I felt terrible.

Maybe it was beyond terrible at the moment. However for the first time in about a week it had nothing to do with my physical health. It was finally New Year's Eve and I was feeling well enough to join Jake's family celebration. I was getting ready in Jake's room when it all hit me.

I had met Jake's family but I'd spent the past days cooped up in bed resting and feeling like shit. I hadn't put the effort into really getting to know any of them or make a good impression. I could only imagine what they thought of me right now.

So now I was hiding in Jake's bedroom for a completely different reason. I was way too nervous to face anyone right now. How was I supposed to win them over?

"You're still not dressed?" Jake gave me a questioning look as he slipped back into his room.

"I don't think I can do this." I fretted.

My overthinking and panic was going to ruin everything but at this moment I didn't care. I let myself rely on my anxieties trusting them to make sure I didn't spiral any further. And I really didn't think I could handle the rejection of Jake's family.

"Why? It's just my family and a few friends. Nothing is going to go wrong." He tried to reassure me but his words did nothing to ease the nerves.

"Just your family!?" I scoffed at him. "What if they hate me and like tell you to break up with me?"

Jake just stared at me for a few seconds not saying anything. Part of me thought he might have been waiting for me to tell him I was joking. I really was t kidding right now.

"They aren't going to hate you and if they try to control who I'm dating then that's their problem and not yours."

I forced myself to let out a few breaths to try to calm down some. I was being unrealistic. I knew Jake loved me and his family had been kind enough to let me stay for as long as they have. I shouldn't be worried about this now.

"Ok ok," I nodded lightly trying to shake some of the nerves off.

"Now are you going to put your shirt on or are you going to meet my family half naked?" Jake gave me a teasing smile.

—

I shouldn't have been worried. I spent about twenty minutes letting Jake's mom shove her cheesecake at me until I had to tell her it was enough. I was worried that she'd throw one more thing onto my plate and I'd end up with a stomach ache for the rest of the night.

In the time I spent with Jake's mom I had lost my boyfriend. He'd went to grab another drink and he'd yet to return. I hadn't been too worried before but now I scanned through the crowd hoping to see him. Jake's mom had moved from me to trying to serve other guests so I was alone. Id been introduced to some of the family and friends that were here but it was quick introductions so I didn't know anyone but Jake.

It didn't take long for me to find the familiar head of dark brown hair but I hesitated to go over and see him. Jake was in a conversation with a man I didn't recognize and judging from his face he was not having a good time. I thought about going to rescue him but then my gaze locked on someone else.

Adam stood not that far from Jake but he seemed to be in some type of argument with Jake's sister, someone I had yet to really talk to at all. I decided to make my way towards them instead of joining whatever boring conversation Jake was locked into.

"I thought you weren't as lame as my brother but turns out I'm wrong." Maya, Jake's sister sassed frowning at the blond in front of her.

"Did you really think I'd say yes to that? Come on you know me better than that." Adam responded.

"I wasn't asking for a lot, you know I'll find another way so you might as well just give it to me now and save me the trouble of having to steal it."

"Well you just told me your plan so now I'll have hawk eyes on you all night." Adam smiled triumphantly.

"Ugh you are such a buzzkill. You should really find something better to do than be up in my business." Maya argued.

Jake had mentioned she was a bit of a bratty teen and I was starting to understand why he said that.

"It became my business the second you came up to me asking me to sneak you alcohol. You are fifteen Maya, I don't know why you thought I'd let you get drunk when we both know Jake would beat my ass for even letting you look at a bottle of alcohol."

"It's not like I've never drank before and I'm almost sixteen." She groaned and then turned around and stomped away.

"She makes me never want to have kids." Adam sighed and turned slightly towards me letting me know he was talking to me.

"Kids are fine at least until they are teenagers. I really can't talk because I think I was worse when I was fifteen." I joked.

Looking back I knew I was not easy to deal with at that age. I was an asshole to pretty much everyone, worse than I am now. I just had so much anger that I didn't know what to do with and I hadn't surrounded myself with people that helped me get that anger out in healthy ways.

"She's not so bad, she just likes to annoy the shit out of me but I think it's like mandatory for siblings to push each other's buttons a bit."

I smiled at that. The way Adam was with Maya and how close him and Jake seemed it made sense that he viewed Jake's family as his own. They'd grown up together and Jake had said that Adam was basically a brother to him, I just hadn't realized how true that was.

"You should go rescue him, Uncle Charles never stops talking and it's always things that no one but him cares about. On Thanksgiving I had to sit for about an hour and listen to him talk about some WWII documentary I'm pretty sure he only watched ten minutes of." Adam gestured to where Jake was standing.

"I probably should, I'll see you after?" And I found I meant it, Adam and I had a rough start but I found that I did enjoy having him around. The more time I spent with the blond the more I understood why him and Jake were so close.

"Yeah get far away from Charles and I might hang out with you two losers." He joked.

I let myself feel happy with the people I'd found myself surrounding myself with and I knew that this year was going to be so much better. I was working to move on from all the issues my parents built in me growing up and I'd replaced their toxicity with people that genuinely cared about me.

I was starting the new year with a family that I wished I'd found earlier. 

—
After I saved Jake we had spent the rest of the night with Adam. The blond had disappeared a few minutes ago. He ran off on a mission and I had a feeling it had something to do with Maya trying to sneak alcohol again. He hadn't been kidding about the hawk eyes.

Now the count down to the new year had begun and I was going to spend the first seconds on the new year in the arms of the man I loved.

"Five." I heard the people around us call out.

I leaned close to Jake staring at those perfect warm brown eyes. He just smiled back at me as the countdown continued.

"Four."

"Three."

"Two."

I held by breathe for the last second. This was it, I was starting new. Leaving all that happened last year behind me.

"One."

Jake leaned forward and closed the distance between us. The kiss wasn't anything crazy but after days of struggling it was nice to have this moment with Jake. A moment that I was focused only on his mouth moving slowly against mine and not anything else.

I let myself be happy without guilt.

"Happy new year Ev." Jake said softly breaking the kiss.

"Happy new year Jake." I grinned back at him.

There was nothing that could ruin this moment for me. I wouldn't let anything dim the wide smile on my face. Jake made me feel so amazing and I never wanted to lose that feeling.

A/n:

I officially finished writing for this book. There are three more chapters left and then the epilogue and I wrote a bonus chapter of Jake's POV that takes place before the start of this book. It will be a fun look into the two of them meeting and how Jake developed his feelings for Evan.

I'm excited to share the end of this book with you all. Once I post the epilogue I'll be uploading the introduction to Jetson and Connors story, The Path To You. I'll put more information about the upload schedule for that book in the introduction.

Also for those who celebrate, I hope you have a good holiday and eat some good food.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
-Cora Leigh