We reached home, vibing to the music, insulating each other, him flirting out of nowhere and me getting flustered.

Ugh. I need to learn how to flirt. That pighead can't go around, making me blush.

Pushing the door open, I yelled.
"We're home."

And we heard footsteps.

You guessed it right.

Will and Leo came to me hugging the life out of me and muttering things, like how they were so worried and wanted nothing more than to torture Zack for keeping me away for so long.

I tried to push them away.
"I missed you too, but if you don't release your death grip on me, you'll miss me forever." I said, as they finally let go and I took deep breaths.

"Did he treat you well?" Leo asked, glaring at Zack.

"Yes, Leo." I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you roll your eyes, little girl."

Who's that?
Duh.

"Okay Elonzo." I grinned at him, sweetly as his lips twitched up.

"Thanks for dropping her on time, Zack." He said, looking at Zack, who smiled and nodded.

"Thanks for letting us stay longer." He said, before shaking his hand.

Zack turned to me.
"See you at school." He said, kissing my forehead, much to Will's annoyance and walked out.

"Wash your face. We don't want his kisses on you." Will said, pushing me towards the stairs.

"Is Dad home?" I asked.

He works too much. He always comes late at night and leaves too early, after a rushed breakfast.

"No. He's working." Elonzo said.

"I'm fed up, you know. I'm tired of him working all the time." I grumbled.

"Don't worry. He'll be at home almost all the time, when Elonzo takes over." Will said.

My face fell.
'Then Elonzo won't have enough time to be home.'

Will and Leo left. Will had to cook, while Leo just wanted to play games.

"How was your day, baby?" Elonzo asked, coming forward towards me. I smiled.

"It was great." I said, wrapping my arms around him.

"That's good." He said. "Do you want to have dinner?"

"No. I'm full. We ate too much today." I chuckled.

"I got to know about your little act." He said, with amusement. "Don't you dare threaten the guards again."

"You lied, Elonzo." I said, before adding. "Go sit in the corner."

"Cheeky monkey." He grumbled, before picking me up and walking to the kitchen.

"So, Are you sure about this, baby? I can talk to Grandpa if you aren't comfortable or if he's not the right guy." He said, not looking at me.

"I'm sure, Elonzo. Do you really think I will let someone walk all over me or do something against my will?" I said, then added. "Except sitting in the corner, of course. You make me do that against my will." I pouted as his frown turned into an amused expression.

"But its you who break the rules, so its your fault." He shrugged, booping my nose.

"Its you who made those stupid rules, so its your fault." I retorted.

I don't mind sitting there, it gives him time off work and for us to spend some time. Although, I don't show it.

"Hey, everyone." I said, taking a seat.

"So, How was it?" Nathan asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"It was great." I said, smiling at him.

"Did he treat you right?" Ryder asked.

Before I could say anything, Nathan said,
"Its usually Zack who doesn't get treated well."

I laughed at that.
"Yep. That's true. Don't worry about me."

"Yeah right, girl-dude." Tyler rolled his eyes.

"Can I beat him now?" Luciano asked, looking at Elonzo.

"No. She still likes him." Elonzo said, in an almost disappointed tone.

I glared at them.
"Can you stop planning his murder?" I gritted.

"No?" Luciano said, looking confused.

I want to bang my head on the table.
"Ugh." I groaned, putting my head softly on the counter.

I don't want to get crazy after banging my head.

"I'm going to sleep. Goodnight." I said, before getting up and walking upstairs to my room.

After a long shower, I sat on my bed, wanting to call Max.

I wanted to tell Mom about this. I wanted to talk to her about my boyfriend.

'Get a boyfriend, you've grown up, Evvie.' She'd say, when she would get frustrated. She scolded me for scaring Kate's boyfriends away too.

Just then, my phone rang. I gulped.

I prepared for the lecture and picked up the phone.

Who am I kidding? I can never be prepared for this.

H-Hello?" I said, fearing whatever was about to happen. There was silence for a while.

"Kate?" I asked, cautiously. But how I wish, I didn't.

"WHAT THE HELL, EVVIE? YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DATE. ARE YOU SERIOUS?" She yelled at me.

"Uhh.. We didn't have much time to gossip and go into details. We need at least a day, right?" I asked, sweetly.

"NO. WE COULD HAVE HELPED YOU DRESS UP. WE COULD'VE GIVEN YOU SOME TIPS OR SOMETHING?"

That's the problem. I didn't want to dress up and gossip and tell every detail.

She won't be angry for long.

After some more minutes of her yelling and threating to strangle me,
"I'm sorry?" I said. She sighed then said,

"Okay, now tell me, how was it?" She squealed in excitement.

Phew.

"It was great." I said, smiling.

"Did you even let him treat you like a lady?" She asked, stifling a laugh.

"Kinda. Just how much we both could bear." I said, chuckling as Kate laughed too.

"You are adorable, you know." She said, softly.

"Really?" I asked, not believing it. I don't think, we even look like a couple.

"Yeah. You guys have solid chemistry. Believe me or not, Evvie, you two may look like the bad boy and the bad girl, but you look adorable together." She said. I smiled and my cheeks heated up.

"That's nice." I said as Kate started laughing.

"Bet you're blushing right now." She said.

"Ugh. No. Shut up. Bye. I need to sleep." I said, absolutely flustered.

"Yeah, right. Goodnight. Expect a scolding from the others too." She said and hung up.

"Ugh." I said, putting my head in my hands.

After some time of trying to get the sadness aside, I finally called Max.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"I'm missing Mom." I said, simply.

"Do you want me to come over?" He asked.

"No. It's alright." I said. I don't want to bother him.

"Mom would be proud, Evvie. Zack seems like the right guy. Besides, you have a lot of time to get ready, and decide if you want to get married or not." Max said, softly.

"I know, Max. That's what is bothering me. Mom always insisted I start having love interests. Now that I have a boyfriend, I don't have her." I said, my voice cracking at the end. "I know it sounds stupid and immature."

"Hey. Its not. She's always with you. Remember the story she told us. Just look at the stars and talk to her." He said.

I just hummed in response.

"I can come over, if you want me to." He said. I sighed.

"I'm fine, Max." I said. "You don't need to worry about it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." I said, chuckling a little.

"Don't fake it." He said, almost disappointed and my face fell. I'm surprised how he sees through me.

After arguing for a long time, we hung up. I managed to persuade him into not coming here.

Putting my phone aside, I laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. My door creaked open and Nathan stepped in.

"Are you okay?" He asked, coming over to me.

"Yeah? Why? What happened?" I asked, sitting up.

"I was just getting a bad feeling." He said, picking me up and hugging me. "You know, you don't have to hide anything from me."

"I miss her." I said, into his shoulder, as a tear slipped my eye.

"Mom?" He asked.

"Yeah. I don't know. I started feeling sad out of nowhere." I sighed, relaxing into his hold.

"Don't-" He was cut off by his phone ringing.

"Yeah?" He said, into the phone.

"I'm with her." Nathan chuckled, after sometime.
"Yeah. Of course." He said, after a pause.

"It was Max. He called to ask me to check on you." He said, as we both laughed.

"I'm grateful. We all are grateful he took care of you all these years." He said, as we laid down, with me hugging him to death.

I snuggled into him and drifted off.

-----------

"Hey, Evvie. Wake up." I heard someone say.

"No. Let me sleep." I whined. "Get out, before I throw a cactus on your head."

"Wake up, baby. You're going to be late."
That's definitely Will.

"Okay. I take back my last statement. But let me sleep, Will." I said, whining at the end.

"Ugh. Get aside." I heard someone grumble, before I was picked up.

That's definitely Leo.

"I still have your laptop, Leo." I said, sleepily.

I hid his laptop to blackmail him, when I need to.

Suddenly, the world turned upside down.

Wait!

I turned upside down.

"Put me down, Blackhead." I yelled, as I saw Will glaring at him. An upside-down Will.

"No." He said simply.

"Okay. You're being cruel to my baby. You don't get to hang her upside down." Will gritted, looking like he was about to hulk-punch Leo and smash him into a wall.

"Whatever. Your little baby hid my laptop." Leo said, glaring at me. "That's equal to hiding my wife."

I scoffed.
"Wife?" I said, rolling my eyes. "We didn't even have a wedding for your laptop and you. Who are the bridesmaids? Your phone and headphones?"

"And my home theatre and controller too." He said, with a no-nonsense expression on his face.

Having enough of his drama, I decided it was time to use the most powerful weapon.

"ELONZO! LOOK WHAT LEO IS DOING." I yelled on top of my lungs.

And within a second, I was back on my bed, laughing. He threw me so quickly and now was looking at the door, a fearful expression on his face.

Will started laughing while Leo just huffed and crossed his arms.

"What?" Elonzo asked, entering my room.

"Leo is.." I started but Leo cut me off.

"She wasn't waking up." He said and smirked when Elonzo glared at me.

"If you skip breakfast or you're late for school, you'll be in trouble." He warned, before turning back and making his way to the door.

I just huffed.
"Mean oldie." I grumbled, crossing my arms.

Elonzo stopped walking out and turned to glare at me.

"Why don't you come stand within my reach and say that?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Why? So I can become ear-less?
No thank you.

"Why do I have to come 'within your reach'? You have legs too." I said, without thinking of course.

Elonzo clenched his jaw and started walking toward me.
"I have two hands and you have two ears too." He said.

All the courage left me in seconds. I panicked and shrieked, before jumping off the bed and running towards Will.

I stood behind Will and peeked from his side, to see Elonzo standing there, glaring at me.

"What? Are you afraid? Come on, Oldie." I said, feeling confident.

"We'll see who is afraid." He smirked, before he started walking towards us.

"WILL, SAVE ME." I yelled, pulling Will with me, so he was always between me and Elonzo.

"Why do you have to mess with him?" Will said, complaining.

"I don't know?" I said, honestly. I don't have a control over what I say.

I kept moving as Elonzo followed us. I stopped pulling Will, when we were near enough to the door of my room and ran out at full speed, yelling.

I heard footsteps behind me. I looked back to see Elonzo running behind me in full speed. His face held amusement while mine held nothing but fear.

Can you buy spare ears or something?

I wasn't looking forward while running, so I collided into someone and fell down.

I immediately scrambled behind that person, still sitting on the floor.

Elonzo stopped abruptly and glared at me.

I looked up and started thanking God for sending this saviour.

"Grandpa!!" I yelled, excitedly.

"Hello, Princess." He smiled. "Is one of my idiot grandsons bothering you?" He asked, glaring at Elonzo, who looked like he wanted to hit his head on a wall.

"You know, this is favouritism, right Grandpa?" Elonzo gritted. "You need to treat all of your kids equally."

"And what about a grown and strong man threatening a small little weak girl, like me. Is that being equal?" I said, standing before Grandpa and smirking at him.

I'm more powerful now.

Elonzo glared at me and took a threatening step forwards. In one quick motion I stepped behind Grandpa.

"Your eldest grandson is going to kill your youngest grandchild, Grandpa." I pouted, looking up at him with puppy dog eyes.

"He won't do that, princess. We will fight this oldie." Grandpa said, as he put his fist forward.

I looked at his fist in shock.
"What, little dude? You taught me this, remember?" He asked. I chuckled.

"Of course I remember, Grandpa-dude." I said.

"Now, Elonzo. Back off. You threaten my princess again and I will forget you are my grandson." He said.

Elonzo rolled his eyes and muttered a 'Yes Grandpa'.

"Don't you roll your eyes, grown man." I said, in a heavy voice mimicking Elonzo.

"Ugh. This is so annoying." He grumbled and walked away, when Grandpa and I started laughing.

"I'll meet you at breakfast, princess." Grandpa said, as I started walking towards my room.