When I got home, I made a beeline for the stairs, and flopped straight on my bed. Not even seconds later, I heard a knock at my door, and a millisecond later it opened.

"Lexi?" Tyler asked quietly, "Are you okay- wait- do I need to go kick Johnson's ass, cause I can do that."

I lifted my head out of my pillow, "No, we just had a disagreement. His dad is coming into town tomorrow, and he wants to take a break for the weekend and then get back together after his dad is gone, but I know how he feels about his dad, and his mom is out of town, and he needs someone to be there for him." I said slowly.

"Well Lex, maybe he doesn't want you to have to meet his dad, or he doesn't want you to see him when he's around his dad." Tyler reasoned.

"But Ty, he's supposed to let me be there for him through the good and the bad."

"Lexi, you're not married. You're just in high school, and Jace loves you. If he doesn't want you to meet his dad, it's probably for the best."

"Tyler's right, Lex." Kade said. I looked up and saw him in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I got let out of the hospital." He said cheerfully.

"And you're supposed to be resting, dude." Tyler said, "Get in bed."

Kade walked towards us and flopped down on my bed. "I'm in bed."

"Idiot." Tyler mumbled.

"Say it again." Kade challenged.

"Id-"

"Tyler no. Kade, you need to rest, and Tyler stop provoking him." I scolded.

"Damn, sis. Taking care of those kids has changed you." Kade teased.

"You're telling me." Tyler sighed.

"See, sometimes I miss the West sibling hangouts, but then you two always try to roughhouse." I muttered as Tyler poked me in the side. I slapped him on the shoulder and he pretended like I'd stabbed him.

"Oh my gosh, I'm dying." He moaned and rolled off my bed and onto the floor.

"Get up you goon." Kade laughed.

I shook my head at my brother and laughed, "I can't believe you sometimes."

Tyler got back on the bed and laid in between Kade and I. We were just sitting there in silence and staring up at the glow in the dark phosphorus stars on my ceiling when Kade asked, "So Tyler, gotten drunk in any pools lately?"

"Oh shut up, Kade." Tyler mumbled as he grabbed a throw pillow from my bed and put it under his head.

"You don't wanna know, big bro." I mumbled as well, recalling when Jace thought Tyler and I were dating. The day where everything started. I was so caught up in memories, I didn't notice myself falling asleep...

~~~~~~~~~~

"Awww look how cute they are." Someone cooed.

"Honey, you're gonna wake them up." Another voice said softer.

"Oh whoops." The first voice whispered back.

I was vaguely aware of someone draping a blanket over me.

~~~~~~~~~

I was awoken to someone yelling in my ear, Tyler to be exact. "Holy shit!"

I jolted up, and Kade groaned, "Tyler man, seriously? Every time?"

"Lexi, we gotta get to Jace's game! It started 45 minutes ago!" Tyler yelled.

Shit.

I threw on some yoga pants and a tank top, and Tyler tossed me the keys.

"Let's go." He said.

We were at the field in fifteen minutes, which meant we had missed more than half of the game. Since it was past halftime, we got in for free, and Tyler and I rushed to the top of the bleachers.

We watched as a timeout was called and the boys went to get water. I saw Jace look into the bleachers, and I waved. He didn't exactly wave back, but he nodded at me.

I checked my phone and saw a picture of my dad, Cal, and Hallie at Waffle House that my mom and sent me and let out a sigh of relief that so far everything was going well.

There were only two minutes left in the game, and Tyler and I were standing up, going crazy as Jace ran down the field, passing by every defense, and quickly closing on the goal. Sweat was running down his face, and his only focus in that moment was the ball and the goal.

The goalie came running out of the goal towards him, and tried to steal the ball away, but 'missed' and managed to kick Jace hard in the back of his knee.

"No!" Tyler cried, and slumped down into his bleacher seat. "That's a foul, that's a fucking foul. Ref you better call that." He yelled.

The whistle blew, and the players started lining up for Jace to take a penalty kick. Jace shook out his leg slightly, and with a slight limp he walked over to the ball. Before he did anything, he scanned the bleachers, and when he saw me and look of pure relief flooded his face. l smiled, but a man a few seats in front of us seemed to notice Jace's looks at me. He turned around and stared straight at me. He started climbing up through the people as Jace kicked the ball into the corner of the goal and everyone on our side started going crazy.

Tyler stood up a little straighter and moved a bit in front of me as the man neared. He was the man I saw in a picture at the house, and he looked exactly like Jace.

"You must be the girlfriend." Mr. Johnson said with a slight pause between the and girlfriend as if he was having trouble believing it, or he wasn't quite sure.

"Yeah, I'm Jace's girlfriend." I said slightly awkwardly.

I was vaguely aware of a whistle blowing, signifying the end of the game.

"Dating my son, you should know that he's a bit wild, but he deserves a lot. He's a really good guy." Jace's dad said.

I wondered why Jace didn't want me to meet him.

His dad glanced up at Tyler and I filled in, "This is my brother, Tyler."

"Tyler West?" Mr.Johnson asked, "Well, you've had quite the high school football career. 14th top recruit in the nation, with a full scholarship to Auburn. That touchdown you scored when you played Mills Valley was quite impressive."

"Thank you, sir." Tyler said slightly wary.

"I've watched some of the game tapes." His dad said as if that explained things.

"I didn't know they had game tapes for the public, but that's cool." Tyler said while he nodded.

Jace suddenly appeared next to his dad. "Hey dad, what's up?" He said carefully.

"I was just telling your girlfriend what a great guy you are." His dad said.

"Did you see the last goal I kicked? It won the game." Jace said proudly but almost like the way a five year old asks his dad after he scores a goal in little league.

"Son, a penalty kick is a gimme, barely anything to be proud of. If you would've missed that kick, then the scouts would've dropped you." His dad said, his tone suddenly hard and flat.

"Well, I scored right before half-time, totally faked out the goalie." Jace tried again.

"The goalie was bad, a cheat, nothing to be proud of, plus that was basically all number 14, he assisted you, and he did most of the work." His dad berated again, "Now see, if you would've made the kick at 17:16 seconds, I would've been slightly impressed, but you blew that one. And then if you'd just scored instead of that penalty, that would've been good, but damn you blew that one."

"Dad, the goalie had a nasty play." Jace responded.

"You should've easily evaded him." His dad said quietly.

"Well, we'll talk more at lunch." Jace said, his voice was quiet. "Bye Lexi."

"Bye," I said as he hugged me. "Hey, are you okay? That was a dirty hit." I asked Jace. He had limped over to hug me slightly.

"He's fine." His dad replied. "Come on, Jace." He turned and started walking toward his car. Jace gave me a half smile before turning to follow his dad.

Tyler turned to me, "He probably didn't want you to see him acting like that while his dad was being so harsh."

"His dad was being such a jerk to him, and he was just taking it! Jace is an amazing soccer player." I whined to Tyler.

"Yeah, but to super sports dads, nothing is ever enough, but Jace just wants to be enough for his dad, so that's why he was taking it." Tyler replied.

"I wish he'd just talk to me about it though." I sighed.

"He will, don't worry." Tyler said, "Now come on sis, let's go get some ice cream."