______________________________

After Hallie spoke, the room went silent.

I looked over at Jace who seemed to be processing what she had just said, and the next thing I knew, Jace knelt down so he was at her height and grabbed her hand. "Hallie," he said gingerly "I made a mistake, I shouldn't have spoken to Lexi that way. But I promise you that I will NEVER be like dad."

Lexi pulled her hand away from Jace and ran to grab my leg. "I want Lexi to take me back to bed." She stated.

Jace's hands fell to his side, and and his eyes startled. "Hal?" He asked pleadingly.

She shook her head at him and buried her face into my leg.

"C'mon Hal, go back to bed." I said, and she ran into her bed.

When I walked out of her room, I saw Jace on the floor with his head in his hands.

I sat down next to him on the wall. "Jace, it's-"

"No Alexis, it's not ok."

"It might not be ok now, but it's going to be." I assured him.

On the contrary to the answer I expected, Jace asked, "Promise?"

"Promise." I sure hoped I was right.

<><><><><><>

The next morning, I woke up with a start. There was a crook in my neck, and I realized I'd fallen asleep next to Jace sitting with my back to the wall. At least someone had given me a pillow.

Last night was rough for all of us, so I called Sebby and asked a favor before I woke Cal and Hal up.

This morning, I knocked on the door. "Cal get up."

"Noooooo." He moaned.

"Cal you better wake the hell up!" I shouted "or no breakfast for you!"

"Fine I'm up, I'm up."

Then I walked to Hallie's room to wake her up.

"Whats for breakfast?" Hal asked as I walked in, already very much awake.

"Something special," I said.

"Special?! What is it?" she asked excitedly.

"Go get dressed and then it'll be here," I said with a smirk. Hal ran over to her closet and took out a blue shirt with a pink skirt and polkadot leggings to wear. I couldn't help but giggle at her outfit selection.

"What?" she asked confused

"I was just admiring the outfit you picked out," I said "We should go shopping sometime so you can pick out some outfits for me."

"Shopping?!" Hallie squealed, "I love shopping!"

I chuckled and then stepped in the hallway, "Come down stairs when you're dressed." I walked down the stairs and then the doorbell rang. I ran over to it and swung the door open only to see Sebby with a Dunkin Donuts bag and two iced coffees. "Thank you Sebby, you're a life saver!!" I led Sebby into the breakfast room and we sat down and sipped on our iced coffee.

"Wheres Jace?"Sebby asked after a minute.

"Im not sure," I sighed. "I-"

I was cut off by the pitter patter of feet coming down the stairs. Both Hallie and Cal were now in the breakfast room a little shocked to see Sebby. "Who's this?" Cal asked. "Are you two dating?"

"No, this is my friend Sebastian," I explained, "I had him run out to get you guys donuts."

"Yay donuts!" Hallie exclaimed and ran over to the table where the bag was sitting and grabbed a chocolate one with rainbow sprinkles.

After school, Cal and I picked Hallie up.

As we were driving, Cal asked "Hey Lexi? Can you drive me and Lacy again tonight?"

"Yeah sure, where do you wanna go?"

"Lacy wants to try that place called Leaf Cafe," he explained.

"Ok, I've heard of it" I said "I think Jace will like it with his whole soccer diet thing."

...

When Jace got home after practice, we all piled in the car and drove to Lacy's house.

"Do we have to keep taking them on dates?" Jace whined.

"They can't drive themselves." I responded.

Jace was in the front seat next to me while Hallie rode in the back back and Cal was in the middle seat.

When we got to the restaurant, it was very Hipster. everything was dark wood, there were weird light fixtures at every table, and all of the waiters were in flannel shirts. A waiter led Lacy and Cal to their separate table and then led me Jace and Hal to our table. Jace and I sat across from each other, and I sat next to Hallie

I picked up the menu only to see a whole list of over priced hipster food... yay

"What are you gonna get Hal?"I asked her as she did her best to read the menu. "I want Mac and Cheese," she said.

After a few minutes, the waiter came by our table to take our order "Hi, I'm Emilio and i'll be your waiter tonight, can I start you off with something to drink?" he asked.

"I'll have Lemonade," Hal said

"I'll have water," I ordered and then looked up at the waiter for the first time. He was muscular and tan, and he had the prettiest blue eyes. He flashed me a smile.

My thoughts were interrupted by jace's voice "Water," he snapped at the waiter.

"Okay, I'll be right back with the drinks," Emilio said and then went back to get them.

"Jace." I hissed.

"What?" He hissed back.

"Nevermind, lets just have a nice dinner."

"Here are your drinks," Emilio said and put them in front of us "Now can I take your orders?"

"I'll have the Mac and Cheese," Hal said cheerfully.

"I'll have a Cobb Salad with ranch dressing," I said, and Emilio and I made eye contact.

"I'll take a burger with extra lettuce, Avacado, tomato, and a whole wheat bun." Jace said.

Emilio wrote the order down and lingered for an extra second.

"You're still here? why?" Jace asked.

Emilio chuckled "Wow your boyfriend's getting a little riled up."

"OH, he's not my boyfriend," I said starting to blush a little.

"So... Your single?" Emilio asked with a dimply smile.

"Yeah, I guess." I said with a blank expression. I don't know what Emilio's trying to pull here, but I don't like it. "I'm not looking for a relationship right now though."

I saw a subtle swirl appear on Jace's face.

"Suit yourself" Emilio said and then walked back into the kitchen to place our order.

Hal and I colored in the pictures on the kids menu as we waited for our food to come out.

After 20 minutes, Emilio brought our food out. After distributing the food, he winked at me and then walked off.

Just as we'd started eating, Cal and Lacy came down. "Hey guys!" Cal said cheerfully. "We're already done... Lexi can we go to the park across the street?"

"Sure cal, but be careful." I replied.

"Here's your check," Emilio said and then handed me the bill. As I took it, Emilio took a napkin out of his pocket and wrote something down on it, " I wrote my number on here... I know you're not looking, but feel free to call me."

I gave him a half hearted smile and then took out my purse to get the money. I payed the bill and then we all got up and walked over to the park.

Cal dropped Lacy off to her front door and pecked her on the cheek before she walked inside. "Awwwww," I said when he got back in the car, he immediately blushed.

"That's my brother, pulling those girls," Jace cheered and playfully punched him in the arm.

I couldn't help but smile... Jace was starting to act like a great big brother.

•<>•<>•<>•

After we got home, Cal went up to his room to finish his homework and Hallie went to bed after I told her a story. Now it was almost midnight, and I was still working on calculus homework.

I was about to give up and just fail my assignment when Jace came down the stairs "Oh, you're still up?" He asked surprised to see me.

"Yeah," I sighed, "I'm just struggling with calculus homework."

The next thing I knew, Jace pulled up a chair next to me and moved my text book so it was in the middle of us. "So what are you having trouble with?"

What?

My jaw almost fell to the flore .... Jace Johnson was willingly helping me??

"Ummmm," I said looking at the text book, "everything."

Jace chuckled and then began helping me.

"Ok so..."

Sometime in the middle of our study session, Jace and I got a box of vegan brownies from the pantry and we started eating them. I was about to stand up when Jace said "So... Have you called that waiter guy?" He sounded uncomfortable.

I turned to look at Jace and I smirked. I grabbed the napkin from my pocket and stepped towards him to wipe the corner of his mouth that had a chocolate smudge on it. Jace smiled genuinely down at me as I threw the napkin in the trash can.

"Oh no, was that the napkin? Whoops..."