"When is Kevin coming over next?" My father's question paralleled Raina from that night over two weeks ago not even a minute after being home from his restaurant. I was on the phone with Kevin too. It was ironic.

"Is that your dad?" Kevin asked and the only sound was his footsteps probably going up the stairs to his house. I'm surprised he came home this early to be honest. He had school basketball practice and then his rep basketball team practice usually on the same days sometimes so he would get home late.

"Yeah."

Kevin laughed. "Tell him soon."

I looked at my dad, repeating what Kevin told me and my dad grinned. I headed towards the living room. "He really likes you."

"Your dad's pretty cool." It was almost as if he wanted to add something to that sentence but fought against it. "I'm not coming to school tomorrow by the way."

"Really? Why?" I heard a door shut from his side.

"My mom has a day off and I'm going to spend it with her."

I let out the 'aww' I couldn't contain. Whenever Kevin talked about his mom it was as if he was talking about the most important person in his life. And to him, she was. I could tell by the admiration in his voice. And I knew that because she usually worked a lot and he had basketball, he didn't see her as often as he wished too.

"What are you guys going to do?"

"I want to let her sleep in. I was thinking of attempting to make breakfast for her-"

"Attempt."

"Yes, attempt. Not all of us are skilled at cooking. Some of us burn everything we touch, S."

I smiled softly, kicking my feet up on the ottoman. "Are you guys going to go somewhere?"

"Yeah, probably go bowling. She's really good at it. We used to go every time on her birthday and on mine. Like a tradition. And we'll probably end up at this park we used to go to when I was a kid. She used to take me there all the time and we'd have like a picnic and we'd talk like really talk."

I couldn't stop the other 'aww' that came out of my mouth and Kevin laughed. "Stop."

"I'm sorry. Your relationship with your mom is so cute."

"To some extent, she's my best friend."

"Kevin." I gushed.

I could imagine his hand covering his face for a second while he laughed. "I really want you to meet her."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I started to get nervous at the thought of meeting someone so important to Kevin and I'm certain he sensed it because he said, "Don't worry. I'm sure she'll like you."

"You really think so?"

"What's not to like?" And before I could say anything to that he continued speaking. "I have a project and some homework to do and as much as I would love to continue talking to you I really can't get distracted."

"It's fine," I assured. "Go."

"I'll call or text you later, yeah?"

"Yeah, sure. Bye."

"Bye, babe." I hung up my phone, lightly tossing it on the other side of the couch,

"What was that all about?" My dad said while I flicked through channels.

I stopped on one of the channels and some game show was on when he sat down next to me. "Kevin wants me to meet his mom."

"His mom?"

"Yeah."

"What about his father?"

I really didn't know. "Um, Kevin doesn't talk about his dad whenever parents come up."

"So, not in his life?"

"I'm guessing. I mean, I don't want him to talk about something he may not want to talk about so I don't bring it up."

Dad nodded in understanding. "He's a good guy."

"You've said that so many times, dad."

"I'm giving you my approval."

I got up from the couch immediately, grabbing my phone and letting out a groan. "Oh my God. We're not dating."

He laughed. "That's not what your mom said."

"Want to do anything after school? For the first time in forever I don't have anything after." Cam asked, taking a bite our of the burger out of his hand.

"I can't. I have work." I told him

"Ah, the work life," He turned to Amelia, starting to get up. I could see Amelia still from where she was switching textbooks in her locker as he leaned beside her locker. "What about you, Ames?"

"Um, uh, I have, uh stuff to do." She blurted out.

Cam gave her a puzzled look. Looks like he was noticing her odd behavior as well. "You okay? You've seemed a little off these days. Are you sick again?"

"Maybe." She said, avoiding his eyes and going back to his locker.

"Okay, "He grabbed his backpack and slung it on his shoulders. He put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a soft smile. "Feel better. Bye, guys."

"Bye." I grinned, watching him walk off and turn down the hallway before nudging Amelia with my foot. "Stuff to do?"

"I don't know why I said it like that. I can't hang out with him alone. I really can't or else I'll just say something stupid. He even touched me for Pete's sake, I'm struggling to recover him his hand brushing me, dude." She closed her locker, exhaling deeply.

I stifled my laughter. "What happened to you telling Cam?" I asked Amelia.

"I'm so weird when I'm around him." She groaned, lightly her head against her locker multiple times.

"We noticed." Kevin said, taking a seat next to me with a smirk on his face.

"You know?" Amelia looked at me. "Did you tell him?"

"She didn't have to," Kevin interrupted. "I have eyes Lia. I notice things."

"Oh my God." She put her face in her hands.

"If it's any consolation, I'm sure he'll like you back."

"Why do you think that?" She asked, dragging her hand off her face.

"I have this thing called optimism. You should try it some time."

Kevin reached for my hand and played with my fingers with his other. "Of course I should take advice from a guy who's hoping his own optimism is going to work." Amelia muttered, sitting next to me.

Kevin slouched, leaning his head on my shoulder. I looked at our legs side by side, noticing the difference between our heights. He knocked his foot against mine and I knocked mine right back. I could see the smile on his face at my action before he looked up at me. "Is my optimism working?"

I ignored him, turning to make conversation with Ames.

A little.

"That's the answer." Kevin said on the phone.

I stared at my paper for several more seconds. "No it isn't."

"Yes it is. I've never been so certain of anything in my entire life S."

"Well you're incorrect."

"Who got the high mark in biology last semester?"

"Oh my gosh," I closed my textbook and binder. "Forget this. I'll ask my teacher tomorrow."

"And the you'll realize that I was right."

"Shut up." I said for the hundredth time tonight, twisting my pencil in my hand. "You want to FaceTime?" I asked.

Kevin dramatically gasped. "Did Sandra Forman just ask me to FaceTime? Not me asking her but her asking me? For the first time ever?"

"it's a yes or no answer?"

"Shut, it's almost 9:30." Kevin paused before he spoke, clearing his throat. "Um, I actually can't. I mean, I have to talk to someone after."

"Oh," I don't why I felt weird at him saying that. I usually wouldn't have been but by the way his tone was gave me the hint that I should feel weird. That's why I asked, "Who?"

Why the hell did I ask?

"You remember Alivia?"

My pencil dropped out of my hand and I reached after it. It fell off my bed and I followed with it, holding onto my duvet to keep myself from planting face first into the carpet of my room. I hefted myself up, my pencil in my mouth before putting it down. Kevin must've heard the commotion because he asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, my pencil just fell. Um, Alivia your ex right?"

"Yeah, her."

"It's cool that you guys are still really good friends."

"You're, uh, you;'re not bothered or anything?"

I narrowed my eyes at the hint he was suggesting. "Why would I be bothered by you talking to your ex-girlfriend? Why would I even care if you were friends? We're not dating."

There was a pause. "Right."

"Right." I repeated. "Did you want me to be bothered?"

"No, I just wanted to know how you felt about it."

"Well, how would you feel if I talked to my ex?"

"You want me to be honest?"

"Yeah."

"I wouldn't care but if he tried anything on you that's when we're going to have a problem."

Then I remember a stupid thing he said weeks ago, "Because by the Kevin Reed's laws of belonging, I'm yours-"

"I am yours," He chuckled on the other line. "I'm glad we remember."

"Goodnight, Kevin."

"Night, S."

The second we hung up, I lent forward on my stomach finding the one person's contact name and calling them. When they picked up, they sighed. "What?"

"Ames, I would appreciate it if you would answer my calls with a little bit more enthusiasm."

"What happened?" She said with eagerness in her voice.

I don't even know why I called her I just felt the need to talk to somebody about what just happened. "Okay, Kevin told me that he's going to talk to his ex-girlfriend like they're probably talking right now. And the he asked me how I felt about that, if I was bothered by it-"

"Well, are you?"

"No," I hesitated. "At least I don't think so."

"You're bothered."

"What?"

"Your voice gets higher when you lie. You're a little bothered by it no matter what. Maybe it's because Kevin is giving his attention to someone else for a second."

"What? I don't seek Kevin's attention."

"I never said you seek it. I said that he isn't fully focused on you for a fraction of a moment and that's probably bothering you. When Emil and I dated, I used to get so bitter whenever his ex used to come up to him and flirt with him and shit and he kept telling me that they're just friends."

"But they were." I pointed out.

"Yeah, until I found out that she wanted him back and Emil told her to back off. The bitch was going to fight me, remember?"

"How could I forget?" I muttered. I really couldn't forget the day Amelia almost fought that girl. I had never seen Amelia so annoyed of someone in our four years of friendship.

"But yeah, don't worry about Kevin. I know you're jealous but honestly-"

"I'm not," I interrupted. "Oh my God."

"Kevin likes you so much it's annoying."

That's interesting because he's never actually said he liked me or anything in that sense.

"What do you mean?"

"Like today in art, Kelly, Ben and I were talking about food and Ben said he loves lasagna and Kevin comes out of nowhere and says, 'Oh that's Sandra's favorite food'. Then multiple times after that he'll bring you up in our conversation over and over and over again. He's done this before so many times but I'm the only one that notices."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's cute but just come in our class more often so he can shut up. I love you and even I don't talk about you that much." I laughed, grabbing my pillow and covering my face with it. "Now, onto more important matters.

"Like what?" I said, my voice muffled into my pillow.

"What are you getting me for my birthday?"