I didn't go to Chris's place after I came back home. Instead, I went to Dad and told him everything. He just listened to me and wiped my tears as I cried almost whole night for the loss of something that was never really there. Just meeting her made the fact that I have a mother come to reality. It broke down my walls and pushed me to get my head out of fairytale endings to stare at the harsh world that exists.

"She has her own nice family." I say, trying not to choke on food as I stab the the chicken on my plate the next night at dinner.

Chris, Evan and Breanna are sitting with me on the kitchen island while Dad is staying late at the office. I skipped school because I was awake the whole night and then in the evening, one by one, all the three idiots came over.

"Do you want me to beat up her sons?" Chris arches an eyebrow and I give him a small smile, shaking my head.

"No. It's not their fault. I don't even know how old they are. And aren't they like my half siblings? God! I have half siblings who have the blood of the man I hate." I say and Evan frowns at me.

"You don't hate Damien."

"Yes, I do! If it weren't for him, she would be there Ev! And do you know what she called me?" I ask him and his eyes widen.

"No way." He whispers.

"What?" Breanna asks, confused.

"An! She called me An! That was the first and the only word she said to me when I was born, Bri. Dad heard her, that's why he's been calling me from that horrible name all these years." I say in pure anger.

I notice the look of grimace on Evan's face and immediately regret saying what I just said, "I know you don't mean that."

I sigh, "I don't. That name holds so much value to me, Evan. You know that! Dad has been calling me from that name ever since I was born. And then you were the only one I allowed because I knew you weren't going anywhere. She doesn't get to call me that." I say, rubbing my palms against my face in frustration.

"Hey, hey, calm down." He holds my hand over the counter and I sigh.

"I am pissed. Incredibly. And tell Miranda to cook pasta for me tomorrow, would you? At least I had her to give me good food." I mumble.

I am rambling at this point but I don't even care. I cried the whole fucking night, and at this point, I am desperate to let out my emotions in any way other than crying.

"Do you want to watch Elena leaving The Vampire Diaries and cry?" Breanna suggests and even that suggestions makes tears burn my eye.

"Oh hell, no! I cried enough." I sob, already crying, "Why would you mention that, Bri? Their dance was so beautiful." I wipe away my tears with the back of my palm.

Chris stares at me with a weird look in his eyes and Evan turns to him, "Remember Luke?" He says and Chris nods, "He got nothing on Damon Salvatore. She's nuts about the guy." He says and I throw my spoon at him, causing him to snicker.

"It's not funny! He changed for her." I cry and he pouts moving to come across the counter and giving me a hug.

He wipes my tears and I sniffle, "I am okay, I promise. I just feel overwhelmed. And she's so fucking beautiful, man! Cassandra, I mean. She's older than me even then I am jealous."

"Well at least we know you got your genes from Scott." Evan teases and I slap his arm, pushing him away.

"You're being mean to me." I pout.

"Aww, don't pout. You're really pretty, An." He kisses my hair, pulling me close but I push him off.

"Let me eat." I grumble before having the fried chicken.

"Okay, no offence Claire, but are you by any chance on your period?" Chris asks and the look I throw at him is enough for him to raise his hands in surrender.

"She is." Evan whispers to him and I am about to throw the fork at him but Breanna catches my wrist.

I roll my eyes, "How would you know?"

"Because I have known you since you got your first period and thought you were going to die because your underpants were red." He gives me an amusing grin, "And that happened even after Scott told you in advance everything about lady parts."

I give him a deathly glare, "I was a child! Shut up." I snap and he laughs even more. "Also, after I told you Evan, you fainted."

Well, that shut him up.

It was true though, I was hanging out at his place when it happened. I was thirteen, and then I went to the bathroom and saw blood on my underwear. Next thing I knew, it was staining my white pants. So when I came out of the bathroom crying, I told Evan that I was bleeding and that I was going to die. He asked me where was I bleeding and pointed to the red stain between my legs and he dropped to the floor, which made me cry even more.

Well, thankfully Miranda was home that day and when she heard all the crying, she came to check up on us. She gave me a sanitary pad to use, because she suggested that I shouldn't use tampons until I was a little older so I took her advice and later she suggested that I should try sticking to the pads until I was a virgin. That was an awkward conversation to have with Miranda but she always treated me like family and she was just looking after me. But I shifted to tampons two years later anyway.

"Can we not talk about period when we are having food." Breanna says and Chris nods.

"Good choice."

I shut their voice out as I tell myself to calm down. Sure, I am on my period and it makes me extremely emotional and hormonal, but that doesn't mean that I would have been better after I met my biological mother. Fine, maybe I wouldn't have cried as much, but still.

"Earth to Claire." Chris says and I sigh, looking at the three of them who are staring at me.

"What?" I ask.

"Do you want to go bowling tomorrow after school?" Evan asks.

"Everyone will be going?"

"If that's what you want?" Chris asks and I nod.

"That's okay." I shrug.

Soon after, we shift to the the living room but Chris offers to do the dishes. I tell him he doesn't have to about ten times before he pushes me off towards the living room.

Things between Chris and I are good, they are good but I still maintain the distance where touch is concerned because I don't want to ruin anything between us. I realised that I like him, a lot. He has been this person in my life to whom I could open up to easily and talk about shit that I couldn't talk about with anyone, not even Evan and Breanna.

He's the first person to whom I was so honest to regarding everything, even if those were regarding my feelings of dislike towards him.

"Where are you lost?" Breanna asks me and I shake my head.

"How is your relationship with Luke?" I ask, because I am sick of talking about me and I need a distraction.

"He's good, Adri.. Really good. Nothing like Simon." She says and I smile while Evan is busy watching a basketball match on the television.

Soon, Chris joins us and his eyes are immediately fixed to the match on the television. So, I turn to Breanna.

"I hate that name." I tell her and she smiles.

"Because you're my best friend, of course you hate my ex boyfriend." She laughs and I smile at her.

"Luke is a nice guy though." I tell her.

She nods, "By the way, how the hell did you know about him being a virgin?" She asks and I flush red with embarrassment.

The doorbell rings and I immediately shoot up, "I'll get it." I announce but both Evan and Chris are too busy watching the match to pay attention.

When I open the door, I am surprised to find Jordan standing on the other side, "Oh look, you finally got time for us after your boyfriend left." I tease him and he laughs.

"See, there was a reason I didn't tell you." He hugs me. "And you my lady, have been crying."

I ignore his comment as I lead him inside the house and he immediately frowns, turning to me, "You invited them all and not me?" He asks and I shake my head.

"They came on their own, just like you did." I say and he frowns but doesn't say anything.

"Why were you crying?" He asks and Chris's eyes snap to Jordan. He gives him a look, as if asking him to back off but Jordan being Jordan, ignores Chris.

"Because I met my biological mother." I blurt and everyone stares at me, as if they didn't expect me to tell him.

I consider Jordan a really close friend, and he trusts me, which means that I can trust him. He has let me in in his life, so I should be able to do the same to show some appreciation for whatever he does for me. He actually manages to make me laugh more than anyone else.

"What? He's my favourite guy." I tell everyone, "No offence to you two." I tell Chris and Evan.

"Offence taken." They both reply simultaneously.

"Jinx! You owe me burger at lunch tomorrow." Evan points at Chris who just shakes his head at him.

"Kids." Jordan says and I laugh. He turns to me, "So? I am a little at loss here."

"Well, she kind of abandoned me as soon as I was born. And then she suddenly started contacting me, so I decided to meet her?" I say in the easiest way possible, leaving out the details and he nods.

"Was she a bitch?" He asks and I shake my head.

"No, but it would have helped hating her." I shrug and he pulls me down on his lap and smoothly pats down my hair in a soothing gesture, and honestly, it's so fucking comforting. "Keep doing that though, it's kinda relaxing." I tell him and he grins at me.

Chris glares at Jordan and I give him a questioning look when Jordan smirks. When Chris notices me looking at him, his expression immediately soften and he offers me a small smile which makes me smile at him as well, because he doesn't smile often! And his smile actually seems to melt me apart.

He doesn't move his gaze away, in fact his smile turns deeper as he keeps on staring at me and I give him a questioning look but the smile doesn't falter from my lips which makes him chuckle and he shakes his head at me.

I ignore the butterfly that erupts in my stomach and tear my gaze away from him. Jordan pinches my side which makes me yelp so I swat his arm.

"Hey, An?" Evan calls, finally looking away from television and I stare at him.

"Yes, Ev?" I ask.

"I love you, best friend." He says and I frown at him for a second until I notice that he's saying it because he knows I have had a really pissed off day.

I smile at him, "I love you too, idiot." I say, throwing a cushion at him and he catches it in his arm before throwing that at Breanna.

"Pillow fight." Jordan yells before throwing me off his lap and I gasp.

"Oh, bitch, you didn't." I pull out the cushion under Chris's head and he glares at me but I throw it at Jordan's face but he manages to catch it, "Oh you shitty basket ball players!" I curse and Chris laughs.

Breanna chuckles before going behind Chris and pushing him off completely and he lands on top of me. He immediately lifts off his weight from me because I start cursing under my breath when he landed with an 'oomph.'

"You weight hella lot." I tease Chris and he stares at me.

"I know, I need the muscles for the game, Claire." He retorts and I smile.

Jordan comes to sit on Chris's back and I immediately slid out from under Chris before his front hits the floor. He curses under his breath before standing up and Jordan's head hits the floor and I laugh at the scene in front of me.

"Comical." Evan says but I take the pillow and start hitting him.

"Bitch!" I say and continue to hit him as I laugh.

We continue to play with the pillows until Evan gets a call from Miranda and he comes to give me a hug, "Just shout out from the window if you need me, okay?" Evan whispers in my ear and I nod.

"I am also going to head home, Adri." Breanna says and Jordan nods, standing up as well.

Chris stays back and I don't say anything as I close the front door. When I get in the living room, Chris is putting the cushions back on the their places and I give him a small smile. I help him a little before he sits down on the couch and I go in the kitchen.

I pull out the a water bottle and fill myself a glass of water and gulp it down. I close my eyes, and lean against the counter as I sigh. I feel a presence in front of me, and when I open my eyes, Chris is standing right there, gazing down at me, his gray eyes dark as his hand comes up to my cheek.

This is the first time he's touching me like this ever since we got in a fight, and more than that, he's never touched me like this before. "You alright?" He asks and I nod, fidgeting and I gulp, looking at him, suddenly nervous.

"Fine." I whisper.

He moves to wrap his arms around me but when I turn to move, he tightens his hold and hugs me. "Jay.." I trail off but his touch is so gentle as his arms circle around my waist and his breath hits my ear.

"Just.. shut up, okay?" He says and I smile to myself.

"What happened to not touching you?" I ask, curious but also nervous as hell because his touch is sending tingling sensations over all my body.

"I'll explain it later." He whispers in a rushed voice as his lips move towards my cheeks and he places a lingering kiss there.

My breath catches in my throat at his action but he doesn't say a word as his lips move further and he kisses the corner of my mouth. His lips move to hover over mine and my gaze flickers between the vulnerability between his eyes and his parted lips as he moves to close the inch of a distance between us.

"Chris." I gasp as his lips brush against mine.

"You've never said my name before." He whispers before closing the distance and placing his lips on mine.

•••

well, DOUBLEE UPDATEE!

i just couldn't wait. also because last part had so little of Evan and Chris.

so, thoughts?

vote. comment. support. x