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|| Chapter 22 ||

We pick up Maddie from the hospital late Sunday afternoon. My father and I share clipped words of apologies to each other before moving on from the topic completely. We picked up a late lunch and ate at the house on the patio.

Maddie is sitting between Harry and dad, her pink cast bright in the sunlight. She's in good spirits, the first thing she did when we picked her up was run over and hug me tightly with her good arm.

"I'm so sorry, Tess, I told them everything!" She had frantically told me and I just put an arm on her shoulder.

"I'm glad you're okay," I had said instead. She smiled up at me, a relieved look on her face before our brothers decided to tackle her into their arms, taking turns carrying her to the car.

Now all eight of us are sitting around the outdoor table, eating and talking to one another. I'm still eating less food because my stomach is not feeling one hundred percent back to normal. My phone has been going off every couple of minutes from friends asking how I'm doing but I ignore them. There's only one person who hasn't even tried to contact me.

"Explain something to me," Sebastian says and we all groan in return. "Guys seriously."

"No, rabbits don't lay eggs," Harry answers, picking up a piece of bread and throwing it in his mouth.

Sebastian glares at him, "Harry, if he's the Easter Bunny then why is he hiding eggs?"

My mother leans her head back into her seat and just stares at the sky through her sunglasses, "How did you graduate high school?"

"He used to cheat off me," Sophie mutters, taking a bite out of her chicken sandwich.

"Well at least you go to different colleges now," my mother mutters, not even acknowledging the before comment, taking a sip of her drink. "Now, let's talk July 4th it's next weekend and we still have a ton to do."

"No party this year, please," Harry moans, running a hand through his hair.

"Worried a crazy ex will run over your stuff with the lawn mower again?" Charlotte asks innocently, a grin on her face.

"That lawn mower repair cost me five hundred dollars, thank you very much," my father rolls his eyes.

Sebastian leans his arms on the table, putting his head in his hands, giving Harry an adorable grin, "Or scared that someone will set off a firecracker in your pocket again?"

I snort, keeping my head down, "Classic."

Harry glares at me in response, "You could have set me on fire."

"How about the time when you got hit in the face with a softball and had to go to the Urgent Care?" Sophie grins, glancing at Charlotte who has a sheepish smile on her face.

"I think my favorite was four years ago when he walked into the sliding glass door in front of everyone," my mother smiles sweetly at Harry.

"It's like a curse," Harry mumbles, throwing his head back against the chair.

My mother rolls her eyes, "Okay Drama Queen. Any how you know the drill, you're allowed to bring a few friends each, as long as you run them past me or your father. We're picking up Grandma and Grandpa from the airport on Friday and Aunt Jenna and Uncle Ian will get here Friday night with the cousins, everyone write that down somewhere, oh and..." she trails off mumbling the last part.

"What?" Sophie says, pulling her chair closer.

My mother mumbles loudly in response, her words still undecipherable.

My father looks at her with a raised eyebrow, "You're so dramatic, that's where he," dad points at Harry, "gets it from." Mom pouts, slouching in her chair. "Grandma Delilah and Grandpa Jacob are coming this year as well as Aunt Ingrid."

Sebastian stands up so fast that he knocks over his chair, "NO!"

"Why?"

"This is so not fair!"

"Can I not be here when they get here?"

"Why couldn't we have just forgotten to invite them like we do every year?"

All of us yell our disappointments at the same time. I sit up in my chair and put my feet on the ground, "I don't understand why you invite them when you don't even like being around them." My siblings voice their agreements.

My father raises one hand and we all simultaneously quieten down. "They're still family Tessy and I personally invited them."

Harry scoffs, leaning back in his chair.

"Question," Sebastian raises his hand in the air, "If Aunt Ingrid is coming can we not stop Aunt Jenna from punching her this time if she gets annoying?"

"Yes! We have like, six years worth of bets going on, it's only fair," I try to convince them.

My father gives us all a blank expression, clearly unamused by the drama between his twin sister and his sister-in-law. He looks at my mother, who shrugs, "I mean, I'm down."

"Yes!" Harry and Sebastian high five across the table.

My father just stares at my mother, she gives him an innocent smile, "What? I have like a hundred bucks riding on this from like three years ago."

"Why did I marry you?" he asks, rolling his eyes.

My mother gets up from her seat and stops next to him. She leans down and grabs his chin in between her hand, "Because I'm the best damn thing that happened to you." With that, she kisses him sweetly before pulling back and walking inside.

My father has a dazed look on his face as he shakes his head, a small smile pulling at the corners of his lips. I know that as the children we're supposed to be dramatic about our parents' PDA but they're just too damn perfect for each other we can't help but smile as we watch my father stare after our mother as she pours herself another glass of wine.

|| ✨ ||

We're all watching a movie together in the den, which my parents had turned into a real movie room with recliners a year ago. Maddie picked the movie since, you know she broke her arm and all so we're sitting here watching Camp Rock 2. I mean, not that any of the siblings are complaining.

"We can't back down! There's too much at stake!" Sebastian screams the lyrics along with the movie, making us all laugh.

My parents are both asleep with their heads resting against each other. Harry and Maddie started a popcorn war five minutes into the movie so there's popcorn all over the floor and Charlotte has been texting more than paying attention.

"If I'm being honest, I'm not shocked that Camp Star won, Tear It Down slaps hard, the other song sucks,"Sebastian points out almost an hour later as we watch in slow motion Demi Lovato's facial expression crumble.

"It's amazing how invested you are in this movie," Sophie comments from next to him, her phone in her hand as she types a message to someone.

"Shut up Soph!" Sebastian shushes her shoving a handful of popcorn in her open mouth.

My phone beeps suddenly.

Skate park, 15 mins, I'm picking you up. -Isaac

I roll my eyes, ignoring the text, not in the mood to deal with more people today. I curl up my legs, pulling the blanket around me tighter as I slowly start to fall asleep. The doorbell ringing wakes me up and I see Harry getting up and heading towards the door. I press the heel of my palms on my eyes, praying that it isn't Isaac at the door.

"Tess, it's for you," Harry mumbles quietly, walking back into the room, a shadow of a person following closely behind.

"Come on, let's go," I move my hands away from my face and stare at Drew silently. My siblings subtly watch our interactions and I can't help but think back to yesterday's conversation with Isaac in the car. His jaw is set, leaving him with a blank expression on his face, giving no emotions away.

The blanket slowly falls to the floor as I slide off the couch, tugging my hoodie down. "I thought Isaac was supposed to pick me up," not a question, just a statement. Well, things are clearly still tense from yesterday.

"I was closer," is his only reply as he says goodbye to my siblings, promising a half-asleep Harry that he would have me home before midnight. He walks up the stairs and I leisurely follow him, slipping on my converse and walking out the door.

Drew is already sitting in his car, the engine's rumble breaking through the quiet neighborhood. I've barely closed the door when he pulls down the driveway.

"How are you?" He asks, but the edge in his voice tells me that he's less concerned than he is frustrated.

I nod my head, staring out the window, "Fine." My mind flashes back to Isaac's statement from yesterday.

"It's pretty damn obvious that he's practically in love with you."

Drew's hands are holding the staring wheel so tight his knuckles are turning white. Yeah, that's the look of love all right.

"Can we cut the bullshit?" I ask, looking at him.

He sighs, his shoulders tensing as if he's preparing himself for something. "You scared me yesterday."

I raise an eyebrow, "Why does everyone keep saying that? Am I really that much of a problem child that you all think I can't survive on my own for a few hours."

He shakes his head and quickly looks over at me, "It's not that we don't trust you, it's that you're-."

"-unpredictable, yeah I've heard that enough too," I grumble.

"Tess, you aren't the kind of person who willingly goes to a party, and I, for one, have never seen you drunk...ever."

I throw my arms in the air, "So what? I needed to get away so I did, chapter closed."

"No, chapter back open, we're still talking," he replies throwing an arm out towards me.

"You weren't even there, you didn't hear what happened," I say, turning away so that I'm facing the mirror.

"I heard everything from-"

"No, you heard their side of the story," I cut him off.

"Then tell me yours," he replies, glancing over at me for a second.

His words stop me from saying anything else. I slowly go into the retelling of everything that happened yesterday before deciding to focus on a small portion of it. He sits quietly as we drive down the empty street. I take a deep breath, "Isaac. He-uh. He said something yesterday and it caught me off guard."

Drew risks a glance at my face but doesn't say anything more.

"He said that you like me, like, um-how do I say this? That you're like-and I'm using his exact words here, 'in love with me'-end quote." Suddenly the door handle has become very interesting to me so that I don't have to look at his reaction. Maybe if I just pull the handle I'll fall onto the road and die from sudden impact so that I won't have to continue this conversation.

"And you believed him?" His only response.

I let go of the handle and lift one leg onto the seat and hug it to my chest. "Well, I mean, as he is someone looking in at our friendship from the outside, it is concerning." He raises an eyebrow and I realize my mistake, "I mean, not that you're not great, any girl would be lucky to have you, you know that, I just want to make sure that we're still on the same page of 'never gonna happen'?"

The car jolts forward suddenly as he puts it in park. I hadn't even realized that we had gotten to the skate park and I can see our friends standing around, smoking and skating. Drew looks over at me, "Well I mean, now that you mention it," he trails off scratching the back of his head.

My eyes are wide and I can't tell if I'm actually shaking my head or my vision is just spinning but I feel my stomach fall.

He leans back in his seat watching my expression with furrowed eyebrows, His lips tug up in a smile as he rolls his eyes. "God you're so paranoid." He shifts himself towards the door and opens it climbing out as a laugh escapes him.

But before I can get out of the car he leans down and looks at me, "You're not that great." He taps the hood of his car and walks over to our friends, leaving me alone.

I grab my hoodie over my chest and breathe out a sigh of relief, "Oh thank God." I brush my hands through my short hair and climb our of the car when a sudden thought hits me. "Asshole."

Alyssa and Kendall are immediately at my side once I've shut the car door. "Okay what is this I'm hearing about you doing a backflip on stairs?"

"It wasn't on the stairs it was on the side of the stairs, and I'm just as shocked as you are," I chuckle nervously, still thinking about the car ride here. "Wait, who told you about that?"

Kendall bites her lip and looks over at Alyssa who has suddenly found the ground much more interesting than our conversation. "We, uh, overheard it," Alyssa shrugs.

I fold my arms over my chest, "From?"

"Brianna."

"Brianna? How?" I raise an eyebrow at them.

Kendall doesn't say anything just points over her shoulder with a grimace. My gaze flicks over to the group of guys that I noticed earlier when we first parked. Except one of them isn't a guy at all bit none other than Brianna, laughing her ass off at someone's joke. All the guys look pretty comfortable with her around... like she didn't break one of their closest friends' hearts.

"What is she doing here?" They both move to stand next to me as I slowly make my way towards the group. The only thoughts going through my head are the ones about how she called Drew last night to come get me.

Alyssa fluffs her hair distractedly, "Um, well she hung out with us last night after we found you, we all came here and just chilled."

"So now she's just back in the group?" I look at her and she shrugs one shoulder.

"I mean, she was nice last night," Alyssa says.

"Yeah and Drew seemed happy to have her around again," Kendall adds from the other side of me.

I clench my teeth, "Fantastic." I take a deep breath, coming to a stop in front of the guys.

"Tess! How are you feeling you little runaway?" Jesse comes over and slings an arm around my shoulder, jiggling me around.

"Like I'm going to throw up on you if you keep shaking me," I tell him with a sweet smile. I haven't felt nauseous since lunch. But it does the trick when he lets go of me quickly.

Drew is leaning against a pole with Brianna next to him and he's got a relaxed smile on his face. Isaac walks over with a cheeky smile on his face as he wraps an arm around my shoulder and hugs me to his side.

"What are you doing?" I ask quietly, patting him awkwardly on the back.

"Trying to prove a point," he says into my hair.

Curiosity gets the better of me, "And would that point be how much of an idiot you are?"

A laugh escapes him as he leans back to look at me, "Good one."

I tilt my head, "Didn't know I was joking." He pushes a piece of hair behind my ear and I instinctively lean back, a weirded out expression on my face, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Is he looking?" I want to ask who he is referring to but sadly I already know the answer and when I do look over his shoulder, Drew's posture is still relaxed against the pole and the smile on his face hasn't left his face but it's his fingers that draw my attention. They're holding onto the pole but his knuckles are slowly turning white from how tightly he must be gripping it.

I hit Isaac in the stomach and shove him away from me, subtly enough that the others don't pay attention to us. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What I told you he liked you, I just needed to give you proof," he backs away, raising his hands in surrender.

"You're an idiot."

"You've stated that, many, many times but I'm not wrong," he smiles, tapping the tip of my nose with his finger.

I grab his finger so fast and twist it slightly, "Don't. And trying to make someone jealous is a pretty shitty thing to do. Even for you." He doesn't seemed phased by the pain he should be feeling right now so I let go of his finger.

He scoffs, grabbing his chest in mock hurt. A smile lights up his face as he leans closer to my ear, "Tessa, babe, why do you think Brianna's here right now?"

I turn my head and narrow my eyes at him, slowly calculating in my head. "What do you know?" I demand.

He smirks, folding his arms across his chest. He wriggles his eyebrows comically, "I thought I was an idiot?"

"You are," I don't miss a beat, "But, you're an idiot with intel, so spill."

Isaac chuckles, shaking his head, letting a strand of black hair fall into his eyes. He lifts an arm out for me, "Let's take a walk, shall we, m'lady?"

"I'm not your lady," I state as I walk past him, letting him follow me away from the group. He says something to them, that gets a few laughs from the boys, before walking after me.

He stretches his arms over his head, grinning, "You know, you could play along, it's fun riling up the guys."

I sit down on one of the ramps, stretching one leg out in front of me and curling the other to my chest. "Don't you mean guy?

He looks up at the sky, the smile still on his face, "If only."

This news startles me, "What?" I shake my head, "You know what, I don't care right now. Why did you say that about Brianna?"

Isaac moves so that he's standing next to me and sits down. "Remember that night we tagged Brianna's car?" I nod my head in response. "Right and Drew was there and he said something like 'you're the only person he feels comfortable talking about this too', or whatever?" I nod my head again. "Well, I did some thinking and what on God's green earth would he not feel comfortable talking about with his chick best friend. And then it hit me," he trails off for no reason, looking into the distance.

I nudge his arm, "This is not a movie, Isaac, no need for the suspense."

He rolls his eyes playfully and shoves me to the side, "As I was saying, and then it hit me. The one thing he can't talk about with you is his feelings." I open my mouth to protest because Drew's cried in front of me before and if that's not a show of emotions then I don't know what is. Isaac sees the look on my face and holds up a hand, stopping me, "His real feelings, Tess. Why do you think Brianna and him are still friendly with each other? I mean, from what I've heard she dumped him out of nowhere with no explanation but they're still trusting each other with secrets?"

"He's a trusting person," I answer, looking over at Drew who is now standing with an arm around Jesse as they jump around the skate park for unknown reasons.

"That's bullshit," Isaac breaks my attention on Drew so I focus back on him. "He hates me."

That gets my attention, "You're joking right? He invites you everywhere we go, even his graduation party, when we knew you for like a week."

"Because he's a nice guy, Tess but not a trusting one." My facial expression must amuse him when he laughs, "I thought you knew everything? People call you the Sleuth for crying out loud, guess you must be off your game."

"I'm never off my game, this just...new territory," I snap back before trailing off.

"Right well, he only invites me places so that he can keep an eye on me because for some reason, you let me get close to you without beating me up, which apparently is uncommon for you."

"You're not a threat or an option for me if we're being completely honest," I tell him seriously, watching his facial expression.

He snaps his fingers in my face, "And that, is why I enjoy your presence. Also it's fun to piss you off sometimes and I know I'm an asshole but so are you." His grin makes me laugh.

Someone has started playing music off their phone