hey guys, let's talk about how i decided to die for another month and not update bECAUSE I. AM. A. HORRIBLE. HUMAN.

jk, but no really, anyways i wanna apologize but this happens all the time now and honestly you guys signed up for this so hA YOU'RE STUCK WITH ME 

Vote - Comment - Share (If you wanna but I'd appreciate it if you did. But you don't have to. But please do.)

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Thalia Lively

I looked out the window beside me as I held my phone in front of me, seeing the sun peak out from the darkened clouds. The sun rays shot down to the ground and brightened up the day, finally pushing the usual stormy sky away for a while. It caused a small smile onto my face, and brought me into an easeful state.

I continued looking out of the window as I spoke to him. "So uh, thing one and two somewhat snuck into my class this morning, just to ask me if I knew where you were." I chuckled as I thought of this morning. "The guys apparently have been looking for you all day, did they end up finding you?"

He chuckled at my starting statement and I swear on everything, his small laughs are the cutest but also the sexiest thing ever. How is that even possible? "No, they haven't found me but I've spoken to Carter already." He answered my question.

"Is everything okay? What happened?" I asked mostly out of worry than curiosity.

He paused for a second and I could hear his car come to a stop as I assume he's at a stop light. "Yeah I mean, things could be better but it is what it is. I'll hopefully explain once I see you?" He said and my heart skipped a beat, not gonna lie. "I know you probably don't want to see me after how I spoke about you and to you, but it was a worth a shot to ask."

"Um," I said and looked up at Riley, who could hear this whole conversation since it was still on speaker. She nodded her head eagerly and held a huge smile on her face which caused me to hesitate but then I remembered how much I want to see him. I started weighing my options and I personally, think I should just let it go.

"I'm with Riley and we're about to leave some café, how soon do you think you'll be back here by?" I asked, causing Riley to bounce up and down in excitement.

"I'm twenty minutes away— hold on." He paused and I could hear him shuffling around in his car. "I'm at Starbucks, do you or Riley want anything?" He asked and it took Riley .2 seconds to lean over the table and take my phone out of my hands.

"I mean if you're offering, who am I to pass that down? That would be rude, wouldn't it?" She said and I shook my head at her, a smile growing across my face as I heard him agree with her strongly, playing along with her. "Two Mocha Frappuccino's."

"Oh no, I don't want anything." I said, making sure he heard me too.

"Yes she does, she's only saying that because she's too humble to accept the gesture." Riley said and I went to hit her but she moved away with a smile on her face.

"Two Mocha Frappuccinos, anything else?" I heard him say and I took my phone back before Riley ordered the whole store.

"No, um that's all. Thank you, now can you hurry up and take me away from this thing." I waved my hand around to Riley even though he couldn't see me, clearly meaning it as joke causing him to laugh. Riley leaned over and puckered her lips towards me and I acted fast enough, pushing her face away from me and keeping it at a safe distance.

"I'll meet you at your house?" He asked then started talking to a Starbucks worker I'm assuming, which made me wait until he was done.  "Okay back, sorry."

"Don't worry about it, and yeah my house is good. Come over whenever." I said shyly and I looked at Riley who started fan-girling over us.

"I'll see you soon." He said, his voice sending chills throughout my body. It sent a wave of goosebumps to cover my arms and I wasn't sure if I was okay with the effect he had on me. I knew about the hold he has me on me for a while now, I would obviously deny it at all costs but I couldn't hide it from myself. At this point, I'm not sure what to do, I mean I've never been in this situation before.

A boy situation, that is.

I've never even had a boyfriend, so I don't know how this going to work. All I know is, I also can't hide that I'm starting to love this unknown effect of butterflies. I also know that I wanna see him sooner rather than later, I somewhat— sort of, miss him.

"Bye Nathan!" Riley said loudly.

"Bye Riley." He chuckled.

And with that we ended the call and suddenly I was being pulled out of my seat. "Wha—"

"Hurry, we have to go to your house! He's close by so I doubt it'll take him long to get to us." Riley said hurriedly as she collected her stuff and I did the same as I realized she was right. We basically ran off to the car, causing me to smile. Okay, today was starting to be a good day, so far.

As soon as we were buckled into my Jeep and out of the café parking lot, Riley's phone rang. I stopped at the red light and looked over to see Emmett's name covering her screen, and now it was my turn to invade in her boy situation.

I grabbed her phone out of her hands and answered quickly. "Hello?" I said, hitting Riley's hands away from me as she tried taking her phone back.

"Thalia?"

"Yup, that's my name." I answered, and put the phone on speaker and put it beside my leg furthest from Riley since I had to continue driving. She eventually gave up and just let me talk, leaning into her seat.

"Oh hey, how have you been? I haven't seen you for a while." He said, starting off with a friendly conversation.

"I've been doing okay I guess, you?" I engaged into the conversation as well. I'm starting to realize that I haven't even talked to Emmett that much, if not at all. If he was going to make moves on Riley, he's going to have to be approved by me first.

"Same old, same old. The daily job of babysitting Ethan and Austin, I swear it gets harder by the day." I laughed at his statement and nodded my head agreeing with him, those two are something else, but in the greatest way.

"Hey uh, later Riley and I are going to the movies, do you wanna come?" I asked him, trying my best not to look at Riley as I did so.

"Yeah I'm down, do you want the guys to come too?" He asked.

"Yeah sure, the more the merrier!" I said excitedly while turning the corner and reaching my house.

"Okay cool, text me when you guys are going. Oh and, tell Riley I said hi." I melted at the last part, then bid him goodbye for the time being. I finally dared to look over at Riley who was only centimetres away from my face as she gave me a blank stare.

"So uh, Emmett says hi." I said while sliding her phone back to her.

"Since when we were planning on going to the movies later?" She asked me while we both got out of the car.

"Since a minute ago." I answered as I locked the door and started walking up my driveway with her behind me. "I still can't believe you danced with him, you guys were getting pretty freaky from what I saw. " I teased her while looking back, only to see her already reaching over to hit me.

"No we weren't!" She said while starting to blush, what a cute human being.

"You wish you were though." I laughed as I entered the kitchen. I set my bag down on a chair and gave Nonna a kiss on the cheek as she cooked away.

"How are both of your days going so far?" Nonna asked Riley and I, not looking our way since she was too focused on her masterpiece. She wore a black apron that was a little too big on her since she had such a small frame but Nonna can look good in anything. Riley began answering her question and started rambling about how her science teacher ruined her day by giving her a low mark on her test.

"Your day is gonna get better soon." I winked at her and she covered her face with her hands, attempting to hide her smile and blush.

"I hate you." She said but I knew she meant the opposite. Emmett better give 200% to this girl or I swear on everything, he won't live to see another day. To me, Riley deserves everything right in the world, just look at her being all adorable while she blushes.

Nonna smiled at us knowingly, then nodded her head towards me. "What about you? Did you have a good day? Tell me everything." I laughed out loud at the way she said the last part and shook my head amusingly at her.

"My day was good, getting better by the minute. How was yours?" I asked Nonna while shutting off my phone since it kept buzzing. I'll answer whoever it was after, I wanna hear her answer first since that was way more important.

"The usual, daily chores around the house. I went for a walk since the sun finally decided the make an appearance today. My day was good overall." She smiled at me and I nodded at her weather statement. The sun really did disappear for the longest time, but that's just how winter is in Canada I suppose.

She went back to cooking and I finally looked at my phone, already getting excited to see the messages when I saw it was all from the group chat.

Fuck Bitchez Get Money

Riles
Movies @ 7:30

Austin
I'm down, my day has been horrible and I need to get away from this idiot

Ethan
You can't get away from me, I'm coming too

Austin
CAN YOU JUST GO AWAY

Ethan
Guys he's just mad because the girl he likes asked for my number instead :):):)

Austin
You had your hood on, I'm sure she wouldn't have asked you if she saw your whole ugly face

Ethan
*12 year old voice* haters are my motivators

Austin
You're so annoying

Ethan
That's not what she saying when she asked for my number ;)

Riley and I both starting laughing incredibly loud as we read through the messages.

"Ah, I can't wait to see them." Riley said while shaking her head at her phone with a smile on her face.

I hummed in agreement and got up while grabbing my bag. "Come on, let's go upstairs, I need to get out of these jeans." I said while starting to walk to the stairs and she followed me willingly. Riley flew on top of my bed the second we entered my room and I laughed when the second she landed, she bounced off the edge and fell off.

"That's what you get for jumping on my bed, I'm gonna have to remake it now, you know how Nonna is." I uttered, while picking out an outfit for the rest of the day. I ended up with the plain adidas sweatpants and a white crop top in my hands, and a disappointed Riley in front of me.

"This is what I'm wearing and you're going to accept it. Okay? Okay." I said while going to the bathroom and changing quickly, desperately wanting to take these tight jeans off. These definitely weren't my size anymore, or maybe living with Nonna just comes with the consequence of gaining weight. It really doesn't help that she loves to cook twenty-four-seven.

"Did you hear the announcements this morning? About um, the girls soccer team tryouts?" Riley said as soon as I came out of the bathroom.

"Yeah." I answered while cleaning up my room a bit. Once I was done, I looked up at her and sighed. "Just say it already."

"Are you going to tryout?" She asked hesitantly.

"First of all, you don't have to hesitate to talk about soccer and stuff like that. I mean, I know it is a touchy subject for me but how much longer am I going to cling onto the past that doesn't exist anymore?" I said while sitting on my bed while she sat on my desk chair. "Clearly a long time since I haven't let go yet." I chuckled, lightening up the mood a little which caused her tense shoulders to drop and smile at me.

"My mom, uh, showed me videos last night of when she was younger. Apparently we've always lived near your grandma, so my mom just happened to be close with your mom. I saw your mom in the video and I recognized her from the picture you keep on your nightstand." She nodded her head towards my nightstand and I looked over to see a picture of my family. I looked back towards her, wanting to listen to what she has to say. "They were playing soccer, they were on the same team when they were in high school. I never even knew my mom played sports." She scoffed and I laughed softly at her which caused her to look up from the floor and smile at me.

"Huh, so we're the second generation of the Lively and Carson bond." I said and she nodded.

"Yup, except you followed the soccer tradition and I can't play any sports to save my life." She joked and I cackled.

"I think you should tryout, maybe having you on the school team will actually get us somewhere in the league. Don't get me wrong, they're good and all but they're led by Megan." She said distastefully and I furrowed my eyebrows at her.

"I thought you and Megan were friends?" I questioned.

"We are but I've seen Megan rule the team first hand, I feel bad for those girls. She's really controlling and uptight sometimes, I just feel like she's the reason the team isn't doing well. They don't work as a unit." She shrugged and I nodded my head at this new information.

"I don't know, we'll see what happens." I said shrugging, not closing the door completely on the idea of joining the team which caused her to smile widely at me.

"Well—" Riley was cut off by Nonna's laugh coming from downstairs. We both narrowed our eyes at each other and then looked at the door suspiciously.

"Is someone here?" She asked me and once I heard a certain husky laugh, my eyes practically popped out of their sockets.

"Nathan. We forgot about Nathan, he's here! It's him, I know it is, oh god—" I started pacing and she grabbed me by the shoulders and held me in place.

"All we heard was a laugh, that could be anyone." She tried comforting me.

"I know that particular laugh from anywhere, he's here." I said to her and started getting nervous, since when did I get nervous over shit like this? "I'm getting tired, tell the guys I couldn't make it to the movies." Midway of walking towards my bed, she caught grip of my shirt and started pulling/dragging me out of my room.

"Don't be rude, hasn't anyone taught you that you have to go greet your guests?" She playfully scolded me as if she was an elder who was judging my lack of respect.

"Yeah and to be honest, I always have and always will hate greeting guests. Especially the really old people or the new people that say they've known me for years but I have no idea who they are. Those are the worst kind." I said while slipping out of her grip and making it halfway down the hallway before she grabbed my arm.

"You're being childish, stop it. I know you've been dying to talk to him again." She said while giving me a pointed look.

"Whaaaat, no." I said extending the 'A' in what.

"I'll drag you down these stairs—"

"Thalia! Riley!" Nonna's voice flew with the air and up to where we stood making us both jump.

"Ha, now you have to go down." Riley smirked at me and I made a face at her before taking my arm back from her grip.

"You go first." I said, waiting for her to walk in front of me.

"Do you think I'm stupid?—"

"Yes." I answered her before she could finish the rest of her sentence.

"— because I'm not, I know you're going to turn back so you're going first." She said disregarding my answer and pushing me forwards.

I took a deep breath and finally listened to her, but I did take my time down the stairs, which resulted in her pushing me once we got near the end, which then caused me to turn around and hit her back. His voice was faint from where we stood but I could still hear it coming from the kitchen, which made me stop in my tracks. It made Riley however happily walk over to the kitchen, ready to greet him. At least one of us wasn't having a heart attack— well, for now, I can't wait until we meet up with Emmett.

"Hey, Nathan." I heard Riley say and I decided to just go in. I walked into the kitchen, at first avoiding his gaze and sitting on a chair opposite of him. I couldn't look at him for long once he started speaking again.

"Hey Riley, sorry I'm a little late. The Starbucks run was for my mom so I had to go drop off her order first." He explained and I looked up at him, and then to Riley who waved him off and sat down enjoying her drink. He seemed to also have got Nonna something since she also held a Starbucks bag, probably with snacks.

He then pushed my drink towards me and I managed to give him a small smile. "Thank you." I said while taking a sip. Why am I so shy all of a sudden? Can these nerves just go away, I'm getting irritated with myself.

Nonna left the kitchen in a blink of an eye and Riley shortly followed, obviously giving me a teasing look before she left, which would've caused an eye roll from me but since Nathan was staring at me, I decided to hold it back. I met his gaze and I could swear on everything his eyes got lighter somehow. Some days they're a darker green, but today they're way brighter.

"So, are you doing okay?" I asked him, he must have had a reason for his sudden break from everyone, I just hope everything is back into place now though.

"Yeah, don't worry about me." He started off by saying and I was about to get the feeling he wasn't going to reveal anything to me but I was definitely proven wrong when he continued. "My dad and I have never exactly been on good terms, we always fight even over the littlest things. Last night it was just worse than all of our other arguments, so I decided to leave before one of us took it too far. Well no, my mom stopped us and told me to calm down and I couldn't calm down there." He shrugged and got up from my seat and sat closer since I was pretty far away from him.

"I'm sorry to hear that." I said firstly. "But where did you go?" Since he didn't go to any of the guys, where did he go?

"My cousin lives just out of this town, he's never home since he works all day and goes to school so I crashed at his place. Then I went to the gym to get my mind off of everything, which is when you called me." He sent me a small smile and I returned it. He must have way more than on his plate though, I couldn't forget about the James situation. Someone is 'getting out' on January 30th and is coming for Nathan in particular, clearly that person must be in prison.

"Did you even go home at all?" I asked, changing the topic since I was the getting feeling that was as much as he was going to go into detail for the moment. I looked at his attire which consisted of basketball shorts and a black t-shirt. "Okay today was a good day but it's still winter you know, why are you wearing shorts?" I exclaimed, with my eyes wide.

"It was hot in the gym." He shrugged and I shook my head at him disapprovingly. Just as I was about to criticize his clothing choice some more, he spoke before I could. "I'm sorry." He said, looking down for a brief moment.

"Huh?" I replied, being taken back.

"I'm sorry for what I said that night and everything after that. It's just James is not someone you want to see often, but you always seem to be around when he shows up. I needed to get you off of his radar before he payed more attention to you." He explained and I leaned back in my seat, turning it to face him.

"Who is he really?" I asked the question I've been wanting to know for the