"𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕙𝕖 𝕜𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕤 𝕙𝕖𝕣, 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕤 𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙 𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕜𝕚𝕟. 𝔽𝕠𝕣 𝕤𝕙𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕠𝕔𝕖𝕒𝕟 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕙𝕖, 𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕞𝕠𝕠𝕟."

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♬ ᴮˡᵃʰ ᵇˡᵃʰ ᵇˡᵃʰ ⁻ ᴷᵉ$ʰᵃ ♬

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Ｍａｓｏｎ

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Comin' out your mouth with that blah, blah, blah. Just zip your lips with a padlock and meet me in the back with the Jack and the jukebox. Don't really care where you live at, just turn around boy let me hit that. Don't be a little bitch with your chit chat, just show me where you di-"

"Mason?"

I screamed, legitimately screamed and the fell off my bed because, for some reason, I thought it was a great idea to dance and sing while standing on top of it.

"Oh, shit!" Alex's head popped over the side of my bed. "Are you okay?"

I kept my eyes shut, more so because I was embarrassed but also because the fall had hurt.

"Mase." I nodded. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I tried knocking but you didn't answer. Do you need help up?"

Groaning, I finally sat up. "No, I think my ego is more bruised than my body." He climbed off the bed and came around to help me anyway. Although embarrassed, I grabbed his hand anyway, letting him pull me up. "It's fine, really and thank you. Um, not to sound rude or anything but why exactly did you come in here?"

He stood up fully, stepping back slightly so that we weren't so close. His hand immediately went to the back of his neck, rubbing. "Um, I was just, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out?"

"Oh." I was more than surprised. Of course Alex had said that things were going to change, however, I didn't know that, that would entail him asking me to hang out. I mean, Alex and I never hung out, just the two of us. "What did you want to do?"

"I mean, will you go on a date with me?"

I looked behind me, expecting to find another girl standing behind me. I looked back to him and then around me once more. "A date" I spoke slowly, "With me?"

"I mean, if you don't want to you don't have to. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have even asked." He turned around quickly, opening the door.

"Wait, why are you apologizing?"

"Because I shouldn't have asked. It's stupid, I just..."

Who was this and what happened to the Alex that was constantly cocky and so damn sure of himself? "I didn't say no."

"It's fine, really. You don't have to say yes just because,"

"Just because what?"

He looked at his feet, shrugging. "Because you feel bad for me."

I snorted unattractively, causing him to look back to me. "Sorry. Um, yeah, sure. What did you have in mind?"

"Uh, It's kind of a surprise."

"Okay, can I at least know what I should wear?"

"Whatevers fine but you'll probably want to wear pants."

"Okay, give me like thirty minutes to get ready. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, I'll just be downstairs when you're ready."

I nodded, staying quiet as he left the room. Okay, wait. What the hell just happened? Did Alex just ask me on a date and did I just say yes? What the actual shit? Honest to God, I wasn't even processing the entire conversation while it was happening. Why the hell did I even agree to this? What even was happening right now? Oh my God, what was I even going to wear? I need Miles and Nico. I grabbed my phone, quickly sending a group text to the two of them.

Ｍａｓｏｎ

'999!'

Ｍｉｌｅｓ

'What the hell is 999?' 

Ｎｉｃｏ

''there numbers miles duh'

Ｍｉｌｅｓ

'*they're'

Ｎｉｃｏ

'what'

Ｍａｓｏｎ

'Guys, I have an emergency!' 

Ｍｉｌｅｓ

'Oh, you meant 911.'

Ｎｉｃｏ

'im still confused about why we're talking about numbers.'

Ｍａｓｏｎ

'Can you two please just come up to my room? I need your help.'

Ｎｉｃｏ

'sorry babycakes im not home'

Ｍｉｌｅｓ

'Yeah, lemme just finish making my sandwich and I'll be right there.' 

Ｎｉｃｏ

'hey thats not fair now i feel left out'

Ｍｉｌｅｓ

'You're the loser who's not at home.'

Ｎｉｃｏ

'miles why do you always have to be so mean'

Ｍａｓｏｎ

'Miles, please hurry.'

Ｎｉｃｏ

'oh just go and act like im not here.'

Ｍｉｌｅｓ

'Don't worry, Daddy Miles is here for you. I'll be right up.'

Ｎｉｃｏ

'not daddy miles more like daddy nico.'

Ｍａｓｏｎ

'Will you both please stop referring to yourselves as Daddy? It's making me uncomfortable.'

"I'm here baby girl, what do you need?" Miles burst through the door, food hanging out of his mouth as he plopped himself on my bed.

"I'm going on a date."

"Oooo, with Lucas? When is he picking you up?"

"Oh, uh. No."

"With who then?"

"Alex."

He began choking, literally. "I'm sorry, come again."

"I know, I know. Alex came in here and caught me while I was on my bed, dancing and singing, which might I add, caused me to fall off. Anyway, that's besides the point. The point is, he asked me on a date and I said yes and then he didn't want to tell me where we were going but said anything would be fine, but that I would probably want to wear jeans."

"Okay, so you need my help picking out an outfit?"

"Yes and trying to help me decide whether or not I've gone completely mad by agreeing to go on a date with him? No to mention he was acting completely different and when I say completely different, I mean, completely different. He almost looked nervous and we both know Alex isn't one to be nervous. And he kept apologizing with we also both know, Alex doesn't do. I don't what the hell is going on and I don't know why I agreed to this in the first place."

"Because you like him." He shrugged nonchalantly. I scoffed. "You do know that it's okay to like him right?

"See, you say that but I just, I don't know. Is it really? Because, like I said before, he's not the nicest human being or I mean, he hasn't been to me and I know he's apologized and all and that he's promised to change; and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, I really do but how can I? I hate how horrible that sounds too because he seems to be trying but it's just hard to trust his word. Does that make me a horrible person?"

Swallowing the rest of his sandwich, he stood up, shaking his head. "Of course it doesn't Mase. I'm not going to sit here and defend Alex just because he's my brother because honestly, he's been an utter dickface but that doesn't mean that he's always been a dickface. Believe it or not, there was once a time when Alex was a nice human being. Once we started getting older and he got more into fighting, things started to change, he started to change. The deeper into the underground fighting, , the more he changed. I just, I want you to know that he hasn't always been like this. Of course, that doesn't excuse his behavior. I don't know, the point is, it's okay for you to like him and it's okay that you agreed to go on a date with him. Now, enough talking. Let's find you something to wear."

I'll admit, I was more than comfortable with what Miles had picked out. I looked over myself in the mirror, my torso adorned in a black t-shirt with an embroidered rose over my right boob and the sleeves rolled up. He chose black skinny jeans and my black Vans to go along with it. Honestly, this was something that I would have actually picked out by myself. "Are you sure this isn't too underdressed for a date?"

"I'm sure. He told you to wear whatever, preferably pants. Plus, you look incredible in anything. Were you going to do anything with your hair?"

"Uh, no? I don't know. I mean, is there really a point? That sounded bad. I don't mean it as he's not worth doing my hair but it's just, he's seen me when I've just woken up. Plus, I think it looks fine in a ponytail. Does it not look good? It looks bad, doesn't it? It does. Oh, God."

He gripped my shoulders, shaking me slightly. "Mase, calm down. You look beautiful. Your hair looks fine, I was just asking if you had planned on doing anything else with it. Not that you need to. Calm down, don't stress so much."

"How can I not? I'm going on a date with Alex. Alex, Miles. This was a bad idea, maybe I should tell him I changed my mind. Yeah, I think I should. I'm just going to go,"

"No, you're not. You said yes because you wanted to. Take a deep breath."
He breathed in slowly, instructing me to follow. "Let it out." he paused waiting for me to exhale. "And believe that everything is going to be okay, okay?" I nodded, not completely sure. "And anyway, if he does anything, call me and I'll tell my mom on him." I couldn't help but laugh at his words, making his eyes go wide. "You're laughing now but you've never had to deal with our mother's rath. She's scary."

I nodded, "Okay, Miles."

"I'm not kidding Mason. She's scary as shit."

I raised my hands in defense. "Okay, okay. I believe you."

"Good, now go downstairs and go on your date."

I swallowed loudly, butterflies erupting in my stomach. "Okay."

"You've got this, Mase. I love you and have fun."

I nodded, turning to walk out the door. Have fun? Those were his parting words? I sure as shit hoped I had fun. Maybe if I didn't piss myself before we got to wherever it is we were going, then maybe I would have fun or maybe I'd actually end up peeing myself and we all know how that's going to end. 

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authors note, 

hello! 

I don't really have much to say, aside from thanking you all for the billionth time for reading my book. Honestly, I'll never stop thank all of you because I'll forever be grateful for each and every one of you. So, thank you, thank you, thank you! 

I hope you like this chapter. 

Have an amazing week! 

M