When Jared finished making our breakfast -- or should I say, our ridiculous requests -- we all sat down at the dining table and began to eat. It was sweet that Jared made me, and everyone else, breakfast. I never had anyone who just offered to make me breakfast before; none of my old boyfriends would have moved a muscle if they didn't have to, so it was so thoughtful of Jared. 

At first, we all ate in silence. That is, of course, until Anthony began to talk, and when Anthony began to talk, he would not shut up.

"So, Jared. I've heard a lot about you." Anthony stated. The moments these words came out of Anthony, I knew this, probably, wouldn't be good. Anthony always heard gossip; he was like the gossip-queen.

"I hope good things," Jared smirked, looking at me as I chewed down my pancake. 

"Depends on your definition of good." Oh boy, here we go. I could see Anthony taking the role of the over-protective best friend; seriously, why wasn't this kid majoring in acting? He would make a great movie star. 

"Anthony, what are you doing?" I hissed.

"Hush child, I'm trying to help you." Anthony assured as I rolled my eyes; there was no use in stopping Anthony. He was relentless. 

"What are your intentions with Valerie?" Anthony asked as he squinted his eyes at Jared. 

"My intentions?" Jared questioned. 

"Yeah! What are you planning to do with her?" Anthony asked.

"Well, I'm planning to be with her. Spend time with her. Love her. She's my babycakes." Jared took hold of my hand under the table, squeezing it lightly.

"Mhmm. Okay, okay. Next question, is Joey single?"

"What? What does that have to do with me?" Jared bellowed.

"You're his roommate, you should know this!" Anthony concluded. I looked at Cleo with my lips pierced back. We were both moments away from laughter since this talk took a sudden left turn.  Nothing could stop Anthony when he had his eyes on a prize, which I assumed now was Joey.

"Aren't you also friends with him?" Jared asked. 

"Yeah, but not like best friends." Anthony stated.

"What happened to Coltin?" I asked. The last time Anthony mentioned a guy he was seeing it was Coltin, Lucas's roommate. 

"Ugh, he's a dick. He cheated on me with some stupid redhead."

"Guy or girl?" Cleo harmlessly asked.

"Does it matter? The point is, he cheated." Anthony proclaimed. Boy was that true. I don't know what Anthony was up to today, but the boy was spitting out truth bombs left and right. 

"Well, as far as I know, Joey likes girls. Or at least, he's dated girls." Jared added. "But, I could ask him, if you'd like?" Jared suggested. Anthony looked back with an approved expression. 

"Valerie, I am Anthony, and I approve this boyfriend." Anthony stated.

"Anthony, you are so annoying." I announced. 

"I do what I can," Anthony winked at me. 

****

Jared and I had, once again, spent the night together. We spent the rest of that Saturday laying in bed together watching the rest of New Girl. Although, I know he didn't care for the show, it was sweet that he let me watch it -- either way, I wouldn't have let him change the show anyway. Then, we did the same lazy thing Sunday, too, up until Monday morning when we both had to go to school. Well, we did a bit more than lay around in bed, but it was fun to have spent so many days together. 

"Come on, we have to go." I stated to Jared, who was laying next to me in bed, refusing to move. The alarm clock next to me said 6:02AM; even though it was super early, I knew that Jared had to go back home before his first class. For one, he had no clothes, except for the formal clothes he had for our date, and he didn't have any of his books or homework.

"Nooo. Jared's not here. This is Fernando. Fernando doesn't go to school." Jared pleaded as he covered his head under the blanket. 

"Do not make me throw you out of his house, Jared. We are going to school. You know, school; that place you go to study. To learn." I pointed out. 

Jared uncovered his head and moved himself closer to me. He placed his hand on my shoulder, and began to pull on the sheet that was covering my naked body. "I'd rather study you. Finding everything motion that makes you scream," he said as he placed a kiss on my neck.

"Jared! We have you to go to school." I demanded. As tempting as his offer was, we both needed to go to school -- you know, the institute where we were paying thousands to go to. And this was not the time to be taking days off; I always loved to save my absences for days I truly needed to take off. 

"Ugh, fine. You are such a debby-downer." Jared frowned at me. "How about a quickie?" He asked with pleading eyes. 

"How about get your ass up, Jared, before I kick it up." I playfully threatened as I got out of bed and headed towards my closet to find an outfit for school.

"Damn. If you want to see my ass, Valerie, all you have to do is ask." He winked as he stood up from the bed and headed to put on his clothes. 

"You are truly a pain in my ass, Jared." I laughed, and before I knew it, Jared came up behind me, circling his arms around my stomach as he pulled in to hug me. 

"I know," he murmured, right before he kissed the back of my head. "Bye, cutie." He said, before he walked out of my room.

After I had decided what to wear, I headed out of my room into the kitchen. When I arrived there, I found Theodore making himself a cup of coffee. Wow, that's odd. I don't think Theodore had ever spent the night at our house; Cleo was usually the one who stayed over his house.

"Hey," I huffed. 

"Mmm, hey." He stated as he placed his coffee cup down and turned around to face me.

"What's up?" I chuckled nervously.

Theodore brought up the cup in his hand again, gesturing it towards me. "You know, just some morning juice," he laughed. The awkward tension in the room was a little intense. Theodore and I hadn't really spend any time together. The only time I ever really talked to him was before we went to his party, which was so long ago; not to mention, that conversation was very limited, so, come to think of it, we didn't really know that much about each other.

"Soooo, I heard you proposed to Cleo," I uttered, really unsure of where to take the conversation but also curious to see what Theodore would say about his proposal.

"She told you?" He laughed.

"She tells me everything. And I mean, everything. Even things I don't want to know." I raised my eyes up in a playful manner, hoping this would ease the tension in the room.

"Yeah, I did propose to her." He smiled like a goof, before taking another sip of his coffee.

"Don't you think it's rushed?" I questioned him, hoping to see how he saw his proposal. We all have our own truths, right?

"Honestly? A little, but I don't know. Haven't you ever been inspired or captivated by a moment?"

"I'm not sure that type of thinking applies to a lifetime of marriage."

"It did with my parents, and they couldn't be happier together." Theodore responded. Well, that was a first. I've never heard of a swift marriage resulting in a happy couple.

"Well, the opposite happened with mine." I reported.

"What do you mean?" He questioned.

"I mean, my parents got married because my mother was pregnant with me. And, truthfully, there marriage was... kind of a disaster."

"You're missing the point." Theodore stated. 

"Huh?" I blurted.

"I wasn't asking Cleo to marry me because she is pregnant. I asked her to marry me, because in that moment, the moment she told me she was pregnant, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her."

"But you've only knew her for a little over a month? How is that even possible?" I asked.

"When you know, you know."

I looked at Theodore with awe. I never looked at it that way. What a...peculiar way to look at this situation.

"Hey," I heard Cleo said as she walked into the kitchen. She had the same squint in her eyes that Jared had when he just woke up; they may not be blood related, but they were more similar than they knew. 

"We were just chatting," Theodore smiled as he kissed Cleo on the lips.

"Oh, okay." Cleo smiled back at him. "Um, Valerie, are you free tomorrow night?"

"I think so, why?"

"Would you mind coming with me and Theodore to my parents house? I have to tell them about everything...going on." Cleo confided.

"Oh, are you sure you need me there, though? Not that I don't want to be there. It's just, I don't know if you need me there, per say." 

"It's more for moral support, if you wouldn't mind. I'm gonna text Jared to come as well, because who knows how my parents will react. Hopefully, he'll be a calming anchor there, if anything."

Jared? Calming? I don't think so, but it's worth a shot. They were his parents, though, so both Cleo and Jared had to know how to handle them. I'm not even sure why my presence is even needed, to be honest, or Theodore's for that matter. Unless, Theodore felt that it was his duty to be there when Cleo tells her parents. But I had to help out Cleo.

"Sure, I'll be there."

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CHAPTER 27 IS COMPLETE -- LET'S GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm super excited to be getting closer to the end with this book, which should be soon, but I still have so much to add (so also like who knows at this point xD)

ANYWAY, how do you guys think the parent dinner will go?

Also, aren't Val and Jared just the cutest?

Vote if you enjoyed this chapter :P