7 Years Ago..

A young Mike Mizanin  was accompanying his parents to a house warming party of one of thier friends. The party was full of adults, all but one. 

"Congratulations on the wedding." Miz's father Leo told his friend Jack. 

Miz looked over at saw a young boy lurking around behind Jack rather mopey.

"Mike, this is my step-son, Roman. I think you two are about the same age, huh?" Jack introduced them. 

Roman gave a reluctant wave. 

"You can call me Miz." He told him.

Present Day..

It was Friday night Dean was looking forward to his first date with Renee. He pulled up in front of her house to pick her up. When the the front door opened though, it wasn't Renee. It was her father. Dean took a deep breath and gave an awkward wave before reluctantly getting out of the car. He walked up the sidewalk in what felt like slow motion as Renee's father, Wade, watched him.

"Hello, Sir." Dean said with a bit of embarrassment.

"You didn't think you were going to take my daughter out on a date without me knowing now did you?" Wade asked with a bit of joy in the fact that he was making Dean nervous.

"No, Sir. Not at all." Dean assured him.

Wade looked Dean up and down, approving of his white button down shirt and slacks.

"Come on in." Wade told him.

The minute Dean walked in he saw Renee walk down the stairs wearing a beautiful yet casual red dress. Dean nearly had a heart attack.

"Uh.." Dean began to panic.

"Watch it, son." Wade warned him.

"Oh leave him alone, Wade!" Renee's mother, Mira said as she walked into the room. "You should be grateful someone like Dean is taking her out."

Wade knew Mira was right.

Renee laughed at her parents.

"You ready?" Renee asked Dean.

"Mhm." Dean let out as he tried to keep his composure.

"I'll be back by ten, okay?" Renee told her parents.

"Have fun, sweetheart." Mira told her.

Wade gave Dean another look before he followed Renee outside.

"I don't trust him." Wade told Mira as they peaked out the window.

"You trust him just fine any other time." Mira said.

"Well that's different. Friends is different then whatever this is." Wade said as he continued peaking outside.

"I'm just glad it's not Seth." Mira accidentally said out loud.

"Seth?" Wade asked in shock.

Mira closed her eye, realizing she shouldn't have said that in front of her husband.

"Why-Why would Seth be taking her out? Why-why would you say that?" Wade asked.

"I just said the first person that came to mind. I didn't mean anything by it." Mira tried to tell him.

Mira walked away, hoping her husband would stop spying.

"Seth.." Wade thought out loud before going back to looking at Dean and Renee through the window.

"Do you think that car he's driving is safe? Maybe we should have had them walk." Wade shouted through the house but Mira pretended not to hear him.

Outside, Dean and Renee stopped at the end of the sidewalk.

"You look.. amazing." Dean told her truthfully.

Renee let out a smile and tucked her hair behind her ears. Dean opened the door for Renee as she got in the car. He ran around to the driver's side and got in.

At the library, Cody and Kota were finishing up their last tutoring session of the week. Cody was actually enjoying reading for once in his life. 

"Wow.." Cody said as he thought to himself. 

"You wanna tell me what you read?" Kota asked. 

Cody took a deep breath. 

"Well.. I don't know how I feel about the main character, Amir, anymore. The chapters are kind of going back and forth between the present day and his childhood. His friend Hassan was always there for him, a hundred times over.. Then this other kid, Assef, who always messes with them.." Cody tried to said.

"What did he do?" Kota asked. 

"You've read it.. Don't you know?" Cody asked. 

"Yes.. But I want to know that you read it." Kota told him. 

Cody let out a sigh. 

"Assef.. raped him." Cody said unfortunately. 

"And?" Kota asked. 

"And Amir just left him there. He saw what was happening and he didn't do anything. He ran away like a coward. He could have stopped what happened but he didn't. He chose to be a coward." Cody said as he began to get worked up. 

Kota gave Cody an approving look. 

"You seem very invested in the book." Kota told him. 

Cody gave a confusing look. 

"Do you think you're going to be able to write about this next week?" Kota asked. 

"I mean.. I feel like I could write a hell of a lot about what an ass this guy is." Cody told him. 

Kota seemed rather proud of himself for getting Cody to this point. That's when they heard a door shut upstairs. 

"What was that?" Cody asked. 

"Oh no.." Kota said in a panic as he checked his phone for the time. "No, no, no.." 

Cody watched in confusion as Kota ran upstairs in a panic. 

"Damnit!" Kota shouted. 

"What's going on?" Cody asked as he got up. 

Kota looked down form the top of the stairs. 

"The door is locked.." Kota told him. 

"What?" Cody asked. 

"The librarian must have forgot that's we were down here." Kota told him. 

Cody looked at him in disbelief. 

"Maybe you could call your driver to come down to get us?" Kota asked. 

"I told him I'd call him when I'm ready. And uh.. my phone's dead." Cody told him. 

"Use mine." Kota told him. 

"You think I know anyone's phone number? It's my phone's job to remember that shit." COdy told him. 

Kota let out a sigh. He rushed down and grabbed his phone. Cody watched as he made a phone call.

"Come on, Lexi." Kota said to himself, still in a panic. 

Alexa didn't answer. 

"Hold on." Kota told Cody as he began to call Dean.

Cody let out a slight laugh as he watched Kota. He searched through his phone for another number when Dean didn't answer. Becky was his last resort. 

Cody crossed his arms and let out a smirk.

"Fuck." Kota said with frustration. 

"We're stuck down here aren't we?" Cody asked. 

Kota through his head back and let out a sigh. 

Across town, Alexa was waiting by the docks in a beautiful pink sundress. Her hair was curled down her to back and her lips stained pink to match her outfit. There were a few restraunts along the lake so the docs were fairly well lighted. Finn had walked out to the docs himself and laid eyes on Alexa. He stood behind her for a moment as she looked out at the water. 

"Hi there." Finn said suddenly. 

Alexa jumped in fright. She turned around and saw Finn standing there in a black suit. 

"Oh, it's you." Alexa laughed at herself. 

"I didn't mean to frighten you." Finn told her calmly.

Alexa took a deep breath and tried to get herself together. 

"You look stunning." Finn assured her. 

Alexa let out a smile before blushing uncontrollably. 

At Kathleen and August's house, Becky was having a relaxing night in. She was doing as her lawyer suggested and keeping a low profile. She walked downstairs to find Kathleen sitting in the living room on the sofa, looking through some old photo albums 

"Watcha up to?" Becky asked as she walking downstairs. 

Kathleen let out a slight smile. 

"Come take a look." Kathleen told her. 

Becky sat down on the couch beside her. 

"This is Alexa and Kenny when they were babies." Kathleen told BEcky as she showed her a photo. 

"Wow. They look.. Tiny." Becky said as she examined the photo. 

Kathleen let out a laugh. 

"Who the other baby?" Becky asked. 

"Oh that's Kota." Kathleen told her. 

"What? No way." Becky said as she looked at Baby Kota. 

"Here, look at this one." Kathleen said as she handed her a photo. 

The photo was of KAthleen and Sora Ibushi as young women with curlers in their hair." 

"Oh my.." Becky let out. 

In the photo you could see babies Alexa, Kenny, and Kota all sitting in their walkers.

"August and Sora's husband, Jin were studying late some nights in law school so she and I kind of teamed up to take on the kids. We'd just have a fun girls night and let them play together. Those were really good times." Kathleen remeniced. 

"I didn't know you guys were so close." Becky said. 

"She's been my best friend since junior high." Kathleen told her. 

"Wow.. I haven't had a friend for more than a year." Becky laughed.

Kathleen looked to Becky unfortunately. 

"I've don't even have photo's like this of me when I was a baby. I don't really have anything." Becky told her. 

Kathleen looked down with a feeling of guilt in her heart. 

In town, Dean and Renee were walking down the street after having dinner at a fancy steak house. 

"Ice cream?" Dean asked as they passed by an ice cream truck on the side of the road.

"Oh! Yes!" Renee said in excitement.

Dean walked up to the ice cream truck and looked over the options. 

"I'll have one chocolate shake and a large cup of cookie dough ice cream, please." Dean told the man in the truck. 

Renee watched Dean for a moment, admiring the fact that he still knew her favorite flavor ice cream.

"Here you are." The man in the truck said as he handed Dean the ice cream. 

Dean in turn handed the cookie dough to Renee. 

"You remembered.." Renee said with a slight smile. 

"Of course. How could I ever forget? You and Rollins used to make me order for you guys all the time." Dean reminded her. 

Renee looked down at the ground for a moment in response to the mention of Seth. Dean tried to keep the conversation going. 

"Can I say something?" Dean asked. 

Renee looked over at Dean curiously. 

"You know that way you look at Seth?" Dean asked suddenly. 

"What?" Renee asked as if she didn't understand. 

"Yeah.. Well that's how I've always looked at you." Dean told her. 

Renee stopped walking. 

"What are you trying to say?" Renee asked. 

"I'm just trying to make you see how much I like you. How much I've always like you.." Dean said a little shyly. 

Renee watched him for a moment, admiring his honesty with her. 

"Take the wrapping off your cup." Dean told her.

"What?" She asked in confusion.

Dean pointed at the apparent, thin layered card board that was wrapped around Renee's cup of ice cream. 

"The sleeve?" Renee asked as she began to take it off. 

She gave him another look of confusion.

"Look at it." Dean told her. 

Renee examined the sleeve for a moment before finding a piece of paper stabled on the inside. 

"What is this?" She asked. 

"Will you go to the masquerade ball with me, Renee?" Dean asked her suddenly. 

Renee looked up at him with excitement in her eyes. 

"Or would you rather keep pining of a guy who is never going to look at you the way that I do?" Dean asked her. 

Renee nearly lunged towards Dean's and threw her lips against his. He put his hands on her back as they shared a slow and passionate kiss. When she finally pulled away, Dean had a small smirk on his face. 

"Yes, I'll go with you." Renee told him. 

"Yeah?" Dean asked as she wrapped her arms around his neck. 

"Yes." Renee said with a warmth in her heart. 

Along the lake, Finn and Alexa were having a picnic. They sat on the docs with their feet hanging off the edge. 

"So you grew up on the Eastside?" Alexa asked. 

"Lets not talk about me. I want to know about you, Alexa. Tell me everything." Finn said charmingly. 

"Everything?" Alexa asked. 

"Everything." Finn said. 

"Well to be honest, I'm not really that social. I kind of have a tendency to go hide rather than join a large crowd." Alexa began t ramble. "My best friend's, name is Kota. He and I have known each other since we were babies. Then there's my brother Kenny. Some people think he's a little over protective of me but he's really coming from a good place. He doesn't really do anything without a reason. No my sister Becky on the other hand.. She does everything without a reason. She's a bit of a badass now that I think about it." 

"Is that right?" Finn asked curiously. 

Alexa suddenly stopped, realizing that she had been rambling.

"I am so sorry. I kind of have a habit to do that when I'm nervous." Alexa told him. 

"You're nervous?" Finn asked with a smile on his face. 

Alexa looked down in hopes of hiding the fact that she was blushing. 

At the library, Kota had made himself comfortable on the floor as he sat against a filing cabinet. Cody walked over and sat down across from him, leaning back on another filing cabinet. The two of them looked at each other for a moment. 

"Do you think I'm like him?" Cody asked suddenly. 

Kota looked up in confusion. 

"Assef.. From the book." Cody said with disappointment in himself. 

"No." Kota said without hesitance. "Amir, maybe.. but not Assef." 

"Really?" Cody asked. 

Kota observed Cody for a moment before continuing. 

"There's two kinds of bad people in the world.. The bad people that can't change and bad people that can change.. Just wait until you've finished the book. I think it will all make a lot more sense in the end." Kota assured him.

Cody nodded in approval. 

"So you're saying I'm a bad person?" Cody asked. 

"Absolutely." Kota assured him. 

Cody let out a small laugh. 

"You know you're the only person that talks to me that way?" Cody asked. 

"What way?" Kota asked. 

"Like I'm not on some kind of pedestal." Cody said.

"Because unlike everyone else, I don't put you on one." Kota told him. 

Cody watched Kota with admiration for a moment. 

"I think that's what I like about you.." Cody accidentally said out loud.

Kota gave a curious look in response.

"I mean that it's one of the things I don't completely hate about you." Cody tried to correct himself.

"Why did you kiss me that night at the party?" Kota asked out of no where. 

Cody put his head down, staying silent. 

"I think it was the alcohol." Cody tried to explain. 

"You're lying." Kota nearly interrupted him. 

Cody looked up at Kota with a helplessness in his eyes. Kota looked into his eyes from the space between them, almost knowing what Cody wanted to tell him. 

Just across town, Dean and Renee were just finishing their ice cream.

"I have to admit, I didn't really expect al of this from you tonight." Renee told him. 

"What do you mean?" Dean asked. 

"It just all seemed very well planned. I was expecting something much more spontaneous." Renee assured him.

"Well.. To be honest, I did have some help." Dean began to say as Carmella appeared just ahead of them. 

She walked down the side walk, making her way towards them. 

"Mella?" Renee asked. 

Carmella let out a smile.

"What's going on?" Renee asked. 

"Have her home by ten?" Dean asked Carmella. 

She let out a reluctantly polite smile before Dean walked away. Renee watched in confusion as Dean left. 

"You helped with all of this?" Renee asked. 

"Well that depends.. Did scrub completely ruin everything?" Carmella asked. 

"No, no.. It was all perfect." Renee assured her. 

"Then yes, it was practically all my idea." Carmella let her know. 

Renee let out a soft smile.

"So you don't hate me anymore?" Renee asked. 

"I could never hate you, NeeNee. You're like my favorite person in the entire world." Carmella told her. 

The two friends shared an emotional hug. 

"Besides, scruffy boy told me about what you said to my mom.." Carmella added. 

"He told you about that?" Renee asked. 

"I can't believe I'm saying this but... I don't completely disapprove of you dating him." Carmella said. 

Renee let out a small laugh at Carmella's obsession with hating Dean.

"I'll take it." Renee said as she and Carmella smiled at one another. 

Across town, everyone's phone's were buzzing. They'd all just received a new text. 

"So much love in the air tonight.. But it sounds to me like you're all still lying to yourselves. I can't wait to expose all of your secrets and lies."

-Anonymous