8:09 am

Azura yawned and stretched her arms wide, blinking, to wake herself up. She had a surprisingly good nights sleep, last night.

Making her way drowsily into the bathroom, she brushed her teeth, fixed her hair and changed into a more presentable attire. She then made her way out to the kitchen, intending to get a bite to eat before heading out to meet Jordan again.

Grabbing a granola bar, she walked to the front door, but was stopped by her brother blocking it.

"That's it. Who is he?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Who's who?" she asked innocently, feigning ignorance.

"Don't play dumb with me. The boy you were talking to a few days in the alley near Mr. Simmons's house. The one holding the dog? The one who you seem to be visiting every day? Ring any bells?" he drawled.

"Wait, you followed me?!" Azura shrieked.

"Yeah, but-" Xandar was interrupted by the continuous ringing of the doorbell. The two siblings shared a look. They both had a feeling who it was.

Azura made her way to the door, bracing herself for the onslaught of words.

And just like they predicted, Jessica Von Claire stood at the door, her hands on her hips and a frown on her face.

"Where the hell where you for the past couple of days?! I've texted you, and called and I even came over yesterday, just to find that you weren't home! You've been ignoring me! You better have a perfectly valid reason for neglecting your best friend, or you'll be sorry," she yelled, her voice going higher and higher with each word from indignation.

Azura took a step back, only to he stopped by her brother standing behind her. Now trapped by two people demanding explanations, she was left with no other choice.

"Fine," she sighed. "I'll take you two to meet him, but please, don't ruin everything."

The two looked stunned at Azura's answer, surprised that she gave in so easily. They really were expecting a bit more of a fight from her.

"We're leaving now, so if you want to meet him, you better get dressed," she said tiredly, hoping that the day wouldn't turn into a complete and utter disaster.

Jess seemed to snap out of it, and she joined Azura near the front door. However, Xandar was still frozen in a state of shock. Rolling her eyes, Azura gave him a hard shove, sending him stumbling forward.

He glared at her, before disappearing into his bedroom, no doubt to change into something more suitable.

He emerged a little while later, in the process of tying a scarf around his neck.

"Come on, let's go," he motioned with his hand, trying to break the icy silence in the room. All three walked out the door, Azura leading the way, the other two following a little way behind.

By the looks of it, Xandar seemed to be explaining the situation to Jess, every once on a while glancing at Azura.

Upon arriving at their destination, Azura began her usual hunt for Jordan, leaving the others behind.

He seemed to pop up out of nowhere, but as soon as Azura set her eyes on him, she was dragging him away to meet Jess and Xandar.

"I want you to meet someone," she mumbled, praying that they'd get along.

They skidded to a halt in front of the waiting duo, Jordan's arm still clasped in Azura's.

"Jordan, meet my best friend Jess, and my brother Xandar," she said awkwardly, trying to he enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. "Jess, Xandar, meet Jordan."

The atmosphere was so silent, you could hear a pin drop.

Jordan glanced at Azura who was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, her eyes nervously flitting between her friends. She was biting her lip, clearly desperate to have everyone get along.

He could see that this was clearly very important to her. So he was going to try to make her happy.

"Nice to meet you," said Jordan, sticking his hand put for Xandar to shake. He would obviously be the harder one to win over.

Xandar, as expected, didn't take it. So Jordan let his hand drop.

"Who are you?" Xandar demanded, glaring pointedly at Jordan.

"Xandar!" Azura admonished. But her voice was met with nothing more than silence as both men ignored her.

Jordan met Xandar's glare with a straight gaze. His voice didn't falter, and his words didn't fail, as he spoke out his reply without missing a beat.

"I'm someone who wouldn't be here today, if it weren't for your sister."

Xandar looked taken aback at first, but getting his bearings, he fired again.

"Are you two dating?"

Azura almost choked. Even Jordan seemed a little taken aback. But he recovered quickly enough.

"No..." he trailed off, looking at Azura. "Not yet."

At this, Azura really did choke. She bent over in a coughing fit, trying to breathe, to no avail. Until Jess rushed over and thumped her back, finally managing to get some air flowing through her lungs.

"What did you say?" she croaked, her voice weak and raspy.

Again, she was met with nothing but silence.

Jess, ever the peacemaker, sensed the tense atmosphere and tried to calm everyone down.

"Hey, we should probably get some breakfast. I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."

Everyone reluctantly agreed to head over to the Gingerbread House to grab a bite to eat. Azura led the way, trying to distance herself from Jordan as much as she could. She bent her head down, trying to cover her flushed face with her long black hair.

Once everyone was seated in the cozy café, Brett came by to take their orders.

"Hey, Azura. Nice to see a girl as lovely as you again so soon. Jordan here really is a lucky man," he said with a smile, bordering on a smirk.

At this, Azura put her head down on the table, groaning with mortification. Xandar merely glared at Brett, while Jess laughed heartily.

Jordan however, ignored his comment, and instead listed their orders.

"Two stacks of pancakes, one plate of waffles, and one plate of scrambled eggs with toast. And a plate of bacon too."

Brett jotted it all down in his notebook, before sauntering off with a wink. As soon as he was out of earshot, Xandar hissed.

"How do you know all of our orders?"

Jordan shrugged in reply. "Well, Azura told me hers and Jess's yesterday while we were talking, and I kind of figured that you'd be alright with anything Jess is."

Now it was Xandar's turn to flush red, while Azura snickered. Jess on the other hand, looked a little stunned, her eyes widening, and her mouth hanging agape.

And that was the start of a new friendship.

The boys got along well enough. And as long as nobody strangled anyone, Azura considered the meeting to be a success. Jess had more than her fair share of fun, recounting as many embarrassing stories of Azura as she could, and narrating it all to Jordan.

She had never seen him laugh so much. A few hours in, even Xandar started warming up to him, discussing the most cliché thing ever.

Sports. Football, in particular.

In the end Azura was so sick of hearing about linebackers and quarterbacks, that she pulled Jordan aside to talk to him, mid-joke.

Dragging him by the arm, she led him outside

"So, what do you think of them?" she asked nervously.

"They're great! You're really lucky to have friends like them," he replied, a little wistfully.

"Well, they're your friends too now. Which brings me to your next reason." Azura smiled.

"Do it for your friends. Do it for the people who'll care if you live and cry if you don't. Do it to have more fun days like this with us. Because if you ask me, I think its worth it."

Ending her little speech, Azura walked back inside, taking her seat beside Jess. Xandar got up to go talk to Jordan outside. Azura could only imagine what about.

"So... You two seem pretty close," Jess teased.

"We're not dating!" Azura exclaimed, exasperated. Though her cheeks were a little red again.

"Whatever you say..." Jess sang, her voice teasing.

Huffing, Azura turned away to face the window. And to hide her very obvious blush. But if she had bothered to look, she would have seen Jess's knowing look.

And Jordan's adoring smile.