It's been a long day.

The ride home is a little more pleasant, the demon isn't with us. Cheer practice might actually be my new favorite thing if it keeps her away.

Seated between Aspen and Gentry, we come to a stop in front of our house. "Wow, new neighbors." Aspen states like he's the one who lives here.

Technically, with the amount of time the Jones boys spend at our house, they might as well live here.

"I never noticed." Gentry adds and I scoff, he has the observational skills of a blind person.

We watch as a guy walks out of the house, carrying a load of boxes to the trash can.

"Holy Hell." I gasp, eyeing his shirtless torso.

"Doesn't he own a shirt?" Aspen mutters distastefully.

"I'll remember that Friday night when you show up to the game with body paint over your nipples." I snip, still gawking.

"And you'll be drooling like a fool then too."

"You wish." I slap him, "You Edward Cullen wanna be. He looks better than you shirtless and I haven't even seen him up close."

"I'm the best looking guy in school." He boasts

"I'm good looking." Gentry offers trying to join the argument.

"Plus, you just admitted I look good shirtless."

"You wish."

"Enough, Jo, we have to cook dinner. Mom just texted, she'll be home late."

That snaps me from my fight, that's code for she's at her second job.

Aspen winces, "Do you want to come over for dinner? Mom's gonna make veggie lasagna, she can use glutton free noddles."

We share a look, and while we both know Lana's food would be amazing, we need to clean.

"Sorry, Penny, the house is a mess and you know how mom gets." I offer weakly.

He nods, unlocking the door. "I'll see y'all later."

I go to get out after my twin but he grabs my arm, "Jojo, text if she's not home by ten so we know you guys are okay. If something fishy happens dad can always swing by."

Offering another smile, I shut the door. Aspens dad is the chief of police, he try's to sneak a patrol car down our road on nights like this without our knowledge.

We always know.

*****

Hours later, I'm outside tossing my poor attempt of homemade pizza in the garbage when I notice a dog following me.

I go right, it goes right. I go left, it goes left. I'm halfway through doing a circle when I notice how stupid I must look.

Bending over, I read the collar carefully. I'm allergic to pets. "Maggie, how you doing girl?"

She barks, wagging her tail excessively. The address matches the house next door, someone got new tags quickly. Glancing down at my stained sweatpants and tank top, I decide knocking isn't a good idea. However, the garage is open.

"Come on, girl." I lead her through the grass and into the garage, trying to find a decent place to leave her between all the boxes.

"Stay." I order.

Taking a step back, she follows.

"No." I whine, getting her to lay down.

Slowly, I ease backwards, slightly slouched to keep her distracted. "Don't go anywhere."

Please.

"I wasn't planning on it."

I jump, coming face to face with the good looking guy from earlier.

Damn, he's even better looking up close. Brown hair and bright blue eyes that dance as they take me in. He's tall but compared to me, everyone's a giant. I know how to call them, sadly I don't get to witness him shirtless up close.

Letting out an awkward yelp, I run around him. "I'm just gonna go, cute dog."

I'm halfway back to my house when he calls after me, "What's your name?"

I hardly turn around, too embarrassed. "Jovie Rawlings, stranger and complete idiot. Sorry for trespassing!"

That could've gone smoother.

*****

"I'm telling you, I need to go shopping." I inform Peyton over video chat as I cleanup my room.

"Just move into my house, then Stacy would buy you a whole new wardrobe."

I cringe, I really need to be more cautious about that. "Where is she tonight?"

"Out to dinner with mom." She bites into a chicken tender viciously.

"And didn't bring you?" That's bitchy.

"No, she offered, I just said no." She admits.

I gasp, "You could've brought me food." My stomach growls in agreement.

Dinner was not a very good thing tonight, plus we need to go to the grocery store.

"Sorry, next time I'll invite all three of you over just so she can pay the bill."

I let out a low whistle, "Peyton Elizabeth, I've taught you well."

She smirks, "Life with the Rawlings was bound to rub off on me eventually."

And the apprentice becomes the master. Soon enough we'll have her taking shots and running wild.

"Are you sure you don't want me to pick you up tomorrow?" She checks.

"Nah, as much as I hate the situation, I don't want to stress mom out. She likes knowing we're all together." Especially these last few months.

She grimaces, "How's your mom doing?"

I shrug, "Fine, I guess. She's hardly home. Always working, barely sleeping or eating."

If she's not careful she's going to work herself to death.

"That's not fine, Jo."she scolds me.

"Peyton, my mother is a west side woman. She takes no shit and knows how to hit." I recite the mantra my mom and two aunts love to say with pride.

I know it glosses over the pain and poverty the experienced growing up but it gives me hope. We're much better of than she was, we'll definitely survive.

Staring at each other, we sigh. "Life sucks."

"She's really kicking us where the sun don't shine right now." I agree, especially recently.

"Oh, how's the new neighbor?"

"Hot." Like hottest guy I've ever seen.

"Damn, I need to come over." She groans.

"Like you'd actually talk to him." I snort and she opens her mouth to protest but gives up.

It took her a year to have a normal conversation with Aspen and Gentry. She still mumbles around Jay and AJ. I find it to be one of her more adorable qualities, plus it lets me do the majority of the talking.

After saying goodbye, Gentry walks into my room.

"Which would die first, a fish out of water or a dog in water?"

Rubbing my lips together, I blink profusely. "A fish out of water. Dogs can swim."

"Ha, I told you AJ!" He shouts into his phone and I relax, thank God he didn't choose the dog.

I worry about him at times.

"What did my former lover want?" I ask, curious to know just how stupid he is.

"To see who was superior in the opposite climate. Land or water creatures." He explains like it's so obvious.

I have every right to worry about these idiots.

"Right. Is the female population of our school aware of just how nerdy you guys are?" Because I'm sure their interest would drop by a solid three percent.

He laughs dryly, "I don't know, will you ever get married if you can't cook?"

I whack him with a pillow. "Then we're both shit out of luck."

He tried to make a grilled cheese when my meal failed and left the plastic wrapping on.

"We could always grow old in a haunted house." He offers glumly.

"And try to terrify the local children?" I ask gleefully.

"Of course."

We sit there for a while, before he clears his throat. "Should we try to get jobs?"

"No, baseball is your main focus and you know that." I explain. That scholarship is his meal ticket out of here. 

He sighs, resting his head on my own as Garner joins us. For a while the three of us sit there, pretending nothings changed in the last six months. We're still one happy family. We see mom more than four times a week. The only thing we have to worry about is what's for dinner, not if we'll have a real dinner. Because some nights, it's been toast.

"We'll be okay." I assure them, knowing exactly where their thoughts are spiraling.

We have each other.

*****

Later that night, after cleaning out the entire pantry, I'm stuck trying to maneuver the war zone that is my room.

The door opens, revealing Aspen with a tupperware.

Ask for an angel and the devil will appear.

"Wrong room, Gentry's down the hall. I know despite twelve years of us being separated, you still get confused." I offer, trying to shove my duvet back in the cover.

He chuckles, closing the door. "Heard about your shit attempt at cooking and brought food."

Without turning back around, I shake my head. "It's too late to eat."

"The boys have already eaten their share so I'm sure you're fine." He counters.

"That's not what I mean and you know it."

I need to loose weight and dinner after six does more harm then good.

"It's vegan, this shit ozes health." He literally pushes the food in front of me.

"I-"

"Nope, I'm not leaving till you eat." To prove his point he plops down on my bed. He shuffles around before pulling a bra out of the messed up sheets.

Giving me a sly smirk, he holds it up. "Shouldn't you be wearing this?"

Scoffing, I snatch it from him. "This is my house and I'll go braless if I want to."

I never wear a bra when he's here, it's not really needed. He can respect me enough not to loose his pea sized mind.

Pulling his phone out, he makes himself comfortable. "I wonder how pissed Mere would be if she knew I was in your bed."

I freeze, completely abandoning my duvet. "You must really want your girlfriend to die."

He shakes the container of food.

"Fine." I grumble, opening it up.

My stomach growls as soon as I smell it. I really love his mom's cooking, especially since no one in our family can cook.

No one besides Dad.

Aspen opens up my computer, "What are we watching? Porn?"

Rolling my eyes, I sit down besides him, too preoccupied with food to care.

"You watch the Rhodes kids?" He asks, mildly surprised.

"Of course, they're hilarious." I defend myself.

"Isn't it weird since you used to know them?"

I shrug, "No, I've seen them once since I was 13. The acc..."

"The accident?" He finished and I nod. We  both were at the funeral. My mom grew up with the Rhodes parents, we spent a great deal of time together as kids.

But things changed when the Rhodes parents died.

Pressing play, Scarlett's face appears on the screen. "I hate college."

I snort, way too involved with this family's life.

"She's hot." Aspen states, oggiling her.

"She's gorgeous." I admit. Her tan skin and perfectly curled hair. Not to mention she's so skinny.

Says the girl currently stuffing her face.

"Sweetheart." A grainy voice calls  and she flips the camera around to reveal the male god that is Ashton McClain on video chat.

Instantly, my heart rate picks up. "Now that's a man."

Aspen scoffs, "Whatever, he still rejected you."

Ignoring him, I continue to pig out. At least I can say I asked him out. Scarlett and Ashton are couple goals, no questions asked.

Sage appears and I grin, "Let me guess, he's hot too?"

Tugging Aspens hair, I nod. "Absolutely, he was my second kiss. Plus he's single now so I have a chance."

He mutters something under his breath and I pause the video. "Why are you still here?"

He shrugs, "Dad's not working a night shift and I think my parents wanted to get freaky enough to bless Brooklyn with a sibling closer in age." We both shudder, I'll never forget how mortified we were when the Jones' announced they were expecting their third child. Brooklyn's now nine months old and we still get sick thinking about it. Parents and sex just don't go together, it's gross. "Plus, I'm taking you guys to school so it just made sense for us to sleep over."

Finishing up, I hand him the tupperware. "Okay, then get out."

He places a hand over his heart, "We can't sleep together like old times."

Rolling my eyes, I shove him off the bed. "No, you have a girlfriend and I have standards."

He goes for the door, turning my lights out. "Night, Jojo."

"Night, Penny."

*****

After what feels like ten minutes of sleep, my phone rings. Blindly answering it, I don't bother to blink the sleep out of my eyes.

"Jo, don't kill me, let me add you to the call." Gentry says.

"What are you-"

"So you mean to tell me you honestly believe a dog would survive in water?" AJ's voice demands.

Groaning, I sit up. "AJ, I'm going to kill you."

"Told you she'd be mad." Jay mutters.

"Of course she's mad, she hasn't heard my voice yet." Aspen chimes in.

"Why did you losers decide to call me at-" I pull the phone away to check the time, even more annoyed now. "One in the morning?"

"For you to end the debate on which is more superior." Jay states like it's obvious.

"And you let them do this, Gen?"

"Sorry, sis, but I've got 50 bucks riding on your decision."

"I already gave an answer. The dog would survive." I yawn, almost positive that's what Gentry and I talked about.

"But you're wrong!" AJ protests.

"Jovie is never wrong, now pay up." Seth says down the line.

"I hate you, Jo." AJ mutters.

"Speak for yourself, I love you, Jovie." Jay sings down the line.

"I love you too."

"Funny, you two dated and this is still the first time you've said the L word." Gentry teases.

"We've said it before." Jay protests.

"Just in a platonic way." I add lightly. "I love all my idiots the same amount."

"Except for me, we all know there's a little extra love for me." Seth taunts and I ignore him even though he is my favorite.

"Babe, I still love you even if I'm broke." AJ cries.

"Goodnight." I state before clicking the end button.

Idiots.

*****

Gosh, I love them.

Also, this book and LiL are roughly on the same timeline so thats why I had to wait for LiL to be up to date so you didn't get a spoil.

Updates will be at least every Sunday from now on!

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Love y'all- Mo