"Get up!" Emmett called into my bedroom. "We've got to unload Parker's car before he leaves."

"Go away," I groaned, pulling a pillow over face.

"Move it," Emmett ordered, before heading down the hall.

I let out a long groan, pressing the pillow to my face before sliding out of bed.

I pulled a hoodie on over my tank top and went out into the kitchen.

The apartment door was open, and neither one of the boys were in.

"You look like you just climbed out of a meth lab," Parker commented, as he came inside with his arms full of stuff from the boat yesterday.

"You look like shit," I muttered.

"Good one."

"It's early okay? Shut up."

"Are you coming to help? Or are you going to stand here, alone, in the kitchen?"

I ignored him, heading outside with a yawn.

It should be illegal to be awake this early.

"Look who finally crawled out of bed," Emmett commented, as I joined him at Parker's Ford Edge.

"My foot is going to crawl up your ass if you don't shut up."

"There's that morning sunshine," Emmett said, with a laugh before heading back inside.

"So are we going to talk about yesterday?" Parker asked, once Emmett was gone.

"What about it?"

"The fact that you kissed me?"

"I kissed you to win the bet, to play my music." I raised my eyebrows at him. "It didn't mean anything."

"Okay, good," he agreed, with a sigh.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry Parker, I'm definitely not falling for you."

"Well you won't be able to resist these much longer," he said, flexing his muscles.

"Put that away before you hurt yourself."

I opened up the backseat door, letting out another yawn.

"Oh darn."

"What?" Parker asked.

"Lee didn't pick up his shoes yesterday."

Parker stared at me for a couple of moments like I was a full-fledged idiot.

"What?" I asked, self-consciously. "Did you want to keep them or something?"

"Why the hell would Lee have picked up his shoes yesterday?"

"Because we went out with the team."

"And?"

This time I stared at him. "And that would've been the perfect time for him to pick up his shoes. What's not clicking here?"

"Everything. I have no idea why you'd think that Lee would come out with the team."

"Because he's a part of the team!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

I honestly felt like screaming because I was so fed up with this conversation.

"So in the time that I made a round-trip, you guys managed to stand here?" Emmett asked us.

"Your sister is driving me insane," Parker informed Emmett.

"He's driving me insane!" I countered.

"You guys are both insane," Emmett reasoned. "Now unload the fucking car." He grabbed some more stuff before heading upstairs.

"What do you want me to do with these shoes?" I asked Parker.

"Leave them in the car so I can return them to Lee."

"Why didn't you just return them to him yesterday?"

"Because he wasn't there!" Parker exploded. "Emily, I don't follow your logic."

"I don't follow yours!"

"Why would my brother be on an outing with the soccer team?"

Wait, what?

I stared at him for a few moments, absorbing what he just said.

"Did you just say brother?"

"For fuck's sake, who did you think Lee was?"

"A member of the soccer team."

Parker face-palmed himself, sliding his hand down his face and then staring at me. "That's what this whole conversation has been about?"

"Yes!"

"Lee is my brother Emily. Lee Adams."

"I didn't know that! I didn't even know you had a brother."

"And I made another trip," Emmett said, rejoining us. "Seriously guys, what the hell?"

"Your sister is an idiot," Parker informed him.

"Parker is an asshole."

"I'm not unloading anything else," Emmett said, throwing his hands up in the air before turning around and heading back inside the apartment complex.

"Well where is Lee?" I asked Parker, out of curiosity.

Why hadn't I seen him around school?

"Miami."

"Oh, is he in college?"

Parker sighed. "Help me unload the rest of the car and then we'll talk about Lee."

"Why can't you just tell me now?"

"Because it's a long-ass story and your brother will rip both of our heads off if we don't get this done."

I sighed, complying with Parker and helping him to unload his Ford.

There wasn't much left, Emmett getting most of it done, and it only took Parker and me two trips.

"It's about time," Emmett informed us, as Parker closed the apartment door behind us.

"So about Lee," I said to Parker, ignoring Emmett.

"What about him?" Emmett asked.

"Your sister thought Lee was a guy on the team," Parker said to Emmett.

"Why?"

"Because why would I think Parker has a brother?" I asked. "Nothing would ever lead me to that conclusion."

"I would love to stay and listen to you guys' weird chat," Emmett said, with a laugh, "but I've got to get to work."

Parker and Emmett did their bro-handshake before Emmett gave me a tight hug.

"What time do you get off?" I asked him, as he headed out the door.

"Check the schedule!" Emmett called back, before closing the apartment door behind him.

"That damn schedule, I swear," Parker muttered.

"So back to Lee," I said, returning to our earlier topic.

"Okay," Parker agreed. "What about him?"

"Why is your brother in Miami?"

"Right," Parker agreed. He sighed, taking a seat on a barstool. "I actually don't know where to start."

"I'd try the beginning."

He rolled his eyes, but didn't laugh. And that's when I knew this was serious.

"Okay, so I'll start at the beginning of last summer," Parker stated, with a sigh. "I was at a soccer tournament at Disney and my parents were driving up to see me play. On their way they got into a wreck."

I didn't like where this story was going. I could see it in Parker's eyes, feel the sadness radiating off of him.

"My dad died upon impact. My mom died a couple of days later."

I felt like I was going to throw-up.

"It was also the day of my 18th birthday," Parker added. "Meaning that I was granted custody of Lee, who was staying up at the hotel with me when the wreck happened."

"So you have custody of your little brother?"

"Not little," Parker corrected. "He's 15. Not sure what age you don't get to be considered little anymore, but I'm pretty sure 15 crosses the line."

Okay, I didn't see any of this coming, but definitely not that.

"So when my parents died, I had to assume responsibility of Lee, who isn't your normal, everyday, 15 year old." He chuckled to himself at that, although I wasn't in on the inside joke, so I'm not sure why that was funny.

"Lee has bipolar disorder," Parker explained. "And panic disorder, which is brought on by claustrophobia and then sometimes just at random, and then he's ADHD."

Holy shit.

"My mom was always so good with him," Parker said, with a wistful voice. "She was so good at keeping him on a schedule and, I don't know, just being a mom I guess. But when it was just us I couldn't do it Emily." He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Now that she's gone, I have more appreciation for my mom than I ever did before, because he's a lot to handle."

But how did he end up in Miami?

"So after about a month and a half, I sat down with Lee and explained to him that it wasn't working, that I wasn't fit to take care of him. I'd done some research of boarding schools in the area, and there was only one in Florida willing to accept him, down in Miami. So we went down there together and toured the place, and he said he liked it and all, so I enrolled him."

"So your brother is in boarding school?"

Parker nodded. "We had a deal, that he had to give it 8 weeks. And then if he didn't like it I'd pull him. I do feel bad for the kid, having to live at school and all. And the 8 weeks passed, and I offered to pull him out. But he likes it there. And then I visit him on the weekends and he comes home for the holidays, so it isn't all too bad I guess."

I stared at Parker, absorbing all the information he'd just shared with him.

His parents are dead and he has custody of his mentally ill 15-year old brother.

"How do you pay for your brother's boarding school?" I asked.

"Oh yeah."

I couldn't help but laugh at his response.

"Well when my parents died, I was reimbursed by their life insurance, and then I inherited their bank accounts."

Parker did seem like a privileged kid. It wouldn't surprise me if his parents were rich.

"And then I had to move Lee and me out of the house and into an apartment and sell the house."

Okay, so maybe there wasn't that much to spare.

"And then I started working at the Auto Body shop that your brother works at."

Wow, so apparently money doesn't go far these days.

"Money goes fast," Parker said, answering my unspoken thoughts. "Between Lee's medical bills, mortgage, Lee's medical bills, apartment bills, Lee's medical bills, boarding school, and Lee's medical bills, I was the guardian that had to make ends meet."

Now I had some sympathy for this jackass.

"And then we sort of got lucky."

"How so?"

"Well the first thing that happened was that I moved in with Emmett, which cut the apartment expenses."

So that explains that.

Parker smirked at me. "How does it feel to know that Lee lived in your bedroom for about 3 weeks?"

"I don't know Lee so I don't know the answer to that question."

"You should be nervous," Parker filled in for me. "Anyways, one day when I was picking up Lee's prescriptions, I got home and realized that they'd given him the wrong one for his bipolar. So I had to call the insurance and the doctor and all this bullshit, and he had to go days without it." Parker winced. "That was bad. Anyways, I contacted a lawyer and we managed to get a lawsuit out of it, which we won."

"You won a medical lawsuit?"

"Yep," Parker informed me, popping the 'p'. "The money flowed in, and I got to quit my job at the Auto Body shop."

I stared at him for a couple of moments, fully absorbing everything he'd just told me.

"And that's why I currently live with your brother," Parker finished.

"Not to be rude, but why do you still live with my brother?"

Parker stared at me for a couple of moments. "Considering everything I just told you, that's what you want to know?"

I nodded.

"Okay, well I might have won a medical lawsuit, but the money still doesn't go far when you have to buy a car, pay for boarding school, and continue to pay for medical bills, including insurance." He sighed. "Being an adult honestly sucks."

"Oh yeah, the car. Why a Ford Edge?"

"Again, that's the question you want to ask?"

I nodded again.

"Okay, well I needed a car to get from Point A to Point B, and I vowed to never drive SUV's like both of my parents. But then, when I was being bombarded with Lee's medical information, I realized that he was claustrophobic, meaning that he can't stand the feeling of being trapped. And that meant that my parents drove SUV's not because they wanted to, but because they had to more or less."

Okay, that made sense.

"So I chose the SUV that I thought I could handle driving. Definitely not a minivan, hell no. But a Ford Edge isn't so bad."

I nodded in agreement. This is was a lot to take in all at once.

"And there you have it," Parker said, with a half-smile. "Besides Emmett, you're the only other person that knows the story."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "What?"

He nodded.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

~*~

"Our first family dinner," Emmett said to me, with a smile. "Minus Parker."

I accepted my plate of spaghetti. "Where is he?"

"Driving back from Miami I'd think."

He did say he visits Lee on the weekends. But I see him home some weekends too.

This is so confusing.

I stabbed my spaghetti with my fork, twirling it around as Emmett took his seat across from me.

"So I have something to talk to you about," Emmett said, as I shoved the glob of spaghetti into my mouth.

Perfect timing Emmett.

I rolled my eyes, and waited until I finished chewing.

"What's up?" I asked, taking a sip of my water.

"When did you start liking Parker?"

I had to cover my mouth to keep from spitting my water out.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"I saw you kissing him on the boat yesterday," Emmett casually informed me.

"It wasn't even like that!"

He raised his eyebrows at me with a smirk, clearly amused. "Then what was it like?"

"I was trying to win a stupid bet, game thing he'd initiated."

"A bet, game thing?"

I sighed. "Parker wouldn't let me play my music, and then said I'd have to get around him first. So I kissed him."

"Because that makes all the sense?"

"Well I caught him off-guard, pulled away, and then got around him, in return getting my music. So I'd say it does."

Emmett stared at me like I was deranged.

"What?" I asked, defensively.

"You're a mental case."

"Shut up."

He rolled his eyes. "Did he kiss you back?"

"What?" I demanded.

"Did Parker kiss you back?"

"I fail to see how that's any of your business?"

"That's entirely my business. Because if he did, I'll kick his ass. Older brother policy."

"I'm not talking about this with you."

"So then he did."

"I did not say that."

"But by you not saying anything, in turn you're saying it."

"By you insinuating that I'm saying anything at all, in turn you should keep your bedroom door locked tonight."

"Okay," Emmett surrendered, with a laugh. "I'll just ask Parker."

"You say one word about this to Parker and I will shove my foot so far up your ass it'll require surgery."

He clamped his hand over his mouth so as not to spit out his spaghetti.

"Family dinner," I mused, taking another bite of my spaghetti. "This will be interesting."

**************************************************************************************************************

So what did you guys think about Parker & Emily's quick chat about the kiss? And then what about Lee, obviously? Were you expecting him to be something different? What about all of Parker's confessions about his family, did you see any of it coming? Well I take that back, a lot of you guessed his parents were dead. And then Emmett & Emily's family dinner, did you expect Emmett to have seen the kiss?

This chapter is dedicated to SmolderBunny because her theory, to me, was the closest. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty close.

The banner off to the right was submitted by 21 polaroid. It has a banner for all 3 of the characters, it actively moves/changes. So give it some patience. Check it out! -->

I just wanted to take a minute to talk to you guys about harassment/cyber bullying. Sitting behind a computer screen, I don't think that people realize how much their words can hurt another person. (And then there are people that intentionally try to hurt others.) I just want to remind you guys that we're all humans. There's no reason for us to be degrading to each other, to call each other hateful names and try to intentionally try to bring another person down. So I guess all I'm trying to say is think before you type, think about how your words can impact another.

Teaser: There's a bit of romance in Emily's life

Update: There's no early update this weekend again. Sorry guys, but I'll be in a hotel and the wifi there (if you can get it) sucks. I know this because I've been going to this hotel since I was in diapers. Anyways, I'm not going to promise an early update without wifi. Plus I'll be at the beach, so I'm not sure that I'd have the time to write it anyways. So the update is on . And no, that doesn't mean it'll be longer or a double update. That's my normal update day. So I'll see you guys then!