FIVE

"Hey, I need help. What are we supposed to do here again?" Letty asks as she points at a problem in the math textbook that's sitting on the table in front of her.

"I don't know, you were paying more attention than I was." Eric tells her, and she sighs as she drops her pencil onto his kitchen table.

"I hate homework." The brunette mutters, and then she starts drawing in the margins of her notes with her colored pens instead of studying like she's supposed to be.

"Eric, can you babysit for your brother and sister Friday night?" His mom asks as she walks back into the kitchen.

"Nope, sorry." He says, not looking up from his homework, and Letty smirks as Mrs. Matthews walks up behind him.

"Oh, you misunderstood. You thought I was asking you a question." She muses as she messes with his light brown hair.

"Mom, Aerosmith's Friday." He tells her as he looks up from what he's doing.

"Oh, you heard about that concert too?"

"Yup, I'm taking Heather Ralston." He says, and his friend rolls her dark eyes as she continues drawing.

"Yep, and totally abandoning his best friend." The brunette next to him says. "'Cause it's not like she likes good music or anything."

"She's my girlfriend, Letty."

"Yeah, whatever." She mutters, and turns around to say something to his sister, who's currently sitting on the counter.

The teenage girl's train of thought is thrown totally off course when she sees Morgan throw broccoli into the trash. Letty tries not to laugh at the little girl's actions, not wanting to get the tiny blonde into trouble.

"Oh, I'll call a sitter, and we'll all drive together." Mrs. Matthews says, not realizing what her daughter's doing with the groceries that she just brought home from the store.

"I can watch Cory and Morgan for you, Mrs. Matthews." Letty tells her, and the older woman looks over at the teenager.

"You'd do that?" She asks, and the brunette nods.

"Yeah, Cory's not a problem, and I like hanging out with Morgan." She says as she looks over at the little blonde again.

"Wait, wait, wait. Back up. What do you mean, together?" Eric questions, talking to his mom.

"I mean, your dad and I have tickets too." His mom tells him as she then walks back over to her daughter. "Morgan, have you seen the broccoli?"

"Broccoli? Broccoli?" Morgan looks around at the bags on either side of her. "Nope." She says, and Letty puts her hand over her mouth to cover her smile.

"Mother," Eric starts as he gets to his feet, looking at his mom. "A-And when I call you that, I'm referring to the generational chasm between us, which- which means you couldn't possibly be going to the same concert as me."

"Why not?" She questions.

"Well, you know, Aerosmith's kinda loud for someone your age, Mom. I mean, you should really be listening to—"

"Careful." She warns him.

"Aren't Peter, Paul, and Mary blowing wind somewhere?" He whines, and Letty scoffs as she looks up at him.

Cory and Shawn then walk into the house with two other boys. "Mom, have you met my good friend, Minkus?" Cory asks, holding onto a nervous-looking, fair-skinned, blond kid.

"It's nice to meet you, Minkus." She tells him.

"Call my mother." He says, and Letty looks at the other three boys.

"What?"

"Shawn, what are you doing?" Letty asks.

"Nothing, Mom." He says sarcastically, and she narrows her dark eyes at him.

"He's a little nervous, Mrs. Matthews." Their other friend says, a little black boy with a baggy, red sweater.

"We're gonna take him upstairs now." Cory says as they lead Minkus out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Two-seven-eight-four-two! It's the only Minkus in the book!" The blond boy yells.

Mrs. Matthews walks over to Morgan again as Eric sits back in his seat beside Letty, shaking his head at the younger boys. The older woman stops when she sees something in the trash can, and she then leans over and pulls it out so that her daughter can see it.

"What is this broccoli doing in here?" She questions.

"It's hiding the liver." Morgan tells her, her voice small, and Letty can't stop herself from laughing this time as her mom pulls the liver out of the trash can too.

"Dude, your family's the best." Letty says as she looks over at Eric, laughing when the tiny blonde covers her face, and he shakes​ his head. He's just mad because his parents are going to the same concert as him on Friday.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be right about now?" Her best friend asks, and she looks at the time.

"Yes." The brunette says as she quickly gets to her feet and grabs her things from their dining table. "Mrs. Matthews, I'll be happy to babysit if you need me to." She tells the older woman, and then runs out of the house.

Letty rushes to the trailer park, and her dad looks over at her as she walks in the front door. "I thought I told you to be home an hour ago." He says, and she sets her stuff down by the door.

"I was studying; I lost track of time."

"Studying with who?" He questions.

"A friend." She answers shortly. "And I might have a babysitting job this Friday night."

"Does it pay well?"

The brunette quickly nods, knowing what she always gets for babysitting the two Matthews' kids. "Two dollars an hour." She tells him.

"Go to your room." He orders, and she immediately grabs her things and does as he said.

"Oh, hi." Miller greets as she walks into her room. "Welcome to banishment." He smiles sarcastically, causing him to wince as it tugs on the split in his lower lip.

"Damn it." Letty mutters as she walks over to where he's standing by her window. "This isn't because I was late, is it?" She asks as she places her index finger under his chin and carefully uses her thumb to touch just under the wound.

"No. Well, not exactly." He reaches up and grabs her hand, wincing again as he pulls it away from his face. "He asked me about you, and I talked back to him. I have a big mouth, that's not your fault." He tells her, and she sighs as she looks up at him.

"I hate that he hurts you." She shakes her head. "You should call your—"

"Only if I'm telling him what's going on, and he comes here and takes us both."

"Miller—"

"We've had this conversation over and over again. I'm not leaving you, end of story." He tells her, and she takes a deep breath as she looks at him.

Every time she sees what he goes through here, there's an overwhelming wave of guilt that washes over her. She wants to protect him as much as he wants to protect her, but she knows that if they call Miller's dad... He'll kill her dad, and despite everything that he's done to her, she doesn't really want him dead.

And so they both simply continue to suffer alongside the other.

—

Letty's sitting with Morgan in the Matthews family's living room when the front door opens and the oldest of the kids walks in with his girlfriend. Heather looks almost annoyed when she sees the brunette sitting in the chair by the door.

"What are you doing here, Scarlett?" Eric's date questions.

"Babysitting." She responds shortly, never really in the mood to deal with her usual attitude toward her.

"Hey, you're home." Cory says as he walks into the living room from the kitchen, then he takes a seat on the couch.

"Yeah, we're home. You wanna hear about our date?" Eric asks his brother.

"Not really."

"So I try not to look down at row CC because Heather and I are having a pretty good time, you know? But I can't help looking." The older boy's telling the others about their date as he paces back and forth behind the couch.

Heather and Cory are both sitting on said couch, and Letty's combing out Morgan's tangled, blonde hair. The brunette's sitting in the chair in front of the door, and Morgan's sitting on the footrest in front of her.

"No one cares, Eric." Letty tells him.

"Are Mom and Dad sitting in row CC?" He continues, ignoring her. "No, Mom and Dad are dancing in the aisles."

"Come on, Eric. I think your parents are really cool." Heather tells him.

"Oh, good, I'm the lucky boy with​ the cool parents." He says sarcastically as he looks down at her.

"Your mom was sitting on your dad's shoulder​s." The girl with the bright red hair tells Cory. "It was adorable."

"All done." Letty tells Morgan. She leans back on the chair then, and the kid scoots back to lay on her, hugging her doll to her chest.

"I don't want adorable parents." Eric complains. "Cory, you want adorable parents?"

"Nope. I just want them to make me lunch and pick me up from camp." He says, and Letty shakes her head at them.

"Oh, I didn't even tell you the worst thing they did." He continues.

"What did they do?" Morgan asks just before the front door opens, and their parents walk inside the house.

"Hey." Mr. Matthews greets with a smile.

"They wore that." Eric says, and Letty turns to look at them. His dad has on a tye-dye t-shirt and a jean jacket over it, and his mom has a purplish dress with little, white flowers and a jean jacket on over it.

"Hot concert, huh?"

"Yeah, hot, Dad."

"What's the matter? Didn't​ you guys have a good time?" Mrs. Matthews asks.

"I had a good time." Heather inputs.

"Oh, yeah. I had a good time. Time of my life." Eric says sarcastically. "Come on, Heather. I'm taking you home."

"Eric, what is the problem?" His dad questions as he walks over to him.

"Well, the problem is that I've waited all year to take Heather to the Aerosmith concert. When I finally do, I should be having the time of my life. But I'm not. You know why?"

"No. Why?" Cory asks.

"Cory." His mom scolds.

"What? I'm involved. This is interesting." He defends himself, and Letty chuckles as she looks over at the younger boy.

"Because my parents are having my good time." Eric says.

"In better seats." Cory adds.

"Well, why should our good time get in the way of your good time?" Their dad questions.

"You're my parents. You're not supposed to have any fun. You're supposed to sit here and wait for me to get home." Eric tells him.

"Maybe you didn't have a good time because you took the wrong girl to the concert." Cory says, and Heather looks taken aback by the comment.

"Cory." Mrs. Matthews scolds him again as Letty glares daggers at the boy who thinks he knows how she feels about his brother.

"Shut up." The brunette mouths when Cory looks over at her.

"A-And how come I'm home first?" Eric questions, trying to bypass his younger brother's comment and what he meant by that.

"We had backstage passes." His mom tells him, no longer wearing her jacket.

"Alright, that's it. Cory, move over. I'm sitting next to you on the loser's couch." He says as he walks over to his brother and sits on the end of the couch.

"And that's why we're over here, on the cool people's chair." Letty tells Morgan, and the blonde laughs as she looks up at her.

"You lost the geography thing; and I lost my music, my parents, and my entire generation." Eric continues, still ignoring his best friend.

"Don't grow up like him." She says, and Morgan nods.

"I studied geography for three hundred hours, and I have nothing to show for it." Cory says.

"I had to wait in line all night to get those tickets. The only thing I have to show for it is... Sonny and Cher." Eric grumbles, glancing between his parents.

"Cory, I feel bad for. You, not so much." Letty says, and​ her best friend looks at her.

"Go home."

"I can't. My job's not done until the little ones are in bed." The brunette tells him, and he looks at the little blonde in her lap who's happily snuggled up with her favorite babysitter.

"Eric, I'm sorry, and I know it's tough to hear this, but your mother and I are at an awkward age. We're parents, but we're not dead yet." Mr. Matthews says as he walks over to his wife and wraps his arms around her.

"Fine. Glad somebody had a good time." He says as he stands up and holds his hand out toward his girlfriend. "Come on, Heather, I'm taking you home."

"Eric, stop right there." His dad tells him, and they stop in front of the door. "Sit back on that couch, both of you."

"Join me on the couch, Heather?" Eric asks, and they walk back over to where they were sitting before.

"Cory, upstairs." Mr. Matthews tells him.

"Why?" He questions. "I'm not remotely tired."

"Cory."

"But suddenly I'm overcome with fatigue." He changes his mind and then stands up.

"Come on, Morgan. Let's get you up to bed too." Letty says as she stands up, picking the little blonde up in the process.

"But I want to watch Eric get yelled at." The kid says, and Letty looks over at Mrs. Matthews.

"Actually, me too." She says, and the older woman smirks, clearly amused by the two girls who always get along so well.

"There's lots of opportunities for that." She says, and the teenager nods.

She then looks back at Morgan. "We'll watch the next one. I'll even make popcorn. How's that sound?" Letty asks, and the younger girl smiles.

"Yay!" Morgan yells, and she laughs.

"So, should I read you a bedtime story?" She asks as she walks toward the stairs; Mrs. Matthews follows behind the girls.

"And tuck me in?"

"You got yourself a deal, kiddo."

"Cool!"

Once Letty gets Morgan to bed and the little one falls asleep, the brunette goes downstairs to the kitchen, and Mr. and Mrs. Matthews look at her as they separate from their embrace. "I should probably be getting home." The teenager says, and Mr. Matthews pays her what they owe for her babysitting all night.

"I'll drive you." He says, and they start toward the back door.

"One thing before I go." She says, and they both look at her. "Just for the record, I wish I had parents who listened to Aerosmith, and embarrassed me at concerts. I haven't seen my mom since I was five...and sometimes it gets hard. Eric knows how lucky he really is, even if he doesn't always show it." She tells them.

"Eric never told us that it's​ just you and your dad." Mrs. Matthews says, eyebrows furrowed.

"That's probably because I've never told him." She says. "My family​ isn't something that I talk about often. Shawn, Miller, and Jason are the only ones who know that my mom left. Well, they were, and even that's only because they live in the trailer park with me."

"I'm very sorry to hear that about your mom, sweetheart." She says, and Letty shrugs.

"I hardly even remember her. And I've had Mrs. Hunter around for as long as I can remember."

"Well, I hope you know that you can come to me whenever you need anything." Mrs. Matthews says, and she smiles.

"Thank you. That means a lot." She tells her, and the older woman offers her a kind smile.

The door leading to the living room suddenly bursts open, and Letty and Mrs. Matthews both jump before turning to see Eric standing in the doorway. He looks incredibly annoyed as he turns his attention to his best friend.

"There's someone here to see you." The older boy says, and her eyebrows furrow as she starts toward him.

Miller smiles at Letty from where he's leaning in the doorframe of the front door. His arms are crossed over his chest, and he looks rather pleased with himself, knowing how much Eric really doesn't care for him.

"You ready to go?" He asks as he stands up properly, straightening out the jean jacket that he's wearing.

"What are you doing here?" Letty asks as she looks at him.

"Walking you home." He shrugs. "Hey, you have any plans for tomorrow?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

"Nothing set in stone."

"Cancel whatever they are. You and I are going on a day trip." He tells her. "It'll be fun."

Her dark eyes narrow as she walks up in front of him. "Where to?"

"It's a surprise." He smirks, his bright blue eyes on her brown ones. "Come on. We gotta go. A friend of mine stopped in from Pittsburg." He nods his head in the direction of the street before turning around and walking away.

"Well, isn't he just as great as always?" Eric asks sarcastically, and Letty sighs as she turns to face him. "It was nice of him to ask you. Oh, wait, he didn't."

"He means well." She tells him, and he nods. "I'll see you on Monday. Tell your parents I don't need a ride, but I really appreciate the offer."

"Babe, come on!" Miller calls from outside, and she rolls her eyes at his antics.

"Bye, Eric."

"I'll see you later." Eric walks over so that he can shut the door behind her after she's gone.

"You're a dick." Letty shakes her head as Miller wraps his arm around her shoulders.

"I think it's funny how jealous he gets..." He chuckles as he leans down and kisses the side of her head. "For someone who pretends he doesn't have feelings for you. Not to mention, the kick out of it I get knowing that he's glaring at me right now for having my arms around you."

"He is not." She argues as they start away from the house, and her fingers curl around the back of his jacket. "His girlfriend is inside, Miller."

"Huh. I wonder how she feels watching him watch you with me." He smiles down at her, and she shakes her head at him again.