A/N- Dedicated to Gayatrikothuri
Question of the day: "Netflix or CW?"

"Hi there!" Paste says as she drags Carl over to us. He has a blank expression while Paste's face is alight with excitement. Oh, how I wish Carl isn't this Paste's boyfriend.

"I had plans with my friend, but I met Pasta when I was going towards the cafe. Hi, Lavender." Carl says the moment he approaches us.

Pasta? Didn't I once...?

"How do you know Paste?" Jer asks Carl. Yes Carl, how do you know Paste? If you are her boyfriend I am going to feed you the tulips you sent me.

"Pastel is dating one of my friends from uni." Thank God. I don't know why I don't want her to date Carl. He's a good guy. "Lav, can I talk to you for a second?" Carl asks, eyeing the arm Jer has around me. I reluctantly nod as he takes me away to a corner, Jer and Paste looking in our direction with confused expressions.

"What is it?" I ask Carl as he looks tense. "I just... I am sorry." Before I can ask why he continues. "For sending you flowers and giving you mixed signals. I just... I had gotten into a fight with my girlfriend and I don't know what overtook me. I noticed you barely looked my way these last few days. I don't want any of my stupid gestures to ruin our friendship." I was right earlier. He's a nice guy.

"It's okay, Carl. I was just really busy. I wasn't ignoring you." It's a lie. I was. I didn't want any extreme attention from him. "I'd still like to be friends."

"Oh thank God." His words make me giggle. He opens his arms for a hug and I shake my head, indicating it's not there yet and he gracefully retreats with a smile.

"We should go." I say as we start walking in their direction.

"I knew Jeremy always had a thing for you." Carl says as we walk. "The first time you introduced us, he told me not to break your heart or he will break all my bones." He smiles at the memory. I gasp and I stop walking. So does Carl and looks at me with a confused expression. I don't know how to feel about this. Why did I never notice before how he felt about me? "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, let's just go and join them."
"Aren't you going to go with your friend, Carl?" Jer asks as he drapes his arm around me, as if claiming territory.

"No, he ditched me."

"So you should join us. Jer was just teaching me how to bowl." Carl nods but I see Jer trying not to frown at the corner of my eye.

"We should make teams!" Pastel squeals. "Me and Carl, you and Jeremy, OK? I nod. "Okay, me first!"

As Paste positions herself I drag Jer away a little and whisper so that only he can hear. "What's wrong?"

"The Carl guy. He likes you." I look up and he's pursing his lips.

"No, he doesn't. He has a girlfriend."

"I'm sure it's an excuse. But even if he does it doesn't matter; he likes you and I can see it."

"OK, even if he does, it doesn't matter because I like you more." I match his tone and he smiles and then kisses my hair.

Carl is almost as bad as me, but they end up winning because I'm worse. Pastel is so excited it's as if she's won the lottery and she squeals and hugs everyone to express it.

"It was nice seeing you Lavender. You seem happy with Jeremy. And changed," he adds, giving me and once over. I blush and we say our goodbyes as he leaves.

"So, my dear sister can I ever have the opportunity to meet your significant other?" Paste shakes her head.

"Who are we addressing here? Jer looks confused.

"Her boyfriend." I say in explanation. "She won't tell me who he is."

"Well she is your sister, just like you." I scowl at him indicating is not helping and they both laugh.

"I should get going." Paste says and kisses me on the cheek. "Just so you know, you know him that is the reason I am hesitant on talking about him."

"OK, take your time." I say as she hugs Jer and then leaves.

"Now we're gonna go to lunch. Jer sounds excited, still. "Before you ask where, it's a surprise."

We walk hand in hand until he enters an Italian place. I raise my eyebrows as he orders a takeaway. He takes the packet that we once again hit the road. When we reach a park, I squint my eyes in recognition and he smiles down at me.

"Memories refreshed?" I smile back and kiss his cheek. It's the park we used to play in as children. I'm surprised it's still intact. "I was thinking we can have our lunch here?"

"Yes, please." We sit under a tree in silence and have our lunch while we watch the other kids play, their parents running around them, enjoying their Saturday afternoons. "The risotto's delicious by the way. Thank you."

"You're most welcome." I get a concerning thought and Jer notices immediately, the magician that he is. "What?"

"I was just thinking back on weird it was meeting Elijah last Friday. I just keep on thinking if it'll be this weird meeting all our other friends." He starts to say something, but I beat him to it. "You remember I told you about that day in senior year when he and I sort of connected in my room? He never spoke to me after that."

"Yeah, I remember. Drove me crazy for a few days. Even more than the fact that you were dating Jake." He laughs and I join him.

"I really want to play like the other kids. I hate it that childhood's over."

"We can always bring it back." I know that look in his face far too well. I've been seeing it since we were kids. "Race you to the swing?"

I'm off even before he has a chance to get my approval. I occupy the empty swing as he comes running and grin up at him, showing off my perfect white teeth. "I win."

"Yeah, you win." He produces a camera from his satchel and takes my picture.

"Hey, give me that." He shake his head. "Please, I want to take your picture." I pout like a baby and he hands me the camera. Huh, puppy dog eyes work every time. I click his picture but at the next click I see him bolting off. "Come back!"

I run after him, but when I'm near him, he turns around and grabs me. I think he's gonna tickle me, but he takes the camera instead and clicks my picture with his other arm around my waist. "I want a picture of you laughing." He says. "I guess I should tickle you for that."

My eyes widen and I somehow manage to break free of his grasp and run towards the other direction of the park. Jer follows me and after 10 minutes of this, we're both tired. I'm standing on one side of the tree now and Jer's on the opposite side, the tree acting as a barrier between us. Both of us are catching our breath. Adrenaline is spiking trough my veins as I stare at him. He moves to his left slowly and so do I. we're about 7 feet apart now.

"I'll catch you." He shouts. I shake my head and do the floss in front of him, but I'm an idiot as Jer takes advantage of this and leaps forward. I laugh and make a run for my life but fail as he not only catches me but sweeps down to lift me so that I'm over his shoulders.

"Put me down!" I beg. He does, but on my back so that I'm lying on the grass and tickles me. I giggle and squirm beneath him as he clicks away on his camera. He finally stops when I grab his wrist and laughs as I try to slow down my breathing. I look at Jer and feel my heart warms. Jeremy Bartleby doesn't laugh much and it's a joy to see him like this with me. "you don't laugh much. It's nice to see you like this." I say as I stoke his face.

He puts his hand on top of mine, which is making its journey down his chin. "I like being with you. That's why I laugh more with you."

"I like being with you too." I smile and he kisses me lightly on the lips. We grin like idiots as we stare at each other. "As much as I love staring at you mindlessly, I'm really tired. I'd like to go home."

"I love staring at you mindlessly as well. But you're right, we better get home." He starts to get up and helps me lift up from the grass. He looks at me and there's a puzzled smile on his face. "Is it shallow that I love that you called our apartment home?"

"No it's not. But you better not fall in love with me. I read somewhere that falling in love too soon causes 80% of breakups." I'm lying of course. And that's a fake statistic, of course. Does anyone here honestly think I even read any articles? I'm too dumb for that kind of thing.

"I've waited years to be with you. If falling in love too soon will put an end on our relationship, then I hate you.

I giggle. "I hate you too." Here's a lie again. I've actually started to fall for him.

****

As I leave the shower I think I don't even know why I'm so angry with Dad. He kept the divorce thing from us, that's true, but is that the only reason I'm angry at him? No. It's also the 'manipulating your daughter to read the carbon copy of your wife' thing as well. Manipulating is a rather farfetched word. Coax, maybe? I guess I should call him. I have been kind of missing him. I guess I've given him the silent treatment for far too long. I sit on the bed and take my phone out of my jeans and dial his number, but I don't press call. There is something in me that I can't quiet bring myself to press it. I close my eyes and suddenly the phone starts ringing. It's dad. "Hey, dad."

"Oh, Lav." His voice is so full of agony, tears spring to my eyes. I have missed him so much. "I am sorry. I love you and I'm so sorry. I realize what I have done. I am so sorry. I shouldn't have done it. Jeremy told me-"

"Jer came to you?"

"Yeah, not once but loads of times. He would tell me all the time how worried he was for you and that maybe you aren't really yourself. That you changed after your mother's death. But I was honestly too ignorant as I never took notice of the extent of things I'd done. I'm so sorry, baby doll, I'm so sorry." He's full on crying mode now but so am I. And not only from his apology.

"It's OK, Dad. I forgive you. I love you too. A lot.

"Really? So you would come back home?"

Oh. "Don't know about that, Dad. I guess I could come for dinner one of these days?"
"That sounds great love. Whatever you want. Take your own time." He seems to have put himself together a bit. We share a brief conversation about work and he apologizes a few more times before he hangs up. I enter the living room to find Jer working in his computer and I sit beside him. I guess I fell in love with him a bit more today, especially after what Dad said. Jer really does care. But all I tell him as I snuggle next to him is, "I don't hate you. I like you."

A/N- What r ur thoughts about Pastel and Carl?

Do U think Carl is Will?

Do you like Jeremy and Lav together?

Tell me if u have any complaints about it.

And please click the star icon to vote and make me smile. And don't forget to comment. It encourages me. Thanks! Love ya guys.

Happy reading😊😊😊!!!!