******

I woke up to the sound of a steaming pot crying from downstairs. The noise was faint from all the way in my room, but I woke up anyway, and rolled out of bed.

I hardly got any sleep last night with Poppy's words weighing heavily on my mind. Not only that, but the acceptance letter from NYU seemed to shake me more than the letter from Juilliard had.

I stumbled out of my room and down the stairs, and as I neared the kitchen, I could hear someone humming from inside. Slowly, I round the corner, and my eyes widen in surprise.

"You made breakfast?" I blurt immediately.

My mom turns around from the stove, where she was currently cooking up another pancake to add to the stack beside her. There were an array of eggs, fruit, toast, bacon, and now, pancakes, sitting on the counter.

The steaming pot of water had been poured into two tea cups and then left on a cooled burner, and a carton of orange juice sat beside it on the counter.

"Good morning to you," She greets me with a small smile.

I smile sheepishly. "Morning."

"Pancakes will be done soon," She tells me. "Sit down and we can chat while we wait."

As I sit down, it dawns on me what she wanted to chat about. I sit down at the island and lean on my elbows to look at the back of her head as she flipped the pancake. "So," I start hesitantly. "Dad is at a hotel?"

Mom twists her body to glance at me and offer a brief smile. "Yes, and I think he'll be staying there for a few days," I raise my eyebrows and she turns back around. "We didn't agree about something."

"What?" I press. "Me not going to Juilliard?"

She turns the stove off and flips the last pancake onto the stack. "Maybe," She turns around. "But that's not your burden to bear."

"Isn't it?" I question further. "It's my decision, after all. I know he thinks that it's his, but it's mine. And I decided not to go." I let out a discouraged breath as mom studies me for a moment. "Deep down, I thought he might be excited for me. I mean, NYU is an incredible school."

She turns around to make a plate for me, gathering one of everything in the smorgasbord of foods she cooked up. "NYU is an exceptional institution and they're lucky to have you. If your father can't see that, then that's his problem, not yours."

I stared at her back as she said the words, watching her move gracefully around the kitchen. Before I can censor myself, I ask, "What changed?"

My mom stopped and turned around to give me a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"

"What changed?" I repeat. "You used to be like him, you know. Stuck in the mindset that my ability to play piano was more important than me as a person," I tell her, and watch as a guilty expression casts a shadow over her face. "What happened that changed your mind?"

She takes a few steps closer to the counter and sets the plate down in front of me, but the food was the last thing on my mind. I needed to know.

"Honestly?" She asks hesitantly.

I nod. "Honestly."

"Carter talked to me before I took you home from camp," Mom tells me slowly, her gaze locked on mine. My jaw drops when I hear her words. "After I told him that you should focus on piano, he made me promise to start treating you like my daughter instead of a piano player. It made me realize how much you thought I didn't care about you. And I don't blame you," She says sadly. "I never gave you any reason to believe I did."

My eyes started watering without my permission and I felt a whirlwind of emotions consume me until I was drowning in confusion, wonder, and love. Moments before Carter told me he didn't like me anymore, he had told my mother to treat me with respect.

"Don't cry," She murmurs. "I'm so sorry I never showed you how much I care about you, Amelia. I failed you as a mother before, and I promise I won't do it again."

I stared at my mom in wonder as her eyes stared tearing up, and she gave me a shaky smile.

"Look at me," She laughs airily. "Now I'm going to cry."

I stood up from my chair and rounded the counter until I was embracing my mom, trying to show her through the hug that her words meant the world to me. I felt a few hot tears slide down my cheek as she hugged me back just as tightly, almost as if she was trying to show me the same thing.

After a moment, I blinked away some tears and then let her go to wipe my own eyes. She put her head down as she wiped her cheeks and then met my gaze once more to give me a smile. This time, it wasn't shaky nor sad, but rather happy. I could see the relief in her eyes when she looked at me, as if the last wall had finally been torn down between us.

"Breakfast is going to get cold," She says as she nods to the seat. "We can't spend all morning in tears. Go on, start eating."

I smile at her and sit down. "Are you going to join me?"

Mom flashes me a strong smile and shakes her head. "Actually," She starts cautiously. "Your father and I are meeting for coffee."

I raise my eyebrows. "Really?"

"To talk," She nods. "I gave him an ultimatum last night, and he texted me this morning to meet so we could discuss."

I look at her, interested in the slice of information she had just given me, and tilt my head as I furrow my brow slightly. "What was the ultimatum?"

But, as I suspected, mom simply flashes me a smile. "I'll let you know when I get his answer." And then she glances at the clock on the microwave before grabbing her keys from the counter. "I'm going to head out so I can get there a little early."

"Good luck," I offer, although I have no idea what I was offering her luck with. "I'll see you later."

Her smile grows brighter. "Thank you, honey."

With that, my mom heads out of the kitchen, and I hear the front door shut a moment later. With nothing else to do but eat, I dig into my breakfast happily, and make it through a few pancakes, bacon, and some eggs before I finally feel full.

Before I can get up from my seat to clean up, I hear a knock on the door. I start to stand up to tend to the door when another insistent knock follows the first, and then another after that. I grumbled obscenities under my breath as I finally reach the door.

When I yank it open, I open my mouth to scream, "What?!" but stop when I see who's at my door.

"I need girl advice," Wes states.

I look at him and notice first how distressed he looks. His hair is all disheveled for the first time ever and his eyes were begging for help. Before I can assess him thoroughly, Wes slides past me and walks into my house without my invitation.

"Come in," I mumble as I shut the door behind him.

Wes makes a beeline straight for the kitchen and groans, "I could smell this from outside! Bless your soul, Amelia. I'm starving."

I roll my eyes and sit down in my previous seat. "Dig in," I tell him. "And tell me about your problem."

Wes' back is to me as he makes himself a plate of breakfast, but I can see his shoulders slump when I bring up the reason for his unexpected visit. "It's Georgina," He sighs, and I bite back a smirk. "She's not like other girls I've hooked up with in the past."

"How do you mean?" I press him.

"She doesn't want to hook up with me," Wes sighs, as if this is the most ridiculous thing in the world, and turns around to stare at me pleadingly. "She's the first girl who rejected me. Ever. I don't get it."

I raise an eyebrow, half impressed but half confused that Georgina rejected him. After all, I knew for a fact she had a soft spot for the boy. "What happened?"

He takes a mouthful of pancake before speaking in mumbles, "I drove her home from school the other day and tried to kiss her before she got out of the car, but she straight up said no. I don't get it. We flirt all the time and I thought she was into me, but when I went for it, she got all mad. She's sending mixed signals."

Suddenly, things started making sense. "I understand," I tell him with a short nod of my head. "Listen, Wes, do you like Georgina?"

Wes looks helpless as he looks at me. "Yes, and I thought she liked me!"

"But do you like her more than usual?" I clarify. "Or are you just trying to hook up with her without strings attached?"

"I like her a lot," He says with a long sigh.

I smile a little. He was so cute. I could tell that he wasn't used to liking a girl this much-- after all, he's infamous around school for being a playboy. He didn't do relationships as much as he did hook ups.

"Then ask her on a date," I deadpan. "She will accept." As an afterthought, I add, "And don't just try to kiss her out of nowhere. It has to be the right moment."

He seems to calm down a little when he thinks about this, but gives me a warning look as he says, "You better be right. I don't want to get rejected twice."

I roll my eyes at him when I hear a knock on the door and wonder who else could have possibly decided to come seek my wisdom so early in the morning. Wes gives me a look that screams, are you going to get that? and, with a sigh, I do.

When I open the door, a distressed looking Georgina storms into the house, very similar to the way Wes had done minutes before. I smirk a little at their similarities as I shut the door behind her and she turns to me frantically.

"I need advice," Georgina practically whines, and I smirk wider.

"Who is it?" Wes shouts from the other room, his voice muffled from the distance, and I take satisfaction in watching Georgina's eyes widen and face flush.

I continue to smirk at her. "About him?" I whisper, and then lead her into the kitchen.

I walk into the kitchen first with a knowing smirk on my lips and watch Wes glance at me, but do a double take when he sees who is walking behind me. The look on Georgina's face confirmed that she had come over to get advice about the very boy who beat her to it.

"Hey Georgina," Wes says somewhat awkwardly.

She gives him a tight smile. "Hey."

"Do you want some breakfast?" I offer Georgina in hopes to make things a little less uncomfortable. "My mom made enough to feed a village."

She nods stiffly and approaches the stove as I turn and look at Wes. His eyes were wide and jaw dropped the moment her back turned and he looked at me in a panic. I mouth ask her out! in an exaggerated manner as he shakes his head furiously, mouthing back something that I couldn't decipher.

"So, Wes, what are you doing here?" Georgina tries to ask casually as she continues to gather pancakes and eggs onto her plate.

He looks at me and blinks furiously, clearly asking for my assistance in a lie, but I just smirked. Seeing him so flustered was a rare occurrence and I certainly wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to revel in an awkward Wes.

"I, um," Wes stammers. "Uh," He blinks, "Amelia needed advice about Carter."

"Smooth," I mutter, just loud enough for him to hear.

Wes shoots me a deathly look, but I could see the tips of his ears warming in embarrassment before he looks back at Georgina and smiles innocently. "What about you?" He asks, probably in an attempt to get the attention off him, but Georgina's face flushes when he asks.

"Um," She stammers in a similar manner as he had done, and I smirk as I watch the show. This was absolute gold. "Same," Georgina simply chokes out.

I can see some embarrassment fade as the corner of Wes' lips quirk up. "Same?"

"Yeah," Georgina bounces back quickly. "Amelia texted me and asked if she could get my opinion about something with Carter."

And, just like that, Georgina unknowingly outs herself. Wes had created the lie in the first place and knew that I had absolutely no query about me and Carter's relationship. And when she claims the same lie, he quickly connects the dots in his head.

As I see the gears turning in Wes' head, I see any traces of uncertainty vanish from his expression, and he even sits a little straighter with newfound confidence. He grins widely, probably a product of his new revelation, and Georgina stares, dumbfounded by his reaction.

"Hey Georgina," Wes says in a velvety smooth voice. "Would you want to go to dinner with me tonight?"

Her gaze shifts to me, almost as if to ask what the fuck? and I just smirk back at her.

"Yes," She says quickly, unexpectedly, and only after a beat of hesitation. Wes' grin grew a little wider. "That sounds nice."

He stands up and shrugs his jacket on. "Great. I'll pick you up at six."

As Wes starts heading out the kitchen, Georgina asks in a daze, "Where are you going?"

"Oh," He turns around and grins at her again. "I'm leaving before you change your mind. I'll see you tonight."

This makes a huge smile stretch onto her lips as she laughs, and Wes hesitates for a moment in the doorway as he looks at her, and I can recognize the look. It was the kind of way that I looked at Carter when he smiled boyishly or laughed heartily.

And then, with one last cheeky smile, Wes turns around and heads out, and a moment later I hear the front door shut.

"Why was he here?" Georgina asks first, her expression frantic, although the grin remains on her lips. "Where did that come from? He just asked me to dinner out of nowhere!"

"Are you complaining?" I tease with a knowing smirk.

She smiles wider. "Not at all," Georgina hums to herself, and I can't help but smile too. Her gaze meets mine. "Seriously, why was he here?"

I watch her carefully as I tell her, "The same reason as you. Advice."

The glimmer in her eyes confirmed the happiness I knew she felt, but before we could gush over the details, there's another knock on the door.

"Seriously?" I mutter as I start for the door. "Why is everyone coming over right now?"

When I open the door, Carter smiles back at me, and I feel my previous annoyance fade. "Hey Mina," Carter greets with a sweet smile, and then he leans forward to press his lips against mine.

The kiss was brief but still sent a spiral of butterflies in the pit of my stomach. When he pulled away, I was smiling too. "What are you doing here?"

"Better question," Carter quirks his eyebrow. "What was Wes doing here?"

I move aside to let Carter in the house and grin at him. "Asking Georgina out."

"Who is it?" Georgina called from the kitchen, similar to the way Wes had earlier. I smirked. They were the same person.

"Santa Clause!" Carter calls back in a deep voice.

She laughs. "Hey Carter!"

I smirk and we walk into the kitchen. I start to offer Carter some breakfast before seeing that Wes and Georgina had completely demolished the rest of the leftovers.

"Party at Amelia's house today," Carter notes with a smirk.

"Someone should invite Joey," Georgina notes offhandedly. "He'll probably be jealous we didn't tell him."

I roll my eyes. "There's nothing to be jealous of," I counter. "Everyone keeps coming over-"

"I'll text him now," Carter says as he whips out his phone.

At this, I literally face palm and shake my head. Georgina snickers and Carter chuckles as I slowly lift my head to give them a blank look.

"What brought you to Amelia's party today, Carter?" Georgina questions.

I glance at him to hear his answer, considering he had ignored my asking the first time. His gaze shifts from Georgina to me and his brow twitches, signaling the first sign that something was wrong.

He clears his throat and appears to suddenly become nervous as he says slowly, "I wanted to talk about something I texted you last night."

My heart explodes at the memory of his acceptance into NYU, and recognition dawns on me as I realize I fell asleep before telling him the good news: that I got in, too.

I think Georgina can sense the shift in the atmosphere because she suddenly claps her hands and grins at both of us.

"I've got to head home," she announces. "I have to check my closet to see if I have anything to wear tonight."

I smile knowingly at Georgina as she shoots me a quick wink and gathers her things.

"Text me later," I grin at her. "I want to hear how things went."

With a final wave and a goodbye from Carter, Georgina heads out of the kitchen, and a moment later I hear the thud of the front door.

"So," Carter presses immediately after the door closes.

I glance at him, waiting for him to continue, but he just looks on at me. I smirk a little at him— he wasn't usually so nervous. It was kind of relieving to know that he wasn't so insanely confident all the time.

"So," I drawl as I raise my brows at him.

"I got in," He says, and this time I can see the way his lips moved as the sound left them, and I feel the same giddy excitement crawl into my stomach all over again. "Did you get your letter?"

I nod at him. "Yes," I say slowly, taking amusement in drawing it out.

Carter takes a few steps until he's right in front of me. "And?" He asks, his eyes searching mine. "Did you not get in? Is that why you didn't text me back?"

I smirk a little and tilt my head to the side as I ask, "You don't seriously think you're smarter than me, do you?"

His furrowed brow and worried expression fades until there's a grin so large that I wasn't sure he had ever looked nervous in the first place. "Then why didn't you answer my text?" He inquires, though I could tell he was anything but mad. "You fell asleep, didn't you?"

I grin a little. He knew me so well.

"I'm going to go," I say suddenly. "To NYU, I mean. And it's not because of you, so don't even think-"

He interrupts my soon-to-be-rambling with a kiss and, as his lips capture my own, and my eyelids flutter closed, I can see our future flash before my eyes. Carter and I, together in New York, and together after that, wherever the hell we end up, as long as we end up somewhere together.

And the happiness that overwhelmed all my senses as I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him impossibly closer to me was so much sweeter than any lingering sadness I felt from my father's reaction when I told him I wasn't going to Juilliard.

That's the thing about love. The unspoken words, the meaning behind the kisses, and the promises of a future together: it all made you feel one hundred times better than how your worst day ever made you feel.