Dahlia

It's time to come back to reality.

After a summer of compete and utter utopia, I guess it's about time I come home and go back to having the same life problems everyone else does.

Calum and I got back together around the middle of May. It took a while, and it was awkward, but how could we not? We love each other, and we have since we were kids basically.

Maya and Luke though are a whole 'nother story. They never got back together, but Maya isn't sad about it anymore. Actually, she isn't very sad at all anymore. I think the summer away from most of us gave her time to figure out how to be happy by herself. That being said, she's not completely better, she has her days. But she's back to being the Maya we all adore. The only 'side effect' I guess would be that now she hates Luke.

They didn't break up and make it as friends, they're at war with each other. A one sided war though, as Luke just sulks about it all rather than fight back.

Today will be the first time I've seen them all since June, when I left with Calum and his family for vacation. My legs are shaking with excitement as we drive by the "Welcome To Sydney" sign.

My German Shepard India barks out the window, as if she knows where we are. She was a present from Calum when he officially asked me to be his girlfriend, and is now about six months old.

"You excited babe?" Calum smirks at me from the other side of the backseat. India is sitting between us.

"How could you tell?" I gasp, twisting my red hair around my fingers.

"Mm, lucky guess."

"A half hour until we get back to our house; Calum you have to unpack the bags from the car before you go meet everyone," Calum's mom says.

"Alright." He sighs.

"Mmm." I squirm in the spot.

"Dahlia Juliet Pearce can you not wait forty five minutes?" She scolds me with a laugh. She has sort of become my 'mom' over the summer. It feels nice to have that sort of motherly care again.

"No I can't!" I laugh along with her, my legs still jumping up and down in anticipation.

Calum puts a hand on my legs and makes his voice shake along as if I'm bouncing him as well. "W-why s-so impatient?"

I give him a mock glare and play with my ripped jean shorts. "Like you aren't!"

"I'm not that excited though." He squishes my cheeks so I'm making a kissy face.

"Mmphm."

"I can't wait to have a break from you three." Calum's father David looks back at us in the back seat with a grin.

India sighs and lays her head on Calum's lap. He lets go of my cheeks and pets her ears. "Why? We were a great source of entertainment on this trip."

"More like a great source of annoyance."

"We are offended," Calum speaks for us.

"Alright, alright. India was okay."

Calum raises his eyebrows and purses his lips. "Well!"

He smiles, and so does his wife. "I'm just teasing you guys."

"No you're partially right, Calum was at times annoying." I grin.

"Very annoying."

"Not you too, Dahlia!" Calum gasps.

"Hmm." I wrinkle my nose.

*****

I sit on the doorstep of the Hood's house and look out over the rooftops, where there are birds flying and chirping to one another. It's hot out, but not as bad as it was earlier in the day.

Calum's carrying his bags upstairs, and then we're going to go meet up with everyone. We texted them all individually to meet us at a restaurant and arcade we used to go to every once and a while, so they don't know any of the others will be there. And thank goodness for that, because otherwise we'd never get Maya and Luke in the same room.

"Okay, ready to go. Thanks for all your help by the way," Calum says sarcastically.

"Hey, I have my own bag to carry to my own room when we get to my house. Don't be a baby, you had a suitcase and a backpack." I stand up and face him, brushing off imaginary dust from my shorts.

"Compelling argument." He sighs.

"I know! Maybe I'll be a lawyer..."

"India!" Calum calls

She comes barreling down the stairs and outside, jumping up against his back.

"Ooof!"

I smirk at them. My two favourites in this world.

"Okay guys, in the car." He dangles his keys by one finger. He still shows off every time he drives. He's way too happy about having his full license.

*****

We walk in hand and hand into the loud, busy building.

"You're home!" Luke comes over quickly, wrapping us both in a bear hug. I'm trapped in between the two, and with them being so tall, I almost suffocate.

"We are!" I take a deep breath and laugh once he lets go.

"How was the trip?"

I smile up at Calum, and he smiles down at me. "It was good."

"Great! Who's all coming to this little 'reunion'?" Luke asks.

"Everyone!" I hold back a smirk.

"Hey mates!" Ashton says happily as he walks in. "It's been forever!"

"I know!" I smile and fun to hug him.

Hailey walks in a few seconds later. Her hair is back to blonde now, but it doesn't come as a surprise to me because she sent a selfie when she got it dyed back to her natural colour. "Sorry Ash, I couldn't find— OH MY GOD!"

"Hailey!" I squeal and hug her. She stiffens, but then hugs me back for a moment.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in a million years, like my memory of you was fading!" Hailey says dramatically.

"Drama queen." Calum pulls at a piece of her hair, making her scrunch up her nose.

"Yes, I am queen." Hailey strikes a pose.

Ashton slings an arm over her shoulders and walks with us farther into the room. "Should we get a table now or eat after we play?"

"We should—" Calum starts to answer but then stops and his face lights up. "Michael! Aaliyah!"

The two of them are playing air hockey, both looking very determined to win. The only one we haven't seen now is Maya.

"Just a minute I'm winning," Michael says distractedly. "WAIT!" He turns around and runs over, picking me up into a twirl hug.

"And I'm dramatic huh?" Hailey looks at her nails and smirks.

"Michael!" I laugh. "How are you?"

"Good, I was beating her." He points to Aaliyah. "But..."

"Hey." I give Aaliyah a quick hug as well.

"Everyone is here except Maya!" Ashton says. Luke looks awkward.

"Where is she?" I walk over to the arcade and look around.

She's standing against a wall, flirting with a boy I've never seen before. Her long brown hair is now shoulder length red hair.

"Well!" I say loudly and raise my eyebrows.

Maya turns around at stares at me. "Dahlia!" She runs over and gives me a hug.

"What did you do to your hair! Copycat!" I laugh and return the hug.

"I wanted a change." She smiles, and I notice a little diamond stud in her nose.

"What is THAT!" I point to it.

"What?" She touches her nose. "Oh that! I got my nose pierced."

"I-I." I stutter, I'm at a loss for words. She looks so different than from when I left.

"You hate it don't you?" She bites her lip.

"No!" I laugh. "As long as you don't get any tattoos..."

"Well..."

"MAYA?!"

"I'm kidding! No tattoos!" She laughs.

I whack her arm and glare, trying not to laugh.

"I'm sorry!" She laughs harder. "I just got new hair and the nose piercing."

"Good!"

"But what if we got matching tattoos?" She looks thoughtful.

"I'll hurt you." I warn.

"Ugh, fine." She looks behind me and sees everyone standing there, including Luke. She rolls her eyes and lets out a huff.

Uh oh...

Maya

I walk straight past Luke without acknowledging him. Calum was talking to him. "Calum!" I give him a hug.

"Aye!"

I'm still extremely mad at Luke. At least I'm no longer sad about it. He had no right to do what he did. And he even made Aaron, my best friend, leave me. "How was your trip?"

"It was great," He smiles.

"I didn't tell Dahlia that I dyed my hair. Or that I cut it. Not even about the piercing."

"She looked surprised."

I laugh, "I think she's a little mad."

"I doubt that..."

I shrug, "I guess. Maybe I'm just paranoid." I turn my head to see Luke standing there awkwardly. I tense up and whisper, "Would anyone be mad if I punched him?"

"Maya!"

"Sorry! He just makes me mad. Even just looking at him." I say in disgust.

Luke hugs his arms around his chest and looks down. He heard that. Besides what anyone might think, I didn't mean for him to hear it. But with him hearing it, I almost want to smirk. Calum would kill me though. Instead, I look down for a second then back at Calum, "I'm going to go say hi to Ashton."

As I walk up to Ashton he says, "Maya what did you do? Luke looks upset."

I look back for a second to see Calum talking to Luke. "I didn't do anything."

I think back to this summer. I spent time away from him. I was happy. I learnt how to be happy. And now he just makes me mad. Mad as heck. And who's fault is that? Entirely his. If he didn't give me the ultimatum, I wouldn't have left him. If I hadn't have left him, Aaron would still be here.

Ashton gives me a look that says he doesn't believe me.

"I just told Calum that Luke makes me mad. That looking at him makes me mad." I roll my eyes and cross my arms.

"You have to forgive him..."

"It's my right to be mad. I don't have to do anything." I say it as if it were nothing when clearly, this means a lot to them.

He sucks his teeth in annoyance, "Alright."

"It's not even that important Ash."

"Okay!"

I run a hand through my short hair. "How are you and Hailey doing?"

"Good." He nods. "But you know that. We came over last week. You're changing the topic."

"What if I am?"

"Geez Maya."

I throw my hands in the air, "What do you want me to do?! Run over there and say 'Oh Luke I forgive you for ruining my life! Please take me back!' I'm not doing that."

He rolls his eyes, "Forget it."

I shake my head, "I just can't forgive him. You know that."

"No, I don't know that. At least, I don't understand that." He walks away.

I take a deep breath and look around. Great, already ruined this. Ashton is talking with Cal, Mikey and Luke. Probably about me. Hailey and Dahlia are talking together about the summer. Guess everyone's interested in their own conversations. Whatever

I notice a guy, who's pretty hot, at the corner on his phone. I'll go talk to him. Well, maybe not talk per say. I might flirt.

I lean against the wall next to him, "You look lonely."

"Maybe a little." He smiles. His smile and big and attractive, showing off perfectly straight teeth.

"You here with anyone?"

"Not today honey."

I smirk, "I don't know if I should say that's good or bad."

He looks me up and down, "I think it's good."

I take a look at him, "I think so too." I smile, "What's your name?"

"All yours." He smirks and holds back a laugh.

I laugh a bit, "Well I'm Maya."

"David." He hold out a hand to shake.

I grab his hand and shake it, leaving it there for a second. "Well David, have any interests or hobbies?"

"Currently? Pretty interested in you."

I lean my head back and bite my lip. I can feel myself blushing a bit.

Luke is glaring at David, "Uhm, you never said if you were here with anyone or not."

I roll my eyes, "I'm here with a group of friends. That guy, he's my ex. Just ignore him. We broke up months ago."

"Just jealous huh?"

"Very. It's annoying."

"Ah, I guess you don't wanna keep him jealous then..."

"It's okay. I hate him anyways." I look over at him, "But I like you."

Another smile slowly spreads across his face.

"And I like your muscles," I put a hand on his arm.

He smirks, "Oh yeah?"

"I really like them," I feel his arm.

"You know..." His eyes move to my lips and linger for a moment. "We could make him more jealous if you want..."

I lean in, "Are you sure about that?"

"Quite sure," he whispers and moves in closer.

"Okay," I lean in until our lips touch. After a minute I pull away. I look over to see Calum, Dahlia and Luke all staring. They look pretty annoyed and confused. Well this is awkward. I give them a defiant look that says, 'Yeah. I just kissed him and you can't do anything about it.' I grab David's hand and walk out of the arcade with him. Just to make Luke even more jealous.

**********

I open the door to have India race towards me. She's almost double the size she was when I last saw her. She's adorable. "Oh my gosh! She's so big!"

"I know," Dahlia smiles.

"You didn't tell me she was this big!" I pet her, "You just said she was bigger."

"Yeah. Hey uhm... What was with that guy at the arcade...?"

I look up at her, "What do you mean?"

She raises her eyebrows.

I shrug, "It was nothing."

"Nothing. Uh huh."

I laugh and stand up, "Am I not allowed to flirt?"

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "Of course you can, I'm just wondering who the guy you were making out with is."

"Oh. His name is David." I say nonchalantly.

"Oh, are you two...?"

I laugh, "No, we aren't dating. It was kinda just a one time make out session."

She looks surprised and proceeds to open her mouth and close it. "Alright."

Judging much? I push my eyebrows together and stare at her, "What?"

"Nothing." She laughs.

It's obviously something. I'm not stupid. But I don't want to pick a fight. I raise my eyebrows, "You sure?"

"Absolutely."

I let it go. "Okay." Deciding to change the subject, "What happened after I left?"

"We played some games and had supper."

I smile, "Did everyone have fun?"

"Yes, it was great."

"Why didn't you tell me Luke was going to be there?" I question. She knew he would be there and she knew she didn't tell me. So why didn't she?

"Because it was important to us that everyone went."

I roll my eyes, "You still could've told me."

"No."

"I still would've come if you really wanted me to. Did Luke know I would be there?"

"No he didn't."

I roll my eyes and walk upstairs. It really annoys me that they think they have to hide stuff. I mean, yes I hate him and never want to see him again. That doesn't mean they have to hide everything from me. I just wish Luke would leave me alone. And you know what? I liked kissing David. It was really, really nice. And I don't care what Luke has to say about it.

And I'm sure as heck glad that he looked annoyed when I left.

Mission accomplished.

* * * * * * * * * *

Hey TaliMarks! Hope you enjoyed this first chapter of If You Don't Know and will continue to read on. We just wanted to say how completely blown away we are with you readers and the support you've shown! The first book in this series, The Only Reason, has just reached 3.2k reads and 1k votes. 

So we have a question for you guys before you read on. What are your opinion on the characters, and the changes they've each made over the summer? Any characters you'd like to know more about or see more of? 

xoxo, Tali