"I approve,"

My dad's words still echoed in my head on a loop. I didn't think this moment would ever come but now that it's happened it felt like there was nothing to stop us from finally being happy.

Apart from Aiden.

For the last couple of weeks I've been thinking about the situation with my brother more than ever. He still didn't know anything and I was dreading the moment for when he does. Nixon noticed that I had been down lately and he managed to get it out of me.

"Hey no matter what happens just know that I'll always be here Mara," Looking deep into my eyes and caressing my face, I knew he was being extra serious whenever I got called by my first name.

"So you won't leave me?" I look at him gingerly.

"Mara Ellsworth you're my whole life. You've made me a better man in so many ways, how could I be so stupid? I wouldn't even dream of it," And to make his response even more perfect he leaned forwards giving me a deep kiss that was full of passion.

But I still had that small voice in the back of my mind that was full of doubt. What if he did leave me because of Aiden? What if because of my stupid nitwit of a brother my happiness gets smashed into a million pieces? He had the ability to destroy what I loved, and that was Nixon Ford.

It was the middle of the week which unfortunately meant school.

I was at my second happy place, also known as the school cafeteria. The first being my gorgeous model like boyfriend of course.

Even after all these months saying it out loud still feels surreal sometimes. Like who knew this would happen to me out of all people. I certainly didn't. If someone had told me this was going to be my life a year ago I would have laughed in their faces. Then slapped them with a loaf of bread.

I was sat with Kay and Izzy at our usual table, my scrumptious looking food in front of me. I don't care what all you judgmental people think, greasy school pizza was the best. Looking up, both of my best friends had disgusted looks on their faces watching me devour said pizza like I had never eaten before.

"What?" I looked at them with a dumbfounded expression.

"How in the world did you get a boyfriend? A hot one too," Kay retorted.

"Wow Kayla I truly am offended. It's about what's on the inside," I said, purposely being dramatic.

She rolled her eyes. "All that mushy stuff is a load of crap,"

"Well some of us have hearts and there's nothing wrong with that,"

"Hey why is your hot ass brother walking this way?" Izzy brought me out of my thoughts and I jerked my head up in panic dropping the pizza.

As an automatic reaction I obviously assumed the worst. That he found out about me and Nixon and was going to confront me about it. That's it. Mara Ellsworth was officially a goner. It was safe to say that my heart was pounding out of my chest.

"Hey girls," my brother's all so familiar deep voice reached my ears as he got to the table.

Looking at the two girls in front of me it was now my turn to be disgusted as they both looked at him like he was some god. I could hear a smirk in the idiot's voice, he was totally aware of the effect he had. Turning my head to face him I looked at him questioningly.

"Mar I need to talk to you," He had his serious face on but at least it wasn't a glare. Maybe this was a good sign. He wasn't being scary Aiden, just serious Aiden.

But I didn't sigh out of relief just yet.

"Sure," I got up from my seat, bag in hand, looking back at my friends with a 'help me' look and he led me to the now empty hallway by his locker.

I felt a wave of nostalgia as this was where we spoke about my whole detention thing at the start of the year. If my memory served me correctly he had punched his locker out of frustration.

Crossing his arms and looking at me with a stern expression I gulped with anxiety. "Is there anything you wanna tell me little sis?" He said, raising his eyebrows.

Oh no.

Deciding to head down the denial route, I answered. "Nope," But it came out as more of a question and I mentally slapped myself.

"You sure about that?"

Making sure to sound more confident this time I replied. "Yes,"

My brother's face stayed stern and I noticed his jaw starting to tense up. "Right. Well then maybe you can explain why I've had more than one person tell me that they've seen my little sister getting cosy with some dude," His whole tone was sarcastic with a definite underlying anger. His blue eyes had darkened considerably and I realised how much poop I was in.

I was so glad that there was no one around to witness this. It was finally the moment that I had been dreading for weeks and the last thing I wanted was an audience.

All of a sudden I was angry at who these 'people' were going up to my brother. Why can't anyone just keep their nose out of everyone else's business and not be stupid spies? This type of crap made my blood boil. It felt like my every move was being watched and reported, solely because of whose sister I was. Well to those who were aware of me.

Either way how unfair was that?

Not being able to hold in my annoyance I retorted, "Aiden who are these people exactly? And why are they spying on me?"

"It doesn't fucking matter Mar. Tell me the truth,"

Taking a deep breath and noticing Aiden's growing anger I knew that I had to come out with it. There was no escaping it now so it was just better to rip off the band aid.

I looked down at my sneaker clad feet, not wanting to see my brother's reaction. "We're together. We've been seeing each other for several months," I didn't realise how soft and quiet my voice sounded until I said it out loud. I closed my eyes shut, waiting for him to explode and felt a single tear run down my cheek.

But to my surprise I was met with silence.

I forced myself to look up at my brother whose eyes very briefly softened when he saw my face. But it went as quickly as it came and he was seething with anger. I would rather have crazy Aiden hitting lockers instead of what I was seeing right now. No this version was a lot worse.

"Who?" He clipped. That one word sent shivers down my spine. His tone was ice cold and I couldn't help but think to myself, that the person in front of me was Aiden Ellsworth, gang member.

It felt like the loving big brother who teased me and who loved to annoy me had disappeared, it was almost like I looking at a stranger. My heart sunk.

I knew in that moment that if I answered and said Nixon's name things would be even worse. There was a reason why I had gone to my dad first, which was to tame Aiden. My dad was the only person on this earth who had the ability to do that, he was the one man my brother respected enough to listen to and to calm down for.

So with that in mind, I answered. "I think you should speak to dad. He knows everything," I said sniffling, wiping the stray tears that had managed to escape.

I think I caught Aiden by surprise as I saw him uncross his arms and ran his hand through his hair out of frustration. Making eye contact with me, his gaze was still full of anger but it had softened ever so slightly, wiping away a tear I had missed with his thumb.

Then my brother wordlessly walked away.

****

I think one of the hardest things in life is to put on a facade. To pretend that you're okay and that you're happy. To act like you hadn't just been hurt and scared of someone you love.

This is exactly what I was doing as I stared at my reflection through the mirror in the girl's bathroom. I made sure there was no trace of any tears left and I put on my usual smile ready to leave.

But it disappeared within seconds when Stacey walked in with a smirk on her face.

Just what I needed.

"What do you want Stacey? I'm really not in the mood," I sighed deeply not moving from where I was stood.

"I heard you got a boyfriend," She laughed that bitchy laugh of hers. "God knows how exactly. That poor sucker,"

Instead of letting her get to me I smiled. "Unlike you I'm not a shallow gold digging whore,"

I left the room leaving behind a stunned Stacey Bennett.

Wow that felt good.

The rest of my classes flew by and I was itching to get home with a plan in mind. My first point of call was to ring Nixon and tell him everything that happened. Second, I needed to tell my dad. To give him a heads up about today and ask what time he would be home. And third, well there was no third. I just needed to give everyone a heads up about Aiden.

Finally reaching home I rushed upstairs to my room. Just hearing Nixon's voice made everything feel like it was okay. It was so much harder on days like this where I didn't get to see him. He gave me some reassurance and told me to trust my dad.

"I'm glad you didn't say my name when he asked. It's better that he goes to your dad,"

"Yeah tell me about it. I think I just saved myself from a lot worse," I groaned.

"Everything will work out Mara, I promise. I love you,"

"I love you too," I smiled like a doofus before hanging up.

A couple of hours went by and my dad told me to expect him home within the next half an hour. I heard Aiden's car pull up into the drive not so long ago so I knew that he was home now. I expected things to be a little awkward between us which made me anxious to face him.

A knock on my door took me out of my thoughts. "Come in," I realised my breath was a little shaky. I really needed to calm down.

"Hey dad's home. He's called a family meeting in the dining room," I was faced with Jacob, my eldest brother. I smiled in return and said I'll be down in a couple minutes.

A family meeting huh. I felt butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it. The whole topic will be on me, all eyes will be on me. But I've gotta do this for mine and Nixon's sake. So with that in mind, I held my head up high and made my way to face my brothers.

Our family of four were seated at the dining table. With my dad at the head, I was on his left side with the boys sat opposite me. I hadn't made eye contact with Aiden yet but I could feel him staring at me, too chicken to look his way.

My dad was the first person to break the silence. "Okay boys so we have something important to talk about. Before we start I just want to make it clear that I don't want anyone getting angry. We're all civilized adults here. Right Aiden?"

I finally had the courage to look over at my brother. He was looking directly at me with an expressionless face. His blue eyes were blank and it made me nervous.

"Sure," He nodded curtly averting his gaze towards my dad at his question. Dad looked satisfied whilst Jake looked confused.

"Your sister had something to share with me and I called this meeting so we can share it with you boys as well. Sweetheart?" He looked over at me pointedly and I felt my cheeks burning up.

My heart started beating twice as fast. My dad must have noticed as he gave me a smile and a squeeze of my hand to say that it was okay. I smiled in return and took a deep breath.

Turning my head to my brothers I came out with it. "Erm- so I've met someone. We've been seeing other for a few months and I really like him," I let out a sigh of relief feeling proud of myself for getting it all out.

It was more accurate to say that I loved him but I thought it was best not to say that. Aiden's face never faltered as he continued to look at me, whilst Jake looked caught off guard.

"Woah what?" He asked, shaking his head. "When did this happen?"

My dad chimed in. "Well your sister came to me a couple of weeks ago and I invited him over for dinner,"

Both of my brothers looked over at my dad in shock. They both looked tensed and angry. I'm guessing Aiden didn't know this part. "What?" They both said at the same time.

Oh how I just wanted the ground to swallow me whole.

"How could you do that dad? Without us here? We have a right she's our baby sister, I wanna meet this kid," Jake retorted. His voice had an undertone of anger and he had his fists clenched.

"I wanna bash his face in," Aiden scoffed. I sighed deeply from his response feeling a pang of hurt. I held back my tears. I think my dad noticed and he spoke up in my defense.

"Now listen up. Let's not forget that I'm her father, not either of you. And I don't need to remind you that you live under my roof. Whoever I invite or don't invite doesn't concern you boys. There will be no bashing of anyone's faces. I like him and he makes your little sister happy. So that's all that matters to me,"

It was a rare occurrence for my dad to speak so firmly, but it worked as it made the boys go quiet. I smiled at him in gratitude for speaking up and taking my defense.

"Mar, is there anything you'd like to say to your brothers?" My dad looked at me with an encouraging gaze. I knew what he wanted, he wanted me to stand up for myself and share how I felt. So that's exactly what I did, starting with Aiden.

Looking at him I spoke trying to fight back my tears. "You hurt my feelings today Aiden. You were so angry and I haven't done anything wrong. You have a girlfriend and you're allowed to be happy, so why can't I? Please stop with the double standards it's not fair." A couple of tears escaped and my brother snapped out of his tense posture softening his gaze at me. He opened his mouth to speak but I stopped him. "I'm not a baby anymore guys I need you to understand that," I looked at both of my brothers at that last part, wiping the tears with the back of my sleeve.

They both had the decency to look guilty.

"Look Mar, I'm sorry that I hurt you. I'm your big brother so it's my duty to look out for you, especially since I know what douchebags guys can be. I just don't ever wanna see you hurt," Aiden sighed deeply, the first to speak up. He grabbed my hands that were on the table and gave me a reassuring squeeze. This was the brother that I know and love. His gaze was soft and I could tell that he meant every word.

"Yeah squirt you know we love you. But I still wanna meet this kid and give him the big brother talk," Jake chimed in and I smiled. "We don't like the idea of you having a boyfriend, I don't think we ever will, but give us some time. You'll always be the baby in our eyes,"

Feeling so much better I smiled at the two hot head boys in front of me.

"I'm proud of you boys. He's actually on his way over here I thought you both could meet him tonight,"

My head whipped so fast in my dad's direction. Did I just hear that right? Nixon was on his way right now.

"What?" I looked at my dad in shock.

"I hope you don't mind sweetheart I asked him not to tell you and to keep it as a surprise. He was more than happy to do it when I called earlier,"

Oh fudge sticks.

This was where Aiden and Nixon would finally come face to face. My heart was pounding out of my chest and I could feel my palms clamming up in nerves. I had a really bad feeling about this. Aiden had just managed to come around so for him to find out that my boyfriend was someone he hated, well this can't end well.

We heard the door bell ring and I shot up from my seat in panic, racing to the door.

Opening it, there stood my handsome boyfriend in all his glory. Normally I would have been swooning seeing him with his plaid shirt and tousled hair, but he could see the panic and anxiety in my eyes. His chocolate brown eyes were pained at seeing me like this and he gave me a reassuring look. Just as he was about to speak I heard footsteps behind me.

"What the fuck?"

The next thing I knew, I was shoved to the side and Aiden lunged for Nixon.