"What the hell are you doing?" Parker demanded to Lee, as he skateboarded around the kitchen.

"What?" Lee asked, as he crashed into the counter.

"How many pancakes do you want?" Parker asked him.

Lee crashed into the refrigerator, laughing as he re-boarded his skateboard and continued to board around the kitchen.

"How many pancakes?" Parker repeated.

"Huh?" Lee asked, as he rounded the corner around the counter and then hit Parker.

"Dammit Lee, did you take your meds?"

"Yeah," Lee agreed, breathlessly.

"Maybe you want to think about that first before answering."

"Think about what?" Lee asked, as he rounded the opposite corner around the counter.

Parker turned around from the stove with a sigh. "Lee Adams, off the skateboard now."

"What?" Lee asked.

Parker yanked Lee's arm before Lee could crash into him again, pulling Lee off the skateboard.

"Hey!" Lee complained.

Parker scooped up Lee's skateboard. "Meds, now."

"Do what?"

Parker let out a long sigh, clearly frustrated. "Lee, meds, now."

"Oh yeah."

"Oh yeah," Parker mocked.

"That could be a song," Lee said, his eyes lighting up. "Like, the intro to a song. Not the entire song obviously-"

"Lee!" Parker shouted.

"What?"

"Meds."

"Right," Lee agreed, with a nod.

"Now."

Lee jogged back towards Parker's bedroom.

Parker let out a sigh, turning back to the pancakes. "Emily, how many pancakes do you want?"

"Just one."

"Good, yours is done." He slapped the partially burnt pancake onto a plate and handed it to me.

"Lucky me."

He poured more batter into the pan.

Lee came back into the kitchen.

"Did you take your meds?" Parker asked him.

"I forgot a drink."

Parker stared up at the ceiling for a few moments before looking back at Lee. "Well get one and go."

"Right," Lee agreed, pulling a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. "Hey Emily, did you know that if you leave your water bottle in your car-"

"Fucking hell Lee, I will smash this skateboard over your head if you don't go and take your meds right now," Parker growled.

"What?" Lee asked, his eyes snapping over to Parker.

Parker slapped his hand over his eyes, running it down his face. "I am too young for this."

"You're 18," Lee pointed out. "A legal adult. Did you know that in most countries-"

"Hey encyclopedia boy," Parker interrupted. "What the fuck are you supposed to be doing right now?"

"For what?"

"Meds Lee! Your meds."

"Oh yeah," Lee agreed, before heading back to Parker's room.

Parker stared at me for a few moments, trying to regain his composure.

"Well," I said, for lack of better words.

"I cannot deal with this," Parker muttered. "I'm going to grow gray hairs at 18."

I couldn't help but laugh.

"How do they do it at his boarding school?" I asked.

"They keep him on a routine," Parker said, flipping the now partially burnt pancake. "He reports to the nurse's office at 8 AM every morning for his meds. And then if he doesn't report for some reason, they track him down."

"Sounds intense."

Parker tossed me the syrup before starting on the next pancake, muttering obscenities to himself.

Lee came back into the kitchen a few minutes later.

Parker raised his eyebrows at him.

"Yes," Lee agreed, hopping up on the counter. "All of my meds are currently being devoured by my stomach acids."

"And the difference is astounding," Parker muttered, flipping the pancake again.

"Can I have my skateboard back?" Lee complained.

"You cannot ride that thing in the apartment."

"I won't."

"If you do, I will remove the wheels off of it and break the damn thing in half."

"Okay," Lee agreed. "Violent much?"

"I will also smash your face in."

Lee raised his eyebrows at me. "You're just the epitome of brotherly love this morning."

Parker handed him two partially burnt pancakes. "Take these and eat."

"So when are we going to the beach?" Lee asked, taking a seat next to me.

"We just went to the beach."

"But I didn't have my surfboard."

"I don't know," Parker said, with a sigh. "Pick a day I don't have practice and we'll go."

"Okay," Lee agreed, with a pancake-filled smile.

"But speaking of practice, I seriously have to go."

"Well go then."

"Don't leave the apartment," Parker ordered to Lee.

"So you're telling me that I can't go run naked around the neighborhood?"

Parker rolled his eyes, cracking a smile. "That's later."

"Right," Lee agreed, nodding and pointing his fork at him.

"Seriously though, I'll be-"

"Back in an hour," Lee filled in. "Stay in the apartment, don't annoy Emily too much. Got it."

"Okay," Parker agreed. "I'm that nagging older brother, I get it. Bye." He jogged out of the door, letting it shut behind him.

"He really is though," Lee said, with an eye roll. "He must've told me that at least 6 times this morning."

I couldn't help but laugh, finishing off my pancake.

"So do you have Dr. Hook on vinyl?"

I nodded. "I have pretty much anybody and everybody on vinyl."

"Awesome."

"Dr. Hook is back in my room though," I said, standing up and beckoning him to follow me.

Lee took a seat on my bed as I stepped into my closet, grabbing my step ladder and leafing through the records I kept up top.

"So this is your room," Lee said, behind me.

"Yeah," I agreed, finding my Dr. Hook album.

"Yeah, Parker's talked about it a couple of times, but I didn't imagine it like this."

"Parker's talked about my room?" I asked, stepping out of my closet and turning off the light.

"Yeah," he agreed, accepting the vinyl I held out towards him and flipping it over to see the songs listed on the back. "Like when he drunkenly thought it was his room."

"Right," I agreed.

My first night here.

"And then the other night, after he brought you home," Lee said.

"Oh, you mean after the party?" I asked.

"Yeah," he agreed. "When you asked him to stay."

Wait, what?

"You have the best Dr. Hook vinyl," he said, shaking his head. "You must have a rockin' collection."

"When I asked Parker to stay?" I asked.

Lee looked up at me. "What?"

"You said when I asked Parker to stay after the party."

"Did I?"

"Is that what Parker told you?"

Lee opened his mouth and then closed it again, realizing that he said something he wasn't supposed to. "You know, I've said a lot of stuff in the past few minutes, I really don't know."

If Parker Adams lied to me about what happened after the party, he was dead.

~*~

"Hey, so that new movie just opened downtown," Parker said to Lee, as he came out into the living room from his post-practice shower. "The one with Seth McFarland?"

"Parker-" Lee said, but I was already two steps ahead of him.

"Turn around," I ordered, already to my feet and storming towards him.

"What?" Parker asked, his eyebrows wrinkling in confusion.

"Turn around, now."

"Okay?" Parker asked, turning around.

"Back to your room, now," I ordered, following him as he walked back to his room.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking over at me. "Because if it's something Lee said or did-"

"You're dead."

Parker's eyebrows raised as we both stepped into his bedroom, and I slammed the door behind us.

This was the first time I'd ever been in Parker's bedroom, and it caught me off-guard.

It was a mess. Soccer gear was strewn around the room, intermixed with Lee's overspilling suitcases, and then the air mattress that took up over half of the empty space.

"What's going on?" Parker asked.

"You told me that after the party you put me to bed and then got out," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Okay," he said, slowly.

"Yes or no?"

He hesitated for a moment. "Well-"

"You lied to me."

"It wasn't like that."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because I knew that if I told you what happened after telling you that were semi-raped, things would get a little out-of-control," Parker defended.

"So you lied to me?"

"Yeah," he agreed, with a sigh. "Not my smartest move."

"No, no it wasn't."

"Nothing happened," Parker promised. "You were just in a vulnerable state so you asked me to stay with you. I just sat with you until you fell asleep, and then I did get out."

"I don't believe you."

How the hell could I? He lied to me the first time, and I had absolutely no memory of the night.

"I can tell you what you told me."

"How is that going to-"

"That you thought my face was pretty."

Oh shit.

"But not to tell Parker."

Way to go drunk Emily.

"And then you said that you didn't want to kiss Parker."

Okay, that was a positive.

"And then added that's what Parker wanted you to say."

Well.

"And then I put you to bed, and you asked me to stay," Parker continued. "And so I did. That's it, the end of all of it."

"I thought you said I didn't embarrass myself," I groaned, feeling my face heat up.

"I didn't find it embarrassing," he defended, with a smirk. "I found it quite amusing actually."

"You're such an ass."

"That really was the end of it though," he said, the smirk dropping off of his face. "I just sat with you while you drunkenly slurred on about Daniel cheating on you and how that made you feel, and then about someone named Kaila in London, and then you fell asleep."

I couldn't help but laugh, shaking my head.

"Sorry that I didn't tell you. But I just told you about the douchebag at the party that tried to get you into the bedroom, and I didn't want to push your envelope."

I tried to ignore the mushy feelings inside, telling me how cute that was.

"You don't have to worry about me."

"Now you sound like Lee." He sighed, looking over his shoulder. "Speaking of, I need to go commit murder."

"Leave the kid alone."

Parker opened his bedroom door, and I followed him back out to the living room.

"I didn't know!" Lee defended, as Parker went back out to the couch, where Lee was watching TV.

Parker began to chase Lee around the apartment, and I let out a sigh, retaking my seat on the couch.

Brothers.

~*~

I let out a sigh, running through my fingers through my hair.

I could never admit this out loud, but some days were just harder than others.

I stared at the mirror in front of me, pressing my lips together.

I hated the way my hair fell limp, instead of full and voluptuous like it used to. I hated the way my hips stuck out wider than they used to, due to the recent weight gain. I hated the way my thighs touched together at the top.

I hated myself in general.

I wiped a single tear off my cheek, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

Then there came a knock on my door.

"Yeah?" I called back, my voice a bit shaky.

"Dinner!" Lee's voice informed me.

Dinner, right.

I pulled on an oversized t-shirt, one of Emmett's old soccer tournament ones, and a pair of sweatpants. I ran my fingers through my hair one last time before heading out into the kitchen.

"Where are we going on vacation this summer?" Lee asked Parker, as Parker turned off the stove.

"Do I look like I've thought that far ahead?" Parker asked him.

"I think we should go to Leesburg," Lee informed him, with a smirk.

"Any town named after you is definitely not on the list."

"Don't you think so Emily?" Lee asked. "Leesburg has got to be the coolest place on the face of the planet."

"Sure," I agreed.

"Don't encourage him," Parker chastised. "Come get your plate."

"Where's Emmett?" I asked.

"He couldn't get off of work, said he'd call here in a little bit."

Okay.

I let the two boys go first before taking some chicken and rice.

"So I was thinking that we could go to the beach the day after Christmas," Parker said, once we were all seated.

"Okay," Lee agreed. "When can we get my surfboard out of storage?"

"Next week sometime," Parker said, taking a bite of his chicken and rice. "We have to get all sorts of shit out of storage for Christmas."

I stared at my chicken and rice, the food looking particularly unappetizing.

"You're quiet tonight," Parker said to me, after a few moments of silence.

"I guess," I said, taking my fork and knife and cutting up my chicken. "I'm just tired."

"From what?" Parker asked, with a laugh.

I didn't answer, mixing up my chicken and rice.

"Leave her alone," Lee defended. "You're such an ass."

Parker just smirked at the two of us.

I continued cutting my chicken into smaller pieces and shuffling my food around my plate, a trick I learned from being Anorexic.

It usually worked quite well too.

"What are you doing exactly?" Parker asked me, once he came back to the table with his second helping of chicken and rice.

"What?" I asked, looking up from my chicken and rice.

"Why are you shoving your food around your plate?"

Parker seemed to be unnaturally attentive to the small things in life.

Before I could answer, Lee jumped up from the table, his chair sliding back behind him. He took a few steps back, his eyes wide.

Parker's attention immediately shot to Lee, as did mine.

There were a couple of moments of silence, Lee's hand over his heart as he panted, and his eyes still wide.

"Lee?" Parker asked, after a few more moments.

Lee's eyes snapped up to Parker and then back down to his dinner plate.

"I just..." Lee started, and then he trailed off, his eyes still trained on his dinner spot. He took a long, hard swallow. "Okay."

"Okay?"

Lee nodded before heading back to Parker's room.

Parker closed his eyes for a moment, rubbing his temples, before he looked over me.

I was still sitting in my same position, frozen in shock.

I have no idea what just happened.

"Okay," Parker said to me, letting out a sigh. "Let me just tell you this before I deal with that."

I looked over at Parker, unsure of what he was talking about.

"When you left last year, I had no idea why, case in point when you told my ass off."

I nodded in agreement.

"But what I did know is that Emmett was, and still is, my best friend. And he was really bent up over you leaving."

I have no idea where he's going with this.

"He wouldn't talk to me, or anyone, for days. He just stayed locked up in his room."

I felt the guilt pressing on my chest.

"I don't know if you guys had the chance to talk before you left or whatever, but Emmett was really broken up over what happened. And I know that it couldn't have been any easier for you."

"You have no idea-"

"-what I'm talking about," Parker filled in. "I'm pretty well-versed on that one. But I know that you're hurting and that it doesn't seem like it's ever going to get any better."

How could he possibly know that?

"I know what it's like to feel pain Emily," he said, with a tight smile.

And that's when I remembered that he lost both of his parents, and his girlfriend, in a matter of days.

"And I can promise you that it gets easier." Parker looked over his shoulder before looking back at me. "It just takes time."

Who would've thought that I'd receive life advice from Parker Adams?

He stood up with a sigh, closing his eyes for a few moments before opening them again. "If you could please just hold here for several minutes, I promise I'll be back."

And then he disappeared back to his room.

**************************************************************************************************************

So what did you guys think about Lee telling Emily about Parker? Did you expect Parker's reaction? What about Emily's low self-esteem? How did you expect Parker to handle that?

The picture off to the right was submitted by yupharrynope. Check it out! -->

I'm exhausted you guys. My vacation has really taken it out of me. But I'm having an amazing time. You Virginia-ians have a beautiful state, although it's pretty much just as hot as it is here as it is back home because I'm sunburnt.

Teaser: It's the moment pretty much 99% of you have been waiting for. So get ready for it ;)

Update: Monday