WILLOW'S POV

I stood at the top of the counter, hands on my waist as I overlooked the whole arcade. It was nine am on Saturday morning and I was more than ready to get work. Charlie was already engrossed in a comic book, Jack was looking for a drill in his tool box and I was armed with a cloth and window cleaner wondering where to begin. It was going to be a lot of work but I was determined as my job security depended on how fast I could get the place up and running. The door opened and I turned to tell the customer that we were closed but stopped myself when I saw who it was. Henry strolled in dressed in a black t-shirt, blue denim jacket and black jeans. He looked up and was surprised to see me but that look only lasted a second before it was replaced by his resting nonchalant face.

"Henry, hi. What are you doing here so early?"I asked my words coming out more choked up than I intended them to be.

"Free labor."He replied shortly.

I had no idea Jack had told him about our work for the day but I wasn't going to complain, the more help we got the better. Even if that help came from the one person who I still hadn't figured out how to relate to him.

"Perfect the more the merrier."I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.

"Willow what are you doing at the top of that counter? You could get hurt."Jack scolded resurfacing from the back.

"Just getting a lay of the land."I replied with a cheeky grin.

"Please do that from down here."Jack requested ushering me down.

"You're no fun."I grunted jumping off the counter.

"I'm still your boss so no more shenanigans. Now let's get to work. Thank for for coming Henry."Jack expressed sharing a man hug with Henry.

"I had nothing better to do anyway. So where do you want me?"Henry asked shrugging off his Jacket leaving him in a black tank top.

I had only seen him in hoodies so seeing his arms exposed like that kind of stirred something in me. He wasn't muscular like his brother, but was lean with the right kind of muscle. His skin was tan and perfect. Heavens me, was I having a girl crush moment on Henry? Oh no. I needed to get as far away from him as possible before things escalated and I made a fool out of myself.

"I'll start with the spare room. You boys knock yourselves out with the store."I declared hightailing out of there before anyone could say another word to me.

I refused to admit that I found Henry attractive. I mean I found his identical twin repulsive so how could I be attracted to Henry. To most girls he was the watered down version of his brother but I had been seconds away from drooling all over his toned arms. I didn't even like white guys so what was so different about Henry. Was I into brooding nerdy sexy white boys with messed up families? There was something wrong with me.

Refusing to let Henry dominate my thoughts, I dived into work. I wanted to transform the spare room into a hang out spot with a few sofas, bean bags, a dartboard, the foosball table I had found stashed in the store room and the slushie machine I had talked Jack into trading in for one of the outdated games. It wasn't a fair trade but the game wasn't going to be sold anyway. Someone had been willing to trade for it so we made the deal. Time lapsed as I got busy and the world around me faded into the background.

"Willow!"Someone yelled out my name startling me.

That was a bad idea on their part as I had been standing on top of a stool cleaning the windows. I jumped in fright, lost my footing and fell backwards. I had expected to fall on the floor and break my back but I landed on something soft. No, not Henry's arms, nothing soft about them. I fell on the sofa that I'd failed to notice was behind me.

"Shit, are you okay?"The culprit asked looming over me.

I opened my eyes to glare at Henry who had walked into the room startling me.

"Physically yes but otherwise no. Why did you have to yell my name like that?"I asked sitting up.

"I didn't yell."He defended.

I stood up and dusted myself as I assessed my surroundings. I had been so engrossed in my work that I had completely blocked out the world around me. To my surprise I had cleaned the who room top to bottom and was just on my last window when Henry interrupted me.

"What did you want anyway?"I asked turning to look at him.

He was sweating with a few strands of hair stuck to his face making him look adorable. There was more to Henry than met the eye but I wasn't sure if I wanted to know more or leave things as they were.

"Jack ordered pizza and asked me to call you."He replied shortly.

"Thanks I'll be with you in a minute."I replied.

He nodded at me before turning around and walking away.

"Henry?"I called out just before he got to the door.

"Yeah?"He asked turning around.

"You've got a huge spiderweb on your back and I think it has a big spider on it too."I answered looking mortified.

I had never seen anyone turn that pale so fast before. He stood frozen in place, not moving, getting whiter by the second. I was doing my best to hold in my laugh. I had only been teasing him but the reaction I got was so worth it.

"Get it off me."He whispered sounding like he was about to cry.

"I can't."I choked out torn between tears and laughter.

"Please."He begged.

It was so cute seeing him wound up like that but he also looked like he was about to pass out. The boy really had a fear of spiders, that was at least one thing I found out about him on my own.

"It's crawling up your back."I replied.

The poor boy jumped up so high as he tried to pull the t-shirt off him. I couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. I had only meant to have a little bit of fun but Henry had made it that much more hilarious. Suddenly he stopped struggling and patted his back to find it bare of anything but his own sweat and a thin layer of dust. He glared at me once he realized that I had been messing with him.

"That's for making me fall off the stool."I declared laughing as I walked past him to the main room.

I was still chuckling to myself when I sat down next to Charlie and Jack. There was an extra large pizza with pepperoni toppings and a few soda cans laid out on the table. Henry walked in a few minutes later looking better as color was returning to his face.

"What were you two doing back there?"Jack asked looking at us suspiciously.

"Nothing."Henry mumbled.

"No not nothing, did you know that Henry is afraid of...." I started but was cut off by Henry shoving a slice of pizza in my mouth.

"Afraid of what?"Jack inquired as I tried to swallow the slice without choking.

Henry glared at me from his spot opposite me warning me to keep my mouth shut. I had already ruffled up his feathers enough so I decided to jeep his secret, for the time being at least.

"Nothing."I shrugged my mouth full of pizza.

Henry looked relieved that I didn't expose his secret while Jack looked disappointed. It didn't matter though, Henry's arachnophobia secret was safe with me.

We ate the rest of lunch with light conversation flowing around the table. Henry and I didn't interact directly but I realized that for the first time since we met, Henry and I had actually interacted in a fun kind of way. We had always been at each others throats and besides the spider incident we were able to relate comfortably to each other. He also bonded with Charlie over their love for video games which made me happy. After lunch we all got back to work as there was still much to do and very little time to do it.

*******

Charlie and I arrived back at the house a little past eight that night and made a beeline to the kitchen. Since the pizza we shared at lunch we hadn't eaten much else so we were famished. I found a lasagna in the fridge that I quickly popped in the oven for reheating. I was serving it when the front door opened and a few moments later Robert strolled into the kitchen.

"Oh, hello kids."He greeted looking shocked to see us.

We hadn't seen him all week and hadn't really bonded with him so it was kind of awkward being around him. I had no idea what to say.

"Hi Robbie."Charlie greeted excitedly digging into his food.

"Hi, Charlie. It's been a while, how are you?"He asked sitting down.

Oh, we were sitting down and eating now. Well since that was the case I served him a plate of food too and a glass of water.

"Thank you Willow."He appreciated with a kind smile.

I'd never really had a good relationship with any of my mom's husband's so I had no idea what to say to Robert or how to relate to him. He didn't seem like a bad guy but he saw how my mom treated us yet made no effort to say or do anything about it. It didn't matter though, it's not like he married us, just my mom and she seemed happy enough so that's all that mattered.

"I'm good. Willow and I spent all day at the arcade. It was fun."Charlie replied happily.

"I didn't know there's an arcade in town?"Robert inquired.

"There is, I work there after school and on the weekends."I answered so I could attribute something to the conversation.

"That's great. So how was the first week of school?"Robert inquired addressing us both.

"It was awesome. I made a friend, his name is Alex and our teacher Miss Genevieve is really nice."Charlie replied.

"That's good Charlie and you Willow, how was your first week as a senior?"Robert asked turning to me.

"It was high school."I shrugged not really in the mood for conversation.

Anyone who could sit down and decide that my mom was marrying material had to have something wrong with them and I was not going to pretend that we were friends.

"Oh well, it'll be better I hope."He consoled but I didn't really care.

All I wanted was to finish my food, get Charlie showered and in bed before I soaked in the tub for an hour then calling it a night. At the rate in which Robert and Charlie were bonding, my dreams seemed quite farfetched at the moment.

"So Charlie what are your plans for your birthday this year. You turn eight in November right?"Robert inquired.

"Yes but Willow makes all the plans and they are always awesome. Last year we went swimming with the dolphins."Charlie replied excitedly.

Charlie had always loved his birthday and I obliged to make it the best day of his life. My mom had never really cared about any of our birthday's so it was always just the both of us. I usually overcompensated for my mother's absence by making Charlie's birthday phenomenal.

"You can swim?"Robert asked shocked.

"Yes I can. I feel lighter in the water so swimming is easy, compared to walking."Charlie answered without missing a beat.

It always surprised everyone to learn that Charlie could swim. He wasn't limited by his chair on that account.

"Wow, I had no idea."Robert exclaimed.

I wanted to point out that he actually didn't know anything about us but held my tongue.

After that I zoned out and slipped into my own thoughts to avoid lashing out at the two to stop talking. Charlie seemed to like Robert so I let him have some bonding time with him. He didn't have a father figure in his life and I didn't expect Robert to be one but it was always nice bonding with someone older than you for a change.

"Well kids I still have lots to do so I will call it a night and let you two get some rest. Thank you for the food Willow. Goodnight Charlie."Robert declared getting up from the stool.

"Goodnight Robbie."Charlie replied.

"Goodnight."I mumbled but loudly enough for him to hear me.

After giving us one last smile, Robert disappeared from the kitchen leaving us alone. I cleaned up the mess we had made before we too left the kitchen and headed for our bedrooms.

"I like Robert."Charlie declared as I put him to bed after his shower and night routine.

"You like everyone."I chuckled tucking him in.

"I don't like mom, she's mean."He replied with a pout.

I wasn't going to try and convince him otherwise, it was her responsibility to make him like her not mine.

"What do you like about Robert?"I asked changing the topic back to a neutral one.

"He genuinely cares."Charlie responded sounding older than his seven years.

"That he does but don't get too attached. You know how mom is like, they might get divorced tomorrow for all we know."I answered.

"Okay."Charlie nodded.

"With that said, it's way past your bed time young man so goodnight."I said with a smile kissing his forehead.

"Can you read me a bedtime story?"Charlie requested taking me by surprise.

"I haven't read you a story since you were five. You said they were for kids and you aren't one anymore, your words not mine."I replied.

I had been sad losing story time with Charlie but he had insisted and I respected his wishes.

"Please Willy."He pleaded pouting at me.

"Fine you win."I groaned giving in.

Charlie laughed in victory as I chose a book to read him from the shelf. He didn't have many choices so I chose The Little House In The Woods even though he had already outgrown it. I settled next to him on the bed and adhered to his wishes. By the time I was done he was sound asleep so I turned off the lights before leaving his room and making it to mine. I barely managed to take a shower, foregoing the soak in the tub I so desperately needed. I passed out on the bed tired from all the days activities. And to think I had to do it all over again the next day.