My dedication streak is back! Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to @Slim_Shady, because The Bad Boy, Cupid & Me was the first story I read on Wattpad, and it's one of the few that I read over. Needless to say, it's on my Reading List.

Enjoy Chapter 13, err'bodayy!

-~*~-

When Eliza gets excited, she literally can't sit still.

"This one is going to be the best one, I can just feel it!" She exclaimed, the next day, searching through her closet for an outfit she'd wear in a week. "I mean," she bounced excitedly on her toes, "when Mom and Jeff told me the theme I flipped! An ugly Christmas sweater party? How much fun will that be?"

"Yeah, Eliza, that sounds awesome," I replied, matching her smile.

"But, no," she shook her head, whirling around in her bedroom. "Guys, this year, guys, the house is amazing. Jeff even bought these lights for the pool--it's just...It's just aah! I just want to die!"

Jamie and I oohed and aahed.

Eliza squealed. "Exactly."

Every year, Eliza's mom and step-dad threw a New Year's Eve party. Except, these were Eliza's parents. They went above and beyond for the sake of party-throwing, and would not only rent out a location for the event, but they would choose a theme to go with it. This year, we would ring in the New Year in not only our light-up Rudolph sweaters, but some mansion the Artinian's had rented in Beverly Hills.

I was excited.

This would be one for the books.

"Guess who else is excited, Liz?"

Eliza's perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised in amusement. "Who?"

April caught my eye and winked. "Collin," she replied.

I rolled my eyes. I knew where this was going.

"Collin?" Jamie sat up, startling April from the Westchester yearbook they'd been reading. "What do you mean, Collin?" She was bolt upright on Eliza's bed. "Since when is Collin invited to one of your New Year's parties?"

"Since I invited him," Eliza shrugged.

"But--but--"

"C'mon, Jamie! It'll be fun!"

April whipped her head towards the closed door of Eliza's adjacent bathroom and yelled, "Hurry up in there, Misch! You're missing all the fun!"

"Hold your horses!" Came Mischa's muffled cry. "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Eliza and I shook our heads, laughing as Jamie just shook her head.

"You didn't tell me that."

Eliza shrugged. "I didn't think it would be a big deal," she paused. "Well, I didn't think it would matter to any of us."

"You're right," Jamie straightened. "It isn't. It doesn't."

"Knew it!" Eliza clapped her hands together, squealing happily. "I mean, Thal was right, yeah?"

"About what?" Mischa asked, rejoining the group finally changed into her pajamas for our sleepover; we had at least one during our winter break. "What did Thalia do now?"

"Oh y'know," April shrugged, "Just Thalia being Thalia."

I gave them both my best Nikita-glare. "Tell them," I said to Eliza. "Tell them of the great things I've done."

"About our glass being half-full, right?" She continued, "I mean, never in a bazillion years did I think I'd say this but," Eliza placed her hands on her narrow hips, giving us each a glance at the slow grin that stretched across her face, "Secret Santa was really, really fun."

It was my turn to dance and sing and clap out of happiness.

"Hooray!" I exclaimed. "Hooray for friendship!"

"I mean, actually," Eliza said. "Who knew I'd actually enjoy myself? If you put me in a room with David Kahue or Nico Acosta in 11th Grade I would have probably stabbed myself in the eyes with a sharpened #2 pencil."

"Alright," April nodded. "Dramatic, but I get the point."

Eliza shrugged. "It's true. But Friday night?" She smiled to herself and I couldn't help but feel fuzzy inside at the sight. "Guys, I haven't laughed that hard in like, a while."

Mischa threw her arms around Jamie's neck. "Even Jay had fun, didn't you?"

That's when Mischa's eyes fell onto the book. "Oh, is that your senior yearbook?"

"Yes," Jamie nodded. "And I guess I didn't want to stab myself, so that's a plus, right?"

"So yeah," Eliza announced happily, flinging herself onto her bed with the rest of us. "That's why I invited the guys. How'd you know?"

"Collin told us today," April said. "He gave it away. Apparently," April grinned, "he doesn't have any ugly Christmas sweaters. I told him he could borrow one of mine."

"You guys went out today?" Jamie asked, interrupting our laughter. "Where'd you see Collin?"

"It was supposed to just be me, Roman, Collin and Tucker," I replied. "They were supposed to help me find Xander a gift."

But, of course once Roman told Robert that he was going out, the 'happy couple' invited themselves. I had expected to have been picked up by Roman, not Roman, Robert and Mischa. At the sight of my friend's ecstatic face, though, I couldn't help but shake off my disappointment.

Then, at the mall Collin showed up with April--since they're bff text buddies all of a sudden--and apparently, Nico guilt-tripped Tucker into inviting him, too. He said he'd been sitting at home, babysitting his two five-year old sisters and was going to lose his mind if he had to watch another episode of Yo Gabba Gabba!

"If I see another adult in a monster costume I'm going to fucking lose it," he sighed as the group of us met up at Westside Pavillion. "I swear...the songs are all stuck in my head, too. There's a party in my tummy! So yummy! So yumm--Aaah!" He cried. "Why the hell do I know all of the fucking words!?"

So pretty much everyone had come except for Xander who apparently, had been M.I.A. since Secret Santa.

Oh, and Eliza and Jamie.

And Jason.

No one knew where he was.

And David.

He wasn't answering his phone.

And like that, four immediately became nine.

That's the problem with big groups of friends.

~*~

"The fuck is Mischa going to want?" Tucker had asked just that afternoon. "I'd ask Robert, but he's always fucking with her."

I chuckled, patting his muscular arm as we spread out through Bloomingdales. "She's weirdly obsessed with scarves," I replied.

"Scarves? Like, the neck-things?"

I laughed aloud. "Yes," I nodded. "It's been so cold in D.C. lately, I'm sure she'd appreciate one even more now."

Tucker nodded. "Yeah," he chuckled, "I don't have that problem at Pepperdine."

"Of course not," I sighed. "I'd pay money to go to school in Malibu. Sun all day everyday? Sign me up."

"Eh," Tucker shrugged, "there's good and bad, like anywhere."

I nodded in agreement. "Way to put it into perspective."

Tucker grinned. "So, about those scarves..."

I pointed him in the direction of the section. "Follow me, Friend," I said, before turning to Roman, who'd began his way towards us.

"Awesome," Tucker grinned. "Y'know, this used to be where all the cool Westchester kids hung out after school."

I snorted. "Seriously?" I asked, looking around the mall. "You guys came to Westside Pavillion?"

Tucker nodded. "Until 11th grade, y'know," he winked, "when we were all too badass."

"Right," I nodded. "That's the reason."

Tucker grinned. "It's weird though, I've never really actually shopped in here. I feel like such an adult today."

"Yeah," Nico grinned, as he walked past us. "That's because Marco and David used to get us kicked out!"

"What?" I called after him, but he didn't hear. He'd already passed through the women's section and into Menswear. "What?" I turned back to Tucker.

"What can I say?" He shrugged. "It was like a game to them," He laughed aloud. "Fuckin' everything was a game to them."

I looked around the store. "Hey, Tuck?"

"Yeah, Thal?"

"Do you still talk to Marco?" I asked. "I heard he left before junior year."

"'Course," he shrugged. "David's the only one who doesn't. If I'da known this would've turned into a party I'd have invited him. You'd fuckin' love Marco, Thal."

That made me smile. "Really?" I asked hopefully.

Tucker nodded. "Matter of fact," he said thoughtfully, "he's usually hanging around the garage. I'm surprised you haven't seen him."

"But," I began, "Jamie said you guys hated him after he left," I looked into Tucker's grey eyes. "Is that true?"

"Nah," he shrugged. "We were upset, yeah, but," he cocked his head sideways, "it's like being mad at a brother, y'know? You're not mad for long. Especially after what happened, there's no way in hell I could've stayed mad at him."

I nodded, "So why is David still upset, then?"

Tucker shrugged. "I wish I knew, Thal," he sighed. "'Cause the rest of us have to do things with one or the other. We've had to pick and choose since junior year and it's just...God, it's so fuckin' tiring."

That's when Roman came up beside me.

"Having fun?" He asked, dimple appearing with his tilted grin.

"Define 'fun?'" I replied. "I still don't know what I'm going to get Xander."

He sucked his teeth, leaning on a rack of clothes as Tucker dug tentatively through a drawer of scarves.

"Dang it, Thal," he said. "You definitely got a hard one."

Tucker paused, nodding with Roman. "Yeah," he said. "Actually, yeah Xander is hard. Shit...yeah, that's tough."

"Wow, guys," I sighed. "You really know how to make a girl feel better."

"No, wait," Roman chuckled with a quick shake of his head. "I don't mean it like that. I'm sure whatever you buy he'll like."

Tucker nodded. "Yeah, whatever you get him he'll appreciate, y'know?"

"No," I replied. "No, I don't think I do."

"The thing that makes Xander hard," Roman began, "is that the things I'm sure he really wants, you can't buy," he shrugged. "No one can. Material stuff doesn't--I mean, it just isn't all that important to him."

I let out a loud sigh, because at once, it all made sense. It was like I could hear his argument with Nikita, again. They seemed to be very alike in that regard.

What they both really wanted, it seemed they'd never have.

"Darn," I sighed. "Darn, darn, darn. Now what? What do I buy someone who really doesn't want anything?"

"I'm sure he wants something," Roman smiled.

"Just nothing you can buy for thirty bucks," Tucker added. Then, he held up a baby blue cashmere scarf. "D'you think she'd like this? It's on sale...Please say 'yes.'"

I laughed aloud. "Perfect. She'd love it."

"Awesome," Tucker grinned. "And my work here is done. Way to go, Thal."

"That's what I'm here for," I replied, slapping his outstretched palm. "Now, it's your turn to help me with Xander. Maybe you should just call him...?"

Tucker shook his head. "No can do, little Thalia. X also kind of disappears off the face of the earth during Christmas time. We don't know where the hell he goes."

"Damn it!" I cursed. "Then how am I supposed to get him anything?"

Tucker and Roman exchanged glances.

"Honestly," Tucker sighed, "I'm surprised you got him to do Secret Santa."

I groaned, turning to Roman, who I happened to notice had been staring at me, slight grin on his face. "Well, who do you have?" I asked. "I mean, y'know, since I have nothing else to do."

At once, Tucker started to laugh.

"What?" I asked, noticing the way Roman rubbed his face with both hands.

"Guess," he muttered.

"Wha--?" I started smiling with anticipation. "Roman, who?"

"It's fucking hilarious," Tucker grinned.

"Oh, no. Who do you have?"

"Tell her, Rome. Tell her who you picked."

Roman just turned, staring at me. He blinked slowly.

I grinned wider. "Roman..."

"Robert."

"Rob? Hah! No way?"

"Yes, way," Roman groaned. "I fucking pulled Robert. How the hell did I get him?" He exclaimed as we walked quickly towards the cashier. "How the hell did I get my fucking brother?"

I started laughing harder, now. "That's pretty priceless," I said. "How did you--?" I shut my eyes, laughing harder. "Roman, that's hilarious."

"Really?" He asked.

I nodded, "Really," although I probably shouldn't have. I should have lied to him and said 'no,' or something. I should have been polite, because then I could have avoided Roman grabbing my waist and tickling my ribs.

"Really, is it?"

I shook my head silently. "No," I breathed, but that only made him tickle me harder. I couldn't catch my breath and at this point, I was sure I had been making a scene in the mall.

"I can't hear you, Thal," he laughed, that jerk. "You're gonna have to speak up."

"No, it's not funny!" I exclaimed, jerking out of his grip. But, Roman took his hands from my waist and without any support I nearly crashed into Collin.

"Sorry!" I exclaimed. "Oh god," I inhaled deeply, attempting to catch my breath and wipe the ridiculous grin from my face. "Oh, god Collin, I'm so sorry."

Roman chuckled behind me.

"It's cool," Collin replied, turning from his reflection in the three-paneled mirror to me, now.

I smiled gratefully at him, but, that was until I noticed what he was wearing. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes.

"Collin," I began.

His brow furrowed, freckled face crinkling with confusion. "What?"

"Collin, you've got to explain yourself."

That's when his blue eyes flicked downward to his attire, eyes widening as he realized what I was talking about.

"Shut up, Thalia."

"Collin--Collin, why?"

"Hey," Roman began, "What's the prob--" He stopped. It was like time stopped, too as Roman stood there, staring at his friend. And the funny thing was, Collin stared back, waiting, just waiting for whatever his best friend was about to say.

That's when Roman lost it, and watching him loose it made me loose it.

Roman doubled over, joining me in laughter, now. "Collin--Wait, what in the reindeer fucks...?"

"I need a sweater," he snapped.

"But--" I stammered. "But, why that sweater?"

It was the brightest, Christmasy-est, thickest, itchiest oversized sweater I had ever seen in my entire life. Santa, Mrs. Claus and every single goddamn reindeer plus a few elves were knitted in wool on a red background. Rudolph's nose lit up, a sign for the North Pole lit up, and the fucking tray of cookies in Santa's hand lit the hell up, too. Up each sleeve were the words 'Merry' and 'Christmas.' I swear to you, if the sun happened to explode, NASA would shoot Collin's Christmas sweater into the atmosphere to replace it because it was just that bright.

"It's for Eliza's party," he replied. "Fuck you guys."

"Collin, that's for nobody," Roman stressed. "I'm embarrassed right now and I think it's because Mrs. Claus is winking at me."

I choked on my words, leaning my head on Roman's arm as I laughed again.

"Fuck you, Roman. Fuck you, Thalia."

"Wait," I pleaded. "Wait a sec, Collin--"

"No, Thal," Roman said, spinning me around to face him. "Don't look at him," he said, hugging me close to his chest. "Don't look or you'll go blind."

I thought my knees were going to give out, I was laughing so hard.

That's when I noticed April. Through my tears I saw her standing off to the side, hand over her mouth, face red with amusement.

"April!" I exclaimed, stepping from Roman's arms. "What have you done?"

Her eyes widened defensively. "He needed a sweater!"

"But, not a woman's sweater!" I exclaimed.

"It's an oversized sweater," she retorted. "I thought it would fit and..."

"What the hell?" Roman exclaimed. "What size is that? Extra-Extra-Extra-Extra large?"

Collin pulled on the sides of the sweater, twisting his torso to get a better view of himself in the mirror. "I'm not that fat, am I?" He teased.

I grinned up at Collin. I mean, all of the guys were at least six feet, so it was pretty amazing that April had found something, but...

"No, Roman, it's a fucking Small," April laughed. "What do you think?"

I stared, entranced by the blinking lights across Collin's chest.

"What are you thinking giving this...this beast to my friend to wear?" Roman turned to Collin. "Take it off. Take it off or I can't possibly pretend to know who you are."

It took all I had to turn away. "I still think you should keep looking..."

Collin turned to April and sighed. "Thanks, but no thanks, Ap," he said, yanking the sweater over his head.

"Fine," April sighed as Collin shook his messy black hair from his eyes. She draped the sweater across her arm. "I guess we'll keep looking."

"Maybe we should help, too," I said, pointing between Roman and myself. "Four pairs of eyes might be better than two."

Roman nodded in agreement. "We can't have you looking like a fucking Who."

"Who's looking like a Who?" Tucker asked, bagged scarf in hand. "What'd I miss?"

"See for yourself," April announced, as she held up the sweater with both hands.

My eyes didn't leave Tucker's face as he nodded. "Sweet," he said, lip curving upwards as he looked between the four of us. "Now, who's buying that so we can burn it?"

I fell back against Roman, laughing again against his chest.

~*~

"So your three-way date got crashed, huh?" Jamie smirked. "So much for that ménage à trois?"

"Very funny," I replied, repositioning my body so that I could see the spreads of the yearbook. "I hope you look ugly in your yearbook picture."

"Good luck with that!" Jamie laughed aloud. "You know I woke up this way: flawless."

By now, Eliza had brought back a bowl of popcorn and a bag of Skittles, warning each of us against dropping anything on her floor, and had begun to pick out the best and worst of the 2011 yearbook.

"Oh my god, is this your class!?"

Eliza and Jamie peered over our shoulders.

"Hah, yep," Eliza replied, laughing at the pages of 3x2 photos.

"This is so cute!" I squealed. Above a quote of their choosing was a baby picture instead of a formal one. Below that was a quote of their choice.

"That was Nikita's idea," Mischa said proudly. "She was super excited about the senior pages. That was the first thing she was all, 'I've got to change,' when she became Editor-in-Chief."

"It was about time seniors got something special in the yearbook," Jamie added. "The whole class was excited about it."

"Oh my god, look at Robert and Roman!" I squealed. Obviously, the two twins had photos beside one another, since every picture had been placed in alphabetical order. The two chubby-faces toddlers were in each picture wearing identical outfits; Robert in his dad's arms, Roman in his mom's.

Mischa grinned at me. "From ridiculously cute to smokin' hot."

"That is puberty done right."

We high-fived.

"No, wait," Eliza began, flipping from the Carson twins. "Guess who this is?"

Eliza quickly placed her hand over the name, covering it so we couldn't see. Still, with our without a title, the young, muddy, toothless grin on the boy with big blue eyes and abundance of dark freckles was pretty unmistakeable.

"Collin," April grinned. "Duh."

"Yeah, that was beyond easy," Jamie tutted.

"Look at Jason's, though," I laughed, tapping my finger on the round brown face of the toddler. He wore nothing but his dad's boots and a diaper. "Read his quote!"

"It's Britney, bitch."

"Damn it," April exclaimed as we all burst into fits of laughter. "I'm mad that I didn't think of this!"

"Oh," Eliza began, reaching for a handful of popcorn, "Ap, you so would!"

"That's hilarious," laughed Mischa.

I rolled my eyes. "He's so weird."

"Yeah," Jamie sighed, smiling as her eyes rested upon his baby picture. "Yeah, he is..."

I hitched an eyebrow. But Jamie's attention was quickly diverted from both me and Jason.

"No way! Eliza!" April exclaimed, eyes shining with laughter. "Guys! Wait, Eliza, have you seen this?"

"Whaa?" Eliza asked, mouth full of candy as we followed April's finger to the quote below Cheryl Price's baby picture. "Oh," she nodded, swallowing with visible difficulty. "Oh, yeah. She thought she was 'so cool' to quote Mean Girls," Eliza scoffed. "I was not a mean girl!"

"Eliza," Jamie said with a pointed look, "you made the girl cry."

I tapped the quote. "There's no denying it, now."

"One time, Eliza Artinian made me cry. It was awesome."

"Whatever," Eliza said, fllipping the pages. "That's enough of that. Look at these."

Eliza flipped towards the end of the book, where every senior got to create their own spread. Each graduate compiled their own pictures in a full page. Entitled, My Favorite Things, students filled their spreads with baby pictures, embarrassing pictures of friends and family, pep rally's, football games, plays, school productions and anything else they were, or wanted to be remembered by.

As if by fate, Eliza had turned directly to Nikita's.

No one turned the page. We all stared at the pictures of her small fingers intertwined with Jamie's, her big grin as Mischa blew out her first birthday candle, and her face contorted into a scowl as Eliza splattered her with paint during a 9th Grade elective.

She'd designed her page like a timeline, each picture moving throughout the eighteen years of life she had, at the time, experienced. I stared at Nikita's evolution from diapers to training wheels to braces. I watched as she blossomed into the beautiful young woman that I loved and missed.

Eliza laughed softly, pointing to a particular picture. "Remember this?" She asked, before I inadvertently tuned out the conversation. My eyes had fallen on one of Nikki's earliest pictures. For year five, Nikita's little face was pressed against another one; one of a little boy with light brown skin, friendly blue-grey eyes, and blondeish-brownish hair that hung in loose curls around his head. This kid was adorable; almost too cute for words.

And that's when I realized who he was.

As a new memory held my friends' attention, I flipped through the pages. Alphabetized, I turned from 'M' to 'O,' landing at once on Xander's senior page.

Except, it wasn't really his page at all.

Xander O'Hara, I read in big, bold block letters at the top.

Dedicates this page to Peter Hamilton.

1993 - 2009.

May he rest in peace.

And there was only one photo on the page, and it showed ten little boys all dressed up in their Little League uniforms, smiling at the camera on the pitcher's mound of a baseball diamond.

I immediately spotted Roman and Robert, and then Jason and then David...Collin...Nico...then, there was Xanderand there was Tucker, who I almost didn't recognize without a buzz, muscles and tattoos.

Then, I spotted those eyes; those bluish-grey eyes that sparkled with good-naturedness and easy humor.

Peter.

His arms were thrown around Xander and, I'm assuming Marco's shoulders.

But, that smile...that smile made my stomach clench. There was no way anyone with that smile or those eyes was gone.

"Thal?"

"Yeah?" I asked, closing the yearbook.

April motioned towards the bowl across the room. "Could you pass the Skittles?"

I nodded, unable to shake the image of that smileand those eyes out of my head.

"Of course."

-~*~-

Guys, if you aren't team Roman/Thalia after this then...Well, I just don't know...

Also, big Peter reveal! Yay!

Anyway, as always you guys are the best. Keep on readin' and commentin' and whatnot.

P.S. I'm currently listening to Pressure by The 1975. In case you were wondering, it's my favorite song off of the album.

P.P.S. It's cold...Definitely warmer than it has been, but still cold.

Thought I'd share. <3