Back Home Again (Jake's pov)

I look up at the stars, Drew's hand holding mine, rested in it gently as he caressed my hand. Summer had finally come which meant that every moment we all had would be together, well except for Sean...and Milly. Milly hasn't been so well since the Elliot incident and I don't blame her. Elliot is or was, her love. She loved him with all of her heart and she did something I don't think I could've ever done. She poured her heart and soul out to him, showed him that she desperately wanted him, but alas, he did something terrible. Drew looks over to me, smiling a cheeky grin and flashing me his kind eyes that I fell in love with. Wow. I just admitted my feelings, my love to Drew. I could probably never admit it to him, but I love him so much it just hurts.

We moved in together many months ago. It was very early in the relationship and we weren't sure if it was smartest choice at the time given we were only a tad bit into the relationship, but it ended up okay and I'm glad that it did. I walk into his room and he walks into mine and we don't have to knock to go over to each others houses or anything, it's honestly a bliss.

There's one problem though. Sex. We're about eight months into the relationship and we've never done 'it' before if you know what I mean. I think people don't like to talk about sex because it's honestly kinda scary, especially for a virgin such as myself, especially a gay one like Drew. If I stay with Drew forever, I'll never know what straight sex feels like, and that's okay, but I can't help but wonder, not that I'm going to do anything about it because like I said, I haven't had sex with him either, but I've wanted to.

It's a touchy subject really. He's been hurt and abused many times before, bruised and beaten, pummeled and scraped and I doubt he wants to go through any kinda pain again, sex is pain. I'm not saying that sex is all pain and no pleasure, well, not like I'd know anyway, but really it's not. It's meant to be some magical thing that takes you into your adulthood, as a seventeen-year-old, I find it sad that I haven't lost my virginity. Drew notices how awkward I look and grabs my hand, smiling a sad smile. "Let's go inside, Babe." He says, standing up and climbing off of the roof. I frown, looking down at the wet grass, gosh do I hate and I mean loathe entirely, wet grass.

Drew laughs at my attempt at avoiding the wet grass, and by attempt I mean fail. He laughs and just hugs me, kissing me softly and sensually. "I-" I almost said the L-word. The famous L word, the word that everyone would love to say to their partner, but I simply can't. "Jake Sterling, don't be afraid to speak your mind, you never have been before." I laugh at this remark. "I was just going to say that I think that you'd look good in a skirt." He blushes in embarrassment and rage, I mean, is it a good thing when your boyfriend tells you that you'd look good in a skirt, I'm not sure because I've never been told that myself. "Yeah, I'll wear a skirt, when you quit singing for good!" He yells in a jokingly tone, I laugh wholeheartedly before stopping dead in my tracks. Someone's here.

A car suddenly pulled into the driveway slowly, a small black car which seemed fairly new, mint condition. The car came to a complete stop and suddenly someone pulled the handle of the driver side door and hopped out of the car. A tall, slim man walked to the back driver seat and cautiously opened the door for the person in the car. Soon I recognized the man who came out of the car, this man is Alexander Sterling, my father.

He was stationed far away for the military, a place that wasn't too safe for children. I was at the time around 4-5 years old and mom was pregnant with Milo. Dad left and we stayed, he told us that he would come back 'soon', though I think 12-13 years isn't very soon! Drew looked at me confused until he saw the tears welling up in my eyes. Drew knows about my father, he always has, Liam knows, Henry knows, Lia knows, and Zoey knows, though when he said he'd come back soon and didn't I didn't think he'd ever come back.

Part of me is happy that he's back, but the other is disappointed. We've done just fine on our own and we don't need him here, though it'd be nice to make memories with him. He's never met Milo, maybe that's because he didn't want to or he was busy or maybe he had no way of communication, but whatever it is, he has never been there. Milo has seen pictures and pictures of dad but has never once met him. When Milo was old enough to understand that we didn't have a dad, he was upset. A boy needs a father, well, wants and he really wants a father. Our dad has never seen him, he doesn't even know that he exists, but Milo looks a lot like dad and mom, almost like a perfect mix of the two, so he's definitely his.

I watch as he walks up the driveway and knocks on the door. Both me and Drew sprint to the back door and go inside. "Mom, dad's home!" I yell to her in a worried voice. Her eyes widen in shock. "What?" She says in a high pitched voice, almost a ghost at this point. Suddenly Milo, without knowing who it is, walks to the door and opens it. "Hi, is Cara Sterling home?" He asks respectfully. Drew looks at me puzzlingly before whispering to me. "That's your dad?" He asks. "Yep, I'm sure of it." He smiles. "Must be exciting," he whispers. "Yeah, a little." He smiles before turning back to the door to eavesdrop. "Hey, Mom! Some creep is here to see you!" He looked almost hurt but mostly a playful rage. "Creep? I'm no creep, I'm a soldier!" He yells in annoyance. "Well, why are you coming here at night?" He asks in a frustrated voice. "Uh, I had duties, duh."

"I told you I was a soldier, didn't I?"

"Yeah and, you could have waited." I laugh at this and suddenly he hears me. "Well, is she here or not?" He asks, obviously getting impatient and frustrated. "Yeah she's here." He walks away and mom steps up, taking the lead and looking at him. "Hi, Alex." I watch as his soft eyes that desperately awaited his ex-wife turn to surprised eyes who wondered if she ever even cared for him. "That's all you have to say, Cara? 'Hi Alex'?" She looks at him with frustrated eyes. "Alex, I told you that if you went, I wasn't going to talk to you again, now go." Wait what? "I know, Cara, and I'm sorry-"

"It's Tiffany to you, Alexander Sterling." Milo seemed to be confused until he realized what she meant. He ran over to me, crying and hugging both me and Drew. I hugged him back as I thought of the few memories I had with dad, they were all great, but Milo has only seen old pictures and hasn't even met the guy, but now he's here. "Can I at least see Jake?"

"What about me? Do I not matter to him?" Milo sobbed to me, shoving his now snotty nose into my shoulder. Well damn, I liked this shirt, guess I'll wash it later, no biggie. "Milo, dad left before mom was able to tell him she was pregnant with you, so he has no idea that-"

"That I exist," he finishes my sentence in the first person point of view, his point of view. "He needs to go to bed soon, Alex, he's going somewhere tomorrow."

"Then please, tomorrow for uh lunch or dinner or something!" Mom had lied to him, I'm not going anywhere tomorrow, my friends are coming over, but that's about it. I stood up walking over to the door. My mom looks at me like I'm crazy before letting it go. "I'm having lunch tomorrow at 2:00 with my friends, you're welcome to come if you'd like, by the way, Milo is really excited to meet you, officially meet you." I closed the door, leaving him stranded as I stood there, the tears in my eyes now very visible. Drew just hugged me, walking me up to my room. My mom doesn't allow us to sleep in the same bed for obvious reasons, sometimes she does though and I love her for it, for instance today, I definitely need Drew cuddled up next to me or else I may not be able to sleep.

~10:00 am~

I went downstairs, Drew rolling his eyes at me and kissing me good morning. "How'd you sleep?" Drew asked, sipping a cup of black coffee which I never really understood why it existed. "I slept a lot better with you there, Rew." He laughs and runs his hands through my hair before taking another sip of his coffee. "Thank you, Drew, for sleeping with me last night," I said to him, walking over to the pantry to grab cereal, pouring some in my mouth and then the milk which always seemed to make Drew cringe. "It's not a problem, Babe. Plus, sleeping with you at night makes me feel better too." I smile because the look on his face when he said that was so cute, I loved it.

"What time are they coming over again?" I ask him. He laughs. "You're so forgetful, Jay." I look at him with a quirked expression, confused as to where this new nickname spiraled from. "Jay?"

"Like a Blue Jay or like a shorter version of your name," He simply said making me giggle. "They'll be here in about an hour or so, as for your dad, he should be here in 4 hours." I almost forgot about my dad which makes me feel slightly guilty. I don't just forget about anyone, I mean, forgetting about someone is terrible, but it's hard to not forget someone when they're never around. Ah shit, an hour! "Fuck, I need to take a shower and get dressed and-"

"Jake, I'll lay out some clothes for you on your bed while you're taking a shower." I kissed him on the cheek softly, making him chuckle a little bit which made me smile even more than I already was. "Thank you, Babe, you're the best I could ever ask for!" I said, running up the stairs to my room, Drew's laughs being heard from the kitchen. As I turned the knob on my shower to turn it on, I couldn't help but think about my dad. We've done just fine without him, so why do I feel so empty now that I know he's back? When I used to think about my dad, and my used I mean before last night, I just treasured our memories, telling myself that he's gone and that that's okay, but now, all I can feel is sadness. Maybe it's the fact that he came back so suddenly or maybe it's that he's the father of a child he never knew existed and he missed all of his life.

I stripped my clothes from my body, stepping into the warm water that awaited me. I grabbed the shampoo soon after, squirting some on my hands and spreading it out on my palms. I dug my hands through my hair, shoving the shampoo all throughout my hair, trying my best to avoid the water. I ducked my head under the shower head, rinsing out the sticky and bubbly shampoo from my strawberry-blond hair. I grabbed the conditioner off of the lining of the tub that surrounded me, spreading the glossy substance on the palm of my hands before swishing it through my hair gently.

I slowly walk down the stairs, laughter which I assumed was Milly's was coming through the kitchen and living room. I looked at the time, 11:04. I looked at Hailey, who seemed to be a little disinterested in the topic which I could see why, it was about boys and Hailey is single, very single. I chuckled a little at the thought of Hailey with a boyfriend. I used to, and take the word used very strongly, like Hailey. I liked her for awhile and it was undeniable, but neither of us made any moves. Not long after I got with Drew, she told me that she liked me at some point.

~Flashback~

Hailey swatted at my head as I attempted to run away from her. "Jake Sterling, if you do not stop moving right now, I am seriously going to choke you out!" I laughed at this, flashing her a smile before running into a pole.

~Later~

Hailey rubbed the rubbing alcohol over the tip of my nose, the pain coursing through me as I winced in pain. "Oh relax, you big baby." I rolled my eyes at her playfully but not for long as the pain ran through me once more. "You know Jake, somehow you manage to make every girl fall in love with you," she stated which I didn't really understand. What did she mean that I make every girl fall in love with me? "Well really, everyone in general," she corrected herself, still confusing me. "I've known 5 people to fall in love with you, well, at least like you in some sort of way." I laughed, out loud as well. There was no way that there are five people who have at some point liked me. Even so, it's probably all in high school because I had no one in middle school, well except Daisy.

"Sean, Drew, Lia, Daisy, and... me."

Wait what? Hailey had liked me? Daisy liked me? Sean liked me? I knew about both Lia and Drew, but Sean, Daisy, and Hailey? That seemed nearly impossible to me. "When?"

"Who?"

"Everyone."

"Well, Daisy liked you in middle school, Sean liked you a little bit after you joined, and I liked you around the time that Sean did but for longer, but when I found out about you and Drew, I didn't want to believe it. I knew I had to come to terms with it so I didn't bother forgiving you. I was ready long before I forgave you, but I needed time." I almost laughed, Hailey only recently stopped liking me, recently.

~Back to Present~

We all ran upstairs, finding somewhere to get comfy before turning on 'Just Go With It' with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston which none of us really payed attention to. We all chatted for awhile and showed each other Instagram reels even though those are more of Henry's style than the rest of us. "What do you all wanna do when school's over?" Lia asked, setting a new, awkward kinda mood to the room. "Well, I plan on saving up for an apartment and splitting rent with Henry given I have no smarts whatsoever," Liam said proudly, well not the last part, but the first. "Oh come on, you could go to college if you wanted to, you just wanna stay here." I laugh at this. It's true, Liam definitely isn't dumb, he's more of just unmotivated, but he's actually pretty smart.

"I'm gonna do online trade school and become a mechanic!" Henry nearly shouted. Henry has been in a world of mechanics all his life, his dad was a mechanic, his grandfather, his great grandfather, and so on, so naturally he wants to carry on the legacy. He could've chosen to be something or someone else, but he genuinely wants this and I'm proud of him for it. "I'm applying for a music school not too far from here," Hailey paused, "If that fails, I'll probably end up being an accountant or something, I don't want to stay here though." I almost choked. Hailey is going to leave, I always knew that some of us would leave, but now that it's almost here, I just can't believe it. "I don't know what I'm going to do, plus I've still got loads of time to figure it out!" Milly practically shouted almost busting my eardrums.

These are the moments that I cherish. Sitting around with my friends and my boyfriend, laughing and talking about fun times and what not, I just love being able to have this. I love being able to have these moments, when it rains or shines or even thunderstorms, I still have these moments to look back on, and that makes me happy.

We turned on another movie, another romantic comedy with some of my favorites actors and actresses such as Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. The movie's called, 'The Proposal', it's where an editor and editors assistant pretend to be engaged so that the editor doesn't get deported back to Canada and lose her job. It's probably one of my favorite movies. Drew's never been one for romantic comedies, but this is one movie he'll watch.

As the movie played, I couldn't help but think about when we won't be able to do this, when everyone is gone and busy. It makes me sick to my stomach, though I don't mind the sick feeling, because I know that with them, we can conquer the stars.

A/N: The next chapter will be the lunch between Jake and his dad along with his brother and friends, how do you think it'll go? Have you ever seen or heard of the movies that were mentioned in this chapter? If so, comment down below and tell me your favorite part! Also, thank you for over 3k+ views and over 100 votes along with all of the super nice comments you've all left me! If there are any mistakes I've made throughout this chapter, feel free to tell me where and what word and I'll fix it! Please remember to critique respectfully!