Dedicated to Kriti_kt for the cover at the top, thank you so much : )

Chapter Twenty: "Caleb Is A god."

I WAS PROBABLY HALF awake the next morning when my door opened. I turned around, already feeling the discomfort in my lower stomach as Sam came into the room, shutting the door behind him and putting his helmet and a bag on the desk.

He tilted his head as we looked at each other and I was honestly wondering what possessed him to wake up so early. "You okay, love?"

I didn't answer and he took off that leather jacket of his before crawling into my bed with me, putting a comforting arm around me. "I feel like hell. I hate the second days."

"I know." He sighed, kissing the side of my head. He hands slipped under my shirt and he moved his palm against my back in a comforting motion. "Better?"

"Much better," I mumbled, closing my eyes and moving closer to him. "I see the helmet."

"Oh yeah, I really missed BS."

"Are you sending her over through cargo or something?"

"Nah, I'm going to keep her. Plus it's getting really cold back in Manchester compared to here anyway."

We laid in my bed for a while in comforting silence until someone opened my door, holding a pack of cards. "Macy, are you ready-" My grandmother stopped talking, looking at me over Sam's shoulder. "Are you okay, bella?"

Sam mouthed something to her and I buried my face in his chest as Gigi walked away probably to find something for me. I wasn't even paying attention. "Are you going to Andrew's today?" He whispered in my ear.

"Yeah, and if he wants he'll come over today too. I'm going to take a shower, I'll be back." I lugged myself out of my bed, grabbing clothes and toiletries before going to the bathroom.

When I was done everything and I had walked back to my room, I was kind of surprised when I see Sam twisted a soccer ball with his fingers on my bed and Emma and Justin sitting down on the ground, all of them talking.

"Um...what's going on here?"

Emma immediately gave me a hug and I gave her one back. "I barely had a chance to talk to you."

"I know, my brother keeps hogging you all to himself."

"Shut up." Justin said. He was about to launch a pillow at my head when Sam quickly took it from him, tucking it behind his own head.

"You know my sister's here right?" Emma asked me.

"Trust me I know." I said in disgust.

"Why can't you guys just get along?" Sam asked, turning the ball in his hands.

I turned my gaze over to him, feeling irritation. "You're kidding me right? We've been over this a hundred times."

"Especially during the summer." Justin muttered because he knew how much Alexis annoyed me whenever it came to Sam.

"She's over me," Sam tried to reassure me. "Besides I think she knows better than to come between our relationship."

"What's wrong with you?" Emma asked and I mentally high fived her for that.

"What?"

"She's over you? She spent the whole plane ride here talking about you."

Sam stopped spinning the ball, shrugged then continued spinning it. I rolled my eyes at him, grabbing the ball out of my hand and giving it to Justin. Sam looked up at me with innocent eyes as I crossed my arms, actually getting mad that he took this so lightly.

He sat up, grabbing my hands in his. "Hey, I'm Sam Cahill and although I completely understand why she wouldn't be over me-"

He had that smirk on his face when he said that and I glared at him making him rethink his words. "I wouldn't care because she's not you."

I nodded, trying to focus on those words as I became less and less irritated. I kissed him on the cheek and proceeded to walk down the stairs. "I'm going to Andrew's."

"What about breakfast? I got you some." He gestured to the backpack giving me a breathtaking smile I averted my eyes from seeing.

I grabbed the bag he had come in with and grabbed a sweater- one of his- pulling it on. "I'll see you later."

"Hazel, are you mad?" He yelled once I had left the room.

At how you've become the oblivious one for once? That I actually knew that Alexis still had an obsession over you and that we would never get along because she probably thinks I took you away from her? I wanted to tell him.

"No, I'm not mad." I yelled back, lying straight through my teeth.

I was mad.

But I had a best friend to talk to first.

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

"Macy." Andrew's mom gave me a huge hug I gladly hugged her back.

"Hey." I said, smiling as Jackson, Andrew's dad ruffled me on the head and I swatted his hands away. "I definitely did not miss that."

"Of course you did." He said as Riley, Andrew's little sister almost collided into my legs.

I picked her up and Andrew's mom nodded towards the stairs. "Is he okay?"

"Did he tell you anything?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I know something is wrong."

"I'll talk to him." I said, handing Riley to her dad and running up the stairs.

I opened the door to find Andrew lying down on his bed, facing the ceiling. He was throwing a tiny football up in the air and I thought he was so distracted by the action that he didn't even notice me come in.

I watched him let out a sigh as I closed the door behind me. I lied down next to him and he shuffled over making sure I had room so our shoulders touched.

"You know what I thought that day we all went our separate ways?" Andrew said, still throwing the football up in the air before catching it.

"What?" I asked, watching the football go back into the air.

"I thought that there was actually a chance that none of us would truly talk to one another like we used to do in high school. I thought eventually we would all eventually forget each other and be like 'yeah, that's just my friend when I was younger'."

"Do you still think like that?" I asked him.

"I definitely don't think that's going to happen between us. I've known you since we were babies. We took baths together when we were like two. You're the sister I'll never let go of no matter how hard I try Mace."

I snorted and Andrew let out a small laugh at that. "I don't think that'll happen between us either."

"Yeah...kind of like Caleb and Sam, you know? It's just that type of friendship- that type of bond that never seems like it'll be broken. Where conversations are never awkward. Where you can tell each other everything and anything. I thought I would have the same with Jasmine."

Andrew caught the football before turning to me, cradling it to his chest. I kept my eyes to the ceiling before glancing at him and shifting. "Yeah I thought you would too." I whispered.

"I thought about it a lot. That this whole long distance thing wouldn't work," Andrew turned his head towards the ceiling again. "We talked about it over and over again before we left and we thought nothing would come between us."

I stayed silent as he threw the football up in the air and caught it and repeated the action. He continued talking. "It was noticeable. The first week every day, we would talk. She would tell me about what's happening, how she really liked it there. Who she met. She mentioned the other guy too. Then as weeks went by the conversations grew shorter and different. And then it seemed like we just weren't talking. But I was trying to talk. And when we did eventually talk it was like two different conversations that had nothing to do with each other."

Andrew caught the ball and threw it to the other side of his room. We watched it hit the lamp and the lamp fall to the carpet with a heavy thump. Andrew didn't even bother picking it up when he turned to me, bringing his knees up to his chest. "I really hate this Macy."

"I know you do." I told him, slowly turning to face him and fighting away my discomfort.

"We were all supposed to hang out today too." Andrew snorted.

"Drake's taking her out for half the day so..." I trailed off.

"Cahill house?" I nodded at Andrew's question and he huffed, leaning his head on my shoulder. "Okay. Don't pick sides."

"What?" I asked him.

"Don't pick a side. Between her and I. We're your best friends but you don't have to-"

"I wasn't going to pick a side," I told him. "I came here because I know you needed someone to talk to and were probably going to shut everyone else out. I'm going to be here for you both no matter the situation."

"Okay." Andrew mumbled and I rested my head on his chest as we lay on his bed in silence, his fingers twisting my ponytail.

"What happened last night? After you left?" I asked him.

"I just hung out with my family. I didn't realize how much I actually missed them. Change is weird."

"Tell me about it."

"No, I mean last year today. In November. We would probably be doing homework or hanging out at someone's house tonight or having a movie marathon. Then at school tomorrow, I would've probably had a new girl that I had been talking to behind the previous' girl back, Jasmine would've been with her ex Sean and you..."

"I would probably be having my nose in a book or have been somewhere with my brother and dad on his business trip taking Instagram worthy pictures or kicking a soccer ball."

"More like kicking my actual balls." Andrew mumbled.

"That was an accident."

"An accident that has probably happened 100 times since we were five. You're so lucky I can still-"

"Nope. Nope. I do not want to hear the last words of that sentence." I told him, putting my hands over my ears.

Andrew took my hands off of my ears, laughing. "I'm guessing you and Sam haven't exactly..."

"No." I mumbled, feeling the fabric of Andrew's shirt.

"Can I just ask...why? Is it the whole Catholic and celibacy thing because I swear you haven't gone to church since last Christmas."

"No, no, it's not that," I told him, closing my eyes. "I-how do you know if you're ready?"

"Um...no offence Mace, but you realize you're asking a guy who lost his virginity in a house party when he was 15 to the girl who admitted she cheated on him literally last night, right?" He quipped.

"Drew..."

"Look, you love Sam? No, you're in love with him, right?" I nodded and Andrew continued, his arm resting behind his head. "You'll be ready when you know you are. If you think that Sam is the right person to do it with-"

"He is." I blurted out.

"Wow, I've never seen you look so certain about something," Andrew chuckled. "But yeah seeing as he is the right person you would want to give yourself to then you'll know and you'll know the right moment."

"Thanks." I said.

"Anytime." He said before laughing a little bit.

"What?" I asked him confused. I came here to talk to him and he turned the subject to me. I was honestly wondering what the heck this guy could possibly be laughing about now.

"It's just I know that you're on your japan..." he trailed off, that stupid smile on his face.

"Yeah..."

"And we're talking about sex. And I know girls are supposedly really horn-"

"We are not discussing this. I don't care how close we are, I'm not discussing this with you. Not now." I felt my face flame up.

Andrew burst out laughing at how uncomfortable I suddenly was at the topic. I cracked a smile because he seemed a little bit happier than he was when I walked in here. "Sorry."

"Shut up." I mumbled, hugging him. When he stopped laughing, I heard him let out a shaky breath and I looked up at him. "Are you going to be okay? I'm just asking it's because I know you and you're taking it a little more differently than I thought you would."

He looked at me, his eyes zoned out for a second but they focused back on me. "I don't know Mace. I haven't really processed it yet. I really don't know."

He looked at the bag that was lying on the foot of his bed. "What's that?"

"Sam brought me food or something." I muttered.

Andrew grabbed it and looked at me with skeptically. "You sound like you're mad at him."

"I kind of am."

"Why?"

"I don't think he understands how much Alexis like him and hates me."

"The observant Samuel Cahill is oblivious to one girl's feelings for him? Like how it was when she came to visit during the summer?"

"Yes," I muttered. "What an idiot."

"Just go talk to him."

"No," I said seriously, grabbing a muffin from the bag. Blueberry. He really knows me. "No matter how good these muffins are I am not going to talk to him until he understands the problem at hand."

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

"Those muffins were really good and cramp reliving." I said to Sam as we walked to the living room of the Cahill house.

"Really?" He asked me a little cautiously.

"Okay, I'm not a ticking time bomb Sam. I'm not going to explode even though I'm mad at you."

"Yes, I know that you're mad at me and I'm sorry for whatever I did wrong but I still don't understand why you're mad at me."

"Sam, conciliate your girlfriend before someone loses their baby maker machine." Caleb spoke up from the couch, his feet on the pillow on Jacob's lap.

"What does that mean?" Jacob asked as Jon Ming entered the room, a red bull in his hands.

"Baby maker machine? Jacob I know you're slow but-"

"Not that asshole. I meant conciliate."

"You know, when you stop someone from being mad or angry."

"Well sorry for not knowing what that meant, mister dictionary." Jacob muttered, looking through his phone and leaning his head on Natalie's shoulder as she too was going through her phone.

Caleb rolled his eyes and Brandon looked at us from the other couch, muting the TV. "What's going on?"

"So you see how the she-devil is here right?"

Natalie perked up, putting her phone in her pocket and looking at me. "Wait, is it that bitch that makes moves on your boyfriend even when you're there?"

Sam shot Natalie a dry look. "She's not a bitch and she's just a family friend."

Stevie who was lying down on the couch Brandon was on sat up. "Yeah, she's not a bitch and-"

"And Caleb isn't sexy," Caleb chuckled "No offense Sam."

Caleb got up to pat his best friend on the back before he went into the kitchen. Andrew had taken a seat on the ground in front of Brandon, his knees up against his chest. "Man if she's your friend, then she's your friend. Macy's not going to stop a friendship but you should really understand Alexis' intentions."

Sam did say anything for a couple of seconds and I noticed he was staring at Andrew and probably noticed the tone in his voice. "What are her intentions?"

"That she wants you!" Natalie and I both exclaimed at him. Thank God my cousin and I are eye to eye on this situation and she actually understands why I'm mad.

"Okay, okay, you can be right about her wanting me even though she told me she didn't see me like that anymore but why does this make you mad?" He asked me.

Natalie and Stevie, even Brandon let out unison groans at Sam. I didn't even say anything. I walked over to an empty couch, leaning my head back. "Wait Macy?"

I turned to Jacob, feeling tired and weak. "What?"

"Are you on your japan?"

"Obviously." I muttered, grabbing a pillow and putting it on my face. Those muffins only worked for a little while.

"Shit man you need to apologize right now." Jacob said to Sam.

"Okay, Sam, you need to understand this," I felt like Brandon was talking at the moment and I'm pretty sure it was him because he didn't say a curse word in that sentence. "Macy and Alexis will possibly never be friends."

"Never." I said loudly into the pillow.

"And she's been your girlfriend as of what now?"

"Over seven months." I said again into the pillow.

"As your girlfriend of seven months who's in love with you, she's not exactly ever going to be friends with the girl you call a friend but is also seen as-"

"Desperate, wanting someone she's never going to have and hates me because I have it." I said again, not even stopping myself because of how irritated I was with the situation and with my body.

"Not the exact words I was going to use but okay. Now, Macy doesn't want to ruin any friendships. She's not going to be that girlfriend that gets in the way of any of your friendships considering you don't do that same to her."

"Keep telling him. Say it for the people in the back." I said again.

"And even though you're finally understanding why Alexis and Macy will never be friends, I honestly think the real reason she's mad at you is because you don't understand how much it actually bothers her isn't even how the same girl is constantly throwing herself at you every time you see her and doesn't care that your own girlfriend is in front of you. What's bothering her is how you don't do anything to stop it or act like its normal."

"Someone give this man an award." I told them; mentally clapping for Brandon for saying what was going through my brain.

The pillow got taken away from me and I squint my eyes due to the change in the light. I noticed Caleb handing me a small bucket of unopened strawberry ice cream with a small sympathetic smile on his face. I felt like giving him a hug when he sat beside me but forgot about it when he handed me the spoon and I opened the ice cream, instantly digging in.

Sam sighed, moving over to me and sitting on the other side of me. He put an arm around me and I didn't even bother to pull away from him at the moment because of the ice cream and his body heat. "I'm sorry." He whispered, kissing my forehead.

"I know." I mumbled into his shirt.

"There's a reason why I don't care or do anything to stop Alexis. It's like I told you before, there's only you and if she's into me then she's into me. It doesn't affect my life because I'm only in love with you."

"Aw, the happy couple." Caleb said on the other side of me.

"It's not like it was a fight." I mumble into Sam's shirt.

Caleb rolled his eyes. "Oh I think we all know what the meaning of a Sam and Macy fight it especially when it's small and pointless."

"Huh?"

"Remember when you guys got mad at each other over painting Sam's room and the type of blue it should have?" Stevie reminded us.

"You guys didn't talk to each other for three days over that stupid argument." Brandon said.

"What about that time when you had that dumb argument when we went bowling once? Never going again because of you two." Jon Ming said.

"It wasn't that bad." I tried to convince him.

"I had to change my shirt three times because of you and Sam's unhealthy competitiveness." Yeah, it was that bad.

"I just wanted to win." I said.

"I wasn't going to let you." Sam said.

"Well neither of you losers won because last I checked I did," Caleb said proudly. "Meanwhile, Caleb here is waiting for a well deserved thank you for bringing the princess that ice cream that the damsel in distress failed to do so."

"I bought her muffins." Sam tried to defend himself.

"And? Do you know your girlfriend? Ice cream man. It's always ice cream. I bought it just for her and stuck it in your freezer when I got here."

That or a back rub from Sam but ice cream worked fine enough.

"It's not like I could give her ice cream for breakfast," Sam looked down at me. "You realize you have a practice and a game on Tuesday right? Your coach is going to kill you."

"Andrew bought me cinnamon rolls for breakfast yesterday and even though I ate only half because Jacob the pig decided to steal the rest then I'm screwed. But what coach doesn't know won't hurt him."

"Are you guys on some type of sports diet or something?" Caleb asked. "Is that why Sam made that really disgusting brown thingy drink this morning? It looked like mud and he actually drank it in one go."

"Yes." I answered before tugging on Sam's shirt so I could kiss him for a second before going back to my ice cream.

"Oh my God you guys are goals," Caleb said in a falsetto voice before clapping and holding his locked hands besides his cheek.

Jacob looked at Caleb the same way we all were: weird. "You good Caleb?"

Caleb started sniffing and fanning his eyes before stretching his hands out towards Sam and I just as Austin and Toby entered the room. "You guys-I'm sorry this is too much."

He started fanning his eyes again and sniffed dramatically as Austin stared at him, holding a root beer in his hand. "What?"

"You guys are my otp. I just love you guys so much."

I stared at Caleb for a couple more seconds like everyone else in the room, the spoon in my mouth before I took it out. "Um...why?"

"Did you guys see the article involving you?" he asked in his normal voice.

"What?"

Caleb put his hands out, making emphasis for every word he was about to say. "Samuel Cahill and girlfriend leave studio after live interview. Macy, your sweater by the way was a stunner."

"It was Sam's."

"Which he stole from me. That's why it was a stunner," Caleb said dryly, shooting Sam a tight smile. "Anyway, those were some of the comments from some gossip thing online about your relationship."

"Gossip thing?" I asked then waved a hand. "Actually I don't even want to know."

"Interview?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah I did one a couple days ago." Sam said, eyes turned towards the screen of the TV as he moved his hand up and down my back.

"Not to mention but your Instagram has been blowing up." Caleb muttered.

Sam whipped his head to his best friend. "Have you been stalking me or did you go into my account...again?"

"Both. Putting 'Caleb is a god' in your bio really boosts my self esteem."

Sam took his phone out of his pocket, grumbling and probably changing his bio and his password. Caleb put his own phone back in his pocket. "I haven't seen you get this much attention since..."

"The wedding? The airport when we landed? The amount of girls that show up at his soccer games? All the girls in this town? Whenever he posts a new picture that I take of him? His likes almost match his followers." I suggested, putting another spoonful of ice cream in my mouth.

"Wow, do you want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with that?" Jacob said lowly.

I took my pillow and threw it at his head. Caleb shook his head. "I was gunna say since that time in grade eleven when everyone was trying to find out who had put pads around your school and how everyone suspected you."

Sam chuckled and my eyes widened. "That was you? It was even in the girl's bathroom and the principal's office."

"There was a lot in the principal's office and Ms. Bushwhack's classroom. Least liked people at school. Good times." Sam smiled faintly as if it was a memory to be cherished but he waved a hand.

"He dragged me with him in the middle of the night to Bark-Ridge with boxes of all your women shit and plastered them all over."

"Never got caught, no matter how much Principal baldy accused me of it." Sam said.

"How? I swear that school has cameras." Stevie said.

"Ski masks and black outfits help a lot, trust me." He said, taking the spoon from me so he could eat my ice cream.

"Where's Jasmine?" Jacob asked, looking around the room. "She's the only one missing."

"Um...she's with her brother." I said, my eyes trailing over to Andrew who was changing the channel on the remote really aggressively at the mention of her name. He says he wasn't angry but clearly that remote is feeling it right now.

"What?" Austin asked. "No offense to Drake but Andrew I thought she would spend the day with you at least until we all leave tonight."

Andrew got up and made his way to the kitchen. "We all thought a lot of things."

He disappeared past the door and Toby who was seated on the armchair next to Austin, glanced at me with a pointed look. "Okay, what's the problem with him?"

I exchanged a glance with Sam. "Um...I'm not the one to say."

Jacob got off of the couch along with Jon Ming and I could hear yelling as the door opened and Andrew was dragged (struggled considering he was an American football player) out holding a package of microwavable popcorn in his hands. "What? What? Get off me."

Jon Ming and Jacob let him stand in the center of the room, both of them in front of him with crossed arms. "What happened?" Jacob asked.

"Guys, just leave him alone." Caleb said beside me in a serious tone.

"Nah, obviously something's bothering him so we want to know."

"Can I just go microwave popcorn in peace without getting questions?" Andrew asked in a monotone voice.

"No, what's going on? You've been looking down ever since you stepped into the house."

Andrew's eyes flickered to the ceiling before they moved onto Jacob and I could tell he was getting annoyed by the second. "Jacob, leave me alone."

"No, we-"

"Okay, you want to know what's going on?" Andrew almost yelled and could even feel my body flinch at his tone. Oh God.

Jacob put his hands out as a gesture to get Andrew to calm down. "Drew, chill."

"I can't just 'chill'. My girlfriend cheated on me, okay? That's what happening. So excuse me if I don't exactly want to talk about it. Now, can I go microwave popcorn? Thanks." He stomped out of the room.

The entire room was silenced and I had gotten up now, handing the bucket of ice cream back to Sam as I entered the kitchen. "Andrew."

I stopped myself noticing that Liz was sitting at the island on a stool, staring at Andrew with a perfectly raised eyebrow before glancing at me with a smile. I gave her a hug, taking a seat next to her as we watched Andrew shove the bag into the microwave, hitting a couple buttons really, really hard.

"I love how you all treat my home as yours but Andrew, try not to abuse it."

Andrew gave Liz a sheepish smile. "Sorry, just having a rough time."

"Aren't we all?" I heard her mumble and I turned to her.

"How's life going Liz?"

She sighed, pushing her black hair over her shoulder. "Vince is back in New York and won't be back until Wednesday which as you must have probably noticed always affects my mood."

I propped my head on my hand, giving her a light smile and nodding. The love Liz and Vince had for each other was probably one usually written in the books and it was so obvious in a room.

"I'm pretty sure something's going on with Christian. Joey and Lucas had been fighting more often. Phillip won't stop bouncing around the house, he broke a vase the other day. Right now I'm pretty sure the only normal child I have living in the house is Gregory."

I laughed at that and I could hear Andrew chuckle by the microwave as well. Liz closed her eyes for a second, rubbing her temple before she opened them and glanced at Andrew. "But my problems don't seem to be affecting me as much as your own are affecting you Andrew."

Andrew didn't face her, he kept his eyes on the microwave, watching the clock before the ding sounded. He opened the little door, shaking his head. "My problem isn't that serious Mrs. Cahill."

"I've told you kids a thousand times to call me Liz."

"Sorry, my problem isn't that serious Liz."

"It's serious if you were harassing my microwave."

As weird as that sentence sounded I held back a laugh, waiting for Andrew to say something. "I'm, I'm just having a relationship problem. It's not a big deal."

I scoffed and even Liz rolled her eyes getting off of the stool and standing next to Andrew. "Big deal?" I'm pretty sure would've been giving Andrew one of her famous motherly advice-she should honestly write a book- someone walked into the kitchen.

"Liz-" Alexis stopped herself from talking when she noticed Andrew and I were on in the room. "Oh, Andrew right?"

Andrew nodded and Alexis turned to me giving me that fake smile that seemed to appear on her face every time I've seen her. "Mabel, good to see you again."

Wish the feeling was mutual.