Chapter 13

"So, did you know that this place existed when you told me to 'just keep going until you find something' or is it just a coincidence?" I asked Saige as I pulled into the parking lot.

Looking into the rearview mirror as I came to a stop, I saw a small, yet mischievous smile growing on her face. "Total coincidence." she replied cheekily, making me roll my eyes as the three of us piled out of the car.

Back at the cemetery, after Parker and I had found Saige leaning up against my car, we all decided to go ahead with Parker's plan of just doing something fun. I thoroughly agreed that they both deserved a couple hours of joy amidst the sadness that already consumed the both of them over the course of the day, but I had absolutely no clue at what to do.

"So, any suggestions?" I had asked, and while Parker simply shrugged, telling us that he really didn't care what we did, Saige told me to just turn out of the cemetery and just keep driving until we found something to do.

And I did exactly that.

After pulling a sharp left and heading down the street, and away from town, we drove for a solid half an hour. The music was blaring through speakers as we left the city limits and headed down a long and lonesome road that looked to lead to the middle of nowhere. I was on the verge of turning around and heading back into town when a sign for a pancake house shone bright through the cold winds outside.

Without hesitating, I turned my blinker on and pulled into the surprisingly full parking lot.

"You just better hope the food is worth it." I said teasingly to Saige as the three of us piled out of the car and headed towards the building.

Opening the door to the pancake house, my ears were quickly met by the sound of the chiming bell that hung above the walkway. As the bell stopped ringing, the only thing I could focus on for a moment was the smell that was wafting towards me. The smell of syrup, freshly cooked pancakes, and a greasy grill was all it took for me to completely forget about why we were here in the first place and just relax.

"Table for 3?" an unfamiliar voice asked, and when I snapped out of my daze, I saw both Parker and Saige looking at me with amused looks on their faces, and a hostess smiling at me expectantly.

"Oh umm, yeah." I replied slowly as the hostess nodded and gestured for us to follow her.

Saige stepped forward quickly, while Parker and I trailed slightly behind her.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, digging his hands into his pockets as he smirked slightly.

"I'm fine," I said, rolling my eyes, "I just zoned out for a second."

"Because of the food?" he guessed teasingly, a wicked smile spreading across his face.

"Shut up." I mumbled embarrassedly, a slight heat rising on my cheeks as I scurried ahead slightly.

Reaching the booth the hostess stopped at, I slid into the side opposite that of Saige's, and when Parker reached the table a few seconds later, my blush grew a smidge more noticeable as he slid into the seat beside me.

Ignoring Saige's smirking face across from me as she wiggled her eyebrows teasingly, I tried to cool down my blush as I grabbed one of the menus from the hostess.

"There are your menu's, and your waiter will be around in a couple of minutes to start you off." she said in a friendly tone as she turned to walk away, leaving me to deal with my teasing best friend and the boy I was fast developing feelings for.

Taking the simpler route, at least in my opinion, I flipped open my menu and try to blur out my surroundings as I searched for something to eat.

It seemed however, that my tactics worked a little bit too well, as I was suddenly brought out of the land of concentration when somebody poked me in the side, making me jump. I turned to Parker with an accusing glare, but a sheepish smile immediately took over as I saw the looks of amusement that both him and Saige were sending me.

"You seemed to have dozed off to dreamland again," Parker commented with a small smirk, "I thought I'd serve my duty as your friend to nudge you out from it."

"You couldn't have just called my name or something?"

"We did," Saige answered, cutting in before Parker had the chance to reply, "You just didn't seem to hear us."

"Oh," I said as I felt a blush of embarrassment rise up my cheeks, "Umm, sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Saige said, "But while you were staring deeply into the menus soul, did you happen to find anything worth eating?"

Rolling my eyes, I replied as I started to flip through the menu once again, this time though, I was actually reading it. "You're the one who's been here before, shouldn't you already know what's on the menu?"

"Just because I knew that this place existed, it doesn't mean that I necessarily spend my free time a half an hour outside of town."

"So, I'm guessing the reason you come here is because of him." I said slyly, subtly pointing in the direction of a hot waiter that just so happened to be heading in our direction.

"Actually," she mumbled under her breath, as he stepped up to our table, "He's the reason I stopped."

My eyebrows furred in confusion, wondering what Saige had meant, but before that train of thought became fully functional, the attractive waiter spoke.

"Welcome to Sally's Pancake House," he greeted, not looking up from the pad of paper he was scribbling on, "What can I get for you to..." he started, trailing off when his eyes finally focused on the three of us, widening significantly.

An even larger cloud of confusion swept over me as the waiter stared at Parker, who, I had just noticed, had his jaw clenched slightly and his shoulders tensed.

"Parker..." the waiter said, his voice filled with disbelief, "When did, uh, when did you get back?"

"It's been almost a year Justin," Parker replied shockingly, his words clipped, cut, and cold. "I've been living with Saige and my aunt."

Suddenly the waiter, Justin I presumed, turned to Saige with a slightly less surprised face. "Umm hey."

"Hey." she replied, a little more friendly than Parker had as she lifted the side of her mouth up slightly into the smallest of smiles.

"And who's this?" he asked, unsure of himself as his eyes settled on me.

Squirming in my seat slightly, I wasn't sure if I was nervous due to the fact that a stranger was looking at me expectantly, or because of the fact that I had nowhere to go, as both the wall and Parker had succeeded in boxing me in.

It turned out however, that I didn't have to respond, as Parker cut in before I could get a sound out.

"Her name's Jillian," he said tightly, "But could you just take our order already."

Even though I couldn't necessarily blame Parker for his attitude today, I still pinched his thigh underneath the table for his sharpness. As his hand grabbed onto mine in response, I avoided his gaze as he stopped glaring down Justin, partially because of the sparks that were spreading through my hand that was slowly intertwining with his, and partially because I turned to Justin to place my order.

Not having enough time to thoroughly peruse the menu, I just ordered the simple stack of strawberry pancakes, as the picture on the front of the menu was already making my stomach grumble.

It turned out that both Saige and Parker ordered the same as me, but I had a sneaking suspicion that it was to get this mysterious Justin guy away from our table quicker.

"Umm, okay," Justin said as he scribbled down the last of our order a few seconds later, "Someone will come by in a bit to collect the menus and hand out your drinks." he finished, turning around and getting as far away from our table as possible.

"So..." I started, "That was interesting."

"I'll be right back." Parker muttered as he stood up and headed towards the restrooms, leaving Saige and I alone.

Turning my gaze to Saige, I raised an eyebrow, silently waiting for her to explain, and after a few seconds, she sighed defeatedly. "What would you like to know?"

"I don't want to pry, but," I said sheepishly, "What did you mean when you said that he was the reason you stopped coming here?"

"You caught that huh?" she asked, and I nodded before she continued. "Well, I can't tell you much, because it kind of has to do with Parker's past, but what I can say is that before Freya died, Justin and Parker were pretty good friends. I stopped coming here because after, umm, everything happened, I thought it was awkward. I was kind of hoping he wasn't going to be working today."

"Well at least he's hot." I stated cheekily, wiggling my eyebrows at Saige as she rolled her eyes.

"Yea, but let's not talk about that right now," she replied, "Let's talk about what I saw Parker and you doing back in the cemetery."

And just like that, an ounce of embarrassment flooded through me as I remembered exactly what she had interrupted.

"I was just comforting him." I mumbled as my face flushed and the tips of my ears grew hot.

"Oh, is that what you're calling it?" she asked teasingly, "Because I'm pretty sure you guys were about to kiss."

"So?" I asked timidly, "Maybe it was just the heat of the moment."

"The moment you guys were surrounded by gravestones and lingering spirits?" she replied with dry disbelief. "Come on," she begged, "You know you want to tell me."

"Okay," I said defeatedly, "Okay, maybe I did almost kiss him, and maybe I really, really did want to kiss him, but I'm kind of glad you showed up when you did. I don't know how he feels about me, and I'd rather stay friends than move into that territory."

"I so knew you liked him." she commented, a wicked smile playing on her face, "But seriously, even I know that he has feelings for you."

I was about to object, saying that there was no way that she'd no for sure that he liked me unless he'd told her, but I didn't get the chance. I snapped my mouth shut as I saw Parker returning to the table out of the corner of my eye, keeping quiet right up until he had once again squeezed in beside me in the booth.

"So, what'd I miss?" he asked, seemingly in a better mood than he'd been in just minutes before.

If I hadn't known the day he'd already had I might have asked a question or two, wondering what had made him antsy and mad in the first place, but I kept my thoughts to myself, plastering a smile onto my face.

"Nothing, nothing at all."

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The conversation flowed smoothly after that, and not a word was mentioned about Freya or Justin. When a different waiter returned with our drinks and our food, it was obvious that Justin had decided to give our table to one of his co-workers, but honestly, I was just glad that the drama for the day was over.

At least I hoped it was.

"What now?" Saige asked as she finished the last of her pancakes.

Since I was still eating, and didn't really fancy talking with my mouth full, Parker took the hint to reply. "I don't know," he shrugged, "We could always go back into town and go see a movie or something."

Just as I was about to nod my head to agree with his suggestion, I suddenly remembered something.

"Actually," I started after swallowing the remaining food I had in my mouth, "How would you guys like to help me out at home for an hour or two?" I asked with a small and hopeful smile.

"And what exactly would you need help with?" Parker asked curiously, turning in his seat to look at me with his eyebrow raised.

Pushing down the will to blush, I looked away from his gaze and smiled shyly. "Umm, you see," I started, "I kind of have to decorate the house for Christmas still, and it'd be great if you guys could help."

Saige snorted as Parker's curious expression turned to one of amusement. "You are aware that Christmas is in ten days, right?"

"I know," I sighed, "It just kind of slipped my mind that I had to decorate."

"Well, if you really need the help than I don't mind doing a little decorating." Saige commented.

Smiling at her response, I turned to Parker with a hopeful expression.

"I'm in." he replied, cracking a smile.

"Great," I chirped, and when the two of them laughed at my enthusiasm, I toned it down a bit as I continued. "I'll just go pay and then we can head out."

"Whoa there Jill," Parker said, looking at me with a curious gaze, "Who said that we couldn't pay for ourselves?"

"Nobody," I replied with a shrug, quickly pushing Parker out of the booth before he could change my mind, "But besides me forcing you into decorating duty, tonight's really just about you two, and no matter what either of you say, I'm still the one that's going to end up paying." I finished, quickly scurrying away to the front before they could object.

Surprisingly, even though I made the hostess punch through our bill quickly, neither Parker or Saige followed me, which made me relax a bit as I finished paying. Returning to the booth a minute or so later, I felt a small sense of happiness floating around me as I gave the both of them one less thing to worry about.

However, as I approached the table, their conversation fell flat, and even though I had a strong suspicion they had been talking about me just seconds before, I didn't let it bother me in any way. Instead, I pulled my keys from my back pocket and nodded towards the wooden door at the front of the building.

"Ready to go?"

And as they both nodded in response, they stood up and followed me out of the pancake house, leaving empty plates, a delicious smell, and a mysterious waiter behind.

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"At least we don't have to hang Christmas lights." Saige said with an underlying ounce of joy to her voice as the three of us piled out of my car forty minutes later. "Those things take way to long to untangle."

Shaking my head in amusement, I couldn't help but agree with her. I was already behind on decorating the inside of the house, but if I had been in charge of the outside of the house as well, let's just say our house would be severely lacking in Christmas cheer. Luckily a couple weekends ago my dad had gotten a day off of work and offered to hang the lights on the roof, and ever since they'd been shining bright when the sky turned to black and the moon came to play.

"You are aware that I have a set of Christmas lights for the tree right?" I said, unlocking the front door and opening it as the three of us hurried inside.

"Yes, but they're probably much shorter than the ones out there." she replied, a triumphant smile on her face.

"So, what exactly is there to do?" Parker asked, his hands resting in his pockets as he looked around.

I smiled guiltily at the two of them, not saying a word as I led them into the living room where my dad had left out the supplies. "This box," I started, "is full of little decorations that go around the house, most of the ornaments, and strings of lights, while this box," I continued, pointing to a box I had completely disregarded that morning, "is the tree."

"You keep your tree in a box all year?" Saige asked, walking over to the box and opening it, scrunching her nose up in distaste as the fumes from the pent up tree leaked free. "Wouldn't it smell better if you, I don't know, just bought a new tree every year."

Rolling my eyes, not too bothered by the smell, I tipped the tree box over on its side. "It's an plastic tree my mom and dad bought at a store when I was younger, and we've kept it around ever since." I explained, looking at the four parts of the tree that were now lying on the ground. "It's not like it takes a rocket scientist to put it together."

"Shouldn't have to put a tree together in the first place." she mumbled in response, picking up the smallest piece of the tree.

Bumping the treetop out of her hands, I stuck my tongue out at her childishly. "Well, since you seem to be oh-so-interested in this tree, you wouldn't mind putting it together right?" I suggested. "And while you do that, Parker and I can start sorting through the other box to find the lights and stuff."

"Sure," she shrugged, shocking me as to how easily she agreed, but when a small smirk appeared on her face, I knew I had started a small fight that she had the chance to win. "Just beware of the mistletoe."

And in that moment, my mouth snapped shut and my cheeks blazed as I mumbled a quick 'shut up' under my breath before walking over to help Parker sort through my family's old Christmas supplies.

Luckily, Parker hadn't seemed to have heard his cousin's cheeky comment, either that, or he simply ignored it all together and put his focus into the task we had at hand... untangling the short string of Christmas lights. We had found them quite easily among the miscellaneous festive decorations in the box, along with most of the ornaments. Saige had finished putting the tree together quite quickly, and as she took the liberty of spraying it down with a pine scented air freshener, Parker and I took to handling the lights.

"Stupid lights," I grumbled under my breath as I successfully undid one knot from the string of lights, only to see a pile more to go.

Parker chuckled lightly as he took the lights away from me. "You know, it's not actually that hard, it just takes a bit of patience." he said in amusement.

Not knowing how to respond, I childishly stuck my tongue out him, causing his lighthearted laughter to grow deeper and louder.

"How about I finish with the lights while you pick out some ornaments and unwrap them." he suggested with amusement, nodding to the pile of decorations that was currently on the ground, all individually wrapped in old newspaper scraps.

And it was like he didn't even have to try. By the time I had picked out a few ornaments that I could picture on this years tree, unwrapping ten at the most, Parker had completely finished untangling the string of lights.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked, slightly impressed, "How did you do that so fast?"

"Magic." he replied, wiggling his eyebrows jokingly.

Rolling my eyes, I smiled in amusement. "Sure."

The entirety of the next hour or so was spent decorating the tree, the three of us doing our best to incorporate the festive look, as well as the simple touches that seemed to please the eye. Settling on a theme of gold, silver, and red, Parker, Saige and I worked hard to hang the lights, place various ornaments, and even threaded Christmas ribbon through the branches of the tree.

"I'd say we did a pretty good job." I said proudly, stepping back form the tree after fixing a few of the stray branches.

"Yea, it looks really good." Saige agreed, while Parker, I noticed, didn't say a word. "Is it okay if I go place these things around your kitchen?" she continued, asking about the small nutcrackers that were stored away.

As I nodded with a smile and Saige disappeared around the corner a few seconds later, I turned towards Parker and raised an eyebrow questioningly. "So, I didn't hear you say anything about this amazing tree." I commented, a hint of humor lying in my voice.

"That's because I don't think it's finished yet." he replied with a shrug.

"Wait, what?"

As a mask of confusion swept over me, the amusement I had been feeling seemed to seep from my face to his.

"Yeah." he continued, pulling his hand out from behind his back to reveal the one thing he'd been hiding. "I found this with the decorations a little while ago. I guess you forgot about it, but it's what ties the whole tree together." In his hands Parker was holding my family's tree topper, a shining gold star.

"It totally slipped my mind," I said as he passed the star to me.

"Well now you can finish the tree."

His lopsided smile he was giving me immediately sent the butterflies in my stomach awry, and as I turned towards the tree to place the star on, I realized one small problem.

I was probably an inch too short.

Standing on my tiptoes, I reached as high as I could without knocking over the tree or loosing my balance, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't reach. Just as I was about to turn around and Parker for help, I felt a pair of hands on my waist, and suddenly I was being lifted a couple of inches into the air.

Turning around stunned and surprised, I saw Parker looking up at me with a small smile on his face. "Just hurry up and put the star on shorty," he said jokingly, "Actually, I might even consider dropping you if you don't."

Rolling my eyes, I easily stretched my arm out and placed the star securely on the top of the tree before tapping one of Parker's hands. "You can let me down now."

I honestly expected him to take a step back and just let go of me, but instead, he brought me down gently, leaving his hands where they were as he turned me around. My mind, my stomach, and my heart were all going crazy as I quickly registered the fact that we were only a foot apart.

"Umm, thanks." I said, trying not to stutter and I smiled shyly up at him.

This was the second time today that I saw a look in his eyes, a look that hinted that maybe I wasn't crazy. Maybe we could move past the stage of just friends.

And in a split second, everything changed again, and our moment was broken for the second time today.

"Sorry to break you guys apart," Saige said, looking genuinely apologetic as she reentered the living room, "But my mom just called and was wondering when we'd be home because it's almost ten."

Stepping back form Parker and looking at the clock that hung on the wall, I realized she was right, and we had been able to waste a couple of hours decorating the house.

"Wow, I didn't realize it was that late." Parker commented, dragging one of his hands through his hair. "I guess we should get going."

"I'll just grab my keys and then we can leave if you guys are ready."

"You don't have to waste gas Jill," Saige started as both her and Parker followed me towards the front door, "We could just walk, it's not that far from here."

Sending her a dry look, I shook my head in refusal and opened the front door. "I'm not letting you guys walk more than a few blocks this late at night," I replied confidently, "Plus, it's cold out and I don't want you guys to freeze."

It seemed as though neither of them had much left in them to argue as they quickly gathered their things and headed out the door in front of me.

As I walked out behind them and closed the door, I thanked my lucky stars that Parker hadn't noticed the mistletoe that Saige had craftily hung above the doorway.

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"Thanks for the ride Jill," Saige said from the back seat as I pulled into their driveway, as she once again insisted that Parker should have the passenger seat. "I'll text you tomorrow."

And just like that, without even waiting for me to reply, she was out of the car and hurrying up the pavement to her front door.

"Well," I said, leaning back against my seat, "Your cousin sure seems energetic."

"She's your friend," Parker replied, rolling his eyes, but not making a move to get out of the car. Shrugging in reply, I smiled as he continued. "Thank you by the way."

"For what?"

"For this afternoon. For getting my mind off the fact that it's been three years since Freya's death. For just being by my side and not running away back at the cemetery."

"I wouldn't run away from helping you Parker," I explained seriously, "But like I've said before, I would also never judge you."

"And I know you have questions about my past, which I'll tell you about eventually, but since I have a minute or two now, you can ask me anything, and I'll answer with complete honesty." he said, taking one of my hands off of my lap as he played around with my fingers before intertwining them with his own.

There were so many things that I could've asked him, like how Freya actually died, what happened to his dad, why people treated him the way they did, but instead, I chose the thing that had been nagging me back at the pancake house.

"Who's Justin?"

Parker chuckled, but his laugh was filled with everything except for the humor. "You just had to go there, didn't you?" he asked dryly, before replying. "Well, believe it or not, Justin and I were friends a couple of years ago, back before everything happened."

So Saige had been right, they had been friends.

"When Freya died and people, umm, blamed me." he continued, stammering his words slightly, "Most of my friends abandoned me, but Justin really didn't. He stuck by me the first couple of weeks, but when everything got complicated, I kind of pushed him away. I had my reasons to do what I did, but before we stopped talking we got into a fight, and I haven't talked to him since"

Soaking in his words, I wasn't completely shocked when he said he had pushed Justin away, as he had tried to do it to me a couple of times already, but I wouldn't let him, although it seemed as though this Justin guy had.

"Okay." I said with a nod, not knowing what else I could say. I asked my question and he'd answered, which was making me question as to why he was still in the car.

"Okay?" he asked, clearly amused. "That's it? No more burning questions to ask?"

"You said one question," I shrugged, "Plus, I think I'm too tired to try to unravel the mysteries of your past."

"The mysteries of my past, huh? Well, soon enough I'll tell you everything you want to know, and maybe it won't be past your bed time when I do."

"Hey!" I screeched, however, it was obvious to him that he hadn't offended me in any way as I still had a smile etched onto my face.

His smile widened at my reaction. "I'll you see you around Jill," he said, getting ready to get out of the car.

Before he did however, he lent over the center compartment and placed one small kiss on my cheek, causing me to blush as he pulled back.

"Yeah, see you around." I replied quietly, waiting for him to close his front door behind him before backing out of the driveway and heading home.

It was miracle however, that I was able to get home without causing an accident, because my mind was not focused on the road; it was focused on Parker. Walking into the house with a dopey smile on my face as I brought my hand up to touch my cheek, I wasn't expecting to find my dad lounging on the couch in the living room watching a late night talk show.

"Hey dad, what time did you get home?" I asked, as he was still wearing his work clothes.

"Just a couple of minutes ago, and I was just about to call you to see where you were."

"Sorry, I just left to drive Saige and her cousin home since they helped me decorate." I explained, leaving out Parker's name for one reason or another.

"I can see that," he replied, gesturing towards the tree beside the television, "But when I said you had to get decorating, I meant gradually over the weekend, not all in one night."

Shrugging, I replied. "It's not like I had anything else to do besides, it wasn't like it was all that hard, it just took a while to set everything up."

"That reminds me," he started, "you know that your cousins are coming down Christmas day, right?"

"Umm, yea... why?"

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to have Saige over for Christmas dinner? Her mom is more than welcome to come, and if her cousin is staying there, she's more than welcome to come as well."

"It's a he," I said, correcting him, "Her cousin, it's a he, not a she."

"Oh, well than he is welcome to join us."

I nodded. "I'm not sure if they have plans already, but I'll ask them tomorrow and let you know."

"Okay sweetie," he said, as I turned to head upstairs, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight dad, love you." I replied as I climbed the stairs up to my room, wondering if my dad knew that he had essentially just asked me to invite my crush to Christmas dinner.

And for everybody's sakes, I really hope the answer to that question was no.

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So, it took a little bit of time, but I finally finished this chapter and I really hope you all enjoy it! I'm pretty sure this is the last chapter before the real plot is unveiled, so get ready for that and soak in the cute/light chapters while you can.

Also, I've gotten a lot of comments telling me that things in this story aren't accurate, especially about the track and field aspect, and I'd just like to say that this is a FICTIONAL story, which means that if I want to make up a event, I'll do it without a second thought... just saying.

Finally, I completely forgot about entering the Wattpad Prize with my story Until I Met You, so hopefully you are all supporting that, and if you're not, that's completely okay as well!

Hopefully I'll be able to get another chapter up within the next two weeks, and just a heads up, I have a special surprise for my followers in the next couple weeks :)