A/N: I didn't think I'd actually write one of these but here we go!

---

"Welcome home sweetheart, how has college been treating you?" Barbara says as she hugs her daughter tightly.

"Kind of well, I'm honestly glad to be home." Allexis chuckles as her mother releases her to let her walk into the house. "So, where's my bratty little brother?"

"Hanging with his friends, I did tell him you were coming home this week, though we were expecting you back on Saturday and not Thursday."

"Consider it a good surprise. I'll just be taking my stuff into my room, and then I'll just wait until he gets home to surprise him."

And with that, Allexis begins unloading everything from the moving truck into her old room. After a while of putting everything away, she immediately heads right to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

Mom said Jim was out with friends, guess he and Toby befriended some other kids while I was gone. That's good at least, but I hope that they're at least a good influence. Allexis thinks as she starts grabbing sandwich ingredients from the refrigerator. I wonder who they even are.

"...this play is gonna be so much fun! I can't believe we actually are gonna be doing this!" Allexis looks up from her gathering when she hears the sound of the front door opening, followed by multiple footsteps.

"I am absolutely parched, anyone else want something to drink?" She hears her brother say as he enters the kitchen. "We have some soda, juice, water- Allexis?!"

It takes all her willpower not to laugh at the shocked face her brother is making when he finds her. She lifts a hand that's currently holding a jar of mayonnaise to wave at him.

"Hey baby brother, miss me?" She asks. Jim's response of course was too predictable.

"Oh my god you're actually home!" He laughs as he pulls her into a hug. "I thought you weren't back for another two weeks!"

"Well I was supposed to come home at that time, but something came up and so...here I am."

Jim smiles as he releases her from the hug. "Well this is the best surprise you could have given me and mom. Oh, I wanna introduce you to some people, come here."

Allexis places her stuff down on the counter and follows her brother into the living room where an array of familiar and unfamiliar faces were waiting. She recognized Toby, Eli Pepperjack, Steve Palchuk (why the kid she would frequently get into fights with for picking on her baby brother as kids was sitting in the living room with who she assumed were his friends, but then again people changed over time so maybe he wasn't a bully anymore), and Darcy Williams, but the rest of the ones who were either sitting on the couch or on the floor.

"Oh I should probably do some introductions. Everyone, this is my older sister Allexis. Most of you have probably heard of her from our teachers in certain classes." Jim says gesturing to his sister. "Allexis, this is Claire, Aja, Krel, Mary, Shannon, Arthur, Blinky and Draal, and you know the rest."

"Hi." Allexis says, giving them a wave. "So, I guess these were the friend's mom mentioned earlier. I kind of wasn't expecting you to befriend some older folks - no offense."

"None taken!" One of the men, the one Jim referred to as Blinky, states politely. "Young Jim has mentioned you a few times on occasion, all good things of course, and it's a pleasure to actually meet you in person."

"Pleasure is mine."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see some of the teens glancing at the man her brother called Draal, who seemed to be watching her intently. He looked around her age, though she wasn't so sure because of the patch of hair on his chin.

"Draal, if you're done checking my sister out, can you hand everyone the scripts?" Jim asked loudly.

"I wasn't even doing that!" The man snorts as he grabs a backpack off the floor near his feet to pull some papers out of it.

"Yeah you were, with big heart eyes!" Toby laughs and Allexis shoots her brother a confused look. She'd caught guys checking her out before, but the way this Draal guy was looking at her wasn't even anything like that. Seemed more like he was analysing and probably even judging her, which was a bit strange.

"Aww, big brother Draal's in love!" Laughs one of the teens, a girl with pale blonde Jim had called Aja.

"Are you all done making fun of me or should I leave?" Draal asks in annoyance.

"I...I should probably go, the sandwich can't make itself and I'm starving." Allexis says awkwardly as she takes a step back towards the kitchen before turning around to walk back into it. Well, that was certainly awkward.

---

"Hey, what was all that about?"

Jim looks up from his book to see his sister standing near him with a frown on her face. "What was what?" He asks innocently.

"The thing with that Draal guy, he wasn't even "checking me out" as you claimed he was. That was rude of you." Allexis responded sourly as she took a seat on the chair opposite of him. "Not to mention embarrassing as well."

Jim raises his book to his face in an attempt to hide his smile. Earlier he had caught Draal glancing at his older sister, even after she went back to the kitchen to eat. He'd never seen the older man look at anyone in interest like that before, and he honestly thought he was actually interested in Allexis. Honestly, who wouldn't? She was a sweet girl with a quirky and cheerful personality when she wasn't invested in her studies, and like Draal would actually geek out over old and ancient weapons like swords and axes and ramble over how effective they were in a fight against some other weapon, and she liked gory and bloody stuff. Then again Draal wouldn't know a girl like her was into that kind of stuff, unless she told him herself.

"I'm sorry, I thought I was trying to help my beautiful and coincidentally very single sister get together with my friend who also happens to be single and shares some interests." He states, and he is very sure his sister is glaring daggers in his direction.

"I am not looking for a boyfriend Jim, especially with some guy I know nothing about." Allexis retorts and JIm looks up briefly to see her with her face buried into a pillow. "Can you like, not do that?"

"You're blushing!"

"Am not!"

"Yes you are! Your voice just got squeaky!"

"James Lake Junior so help me-" Jim springs up from his seat to bolt for the stairs, his sister right at his heels. He manages to get to his room and slam the door shut right in her face, earning him a frustrated and angry scream from her.

"Oh and I slipped him your number, so expect a text from the broody college drama student any day now!" He yells through the door.

"I swear one of these days I will strangle you!!"

"Your welcome Allexis!"