Achieving Unbroken
Chapter Thirty Eight

—

"I get a little bit nervous around ya,
I get a little bit stressed out when I think about you
I get a little excited, baby when I think about you"
Nervous | Shawn Mendes

—

Jason
[Thursday, July 29th, 2018]

"Jason? Jason! EARTH TO JASON!" Blinking in realization, I turn my head to the right and see Piper, staring at me expectantly, hand paused midair. "Jesus, someone didn't get any sleep."

I rub my hands over my face, trying to wipe off the drowsiness. Unfortunately, that's not a possible thing.

"Is it that obvious?"

Our attention gets taken away momentarily by a high-pitched squeal coming from the ocean, assumingly from Lilla. Her and Patrick sprinted towards the water the second our feet hit the sand; Piper and I opting to walk along the beach instead of getting in the water.

"Not very, but you just seem out of it."

"I had a weird dream last night. Kept me up for awhile."

"Do you need to talk about it?"

I hesitate. Piper is trustworthy as far as I'm concerned, but does she really need to know about a dream I had about her best friend?

"It's not like it was a nightmare. It was a good dream." Pausing, I try to think of how I can word this next part. "... And there was a girl."

Her reaction is reminiscent of either holding back a laugh, or choking. I can't exactly tell which one it is.

"God, she must've been Megan Fox if it kept you up all night."

"No, it wasn't like that," I shake my head adamantly. "Nothing like that. It was just kind of... Different. Good different, but different."

Piper looks off into the distance, prodding around her mind to think of what she could ask me next. More screams from the ocean distract us, and when Piper answers, her voice cuts through the crashing of the waves.

"Lilla?" She says, eyes focused on our friends, who are soaking wet. I'm swallowing when the name leaves her mouth, and I wind up choking on my saliva. "Okay then. That answers my question."

"Please—"

"I won't tell her, Jason." A huge breath of relief escapes me. "Seriously. I'm not that kind of girl."

"Thank you," I express sincerely. She bumps me with her shoulder, only hitting my upper arm because she's significantly smaller than me.

"We're friends. This is what friends are for."

Grinning and trying to stop my face from heating up, I nudge her back with my elbow.

"Thanks, Pipe."

—

"Hey, Breakfast Club," Vincent taps his knuckle on the open door to the basement. The four of us look up from the TV, which is playing Friends reruns. "Family dinner upstairs in fifteen. We're having burgers, fries, Dad's barbecuing."

"Thanks, Vince," Lilla smiles. He nods, the corners of his lips quirking up, and he leaves without another word.

"Why did he call us the Breakfast Club when there's four of us?" Patrick asks once Vincent leaves.

"Hey, Victorious did it with six," Piper shrugs.

"Yeah, and they pulled it off. But we're missing a person. Obviously I am Emilio Estevez—"

Lilla and Piper take one look at each other and burst out laughing. I chuckle a little, too, and Patrick stares at us all in an insane confusion.

"What?"

"You are such an Anthony Michael Hall," Piper tells him.

"No I'm not!"

"You are."

"Well," Lilla cuts in, "Pip, you are Ally Sheedy..."

"I am not!"

"Wait," I cut in, "who am I?"

"You're like if Emilio and Judd's characters got married and by some biological miracle, had a child." Lilla answers. Satisfied with her response, and the fact that nobody objected to it, I give her a single nod and lean back in my chair.

The four of us decide to go upstairs to sit down for dinner and take a chance at socializing, still a little hung up on the the Breakfast Club debate.

"Hey, there they are!" Peyton exclaims when we emerge from the staircase.

"The party has arrived," Patrick jokes, plopping himself into the chair next to his friend.

"Nice music, Vinnie." Lilla chuckles as she walks over to the portable speaker to turn up the song. I recognize it as an old Eminem song that came out a year or two after I was born, and Lilla is already humming the words from the stove, Vincent gestures his head towards Cannon, who is at the table and on his phone.

"Davis's playlist." Cannon looks up from his phone, and him and Lilla give each other a mutual nod and smile. She goes and sits at a seat that has an empty spot on either side of it, and I go and take the chair on her right, which is also on Cannon's left. I see Piper start towards the chair on Lilla's left, but out of nowhere, Bianca comes up behind us and take it.

Out of the corner of my eye, Lilla tugs the paper napkin in front of her off of the table and into her lap. Quickly, she rips it in two. And then, rips the half of the napkin in half again. She does this a couple more times before I take my hand and place it over her tense ones. Her attention goes to me, and I feel a hand wrap around mine.

"Okay, kiddos!" Vince's dad, Ken, comes in from the balcony with a plate of hamburger patties and buns. "Dive in." Ken takes his seat at the head of the table as the group of us lunge forward to put together our burgers.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Sakioto." Lilla says as she is constructing her food.

"Of course, Lilla. It's been a pleasure to have you all around."

Everyone else at the table hums their thank you's, inhaling their food.

"Just the meat, cheese and ketchup?" I ask Lilla, looking her near bare burger and comparing it to mine; which has lettuce, onions, ketchup, and a blend of condiments.

"I tend to enjoy the simple things in life," she grins.

"What she means is," Piper joins in, who had found a seat next to Patrick, "that her tastebuds are sensitive to flavor."

"Piper, they are not. Have you seen me eat a taco?"

"Plain cheese pizza, vanilla ice cream. You have a problem."

"Says the girl who's putting only mustard and onions on her burger, no cheese. That's probably going to give me nightmares."

"Just don't wake me up at midnight again, and I'm fine with that."

For some reason, this ends the arguement instantly. I don't ask about the occasion that apparently made Lilla wake Piper up, favoring a reassuring squeeze on the hand.

"Lil, oh my God, are you and Jason a thing?" Bianca asks, quietly, to Lilla. Her hand grips mine so tight her knuckles turn white. "Oh, and Jason, I don't know if I've introduced myself. I'm Bianca." Bianca's hand reaches over Lilla so that she can shake mine. I give her a weak smile, return the hand shake pathetically, wiping my hand on my sweats right after.

This is going to be a long meal.

—

"E.J.! Anything good?" Peyton yells from the kitchen, helping everyone clean up. E.J. has been flipping through the available channels to see if there is something remotely interesting to watch, hence Peyton's question.

"Uh, if you guys can clean up in five minutes, we've got The Sixth Sense at eight!"

Beside me, Lilla slides the last plate into the dishwasher and runs toward the couch.

"I'm in!"

With Patrick's help, the last few cups get squished into the dishwasher, and we go to sit in the family room with Lilla, E.J., and Piper.

"Vince, do you have candy for us to eat during the movie?" Shayla asks as she comes down the stairs, Bianca hot on her trail. Vince has settled himself into a recliner to the left of the couch.

"Pantry, first shelf, on the left!" He yells behind him. The girls come and settle themselves on the floor, throwing candy in everyone's laps. At this time, everyone has come and claimed a spot, and we spend the last 30 seconds before the movie starts trading candy.

Watching the movie with everybody actually doesn't suck. Lilla is the only person next to me, as I am on one of the far ends of the couch.

"I've seen this movie about 10 times and I'm still as fascinated with it as I was the first time I saw it," Lilla whispers to me.

A little over halfway through the film, I notice Lilla starting to fade. She seemed tired earlier, but I didn't think anything of it; we're teenagers, we are always tired.

But now, the exhaustion is really hitting her.

"You good?" I ask her, quiet. She nods wearily.

"Yeah, just sleepy."

"If you need to sleep, then sleep. If I need to be your human pillow, I would gladly do it."

After a moment of hesitation, she lowers her head onto my shoulder, pressing her face into my neck.

"Thanks," she mumbles against me, hands wrapped around my lower arm.

"Anytime," I tilt my head to say in her ear. I feel her smile, but it soon drops as she falls asleep.

I get glances from everyone, but I just smirk. Let them think what they want.