We had finally gotten to Lukes, I went with Luke while Charlie took her own car, usually, she would come with us but she had cheer practice for the first big game coming up and therefore decided she'd just go straight there from Luke's. I would just go back with mom and Robert.

As soon as we walk inside I run to Miles's room to jump on him and wake him up. He was still sleeping from the no doubt late-night party he had attended last night.

"Miles," I sing happily as I jump on him, making him stir slightly in his sleep.

"Miles wake upppp," I yell in his ear and hear him groan.

"Little E, you weigh nothing and if you wanted to wake me up jumping on me is probably the least effective way," he mumbles into his pillow. I pout.

"Oh come on, it's like 12:30," I state rolling off him and lying beside him.

"Great, I don't have to be awake for roughly 7 hours," he groans.

Seriously?!

"Everyone is coming over for lunch, my mom and Elijah will be here soon," I try again hopefully. He had always loved my mom almost as much as he did Elijah and I.

"Okay okay, I'm getting up" He finally gives in crawling out of bed. He was wearing a T-shirt and boxes, presumably leftover from last night. His hair was a mess and he smelt heavily of puke and alcohol.

"Come find me when you clean up," I request standing up and walking out of his room to let him get ready. He looked terrible, he has to know how much it would kill Maddi to see him like this.

Sighing I walk back into Luke's room and lie down beside Charlie while Luke is nowhere to be seen, probably getting dressed.

"Did you wake up Miles?" Charlie smiles at me.

"Yeah, he looks gross, he needs to stop partying so much," I roll my eyes.

She looks at me sadly for a moment, I can see she is about to say something but she pulls back the last second before she just resorts in smiling.

"We should probably go help Mel and David," Charlie says standing up, I groan dramatically but join her as we giggle and walk downstairs.

"Hey Mel, how can we help?" I ask happily as soon as I see her and give her a hug.

"Hello girls, you look beautiful," Mel smiles as she hugs Charlie, "Would you guys just mind setting the table, David and I have the rest sorted."

We nod instantly and get to work.

"Who are these beautiful girls in my dining room?" We hear a voice from behind us.

I turn around and smile brightly when I see David, I absolutely adored David and I knew Charlie felt the same. After all these years, he and Mel were still so in love and it has always been amazing to see.

David was a huge help in my house before we had Robert, he would do anything for anyone, he was just that sort of guy.

Beaming, I run over to him and give him a hug, joined quickly by Charlie.

He chuckles and hugs us back, "alright girls I better go back into the kitchen and help the boss," he winks.

We laugh with him as he enters the kitchen to help Mel.

We continue to do the table before I hear another set of heavy footsteps.

"Miles you're clean," I enthuse sarcastically, he rolls his eyes jokingly at me and Charlie just laughs.

"Hey Charlie," he smiles politely, she waves back. Charlie was another person that he had pushed away, now it was polite between the two, but not friendly or carefree.

"I missed you little E," Miles smiles ruffling my hair.

"Hey, I just did that," I glare jokingly at his tall frame.

He smiles cheekily at me in return.

I briefly hear the doorbell ring and then see Mel and David rush to the door to welcome our first guest before Luke comes into view.

"Here you guys are," Luke's strained voice calls, assumably because Miles was also here. Miles looks at Luke and matches his uncomfortable expression.

"I'm going to go get a drink," Miles says before smiling at me.

"Really, it's 1:00," Luke replies rolling his eyes.

Oh no.

"Fuck off man," Miles warns.

Oh shit.

"No, for fuck sake Miles, grow up. I get you miss her but news flash, we fucking all do, how do you think Em or her family feel. You're not the only one that lost her, and you're definitely not the only one who's lost someone they loved," Luke yells frustratingly.

Oh fuck.

"You have no fucking idea what you're on about, so fuck off before someone fucks up your perfect little life," Miles states calmly before he grabs a whole bottle of bourbon from the house bar, makes a point of taking a huge swig of it in Luke's face and then storming back up to his room.

I sigh and look down, I knew Luke had his best interest at heart but he shouldn't have called him out, not when I had finally gotten him out of his room, and definitely not in front of me.

My thoughts are cut off when I hear Mel's strained voice from behind me; "I'm sorry you had to witness that."

I turn around so fast I almost throw up when I see Mel, with Angela, Aiden, and the girls. I had hoped and prayed more than anything that they didn't just hear that whole encounter but my prayers seem to have failed when I notice the surprised look on Angela and the girl's faces, and Aidens patronizing eyes fixated on me, also surprised.

I gulp and attempt to smile even though I feel sick to my stomach. "Hi guys," I manage.

"Hello dear," Angela smiles, quickly recovering and opening her arms up for a hug. I hug her, relaxing a little in her kind embrace before I bend down to give the girls a hug which they shyly return. Next was Aiden. I take a deep breath and reach up to give him a hug in greeting.

I purposely aim to hug him around his neck so I can say something. I stand on my tippy toes and put my arms around his neck, he hesitantly puts his arms around my waist which pulls us flush together. Ignoring the butterflies in my stomach I whisper in his ear; "don't ask."

I couldn't deny the pleasure my body felt from being this against him, I could literally feel his abs through his shirt, and he could no doubt feel every inch of myself. It made this position a lot more pleasurable than I had hoped for or accounted for.

I would never hug him that intimately if I hadn't needed to make whispering in his ear look as natural as possible and not bring any further curiosity to his family. He seems to understand what I mean because just before he releases me he whispers back; "later."

"And who is this young lady?" Angela smiles walking to stand beside me so she can gesture to Charlie.

"This is Charlie, my cousin, and Luke, my best friend and Mel, and David's son," I introduce.

Charlie and Angela greet before she turns back to Luke again; "It's nice to see you again Luke."

Of course she knows him, he had been an untouchable once before. Charlie doesn't seem the least bit surprised that they knew each other, she had obviously known Luke used to be in their group seeing as they attend the same school.

Before anyone can make any more comments I hear my mom's sweet voice, easing the tension seeing as Angela and Mel were meeting through her.

"Angela, I'm so glad you could come," my mom beams, obviously happy as she gives everyone a hug.

"Thank you so much for inviting me Rebecca, I've already met Mel, David, Luke and Charlie" Angela replies smiling at each person she names.

"Where is Miles?" Elijah asks loudly coming to stand beside me.

Oh shit, I forgot about him for a second.

"I'll go," David smiles sadly, referring to see if he can get Miles back.

"Wait," Mel stops him, "I think it would be best if Em went, she's the only one that will be able to get him down here," Mel says regretfully, looking at me as if asking if it was okay.

"Yeah you're right, do you mind Em?" David asks me, Mom looks sad, obviously having figured out the baselines of what may have happened while all the Blacks looked extremely confused.

"No of course not," I reply instantly, I would have gone anyways because they're right when they said I would be the only one able to get through to him, I mean it was possible that Elijah would also be able to get him, but he probably wouldn't know what to say, but I was also just grateful to get away from Aiden's curious, but observant stare.

I quickly walk towards Mile's room and knock on the door; "Fuck off dad," Miles replies hastily, obviously thinking that David would be the one sent to make things right.

"That's not a very nice way to speak a lady," I say as I open his bedroom door and enter.

He looks at me and smiles, he was once again standing in front of a window, taking gulps of the bourbon in his grasp. "Sorry little E, I didn't know it was you."

"That's okay," I sit on the edge of his bed and have to hold back the tears when I see lot's of pictures of Maddi on the wall, some only of her, others with us, but most with just the 2 of them. I don't know why I didn't notice them this morning, I had known they were there but still never liked seeing them.

Miles moves his body so he was still looking out the window, but still paying attention to me.

"Hey Miles," I start sadly, he looks at me, "Maddi would hate to see you like this, I don't know why you do it to yourself."

Miles sighs and moves to sit beside me, "She'd hate to see me like this Em, but she'd hate it even more if she knew how much I struggled every day. Drinking, partying, they're the only things that make me feel alive, that make me forget."

"She loved you so so so much, and she would want you to move on, even if it meant with someone else. Seeing you like this, it would kill her all over again." I whisper after a minute, I knew he would never lash out at me, I was never afraid of that. I could say whatever I wanted and he'd never lash out, but I wanted him to understand.

"I know, but Em, some love can't be replaced, if I ever was with a new girl I would never really be able to love her the way I loved your sister, it wouldn't be fair to anyone. One day I hope more than anything else that you'll meet someone and you'll fall so deeply in love with them that you'll understand what I mean when I say that. I hope your love story ends a different way than mine did, but it's my fondest hope for you that you'll love someone, and be loved in return the same way Maddi and I loved each other." Miles smiles sadly.

A lone tear falls out of my eye and I lean my head against Mile's shoulder. I didn't have to see him to know he was also crying. As selfish as it was, a part of me was glad at the sincerity in his voice, it was nice to know that he would never be able to replace my sister, and that he wouldn't even try.

"Just promise me that you'll try to slow down on partying, for her sake." I sigh after a minute.

"I promise little E."

"Elijah and my mom are here, come down for lunch?" I suggest, hoping he feels a little better with Luke.

"Alright, let's go," Miles smiles at me as we quickly clean our tear-streaked faces up and begin the short walk downstairs to where all the voices were coming from.

"Miles!!" Elijah yells excitedly running over to our direction, Miles chuckles and hugs Elijah who was getting taller every day.

"Hey Eli, how ya been?" he asks smiling at my younger brother, making myself smile. I look at everyone and see that everyone had arrived now and were looking at us curiously. My mom stands up as soon as she sees Miles and walks towards us.

"Good, I got an A on my English exam" Lij smiles proudly, like myself Lij was extremely smart but unlike me, had always had trouble in English, English was by far my best subject whilst maths was my worst but Elijahs best, I still got an A but I had never understood it as naturally as I had English, why put numbers and letters together?!

"Nice," Miles says fondly.

"Hi sweetie," my mom smiles, Miles instantly smiles at my mom and gives her a huge hug.

"I've missed you Bec," Miles smiles at my mom.

"I've missed you, how was Europe, oh wait, we have an audience so tell me the details later," my mom winks, Miles jokingly salutes and my mom laughs before they make their way to the rest of the crowd.

"Hi everyone," I smile, directing my greeting to the newcomers such as my aunt and uncle, and Tiffany and her family. As well as all the other girls, Tiffany had been glaring at me for past few weeks. She was actually the scariest if I'm being honest.

Tiffany looks me up and down unimpressed and I feel weak under her glare. Aiden comes to stand beside me while the adult's chat and Tiffany instantly perks up, noticeably pushing her boobs closer together. Seriously? We're at a family lunch, not a party.

She was wearing a black dress that left nothing to the imagination, she was also wearing an obvious push up strapless bra with her hair straight and makeup was done like she was going for a photoshoot, how uncomfortable would that be?! I wasn't slut shaming her or anything because trust me when I say that the whole slut shaming thing is one of my biggest hates, but I was in all honesty just stating what I saw.

I mean, if she was comfortable like that then you do you and I'm not judging you, but speaking from experience, I couldn't understand for the life of me why she would CHOOSE to wear the stuff she does and apply the mask of makeup every day. How time-consuming?! I need that extra hour of sleep!!

I hadn't had the chance to notice what Aiden was wearing but wasn't surprised when I saw his usual jeans and leather jacket, the only difference being a greyish colored short-sleeved dress shirt instead of his usual plain T that showed off every muscle in his glorious body.

"Hi booboo," Tiffany greets Aiden when she sees him, completely disregarding me.

I bite my lip, stopping myself from laughing at the cringy nickname and Aiden obviously notices this because he smirks at my expression.

"I've missed you, you haven't come around for a while, why don't we change that tonight?" She tries, pushing herself closer to Aiden.

The action takes me back to mine and Aiden's bodies pressed against each other briefly, and I can't deny how right and good it felt.

Aiden pushes her gently off him and she pouts unattractively.

"Booboo, don't you like the way our bodies feel together?" she pouts dramatically.

Once again I bit my lip, another action that doesn't go unnoticed by a rather uncomfortable Aiden. I smirk as an idea comes into mind.

"You know what guys, you guys are so perfect and comfortable together that I don't blame you if you can't wait. I'm sure there is a room spare somewhere in here, you know, if you can't wait, actually better yet, why don't you guys go for a romantic walk outside, it's beautiful," Aiden instantly understand what I'm doing and glares at me while Tiffany actually thinks I'm helping their relationship.

With one last wink at Aiden, I walk over to the twins who were situated next to Angela to see if I can make them less nervous.

_________________

I love Miles!!!

I also love Luke!!!

But I ADORE Aiden!!!

I love you all so much, please don't hesitate to vote and comment, it honestly means so much.

- Jade xx