Two weeks had passed and even though everything was going great I found myself missing Henry. It was a weird feeling as we weren't that close but I was used to seeing him at the arcade so it was kind of strange not having him there. Jack's words had also gotten to me about his parents being harsh on him so I was constantly thinking about his well-being. Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to speak at school as we had both been super busy and hadn't had the time to catch up. We waved to each other in the hallways but that was about it.

I had been so worried about him that I had devised a whole plan so I could visit him at his house. Jack had taken Charlie away to a convention for the day so I didn't have to worry about taking him with me. I would usually never be okay with anyone going anywhere with Charlie unless I was present but the two had grown super close and I trusted Jack to keep my brother safe. I had offered to keep the store open as it was a Saturday but Jack had insisted that I take the day off. Work was going pretty great and even though I liked keeping busy I was glad to have the day off.

I'd already had a relaxing one hour soak in the tub, painted my nails and dyed my hair the purple color I had been dying to try out for a while. My mom was definitely not happy when she saw it but I couldn't care less what her opinions were.

My mom and Robert had already left for the day to God knows where so I was free to leave the house. I grabbed my backpack and phone before leaving the house. I walked towards the Brown residence and after giving myself a much needed pep talk outside the door, I knocked. The door was opened a few minutes later by one of the maids who ushered me into the living room where Henry's mom Sophia was drinking wine. The house on our block were all similar but the decor inside was totally different. The Brown residence was a mix of pastel colors making it more homey than our house was.

"Willow dear it's so nice to see you, what are you doing here?"Sophia asked as soon as she saw me.

I shook her hand maintaining the fake smile I had on to keep the facade.

"I'm actually here to see your son."I replied.

"Oh, I didn't know you and Matthew were friends."She inquired.

I frowned because the lady had twins yet she directly assumed that I was only there for Matthew and not Henry.

"Oh no, not him. I'm here for Henry."I replied.

I tried to keep my voice as neutral as possible so I didn't lash out at her for being a terrible mom. Years of practice with my own mother helped a lot.

Sophia's face contorted into what I could only assume to be shock but only for a few seconds before she composed herself.

"Did not see that one coming but I'm sorry you can't see Henry, he's grounded so no guests for him."Sophia explained.

"Oh I know that, he told me but we were assigned a group project that's due on Monday and we've yet to finish it. We tried to squeeze in time at school but there wasn't enough time thus here I am. My mom doesn't let me see anyone when I'm grounded too and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't really important."I pleaded.

Sophia mulled it over for a few minutes before she nodded.

"Just for a few hours."She answered giving in.

"Thank you."I grinned happily that my plan had worked.

"His bedroom is upstairs, third door on the right."Sophia instructed.

With one last grateful smile, I rushed upstairs before Sophia could change her mind. I thought I had overcome all obstacles only to run into Matthew at the top of the stairs. He looked shocked to see me.

"Well well well, if it isn't mean little Willow herself. Here to apologize?"He asked with a smug look on his face.

"You wish."I retorted trying to walk past him but be blocked my path.

"Not so fast, you're in my house now."He grinned with a menacing look on his face.

"Oh I know so unless you want mommy dearest to hear you cry, you will get out of my way."I threatened refusing to let him intimidate me.

He took a step back to which I grinned happy to have put him in his place again.

"I will get you one day Willow and when that day comes you'll regret all you've done to me."Matthew hissed.

"Sure I will and I can't wait for that day so I can teach you some more manners."I commented before leaving him behind and walking towards Henry's door.

I composed myself after my little spat with his brother before knocking on the door. I didn't want to let nerves talk me out of seeing Henry so I knocked before I could change my mind.

Henry opened the door and was surprised to see me. I let myself in walking further into the room so I wasn't standing in the hallway.

"Willow what are you doing here?"Henry asked looking surprised to see me.

"Any more enthusiasm and I might actually think you're glad to see me."I commented sarcastically not liking the hostility in his tone.

"You need to leave."He demanded catching me by surprise.

His statement felt like a punch to the gut because I had actually been looking forward to seeing the guy but he wanted nothing to do with me.

"What? Why are you being so hostile towards me?"I inquired.

I wanted to know why Henry was being so rude after we had bonded so well under the stars and in the library too.

"Can you please just leave me alone?"He requested his voice deep and laced with pain.

Why was he the one being hurt yet he was the one saying all the harsh words to me?

"No I won't, until you explain yourself to me."I demanded getting angry myself.

Henry looked at me frustrated and angry matching my stance so we were now toe to toe as if we were about to begin a dance off.

"Well if you really must know, the reason I want you to leave is because my brother likes you."Henry replied.

I looked at him wide eyed wondering if he was serious. When he didn't say, just kidding or gotcha afterwards it made me realize that he actually was.

"Wait you're actually serious? What does that have to do with anything? I thought we were already over that."I reasoned trying to knock some sense into him.

"It has everything to do with this."

"Meaning?"

"When my brother wants something he always gets it and he wants you so there's no need for me to get in the middle of that, I will only get hurt and self preservation is a big thing for me."Henry explained as if what he had just said made any sense.

"Are you crazy? I don't want your brother, I don't even want you. You know what, I thought we could be friends but like I said before, you and your brother are one and the same so goodbye asshole."I spat out feeling hurt.

I knew it was a low blow but Henry had hurt my feelings so comparing him to his brother when I knew he hated it was my way of regaining any form of dignity I had left after putting myself out there only for him to reject me.

My heart clenching in pain is what I had been avoiding by trying to stay away from the twins but the magnetic pull I felt towards Henry had been so hard to resist. I was going to try and fight harder to resist it because there's no way I was going to allow him to hurt me again.

I turned around to leave but didn't get far because Henry stopped me.

"Willow wait, don't leave, I'm sorry."Henry apologized holding me back.

I turned around to see him looking at me with pleading eyes and an apologetic face.

"You see this dance we keep doing between us. One minute we seem like we're actually going to be friends and the next we're at each others throats, it needs to stop. We need to decide right now if we're going to be friends or not so we can either keep being close or stay the hell away from each other."I ranted out feeling frustrated.

"Will you believe me if I told you that all I just said was an act?"He asked looking at me.

It's like his whole demeanor had changed. One minute he was being hostile towards me and the next he was playing nice. He needed to pick a side and stick to it.

"Are you out of your mind? Act? What act?"I inquired confused.

"My nosy twin was listening through the door and I needed him to make it seem like I actually didn't want you here. I know it seems lame but I've been going stir crazy here with only being allowed to go to school so my mind is not in its right frame."Henry defended running his hand through his hair messing up the already unruly curls.

I looked back at the door and found it empty. My back had been turned the whole time so I had no idea if he was lying or telling the truth. A door closing in the distance supported his theory so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Do you want to be my friend or not?"I asked to be certain so I didn't put myself out there again for nothing.

"I do, God, of course I do."Henry replied looking relieved that I was giving him a second chance.

"Then behave like it and choose to be my friend instead of giving into the fear of your brother. I'm not scared of him and you saw that I can handle myself against him. It's your turn to grow a spine and stop being so afraid of him."I insisted.

"I will, thank you for understanding."Henry answered looking relieved.

"Like I said, birds of a feather so I know what it feels like to have a messed up family."I consoled.

Feeling tired from that mini fight with him, I kicked off my shoes tossed my bag on the floor before making myself comfortable on his bed.

"Take my whole bed won't you."Henry commented sarcastically making me laugh. "What you doing here anyway? It's a Saturday afternoon, shouldn't you be at work?"He asked taking a seat on his desk chair.

"Yeah but Jack and Charlie went away to some convention or was it a meet and greet, I'm not so sure. Anyway I had the day off so I decided to come by and check up on you."I replied.

"Is that the real reason or did you just miss me?"Henry asked cockiness dripping from his voice.

"You need to tone down your ego young man. And where is all this charm and talk coming from anyway, I kind of miss quiet Henry."I retorted.

"Ouch but he's still here just not when I'm with you. I told you that I don't like talking around people because they don't listen but when I'm with you, you actually pay attention to what I'm saying so I feel free to express my true self to you."Henry expounded making me smile.

"How did you manage to convince my mom to let you up here?"Henry asked after a few minutes of silence.

"At gunpoint."I replied with a straight face.

Henry looked at me shocked before he realized I was joking and burst out laughing.

"Funny, but seriously, how?"He inquired.

"I told her we have a group project due on Monday."I replied with a shrug.

"That was very conniving of you considering we don't have any classes together."

"How could I with you on the honor roll already but it worked didn't it."I retorted.

"Yeah good job but do you actually have books in there? "He inquired pointing at my bag.

"No, I have something better."I grinned reaching for my bag.

I unzipped it before emptying it on top of his bed to reveal it's contents. I might have gone a little overboard and packed as many snacks as I could into my backpack. I had oreos, doritos, pringles, skittles, mnm's, snickers bars, soda and energy drinks.

"You do know they are feeding me here right?"Henry asked with a laugh.

"I came prepared just incase."I replied.

"That's all junk food."He retorted.

"Which lasts longer, now pick your poison."I demanded.

He pointed at the pringles so I tossed them at him before picking a snickers bar for myself. As we enjoyed our snacks I took it upon myself to look around Henry's room. It was the basic boys room with a black and white theme. What caught my attention though was the gaming set up he had at the far corner of the room. It was complete with a flat screen TV mounted on the wall, a sound system, a computer, headphones and different gaming pads. Charlie's set up was nice but Henry took gaming to a whole new level.

"That is a beautiful set up you have going on there."I commented unable to look away.

"Thanks, it's the one thing my parents actually got me that I love."He responded.

I didn't want to focus on his sad life at the moment so I ignored his tone. My mission was to cheer him up not bring him down.

"Are you as good at modern games as you are at vintage ones?"I asked looking at Henry.

"Is that a challenge?"Henry remarked.

"I don't know, is it?"I smirked getting up from the bed.

I walked towards his set up and picked up a gaming pad.

"It's going to be so fun wiping the floor with your defeated face."Henry chuckled joining me as he picked up a gaming pad for himself.

"Are you going to keep talking white boy or are we going to play?"I asked to which Henry replied by narrowing his eyes at me.

It didn't have the intimidating effect he was hoping for because I was quite confident in myself. We spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening beating each other in different games with no one actually winning. At some point I realized that Henry was just letting me win but I didn't comment. I was having too much fun with him to actually care who won or lost.

"Well this has been fun but I've got to go, Jack and Charlie will be home soon."I said getting up to stretch myself after hours of sitting in the same position.

"Thank you for coming, it was nice having you over."Henry replied with a smile.

"You're welcome, next time I'll show your how call of duty is actually played."I commented with a grin as I put my shoes on.

"I can't wait."Henry replied.

We both knew he was just being modest but it had been nice playing with him and spending time together.

I grabbed my now empty backpack and phone before straightening up. His room was a mess from all the wrappers of the snacks but I would leave the cleaning up to him.

"Goodnight Henry, see you around."

"Goodnight Willow, thanks again for coming."

I smiled and before it got awkward I decided to leave the room.

"Oh and Willow."Henry called out just before I could get to the door.

"Yeah."

"Purple looks great on you."He complimented making me blush.

So I didn't make a fool out of myself I mumbled a quick thank you be fore rushing out of there.

As soon as I was outside I was grateful for the cold that cooled my heated cheeks. It had been great hanging out with Henry as friends but when he said things like that it made it hard not to be around him and feel other things. Aside from that the day had been great and I was happy to have spent it with him. I was assured that he was okay so my fear of his family torturing him in their basement was alleviated.

Jack showed up twenty minutes later and I had to carry Charlie in since he had fallen asleep in the back seat. Looks like Charlie and I both had a long but successful day.

When I slid into bed later than night, I couldn't help but smile thinking of Henry. He wasn't so bad after all and I was glad we had finally become friends. Maybe I was wrong and I could actually make a friendship in Crescent work even if I was leaving in a few months. I'd cross that bridge when I got to it but for the moment I basked in my new found friendship with Henry.