I narrowed my eyes. Shawn didn't seem like the type to have some dramatic emergency, but I texted him back anyway.

Me: What's wrong?

Shawn: Can you come to my house? I'll send you the address.

I texted him a quick thumbs-up before grabbing my keys. The foyer was all cleaned up from my little meltdown last night. I decided to throw away most of the stuff he had given back so that I wouldn't have to look at it anymore. The memories were all ruined now, anyway. The only thing I kept was the house key, but I threw away the keychain, of course. We had bought the keychain together on a road trip in California, and there was no way I wanted to think about that trip every time I unlocked the door.

I headed to my car and quickly drove to the address Shawn gave me. I had never been there before; even though Shawn was popular, he never threw any parties. The house was a modest two-story, and it was kept impeccably. The yard was trimmed neatly and there were pretty, blooming flower beds on either side of the door. The door was painted a pretty shade of turquoise that popped against the white wood of the rest of the house.

The door opened before I even turned off my car. I looked toward the house, but no one seemed to be there. Maybe the wind blew the door open or something.

When I climbed out of my car, I saw the real reason. A tiny girl was running throughout the lawn. She was probably around three years old, and I could immediately tell she was Shawn's sister. Her short, brown hair and hazel eyes matched his perfectly.

"Hi!" She yelled at me, waving her tiny hand before running back inside the house.

"Ava! Where are you?" I heard Shawn's voice before I saw him. He ran past the open door, another small boy hanging over his shoulder and playfully hitting him on the back. "Ava?" Oh— Hey Olivia!" Shawn ran back out, the boy still over his shoulder. He greeted me at the door, and beckoned for me to come inside.

"Hi Olivia." The little boy that Shawn was holding picked up his head and smiled at me. I laughed and waved at him. He looked just like Shawn, too.

"Hi! What's your name?" I asked him.

"I'm Walker." He smiled again before resuming his assault on Shawn's back. He hammered his little fists at Shawn, giggling the whole time. Shawn pushed him off, dumping him gently in the grass.

"This is my brother." Shawn murmured to me, even though I had already connected the dots in my head. "Come on in." He beckoned to me and I followed him inside, Walker trailing after us.

I stopped at the door and took in my surroundings. The inside of the house was in sharp juxtaposition to the outside. It was messier than anyone else's house I had ever seen, filled to the brim with all different types of toys and sports equipment. Another boy ran by, this one a bit older. He was carrying Ava, the girl I had seen earlier.

Time seemed to slow down as the older boy ran toward us. I knew what was about to happen before it did, and it looked like Shawn did too. He turned around and tried to move right as his brother collided with him, knocking all of them to the ground.

"Philip!" Shawn yelled, but the boy was already up and running again. Shawn tried to grab his ankle as he dashed away, but missed by a hair. "Get back here!"

Philip's laughter drifted away as he disappeared into the house, leaving a wake of destruction in his path.

"What in the world is going on?" I finally asked Shawn, reaching a hand out to help him up. He took it gratefully before sighing.

"I really need your help babysitting. They are crazy." He muttered. Philip ran past again, but he thankfully avoided a collision. Shawn just stared after him miserably, his hand absentmindedly tugging at his hair in stress.

"You gotta help me." He muttered, turning to survey the damage in his living room.

I laughed at his lost look. I had lots of experience babysitting; this wouldn't be hard.

The oldest boy, Philip, came running through again. This time, her had both Ava and Walker on his back.

"Philip, stop!" I yelled at him, startling him. He tried to slow down, but his momentum carried him straight into a table. The table shook slightly, a vase of flowers falling to the floor and shattering.

Okay, maybe this wouldn't be as easy as I thought.

I quickly ran over to the broken vase, gingerly picking up the pieces with my hand.

"Wait, be careful. Let me do it." Shawn said, kneeling down and gently pushing my hands away from the broken shards of glass.

"I'm fine, Shawn. A little glass isn't going to hurt me." He turned to look at me, and our faces were closer than I thought. He just shook his head and pushed me away again.

"Why risk it?" He asked rhetorically.

"You're an athlete, you don't want to injure your hands." I tried to reason with him, wanting to help.

He just snorted. "I play soccer, Olivia. Hands are the one thing you don't need to play soccer."

I rolled my eyes and blushed a bit. "Whatever."

We finished picking up the glass, depositing it in the trash can. As I dropped the last piece in the bin, it knicked the tip of my finger. I hissed through my teeth and quickly hid my finger behind my back. The injury was nothing major, but I didn't want him to know that he was right.

"I know you just cut your finger, Olivia" Shawn told me without looking up. He smirked, obviously ready to rub it in my face that he told me so.

I sighed. "How did you know? You weren't even looking." I laughed, holding my finger to stop the bleeding. Shawn grabbed my other hand and pulled me into the kitchen, rummaging around in some cabinets. The kitchen was in pristine shape— obviously his siblings hadn't made a mess in here yet.

I walked over to the sink and ran my finger under the water to get rid of the blood. The cut wasn't very deep, but it bled a lot. Shawn got me a bandaid and I sat on the counter while he wrapped it around my finger. He sealed the bandaid and then playfully kissed my finger to heal it.

"All better!" He smiled, helping me hop down, off the of counter.

"Shawn invited a girl."

"Is it his girlfriend?"

"Shawn has never had a girl here before."

I turned to face the whispers that were coming from the door. Shawn groaned a rubbed his hand over his face. "Come out, guys." He muttered, walking towards their hiding place.

All four of his siblings trudged out from behind the door, guilty expressions on their faces from being caught eavesdropping. I recognized Ava, Walker, and Philip, but there was another boy who I hadn't seen yet. He must have been the middle child, around nine years old.

"Olivia, these are my siblings. Ava is three, Walker is five, Philip is thirteen, and Liam is nine."

"Hey guys," I said, waving at them and smiling. They all waved back, and Philip blushed when I caught his eye.

"You're pretty." Ava murmured shyly. She was so cute.

"Aw, thank you!" I responded. "I love your dress."

She beamed at my compliment. "Do you want to play with me?" She asked.

"Definitely!" I exclaimed. She walked over to me and grabbed my hand in her tiny one. I saw Shawn smiling at me.

"Not so fast, Aves. We have to clean up first. Mom will be livid."

Ava frowned, her four brothers mimicking her expression.

"It won't take long." I promised them. We started in the living room and moved throughout the house, picking up all of the toys, soccer balls, and random items that the kids had knocked over. Shawn was visibly less stressed now that they were under control.

"I never knew you had siblings." I told him, breaking the comfortable silence as we cleaned.

"Yeah, I guess not that many people know about them. There's a reason why I never invite anyone over."

"Well, I'm honored." I teased him. "But they are sweet. I've always wanted younger siblings."

"Are you an only child?" He asked me. His brothers had gone to play in the backyard after helping us, and Ava was playing quietly in the corner of the room.

"I have an older brother, Jonah. He's in college at UCLA, so I don't see him that often."

"Are you close with him?" Shawn asked. I could tell that he really cared and wanted to get to know me, which was nice. We hadn't known each other for long, but I knew we would become fast friends.

"He's one of my best friends. I miss him, but it makes it more special when he comes to visit. I'm going to visit him in October for my birthday."

Shawn pulled out his phone immediately. "What day is your birthday?"

"The 17th." I told him. I watched over his shoulder as he wrote the date down in his calendar and set a reminder.

"You didn't need to do that." I murmured, a bit embarrassed. I never really likely being the center of attention, and I didn't want him to think that I brought up my birthday for attention.

"Oh, yes I did. I go all out for my friend's birthdays." He said, winking at me.

"Well then I'm really glad we're becoming friends." I told him honestly. I never would have thought that I would be hanging out with the school's popular golden boy, but here we were. Shawn was much more down-to-earth than I imagined, and I really liked joking around with him.

"Me too, Olivia." He smiled back.

His brothers all trudged inside, interrupting our cheesy friendship moment. We broke apart and stood up, surveying the freshly cleaned room. It had taken a while to clean, but the room was spotless now. With all the clutter removed, I could see that the interior was decorated cozily. His house wasn't very big, but it was comfortable and kept up well.

"Can we watch a movie, Olivia?" Walker asked, taking off his shoes. He walked over to me, holding hands with Ava. They were the two youngest, and I couldn't get over how cute they were.

"Ask Shawn, not me." I told him, ruffling his hair.

"I want you to be our babysitter, not Shawny." Ava told me, peering up at me with her innocent hazel eyes.

I laughed while Shawn groaned at the nickname.

"Take that, Shawny." I teased him and he glared at me playfully.

"I dare you to call me that again." He said threateningly.

"Oh, I'm sorry... Shawny." I added on in a whisper.

His eyes narrowed. "What did you say?" He growled, settling into a lunge position, ready to pounce on me.

"You know what I said!" I screamed as I quickly ran away from him, but he caught me in an instant. He was the best runner in our school from his many soccer and track practices, so of course he reached me in seconds. He tackled me onto the couch, tickling me until I couldn't breathe. I screamed for him sto stop and he finally showed some mercy, settling into the couch next to me. His siblings were all settled there, watching The Lion King.

"This is my favorite!" I told Ava, who was sitting next to me and holding my hand.

"This is Walker's favorite, too." She told me. "I like princess movies more, but this one is good."

We continued to discuss our favorite movies until the boys shushed us. Shawn brought some popcorn and we watched quietly. Halfway through the movie, all three of the youngest kids had fallen asleep. Philip was reading a book quietly on the other side of the couch, but I caught him staring up at me multiple times during the movie. Everytime he caught my eyes, he blushed. Classic middle-schooler.

"Why weren't you at school today?" Shawn asked me, turning around and moving his hand off the back of the couch.

I sighed. "It's nothing."

"Tell me." He said.

"I don't know if you heard about what happened with me and my boyfriend, Thomas..." I trailed off, not sure if he knew who Thomas was. He went to a different school, but Shawn seemed popular enough to be in with the crowd at King High.

"Yeah, Thomas Miller. I hate that guy." He muttered, clenching his fists.

"Well, me too, now." I shook my head and sighed. "No, that was a lie. As much as I wish I could, I can't hate him."

Shawn looked down at his hands, nodding. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked me.

I was prepared to say no, but Shawn seemed like a good person to talk to. I knew I could trust him, and he would probably have good advice.

I told him about the demise of our relationship, beginning with last week's party. He had already heard about it, confirming my fears of the rumours circulating through school. I told him about Thomas coming to my house last night, and the breakdown I had after he left. Shawn held me the whole time, letting me get out all of my emotions. For a guy, he was surprisingly comforting.

"You know I will always be here for you, Olivia." Shawn said when I finished, squeezing my hand. It wasn't in a romantic way, which I was thankful for. We were just friends, which was exactly what I needed.

"Thanks, Shawn." I smiled at him.

"Let me help you take your mind off it. There's a party at the beach on Friday, you should come with us."

"I don't know, Shawn. It might be too soon for that." I responded.

"Come on, I promise it will be fun. I will stay by your side the entire time."

I hesitated, still unsure.

Shawn could tell I was considering it, and he kept going. "Jacob and Asher will be there, and you can invite Mia."

I thought about it for a minute before finally deciding.

"Fine. I'm in."

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updating early because we hit 1.5K reads! Thank you guys SO MUCH! That is so awesome; thank you all for reading.

Next update will be Wednesday, April 24.