"Why is Josh's car in the driveway?" Jacob asked me as he walked into the house.

I bit my lip, "Listen, Jake. We need to talk."

"Wait, what's going on," he asked worriedly, "did something happen again?"

I shook my head, "This has nothing to do with my other parent's, or anything negative for that matter."

He pointed towards the living room, "Let's go sit and talk then."

We sat down across from each other and I jumped right into confessing to him, "Josh texted me late last night asking if we could talk. He wanted to know what you had said about him so he could give me his side of the story. I really think you should hear him out."

He scoffed, "What, so he told you lies to make me look like the bad guy?"

I shook my head, "Just the opposite. He took the blame for what happened with your ex like you said, but he explained that he regrets it. I also talked to Elizabeth and she said he was never going after her romantically."

"How could you drag her back into this," Jacob fumed, "this is none of your business and you need to just leave it alone."

I raised my eyebrows, "Oh, so something family related is none of my business?"

He sighed, "You know that's not what I meant. I just mean, he isn't part of the family."

"He was at one point! Just go down with me and give him five minutes. If you still hate him afterwards then we'll all forget this ever happened and I'll never bring him up again." I begged.

Jacob went quiet for awhile while he considered what I said. I didn't mind waiting because that meant Elizabeth was getting more time to catch up with Josh. 

After awhile he finally agreed and I led him down to the basement. We saw Josh and Elizabeth just sitting and laughing together, which made Jacob loosen up. When they saw us, Elizabeth got up and came over by me while Jacob sat down across from Josh. They stared at each other for a moment until Jacob said, "I only agreed to come down here for five minutes, you're down to four now."

Elizabeth and I stood aside as we listened to Josh explain all the things he had told me, how he never wanted to hurt Jacob and that he still considers him to be one of his best friends. 

When he finished, Jacob didn't say anything. He just sat in silence while looking down, avoiding eye contact with any of us.

"Jake," Elizabeth asked, "are you okay?"

He eventually looked up and pointed at his watch, "You went a minute over."

None of us said anything but we all looked at each other in confusion until he burst out laughing. We were still confused but continued to laugh with him. It eventually grew quiet again and Jacob held his hand up in a fist. I gasped as he swung forward as if he was going to punch Josh, but he stopped halfway in the air.

"No way." Elizabeth breathed. I was beyond confused at this point.

Josh grinned and held his fist up and bumped into Jacob's. They continued doing matching hand motions and I realized it was some sort of bro-handshake. 

At the end they hugged and Elizabeth yelled, "Yay, the family is back together again!"

I laughed and felt comfort in the fact I had finally done something good to this family.

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Question for the Reader: What grade will you be in this school year?

Author Answer: "13th" 😅 I will be starting my first year of college!