"What are you guys doing for Halloween?" Jo asked me and Lauren the next day at work. Lauren recently started working with us and was currently in training.

"Well, I personally will be dressing up as a princess and going door to door asking for candy." I smiled and clapped my hands together.

"Shut up." Jo rolled her eyes at me and giggled. "I meant like next weekend. Hey, isn't it your birthday right before Halloween?"

"Ugh. Don't remind me." I said. My birthday was the Saturday before Halloween, on the 27th. I hated my birthday. It was just a reminder of the worst day of my life. Being born. My mother only remembered it half the time, and I always ended up alone and sad.

"Okay, so come get drunk and party with me then! And no one has to know it's your birthday." Jo promised.

I pondered the invitation. It would take a lot of pressure off Liam to plan something nice for my birthday. He's so kind, and I would hate to be a burden. Plus, it was way too early to celebrate birthdays. Liam wasn't even technically my boyfriend. Who knows if he would even still like me in a week.

"Okay, fine." I finally said.

"Yay!" Jo came over and hugged me. "What are we gonna dress as?"

"I am not dressing up." I said.

"Charlieeee!" She whined. "Lauren. Help me."

"Charlie we should! You and Liam could do a couples costume!" Lauren agreed.

"Please tell me you're kidding. Wouldn't he think that's lame?" I asked.

"Liam is sooo lame! He probably already has an idea picked out for you guys." Lauren laughed.

I felt slightly angry that she was making fun of him, but I knew she meant it in a good way. He was kind of lame. I could definitely see him pondering many different costume ideas for us, and the thought made me smile.

"Don't you think it's kind of soon? I don't even know if he'll wanna go." I said.

"Charlie, I promise you Liam is so into you. Do you want me to ask him for you?" She asked.

It seemed so middle school to have my friend ask a guy if he wanted to go on a date and dress up with me. "Could you please?" I begged anyway.

"No problem." She smiled.

"So what should we go as Lauren?" Jo asked. I was glad the attention was finally off of me.

~~~

When I got home, the apartment was empty again. I was convinced my mom moved into a new apartment. Where could she have been all the time?

I was really okay with having the apartment to myself. It would have been nice to see Liam tonight, but he was working his last shift at the restaurant before he took the winter off for basketball then track season. I thought about what I would do for the night.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard the buzzer. Random people often rang it, so I ignored it. However, it just kept ringing. I finally got up to let whoever it was in. I double checked the door was locked, so they wouldn't be able to get in if it was a rapist or serial killer.

A few moments later I heard a knock on the door. I looked through the peep hole and saw a man holding Owen.

I swung open the door and yelled, "Oh my god, Owen!"

"Sissy!" He bounced in the man's arms and reached out for me. I swooped him up and squeezed him so tight I thought he might break. I instantly felt tears in my eyes and my heart swelled. This was the longest I had ever been away from him.

"Hi. I'm Tyler. Owen's dad." The man smiled at me. I turned my attention to him, and I noticed the same features which Owen had. There was no DNA test needed. Tyler was definitely Owen's dad.

I wasn't sure what to say. I had so many questions for this man and what the hell was going on with my brother. I missed him and refused to be kept from his life any longer.

"Is Tammy here?" He asked.

"No." I responded.

"Oh. She said she would be here for us to talk about our... situation." He looked down at the ground and shoved his hands in his, what looked like brand new jeans. He had a long sleeved black shirt tucked in with a black belt and matching black dress shoes. Tyler was very attractive. He smelt of some fancy cologne I could probably never afford and had dark brown hair that matched Owen's. They both had piercing blue eyes.

"Yeah. Sorry she's not very reliable. Do you want to come in?" I asked and instantly regretted it. Our apartment was littered with white claw and busch light cans from the previous night. I was embarrassed Tyler saw this, but I didn't want him to leave and take Owen with him.

"Sure." He smiled and only took a few steps in the entry way. I didn't blame him. "So you must be Owen's sister?"

I nodded.

"What's your name? Sorry I don't know anything about you other than the fact the Owen asks for 'sissy' nonstop."

"Yeah, seems like my mom likes to leave me out of the conversation so people don't know her real age." Last night she told Ryan she was 28. Which is pretty much impossible to be with a 17 year old daughter. "My name is Charlie."

"Sorry. I don't mean to pry, but I just wanna know the situation I'm in." He said. "How old are you?"

"I'm 18." It wasn't technically the truth, but I was close enough, and I wanted to seem older, so he would trust me with Owen.

"Are you Owen's primary caretaker? It seems your mom isn't the most responsible. No offense."

"It's okay. She's usually home, but since Owen has been gone, she isn't as much." I didn't know how much information I should give him considering his ultimate goal was to take Owen out of my home. Which maybe was a good thing, but I wanted to be selfish.

"Yeah. We planned to meet today, but I've been calling her and texting her for the past week and haven't gotten any response. Do you wanna ask me any questions? I'm sure it's not easy handing your brother over to a stranger."

"I guess I don't know what to ask."

"Well for the past week, Owen has been living with me and my girlfriend Sarah. We're both lawyers. She's great with kids, and she even has two nephews that Owen has been able to bond with. When we're at work, he's been staying with her sister and her nephews actually. She's currently a stay at home mom, but I don't know how she puts up with three young boys."

He took a pause and waited for me to say something, but I wasn't sure what I could say.

"Your mom and I met at a bar one night. She told me she was 28 and never mentioned having kids. Things got a little heated, but I never spoke to her afterwards. Shortly after, I met your mom, I started dating Sarah. A year and a half later, I got a letter in the mail saying if I didn't pay child support, I would be in jail. So I did a little research, brought up taking custody of Owen, and your mom didn't protest, so she handed him over last week, and I haven't really heard from her since."

"So are you? Going to take custody of him?" I asked.

"No offense, but I think it's what's best for him. I don't want to keep him from you at all though. You can see him as often as you'd like. Actually, would you like to come over for dinner tonight and meet Sarah? You could see his room and spend some time with him."

I really didn't want to go to a family dinner that wasn't even my family, but I wanted to see Owen, so I agreed. I also wanted to know where my baby brother was staying.

Tyler brought Owen home and texted me the address, so I could shower first then meet them there. I knew it had to be a nice house since it wasn't too far from my dad's, but I was surprised to pull up to a huge brick house with a stone driveway. I guess being a lawyer was the way to go.

Sarah was nice. She treated Owen like he was her child which irritated the shit out of me, but I was glad Owen had some normalcy. She made a huge dinner which included salad, stuffed shells, and garlic bread. Of course, I barely ate any of it. I was offered every vitamin water flavor you could think of, and given a container of leftovers which I knew I probably wouldn't touch.

After about two hours, I was exhausted. I said goodbye to Owen and promised I would see him soon. I made plans to come over on Wednesday next week for another visit, but I still cried when he cried and begged me not to go. Tyler did not feel comfortable letting me take Owen home without my mom there. Ironically, he was safer without her there, but I understood.

I finally got home around seven. When I walked in the door, my phone rang. To my surprise it was Liam. I hadn't expected him to get off until later. I debated answering it. I wanted to talk to him, but I hated talking on the phone. I knew if I ignored it, he'd probably call me again.

"Hello." I answered.

"Hey, what's up? I got off early because we were dead, so I'm officially a free man." He said. I could feel his smile radiating through the phone.

"Oh, that's nice." I said.

"So I heard it's your birthday on Saturday?" He asked.

"I'm gonna kill Lauren." I rolled my eyes. I thought we had decided to not tell people about my birthday.

"Yeah she texted me, and we are definitely dressing up. Halloween is the best holiday ever, so you know we have to go all out." I could hear the excitement in his voice.

"Okay fine." I laughed. I really didn't want to dress up, but I would do anything for that boy, and that scared the shit out of me.

"You home?" He asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Is your mom home?"

I felt butterflies in my tummy and a smile across my face. "No."

"Hmm interesting. So you know I'm free for the evening. Are you free?"

"I might be."

"Good. I'm coming over. I'll be there in ten."

"Wait, to my place? Are you sure?" Our place was decently clean, other than the cans in the living room and kitchen sink which I could easily pick up. However, I was more worried about my mom coming home. She wouldn't be mad if I had a boy over, but she would definitely try to flirt with him and tell him she was only 28. That must be her magic number.

"Sorry. I shouldn't just invite myself. We don't have to stay at your place. I just thought we could watch a movie or something to make up for our date last night."

Date. I couldn't believe that I was not only dating, but I was dating one of the most popular boys in school. I guess it was very unlikely that my mom would come home, especially on a Saturday night, so I agreed.

Exactly ten minutes later, Liam showed up. I cleaned as much as I could in that short time, but I felt like it wasn't enough. I answered the door to a smiling boy who held a huge bag of sour patch kids in one hand and sprite in another.

"Hi." I smiled. His hair was neatly done from work still, but he had changed in to a pair of joggers and a Tech basketball sweatshirt. My heart felt like it was melting at the sight of him. He looked like a tumblr boy which I use to dream of when I was younger.

"You're wearing jeans?" He asked and pulled me in for a quick hug.

I shrugged and instantly felt insecure.

"I mean you look great in them, but I want you to be comfortable."

We walked down the hall into my room, and he tossed the snacks on my bedside table. "Okay give me a second." I dug through my drawers and pulled out a pair of leggings and walked across the hall to the bathroom.

"Where are you going?"

"To change." I gave him a confused look.

"You could change in front of me." He smiled at me. He must have seen the panic in my eyes because he immediately said "Charlie, I'm kidding."

I sighed a sigh of relief. "I hate you!" I pushed his face with my hand and laughed.

When I came back, Liam was scrolling through Hulu on my tv. He was sprawled out on my bed with his legs crossed and one arm behind his head for support.

He dropped the remote when he saw me walk back in and sat up. His lips parted and his eyes burnt holes through my body.

I crossed my arms over my body trying to cover up. I had felt overexposed. The leggings I wore were tight to my body, and my shirt was a short sleeve v-neck which I had borrowed from Jo once. It was also tight to my body and reached just above my hips.

"Don't do that." Liam swung his legs off the edge of the bed and pulled my arms down before pulling me into him. He tucked his head into my neck and squeezed my body. "You don't have to be embarrassed of how you look."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and let my head rest on his. Normally, Liam was much taller than me, so I liked having the height advantage for once. I wanted him to kiss me, but I was too shy to make the first move. My body tingled when he finally pulled away and scooted over on the bed to make room for me.

It didn't take us long to decide on some type of horror film. Liam promised he would "protect" me. I didn't have the heart to tell him I had watched every single episode of Supernatural and most likely would not get scared from it. If anything, I would protect him. We lined all of my pillows against the wall for a back rest and turned off all my lights other than my twinkling ones draped along my window.

We were only ten minutes into the movie when I blurted out, "Have you had sex before?"

He looked at me in shock. "Okay, heavy."

"Sorry. You don't have to answer. I was just wondering."

"No, it's okay." He pushed himself a little bit, so he was sitting up. "I have."

My heart sank. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I hated the idea of another girl having him. I have never felt so close to anyone, and I have never shared so many intimate moments. I wished he hadn't shared that with anyone else.

"Have you?" He asked.

I shook my head no and looked away. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"I don't know." I was embarrassed. I didn't want to open myself up to him. I didn't want him to have all of me if I wasn't getting all of him. It sounded stupid and selfish, but I already felt like he takes care me, and I didn't want to be the only vulnerable one. Not that I was ready to have sex with him anyway.

"We don't have to do anything you don't want to do. I actually prefer we kind of take things slow anyway." It was his turn to be embarrassed. He scratched his head and looked away.

"Why?" I asked. Emotionally, we did not take anything slow. He already knew everything about me.

"I slept with one girl, and she kind of broke my heart. We dated for eight months, and I told her about my past. Not all of it, but more than enough. And she cheated on me."

"Liam, I'm so sorry. You don't deserve that." I instantly wanted to fight this girl. Who would cheat on Liam? He is the best person I have ever met, and I couldn't imagine finding something better. "Is she the first girl you slept with?"

He nodded. "It was awhile ago though."

"Have you slept with anyone else?"

"Don't be mad, but I've slept with four other girls."

"Four?" That meant five girls had more of him than me.

"I'm sorry. I'm the star of the basketball team. Girls love me."

"Ugh Barf." I tried distancing myself from him. He sounded like a frat boy who would try to pick me up at one of Jo's party.

"Okay, you're right that sounded really douchey, and it's probably gonna sound worse for a minute, but hear me out. None of those girls meant anything to me. I know I come across as this cocky, confident guy, but it's kind of a show. After my first girlfriend, and the shit with my dad, I was just trying to fill a void. I don't wanna do that with you. Charlotte, I really like you, and I don't wanna ruin it by being the star of the basketball team. I just wanna be Liam, and that's who I am when I'm with you."

"God. You're so cute. I might actually barf." My blue eyes finally connected with his hazel ones.

"Okay, but please don't do it in my mouth." He pulled me close to him and kissed my lips. The feeling I have been craving since last night.

He pulled away, but I wasn't ready to give him up. I moved my body closer to him and looked at his eyes before closing mine and kissing him again. I let my mouth make the decisions for me. Liam placed his hand on my hip, and I felt warmth spread through my veins. I pulled my body on to his and slid my legs on either side of his body. He gripped his hands tighten on my hips.

"Charlotte." He pulled away. "You know you're absolutely gorgeous right?"

"So are you." I kissed him again.