The smell of bacon sizzling in a pan woke you up, quiet voices snickering in the kitchen. Jean heard you shuffling around and looked over his shoulder, flashing a grin.

"Morning sunshine!" He chimed and you smiled back, stretching your arms and twisting your back to crack it. You took a deep breath in and pushed off of the couch, slowly rising to your feet and shuffling into the kitchen.

You rubbed your tired eyes and leaned onto the counter, watching Marco flip the bacon, his brown eyes flicking to you. His hand reached out and ruffled the top of your head, a sign of affection.

"How'd ya sleep?" Marco asked, the smell of bacon nearly distracting you from answering his question.

You shrugged, keeping your cool about what had happened last night with you and Connie. "It was alright. It's a pretty comfy couch," you leaned on the counter and your eyes darted to Connie who'd just entered the room.

"Hey Springer," Jean sing-songed and tossed him an orange that ended up hitting him mid-yawn. Jean snickered but Connie did not look amused about the flying fruit that'd hit him.

"Ole Springer here loves the mornings," Jean waggled his eyebrows as you heard the sarcasm in his tone, your eyes flicking back to a very tired, very disheveled Connie. You couldn't help but let out a small snicker at his appearance.

"Jean, it's way too early for this" Connie grumbled and walked around the barrier, entering the nook of the kitchen and hopping up on one of the counters.

"Hey, get your fat ass off the counter tops. No one wants your dirty butt on there," Jean swatted at him and you raised your eyebrows when Connie caught his wrist, the two locked in a deadly stare. Marco pulled on your shirt, indicating to move closer to him.

"Let the girls fight. Come help me cook," Marco whispered and you turned around, looking at everything else he was preparing. You decided to help with the eggs and listened to the squabbles of Jean and Connie in the background. You had to admit, their friendship was hilarious.

"That's it."

"Shit."

And then, chaos. Jean and Connie started fighting in the kitchen. Marco started yelling at them to get out and take it in the living room. The two boys tusseled their way over to the couch and you couldn't help but laugh as they continued to wrestle. Connie managed to get Jean pinned down and yelled at him to yield.

"I yield! I yield!" You and Marco were laughing so hard you could barely breathe. It was some nice entertainment for the morning, but you also got to learn more about them and their dynamics with one another.

"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine," you teased when Connie and Jean came back into the kitchen.

"What's that?" He said and you tried to say it again but he dismissed you, shaking his head saying, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. Did you say you could take me in a fight?"

"What? No! Connie that's not what I-" but it was too late.

You screamed as strong arms gripped around you and lifted you off the ground, your body thrown over Connie's shoulder. You laughed, slapping his back, begging him to let you down.

"Oh no, nuh-uh, this is what you wanted," Connie's voice was dangerously low and you immediately froze.

"Connie. Don't do it. Don't you do it. Connie. CON—" he threw you onto the couch, grabbing a pillow and smacking you with it, your arms shielding your face. Your body was racking with laughter until it hurt too much to continue. Exhausted, you accepted defeat and yielded.

"How about that? Fun, isn't it?" But all you could feel was something stirring deep inside you and your eyes connected with his. Your laughing started to subside and you seemed to be locked in a moment with him.

"Breakfast!" Marco yelled and Connie immediately dropped the pillow on you and ran over to the kitchen, grabbing a plate and holding it out eagerly. Whatever had just been there was now gone.

But you instantly knew there was something different about you and Connie after last night. The air around you two didn't seem so awkward or tense anymore. It really felt like you two were actually becoming friends— and you liked that.

Connie was a really nice guy, someone you could potentially trust. He cared a lot about people, and it was obvious through his actions last night. You understood why he was so loved around here now. He was just the lovable, reliable kind of guy. The one who if he were to ever leave, the whole group would fall apart.

You came to the conclusion that Connie was special and some part of you really did desire knowing him.

"Y/N, you better come get some food before Connie here eats it all," Marco joked, snapping you from your thoughts.

"Connie I swear if you ate all the bacon," you threatened, going up to the kitchen and grabbing a plate, shooting a stern look in his direction with his mouth full of food.

Marco looked between the two of you as he placed food on your plate, a mischievous yet subtle grin on his lips. You wondered where his mind was at, but waved the thought off as you snickered at Connie's stuffed cheeks, setting your plate down next to him on the table before you sat down. Marco had made eggs, bacon, and toast, a simple yet wonderfully delicious breakfast that allowed you to turn the whole thing into a sandwich.

While you were eating, your eyes peered over at Connie's bruised hand. It slightly shook and you could see him hiding his pain whenever he moved it. You wondered if it was fractured or just badly bruised. He punched the guy pretty hard last night, so you wouldn't be surprised if the damage was bad.

He caught you staring at it and placed his arm under the table, your eyes unable to analyze and your mind unable to worry about it any longer. You shifted your gaze to see if he was looking at you, but his eyes were trained on his plate.

"Hey Y/N, we're going to Rose Lake later, wanna come?" Jean asked, setting his plate down next to yours. You shrugged, saying, "Why not? I'm always up for an adventure."

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Marco had given you a pair of grey sweatpants and a navy blue sweatshirt that had the word "COLUMBIA" printed across it in worn out, white blocked letters. He was the one most similar to your size, so his clothing fit you the best. It was still baggy in some areas, but good enough.

Your hair was still fairly damp from showering, the cool breeze causing your teeth to chatter. The guys were ahead of you, all running and laughing like little boys. In other words, they were in their natural environment.

It was nice seeing them so relaxed and happy. You kind of felt that you being in their apartment somewhat put them on edge. Mainly because you were a girl and mainly for what had happened at that party.

Your eyes switched to Connie's brusied hand. You could see him favoring it and it was bothering you that he wasn't saying anything about it. It was astonishing how well that kid could hide his pain.

"Y/N! Hurry up! You're holding us back!" Jean complained, his hands cupped around his mouth as he yelled at you. You glared at him and he flashed that charming smile of his, beckoning with his pointer finger to get you to come over.

You threw your head back and groaned but jogged over anyways, catching up with them and no longer being able to just observe them messing around. You matched step with Marco and eyed the bright orange football in his hands.

Biting your lip, and with a mischievous grin, you grabbed it and raced off, peeking over your shoulder to see them chasing after you, determined to get that football back.

"Oh shit," you hissed under your breath and started to run faster, looking out for a place you could hide if you ended up losing them.

Your arms clutched the ball and you ran to the left, searching for a tree to hide behind. There was a big one in front of you, so quickly you ducked behind it, trying to get ahold of your breath. You peeked behind the tree and saw them looking around, quickly hiding yourself again.

You wondered where you should go next and looked around in front of you. The area was very grassy with some trees here and there, and to the back of you was the lake, which was more of the direction where the boys were. You narrowed your eyes in thought and decided to run to the tree to your left, peeking out to see if they were still looking.

You saw Connie, Jean, and Marco heading in the opposite direction, their backs to you. Briskly, you ran to the other tree and hid behind it, giggling to yourself, thinking this might take a while.

High on adrenaline, you went for the other tree and tried to slowly make your way towards the dircetion of Marco's car. Yet you heard Connie's voice call out and your eyes widened.

Shit!

You started running, but the boys had walked closer in your direction, and Connie was catching up. You looked behind your shoulder to see Connie racing after you, his long legs helping him advance.

Your legs were burning after all this running, but you didn't want to be defeated. "Stay away!" You hollered, but Connie paid no mind, his hand extending and grabbing your arm, pulling you back.

"Connie-" you gasped as you flew back, his sudden yanking applying too much force and also, Newton's first law: an object in motion stays in motion.

You tripped on your own feet and dropped the football, grabbing onto Connie's arm as you fell backwards, only making him lose his balance and fall back onto you.

The wind was nearly knocked out of you as Connie had landed somewhat on top of you. You coughed and groaned, your face scrunched up in pain as you tried to shove Connie's dead weight off.

"Hey, you guys okay?" Jean asked as he and Marco ran over. Connie untangled himself from you and winced as he held his hand, sitting on the ground. You slowly sat up and held your head for a moment, wondering when you'd stop feeling so dizzy. You must've hit it.

"I think so," you replied and grabbed Marco's hand as he carefully brought you to your feet.

"Connie?" You were concerned as he hadn't really moved, his eyes trained on his hand.

"I think that fall really messed up my hand," he grunted, and you could tell he was trying hard to keep a steady face.

"Like it wasn't already messed up before?" Jean replied snarkily and helped Connie to his feet, making sure he didn't touch Connie's injury.

"Let me take a look," you demanded and walked over, gently taking Connie's hand in yours and analyzing it. It was beginning to swell, and what might've already been fractured was definitely broken now.

"I think we should take you to the hospital Connie, this isn't looking good," you looked up at him with worry and he nodded his head, drawing a sharp breath in as he tried to hide how much pain he was feeling.

Why do you do that? you thought as you and Jean started to walk with Connie to the car, Marco running ahead to get it started.

"I'm gonna go tell Marco to bring the car closer," and Jean ran off, calling after Marco and leaving you and Connie behind.

You looked over at him, brushing hair put of your face as the wind blew it. Connie stared dead ahead, probably trying to focus on not feeling the pain. You wanted to tell him that it was okay to, but you didn't know him well enough to bring it up, so you kept quiet instead.

"Sorry for squashing you like a bug. You sure you're okay?" Connie smiled softly, his attempt to make you laugh lighten the mood. Which was something he was always trying to do.

"Yeah, I'm fine...just worried about you," you confessed and Connie chuckled at that, biting his lip in hesitation before saying, "Is it weird if I say I like knowing you're worried...? Like, about me?"

You turned your head away and crossed your arms, shrugging. "I don't think it's weird at all. I think it just means you're happy I care. It shows we're friends, like we promised."

"Sorry, weird question," He nervously chuckled and you shook your head, placing your hand on his arm, reassuring him it wasn't weird at all.

"It's an element of trust," you smiled and moved closer to him, continuing, "It's the foundation for what we're building."

"And what's that?"

"You know...I don't really know Connie, I don't know," you softly replied, the two of you sharing a subtle moment. Connie tilted his head as he smiled at you, opening his mouth to say something when Marco called the two of you to hurry over.

Just like that, whatever Connie was going to say had been forgotton, and the two of sat in the backseat in silence all the way to the hospital.

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A/N: i hope you guys like this chapter, i struggled with it a lot. i've been really busy and a lot has happened personally these past couple of days, so i didn't get much time to work on it, but i wanted to be able to publish something for you guys because it makes me so happy you guys like it so far! thank you for sticking with this book and reading it, it truly keeps me motivated! love you guys 💜

-ocean