"What do you mean?" Audrey frowned, leaning against the library bookshelves. Jack blew out an exasperated breath and picked out another textbook. "I mean, it's not an opportunity I can take lightly. An internship? I can't turn it down."

"You promised you'd come with me. I can't go by myself."

"Then cancel."

Audrey's mouth dropped open. There were a lot of great things about Jack. His total obliviousness was not one of them. 

"I can't. It'll be hell if I don't show up again." Audrey followed him to a table, where he unloaded his books.

"Listen, babe." He placed a tired hand on her shoulder, "I have to do this." He gave her his best sympathetic look, but Audrey wasn't buying it.

She pouted out her bottom lip and he pushed a hand through his waves. "Maybe it would be good for us," He added, "To have a little break." He said it with the utmost confidence.

He smiled innocently and Audrey guffawed, but reeled it in. She didn't want to deal with whatever he meant by that. "I'm just gonna ask Lori."

****

"Can't. Exams." Lori responded, moving her artificially red hair out of the way so she could strap on her shoes.

"Seriously?" Audrey was exasperated, she simply couldn't go to visit her Mom and Grandma alone. It would be a nightmare.

"Yes, seriously!" Lori stood and wobbled slightly in her stilettos, "Zip me up." Audrey zipped Lori's dress, short and black and sparkly. Lori twirled and checked her makeup in the mirror. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't want to spend the rest of my life in college."

****

Two Years Earlier

"Mom, no!" Audrey protested, snatching her phone back from her Mother, clutching onto it with all of her strength. "Maybe I can't stop you from leaving, but I'll be damned if I let you go to college with a phone like that!" Her Mom shouted back.

"I can't get a new number." Audrey crossed her arms and set her jaw, adamant.

"The phone is practically dead." Her Mother scoffed. "It's been a year, this guy isn't calling."

"Don't say that." Audrey seethed. Her Mom had never forgiven her for leaving, and refused to believe any of the magical stories Audrey had told her.

"Say what, sweetie?" Her Mom folded her own arms to mirror Audrey. "That it obviously meant more to you than it did to him? That you essentially had a two week fling and because you are such a sweet, naive girl, you honestly think it's love?"

"He loved me too!" Audrey yelled, feeling small and childish under her Mother's condescending glare. "I'm sure he said that." Her Mom kept an even tone, she never dealt with Audrey the way she used to after the bus incident. She was colder, and thought she had to be, for fear of losing her most precious possession. She motioned over her daughter, "Look at you."

At the time, Audrey felt she'd been punched in the gut by what her Mother was insinuating. As it turned out, though, Audrey eventually gave in to her Mom's reasoning. It wore down on her and she used it as a way to move on. Otherwise, she was scared she'd never move on- when it seemed so obvious that Eli had.

****

"Audrey?" Eli was surprised to see her again so soon. And even more surprised that she'd come to him after their last interaction.

"Eli." She responded, hands folded together. She glanced behind him to see Phoebe watching carefully in the background. "I wanted to ask you for a favor."

"Anything." He said, and meant it.

Audrey tugged at her jacket, and cocked her head to the side. "I have to go see my Mom for the long weekend, and everyone else has bailed-" Eli couldn't help but smile, watching her chatter, all hand movements, wind tousled hair, and big eyes. Just like she was before.

"My point being," Audrey sucked in her breath for the big finale, wringing her hat in her hands nervously, "I need someone to come with me."

"And you want me to do that?" Eli asked, confused yet pleased.

"I haven't been... listening." Audrey admitted, lost in his eyes again. "I kind of fell out of rhythm I guess. With the way you are. When we're alone, I can listen better." She sighed and bit her lip. "Unless you don't-"

"I'm in." Eli interrupted with a smile. Audrey smiled back, relieved. "Great. So I'll pick you up Thursday morning?"

"Great." Eli repeated, making Audrey giggle a bit. Another thing he missed hearing. Audrey caught Phoebe's eye again, and Phoebe smiled at her with a small nod. Audrey nodded back, and something told her she was doing the right thing. There was a certain way, after all, of talking to Eli. The more she thought about it, the less sense it made. Eli could barely bring himself to hurt his Step-Father. He'd never hurt Audrey, not on purpose. 

Phoebe, meanwhile, realized that Eli had been right about Audrey. She was contrary and often confusing. She was fiery and stubborn, and yet listened to Phoebe's advice. Or, maybe she only listened when it came to Eli. She seemed to have an innate sense of him, of what was best for him.

"Thanks." Audrey remembered to say, still smiling as she backed away from the door, pulling her hat back on. Eli tapped on the door frame, something resembling fireworks going off in his chest. He liked the way her short hair flicked up a little under her woolen hat.

"You look really pretty today." He said, causing her to blush furiously and snort; he could tell she hadn't heard those words in a while. To Eli, it was sad. She should have been hearing them every day, multiple times a day.

She bit her lip again, leaving with a curt wave and a blushing smile, and Eli could feel it again, the distance she was putting between herself and others. She was not the same. Maybe he could fix it.

He turned around and went back inside, where Phoebe smirked at him. "What?" He inquired, locking the door. "Nothing," Phoebe said wryly, "You're becoming quite the smooth operator in your old age, is all."

"Must be the happy pills." He replied with a shrug, sitting back down and cracking open his book. "Maybe." Phoebe got up and stretched, hungry for a late night snack. "I think it's her. She brings it out of you. It's almost like she waits for you to say things- things she knows you want to say. It's weird." She reasoned from the kitchen. 

"She is majoring in psychology." Eli glanced up.

"She didn't always do that?"

"No," Eli smiled to himself, "She did."

"That's... something." Phoebe returned to the couch with a bag of chips, in a trance of disbelief at the odd and seemingly psychic connection that Audrey shared with her brother.

Her brother, Eli. Who wouldn't date the most popular girl in school, and who went through weeks of silence when they were younger. Once, she remembered, it was a month. An entire month where she never heard him say a word. She settled on the idea that she may never understand it. Maybe that was okay. As long as he was happy.

Eli shook his head, and Phoebe looked at him. "That's everything." He corrected.

((A/N: What's gonna happen next?? Does everyone hate Jack? He hasn't exactly done anything that condemns him...))