It is impossible to keep my breath steady as I step down the stairs of Jared's house. As I get closer to the bottom of the stairs, I notice a silver car parked outside that was not there when I went in the house.

Stepping on the last step, I easily spot the back of Jared's head. My breath catches in my throat. Somehow, I manage to pull in a deep breath and force myself to walk forward and put a smile on my face. Jared turns around and looks at me, smiling a little.

"You must be Charlie," he says, and his voice is like music to my ears. I smile a little, nod, and shake his hand that he held out for me. I've dreamt of his moment for years. "I'm Jared," he says, that sweet little smile still on his face.

"Hi," I manage to get out steadily.

"That's Jensen and Misha, over there," he says, gesturing towards the other two guys across the yard standing next to their wives and children. Obviously, I already know who they are.

"Thank you for the—the phone," I say, trying to keep my voice loud enough for him to hear me. He nods.

"Yeah, no problem," he replies. "I was just afraid you might already have that one." This made me laugh a little and shake my head. "So," he clears his throat. "The three of us want you to come to dinner with us tonight." I raise my eyebrows, shocked at his proposition. Upon seeing my expression, he adds, "I mean, if you don't want to, that's fine. I just thought it was a good idea for us to get to know you better."

I smile a little, scratching the back of my head awkwardly. "Umm, that sounds good, but I've never been to a fancy restaurant, and I don't think I have anything to wear." I'm quite proud of myself for keeping my voice so steady and clear. I'm also very surprised at how comfortable I suddenly feel around Jared.

"It's not that fancy," he says, laughing a little. I nod a little, agreeing to it. "Okay, we're leaving tonight at six thirty." He then walks away, going over to talk to Gen. I smile at the sight of my idols in front of me and step back inside the house.

I shut the front door behind me and step into the living room. Suddenly realizing how much I love this house, I smile. I know before I was so worried about screwing is up, but now I think this could be really great. I already like Jared and Vicki, and I know I'll love the rest of them.

I snap my head up as the sound of the door flinging open echoed through the empty house. I hear the sound of small footsteps but I don't see anyone. I furrow my eyebrows and walk around the room, looking for whoever came in. Suddenly, a small child crashes right into me.

"Oh, jeez!" I exclaim, my stomach hurting slightly at the contact with the boy's head. Nonetheless, there was a huge smile on my face, because West Collins is standing in front of me.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles, a tiny little adorable smile on his face. He was clearly in a hurry. "I took my shoes off somewhere and I — I can't remember where." I laugh a little at his adorableness.

"You want me to help you look?"

"Okay," he mumbles.

"What do they look like?" I ask, starting to walk around and look for them.

"They're uh... they're blue, with a..." he rubs his eyes, and it's very clear to me that he's frustrated. I spot a tiny pair of blue shoes with a Nike symbol on them behind the couch. I lift them up and hold them out to West.

"Are these them?" He smiles again and nods, grabbing the shoes from me. He sits down on the stairs and puts them on. I watch as he tries to tie them, but he seems to struggle with it. "You want some help?" I ask.

He doesn't look up from his feet. "I can do it." I watch as he tries again, and fails. I sigh and step forward, crouching down to his feet.

"Here, let me show you," I say, and he moves his hands as I start to tie his shoes. "See? Loop, loop, pull." I repeat the process with the other one. "There." I straighten up once his shoes are tied. He smiles and almost jumps up off of the steps.

"Thanks, Charlie!" He says as he rushes out of the house. I smile brightly and laugh a little.

This is going to be awesome.

_________________

"For dinner, we came to an all-you-can-eat buffet!" I say excitedly, yet quietly into my brand new iPhone. I knew Mason would be upset since I haven't called her since I got here, and I promised I would.

"Oh, my god! That's great! What's his house like? What's your room like?" She starts pouring out questions that I wish I could answer. I can't right now, though, because Jared thinks I'm in the bathroom, and I've already been in here a while.

"Hey, I have to go, okay? They're gonna wonder where I went."

"Okay, you better call me later or text me, okay?" She asks, almost demanding.

"I know, okay? Bye." We hang up and I put my iPhone back in my back pocket. After I told Mason about the phone, she started asking about every little thing. Obviously, I didn't have time to tell her everything.

Anyways, I was really stressing out all day about ordering my food at dinner tonight. I hate the fact that I worry about tiny little things like that. So, you can't understand the amount of relief I felt when I realized we were going to a buffet, where you can get however much food you want if you pay twelve bucks.

This is probably the best place I've ever been to eat, I mean, besides Arby's. To be honest, I thought since the guys had lots of money, they would only eat in places where you have to dress nice and the food is really weird and expensive. But, I should've known better.

When I go back over to our table, I find it strange that only Jared is there. "I swear, there were three when I left," I say as I sit down next to Jared. He smiles, taking another drink of his water.

"They went up to get more food," he says, and my eyes widen a little. This must be at least their third time going back up. "Well, the plates are kind of small," Jared says, upon seeing my expression. I laugh a little as I finish the little bit of food left on my plate. "Do you like this place?"

"Yeah, it's great," I reply, washing down my food with my water. "You can eat however much you want for just twelve bucks, and you don't have to order your food." He gives me a strange look. "Oh, I have trouble ordering food...and talking to people," I say quietly, looking away from him.

"Hey," he says causing me to look up at him. "It's okay," he smiles a little, which surprisingly comforts me. I smile back a little. I'm pretty sure he was going to say something else, but then, Jensen and Misha came back over with their plates full. I notice Jensen eye my plate as he sits down across from me.

"You going to get any more, Charlie?" He asks. "There's still plenty up there." I love how simple it is for them to talk to me. They treat me like they didn't just meet me seven hours ago.

"No way, I ate too much already." I finish up my water and realize that this silence is making me really uncomfortable, to the point where my hands are starting to shake. I clench them into fists and try to relax. "I'm gonna get more water," I say as I get up, realizing that water does usually help me a little with these things.

I walk around the corner of the room to fill my water glass, suddenly thinking that I'm being followed. I furrow my eyebrows as I start to fill my cup.

"You're not following me, are you?" I question, seeing that it's Misha out of the corner of my eye. He smiles a little and shakes his head, filling his cup with some sort of tea or something.

"You looked uncomfortable over there," he says, looking at me. "Just wanted to make sure you're okay." He takes a drink from his cup. My heart flutters at this. He actually noticed that I was uncomfortable. I don't think anyone has ever noticed when I've felt like that. Obviously, since he doesn't know what an enormous, emotional mess I am, I will lie and say 'thanks, but I'm fine'. Because that's what I say every time someone questions my feelings.

I smile a little and take a drink of water before replying.

"Thanks, but I'm fine."