Tori's POV

"Where's Shawn?" I asked walking into the kitchen. Cole and Blake were situated around the table while dad and Lilly were still sleeping. Suzie was at Mark's house and I somewhat missed her crazy self. What did worry me the most is why Shawn wasn't home yet. Surely he didn't pull a hump and dump like Cali had said. Or did he?

"I don't know." Cole said folding a napkin in different squares. At first I thought he was answering my mental question but of course it wasn't like he was psychic.

Blake smirked, "He's probably tangled around in Em's bed."

I shook my head in disgust, "Your disgusting. Do you ever think of anything but sex?"

He didn't answer and I ignored his look while I just walked to the fridge to get some milk. "When will he be back?" I asked opening the milk. I went to the cabinet to pull a glass but they were all gone. I glanced at the sink and it was filled with dirty dishes and glasses. Then the dish washer had a glowing red light signifying it was in the middle of a wash.

"Well I can't exactly tell you because he won't pick up the phone." Cole waved his phone in front of us. I jumped on the granite counter and started drinking the milk from the carten.

"Ew don't do that." Cole said shaking his head and looking down at his phone. He started swiping his fingers across the screen and clicking on buttons. "Its bad enough Blake does that." He added not looking up from the small screen.

I shrugged pulling the milk away from my lips and wiping my mouth with my sleeve, "Oh yeah. I forgot he drinks from here too."

Cole looked up, his eyebrows narrowed is disgust. "Doesn't that bother you? I mean he's my brother and it still grosses me out drinking from the same carten as him."

"You two need to stop talking like I'm not here." Blake muttered stabbing his eggs with his fork.

I ignored him for the fun in it and looked directly at Cole. "Not really," I answered with another shurg of my shoulders, "I mean Blake licked that whole piece of pizza once and I still ate it."

Cole shuddered, "Yeah don't remind me. It was gross."

When I glanced at Blake it was the first time I had seen him looking this....awkward. Like he didn't know what to say. He was fiddling with a leather bracelt around his wrist and he had a ring on his finger. It was funny seeing a guy with jewelry. But when I glanced back to Cole I saw he had the same leather bracelt around his wrist.

"What's that?" I said pointing to Blake's bracelet. He gave me a cold stare like he was saying, Bug off. Yet if he really knew me he'd know I never bug off. "What is it?" I asked again.

"These?" Cole asked raising his hand to show the bracelet. I nodded and he chuckled, "Blake, Shawn and I have these. It just has our names engraved on them. Why? Did you never notice them?"

I shook my head, "No I just saw it right now. So Shawn has one too?"

"Isn't that what he just explained?" Blake asked stubbornly.

I ignored him. That seemed to be a usual thing for me. Ignoring Blake the god of the school. Everyone loved his attention, not me. If he suddenly gave me attention or acted differently and nicely around me I'd know something is wrong with him or he's sick.

"What about the ring?" I asked pointing at Blake's finger. "Is that a brother thing too?"

Blake started rubbing the ring between his fingers while Cole just looked at it. "Um...no." Cole said quietly.

Just from their expressions I knew exactly what they meant. Their faces were distant and hard. Pale as a ghost and eyes looking like they were going to flood with sorrow. It was that same ghastly expression I always had when someone talked to me about my mother. A pang of guilt hit me for ever asking what the ring was for.

I opened my mouth the say something but nothing came out. I wanted to say I was sorry. But over the years I had gotten used to that phrase all to well. It never helped. Some people think its to show their sympathy but to me...it was useless. No matter how many sorry's I got, it would never bring my mom back. When I finally found my words of what to say to Blake and Cole, we heard the garage door start to rumble tellig us it was opening.

The three of us started glancing at each other, knowing all to well who it was coming in. The door from the garage opened and Shawn walked in with a crazy smile on his face. "Good morning!" He sang like someone from an opera show. I could hear his voice bobbing when he said it and it was so high I put my finger to my ear.

To say I was a bit shocked was an under statement. When I glanced to Blake and Cole they both had wide eyes and unreadable expressions. Everyone knew Shawn was the funny one. He always did werid things but werid things that would make people laugh. At this moment it wasn't the werid that made me laugh. it was the werid that made me question why he was acting like this.

He twirled on his toes and grabbed a piece of toast from the toaster.

"That was mine." I said heartlessly. I could have cared less if Shawn had my toast but I didn't know how to react to this. He started humming a tune and randomly saying la la la.

"He's gone mad!" Cole whisper shouted to us. Shawn started walking towards the steps and danced up the stairs. While he walked in the hallway upstairs he started singing to Applause by Lady Gaga.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I have no idea." Cole said. I sat there staring at where Shawn had last been, my lips parted like my mouth was going to drop any second now. When I glanced at Blake he looked so still I wouldn't have been surprised if a pigeon came and landed on his shoulder.

"Blake?" I said to catch his attention but he was still frozen. "Blake?!" I reapeated and snapped my fingers under his nose. He shook his head and stood up so quickly the chair fell. Then he sprinted up the stairs jumping two at a time and screaming, "Dude how hard did you fuck her?!"

I stared at Cole not sure what to say."He only cares about sex doesn't he?"

"Who knows." Cole shrugged munching on toast.

"Shawn! Open the door!" We heard Blake yell.

I looked over at Cole and he looked at me. He swirled his fingers at the sides of his head signifying we were all crazy. Then he mouthed Shawn and made a circle with his fingers before putting his forefinger through the circle.

I gave a disgusted look and threw toast at him. He just laughed. "This house is going crazy." He remarked and went to grab some more toast. I let Cole finish his last piece of toast before we got up and headed upstairs to Shawn's room. When we reached the top we headed his room slowly walking to his roo .

"Shawn spill it!" I heard Blake shout as we got closer. Shawn mumbled something that I couldn't hear but it didn't matter because we reached his room. Cole allowed himself to just open the door so him and I could slip in without waking dad and Lilly up. Shawn was laying on his bed, a mini basketball in his hands as he threw it up in the air.

Blake was seated at the desk swishing back and forth his head thrown back as he groaned. "Just tell me!" Blake repeated. Shawn smiled and kept throwing the ball in the air, "Did you know elephants are large? It's true they are."

I stared at Shawn a full second, and Cole stood there at my side. Blake looked up at us and stared at Cole. What?! Blake mouthed confused on what was wrong with his brother. Cole just raised his shoulders and since Blake hadn't looked at me I didn't answer.

I walked over to the side of Shawn's bed and kneeled at the side. "Hey Shawn...wanna tell us your night?" I asked softly.

He just kept throwing the ball in the air and sighed contently. "Did you know that skittles are like the rainbow? It's true they are."

My eyebrows knitted together and I stared at Shawn. Cole moved in beside Blake and said nothing. Blake opened his mouth but Cole quickly clamped his hand over it. I tried to say something but my words were choked in my throat so I said the first thing that came to mind. "Shawn are you stoned?" I asked.

He shook his head which relieved me to at least have a reaction from him. I was used to seeing Shawn acting weird but this was beyond weird. It was ten times over the Shawn-O-Meter of Weirdness. The meter obviously went through overload and imploded.

Shawn sighed again, "Did you know unicorns poop out butterflies? It's true they do."

Blake stood up and came to my side where he grabbed Shawn's shoulders. "Dude! Snap out of it!" Blake took his arm back and swung his palm across Shawn's cheek. The noise made me flinch and sink down a bit.

Shawn dropped the ball in his hands. "Ow!" He shouted and stared up at Blake. "What was that for?! Dammit Blake that hurt!" Shawn started to rub his now red cheek. Probably trying to get the stinging sensation out.

"What happened last night? You sounded like you were in dream land." Cole stated.

Shawn frowned, "I like dream land. It's where my dreams run free and I can run in clouds and eat all the twinkies I want without losing my abs."

"Shawn I'll slap you again." Blake said. I wasn't sure if I would let him. The noise did give me a bit of a chill and it looked like Shawn was awake now.

"Fine." Shawn grabbed an extra pillow on his bed and hugged it to his chest. He looked up at the ceiling. We waited patiently and finally he started talking, "Well first she showed me around her house. Then we had dinner. After dinner we went to take her dog for a walk. Then I read to her until we both fell asleep. And finally this morning I woke up we had breakfast with her aunt and I came home afterwards."

I tried my best not to say, awwwww at that very moment. Even though it wasn't exactly specific it still made my heart jump knowing Shawn was sweet last night.

"That's it?" Blake asked slumping his shoulder, "That's the reason your so loopy this morning? So crazy? You didn't even-"

"What Blake is trying to say is..." I interrupted, "We're happy for you." I smiled at Shawn and he just smiled up at the ceiling.

Cole started biting his finger and put on a smile. His smile looked forced and unnecessary but he at least he tried. Even though he looked more nervous than happy, he tried. "Yeah it's great." He said his voice pitched an octave higher than usual.

Blake's lips twitched and the vein in his forehead was noticeable as it popped out and seemed to be moving as his pulse. "Yeah...happy." He said through clenched teeth.

When we left Shawn's room Blake stormed to his room muttering under his breath, "That was a waste of my time."

I found it funny yet sad that he wouldn't support his brother. I knew it was one thing to want to support your brother but Blake didn't even do that. He was to stuck up and self-centered. After leaving Shawn's room I decided to head to my room and it was funny because Cole followed me. I hadn't even thought he would but he ended up plopping himself on my bed while I went to my closet.

"So what do we do about Shawn?" He asked.

I frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Well he's so obsessed with Em." Cole added.

I laughed and turned to face him. "Your jealous aren't you?"

Cole layed back and grabbed Mr. Cuddles holding him above him head. "No...I just don't get how he loves her so much." I shook my head and turned back to my closet scanning around my clothes. "So what can we do today?"

"Um...I have to leave later today." I moved around the clothes in my closet and could practically feel Cole's eyes digging into the back of my head.

"Where?" He asked.

I shrugged, "Hayden asked me to help him look for a Halloween costume."

"Whoa what?" Cole sat up Mr. Cuddles in his lap as he stroked his head. "Your going on a date with Hayden?"

I smirked, "No I'm just going to hang out with him."

"Uh huh yeah right. In a guys eyes that's a date." Cole answered.

I shook my head, "Whatever..."

It was nice knowing Cole felt protective and all but I could take care of myself. I'm not a little girl. I literally handcuffed a guy to his bed. It wasn't like I was completely useless, I knew what I was doing.

"So where's he picking you up? Does he even have a car?" Cole asked with a devilish smile on his face.

"I assume he does and he's picking me up here. I said we were gonna practice in the back yard. He'll pick me up from there." I answered. When I finally picked a set of dark jeans and a shirt with a jean jacket. I turned to Cole, "He won't be here till six. What do you want to do for the mean time?"

Cole seemed to think. And think. And think. Finally he opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out for another second. "I honesly don't know what we should do."

"Let me get dressed and we'll figure it out." I waved him out of my room and he laughed and walked out.

LATER THAT DAY

We were all in the backyard it was Cole, Shawn, and I as we passed the ball around waiting for Hayden to appear. The air was colder now as it was getting closer to winter. Leaves were constantly falling to the ground due to the small wind that wracked them.

Now the green grass that was slowly dying, was being polluted by dead leaves. Whenever we'd step around, the leaves would crunch under our feet. Whenever we'd kick the ball around it would send some leaves flying or to move out of the way.

It was already starting to get dark. The sky was lit up in a purple allsuion with pink slowly turning into blue until you saw the night sky and the shimmer of stars. Dad had already gone to pick up Suzie from Mark's house and nowmshe and Lilly were watching some chick flick that I didn't feel like seeing.

"If he starts doing anything funny-" Shawn started to say before I cut him off.

"Guys, chill." I said passing the ball to Cole. "I can take care of myself. I handcuffed your ex-best friend to his own bed."

"Yeah but-" I cut Cole off.

"And I can flip a guy because I know self-defense." I stated as Cole passed the ball to Shawn.

"Ok we get it." Shawn smirked kicking the ball up and juggling. "Your just so amazing Tori. Whoo I mean just being in your presense is making me light-headed and dizzy."

I shook my head a smile on my face, "Your such a dick."

Shawn grinned while Cole laughed softly. "Hey lets play a game." Shawn said glancing at Cole. "We always played that game with Blake remeber?"

"Oh no. Not that game." Cole groaned.

"Yes that game." Shawn responded.

Now the curiousity in me was getting the best of me. I haven't played any games with the boys yet. And knowing they wanted to willingly play this game with me made me slightly happier. More accomplished even. "What game?" I asked.

Cole sighed and Shawn just kept grinning like a nut. Finally Cole just shook his head in approaval and glanced at Shawn, "Ok fine. Go ahead."

"Yesssss." Shawn said with a laugh. He looked at me and started explaining the instructinons. "So we'll kick the ball around and when it reaches you you have to say something embarressing. Usually we would play but we always knew what happens in our lives, meaning...this game got boring. But your a new family memeber and we're knew to you. So it should be fun."

It would be fun for them and possibly me but I would have to recap on my most embarressing days of my life. Although I would be embarressed revieling my thoughts, I knew the guys were doing the same so I nodded. "Ok. Shawn you first since you have the ball."

Shawn grinned, "The day we wore pink to the football tryouts. That was embarressing."

I laughed, "That doesn't count. I mean I knew that."

Cole chuckled, "It was embarressing."

"It doesn't count though." I smirked. "Come on. Make me laugh. You always do."

"Ok ok...hmm..." He thought for a second. "Oh I know. Ok so we were at this party right? And you know...cute girl. High dress. Got me going so I went in for the kill. Well we're in bed and she's all red because later I found out she was a virgin and she says, 'That's a nice little dick ya got.'"

I put my hand on my side and laughed. "Oh my god Shawn! What did you do?" Cole was pinching the top of his nose while he laughed also.

Shawn just shrugged, "I still got her laid. It hurt my ego though. I mean....I'm not little."

I kept laughing and then when I was out of breath I finally slowed my breathing. "Ok Shawn. I'm sorry but you are the youngest of the three therefor your little." Cole laughed harder and Shawn stared at me open mouthed.

"That's hurtful Tori." He said juggling the ball before passing it to me, "Alright you go."

I thought for a second. Going through the files in my brain and trying to figure out which memory was embarressing. When I knew which one I opened my mouth, "Ok so...when I was little I went through a one month obsession with Pokemons. So one day I dressed Mark up as a Pikachu and I had this red Pokeball and I threw it up and screamed 'Pikachu I choose you!' and Mark jumped out from behind me."

At the end of my story both Cole and Shawn were laughing so hard I thought their faces were going to explode with over laughter. Personally my cheeks were probably so red I could have resembled a fire truck.

"He is like your personal bitch." Cole said between his laughs.

Shawn just nodded in agreement. "How are you two not dating?"

The blood in my cheeks went down. At least they didn't laugh about my child stupidity. "We're friends. Period."

"Yeah we get." Cole said his laughs coming to an end.

"Your turn." I said kicking the ball to Cole.

He took it gracefully and thought it over. But before he could answer I heard a horn honk and we all turned to see a car parked in the driveway. Someone moved out of the drivers seat and I noticed it was Hayden. He wore a regular sweat shirt with a pair of jeans. His hair was combed to one side and he didn't look half bad.

Cole picked up the ball and walked to my side whispering next to my ear, "Whatever you do don't try the cat suit."

I slapped Cole's arm, "I'm not stupid you know."

"You were the one playing with real life Pokemon." Shawn answered nonchanantly. I glared at him as we started walking to the car.

Hayden greeted us with a smile, "Sup guys."

"I need her back at eight thirty sharp." Shawn said strictly. I rolled my eyes and Hayden raised an eyebrow looking between me and the boys. "She's helping me with math so I need her home by then." Shawn covered up.

Hayden smiled, "I'll have her back by then."

"Good. Because I know the captain of the soccer team." Cole said putting an arm around my shoulders, "And I can pull some strings and let him sit you on the bench for a couple games."

"That's blackmail." I slapped Cole's side. "Go away and let me leave in peace."