Lilly went home after we got to my house. Amanda had dinner ready and Grant was already back, all smiled from his "non date" with Jasmine. She had told him that they were going on the date as friends. But I'm pretty sure they're more than that, though.

"Grant and Jasmine, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Reese called out childishly as the three of us walked into the living room. Grant put Reese in a headlock and got him down on the ground, something they always used to do.

"So, how're my favorite little twins?" Once we all collapsed on our couch, Grant sat in the middle and put his arms around our necks to pull us close to him.

"Uh, we're not exactly little anymore." My statement came out strangled because he was practically choking me.

Grant laughed. "I know. But you'll always be my little Jay and Ray." He rubbed both of our heads, getting a groan out of Reese and I. Lots of people called me Jay, but no one ever calls Reese Ray. That's always been an only-in-this-household type thing. What happens in the Eldridge house, stays in the Eldridge house, in other words. I patted my hair down and rolled my eyes at my brother.

"You don't have to give us per names. Reese complained. Grant chuckled and rubbed Reese's head again.

"Okay kids, I have a few things to tell you all." Dad came in the room with Amanda slowly trailing behind. She's been acting weird all day and it was worrying me. What if she heard me earlier talking to Reese before school about how I don't want anything to change?

"We've decided on getting married after New Years, while you guys are still off of school so there's nothing to interrupt that." Dad explained. Grant hooted and I couldn't help but smile at him. He was the silliest one out of the three of us.

"So-" My dad was cut off by the phone ringing. Amanda jumped out of her trance and grabbed the phone off our computer stand. She pressed answer and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" She answered. There was a look of confusion on her face but it soon cleared up. She smiled down at her feet as she listened to the other person talking.

"Yes! They're all right here actually." Amanda looked up at us kids and smiled. My dad only shifted uncomfortably until she looked at him.

"Okay, here's Bo." Amanda handed dad the phone and he took it, not expecting it to be his ex-wife.

"Savannah..." Dad said, his enthusiasm was obviously forced. He listened to her talk for a little while but my heartbeat picked up when I saw anger flash through his eyes. He say down on the chair behind him and seemed to be calming down. Dad closed his eyes for a moment and sighed in a defeated kind of way.

"Okay, yeah. That's a good idea. I don't know if I'll be able to talk them into it though." He said as he glanced up at us. I took a nervous look at Grant beside me. He didn't seem too tense so I tried not to worry.

"Alright, bye." He hung up the phone and handed it back to Amanda.

"What?" I asked immediately. Dad looked at me and gave us an apologetic look.

"Your mom wants you to spend New Years with her." As soon as the words left his mouth I was shaking my head.

"No." I said. Reese was sitting up, wanting to know more about this while Grant was smiling. Of course he wanted to go. He was the good kid, the favorite, the one that you could get to make you cookies with a puppy dog face. I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted.

"Now, Jasey. Listen." Dad started. "She wants you to come and spend December 30th through January 1st with her. It's only a couple days down in Miami, I think you'll survive." He told me sternly.

I didn't even have anything to say. I couldn't argue because there was no way I was getting out of this one, so what was the point?

"You'll have us there. Quit being so stubborn..." Reese rolled his eyes at me. I reached over whacked him in the back of the head and Grant pulled me back before I could do it over and over again.

"Kids, calm down. You're going. And after that, we'll take care of all the wedding stuff." Dad finished while putting his arm around Amanda. I sighed.

I always lose to these guys.

*****

"Where are you going?" I asked Reese the next morning at breakfast. He was dressed and ready to leave.

"Dad said I could go to Austin's Christmas party." He said as he shrugged his jacket on. "Grant and Jasmine are going too, and Lilly."

"If you're taking the car then how am I supposed to get to work?" I asked him, feeling frustrated. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I made you pancakes. See you later, Jay." He stuck a piece of pancake in his mouth before taking off out the door. I dropped my hands to my sides.

Everyone's going to this way-too-early Christmas party while I have to work? Great.

I ate a pancake that Reese made after sniffing it and making sure he didn't do anything to it. He might have licked it, but we have the same DNA. I scarfed the rest of the pancake down and ran back toy room to get dressed for work. After curling my hair, squeezing into some jeans and a comfortable long-sleeved shirt, I started searching for my bandana. Then I remembered that it was stolen by a Butt-head. Grabbing my jacket and shoes, I ran out of the house and remembered I didn't have a car to take, so I was walking. To make matters worse it started raining. Rain meant ice later on.

I threw my head back and groaned. Could this day get any worse?

It didn't take me too long to get to work. The rain was only a sprinkle thank goodness but I found out that if you walk long enough in even a drizzle of rain, you can still get wet. Not soaked, but wet.

My fellow co-workers gave me weird glances when they saw me. I ignored their awkward stares and pulled my frizzy hair up into a ponytail. I sighed and blew my bangs out of my face. Stupid Hunter just had to take my bandana.

"Morning, Jasey." Danny waved as he passed me with a pile of papers in his hands. I waved back and made my way out to the counter.

A few hours went by and the rain poured down. I dreaded walking home tonight, one because of the rain and two because I'll be alone.

I stood at the cash register doodling on a notepad when someone cleared their throat. I jumped and looked up to see Charlie standing there with Hunter right behind him.

"Uh, hey. You want the usual?" I asked absentmindedly. Charlie smiled. "Yeah."

"Hunter?" I said, looking past Charlie.

"Same thing I guess." I stared at him for a moment and then nodded my head, turning around to tell the cooks their order.

Charlie sat at the bar as usual and I thought that Hunter was going to sit beside him until I saw he had chosen a booth by the front of the window. I looked at him as he stared absentmindedly out the window while twirling a piece of thread through his fingers. I shook my head to clear it and walked over to Charlie.

"You want some coffee?" I asked him as I grabbed a coffee mug from below the counter.

"Sure." He replied. He had the news paper propped up and his glasses on the tip of his nose.

"Here you go. You're food'll be ready soon." I told him with a smile. He nodded once at me and continued to look at the paper.

Sue rang the small bell indicating that the food was done and I turned around to grab it. I sat Charlie's in front of him and grabbed an orange juice out of the fridge to give to Hunter. Hopefully he liked orange juice.

"Here's your food." I said quietly as I sat the plate of fresh food down in front of Hunter. He snapped his head around and looked at me, a small smile making it's way on his face. He took the orange juice when I handed him the small bottle but didn't take his eyes off mine. Why was I so captured in his eyes?

"So, you work here?" He asked me. I glanced back at the counter to see Sue giving me a curious look. She nodded her head and smiled at me, letting me know that I could take a small break. Smirking, I sat down across from him.

"No, I just come to serve people food fort own health." I said sarcastically. "Yes, I work here." He shook his head at me but smiled.

"Nice." He took a bite of his bacon with syrup covered all over it. I made a face at him.

"What?" He asked, his mouth full.

"I don't get you and your grandpa. Syrup? With Bacon? Gross." I rolled my eyes playfully. Hunter smiled up at me and for a moment, I couldn't take my eyes away from him even when he looked away.

"Jasey! C'mon. We got customers!" Danny yelled from the kitchen. I snapped back into reality and stood up from my seat. Without another word to Hunter, I pranced back over to the cash register to finish my short shift for the day. Hunter never moved. He sat in that booth with headphones in practically all day. Even when Charlie left, he never moved. He sat there drumming his fingers on the table to the sound of his music, I assumed.

When my shift was over, it was already four in the afternoon. I took my apron off and hung it up, grabbing all my stuff and tugging it on. I said my goodbyes and promised to bring cards for everyone for Christmas.

I could've just walked out of the diner and went home, but no. I had to be nice Jasey and see what was up with Hunter. Of course I did.

"Hey, everything okay?" I tapped his shoulder and he jumped. I realized he was asleep but it was too late now. I accidentally woke him up.

"Oh, uh, hey." He said, voice husky. He pulled the earbuds from his ears and stood up. I stepped back so he could get out of the booth with ease. He stared at me for a moment with sleepy eyes before he looked me up and down.

"You leaving?" He asked before yawning.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, my shift is over. Want me to walk you home? You seem pretty tired." I smiled and lifted my hand to swipe a stray piece of hair out of his eyes.

"Okay," was all he said before walking out the door, shoving his phone and ear phones in his pocket. I walked beside him on the sidewalk, my hands shoved in my jacket pockets while his were in his jean pockets.

"You know, I think my boss would really like if I was in my complete uniform." I told him. We walked down through town past all the shops that have been there since I could remember.

Hunter just chuckled. I saw the breath leave his mouth from his warm air to the cold air outside.

"You'll get it back, eventually. He looked over at me and grinned. I smacked his shoulder playfully.

As we walked down through an alley that would soon lead to the same street he almost ran me over on, I heard a very quiet meow in the distance. I perked up and looked all around me. Hunter didn't seem to notice, though, since he kept walking. My feet came to a stop in the middle of the street as I looked all around me, trying to find the source of the sound.

"Don't you think you should stop standing in the middle of the road?" Hunter was suddenly so close to me that I could feel his breath against the side of my face. I turned to him after hearing the meow one more time and grabbed his wrist, pulling him with me in the direction of the cat.

It started to rain again which only made everything more slippery. Just as we turned the corner of another alley, I spotted a small calico kitten wandering back and forth across the trashy street.

It zig-zagged across the street until it came right up to us a paused. I stared at it in awe and out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hunter staring at me. Ignoring the burning holes he was making in my face, I walked slowly towards the cat where it had stopped and kneeled down. I felt the water in the pavement soak through the knees of my pants once I was down.

"Here, kitty-kitty." I brushed my fingers together to make it look like I had food in my hands. Instead of coming towards me, the cat just sat down and stared at me, laying its head on its paws. Its eyes were a hazel color and shined when they looked at me. Hunter tapped on my shoulder and I looked up to see what he wanted. He had a cracker between his fingers offering it to me. I smiled and took it from him.

I held the cracker out to the cat and waited for it to come to me. It finally did but it didn't seem to like crackers which I suspected. It was a really skinny and didn't have a collar or any kind of thing to tell us who it belonged to. I reached forward slowly and ran my hands over its silky fur. It was just a kitten, maybe as long as my forearm. When it purred and rubbed its head against my hand to get me to run it more, I gently picked it up and held it to my chest.

I saw it was a boy and admired the way his fur was colored. He was so pretty. With the cat still in my arms, I stood up to face Hunter. I was about to ask something that he might not like, but it was my only option.

"Do you wanna hold him?" I asked, smiling down at him. I decided to start off slow and then hit him with the question of whether he could stay with Hunter for a while. I was almost certain Amanda was allergic.

"No, I'm more of a dog person. You know, he probably has fleas." Hunter said as he stepped close to pet the kitten. He purred and just staring at him like that, living this attention, I knew what I wanted to call him.

"To be honest, neither am I. But kittens are so cute and fluffy. Aren't you Shiloh?" I said the last sentence in a baby voice and rubbed my nose close to Shiloh's. He put his paws up on the sides of my nose and meowed.

"Shiloh? You named him?" Hunter asked incredulously. "What, are you going to keep him now?" I didn't say anything as I looked up at Hunter. He could tell by the look on my face what the answer was to that and I didn't even have to say it.

"Oh, no no. I'm not keeping him!" Hunter said and stepped back from me. Shiloh squirmed and I had to hold him a different way and scratch his belly to make him stop. His eyes were starting to close slowly.

"C'mon, Hunter! My soon-to-be step-mom is allergic! I can't keep him and he's too cute to just leave out here to die. Please?" I stepped closer to him and pouted, my bottom lip sticking out and my eyes pleading. Hunter growled under his breath and I swore I heard a swear word.

"Girls and cute things never mix well." He muttered with his hands on his hips and his head leaned back to look at the dreary sky. The rain was only a sprinkle now.

"Please Hunter? I promise I'll buy him food and everything. And I'll potty train him..." I went on and on with the things I'd do.

"Okay, okay. But I'm keeping your bandana for a while longer." He said with a smirk and started walking towards the direction of his house. Or, well, his garage.

_________

Sorry to whoever read this when I published this chapter the first time! I forgot to edit it and had several mistakes in it.