Chapter 02 | Am I Making You Uncomfortable?

"I'm gonna be late for my Quantum Mechanics final," Connor mumbles against my lips the next morning.

"You'd better get going then, huh?" I ask him with a small giggle, rolling us over in my bed so that I'm straddling him. Yet another perk of living in an on-campus apartment rather than in a dorm - you get a queen-sized bed instead of one of those tiny twin beds.

"I love you," He laughs and he kind of says it under his breath, as if he doesn't mean for me to hear it or something. I don't know why though, because it's not like we haven't already said 'I love you' to each other hundreds of times. Like I said, we've only been dating for about three months now and I've only ever been in love with one other guy, but I know when I'm in love and I'm in love with him. Three months doesn't seem like long enough to fall in love with someone, I know, but in my defense, I have known him for four years.

"I love you back," I whisper, locking my arms around his neck and letting him roll us back over in the bed.

Last night, he stayed over and even though it was a lot of fun, I'm pretty sure I didn't help him prepare at all for his final today, which I feel a little guilty about. Well, I guess that's not totally true - I kinda helped him. We went over that long list of terms that he needed to know and surprisingly, he knew them all, along with their significance. That's about all we did though, in terms of studying. We spent the rest of the time watching Netflix (Grey's, obviously), making out (a lot), eating junk food (too much), and playing with Karev.

From what I understand though, Connor doesn't actually need Quantum Mechanics to get the degree that he's working towards, so even if he fails his final exam today, which he probably won't, he'll be fine. I know that a lot of fray boys are stereotyped as being literal idiots, but Connor's actually kind of a genius. That being said, there's no way he can fail the overall class, so he's worrying over nothing.

"But I really gotta go," He says a couple of seconds later, pulling away from me with a sigh. "The Lebowitz Building is across campus."

"Okay, okay," I mutter, unlocking my arms from around his neck and putting a bit of space between us in the bed. "Go, make an 'A'."

"I'll try," Connor chuckles, getting up out of the bed. He grabs his button-up shirt from the floor and then slides it on, buttoning it up.

"Do you have to work today?" I randomly ask him, grabbing my phone from the nightstand and unlocking it, seeing that I've got five unread texts from Sienna. I'm sure they're just her trying to make me feel guilty about not being in Kansas for Graham's graduation, which, I think, should probably be getting started soon. I don't have to energy to deal with her right now though, so I set it back down.

Connor's trust fund alone is more than the cost of my old house plus the combined costs for Sienna, Piper, and me to attend Suffolk, so basically, he is by no means poor. His parents are filthy stinking rich and he, by association, is also filthy stinking rich. I say that to say this: he has a job and it's kind of funny to me, because he obviously doesn't need it. I really do respect the fact that he makes his own money though, rather than mooching off of his parents. He works at a sporting goods store, so he sells like fish bait and baseballs.

"I don't," Connor says, shaking his head and pulling a pair of brown Chinos on over his boxer shorts. "Why, you want to do something?"

"Something like what?" I wonder, picking my phone up again, deciding to just go ahead and read Sienna's texts, but not reply to them.

Don't get me wrong, Sienna is still one of my very best friends and I still love her with every little piece of my heart, but ever since Graham and I broke up back in December, she's been very vocal about how stupid she thinks the reason that we broke up is. Not only that, but she's been incredibly concerned about Graham and his well-being, which is fine and dandy, because they're close friends. The annoying thing is that she treats him like he's some wounded puppy or something. Also, she's been super passive aggressive, treating me like I'm just some heartless hound dog. Needless to say, our friendship has been incredibly strained the past five months.

"Something like a date," Connor tells me then, pulling on his shoes and grabbing his car keys from the nightstand. "They just opened up that one restaurant downtown, The Rivera, and Preston says that it's good there, so I think that we should go. Are you busy tonight?"

"Nope, I'm free as a bird tonight," I chirp, sitting up in my bed. "But Preston also likes Thai food, so clearly he doesn't have good taste."

"You're ridiculous," He laughs, walking over to me and leaning down, kissing me on the forehead. "I'll pick you up around 7:00, okay?"

"Okie dokie," I chime, running my fingers through my messy hair. "Have fun with your Quantum Mechanics exam."

"I won't," Connor assures me with a sigh. "So, what do you have planned for today?" He asks, grabbing his jacket.

"Sleeping, eating, playing with Karev, you know, just the usual," I say with a small shrug. I lead a pretty boring life.

"Well, you have fun with that," He grins. He's amused, but I don't know why, but he's weird, so I don't question it.

"I will," I tell him, because it's true. I spend every single day sleeping, eating, and playing with Karev, and every single day, I have fun.

"Okay, see you later, babe," Connor says and then he leaves my bedroom, closing the door after him. Seconds later, I hear him leave.

When Connor's gone, I get up and make my bed, which is a habit that I recently picked up on. Before college, I never made my bed and it annoyed my mom, but Maddie is a clean freak and always complained over it when we were roommates, so I started making it.

After I make my bed, I walk over to my closet and pull out Karev's bag of dog food and then fill up his dog bowl. I filled it up just last night, but he's really greedy, so all of the food is already gone. I probably overfeed him, but that's okay. He'll be fat, but he'll still be adorable. When he hears the ripple of the dog food bag, he immediately wakes up and jumps out of his bed, running over to the bowl.

I tell him 'good morning' and then I'm about to head to the kitchen to find something to eat, but before I can make my way out of my bedroom, my phone starts ringing across the room. With a small sigh, I walk back over to my bed and plop down, grabbing my phone from the nightstand and answering without getting a good look at the display. I'm pretty sure it's Sienna, calling to start the bitching.

"Sienna, I swear to God, if you start bitching at me about Graham, I am hanging up and blocking your number."

"Good morning to you too, sunshine," A familiar voice greets with a giggle. "Well, assuming it's morning time."

"Aspen!" I giddily exclaim, placing the voice after a couple of seconds. "Oh my God, hey!" I yelp.

"Hey there," She says, giggling again. "How are you? How is your boyfriend? Christopher, is it?"

"Connor," I remind her. "And we're both pretty good, I think. What about you? How's life in the U.K.? How's my brother? Still dumb?"

"Ah, right, Connor - I'll try to remember that," Aspen assures me. "And good, really good, good, and yes," She states, still laughing.

When we graduated high school, Aspen went to her dream school, Cambridge University in England, which is basically one of the most prestigious schools across the pond. Beckett went with her too, which was...surprising, to say the very least. I mean, they'd been together for about a year and a half when they left for Europe together, but I never thought they'd last this long, as bad as that sounds.

Anyway, it worked out pretty well for them, because Beckett had just graduated from Boston University, so he didn't really have anything tying him here to Massachusetts. So, they went to the United Kingdom, she went to Cambridge, and he went to law school. Aspen's planning on being a lawyer too, by the way, which I think is so adorable, since that's what Beckett's doing. He wants to be a defense attorney though and Aspen wants to be a prosecutor, which, one would think, is a conflict of interest for them, but apparently not.

We don't get to see each other all that often, since they live on the other side of the world, which makes me so sad, but we try to stay in touch. The time difference makes it hard, but we do the best we can. Still though, it's been about a year and a half since I saw them.

"That's good, I'm glad to hear that," I reply, lying back on my bed. "So, what's up?" I ask.

"Nothing's up," She assures me. "I just wanted to talk to my best friend," Aspen defends.

"Okay, weirdo," I say, getting a bit suspicious of her motives. "You're being strange."

"I am not being strange, Sawyer, you're just being paranoid, as always," She argues.

"Whatever you say," I appease her in a singsong voice. "So, tell me, when are you and Beckett gonna make a trip back to the States?"

"Sooner than you think," Aspen chirps. "You do realize you and Piper and Sienna and your boyfriends could come here though, yes?"

"Piper and Jason and Sienna and Clay can, but I can't. I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to England."

"I'm pretty sure you aren't," She scoffs. "Why do you say that? Didn't you have fun last time?"

"No, I didn't have fun last time. I got sick and nearly died," I remind her of the time two years ago when Sienna, Piper, and I visited.

"Sawyer, that was because you are raw hamburgers," Aspen chuckles. "Which, mind you, I told you not to do, but you didn't listen."

"Well, excuse me for thinking that they were cooked," I say as an overwhelming sense of nostalgia hits me. Gosh, I miss those days.

"So, it wasn't England's fault, it was your own fault," She explains. "My point is that you and Piper and Sienna should come and visit."

"Okay, okay, okay, I'll talk to them about it," I assure her. Aside from the whole raw meat situation, I actually did have a lot of fun in England. It was for Spring Break and even though the United Kingdom doesn't seem like the ideal place to go for Spring Break, it was actually pretty amazing. Not to mention the fact that Graham and I were still together back then and he came and made it even better.

"Good, because Beckett and I just moved into this new flat and it's really nice and about a million times bigger than our last apartment."

I'm about to reply and ask her about it, but before I can, there's a soft knock on the apartment door. I contemplate ignoring the knock, because the only people it could be are Jason or Connor, because Piper and I don't really talk to that many other people. Jason's with Pipes and Connor should be halfway to the Lebowitz Building by now though, so I doubt it's either of them and there's no one else who should be knocking at my door. Maybe it's food or money or something though, so I get up from my bed and listen to Aspen gush about her new flat with Beck and make my way into the living room and over to the door, unlocking it and then pulling it open.

When I see the person standing there with a grin, my jaw drops and my eyes immediately start to water. I'm still very emotional, clearly.

"Beckett!" I shout, practically flinging myself into my brother's open arms.

"Hey, baby sister," Beckett replies with a small chuckle, returning my hug.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him once I pull away gesturing for him to come in, which he does.

"It's summer, I missed you and mom, Aspen missed you and the other two, so we decided to come."

"We?" I echo, raising my eyebrows. "Aspen's here too?" I ask, before remembering that she's on the phone. "Are you here?" I demand.

"Well, to be fair, I did tell you that Beckett and I would be coming back to the States sooner than you thought," She reminds me then.

"Well, I didn't think that you meant you were already here, you dumb doofus," I defend, shedding a few happy tears. "Where are you?"

"Beckett dropped me off at my dad's house," She tells me. "When I told him we were coming, he demanded I come see him first thing."

If you remember, Aspen's parents are the super devout Christians who basically disowned her when they found out she was having sex with pretty much any guy willing back in high school to deal with the pain of losing her boyfriend. If you forgot how bad it was, she literally couldn't even stand to live with them anymore, so she moved in with me and Beckett and our mom. Anyway, they made amends around the time Aspen and Beckett left for Europe, so that's good. Her mom died a couple of years ago though, so that's sad.

"So, this whole phone call was supposed to be a distraction or something?" I wonder, finally understanding why she was being weird.

"Yes and no," She says. "Yes, because I had to make sure you didn't leave your apartment and no because I wanted to talk to you first."

"I hate you," I tell her, wiping a few tears away from my face and plopping down on the couch as Beckett heads towards the kitchen.

"You love me," Aspen scoffs. "And my dad's coming downstairs now, so I have to go, but I will be over there as soon as I can, okay?"

"Make it snappy - it's been, like, a year and a half since I saw you, you know."

"I'll make it snappy," She laughs. "Give me, like, thirty minutes," Aspen adds in.

"Fine, but if you're not here when those thirty minutes are up, I'm coming to get you," I threaten.

"Okay, okay, okay," She laughs again. She's so laughy - I don't know why, but I plan to find out.

We hang up then and I put my phone down and jump up from the couch, going to the kitchen, where Beckett is ransacking our 'fridge.

"Of course the first thing you do when you come to my house is eat," I sigh, hopping up on a counter.

"I just spent the past eight hours on a plane for you," He tells me, pulling a pint of ice cream from the freezer and grabbing a spoon.

"Touché," I say. "That's Piper's ice cream though, so she's not going to be too happy if you eat it all."

"Thing 2 will be okay," Beckett tells me before uncapping Piper's ice cream and scarfing some down.

"You gotta stop calling Sienna and Piper 'Thing 1' and 'Thing 2', Beck," I sigh, rolling my eyes at him.

"If I do that, then I'll probably call them Penelope and Suzanne or something," He defends. "You know that I'm horrible with names."

"Anyway, does mom know you're here?" I ask, changing the subject because I know I can't fix his stupid ways. He's just so stubborn.

"No, because I knew she'd tell you, but the last time I talked to her, she told me you had a new boyfriend?"

"Well, he's not really new anymore, Beckett," I laugh. "We've been together almost four months," I explain.

"Okay, well, where is this kid? I wanna meet him," Beckett says through a mouthful of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.

"I think you mean 'interrogate', but thankfully he's taking a test right now, so you're just going to have to put that off."

"I don't want to interrogate him, Sawyer; I just want to talk to him," Beckett scoffs. "What happened with you and Cambridge though?"

"We broke up, clearly," I vaguely explain with a small shrug, looking down at the floor.

"Well, obviously, but why? Did he hurt you?" Beckett wonders. "I asked mom, but she said that you refused to talk about it with her."

"I refused to talk about it with anyone," I mutter. "Let's just talk about something else."

"I'm not just 'anyone' though, you know," He says, leaning against a counter. "I'm your big brother; you can talk to me about anything."

"I know, but I can't talk to anyone about it, Beck," I sigh, shaking my head, still looking at the floor. "It just...I dunno, it hurts too much."

He's quiet for a couple minutes and I think that he's trying to think of what he can say next. I keep my eyes trained on the titled floor.

"Well, your new boyfriend, why don't you tell me about him?" Beckett suggests.

"Alright," I agree, thankful for the subject change. "What do you want to know?"

"Does he have a criminal record?"

I burst out laughing at that - of course that's the first thing he asks.

It's then that I realize just how much I've missed my big brother these past few years. In my senior year of high school, he moved out of the house and into an apartment here in Boston like he said he would, which made me so incredibly sad. Sure, he annoyed the life out of me, but he was also kind of one of my best friends. Then the year after he moved out is when he and Aspen left, so it's been quite some time since I lived with my brother. Sure, we talk a few times a month, but it's not the same as seeing each other. I don't know how long he and Aspen are going to be here, so I'm gonna make sure to spend as much time as I possibly can with them both.

"I'm serious," Beckett tells me when I don't reply to that weird question.

"No, Beck, he doesn't have a criminal record," I truthfully say with laugh.

"Have you met his parents?"

"I have met his parents, yes."

"Does he smoke, drink, or do any kinds of drugs?"

"He doesn't smoke, he drinks a bit, and no drugs."

"And he makes you happy?"

"He makes me really happy."

"Then I guess I approve," Beckett sighs, scarfing down more of Piper's ice cream. Boy, I hope he's not here when she finds out he ate her ice cream. Piper has this really weird obsession with ice cream - Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, especially - and when she finds out Beckett ate hers, he's going to be in a world of trouble. She plays about a lot of stuff, but, let me tell you, food is not one of them.

"Gee, I'm so glad I have your approval," I sarcastically reply.

"Yep, I know that it means the world to you," He mocks me.

I hear my phone ringing in the living room then and with a loud sigh, I jump down from the counter and make my way there, grabbing my phone up from the couch. I glance down at the display and sigh again, even louder this time, when I see that it's Sienna's number. Why she's calling, I don't know. I mean, I do know, but it's kind of pointless. Obviously, it's too late for me to make it to the graduation.

"Hello?" I answer.

"Do you know what time it is, Sawyer?"

"It's 11 o'clock in Massachusetts," I say.

"Which means it's 10 o'clock in Kansas."

"Yes and what's your point?" I ask, not wanting to beat around the bush.

"My point is that the engineering department ceremony is about to start."

That's what Graham majored in, engineering, biomedical engineering, as a matter of fact, so I guess that's her way of telling me that I'm officially missing Graham's graduation. I'm about 100% sure she only called to make me feel bad and it's kind of working, to be honest. I know he thought I was coming and even though I called and explained last night, I can't help but think he's at least little hurt.

"Sienna, is it your purpose in life to hurt my feelings or something?"

"Could you stop thinking about yourself for half a second, Sawyer?"

"What am I supposed to be thinking about then, Sienna?" I sigh.

"Graham!" Sienna exclaims. "Think about how he feels right now."

"He's literally about to graduate from college; I highly doubt I'm on his mind right now," I mumble. "You really need to relax," I tell her.

"Do you not understand how much he still loves you? You broke his heart, Sawyer, and you're just acting like that doesn't even matter."

"We broke up months ago, S," I sigh. "I have accepted it and Graham has accepted it and how you feel about it is what doesn't matter."

"Well, that was rude," Sienna says, sounding annoyed.

"I think you calling me from Graham's graduation to try to make me feel bad about missing Graham's graduation is a little bit ruder."

"Well, I just wanted you to know what you're missing."

"Gee, thanks," I scoff, rolling my eyes even though she can't see me. "Well, my brother's here, so I have to go," I say, ready to hang up.

"Wait, Beckett's there?" She asks. "Is Aspen there too?"

"She's in Massachusetts, yeah, but she's at her dad's house," I mumble. "But I'll talk to you later, if you're not going to be mean to me."

"I was never being mean to you," She huffs, even though that's a total lie. Like I said, we're still close, but the friendship is struggling.

"Yeah, okay, Sienna," I sigh. "Well, send Graham my congratulations."

She says she will and we hang up and I put my phone down, going back to the kitchen, where Beckett is still eating Piper's ice cream.

"Thing 1 is giving you a hard time about missing Graham's graduation, huh?"

"Were you eavesdropping?" I ask, sitting down across from him at the table.

"I wouldn't really call it eavesdropping," Beckett replies, shaking his head. "I mean, you were, like, fifty feet away," He reminds me.

"That's still eavesdropping," I assure him. "But yeah, she is, because she's mean and obviously Team Graham," I inform my brother.

"You still don't want to tell me what he did to fuck it all up?"

"He didn't do anything to fuck it all up," I state. "It was me."

"Well, what did you do to fuck it all up?" Beckett questions.

"Hey, so how's law school? Is it as hard as people say it is?" I ask, changing the subject again. I refuse to talk about my past relationship.

I know that Beckett is curious as to what happened between Graham and me, but I'm just not ready to talk about it and I wish he'd stop bringing it up. It's been nearly half a year and I've moved on and I'm happy, but I'm just not ready to revisit that part of my life and I hope that he can understand that. He should know by now that when I go through stuff, I don't like to talk about it; I like to sweep it under a rug and pretend it never even happened. It's unhealthy, I know, but it's just what I do and it's what I'll continue to do.

❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁

"If I tell you something, do you promise not to freak out?" Aspen randomly asks a few hours later as we're strolling through the mall.

"I promise to try," I reply, looking over at her with a curious look on my face. "Is everything okay?" I ask as we walk inside a shoe store.

"Oh, yeah, totally," She nods. "It's nothing bad. It's really good, actually, but I don't know how you're going to feel about it."

"Well, if you're happy about it, I'm sure I'll be happy about it for you," I tell her. "C'mon, you're freaking me out. What's up?"

"Okay, well," Aspen starts, but then stops and takes a deep breath. "So, Beckett-"

"Wait, are you pregnant?" I ask, half excited and half grossed out at the thought.

"No!" Aspen exclaims, shaking her head. "No, no, nothing like that," She tells me.

"Okay, well, if you're not pregnant, then what is it?" I wonder, starting to get a little bit impatient.

"Okay, I'm just gonna say it," She states and then takes another deep breath. "Beckett proposed."

I feel my eyes widen to the size of tennis balls and my jaw drops and I stand there in the middle of this shoe store, staring at my best friend with this bewildered look on my face. She has this awkward look on her face, like she's afraid of what I might say, which is crazy.

"This is the part where you say something," Aspen tells me in a singsong voice.

"Aspen Thames!" I shriek after a couple of seconds of silence, slapping her arm.

"Oww!" She yelps, rubbing her arm and sending me a look. "What was that for?"

"For not telling me you're getting married, you stupid jerk!" I yell and I know I'm probably getting lots of weird looks, but I don't care.

"Why do you assume I said yes?" Aspen wonders with a small laugh, walking away from me to look at a pair of Giuseppe Zanotti heels.

"If you turned my brother's proposal down, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to hit you in the face at least once," I say, following after her.

"You are so irrational," She laughs, playfully rolling her eyes at me. "I'd be stupid to reject him. I said yes before he was finished asking."

"That's it," I sigh, plopping down on one of the benches in the aisle. "You can't go back to England; you and Beckett have to stay here."

"And why is that?" Aspen asks, sitting down beside me and trying on a pair of Zanotti heels. Her obsession with that designer is scary.

"Because it's too hard to stay in touch when you're so far away," I say. "Like, how did I not know about this the second Beck proposed?"

"Well, it was only a few days ago," She tells me. "Also, it's not the kind of thing I could just call and tell you over the phone, of course."

"Well, I'm just glad I know now," I chirp and then glance down at her ring finger and notice that it's bare. "Please tell me he got a ring."

"Oh, he got a ring alright. Like, it's insane. I mean, it too big and it cost way too much and I feel all guilty because he spent so much money on it, but it's just so beautiful, so I can't just tell him to get something more subtle," Aspen gushes. "I didn't wear it on the plane because I was scared of losing it. It's, like, a size too big, so I need to go get it sized," She explains. "But oh my God, I love it so much."

"Well, where is it? Let me see it!" I exclaim and I suddenly want to know everything - how Beckett proposed, where they want to tie the knot, if they're going to have a big ceremony or a small one (doubtful, because Aspen likes stuff to be larger-than-life), everything.

The memory of one of the most perfect weddings I've ever been to floods my mind then: Tucker, Graham's older brother, and Cassidy's. It was something like four years ago when it happened, but I remember that day so clearly. It was on a golf course, which I thought was crazy, and it was really cold, but it was so beautiful. I was a bridesmaid and Graham was a groomsmen and it was just so perfect. I wonder how they're doing now, Tucker and Cassidy. I haven't seen them since a few months since before Graham and I ended things.

"Okay, okay, calm down, weirdo, people are starting to stare," She laughs and then reaches down, picking her Prada handbag up from the floor and starts rummaging through it. I don't know how she affords such high-end stuff, especially because she doesn't have a job (at least, I don't think she does), but she needs to teach me her ways, honestly. Like, she's got this super nice Prada handbag, her sunglasses are Cartier, and her shoes are Louboutin. I guess she just got a lot of life insurance money when her mother passed away.

"Those people need to mind their own business," I shrug, looking up and seeing a couple of elderly ladies sending me annoyed looks.

The elderly women seem to catch the hint, which is nice, and then they walk away without a word. Some people are just so annoying and nosey and I just can't take it. Like, those ladies are probably in their late sixties or early seventies, what business do they have in here anyways? It's literally a shoe store that sells basically just high heels. They need to mosey on over to Dillard's or Sears or something.

"Okay, here it is," Aspen says, pulling a small, black velvet box out of her purse and handing it to me.

I take it from her and pop it open and when I see the stunningly beautiful ring on the inside, my heart instantly breaks into a million little pieces. Not even from sadness or anything though, but from the sheer cuteness that is my brother and my best friend. The ring is absolutely perfect, but Aspen was right - it is definitely way too exquisite for an engagement ring. Still though, it's pretty amazing. I can understand now why she's not wearing it even though it's barely too big - I'd hate myself forever if I lost something so precious.

"Don't you love it?" Aspen asks. "And look on the band! He had the date we got together engraved! Isn't that so cute? God, I love it."

"This is going to sound kind really weird, but my brother is kind of, like, boyfriend goals," I tell her, checking out the adorable engraving.

"Yeah, you're right," She laughs (well, I know now why she's been so laughy all day long). "That is pretty weird, but it is also super true."

"You know, when you first told me that Beckett asked you out, I had no idea you guys were going to be this adorable," I tell her then.

"I know," Aspen sighs as I hand her back the ring and she puts it back in the box and in her purse. "But you and I have a lot of talking to do, because obviously you're my Maid of Honor and basically my Wedding Planner, so let's get shoes and then go get food, yes?"

"I don't need shoes, but I will help you pick out a pair," I reply, standing up at the same time as she does. I think that ever since I started college, I have become a lot more frugal. Like, when I was in high school, my mom paid for everything for me, so I never really paid that much attention to the cost of stuff, but now that I'm the one who has to actually pay for everything I want, I spend super sparingly.

Aspen and I walk around for about an hour and she tries on a lot of shoes, but in the end, she decides to get a pair and then we leave.

"So, where's Piper?" She asks me as we make our way to the food court.

"She was with Jason last night at his mom's beach house, so I guess she's there," I shrug. "I called her, but she didn't answer," I explain.

"I can't believe she's still dating that moose," She sighs, shaking her head.

"You're very weird with your insults," I chuckle. "But yeah, I'm surprised they've made it this far, but at least he doesn't cheat anymore."

"So he says," Aspen scoffs, obviously not believing that Jason has changed.

We get in line at the burger shack and after a minute of standing there, my phone starts ringing in my purse and I take it out, sighing. When I look down at the display, I am expecting to see Sienna's name again, calling to bitch at me again, but instead, I see 'Heather'.

"Hey mom," I answer, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Hi honey," She replies. "Are you busy tonight?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be going on a date with Connor, but I'll probably have to raincheck it since Aspen and Beckett are here," I say.

"Or you could bring him over and finally let me meet him," She suggests in a hopeful voice.

"Mom," I sigh, not wanting to have this talk with her again. We've had it so many times. "Don't you think it's still pretty early for that?"

"No, I don't, actually," My mom denies. "You and Graham dated for a week before I met him."

"Okay, why must you always bring Graham up when we're talking?" I ask her then, sighing.

"Because I happen to think that the two of you were a lovely couple," She tells me. "Anyway, so I just talked to your brother and he said that he's going to talk to Aspen about coming over for dinner tonight so we can all catch up. You might as well bring Connor so that we can go ahead and meet him. It's killing two birds with one stone, really," She adds.

"I guess you have a point there," I agree. "Well, I'll have to call him and see what he thinks and he's okay with it, we'll be there," I state.

"Alright, well, Aspen and Beckett are coming at 7 o'clock, so try to shoot for somewhere around that time, okay?" My mother tells me.

"Okay, okay, I will see you then," I mutter and then hang up.

"You know what's kind of funny?" Aspen randomly asks me.

"Huh?" I ask, checking the time and seeing that it's already 6.

"I used to call your mom Mama Jameson, but now that Beckett and I are actually getting married, she really will be my mom, well, mom-in-law, but still, and I can start calling her Mama Jameson again and it won't be weird," She explains, sounding genuinely happy.

"Nah, it will still be pretty weird," I tell Aspen matter-of-factly.

"I can't believe after all these years you're still so pessimistic," She replies, shaking her head. "Anyways, so what did your mom want?"

"She wants me to bring Connor over to the house tonight, because apparently you and Beckett are having dinner over there," I state.

"Oh, well, this is news to me," Aspen says, frowning. "You don't think she'll be mad about the engagement, do you?"

"I seriously doubt it," I reply, shaking my head. "My mom already loves you like you're her kid, so it'll be totally fine."

"If you say so," She sighs, sounding all scared, which is insane and so totally out of character for Aspen.

"Besides, you'll get to meet Nicholas and Savannah and they're honestly my two favorite people ever."

❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁

"I'm nervous."

"Why are you nervous?"

"Because I've never met your parents or your brother or your friend or Savannah and Nicholas," Connor sighs.

"That's no reason to be nervous," I tell him, putting a pair of wedge sandals on. "They'll love you," I assure him.

"Yeah, but what if they don't?" He asks, pulling on a pale blue button-up shirt and buttoning it.

"That's not even possible," I reply. "You're super loveable. Also, you're very cute, so that'll help."

Connor and I are at my apartment getting ready to do this dinner thing at my parent's house. It's already 6:45, so we'll probably be a little bit late, but that's okay. Thankfully, Connor had no objections to postponing our date at the Rivera, so we're going. I really don't want to go, but I figure that my mom's never going to give up, so I might as well let her meet Connor while Aspen and Beckett are there too so that all of the attention isn't on us. Speaking of Aspen and Beckett, they got a room at a local hotel, so they're gone now.

"Did she like Graham?" Connor wonders.

"Yeah, she was actually kinda infatuated."

"Well, that's good to know," He sarcastically replies.

"You worry too much," I inform him, standing up from my bed and grabbing my car keys and my phone from my nightstand. "Ready?"

"I worry a perfectly normal amount, I'll have you know," Connor argues, grabbing his own keys and phone. "And as ready as I will be."

"Seriously, just relax," I say, looking at myself in the mirror one last time. It's not like this is a super formal thing, so I'm just wearing a neon blue blouse, a pair of black skinny jeans, and neon blue wedge sandals. Connor's wearing his normal kind of clothes - brown Chinos and the blue button-up. He tried to wear a tie, but I told him that'd be going over the top and Beckett would make fun of him.

He assures me that he will try to relax and then we leave the apartment together, walk down the stairs, and outside to the parking lot. We get in my car and I pull out of the lot, heading towards my parent's house. They have a new house, which makes me kind of sad, because I really liked my old house. In my mom's defense though, that house did have a lot of bad memories. She still owns it though and now it just kind of sits there. I guess she's going to sell it or something, but really, she could just give it to me. I'd happily take it.

About twenty minutes later, I pull into the driveway of the home and park behind the black Range Rover next to my mom's car. That means both of my parents are home, which is good, because it's been a few weeks since I last saw either of them and I miss them. Parked behind my mom's car is a white Honda, which I'm gonna assume is the car that Beck and Aspen are renting while they're here.

"Whoa," Connor mumbles, getting out of the car at the same time as I do.

"'Whoa', what?" I ask, grabbing his hand and leading him to the front door.

"This house is insane," He replies.

"Yeah, they had it built," I explain.

The house really is super nice and if Suffolk wasn't in Boston, I'd probably live here with my parents, because that's how much I love it here. First off, it's kind of secluded and the nearest neighbors are about three miles away, which is nice. Second off, it's got five bedrooms, four bathrooms, two guest rooms, a sunroom, an in-ground pool, and just a bunch of other nice stuff that make me wish I lived here. I'm sure my parents wouldn't object to me moving in, but the drive from Andover to Boston every day is too much for me.

When Connor and I reach the front door, I use my key to unlock it, and then we go inside and I close the door behind us. I lead Connor to the dining room, where I see Beckett and Aspen talking to my mom. There's no food on the table which is annoying because I'm starving. Hopefully it's ready soon, because if it's not, I'm going to have to run down to Subway or something. I haven't eaten in hours.

"Hey mom," I say, getting her attention.

"Look who's finally here," She responds.

"It's literally 7:10," I tell her, glancing down at my phone. "Anyways, so this is my boyfriend Connor. Connor, that's my mom, and that's my best friend, Aspen, and my brother, Beckett," I explain, briefly introducing them before leading him over to the dining table. It's one of those really long rectangular ones with like eight seats, which is ridiculous, considering the fact that only four people live here.

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Connor," My mom says, standing up and hugging him, which is weird, because she's not even a hugger.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs...." Connor trails off, obviously not knowing how he should address my mother.

"Oh, you can just call me Heather," She assures him and then gestures for us to sit down, which we do, across from Beckett and Aspen.

"So, where are Savannah and Nicholas?" I ask, wanting to see them. They're so adorable and I just love them.

"They'll be down in a second," My mom says. "So, you four get acquainted and whatnot and I'm going to go dinner out of the oven."

My mom stands up to leave the room then and as soon she's out of earshot, Beckett starts his stupid inquisition. God, he's annoying.

"So, Connor, what's your last name?" He randomly asks.

"Um, Vaughan," Connor replies, looking pretty awkward.

"What's that, Welsh?" Beckett wonders. "You have family in Wales?"

"No, not that I know of," Connor denies, shaking his head.

"Are you close to your family? Do you have any sisters? Are you nice to your mom?"

"I, ah, yeah, I guess I'm close to my family. I'm only child though, so, no, no sisters. And yeah, my mom and I have a good relationship."

"What about your dad? Are you close to him? He's not a jackass, is he?"

"Beckett, can you please stop?" I groan, kicking him underneath the table in the shin. "You're making Connor so uncomfortable," I say.

"I'm not," Beckett scoffs, shaking his head dismissively. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" He asks Connor, giving him a pointed look.

Connor opens his mouth to say something, probably to refute it, even though I know it's the truth, but Beckett speaks before he does.

"See? I'm not making him uncomfortable," Beckett tells me.

"Well, you're making me uncomfortable," I tell him, sighing.

"Well, but everything makes you uncomfortable," He replies.

"How about we talk about something else?" Aspen suggests.

I'm about to second that and tell Aspen that that's a great idea, but before I can, I hear an adorable giggling coming from behind me. I place it immediately and spin around in my chair, seeing Savannah wobbling on her chunky legs into the room with a stuffed unicorn.

"Savannah!" I happily exclaim, jumping out of my chair and running to the corridor, scooping her up in my arms. "Hey there, cupcake!"

"Didn't you just see her last week?" A male voice asks me then with a small laugh as he walks down the stairs with Nicholas in his arms.

"Yes, but I missed her," I defend. "You'd miss her too, if you hadn't see her for a week," I explain, kissing Savannah's cheek. "Not that I don't miss you too, Nicholas, because I do," I assure him, leaning down and kissing his forehead. "I miss both of you very much," I say.

"Oh my God, why did I think Nicholas and Savannah were actual people?" Aspen asks as the four of us go into the living room and sit.

"They are actual people," I tell her, cuddling little Savannah in my arms. "They're very small and cute people, but people nonetheless."

Are you confused again? I bet you are. I told you the rest would come in due time, didn't I? Well, it's due time right now, so listen up:

About a month after I moved to Boston for college nearly three years ago, my mother got married James. You know him better as Dr. Fontana though.

Now that he's my step-dad though, I try not to call him 'Dr. Fontana', because that's just kind of weird, especially considering the fact that he's not my doctor anymore.

I don't call him 'dad' either though, because that word just has such a negative connotation for me, given the fact that my biological father, Tom, was the absolute worst human being that has ever walked the earth.

Anyway, my mom and James had been secretly dating throughout my junior and senior year, which kind of grossed me out when I found out during the summer after senior year.

I totally supported the relationship though, because my mom deserved a good guy and James is a good guy. Also, he's really nice and I'd already known him for a little over two years, so I knew he wasn't a psychopath.

My mom told me that the reason they waited to get married until I left for Suffolk is because James has a son my age, Chase, and she didn't want him to move in while I was still living there, because she knew I'd be uncomfortable with it, which she was so right about.

Right after they got married, they decided that they wanted kids together, but my mom didn't want to actually have them, because, I guess she figured she was too busy to be pregnant for nine whole months.

So, for their honeymoon they went to France, Spain, and Italy, and while they were there, they started doing all of this research on adoption and decided they wanted to adopt internationally.

After their honeymoon, they went to Ukraine to get the process started, but then they found out that Ukraine requires kids to be five before they're eligible for adoption and they didn't want a kid that old, so they went to Bulgaria.

Then in Bulgaria they found out that the average wait time for adoption finalization was like three and a half years, so they left there and then they went to Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan's this smallish country that's like dead in the center of China and Russia and that's where Savannah and Nicholas are from.

They adopted Savannah first, because they met her first. She was twelve months when they made their first trip to Kazakhstan and they immediately fell in love with her, which is understandable because she's got the cutest dimples and the most adorable blue eyes and shiniest hair ever.

So they started the adoption process and it was long and excruciating, but after a year and six months, the adoption was finalized and now she legally belongs to them.

She like a mini me, only with brown hair and basically I'm obsessed. She's two now, almost three, so she's at that stage where she's talking and running and honestly I'm just so happy that she's in my life.

Then there's Nicholas, who I also love very dearly. A couple of months before Savannah's adoption was finalized, James and my mom went back to Kazakhstan, because they decided they wanted to adopt another kid. I don't know why though - international adoption is crazy expensive.

Anyway though, they met Nicholas their second trip there and he was fourteen months at the time. His adorable brown hair and green eyes stole their hearts, so they decided to start the adoption process with him.

Unlike Savannah though, Nicholas' adoption hasn't been finalized yet, so he's technically their foster kid, but that doesn't matter, because in a few months, he'll be theirs. He's one, almost two, so he's still in that really adorable baby stage and he tries to do stuff that babies can't and it's just very amusing.

So, there you go. My mother married my old psychiatrist and they adopted two adorable toddlers, if you got lost somewhere in all of that.

❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁

"See, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" I ask Connor about two hours later once dinner is over and we're up in one of the guest rooms.

Surprisingly, the dinner went a lot better than I was expecting. Not that I was expecting a disaster, but I wasn't expecting it to go so well.

Once James and my mom found out that Aspen and Beckett are engaged, most of the focus went on them, so that was nice. Beckett wasn't even being that awful to Connor, which was also nice, but very surprising and very unlike him. I'm pretty sure he just didn't want to annoy everyone at the table though, which is what would have had happened had he started interrogating him again.

Overall though, it really seems like James and my mom approve of my relationship with Connor and Beckett and Aspen's engagement.

I flashback then to the last time a boy met my parents: Graham meeting my mom and Tom. In comparison to that horrible night, tonight actually went spectacularly. Speaking of Tom, he's no longer in my life. It's going to sound bad and blunt, but I'm just going to throw it out there: he's dead. He killed himself three years ago. Apparently he was severely depressed.

"I guess not," He agrees, wrapping his arms around me from behind me and kissing my neck. "But I don't think your brother likes me."

"That's okay," I tell him, closing my eyes. "Aspen's the only person Beckett really likes, to be completely honest. Well, and me, I guess."

"That's comforting to know, I guess," Connor laughs. "So, are we staying here tonight?"

"Oh God no," I say, shaking my head. "Beckett would be badgering us the whole time."

"Okay, well, what do you want to do then?" He asks, chuckling.

"I don't know, let's do go see a movie or something," I suggest.

"I thought you had to work in the morning?" Connor wonders.

"I'll just call in sick or something," I shrug. "Don't tell your mom I said that," I say after a second, remembering that his mom's my boss.

"Okay, babe," Connor replies with a grin, getting up from the bed. "Do you want to go and tell your brother and your friend?" He asks.

"I guess I can invite them - we'll just have to make sure you sit next to me in the theater so he's not harassing you the whole movie."

"You're very overdramatic," He informs me matter-of-factly.

"That's what you think, but wait until my Beck gets you alone," I reply in a singsong voice. "Anyways, I'll meet you in the car, okay?"

Connor nods and then kisses my forehead before leaving the room, heading downstairs and outside. I'm about to leave the room too and go down the hall to the other guest room, which is where Aspen and Beckett are, but my phone pings, stopping me in my tracks.

I pull it out of the pocket of my jeans and then peer down at the screen and read what it says: One Missed Call from: Graham Cambridge.

I see the voicemail symbol too and even though I probably shouldn't, I sit back down and dial the voicemail number.

"New Voicemail from Graham Cambridge," The automated voice says after I put in my code and my breath catches. "Press 1 to play message."

Shakily, I pull my phone away from my ear and hit the '1' and wait.

Author's Note

Hello my lovelies! I hope you're all doing super well today.

Sorry about that cliffhanger lol. Just kidding. I'm not sorry.

Thoughts? A lot of you called Dr. Fontana and Heather (#Feather??) back in Saving Sawyer, but I decided to wait until the sequel to confirm. So, thoughts on the two of them? Thoughts on Sawyer's baby brother and sister and the fact that James and Heather adopted them from Kazakhstan? Thoughts on Beckett and Aspen's return? Are you surprised they're still together and engaged? Are you surprised about that bit about Tom? Are you guys liking Connor any more now? Because I know that a lot of you don't like him (because you like Graham), but it seems like it is pretty half and half so idk. Speaking of Graham, what do you think that voicemail's all about?

Picture: Aspen Thames (Erin Heatherton) and her engagement ring

Song: Six Degrees of Separation by The Script (I just heard this for the first time yesterday and guys holy crap this song is basically the theme song of this entire story - you def should check it out if you've never heard it!)

This chapter is dedicated to maryybuxton for her comment on the last chapter. There were so many lovely comments and it was hard picking them because people like stellakuipers and ronintaylor and naenae_horan (to name a few) left really awesome comments too. So yeah, don't forget that the person who leaves the comment on this chapter that I love the most will have the next chapter dedicated to them.

Update: Next week, hopefully!

Also, Eid Mubarak, all my lovely Muslim readers!

Okay, that's all. See you wonderful people later (: