a/n: sorry for not updating in so long! life has been really busy lately haha. been preparing for state competitions for FBLA and i got into chamber choir!! :) i'm really excited but with everything going on, i haven't had enough time to set aside and write. but now that spring break is here (and almost over) here i am!! also sorry for such long a/n's :) i have a lot to say

Do you ever have trouble coming up with ideas when you have perfect characters thought up in your head? Do you ever find yourself in a plot funk and need a plot twist? Do you ever have a burning desire to write but no idea what to write?
Well fear no more, because I have the book for you! Check out my brand new book 'Plot Ideas By Car'. The title pretty much explains, but here there will also be writing tips, cliches, things to avoid, plot twists, ideas, title names... everything! :) make sure to check it out and give it some love! Thanks!

PS!! MAY BE MAKING CHANGES IN PAST CHAPTERS OF THIS BOOK BUT ILL LET YOU GUYS KNOW IF I DO SO YOU GUYS CAN REREAD AND NOT GET CONFUSED (the fact that Jeremy has never been over to Michael's house in 12yr is unrealistic so I'm going to try and go back to change it — I have ideas).

last thing I swear: FOR APPLYING EDITORS, EDIT THIS CHAPTER AND COMMENT THINGS FOR CORRECTION. THANK YOU!

has previously been edited by my boo Locally_Gay

-Car

****

PREVIOUSLY:

"If you can't accept me and my family for who we are and how we're related, you can Uber home." Michael got up, "The tab's on you. Hope you brought money." Michael walked out.

Jeremy sighed heavily. He'd just messed it up, hadn't he? Now he had to figure out a way to make it up to Michael but how?

****

"Why did I do that?" Jeremy grumbled to himself, teeth clenched together as he wrapped his jacket tighter around his body and walked out into the chilly New Jersey air.

He'd spent that night washing dishes because he was a couple dollars short of what the meal was. After that, he'd started making his way home. With New Jersey being cold af for quite a few months of the year, there was no way in hell Jeremy was walking home. If he was to walk home, it was practically him just asking for frostbite or hypothermia to come knocking on his door to suck the last bit of air out of his lungs. With all of that being said, he'd called Brooke to have her come pick him up in her mother's car.

Jeremy waited anxiously for Brooke to arrive. He watched as employees he'd washed dishes with exit the bistro and zoom off in their cars. Damn, he wished that was him because it was colder than Chloe outside. The brunet wrapped his arms around his body, almost hugging himself to try and shake the goosebumps off his skin.

After what felt like forever, Brooke pulled up and honked the horn. She shined the brights in Jeremy's face, startling the brunet. His eyes shot open and out of their squinted state as the scrawny boy's body jerked back to life. Jeremy shuffled his feet in Brooke's direction, practically falling into the car. Brooke's vehicle bounced softly as Jeremy got into it.

The girl blinked while staring at her grumpy friend, "Hello to you too." Brooke commented.

Jeremy gave her a small flick of the wrist in the attempt of a wave, "Thanks for picking me up, Brooke. I really appreciate it." He told her.

"So why didn't Michael drive you home? Didn't you two come here together?" Brooke asked, putting her car into drive and looking forward.

"We did come here together. He left my ass once things got a little rocky." Jeremy huffed and looked to the side, watching as the building and city lights whisked past him.

"What'd you do?"

"I guess I offended him! We were talking about his family and he got so defensive." Jeremy flailed his arms lightly, "So I guess he hates me now or something!"

"He's probably just upset, Jeremy. Were you saying bad things about his family?" Brooke asked, fingers tapping on the steering wheel.

"I wasn't. . At least I don't think I was." Jeremy's voice trailed off as he tried to replay he and Michael's conversation in his head.

"Just, uh. . . I don't want you to be alarmed by my family or anything because we're," he shrugged, "we're not normal. Rich and I are adopted brothers and all of those little kids you saw yesterday are too. . . and the dad you met? He's not the best eother, but I'm sure you could guess that." Michael paused, "I just don't want you to judge us."

"You can't be related to Rich. You're so much nicer than him!" Jeremy responded

Michael pursed his lips, "Uh. . But we are."

"No." Jeremy continued, "That's not right."

"Jeremy," Michael rubbed his temples, "but we are! I'm telling you this."

"It just doesn't make sense!" Jeremy responded

"If you can't accept me and my family for who we are and how we're related, you can Uber home." Michael got up, "The tab's on you. Hope you brought money." MIchael walked out.

"Oh yeah, I totally messed that up." Jeremy told Brooke nodding and pursing his lips.

"Maybe trying to go for Michael isn't the best thing for you. It seems like the second things patch up between you, something else goes wrong." Brooke said with a soft tone in her voice, "I just don't want to see you continuously get hurt."

"That's not it." Jeremy laughed in a way that was almost as if he was trying to reassure himself of that, "Just because mishaps keep happening doesn't mean that Michael and I don't have any chance at being together."

"Do you know how clingy that sounds?" Brooke snickered, a large grin on her face.

Jeremy groaned, "Yes! I don't mean for it to be, but can you blame me?"

"Yes." Brooke nodded, "I can definitely blame you."

****

Rich contently walked into Jake's apartment with Jamba Juice in hand. He was humming softly to himself under his breath when he fumbled open the door. Once the door opened and revealed what was inside, Rich stopped dead in his tracks. If he hadn't spent a shit ton of money on those smoothies, one of them would have been dropped (and it would not have been Rich's).

Chloe was sitting there on the couch with Jake, the male's arm around her. The brunette turned his head over to Rich, blinking as he recognized his friends shocked expression.

"Rich?" Jake's voice cut into Rich's reality, "Are you okay? Come in. You don't have to just stand there."

The blond nodded reluctantly and stepped inside, closing the door behind him, "I didn't know Chloe was going to be here. I would have gotten her a smoothie or something."

Originally it was supposed to be a Rich and Jake night. They were supposed to watch movies, smash or pass some girls (and dudes..totally bi) and probably jerk each other off, but if anyone asks: you didn't hear that from me. Since the night was supposed to be theirs, it was surprising to see a third party added to the mix. Rich wouldn't have gotten Chloe a smoothie (if he told himself he would've gotten her one, he would've been lying), he would've bought one for himself and gone home. Whenever Chloe was over, it was awkward. She ruled over Jake because she had such a more demanding and condescending personality than he did. Jake was a sweet and genuine guy, whereas Chloe could make you want to crawl into a hole and die by one glare in your general direction.

"I'm sorry, man." Jake pursed his lips, "I thought I told you." He tried to shuffle around Chloe, but didn't have much luck.

"No, it's fine." Rich scratched the back of his neck, "Maybe we can just hang out tomorrow." He made his way into the room solely to hand Jake the smoothie that had only been sipped on a couple times, "Here--"

"Why don't you hang out here with us?" Jake asked, rolling his shoulders back as he gripped the cold cup in his hand. Chloe slowly pried it out of Jake's paws.

"My dad wants me home soon." The blonde stepped back awkwardly, "Seriously, don't sweat it." He forced a smile onto his face, "It's fine. I'll see you tomorrow, Jake. . . Chloe."

Chloe's eyes narrowed at Rich, ". . . Richard."

The blond blinked, then walked out. He unintentionally closed the door a little too harsh on his way out of Jake's apartment. Jake's body flinched as the door shut. He sighed heavily, then turned his attention back to the TV. He'd text Rich later when and/or if Chloe left that night.

****

Rich fell on his bed, a long exasperated sigh leaving his mouth. Michael looked over, "Having a crappy day too?"

The blonde nodded, "How'd you know?"

"Because you texted me a bunch of random letters with 'angry purple devil face' and 'lipstick emoji' after it." Michael propped himself up and let his shoulders bounce as he exhaled hastily.

Rich groaned, "Gah, you're right. Why do you always have to be right?!"

"It's a talent." Michael grinned cockily

"Talent my ass." The blond griped

The Filipino laughed softly with an unfaltering grin. Rich looked over at his brother with a look of remorse on his face. He knew that Michael was hiding something because of the vibe he gave off but was hiding under sarcastic remarks and wide smiles.

"Are you okay? You said your night was shitty too."

"Yeah," Michael shrugged nonchalantly, "I put myself out there and tried to make something work, but he confirmed that all he is is a huge asshole." He crossed his arms, "Nothing has changed."

Rich pursed his lips and shuffled awkwardly. Michael was referring back to the time in Freshman year when Jeremy abandoned Michael on the second day of school to try and get a look up Christine's dress. Rich didn't hear the end of it after that, and Michael still got onto Jeremy about it every once in a while whenever they were messing around and it came to that.

****

"Don't talk to me." Rich said, "If Jake catches me with you, he'll make me sit alone. . . All by myself!"

Michael reluctantly looked behind him, then at Rich, "Really? What if--"

"You'll be fine, Mike. Don't worry!" And with that, the two brothers walked out of the door for their first day of high school.

The first day went moderately well despite the nerves being high and hormones raging all over the place. Jeremy had been there and things had been better than okay. Michael was feeling confident about high school as a whole. . . Until the second day.

Michael made his way swiftly down the halls of the unfamiliar high school. His hands were in his pockets and his heart was beating a mile a minute. He couldn't find Jeremy anywhere even though they'd been communicating all day. Jeremy hadn't responded to any of his texts or anything, so Michael was alone. Rich had told him not to go sit with him, and he hadn't made many other friends yet, so he had no place to go. Michael accidentally shoulder bumped with a lengthy brunet that probably didn't weigh more than five pounds.

"Sorry--" He looked up and made eye contact with the person he had bumped into.

"It's fine. . . Why are you running down the halls though?" The person (who shall remain unnamed) asked

"Just, uh," Michael looked around anxiously, "looking for my friend."

"Oh. . Why don't you come sit with me?"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Come on."

Ever since that interaction, Michael grew close to the guy who had helped him adapt to high school. He was a senior, whereas Michael was a Freshman. Freshman year opened up a lot of doors for Michael, really made him grow as a person and build confidence.

****

"He totally ditched you man!" Rich exclaimed

Michael shuddered, "Yeah, don't remind me." He said monotonously

"Anyways, what'd Jeremy actually do?" Rich's shoulders rolled back and he perked up (needed to hear the tea)

"He was just an ass." Michael began, "He started mocking our family and said it wasn't right and stuff like that. I got up and left."

"Wow. I'm sorry, man. . But that's badass!"

The black haired male shrugged, "I wish I didn't have to do that though. Even though I wish I wouldn't have to, I'm not going to stand for anyone making fun of you, or the rest of our family. Period."

Rich nodded, "Same. Want a sip?" He extended his smoothie.

"Hell yeah." Michael got up and made his way towards the blonde.

****

"How do I get back with Michael?" Jeremy asked Christine. The two were on a phone call together.

"Maybe You should stop going after him." Christine said, "You two can't seem to agree, and you keep making each other go nuts. I don't know if that's healthy for you. . ."

"You don't?"

"Yeah! I don't." Christine's voice fluctuated in tone and volume (Jeremy knew this because the audio cracked as she spoke), "I wouldn't want to be with someone who I was constantly fighting with. It would be exhausting."

Jeremy shuffled and spun around in the spinny chair next to his desk, ". . . I guess you're right." He responded reluctantly, "The thing is that it's all my fault! I'm doing these things that make him mad and I mess it all up!"

"You know what I think? I think you're trying too hard, Jeremy." Christine told him honestly, "You're not being yourself around him and we both know that. Besides, don't you think he's overreacting a bit too? You're not the only one at fault here, even if you have made mistakes."

"I don't think he's at fault though." Jeremy licked his lips, "I'm the one stepping on his toes and upsetting him."

"Michael's overreacting though. HE left you at the restaurant before the food even got there when HE invited YOU to go out. HE has been so distant and has been trying to avoid you. You're not the only one to blame, and in the back of your head I think you believe it too."

Jeremy sighed heavily, "So are you saying I should stop trying?"

"I'm saying maybe you should try to distance yourself from Michael and keep yourself from getting hurt. That's all."

"Isn't that just—"

"Sh, sh, shhh." Christine interrupted, "Just take it as advice from a concerned friend."

"Thanks, Chris."

"No problem." She bounced on her bed a bit, "I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"Me neither. . . I'll talk to you later, Chris."

"Bye!"

Jeremy was met with silence from his line, and the others.