"Bubby, I want her to come back," E.J frowned laying his head on my shoulder as we watched Nia back out of our driveway.

"She'll come back." I tried to hide it but I was just as sad as he was. I wanted her to come back too.

But I don't know why he was so sad, at least he got a kiss from her.

"Nia, can I tell you a secret?" he asked her as I held him. If I wouldn't have pried him from her legs she would have never been able to leave.

"Uh, sure," she answered hesitantly.

She got closer to E.J, so he could whisper his "secret" in her ear. E.J leaned down a little, but instead of saying anything to her, he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Unbelievable.

But Nia wasn't upset by it, instead she laughed. Tickling him, she said, "You tricked me."

"I did! Were you surprised?" E.J giggled.

Nia grinned. "Yes. Now can I tell you a secret?"

No, don't tell him a secret, tell me a secret! I want to hear a secret!

E.J nodded vigorously. Nia leaned forward again and of course, she didn't actually tell him anything. She gave him a kiss on the cheek making him blush.

She stepped back with a smile. "There now I've shared a secret with you and you've shared a secret with me."

I wish someone would share some secrets with me.

I wasn't completely left in the dark. She gave me a hug before she left. Not as nice as a kiss, but something is better than nothing.

After Nia had driven away, I closed the door and took a very sad E.J back into the kitchen with Rosa and Mom.

"I like that girl," Rosa said to me as I sat next to my mother at the kitchen table. E.J crawled out of my lap and into my mother's, who sipped coffee from a cat shaped mug.

"Me too," my mom agreed. "She's so sweet. I like her so much better than that Whitney girl."

Me too, Mom, me too.

Chewing on an apple slice, E.J asked, "Bubby, when are you going to invite Nia over again? I want her to play on the trampoline with me again."

"Yes, when will she be back?" Mom asked excitedly. "I would love to have her over again sometime soon."

"I don't know," I answered. "She works a lot and she has her own friends, so I don't know when she's free." I told her I would text her later, so maybe I'll ask her about it then. I would love her to come back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. But I would prefer for us to be alone, so we could finish what we started.

"I love that she works," my mom gushed. "A young girl that works and goes to school, that's so rare at East Chapel. How many of your friends work, Marcus?"

I racked my brain, but no names came up. "None of them."

Rosa shook her head as she cooked. My mom sighed. "Working builds character. I worked when I was in high school." Then she laughed. "But of course, I was poor."

Before she met my dad, my mom didn't have a lot of money. In fact, she had no money.

She lived in a decrepit apartment where she could barely afford rent, and she worked more dead end jobs than anyone should. But once she met my Dad and they got married, she quit her job at a greasy diner and she was able to be a stay at home mom.

"Mama, are we poor?" E.J asked.

She chuckled brushing a few stray hairs out of his face. "No, baby, we are not poor. Far from it."

She then looked at me. "I think she likes you."

"Do you think Nia likes me too." E.J asked her.

I laughed. "Yeah, but she like me more."

"Nu uh," he denied. "She likes me more."

My mom rolled her eyes at us. "You boys are so silly." E.J stuck his tongue out at me. I did it back to him in return. I stood from the table planning to go upstairs.

"You better watch it munchkin, or I'm going to beat you up," I warned him. He balled up his fists, and ran at my legs. It was easy for me to catch him. I picked him up with ease, and held him upside down by his feet.

"Bubby, put me down!" he screamed, waving his arms above his head. "Mama! Mama! Help me!"

"Marcus..." my mom said. "Put him down."

E.J took a swing at my legs. "Did you see that? He just tried to attack me." I shook him a little bit making him yell more.

"Please, put him down," she begged.

"Fine." Gently, I laid E.J on the ground. As soon as he found his footing, he punched me in the stomach before I could stop him. I didn't feel anything, but I acted like I did.

I dramatically fell to the ground. "Ah, he hit me! Oh my God, he hit me!"

E.J didn't care about my yelling he jumped on me and continued to hit me. I raised my arms to block his small fists. While I was being attacked, Rosa and my mom stood by and recorded it on their phones. I know who not to call if I get in a fight.

The front door opened. "Hello! Is anyone home?"

"Papa." E.J immediately stopped hitting me and ran to the door. My mom followed close behind him. "Papa!" I heard him scream.

I stood up, and went into the living room. My Dad stood in the entryway, his luggage laid on the ground next to him. He pulled E.J into his arms and gave him a tight hug, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

It's almost as if he doesn't age. Every time he goes on a work trip, I expect him to look different when he comes home, but he never does. He's always stood tall, and had gray hair. No evident wrinkles or sudden health problems, he's always just been...the same.

"Where's my other boy?" he asked looking around for me.

"I'm over here, Dad." He gave me a hug and a pat on the back. He even smells the same, like Burberry cologne and old books.

"It's my turn," said my Mom. I moved to the side so she could hug him too. My dad gave her a kiss on the mouth, and then pressed a kiss to her forehead for good measure.

"Papa, I missed you so much," said E.J wrapping his arms around his neck.

"I've missed you too." My Dad's eyebrows scrunched together as he took in E.J's hair. "Did you do something different to your hair, E.J?"

"Bubby's girlfriend put it up for me!" E.J explained. He shook his head back and forth swinging his ponytail.

"You and Whitney are back together?" he asked surprised.

"No, uh, my lab partner Nia came over today," Marcus explained. "We're just friends."

"No, she's your girlfriend," E.J insisted. "And she's my girlfriend too, so you have to share." My mom hid a smile behind her hand.

Great more competition.

"Oh," he said still slightly confused. "Is she still here? It would be rude of me not to introduce myself."

"No, she's not here. She just left actually," I said.

"She went to the Ross'," Mom added.

"Ah, that's too bad," he said. "Well, maybe I'll get to meet her next time."

"Maybe."

"Is dinner almost ready, I'm starving."

***

I toyed with my phone nervously as I sat on the edge of my bed. I had snuck back to my room after dinner, I wasn't really in the mood to watch Disney movies tonight. Staring down at my phone, I tried to formulate a text to send to Nia. I can't remember the last time I was this nervous about texting a girl.

Taking a deep breath, I typed,

Sorry for not texting you earlier, my dad came home and he wanted to hang out. I hope you got home safely

I peeked through my blinds to see if her car was still parked in Lavender's driveway. As I expected her car was gone.

I felt a vibration in my hand, and my heart lurched into my throat. Her text read,

It's okay, I got home a few hours ago.

She thinks I'm a dumbass. Of course, she got home a few hours ago.

Oh, okay. E.J can't stop talking about you.

I can't stop thinking about you. But E.J suffers from diarrhea of the mouth and he couldn't stop talking about Nia during dinner. He kept calling her his girlfriend. I let it go, because I don't think he knows what a girlfriend is.

Aw, he's so sweet. I had a lot of fun today. Thanks, for helping me study.

Anytime. Maybe you come over again sometime.

Of course, I'd be happy to hang out with you and E.J.

I would have to invite her over a day they weren't here. Maybe that's selfish of me, but I want her all to myself.

Tell your Mom thanks again for the copy of her book. Tasha is going to love it.

There was a light knock on my door. My Dad poked his head in to my room.

"Hey, are you busy?"

"Uh, no. I'm not." I sent one last text to Nia, before sitting my phone down next to me. Pulling in my desk chair over to my bed, my Dad sat down.

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing," he explained. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"It's been a week."

"Yeah, but you've seemed to get a new girlfriend in a week."

"She's not my—," My phone vibrated loudly against my leg. I immediately picked it up and read it.

Goodnight, Marcus.

I exhaled forgetting my Dad was even there.

He gave me a knowing look. "You were saying?"

What was I saying? Oh, "She's not my girlfriend?"

"No, but your mother told me you like her."

I can't trust anyone with secrets in this house. "I wonder what would make her tell you that."

"I may have asked her," he admitted. "But it was obvious, you looked like you wanted to throttle E.J every time he brought her up."

"You saw that?" I asked guiltily.

He chuckled. "Yes. But your brother seems to like Nia a lot. He told me something about her giving him a hair tie."

I laughed. "Yeah, she fell for the puppy dog eyes."

"Well, we've all fell victim to that once or twice. So tell me about her."

"She's beautiful, Dad. And smart. And funny. And kind. And fun." There's so many great things about her. "She's a Hufflepuff, but I can get past that."

My Dad smiled at me the corners of his eyes wrinkling slightly. "Is that the only deal breaker for you?"

"Yes."

"So are you dating...I don't know what you kids call it now."

"I haven't asked her out yet," I told him. "I'm going to, but there's this one thing."

He gestured for me to continue. "Sam likes her too, and I don't know what to do about it."

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"Well, no."

"That's the first thing you need to do," he advised. "What's the one thing your mother and I have always taught you."

"Communication is key," we said in unison.

"I know, but what if he gets mad." He is the one who told me about her, and that seems like a shady thing to do.

My dad shrugged. "He might, but better to tell him now than before things go any further. Sam's a good friend, you don't want to lose him over something as trivial as this."

I sighed. I'm going to talk to Sam as soon as I get to school on Monday. The sooner I get it over with the better.

"Thanks for the advice, Dad. I'll talk to him."

"And you'll ask Nia on a date?"

I laughed. "Definitely."

For the second time, E.J barged in without knocking. I'm ordering a new lock asap. He padded over to my father and sat in his lap.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously.

"We were just talking, E.J," my dad responded.

"Oh," he said unimpressed. "Papa, will you read me a story?"

"Of course, I will." E.J had taken his hair out of his ponytail, but he still wore the hair band around his wrist. My dad ran his hands through E.J's curly hair. "Do you want to help me, Marcus?"

"Sure." I don't know how I can help him read, but I can try.

"Bubby, you can only come if you're going to do the voices like Papa does."

"And what voices are those, E.J?"

"The monster voices."

"Oh, like these monster voices," I growled picking him up and throwing him over my shoulder. I stood from my bed to go to E. J's room.

"It's so good to be home," Dad laughed behind us.