, so you think Preston is gay?” Nicoli asked.

“Not gay, exactly, I just think he needs to examine all aspects of his sexuality,” Amelia said with a shrug of her shoulders. “He’s so uptight and I had a feeling you’d be able tooo…loosen him up a bit.”

Before Nicoli could ask “Why me?” Preston had his own retort.

“I am getting tired of you trying to push men on me. If you’re so into “examining all aspects of sexuality” why don’t you examine your own?”

“Been there done that.”

Both men’s eyes went wide and they stared at Amelia in disbelief.

“You’ve been with another woman before?” Nicoli asked, his imagination already revving up.

“Sure. I was married to Lesley Hughs in kindergarten, but we divorced in the first grade and I just decided girls weren’t for me,” Amelia said casually.

Nicoli’s imagination sputtered and died in the ravine of disappointment.

“That’s not the same thing,” he grumbled.

“Whatever, and don’t tell me you’re going to get all squeaky on me just because I’m trying to set you up with Preston. You’re not a homophobe too, are you?” Amelia asked him.

“I am not a homophobe!” Preston said, trying to defend what little honor he had left.

Nicoli could only laugh at Preston’s outrage. No wonder Amelia picked on him so much.

“No, I’m not a homophobe for two reasons. One, I grew up in San Francisco, its kind of hard to be a homophobe there and two, I’m bi.”

Now it was Nicoli’s turn to be stared at in surprise. He supposed he should have mentioned that to Amelia earlier, but the occasion never really came up. Plus, he never thought it was a big deal.

“Wait, so you’re really and truly honestly bisexual?” Amelia asked, perking up in her seat. To Nicoli, she seemed far more excited about the information than he thought was necessary.

“Yeeeah. I’m guessing you don’t have much of a problem with it,” he said.

“Yay! I have a half gay friend!” Amelia cheered, throwing her arms up into the air.

When Nicoli threw Preston a strange look the older man shook his head.

“Don’t ask. Small towns do things to some people. One of them, becoming obsessed with the weirdest things.”

“Actually, it’s not as weird as you think,” Nicoli told him. “There were plenty of girls at my school who would gush over gay men. Kinda like fawning over a cute puppy or something…so, you don’t have a problem with that, do you?” he asked cautiously, hoping Preston wouldn’t have any problem with his preferences.

“What? No, of course not. I have absolutely no problems with that. Like I said, I’m not a homophobe. I just don’t like Amelia’s antics. That’s all,” Preston assured him.

Nicoli smiled and was about to say something when a flash of light interrupted him.

“Awwwwe you two are so cute! You really need to rethink it, Preston,” she told her cousin, unfazed by the glare he gave her.

“That’s enough out of you. Now, let us get back to work.”

With that Preston went back to tutoring Nicoli on his math. As he spoke and poured over the textbook he failed to notice the younger man gesturing to the girl across from them.

Amelia pursed her lips and tilted her head as Nicoli made an upward motion with his hand. She couldn’t quite understand what he was doing or why he had such an evil grin. Then she realized he was telling her to lift the camera. She complied, only so she could see what he was plotting. When she was in place the boy turned to the other man.

“Hey, Preston, I have a quick question.”

“Yes?”

Preston turned his head towards Nicoli, ready to answer any inquiry he had. What he wasn’t ready for was the younger man’s hands to be placed on his face or soft, warm lips to be pressed against his own. It took a full few seconds, and the flash of the camera, for Preston to comprehend what exactly was going on. It became more than clear, however, when the tip of Nicoli’s tongue swept across his bottom lip.

Preston recoiled from the younger man so abruptly that he lost his balance and tumbled off the bed. His face blossomed into a fiery red at both the intimate act and the roars of laughter coming from the teenagers.

“You two are dead!”

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“That was the best thing I have ever seen,” Amelia said as she and Nicoli trotted down the stairs.

“What can I say? I can’t pass up a great opportunity when it’s staring me in the face. Literally,” he replied with a grin. He had to admit that he hadn’t minded. Not only was it hilarious, but Preston really did have soft, kissable lips.

“And I have a picture of it! That makes it ten times better,” she cheered while waving the camera in victory.

After the kiss Preston had tried to destroy the camera, but Amelia and Nicoli had played a game of keep away with it until the older man had finally given up and agreed to let his cousin keep the picture if she promised to never show it to anyone, which the girl quickly agreed to. Nicoli wondered why Preston would trust her with something like that, but he figured the two knew each other well enough to know if they could trust one another or not.

After the whole tumble they all agreed that it was time to take a break so the two teenagers were heading down to the kitchen while Preston took the time to recuperate and pull himself together.

When they entered the kitchen Amelia did an odd little skid across the black and white, diamond tile. What caught Nicoli’s attention were the mounds of cookies, brownies, chips, and little cut up sandwiches that were piled on the table.

“Wow. Your mom kinda over did it on the junk food, didn’t she? How are we supposed to eat all this?” Nicoli asked, though, if it made Cecile happy he’d chow down till there was nothing left.

“Eh, that’s Mom for you. I don’t bring a lot of friends home, so Mom was really excited when I told her I invited you over,” Amelia explained as she grabbed a cookie on her way to the fridge.

“Just my way of making a good impression on you,” Cecile said as she entered the kitchen. “Good hospitality is the key in getting guests to come back.”

“I highly agree with that,” Nicoli said with a nod of his head and a big great grin just for her. He grunted when Amelia stabbed him with the butt end of a butter knife and glared at him. He noticed that she had pulled a jar of jalapeño cheese dip from the fridge. For a moment he thought it was for the chips. That was before she dipped the knife into it and began spreading it on the underside of a cookie then grabbed another cookie and pressed them together to make a cookie-cheese dip sandwich. He couldn’t help the look of disgust.

“Can’t you eat anything normal?” he whispered as her mother went to retrieve a pitcher of lemonade from the fridge.

“Normal is overrated,” she answered before shoving the rest of the cookie concoction into Nicoli’s mouth.

“Amelia, have you seen the mustard?” her mother asked as she set the lemonade on the table and began pouring it into a few glasses, seemingly unaware of the boy’s flailing and gagging. “I was going to put it on the sandwiches, but it wasn’t in the refrigerator.”

“Oh, sorry, Mom, it’s up in my room. I was using it to dip my carrots into. I’ll go get it.”

Nicoli drained a glass of refreshing lemonade as Amelia sprinted out of the room. When the glass was empty he gasped and coughed while pounding on his chest.

“Jesus Christ, she nearly killed me with that.” He coughed a few more times while Cecile politely filled his glass. “Mrs. Fairbrooke, can I ask you a question?” he said as he drank a little slower.

“Please, call me Cecile. Mrs. Fairbrooke makes me feel old.”

“Oh, okay. Then can I ask you a question, Cecile?” he asked again. Using her first name felt weird to him, but the name danced and rolled along his tongue in such a way that he didn’t mind.

“Of course, go right ahead,” she said with an encouraging smile.

“Okay, you’re Amelia’s mom, so I have to ask. What is with her and eating the weirdest combinations of foods? I mean, I’ve known some guys with stomachs of steel that wouldn’t touch half of what she eats.”

“Oh, that’s just how my darling is,” Cecile answered. “She has her reasons for the things she does and I can never reprimand her for them. My little girl truly is a complex person when it comes down to the nitty gritty.”

“Amelia? Complex?” Nicoli murmured and his eyebrows furrowed. “She’s a lot of things, but I don’t think I’d ever call her complex.”

Cecile laughed and he felt the sound ripple over his skin in the nicest of ways.

“Oh, you’d be surprised. Amelia is a Fairbrooke and, as I’m sure you’ll come to find sooner or later, Nicoli, all Fairbrooke’s are complex.”

To anyone else, it would have seemed like a completely normal comment, but the way Cecile said it and the playful glint in her eye made Nicoli think she was trying to tell him something. He just didn’t know what.

Even after Amelia rejoined them, and when Preston braved to venture down, it continued to bother him. He tried to see the three Fairbrooke’s with new eyes, to see their “complexities,” but he couldn’t. They were just a family enjoying time together, but Cecile’s words continued to bother him. Some day he’d have to try and unravel the “complex” mystery, but for the mean time he was just happy with their company…and being able to stare at Cecile Fairbrooke wasn’t half bad either.

=============================Ch. 26 End