Maybe this was "fate". Maybe this was actually supposed to be happening in my life right now. Or maybe Death was just having something to do with this.

There I was, shoving and pushing my way out the doors after the final bell, out into the crisp, cool late autumn afternoon in New York City, and I happened to ram right into none other than Archer Morales himself.

Not for the first time in this past day, I began to question my sanity.

And Archer Morales was not amused. That didn't help my case so much, either.

He straightened upright, shifting his raggedy looking rucksack up on his shoulder, and gave me a look that could probably kill a full grown man.

I swallowed hard, feeling the color rushing to my cheeks.

"Was there a reason you had to ram into me like that?" Archer demanded in a very not nice voice. "Or are you that obsessed with me, you have to keep following me around like this?"

Yep, there jerky Archer Morales was again.

"I am not following you around," I muttered, my eyes cast downward. "If you hadn't noticed, it's kind of crowded around here."

"Yeah, it is," he agreed, glancing around. "So, if you don't mind, I'm going to leave."

He left me standing there awkwardly on the sidewalk, clutching tightly at my school bag, staring after him in amazement.

I had a feeling this was going to happen a lot.

"Hey! Wait up!"

I practically had to sprint to catch up with his long, lengthy strides. He was already half way across the parking lot, heading down the sidewalk with purposeful steps, and he was probably doing his best to ignore me.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

I was all but panting when I finally managed to catch up with him, grabbing at his forearm tightly.

I got this warm, crazy feeling when I touched his arm that made my stomach start twisting and doing somersaults and it felt like I was being electrocuted. But in a really good way, if that made sense.

It probably didn't.

Archer whipped back around and stared at me with narrowed eyes.

"What now?"

"Let's...let's hang out," I managed to say in a somewhat strained voice.

Archer gave me a flat look, his lips pursed in a tight litte line. "Our friendship's only just started, Hadley. Don't push your luck."

"Well, friends are supposed to hang out, aren't they?" I demanded, trying not to feel too offended.

"I wouldn't exactly know, would I?" Archer said in an oddly sarcastic voice. "You've got to have noticed by now that I'm not exactly the most popular guy around."

I think the entire student body at JFK knew Archer was the living definition of the word "antisocial".

I made a sour face and glared up at him.

"If you don't know how to be a friend, Archer, I suppose I'm just going to have to teach you then, aren't I?"

"This ought to be interesting," he muttered, rolling his pretty hazel colored eyes.

"So are you in or what?"

I pulled a surprisingly feminine move and went hands on hips, my annoyed feelings getting the better of me.

"Fine. Whatever."

It took me a moment to catch up with reality and for the fact that Archer had actually agreed to hang out with me to click. At first I wanted to ask him if he was joking around with me or not, but there was no mistaking the look on his face.

And besides, I highly doubted Archer had ever told a joke in his entire life. The solar system would probably go out of alignment if he ever told a joke.

"Good," I said with a happy smile. "You can help me with my geometry homework."

"Oh, no," he said quickly, an alarmed look coming over his face. "I hate shapes."

Well, that made two of us.

I was about to open my mouth and ask him what our plans were for next, but before I could get out any words, I was cut off by a loud, ever familiar voice shrieking "HADLEY! HEY!" from across the school parking lot.

I turned and saw Taelor huffing and puffing her way down the sidewalk in attempts to catch up with Archer and me and she did not look the slightest bit happy.

"There you are," she huffed, gripping my shoulder tightly to steady herself. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Are we catching the subway home or what?"

I glanced shiftily over at Archer and saw him giving Taelor a rather put out look.

"No. I can't," I answered, taking a deep breath. "Archer and I are going to hang out."

All of the color immediately drained from Taelor's face as she looked over at Archer and saw the expression on his face. Judging by the look she had in her normally dazed blue eyes, she was probably fearing for her safety or something and could not believe I was actually standing next to him.

"R-Really?" she said shakily, not able to look away from Archer.

"Really, really," Archer said brightly.

The look on his face said otherwise, however.

"Oh....okay then," Taelor finally managed to say, swallowing hard. "Have fun."

She cut her eyes to me, her lips turned down in a disapproving expression, and mouthed the words text me immediately before sauntering off in her usual fashion.

I turned back to Archer and saw him actually smirking for once, looking amused.

"What?" I said self consciously.

"That's some friend you've got there," he said before turning and walking off in the opposite direction.

Crap.

I ignored his jibe and quickened my pace to keep up with him, trying to keep my annoyance at an acceptable level.

"Where are we going?" I asked him conspiritorially as we walked.

Archer was moving with determination, as if he was an expert at navagating the crazy crowd of people on the sidewalk.

"Just shut up and follow me," was his pleasant answer.

I bit back a sarcastic remark and kept my mouth shut, going along with what he said. Not that I wanted to or anything, of course.

We ended up walking over a couple of blocks into a sort of shabby part of the city. I had no idea where we were going, but Archer apparently did. I really wanted to ask him where he was taking me, but I didn't really want to face his wrath.

I was beginning to get a bit winded when he finally stopped in front of a dilapidated looking building with a battered white and blue sign above the door that said "Mama Rosa's Coffee House" in peeling black letters. The windows were a tad bit grimy, but from what I could see from outside, the place looked warm and cozy, definitely a home-owned business.

"What're we doing here?" I asked Archer, looking over at him.

"Family's coffee house," Archer grunted, wrenching open the door.

I had to lunge forward and catch the door as Archer marched inside before it swung shut. I followed after him with a somewhat disgruntled look on my face, but the second I stepped over the threshold, I had to stop and stare around in amazement.

Maybe there wasn't anything really special about the place. Or maybe it was just because I'd actually never seen something like it before. Either way, it was enough to render me speechless.

The tables were worn and a bit off balance, there was one of those corkboards tacked up to the wall that had a ton of random pieces of paper decorating it, the entire place smelt like a ton of different coffee beans, and there was this space off to the side that had a couple of old easy chairs seated around a large coffee table that was positioned in front of a huge marble fire grate filled with large wooden logs.

The last thing about the place that made my jaw drop were the two threadbare tapestries hung up on the walls beside the fire grate that looked rich and intricately stitched and had to at least be over fifty years old.

And this place belonged to Archer's family? Talk about entirely surprising.

"You own this place?" I asked Archer in a kind of breathless voice.

I was still in a bit of shock, to be honest.

"No," he fired back in a dull voice. "My grandmother owns this place."

Well, it was the same difference, right?

"If you have this place here," I said slowly, looking around. "Then why do you work at that Chinese restaurant?"

"I have three little sisters, my mother, and my grandmother to look after," Archer replied, not meeting my eye. "We need more than just what we get from this place."

After those words were out of Archer's mouth, he looked suddenly very angry and he turned away from me, dropping his school things on a table beside the window next to us.

I got the feeling that he didn't talk much about his family life and that what he'd just told me was an entirely taboo topic.

I wasn't going to be forgetting that anytime soon, however.

I followed suit and dropped my school bag onto the same table before digging around to find my wallet. When I finally found the thing, I yanked out a crumpled five dollar bill and made to walk over to the front counter.

The chalkboard that served as the menu hung up above the counter was so crammed full of writing that I doubted I'd have a hard time finding something to drink here. And it didn't hurt that there was an even larger pastry case, either.

Yum.

"What're you doing with that?" Archer asked as he trailed behind me, glaring at the note in my hand over my shoulder.

"Getting something to drink," I said. "Obviously."

We were getting looks from the few patrons seated around at the few tables in the place, and I was beginning to feel a bit embarrassed. Why was Archer making such a big deal about this?

"Forget it. Your money's not welcome here."

I stared open-mouthed at him as he jumped the front counter and peered through a door that was off to the side.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I demanded in a slightly offended voice.

He didn't answer, of course.

"Mom! Grandma!" he shouted, not caring that he was obviously not the only one in the coffee house.

It was as if Archer's voice was some sort of alarm bell, because the second after he spoke, there was the arrival of two other people. One of them I didn't know in the slightest. The other person was eerily familiar.

The last time I saw Regina Morales, she had been sobbing uncontrollably into her hands at her son's funeral.

I swallowed hard and fought back the wave of emotions that threatened to come over me without warning.

The woman standing beside Regina was somewhat old, probably in her late sixties or early seventies, and was a bit hunched over at the shoulders. Her hair was a fine shade of gray and pulled up into a tight knot at the back of her neck. A pair of glasses hung around her neck.

This was probably Grandma Rosa, I assumed.

Regina, Archer's mother, looked as beautiful and as graceful as ever, even if she was wearing a slightly worn, knitted long sleeved shirt and an apron covered in flour.

"There you are, boy," the old woman said in a gruff voice, appraising Archer's appearance. "I was wondering when you'd show up."

"Sorry," Archer grunted, picking what looked like a cherry danish out of the pastry case. "Got held back at school."

Regina and the old woman both opened their mouths at the same time, probably to interrogate Archer to within an inch of his life, but that was when they noticed me.

"Oh, hello," Regina said, a surprised look on her face as she stared at me.

She kept looking back and forth between Archer and me, like the entire situation wasn't making any sense or something.

"Hi," I said, forcing on a pleasant smile.

The old woman beside Archer perched her glasses on the end of her nose and stared at me with shrewd eyes. I felt like I was being x-rayed.

"This your girlfriend, boy?" she demanded of Archer, giving him a look.

I flushed a brilliant red color and started stammering out a response, completely embarrassed, while Archer looked extremely at ease.

"Hell, no," he replied in his regular sarcastic, condescending tone. "Like I'd ever date her."

Okay, so that comment shouldn't have bothered me as much as it did. I knew that Archer was a bit of a jerk and obviously didn't care much about what other people thought. But I was beginning to realize that perhaps he was a bit too brash for his own good.

His words made my stomach twist and turn even more than usual and I was fairly certain that I had turned the color of a lobster.

I didn't like the way his words made me feel. I felt sort of repulsive now and unwanted, and in all honesty, it kind of hurt.

It wasn't like I was going to announce that to anyone, though.

"Archer!" Regina exclaimed in horror. "Show some respect!"

She reached over and whacked Archer upside the head, nearly making him drop his danish. And of course he didn't apologize.

"Well, who are you, then?" the old woman asked me, not unkindly.

"I'm Hadley," I said, clearing my throat. "I go to school with Archer."

Regina gave me a smile, and I was almost positive a sort of relieved looked flashed in her warm brown eyes.

"How long have you gone to school together?" she asked the two of us curiously.

"Since the second grade." Archer replied before I could, making me stare at him in shock.

I didn't even ever remember going to school with Archer until our freshman year.

How had he known that?

"Well, then," Regina said, tactfully changing the subject. She could probably tell things had suddenly gotten ten times more awkward between her son and I. "I'm Regina. Archer's mother."

"It's nice to meet you," I said with a smile.

This was honestly just the slightest bit weird.

"And I'm Victoria, Archer's grandmother," the old woman interjected.

I nodded as a hello before turning to Archer with a scowl.

"I thought you said your grandmother owned this place," I reminded him.

"Oh, no," Victoria laughed, sounding very much like she used to smoke daily. "Rosa was my great-grandmother. She immigrated from Italy in the late 1800's. This place has been in the family ever since."

Wow. A coffee house over a hundred years old? That was pretty amazing.

Those tapestries hanging up on the walls probably were genuine antiques.

I noticed that Archer had remained decidedly quiet through out this entire interaction, chewing on his danish like it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen before.

He was probably embarrassed by me. Great.

"Well," Victoria said, going hands on hips. "Are you going to get to work or what? There are dishes in the back that need washing."

"Oh, no, mom, let Archer have the afternoon off," Regina cut in, looking the slightest bit frantic. "He has homework to do, I bet, and we shouldn't be rude and leave Hadley by herself."

I opened my mouth to thoroughly object to that, but Archer beat me to the punch.

"Where are April, May, and June?" he asked Regina, looking very bored.

This all had to be an act. There was no way somebody could look as bored as Archer Morales did.

"The girls are with your aunt Karin, of course," Victoria answered for her daughter. "And if you're not going to work, then put that danish down and go do your homework."

"Would you like some hot cocoa while you work?" Regina asked me kindly. "It's a bit cold outside, isn't it?"

I was surprised at her words. She barely even knew me, yet she was treating me as if I was a life-long friend or something. Nobody in New York City was this nice.

"That'd be lovely, thanks," I told her with a smile.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Archer's normally pale cheeks had turned the slightest bit pink, and I had to fight back a smirk. He definitely was embarrassed by his mother and grandmother, that was for sure.

"Whatever," he sighed heavily before hopping the counter again.

Regina and Victoria both squawked at him but he promptly ignored them.

I followed dutifully after him as he wandered his way back over to the table beside the window that had our school things on it.

He dropped into a seat at the table and I sat down across from him, pulling my school bag towards me.

"So...." I trailed off. "April, May, and June, huh?"

Archer gave me a disgruntled look as he pulled out a notebook and our American Government textbook from his backpack.

"My sisters," he said in a quiet voice. "Triplets."

"Wow."

I pulled out my geometry homework from my school bag, keeping my head down, and I wasn't quite so sure why I was avoiding looking at him.

"How old are they?" I continued, trying to keep up at least some form of conversation.

"Five," he said. "They drive me up a freaking wall. Thank God they stay with my aunt during the day most of the time."

I leaned forward on the table with my elbows, giving him a scrutinizing look while he flipped open his textbook.

"But you love them."

Archer snapped his head up and glared me, his lips curling in a rather menacing sneer.

If looks could kill, I thought mildly, averting my eyes.

"Are you done with the psychoanalysis yet, Hadley?" he asked in a rather rude voice. "I've got homework here to do, you know."

"Whatever, Archer," I sighed, grabbing a pencil from my bag. "Go ahead and be your surly self. I won't mind."

He snorted out a laugh but didn't say anything else.

Hm.

If anybody in the future were to ask me what it was like "hanging out" with Archer Morales, I probably would profusely deny it, but it was nice.

Okay, so it was a little awkward, I'll give it that much.

Every so often he would look over at me and his eyes would be narrowed in an annoyed expression, as if he couldn't believe I was actually sitting across the table from him. I did my best to ignore him.

But the silence between us was actually kind of comfortable.

I wasn't stupid enough to think that he'd tell me anything more about his family - I was still reveling in the fact that he'd actually brought me here. And not only that, but he'd probably spoken as much today as he did in an entire year, from what I knew about him.

Regina ended up bringing us two steaming mugs of hot cocoa decked out with whipped cream and sprinkles of chocolate chips. Needless to say, I focused more on the mug of hot cocoa than I did my actual homework.

Archer, on the other hand, seemed to have no problem whatsoever focusing on his homework. He held his pencil loosely while he did his work and seemed to make no mistakes, since he never used his eraser.

I had a feeling that Archer was a bit more intelligent than he let people on to believe. Not for the first time, I found myself wondering what it was about this guy that made him so different from everybody else.

My thoughts wandered to anything and everything while the New York sky outside darkened and the lights the city was so famous for started to flicker on. I'd gotten most of my homework done when I checked the time on my cell phone and found that it was after seven in the evening. The only thing I had left to do was stupid geometry.

The more rational, logical side of my brain was telling me that it was probably best for me to pack up my things and catch a cab ride home. But like usual, I decided to ignore it.