| Jack |

Today is the day! Cody's coming home! I haven't been this excited in a long time - I barely slept last night. It'd be a huge lie if I told you I wasn't counting down the days, hours, minutes - even the seconds, until my best friend gets back.

"You're so fidgety today. Why?" Kelley asks from her seat beside Hope, who was happily watching me pacing like a madman.

"Why? WHY?!" I ask my 'other mother',wearing a look of incredulity. "Oh. I don't know, Kelley, maybe because my best friend is coming home today, I've only been talking about it since the day she left!" Although I yell at her, I'm not angry, and they both know it when they laugh at my behavior. Thankfully, for my own mental state, their laughter is cut short by a knock on the door.

"I'll get it! I'll get it!" I squeal, jumping up and down where I stand before I run to the door. I throw it open, expecting it to be Cody, but it's not. "Oh, it's you." I close the door in her face, simply not in the mood to talk to her.

"Who was it?" Hope asks when she sees that I'm still Codyless.

"A door to door salesman."

"Selling what?" Kelly questions.

"Uh, selling bullshit I guess." Kelley looks at me, narrowing her eyes and gets up from the couch to open the door, much to my unvoiced disapproval.

"Hey Kristie!" I hear Kelley beam as she opens the door. "Ignore Jack, she's turned sour since Cody went to California with Alex."

"It's okay, really." Kristie starts as she makes eye contact with me. "It's Cody I wanted to talk to anyway."

"Why?" I ask her, not caring about formalities and subtly. Hope simply stands and leaves the room, while Kelley hesitates. Kelley is the one who often tells me that I'm too much like Hope for my own good, which would explain why she's worried about leaving me alone in the same room as the one person I have a serious issue with right now.

"It's okay, Kelley. Go." Kristie encourages her teammate, who sends me a stern look. I give her a quick nod, not because I agree to 'be nice', but because I want her out of the room, and now. She finally follows Hope to the kitchen and silence engulfs the room.

"Listen, Ja-"

"No." I cut her off, holding a hand up in the air, silencing her. "You don't get to tell my best friend that you like her but nothing can happen. You don't get to kiss her and leave, not to speak to her again until it's convenient for you and you sure as hell don't get to dump Rachel and show up here trying to win Cody over. Not on my damn watch." I practically growl out, finding it increasingly difficult to control my anger. "You don't get to play her, over and over again, she's got too much shit on her plate right now, I won't let you add more to it."

"What do you mean?" She asks me, and I chuckle dryly.

"That's what I mean, Kris. If you wanted anything to do with Cody, you wouldn't have left her out to dry, maybe then you'd know what's going on in her life." I hit out, and I watch as guilt seizes the Pro before me. "Did you even know she was in California?"

"I did, but not from her. She wouldn't answer my calls or texts." She tells me and I smile internally, happy that my friend wouldn't just roll over.

"Who told you?"

"Alex."

"Alex?"

"Yeah, you might be giving me some serious shade but that doesn't mean Alex is. Look, Jack, I get it. I really do. I hurt her. I know I don't deserve her but I thought that I was doing the right thing." She tries to explain but it only makes me laugh. "I'm serious, Jack. I caught feelings for her so fast that it scared me, her being so young scared me-"

"So it's all because she's 16? You know, she won't be 16 forever."

"I know she won't. But no, it wasn't only her age. Jack, she went through hell, and at that time I couldn't ask her out, even thinking about it at that time made me feel like I was forcing it on her. I wanted her to find herself first, as cliché as that sounds it's true. She was Cody, the girl who got beat up and assaulted, trapped in her home. I wanted her to discover who she really is, without being restricted to a relationship."

"What about you and Rachel? How did that happen so fast? Were you seeing her when you were flirting with Cody?"

"No, hell no! It was all after Cody. The national team were zoning me out, they obviously took Cody's side because they didn't know the entire story, only Alex knew. I got lonely, my friends weren't interested in even talking to me anymore and she was just...there. It was a relationship I pretty much fell into and it wasn't a perfect, happy relationship at all."

"Is that supposed to make me feel bad for you?"

"No, Jack. It isn't. I'm not here to make you feel sorry for me. I'm here telling you my side of the story, you can do whatever you want with the information, but at least you have it now, and of course, I'm here to speak with Cody." Kristie take a deep breath as Kelley and Hope came back into the room. "Jack, can you just...tell her I stopped by and that I'll be in town for the week if she wants to see me?" I look to Kelley and Hope, they look like both halves of my conscience right now, one half smiling and hoping I'll say yes, the other half dead set on saying no.

"Ugh." I groan, finally caving in, "Fine. I'll tell her, but only because this is her decision." I leave the room, heading to the kitchen to get a drink of water when I notice that Hope followed me.

"I'm proud of you."

"Why? I didn't slap her, which is what I told myself I'd do if I seen her again."

"That's exactly why I'm proud of you. It's one thing to say you'll hit her, it's another thing entirely to actually do it. You used your words, like an adult." She wraps her arms around me and I immediately feel at ease.

When Hope and I walk back through to the living room, Kristie is gone, Kelley is back on the couch watching TV and when Hope joins her, Kelley leans her head against my mom's chest.

"Ugh. You both make me miss Ellie." I mumble, but they obviously heard me because they laugh.

Knock Knock Knock

"Yeah right. I'm not falling for that again." I grumble, glaring at the door.

"Bitch open the door!" I hear my best friend yell from the other side. "Ow!" I walk to the door...okay, I run to the door and throw it open to see Cody rubbing the back of her head. "You didn't have to slap me." Cody complains as she throws a glare at Alex who simply shrugs.

"You should watch your language then." Alex scolds, lifting her bag and walking into the house. I only let Cody take two steps in before I wrap my arms around my best friend, and she follows my actions, squeezing me tightly.

"I missed you so much." I hear her mumble into my neck and I squeeze her in my arms, happy that she's finally back.

"I missed you more." I tease, smiling when I hear my best friend chuckle. "It's true, ask Hope and Kelley. I was driving them crazy."

Our reunion is rudely interrupted by the 'adults' in the room, and we look to them to see they all have their phones out, snapping pictures and recording us.

"Seriously?" My non-related sister questions and her mom, once again, shrugs.

"Your friendship is so cute!" Kelley yells, before turning to Alex, "But ours is better."

"Duh!" Alex sasses and holds her hand up, high-fiving Kelley.

"Surrounded by children." Hope mumbles as she leaves the room, heading to the backyard.

________

"So, about Cali-"

"Jack, I already told you, women don't walk around in bikinis." Cody absentmindedly answers a little too loudly and I'm met with a judgemental look from Ellie on Skype.

"Uh...I'll call you back, babe." I tell her, and she mumbles a small 'okay' before she hangs up first, and I don't realize what I've said until it comes back at me from my best friend.

"'Babe'?" My eyes widen momentarily before I look at Cody, and she's smirking at me.

"Um...look. I know you two had a date pact or whatever you were calling it-"

"I know."

"You know what?" I ask, seriously not following her because I'm panicking.

"I know about you and Ellie."

"How is that possible? Wait...did she call you when you were in Cali?" I ask, the thought annoying me since she told me she couldn't even call me, but I know I'm wrong when my best friend laughs.

"No, she didn't. You can wipe that jealous little look off your face." she grins at me. "We had a little talk before she told you how she felt about you."

"But...that was a while ago."

"I know. You took your sweet time telling me." Cody smirked at me, letting me know that she wasn't upset.

"I'm sorry, Maxi. I was worried you had feelings and I just...I didn't want to ruin our friendship-" My best friend stops me with a hug, and I revel in it.

"You couldn't ruin our friendship." She pulls away to look at me, she smiles. "I already know you're an asshole." She only laughs when I punch her in the arm.

Her phone rings and she hesitates to answer, but she eventually does. I watch my best friend stand, and takes the call outside the room, which only makes me want to put my ear to the door and try and listen in. A few minutes later she comes back and sits on the bed next to me. It's silent as I look at her, waiting for an explanation.

"Well?" I ask her, since she's ignoring the hint that I'm clearly laying out there.

"Well, what?"

"Ugh, Cody!" I groan, making her laugh.

"It was another college. UCF are desperate for me to accept a scholarship so that I can play on their team, you know, since it sucks."

"Do you wanna go to Florida?" I ask her. I love these conversations with my best friend. There's a lot of people that freak out while considering the future, but Cody is always honest.

"I honestly don't know. I know I'm finishing high school, this is one part of my life I feel like I don't want to rush. Since Alex is my mom, this feels like my one chance to really make sure I have my feet on solid ground, you know?" She asks and I nod, letting her know I understand completely. "I just don't know if I want to go to college after it, or head straight to Professional soccer. I mean, college will always be there right?"

"Yeah it will. It's definitely something to consider - going Pro. I think you should talk to Alex about it too, though."

"I will. I wouldn't sign with a club without talking to her about it." She lets me know and the room falls silent for the first time since Cody got home and in that moment I remember my earlier visitor. I internally debate with myself, should I tell Cody, should I just keep it to myself and hope Kristie will leave and give up? Nah she probably won't, and knowing my luck Kelley would spill the beans to Cody, and I'll be the bad guy.

"What are you thinking about?"