Twenty

After deciding to stay for the remainder of the summer, I had texted my mother to let her know almost immediately before Maverick barged into my room uninvited. He had freaked out and started begging me to stay, which brought me back to wanting to leave. Overall, I've been ignoring him to the best of my ability considering I only have about a month left here. Justin snuck in the night I tried to leave and when I asked about his lip he told me exactly what I expected. Maverick had hit him. He stayed over and left in the morning before even I was awake. It's been a couple days now and my father promised he'd take a few days off later this week to spend time with me, which I think is a great idea. He is the reason I was sent here in the first place.

"What are you doing?"

I glance over, twisting my face into a look before turning my head again, gazing out of the window as I had been doing before I was interrupted.

"Hadlee, you have to talk to me."

I roll my eyes, now realizing I won't be getting any peace considering he's home. Forcing myself out of the window sitting area, I walk over to the stairs, jogging up them and entering my room before locking the door. Twisting on my heel, I walk over to the bed and take out my phone, sending a quick text to Justin. Do you work tonight?

Before long, my phone lights up in front of me, giving me his short answer. Nah baby, what's up?

I grin at his response, loving the nickname he's come to use all the time before texting back. Stay with me?

Within thirty seconds, the answer comes through, making me smile. I'll be there at eleven;)

Not having a reason to respond, I set the phone to the side and let out a sigh, twisting my lips to the side. Netflix? Netflix. Nodding to myself, I pick up the remote and turn on the tv across from my bed, laying down and deciding on one of my many shows I've found myself starting.

"Hadlee!" Maverick yells from outside the door.

I roll my eyes, getting up and walking to the door before swinging it open. "What?"

"You have to fucking talk to me." he says.

"I just did. What do you want?"

He sighs. "To talk."

"No." I shake my head. "I don't want to hear your excuses or reasons. I don't give a shit."

"Language." he warns.

"Fuck you." I tell him, slamming the door in his face, making sure to lock it as well.

"This seriously can't be just because of Justin! It's not like you know him enough to love him that much!" he yells.

My jaw locks and my feet find their way back to the door, my hand reaching out and opening it before I can stop it. "You're right, Maverick. It's not just because of Justin. But I'm not gonna sit here and explain every single fucking thing that I'm upset with you for. If you really gave a shit you would be trying to figure that out yourself rather than asking me for all the answers." I tell him, slamming the door again and plopping down onto the bed.

After hours of switching between Netflix shows, I hear the front door slam, indicating that my father has arrived home from work. A smile appears on my lips and I turn off the tv, exiting my room and jogging down the stairs before entering the kitchen.

"Do I smell food?" I ask excitedly.

My father chuckles. "It's just you and me tonight, kid. I figured we could do chinese."

"Where's Annabell and Reece?" I ask, furrowing my brows while grabbing a water.

"They went for a mom son date thing." he says, making a face.

I laugh at his face. "Isn't that kind of what we're doing? But at home?"

He nods. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

I sit across from him, rubbing my hands together happily and grabbing my food from him. "Thank you."

He hums, taking a bite of his own immediately.

"So, can we talk about something?" I ask, swallowing a bite of my food a few moments later.

He nods. "Of course. What do you wanna talk about?"

I lick my lips, taking a sip of my water. "I wanna know how you feel about the current situation." 

He looks up, raising his brows.

"Justin and I. Maverick. The whole thing."

He sighs, leaning back and nodding. "I think you can't help who you fall in love with."

My brows furrow. "But we've never said we love each other."

His brows raise before returning to their normal place as he chuckles. "So, you're telling me that you and Justin are going through all of this trouble and you're so pissed at your brother that you won't talk to him just because you two are trying to see if you like each other?"

I gulp. "Well, no. We know we like each other. I like him, for sure." I nod.

"But you don't love him?" my father asks, raising a brow while shoving food into his mouth.

I lick my lips. "I mean, I'd be lying if I said I haven't thought about it."

He tilts his head to the side. "Thought about it or realized?"

I bite my lip before shaking my head. "Not the point. I asked your thoughts."

He chuckles. "My point is, I don't think it's Maverick's choice who you end up with regardless of it being one of his friends. You can't help who you have feelings for and it's for you and Justin to figure out. In this, I'm with you sweetheart."

I nod. "Right! He walked around earlier trying to order me to talk to him. The only reason I did was to get him to go away and that's exactly what I said." I say, laughing lightly afterwards.

He grins, continuing to eat without saying another word.

As we both come to the end of our food, my dad excuses himself, wanting to go take a shower.

"Oh, one more thing, honey." my father says, looking over at me.

I raise my brows. "Yeah?"

"Justin's gonna give you guys away if he keeps running up the side of the house. Tell him to figure out a quieter way to get through your window." he says, sending me a wink and walking away.

My cheeks flush red, embarrassed being an understatement.

Wait, did my dad just tell me that I can have Justin spend the night? Cause that's what he's been doing... maybe we should just keep that part to ourselves.

Giggling at what just happened, I clean up the kitchen, putting my left overs in the fridge and grabbing another bottle of water to take upstairs. Once reaching my room, I shower and braid my hair back as usual before plopping back down on my bed and looking at the time.

Nine. Two hours to spare.

I sigh at having to wait, licking my lips and picking up my phone before FaceTiming Daniella.

"Hey!" Daniella squeals, answering. "The girls aren't here tonight."

I laugh lightly. "That's fine. I just wanted to talk to someone."

She nods. "What are you doing?"

I sigh heavily, rolling my eyes playfully. "Trying to get through the next two hours."

"Why three hours?" she asks, confused.

"That's what time Justin's coming to sneak in so Maverick doesn't see him." I shrug.

"Why don't you just take a nap that way when he gets there you have some energy to talk and hang out?" she asks, giggling.

I nod. "That's actually not a bad idea. But I still wanna talk to you for a minute. You guys have been spending a lot of time together I see."

She nods. "Yeah but it's still weird without you here. We were actually kind of hoping you would come home early."

I laugh lightly, nodding again. "Yeah but I couldn't just leave my dad. We haven't been able to spend a lot of time together so I figured I should stay so we could get at least a bit more. He's taking off a few days at the end of the week so we can have a little dad daughter weekend thing but in the week." I say, laughing at the end.

She smiles. "That's good! I mean, he is the reason you went in the first place." she giggles.

I nod. "Exactly. But hey, we'll have like a week before school starts when I get back so we can do a couple things then." I shrug.

She nods frantically. "Yeah, for sure. We should all go shopping so you can get some new stuff for school! We've been getting some stuff all summer."

"Yeah, I don't wanna go back with all my old stuff. I need to be at least a bit updated." I laugh.

She rolls her eyes playfully. "You've always had really good taste though. No matter what you wear you'll be fine."

"Yeah, especially considering I have no one to impress." I tell her, making a face.

She laughs. "Alright. My family's doing a movie night so I gotta go. Go take that nap so you have some energy to hang out with Justin."

I nod. "See ya Dani."

"Bye babe." she says, winking and hanging up.

I set my phone down, twisting my lips to the side and getting ready to lay down when there's a knock on my door.

"Come in." I say hesitantly.

The door slowly opens and Reece stands there, a big smile on his face.

"Hey buddy, what's up?" I ask, a smile appearing on my face.

"Will you come watch a movie with us? Mommy got us Big Hero 6!" he exclaims.

I fake a shocked expression. "They're letting you stay up past bedtime?!"

He nods, a happy yet hopeful expression written on his features.

I smile. "Of course I will come watch the movie bud. I'll be down in five minutes."

"Okay!" he exclaims, jumping up and down before running back downstairs.

I grin, changing from my shorts to a pair of sweats and grabbing a sweatshirt Justin had left here a few nights ago. After putting it on, I inhale his scent, a smile appearing on my lips. I then walk downstairs, closing my bedroom door as I leave the room.

"Yay! We can start it!" Reece says, bouncing in his seat.

"Without the popcorn?!" Annabell asks, walking in with two bowls of popcorn.

"What fun is that?!" My dad asks, walking in with two more.

I grin at their fun behavior, thanking my dad as he hands be a bowl of popcorn.

He winks, sitting on the couch with Annabell while Reece sits in his beanbag chair on the floor and I lay across the loveseat, getting comfortable.

"Everyone ready?!" dad yells overly excited.

"Yeah!" Reece yells.

"Super." I say, half sarcastically.

Annabelle giggles at me, smiling in my direction, making me smile back.

An hour through the movie, I glance at the time, seeing it to be almost ten fifteen.

I bet they're keeping this kid home tomorrow. He's got a ton of energy for it being so late.

"Go Baymax!" Reece chants, pumping his fist.

"Shh, you're gonna miss it!" my dad hisses playfully, nudging his shoulder with his foot.

Reece giggles, looking forward at the tv.

Almost fifteen minutes later, the front door opens and shuts, making us all look over and pause the movie.

"What are you doing up, man?!" Maverick asks Reece.

"Mommy and daddy said I could since I don't have school tomorrow!" Reece says excitedly. "Will you finish the movie with us?!"

"Of course I will." Maverick says, ruffling his hair. "I'll sit in the recliner, okay?"

Reece nods and Maverick makes his way across the room, sitting in the recliner near me.

"Is that Justin's hoodie?" he asks after a moment.

"Yep." I tell him, popping the 'p' and keeping my eyes on the tv.

Maverick scoffs and my father starts the movie, ignoring the tension.

Once the movie is over, I notice it's past eleven, making me say goodnight and jog up the stairs. Entering, I close and lock the door before twisting my body to see Justin walking out of the bathroom and grin.

"Hey baby."

I smile wide. "Hey you."

He walks over, kissing me before furrowing his brows. "Is that my hoodie?"

"Our hoodie, babe." I tease, winking.

He rolls his eyes, kissing my cheek. "I'm surprised you were downstairs with Maverick home."

"Reece asked if I'd do family movie night with him, Annabell and dad so I said yes. Maverick came in for the last like, forty minutes." I shrug. "I just ignored him."

"Good." Justin says, kissing my temple.

"You're very affectionate this evening." I tell him, narrowing my eyes up at him.

He chuckles, shrugging. "I just missed you. It's been a couple days."

I nod. "Yeah, I know."

He groans, sitting on the bed. "It's so hard to even work now. Maverick's always glaring at me. It's annoying."

I giggle, climbing onto his lap. "You poor thing."

He gives me a look.

"Oh, my dad wanted me to tell you that you need to find a quieter way to sneak up here cause he can hear you and Maverick's gonna find out." I tell him.

His eyes widen.

I laugh.

"You're kidding." he says, worried.

I shake my head. "Not at all. He didn't have a problem with it, he just doesn't want Maverick to find out."

Justin tries to hold in a laugh, failing miserably as it slips between his lips. "Your dad just gave me permission to stay the night with you."

I nod. "That's what I said!"

He shakes his head. "That's great. I don't know how to be quieter. It's not easy climbing your house."

"Maybe we can put like a ladder outside or something." I tell him, shrugging.

"Because that won't be obvious." he says, giving me a look.

I glare at him. "Well if you just used the tree like I did when I snuck out for you, then we wouldn't have this problem."

He rolls his eyes. "That dumbass tree ripped my clothes last time."

"Then be more careful." I tell him, playfully tugging on his shirt.

He sighs. "Fine. I'll use the fucking tree."

I smile, kissing him quickly. "Yay!"

He grins, gazing at me.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I laugh.

He shakes his head. "Just thinking."

"About?" I ask

He bites his lip, letting it go a moment later. "Whether or not to tell you what I'm thinking."

"You know I hate that!" I tell him, giving him a look.

He chuckles, grabbing the back of my neck and bringing it towards him. Our lips press together, moving among themselves as if they're meant to be.

I pull away, giving him a questioning look. "What was that for?"

He licks his lips, hesitating. "I love you."

My mouth parts slightly in shock, making me gulp. "I love you too."

He smiles, kissing me once again.

I giggle, deepening it and wrapping my arms around his neck, enjoying one of the moments that have become rare.

The fun, carefree, Maverick free moments.

***

Hello friends!

I've been on such a roll with writing this story which is odd considering I had been having such a hard time with it for a while!

I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and enjoy the chapters to come! The next chapter starts some more drama so get prepared for that!

Thank you all so much for reading!

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much love,

shan:)