Julie's pov

Shane knocks on our door and pops his head in, after hearing me say, "It's open."

"Mike and I are going for a run. Anyone care to join us?"

"Sure, I'll go, just give me five minutes to change," I say, as I set my book down and hop off my bed. Maybe a run will take my mind off my sore backside.

"That's a hot deny, Admiral. Carrie and I have a date with Dean and Sam Winchester in the common room in five," Lisa says, tugging on Carrie's arm. "Ready sis?"

"Yeah, maybe next time, Shane," Carrie offers, as Lisa pulls her out the door.

"Stacey?" Shane looks to my cousin, to see if she's game.

"Yeah sure, I'll come. A run sounds good right now."

Stacey and I get changed and meet Mike and Shane out front. The four of us start jogging around the perimeter of the Center's grounds. Stacey and I, however, are having a hard time keeping up with them.

"Geez, how did you guys get in such good shape?" Stacey asks, as the two of us struggle to match Mike and Shane's pace.

"Must be all the practice Shane gets running from commitment," I say jokingly, as I muster all my energy reserves and sprint past Shane, unable to resist the temptation to poke fun at his dating track record.

"Ohhh, that's it. You are so in for it now," Shane laughs, pretending to be offended by my comment as he chases after me.

"If that's the case, Mike must be in such good shape running from good taste," Stacey says, laughing. "Seriously, Mike, when did the dollar store start selling running shorts?" Stacey shouts, sprinting past Mike.

"We'll see if you're still laughing when I catch you," Mike warns playfully, chasing after my cousin.

Unfortunately for us, Mike and Shane easily catch up to Stacey and I. Mike grabs Stacey from around the waist and effortlessly tosses her over his shoulder, like a sack of potatoes.

"So I get my clothes at the dollar store, huh?" Mike teases, playfully swatting my cousin's bottom as we head back to the Center.

Shane looks at me with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Oh no." I shake my head, practically reading Shane's mind. "Don't even think about it, Admiral." I try to dodge Shane's grasp as he reaches for me. "I swear I will curb stomp you, Shane." My threat is futile as Shane already has me draped over his left shoulder.

"Running from commitment," Shane scoffs, as he mimics my mildly facetious remark. "I'm not running now, am I, Julie?" Shane laughs, swatting my bottom as I hang upside down contemplating doing the same to him in return but the man must have eyes in the back of his head because just as I'm about to reach back and smack his butt, he says, "I'd think twice about doing that if I were you." I know he's joking but seeing that he clearly has the upper hand in this situation, I think better of it and lower my hand.

"What do you think, Shane?" Mike asks, with an adorable impish grin on his face. "Should we take our time getting back to the Center? Possibly walking as slowly as we can." Mike continues to playfully swat my cousin's bottom.

"Sounds like a plan, Dr. Horton." Shane smiles broadly as he smacks my butt, just hard enough to make it sting a little but it stings a lot since I'm still sore from my prior encounter with his belt.

"Hey! Watch it," I say, in mock protest. Even though his gentle swats hurt, I don't really mind because it's nice to see Shane and Mike smiling and hear them laughing again. Sometimes, I feel like I do nothing but upset them.

The four of us continue to goof around on the way back to the Center, our guardians eventually putting us down as we make a wager on who can sprint back the fastest. The winner gets to choose the next movie we rent from RedBox. Please God, don't let it be Shane, I silently pray, knowing he'll pick something super boring and British.

"Yes!" Shane fist pumps, celebrating coming in first. "Mary Queen of Scots it is."

The three of us groan loudly, not trying to hide our disappointment in the least at Shane's pick.

"Et tu Brute?" Shane asks Mike, pretending to be shocked by his betrayal.

After we finish our run, Stacey and I go back to our room and crash, realizing we're not in as good of shape as we thought. We both groan as we collapse on our beds, too exhausted to change out of our sweaty clothes or make the twenty foot walk to the shower.

"That was a pretty intense run, huh?" I ask my cousin, rolling onto my side and propping myself up on one elbow.

"Yeah shit, the old guys still got game. Who knew?" Stacey replies, facing me from the same position on her bed.

"No doubt. They actually got faster after we threw them some shade."

"Hey, I meant to ask you, what did you mean by that running from commitment jab?" Stacey questions.

"Well, it's a play on the word running," I explain. "We were going for a jog, which is physically running, whereas Shane was metaphorically running from commitment when he broke up with Kimberly."

"Very funny, smart ass. I get that it's a play on words but Shane didn't break up with Kimberly..."

My eyes get wide as my cousin spills the tea.

"...she dumped him."

"Wait. What?" I'm shook by the bombshell she just dropped. I sit up on the side of my bed, wincing at the friction on my still sore bottom. "Shane told me he dumped her 'cause she was getting too clingy and wanted a commitment but he wasn't ready to be tied down."

"Ooooh, you think Kimberly was into that kinky shit?" Stacey smirks.

"Gross, and no. Focus please, cuz." I try to get my cousin back on track from her lewd tangent.

"I don't know why he told you that 'cause that's not what happened," Stacey says finitely, failing to provide me with an explanation.

"And?" I prompt her.

"And what?" Stacey is intentionally driving me mad by not spilling the rest of the tea.

"Oh my gosh, Stacey! Tell me what the fuck happened already," I say impatiently.

"Alright, alright. Lose the tude, cuz."

I'm literally on the edge of my seat, ignoring the pain in my bottom as I almost scoot off the bed, waiting for her to continue.

"When we got back from the tournament, I realized I left my phone charger in Shane's car so I went to his room to ask him for his keys so I could go get it. 'Cause ya know if my phone went dead, I might as well be dead too."

"Of course," I agree.

Stacey continues, "So when I get to his room, I see his door open and hear him and Kimberly talking. So instead of politely tapping on the open door to alert them to my presence, I of course wait in the hall and eavesdrop."

"Obviously," I affirm her choice.

"So I hear Kimberly say that she now knows she's definitely not ready to be a parent to teenagers and she doesn't want that responsibility and she knows we're a package deal with Shane, so there's no point in continuing their relationship since it has no future. And that's pretty much it," my cousin concludes.

I can't believe Shane lied to me, I think to myself. I really was responsible for their breakup. He just didn't want me to feel bad. I sigh briefly, before a small smile graces my lips. I feel bad, knowing I played a part in ending their relationship but I also feel incredibly blessed, knowing what Shane did to spare my feelings. Even though I acted like an ass that night and he was justifiably angry and freshly hurting from his breakup, he selflessly put me first.

Without saying a word, I get up and head straight to Shane's room.

"Was it something I said?" Stacey calls after me.

Shane's pov

I hear a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Julie immediately collapses into me, circling her arms around my waist, hugging me tightly as I stand to greet her.

Taken completely by surprise but not really interested in the answer, I ask, "What is this for?" I see Mike walk by. He stops in my doorway, doing a doubletake, giving me a questioning look. I shake my head and shrug my shoulders, indicating I have no idea what prompted this. Mike lingers at the rare sighting before him of a teenager willingly hugging her guardian, reason unknown.

Julie's pov

Even though I'm sweaty, Shane presses me against his chest and I breathe in the familiar scent of his cologne. Thankfully, he showered. I relish how safe and secure I feel in his arms.

"Thank you," I whisper softly.

Shane kisses the top of my head, squeezing me tighter, he softly says, "Anything for you and your sisters, luv." Holding my head against his heart, he repeats, "I'd do anything."