Chapter 30 - Analise

    After school, Will drove us to my house. According to Drew, Alisha was already there and waiting for whatever news we wanted to talk to them about. Of course, I mainly wanted to talk to Drew, but Alisha deserved to know too if she was going to be around us more often. I had the essay Will had written tucked safely into a place in my backpack where I wouldn't forget it, and I had every intention of putting it on my nightstand so I could read it whenever I felt self conscious or doubtful.

Our hands were connected over the center console and it was as if our hands were made for each other. His large hand covered my smaller one with ease and our fingers were interlaced as if it was something we always did. I saw Will glancing at me out of the corner of my eye, and after the fifth or sixth glance it got to me. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Will mumbled dejectedly, a hint that he really did want to talk, but that I'd have to press for information. Obviously he didn't know me well enough.

I scowled. "I'm not prying."

He beamed a smile at me when we stopped at a red light close to my house and nodding. "I know. I'm just," he trailed off, tousling his waves. "I'm worried."

I furrowed my brows, side-glancing him. "Why?"

"Because, we're talking now and I'm not meeting Drew as your friend but as your hopefully soon-to-be boyfriend."

I slapped his shoulder as the light turned green, rolling my eyes. "Relax. If anyone has something to worry about, it's me with meeting your mom for dinner tomorrow. Drew already knows and loves you, he's not the over protective type. Now, if you hurt me, cheat on me, put your hands on me-"

"I could never," Will interrupted with a scoff looking quite offended.

I held my hands up defensively. "I'm just saying. Do any of that, and he will become overprotective big brother bear. He'll murder you in your sleep, no hesitation. Gang Drew will come out to play."

"Gang Drew," Will snickered.

I narrowed my eyes at him as we pulled up to my house. "I'm serious."

He nodded, smiling. "I would never hurt you, Annie. I'd sooner hurt myself."

His words sent a jolt through me and I couldn't help the smile that formed. "Also, please don't mention gang stuff tonight. He still doesn't know you know anything, and he still doesn't know about me."

"Got it, Annie."

Together we exited the car, slamming our doors in the process. No sooner than the sound of the car door slamming sounded, my front door opened and out bounded a little girl, Alisha hot on her heels. She was adorable and truly looked just like Alisha, I could immediately tell it was her daughter. She had light brown hair cascading down to her waist in big bouncy curls and a pair of big green eyes, forrest green like her mothers. She had on a pink Peppa Pig long sleeve t-shirt and a pair of jeans, but no shoes.

"Isabella!" Ali called, frustration seeping into her tone. "You can't run outside without shoes on! Come back here!"

"No!" Bella called back, grinning to herself while she ran over to us. She jumped up into my arms, catching me by surprise but I caught her easily. She was rather light for a four year old. "Hi, I'm Bella!"

I grinned at her, walking towards Alisha and Drew who were standing at the front door. "Hey Bella, I'm Ana. You know you're supposed to have shoes on to go outside, right?"

She frowned, her brows creasing adorably. "But my puppy goes outside without shoes on."

I laughed to myself and heard Will laughing behind me. "Puppies get free passes to do it. Doggy shoes are too expensive, like thousands of dollars," I exaggerated and she nodded in understanding. "You like Peppa Pig?"

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers and she nodded her head rapidly. "Do I? She's the best, Ana! She has an accent and she talks like this," Bella mumbled, trying her hardest to do a Peppa Pig accent at the end of her sentence. "And she's a pig and she has a little brother, but I don't."

Ignoring her daughters frown about not having a little sibling, Alisha smiled. "And what do pigs say, Bell?"

Bella grinned, "Oink, Oink!"

"Good job!" Alisha called, holding her hand out for a high five. Bella clapped her hand for her moms, before reaching her arms out for her. When Alisha grabbed her from me, the relief was instantaneous. Alisha wrapped her free arm around me in a side hug. "Nice to see you again, Ana. Hey Will!"

"Hey Ali," Will, who had previously been silent, grinned, wrapping a hand around my shoulders. Alisha and Drew eyed his arm curiously, but didn't speak up. I knew they wanted to ask about the sudden change from the last time the four of us were together, but they bit their tongues. They knew this dinner was called to discuss some things and I knew they'd ask then.

Bella turned to Will, smiling brightly. "I'm Bella!"

He smiled back at her. "I'm Will."

Her brows creased again. "Will you guys watch Peppa Pig with me?"

Will chuckled nodding his head. "Sure thing, sweetie. Peppa's gotta be my number one."

The sight of him talking so easily to a four year old warmed my heart. I always liked when guys were good with kids, to me it showed some substance. We all walked into the kitchen and sat at the table. There was a booster seat in one of the chairs for Bella, in between Alisha and I. Drew was sat next to Alisha, and Will was next to me. Once we plated our food - chicken parmesan, one of my favorites of Drews dishes - the interrogation started.

"So what's with the arm?" Drew cut straight to the chase, his eyes on my shoulder where Will's arm previously resided. His brown eyes - a direct match to my own, from our dad - were calculating and I knew he was mulling over different scenarios in his head.

Will finished the bite of food he was chewing before taking a swig of his lemonade. "Well, Analise and I are kind of... almost dating?"

Alisha and Drew shared a confused look before looking back at us. I chuckled lowly to myself. "Huh?"

"We aren't official or anything, but we're talking," I explained, stabbing my fork in a piece of chicken and bringing it to my mouth.

"We're all talking," Bella chimed in, smiling brightly. I went to laugh with everyone else and started choking on my chicken, earning pats on the back from Will. When I caught my breath I sent him a thankful look.

"When did this happen?" Drew asked, crossing his arms. His food was now forgotten as he looked between Will and I, and I knew protective Drew was crawling his way out. He wasn't always protective - he knew I previously slept around and he never really bothered me about it except to tell me to use protection and not get pregnant. But I'd never had a boyfriend, or anyone remotely close to that, so I knew he was just itching to give a talk he'd never had to give before.

So Will and I explained the story, leaving out the part of me being in a gang, or him knowing about the gang. I said how I explained to Will how hard it was for me to get close to anyone because of our past to which Drew clenched his fists in memory. We explained the cute words from Will, which had Ali swooning. And we explained the kiss, which had both looking at us in shock.

Drew nodded his head when we finished the explanation, turning to Will. "I like you, kid, but if you hurt my sister, I'll kill you. And I mean that literally, limb by limb, hair by hair, I will murder you slowly."

"Geez with the images Drew," Ali chastised sparing a glance at Bella who was fishing in her pink plastic cup for a piece of ice. Every time her chubby little fingers got a hold of a piece it slipped and she pouted before determinedly trying again. I picked up an unused spoon off the table and fished a piece out for her before offering her the spoon to which she grinned appreciatively and stuffed the whole cube in her mouth, making her cheeks puff out.

"Sorry babe," Drew mumbled sheepishly.

"I won't hurt her Drew, I promise," Will promised, smiling over at me. I returned it.

"You guys are so cute!" Ali gushed, her mouth turned up in a wide smile.

"Nauseating," Drew corrected, stabbing at his chicken. "So, Ana, we actually needed to talk to you..."

He trailed off, looking down at a random spot on the table. I looked over to Ali to see she had turned solemn, crossing her hands and also looking down. My eyes snapped between them, neither elaborating and it was making warning bells go off in my head. I glanced in Will's direction to see him mirroring my confusion.

"About?"

"Well, you like Ali, right?"

I nodded, offering Ali a small smile. "Yeah of course she's great, why? Are you guys breaking up?"

He shook his head, his eyes snapping up to meet mine. "No, nothing like that."

"Then-"

"Bella and I are getting evicted," Ali admitted in a small, almost scared voice.

"Oh no, Ali, that's awful. Where will you guys go then?" Will asked, concern clouding his features but the wheels were already turning in my head. I knew what was coming, and I wasn't really sure what to think about it.

"I invited them to live with us, Lise, and Alisha accepted."