"Hey Lex! Are you okay? I tried to come after you but Bryce stopped me and said it would be better if he did it himself," Charlie calls out, knocking on my door before opening it up and stepping into the room.

I sit up in bed at his arrival, pulling my earbuds out of my ears and giving him a small wave.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. It all just brought back some really awful memories so I really needed to get out of there," I tell him with a grateful smile, and he beams at me.

"I'm glad to hear," he says, leaning against the doorway. "And I'm sorry about the memories. I still feel like shit knowing that you had to go through that."

I shake my head at him. "Really, Charlie, it's all right. I've gotten over it," I say, giving him a small smile that he quickly reflects.

"All right. I'm glad to hear. How about you come downstairs and keep me company until Mom and Dad get home? I'm lonely," he pouts, and I laugh at him.

I nod, saying, "Sure. I'll be down in just a second," which makes his grin wider as he turns around, walking away from my room and down the stairs.

Reluctantly, I climb out of the warmth provided by my bed, smoothing out my shirt and twisting my hair over one shoulder.

Maybe I should cut it. I can't remember the last time I've had my hair cut.

I'm staring at my reflection in the mirror now, surprised by the sudden light in my eyes. I never usually look this happy, but right now my cheeks are flushed a slight shade of pink and I can't help but to crack a smile at myself.

I'm so completely and utterly grateful that my mom and I are finally being transparent with our feelings. I would feel incredibly guilty to go off to college without mending our relationship, and so there's a hefty weight off my chest now that things seem okay between us.

I'll have to remind myself to thank Bryce later, knowing that if it weren't for our little agreement, I probably wouldn't have done anything about my own family situation.

Truth be told, I'm just glad to hear that he's quit smoking. I don't understand the appeal, or how he even began in the first place.

Taking a deep breath in, holding it for a few seconds and then exhaling, I walk over to my closet, switching on the light. I sift through my clothing before finding a bright red sweater that looks warm enough, so I tug it off the hanger before pulling it over my head. I then reach down the front of my shirt, realizing that my cherry blossom necklace had been tucked under my shirt all day.

I don't know if Bryce has caught on to the fact that I wear it everyday, but he hasn't said anything about it so I can't be sure.

Stepping out of the closet, I switch off the lights before shutting the door, heading out of my bedroom and down the stairs.

I find Charlie sitting at the island in the kitchen, his laptop open as he types away.

"Hey," I say, greeting him as I step towards the refrigerator, grabbing a glass from the cupboard.

He gives me a friendly wave, then pulling out the stool beside him an patting the seat, gesturing for me to sit down. I nod to him, first holding my glass below the after dispenser to fill it up.

The glass only gets to fill about a quarter of the way before my phone begins ringing from my pocket. I sigh, setting the glass down on the counter before pulling the buzzing phone out.

Bryce. Of course he's calling me even though we saw each other an hour ago.

"Who is it?" Charlie asks me, and I mouth the name 'Bryce' to him. He gets a knowing smile on his face.

I accept the call, putting it on speaker phone before setting it down on the counter.

"Hey Bryce. You're on speaker and Charlie is here," I tell him, and he doesn't seem to acknowledge my words before he launches into a monologue.

"So I just had a thought about your mom . . . Does she know about your ear piercings or are you really good at hiding that shit? Because she went batshit over my tattoos and I'm not even her kid so I can't see how she would be chill with her daughter having piercings," he says, and Charlie quirks his head to the side, showing that he's just as confused as I am.

I laugh a little, dropping my face down into my palms.

"Do you really not have anything better to do with your time than think about things like this?" I ask, and Charlie bites down on his lip as he turns back around to stare at his computer once again.

"No, I don't have anything better to do. Are you suggesting that I should go get hammered and bang a bunch of girls, though?" he asks, and I feel my expression morph into one of horror.

My brother starts laughing in his seat, and I raise a hand to swat him in the arm. He pulls away from me, and I roll my eyes at him.

"Ew, Bryce. That is certainly not what I was suggesting," I snap, before taking a deep breath in. "But to answer your question, yes, she knows. I managed to convince her that I can just take the jewelry out and the scars will barely be visible," I inform him, reaching up and twisting the ring of one of my piercings between my fingers.

I hear a shuffling of footsteps followed by a door slamming, and my eyebrows shoot up in question.

"Where are you going?" I question, confused as of to why Bryce decided to randomly call me and now seems to be busy doing something else.

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere," he answers. "Just give me a second, I'll be back," he then says, and I hear the sound of footsteps continuing.

Charlie looks back to me with a mischievous grin.

"What?" I ask, agitated, and he shakes his head at me, still smiling.

"You're totally in love with him."

"Charlie!" I screech, swatting him in the arm once again. He chuckles, and my eyes dart back to the phone which is still on speaker.

I contemplate hanging up the call, but I then render it pointless seeing as I'm pretty sure that he's stepped away from the phone.

He gives me a daring look, shutting his laptop closed.

"Don't live in denial, Lex. You both clearly dig each other so I don't see what's stopping you," he tells me, and I point to the phone, reminding him that we're still on the call.

He tilts his head to the side, and I narrow my eyes at him.

"It's not like that. We don't like each other like that," I say quietly, and Charlie bursts out into a fit of laughter.

"Really? Because sometimes you look at him as if you're ready to jump into a bed with the guy. You never looked at Matt that way, so—"

"Charlie! Stop that!" I hiss, and he continues to grin at me as I lean my elbows down onto the counter, groaning.

I clearly wasn't thinking as I did this though because this causes the glass to get knocked over, spilling the water in the glass all over the marble countertop.

"Crap!" I exclaim, reaching to pull the glass back into an upright position.

There wasn't much water to be spilled, but I still rush over to the roll of paper towel by the sink, tearing off a few pieces before turning around to wipe up the water.

"Damn, you're clumsy," Charlie comments, and I notice that he's moved his laptop and my phone down to the other side of the island so that they won't get wet.

I glare at him continuing to wipe up the water, when he decides to says, "Or perhaps you're just flustered because you're talking to your boy toy."

I shoot up, my back going straight. Walking over to the garbage bin and tossing the wet paper towel inside, I spin around to glare at Charlie.

I don't understand why he's doing this right now. There's literally no reason for him to be teasing me like this, and all of this pent-up confusion and anger is what stops me from thinking clearly when I reply to him.

"Really, Charlie? It's not like that between us! I could never feel that way about him, not when he's so cold and closed-off most of the time! There's no way that he likes me seeing as I'm really doubting if he's capable of feeling anything at all! Sometimes I'm actually concerned if he's sane or not, seeing as one moment he'll say something super sweet and then the next he's telling me that he doesn't think that we would work together at all, not to mention how he—" I have to suddenly cut myself off as realization dawns within me.

When I look over to my left I see Charlie sitting there with wide eyes, and then we both seem to simultaneously turn to the phone laying upwards on the counter.

He may have just heard every single word that just came out of my mouth.

"Bryce? Are you there?" I ask nervously, hurrying over to retrieve the phone.

It's completely silent for a few moments which gives me hope that he didn't catch what I said, but then my worst fears come true when from the other side of the line, I heart him clearing his throat.

"Uh, yeah," he says quietly.

I clamp my hand over my mouth, having to shut my eyes in frustration. I'm trying to steady my breathing, but all I want to do it hang up the phone and sob.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it that way," I try and defend, but there's an undeniable sinking feeling in my chest.

Neither of us say anything for a couple more seconds, and it seems that Charlie has zero intentions of speaking up either. I don't blame him; he isn't part of this complicated relationship that Bryce and I have going on.

I feel like it's appropriate for me to say more seeing as Bryce did nothing and I still lashed out on him, but he says something before I get the chance.

"Don't worry about it. I understand why you would feel that way. Maybe it was a bad idea to call you. We've already talked a lot today, so maybe we should just . . . never mind. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Charlie. Bye Lexi," he says.

And then he hangs up.

I take a seat at the stool farthest away from Charlie, burying my face into my hands.

Why does this keep happening? It's becoming an annoying cycle that I'm desperate to break.

I feel Charlie's hand against my back and he pats twice before pulling away again.

He just called me 'Lexi'. He never does that. I'm always 'Blossom' to him. He must be really upset.

"I'm sorry, Lex. I didn't realize it would escalate like that," Charlie apologizes, and I turn my head ever so slightly to the side to stare at him.

"Why do you keep bringing him up?" I ask, my irritation clear.

I understand that he didn't have ill intentions, but that doesn't mean that this whole situation wouldn't have been avoided if he had just decided to not tease

"Hey, in my defense, the fact that you get so whipped up over him must mean something, no? I mean, there's no way that neither of you have any feelings for one another. You both get so fired up whenever the idea of you guys being together gets brought up," he starts, and my jaw drops open.

"Oh my God, what do you mean by that? You've talked to him about this?" I question, the volume of my voice gradually raising higher and higher.

Charlie gives me a timid smile, rubbing the back of his neck nervously before he says, "What do you expect? We're friends. Of course we're going to talk about his relationship status."

Relationship statue? I press my face back into the palms of my hands, feeling a tear trickle down my cheek.

This crying thing is getting ridiculous, and I can't wait to get all these conflicting feelings out of my head.

For a fleeting moment, I almost find myself wishing that Bryce could have just stayed in Florida.

He hopes to move again right after high school, so I don't understand why he would even bother moving back here.

I quickly realize that this thought process is extremely selfish of me. It wasn't Bryce's decision, I'm sure. He's still only seventeen, so his dad was probably the one who came up with the idea. Not to mention that they both needed to get away from their issues with Bryce's mother, so it would make more sense for them to move back to a different country seeing as they had the opportunity.

I consider calling Bryce back to apologize again, but I quickly decide against it. I need to heal things between Bryce and I asap, but I don't have the chance before my parents come walking into the room, holding hands.

"You guys are home early," Charlie points out, and I quickly wipe away that one stray tear with the sleeve of my shirt before I look up at my family.

Our dad nods in response to Charlie's question, answering, "Yeah, we were both able to leave the office early today."

Charlie smiles at them, and they both lean their backs against the counter. I take note of how my dad now has him arm around my mom's waist in almost a protective way, his other hand reaching across to hold hers. She leans into his embrace, and I recognize how she must still struggle with her own demons about what happened to her at that high school party. My dad probably does his best to make her feel safe, and I think that I'm now noticing a much softer side to my mom, even catching how she blushes when my dad kisses her on the top of her head.

I've never noticed how loving and devoted to their relationship they both seem. I suppose I've never really taken the time to look past my mom's rough exterior, so now that I feel that we understand one another more, it's all making sense.

I hope I find someone that will love and care about me no matter how much trauma I have to deal with.

When she looks back up to our dad, he plants a quick kiss on her lips which makes Charlie let out a dramatized gagging sound. Dad gives him a funny look, but Charlie holds his ground, continuing to stare with an unamused expression.

"You know, you're in a mood today. Did Jasmine reject you or something?" I tease, and my brother's face turns bright white.

I understand that taking our conversation this way makes me a massive hypocrite as I just freaked out at him for speaking about Bryce and I, but something dark deep inside of me wants to get him back for it.

Charlie's jaw tenses, and when our eyes meet I see a flicker of pain there.

Our parents have tuned into the conversation, and my dad decides to jump in.

"Jasmine Martin?" he asks, and Charlie nods slowly.

Then my mind flashes back to seeing them talking outside at Ryan's cottage, and my hand flies up to my mouth.

"She did reject you, didn't she?" I ask quietly, hoping that our parents can't hear it.

My suspicions are confirmed with a nod of his head, and I instinctively reach for his hand. The muscles in his arm clench, and I give his hand a squeeze.

"Did you ask her out?" I ask him, and he nods at me.

I feel guilty for bringing it up now, and I also suddenly feel like a jerk for not paying more attention to him. He's probably been hurting this whole time and I didn't even notice, not one bit. I've been tied up in my own dramas rather than being there for my brother.

I drop my hand from his. "I didn't know. I'm sorry," I tell him, and he shakes his head at me as if to brush the sympathy off.

"Glad to see that neither of us are very lucky as far as relationships go," Charlie then jokes as I hear our mom stifle a laugh.