You guys are going to kill me.

Just saying :)

Chapter Seventeen: "Man Crushes Everyday."

I DIDN'T EVEN MAKE it into the Cahill house when I was attacked by a hug.

"Macy!" A voice yelled in front of me as the front door was pulled open quickly.

Phillip almost knocked me off the stairs and I couldn't help but laugh so loudly as I hugged him back just as tight and everyone else entered the house. "I missed you Leonardo."

"I missed you too," He beamed, pulling me inside along with everyone else. I took of my jacket and Andrew snatched it away from me to hang it up somewhere. I watched Toby come over and take Phillip, hanging him upside down with one arm.

Phillip huffed and rolled his eyes. "Put me down Toby."

Toby looked over at me and gave me a small smile. "Hey Macy."

"Hello Tobias." I greeted him with a grin because I was happy to see the most serious Cahill brother. Phillip managed to tangle himself out of Toby's grasp and run off before Toby hugged me briefly.

"How's uni?"

"It's good, you?" I asked him as we made our way to the living room.

"Same." He mentioned before I got tackled into another hug.

"Macy Anderson," Austin said, pressing his lips to my cheek with a loud sound.

I faked a face, pretending the wipe the feeling of his lips against my cheek before hugging him back. I reached up to ruffle his hair and he immediately smacked my hand. "God, Macy what have I told you? Don't touch the hair."

"I'm sorry I forgot the million times you've told me that." I deadpanned.

"Remember it." He rolled his eyes, letting go of me before sitting down next to Jon Ming.

I looked at Toby. "And you love him because?"

Toby shrugged. "It just happened."

I motioned my hand for him to continue. "And it happened because?"

Toby just laughed walking away. I turned to the couches where everyone settled down. I recognized some of the people along with my friends as Natasha's cousins I had only met briefly over time and a couple of the brothers.

Greg who gave me a grin, chewing on that piece of gum while flicking through the TV stations. Christian who looked bored out of his mind and was texting someone on his phone gave me a nod. Cedric had planted himself beside Stevie and gave me a small smile. Joey looked over at me giving me a wave, a pair of headphones around his neck and I wondered where his twin was.

"Where's the damsel in distress?" I asked Caleb.

"I think he's in his room," Caleb said and then he got that same mischievous look in his eyes that annoyed the hell out of me but I kind of missed. "Are you guys going to do something in there because you should give us all a warning before we walk in-"

I grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and threw it at Caleb's face before running up the stairs. Reaching the top of the steps I almost ran into two people. "Oh shoot sorry-Lucas?"

"Macy." One of the identical twin brothers pulled me into a hug and I hugged him back briefly.

"Whoa...you grew too." I told him, getting kind of scared because all of these boys kept getting taller and taller. It was insane. Jheeze, I sounded like that relative that's always gushing about how much a person grew.

Lucas laughed a little and I noticed the girl standing next to him, giving me a small smile. "Hey I'm Macy."

She gave me small smile back. She was about Natasha's height like 5'8 with thick curly dark hair that was put in a puffy ponytail. Her hair texture was almost like Jasmine's just a little bit silkier and curlier. Her skin color was kind of a dark gold, I really couldn't describe it and she was pretty. But the thing was she was awkward and I could feel it radiating off her. It was kind of like Lucas' awkward but just more evident.

"Macy this is Canada girl."

What? He called the girl Canada girl. I thought Sam calling me Hazel was cheesy but this skyrocketed everything.

She smacked him in the stomach and it was then I decided I liked her. "You're an idiot Turtle."

Turtle? Canada girl? Oh my God the nicknames. Were they dating?

I couldn't help but smile at the idea of Lucas finally having a girlfriend and getting his head out of the books or his art supplies. I'm pretty sure his entire family would be thrilled that he could pay attention to some other things.

"I, uh, I'm Sydney." She told me with a small smile.

"Nice to meet you Sydney." I told her honestly.

"Are you going to see Sam?" Lucas asked me.

"Yeah, is he still in his room?"

"Last I checked." Lucas said and I nodded, bidding them a bye before making my way to his room. When I opened the door I found Sam lying down on the bed wearing only sweats looking through his social media.

"Close the door please." He mumbled, half his face stuffed into the pillow. I closed the door behind me before crawling into his bed, locking a leg around his hip.

He raised an eyebrow, putting his phone down. "Did I just become little spoon?"

"You've always been little spoon." I told him, forcing him to shift on his side fully so I could hug him from behind.

"Hazel, this is so weird." He commented, lacing his fingers with my own.

"No it's not. I actually like this position." I grinned, pressing a kiss to his shoulder.

"You alright there babe?" He asked me suddenly.

"Yeah," I told him, shifting so that I was straddling him now and my lips were against his neck. "Just happy."

"'Cause everyone's here?"

"Yeah," I said, pressing a light kiss to his jaw and I could feel Sam tense as he tried to gain a hold of himself. "Jasmine, Andrew, Stevie, Jon Ming, Austin, the twins and Caleb. All here. And your brothers too."

"Yeah," Sam said, his eyes looking up at the ceiling and I kept kissing his neck because I could. Because I could kiss him and gladly wanted too. "They're here. And you're here." He said, his voice a little raspier.

My hand moved over his chest, right over to where his heart was beating erratically and I couldn't help but smile against him because I was the cause of that. "Your heart beating fast Sam."

"You know why." He mumbled, a faint smile on his face as he was keeping his eyes up. I shifted forward, making sure his only view was my face.

"Why?" I asked him with the tilt of my head and narrowed eyes, waiting for the answer.

Sam huffed. "Because of you. Only you. Now kiss me Hazel."

"Demanding." I pointed out.

"You love it." He mumbled, before locking his arms around my waist, making me push down against him and press my lips against his.

I don't know how long we were at it but having this guy kiss me senseless always reminded me of our first kiss. The feeling of it, everything was always like the first, a feeling I don't think I could ever get familiar with because it was overwhelming every time.

My hands moved themselves on his shoulders to position myself on a more comfortable position on top of his body. His own hands on the other hand moved past my waist, all the way down to my butt and if that wasn't enough his hands squeezed and pulled me closer to him.

Just when a sound came out of my throat, I heard the door fly open. "Sam-"

I pulled back and Sam groaned, leaning his head back into the pillow. He lifted himself up, moving his hands so that they wrapped his legs around him. "Caleb."

Caleb, instead of leaving the room proceeded to walk further and even sat down on the bed with his feet crossed. Of course.

Sam rolled his eyes and Caleb shrugged, his eyes on his phone at the moment. "Dude, I've walked in on you guys making out that this has become very normal to me. I can just forget that I'd seen your hands on Macy's ass and you guys practically grinding into each other."

"That did not happen." I told him.

Caleb looked up, putting his phone in his jean pocket. "So what you're basically telling me was that his hands weren't on your ass?"

"I didn't say-"

"Exactly," Caleb said then a grin made its way to his face. "I wouldn't be surprised if he kneaded your ass like dough."

"What?" Sam and I said at the same time towards that analogy.

"Never mind," Caleb waved a hand. "Plus, I don't exactly want to see Benjamin Ian the Great come to life so..."

Sam rolled his eyes again and I flushed wondering if Caleb would stop talking for one day. But I missed the dork and how weird he was so I shouldn't be complaining.

"The fact that he knows what you call your body part claims your friendship." I mumbled, leaning my head into the crook of Sam's neck.

Sam and Caleb equally laughed and I couldn't help but smile at the two of them. "What?" Sam asked, looking down at me.

"Nothing-it's just-it's kind of good to see you two together again."

"Yep," Caleb said. "The two amigos. The sexy devils. C and S. S and C. Hot tamales. Man crushes every day."

I scoffed. "That's debatable."

"You're debatable." Caleb lamely muttered in defense.

"I missed you Caleb." I admitted, reaching over to slap him on the shoulder.

"I missed you too. But you'll still see me on my birthday."

"What?"

"Oh yeah," Sam said. "He didn't want a party so he's coming to Manchester for a couple of days to celebrate being eighteen."

"You only turn eighteen once," Caleb said. "And what's a better way than to turn up with your best friend." He put his hands up and down in mock celebration and I forced his hands down, not wanting to see that and the look on his face ever again.

"Oh yeah and your best friend's girlfriend!" He sang badly, moving his body side to side and doing the same lame actions.

I reached over to stop him, almost laughing. "Caleb."

"Get out of this position would you?" He gestures to Sam and I and doing as he said so I try pulling away from Sam but Sam held onto my legs pulling me closer.

"No." Sam groaned before looking at Caleb weirdly. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah." Caleb asked, breaking us up with his hands so that he could lay his head in my lap and put his feet on Sam's.

Sam rolled his eyes when we got separated. "What did you guys do for Ivan's bachelor party?"

Caleb scratched the back of his neck, laughing nervously. "Um...nothing."

"Stop lying." Sam deadpanned, shoving Caleb's feet off his lap before getting up.

"Okay we drove to another town with a couple of his own friends and Toby, Cedric, Jon Ming and Austin right? We went to this club and let me tell you that it's finally official player Ivan is no more."

Sam raised an eyebrow, opening up a door and walking into the large walk in closet attached to his room. "I thought that was established when he got together with Natasha like four years ago."

"But you see how he likes flirts and stuff?"

"Yeah but Ivan only does that to get people to like him," I told Caleb because that's what I've noticed. He does it all the time to get someone on his good side. It was him being a charmer. Now I see how he's kind of able to be head of one of the biggest companies in the world.

"Yeah I know but that's gone. Like major gone. He didn't look at a single girl."

"He doesn't do that since he got with Natasha idiot." Sam yelled out of the closet.

"Yeah I mean he'll acknowledge the girl and stuff but like this time he really didn't look. When we wanted drinks and Ivan said he would get them. He didn't have to charm his way all he did was ask. It was so strange."

"Maybe because he's an adult and doesn't have to lie about his age to get drinks unlike some people." I look at Caleb who gives me a sheepish smile.

"Yeah but you know Ivan."

"Yes we know Ivan," Sam came out the closet with a shirt on. "And we know that Ivan is getting married to Natasha today and we know that we have to go to that Matt guy's house. Like now."

"Who's Matt?"

"One of Ivan's friends. That's where the groom to be is while the bride to be stays here."

I nodded in understanding, getting out of the bed along with Caleb. "So what I'm hearing is that I won't see you both until eleven thirty."

"Yes that is exactly what Sam was saying. Princess you okay in the head? You're a little slow this morning." I gave Caleb a dark look and he shrunk back before giving me a hug that made me want to push him off. "I'm kidding."

"Sure you were."

Sam grabbed a sweater before he looked at me and looked at my clothing. "Isn't that mine?" He referred to the sweatshirt I was wearing.

"What if it is?" I asked him.

"Cute." He said before he kissed me on the mouth. I tried pulling away but he didn't let go, dropping the sweater in his hands to pull me closer to him.

"Um...hello? Best friend in the room? Seriously? You're lucky I love you people." When I heard Caleb dramatically sigh and exit the room.

The second he left, Sam let go and picked up the sweater from the ground. "I'm going to go after him. I'll see you later."

"Yeah bye."

He kissed me once more before running out and I could hear the yell of. "Caleb. My amigo!"

I followed them out to see Sam run down the large stairs and jump off the third step and onto the back of his best friend's back with a bark of a laugh. Caleb hefted him up with a loud grunt. "What the fuck have you been eating? You're so heavy you dick."

"Where's your muscle you prick." Sam said, looking as if he wasn't going to let go. When they both laughed at that weird inside joke I never really understood between them, I knew Sam would never let Caleb go because their bond was so strong no one could break it if they tried.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"If you think you're going to put that on my face, I will whack your arm off." I told Jasmine and Stevie as they hovered around me.

Stevie sighed, pulling back. "You'll never change."

"That's a compliment."I grinned, turning around on the swirly chair before turning beside me to look at that girl I met earlier, Sydney. She was still kind of awkward around everyone except for one of her cousins who apparently goes to the same school as her. I literally wanted to make it my mission to make her more comfortable around here.

"Hey Sydney." I told her, putting a new SD card in my camera that Natasha had given me to take pictures of the wedding.

"Yeah?" She asked me, turning her chair to face me. Her thick curly hair had been straightened and it honestly looked nicer than anyone's hair I have ever seen straightened.

"What's up with you?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking down at her fingers.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, it's just..." She sighed, pushing her hair up and over her head.

"Is it boy trouble?" Jasmine asked her just when Natasha came into the room looking radiant as ever.

"It's my idiot soon to be brother in law right?" Natasha asked, looking at the clock in the room.

"Which one?" One of Natasha's cousins' asked.

"Lucas. Glasses." She said.

So there was something between Sydney and Lucas. Called it.

"What did a Cahill do now?" Stevie asked, sitting on the dresser in front of Sydney.

Sydney looked a bit hesitant to tell us and that was understandable considering we literally had just met but when she spoke up she surprised me. "He didn't really do anything."

"He likes you but isn't bothering to tell you even though you already confessed to him." A girl said and I knew she was another one of Natasha's cousin. I think her name was Kim.

Sydney sighed and rolled her eyes. "Thanks Kim for summarizing it up for everyone even though that is not what I think."

"It's Lucas," I told Sydney. "I know that he probably and still used to talk to only one girl."

"Yeah, Jane." She told me and I remembered Lucas' best girl-friend. I used to talk to that guy a lot because we both loved to read and anytime I came over to the Cahill's house he was always in the library.

"Than if he's talking to you Sydney after only talking to one girl whose relationship with him seems completely platonic that I think we all know the reason."

"Yeah it's not friendship!" Kim yelled, walking out of the room along with some of the other girls.

Sydney rolled her eyes and I noticed something about her. She kind of had two different sides to her. One was that she was awkward around new people. Two was when she probably gets comfortable with someone, she acted how she really was around them and I was guessing that side of her was something Lucas probably knew more than everyone that was in the room.

Before I could ask her more questions, Natasha had led her out and most of the people had already left the room leaving me with Stevie and Jasmine.

"How's the Andrew and Jasmine reunion show?" Stevie asked.

I could see Jasmine tense, a movement that would've been missed if I had blinked. "Um...I haven't really spent that much time with him since I got here and they dragged him away."

I knew Stevie was about to open her mouth to ask another question and I interrupted her. "I'm so hungry."

I wasn't lying.

"You had a cinnamon roll this morning." Stevie said, looking amused.

"Jacob ate more than half of it!" I complained.

Stevie got up and walked towards the door. "I'll get you a Pop-Tart."

"Love you!" I shouted at her when she left and closed the door behind her. I put my camera on the table and stood next to Jasmine, looking at her as she applied mascara in the mirror. "Hey."

"Hey." She asked distinctively, putting it down and looking at me through the mirror.

I crossed my arms. "Are you going to explain?"

She laughed and it wasn't a regular Jasmine laugh. It was a nervous one like she knew she was expecting me to ask her this. "Explain what?"

I sighed when she got up, to go to the other side of the large room, looking through her bag. "Jasmine."

"I already told you, remember? My phone broke and it took a while to fix it."

Yeah her phone broke. But I knew that wasn't the full explanation. She's one of my two best friends and I've known her since elementary school. I knew Jasmine. And even though I had been unobservant most of my life, I knew when she wasn't telling me everything.

I hated prying but this time for the sake of my other best friend I felt the need to know what was going on.

"I get that. I really do. And I'm fine if you don't talk to me for a couple of weeks because that's understandable but Andrew?"

She kept her back to me. "What about him?"

"Your phone may have been broken but you could've called him from someone else's. Or messaged him on any social network. Last time I checked you had everything and you have a laptop too. You could've video chatted."

"I was busy." She quipped.

"Jasmine-"

"Mace, I was busy. I have school. I have a job. I volunteer. I was busy okay?" her voice raised a little in irritation.

"How come I can't believe you?" I said quietly, watching her turn around to face me. Her expression showed that she was seconds away from exploding and full of impatience. I was waiting for her to say it. What her real reason was.

"I don't know Macy, why can't you believe me?"

"Because I know you."

"Well maybe I've changed," She said, walking past me. "Maybe I'm different."

"Of course you're going to be different. You've lived in a different continent around the world for months. You adapted to different things and different people. It would be weird if you didn't change with new setting. But I know you." I told her.

"Do you?"

"Yeah. I know you. I know you're still that weird girl that I've spent my entire life with and I'm glad to call you my best friend. But the fact that you can't even tell me of all people what's going on with you only shows what's starting to become different between the two of us. Not you."

Jasmine pursed her lips, her eyes flickering around the room when she turned to face me again. "I just don't want you to judge me."

"You're worried if I of all people am going to judge you? I'm not. I never would."

"Macy."

"Jasmine." I said back, walking over to her. "What is going on?"

"I-I cheated on Andrew."

What?