"Good morning."

"Morning." I yawn, leaning my head back against the seat as I buckle in my seatbelt.

Gentry slaps the back window and Aspen begins the drive towards school. It's Monday and I'm not even upset about it. Too tired to care.

"What has you so tired, Sunshine?" Aspen asks, poking my cheek.

"Beau and I talked on FaceTime till 3 a.m." I yawn again.

"Did you have coffee?"

"Yeah, too tired for caffeine to work." My eyes begin to fall shut and suddenly music blares from the speakers. Jolting awake, I hiss in pain as my knee collides with the dashboard. "You're an ass."

He laughs, turning the music back down. "I figured that would wake you up."

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes while AC/DC serenades me, I notice flowers in the middle seat. "What are these for?"

Suddenly he becomes very transfixed by the road. "Well, you know it was Thanksgiving last week and it's um... it's been four years since Thanksgiving break our freshman year, so with the days mixing up today is my three-year anniversary with Meredith."

"Oh, has it been three years already?" I wonder. Who would've thought it could feel like such a short and long amount of time.

He grunts and I remember the deal we made.

Forcing a smile onto my face, I fix the wrapping around the flowers. "Happy anniversary, Penny."

He mumbles a thanks and I decide that if I'm gonna be supportive, I better prove it. "Why don't you take Mere home today."

"But how would you guys get home?" He immediately asks.

"Seth just started driving and he has room for all the boys, and I have Peyton. We need a good girls day." That's the truth. "You don't need to worry about us. Take your girlfriend for a picnic in the park or a nice dinner. Make her laugh. Three years is an impressive milestone."

Four years has felt like an eternity in hell but my hate for her won't ruin our deal. Support them, even if it feels like supporting Hitler.

Giving me a suspicious glance, he relents. "There is a new ramen place she wanted to try, and she loves that spot by the lake."

"Sounds perfect." I nod before cranking up the AC/DC. Fittingly enough, "Highway to Hell" blares through the speakers.

*****

Sitting in study hall with my friends, I tell Houston and Garner to mind their own business when they ask where Aspen is. We all know, but we shouldn't interrupt him.

Beau smiles as I squeeze his hand and he tugs in my hair. "Do you want to get coffee after school?"

"I'd love to but I'm spending some girl time with Peyton." I missed my best friend.

They guys all share a look, waiting for his reaction and I mentally punch them all. Beau is not a baby. "That's cool, just promise me we can talk again tonight."

"Of course." I grin.

Finishing my stats homework, I snap a picture and send it to Aspen, so he doesn't have to ask me for it.

"Jo, I need geometry help." Seth whines and I ruffle his hair as the bell rings.

"The lunch table is waiting for us, kid." I pack up and let him drag me to the cafeteria.

Working step-by-step through a few problems, I leave Seth to try a few on his own and steal a carrot from Peyton's lunch.

"I'm just saying, Heather Smith is the better option." AJ says.

"No way!" Gentry protests. "Danica Green is a total babe. She makes Heather look like a flat chested freshman."

Peyton flinches a little, arms crossing over her chest even if the conversation isn't about hers.

"I'm more of an ass man myself." AJ winks. "Maybe your obsession with breasts come from sucking on your mom's for too long."

All the guys erupt into a fit of "ohs" as Jay hides his head in his hands.

"Yo, Romeos, can we not talk about females like that when there are two right here capable of punching you?" I snap.

"Fair enough." Gentry relents before burping. And he wonders why he's still single. What a pig.

"Ladies, I mean no disrespect." AJ runs around the table and throws his arms around us. "I love and appreciate all women."

"I don't know, you seemed pretty unappreciative to me." Peyton grins. "Wouldn't you agree, Jay?"

"They both displayed reasons why the male species is despised." Jay agrees and I laugh as AJ's smile falls.

"You guys suck." He pouts, moving back to his seat.

Mocking a crying baby, I don't notice the happy couple till they've taken the seats across from me and Beau. Taking in her curled lip and glare, I flash a genuine smile. "Happy anniversary, Meredith."

Instead of responding, she rolls her eyes. "I see you two are still together."

My smile suddenly becomes a lot more forced. "Yup. Together and happy as ever." I hold our entwined hands up before resting them back on my lap.

"I didn't know you were capable of being in a relationship that long. Usually by now, you've screwed them and forgotten them." She sneers.

"Mere." Aspen warns as I blush a little. That's not entirely true. I've never had a relationship outside of Jay and I certainly didn't forget about him. The screwing, that's mostly true.

Keeping my smile on, I nod. "It's so nice talking to you."

Beau squeezes my hand and I kiss his cheek before challenging my twin to a game of hangman. I always win.

*****

In the parking lot, I wave goodbye to the happy couple before turning to Seth.

"Listen, kid. You better drive safely. No phone, hands on the wheel and eyes on the road." I order. "We can't afford a car accident and I'd hate to hurt your precious face."

Gulping, he sweats a little. "Got it. I'm a good driver, Jo, I promise."

"Good, prove that to me today and I promise I'll let you take me to school one morning." I squeeze his shoulders and watch him blush as he heads for the car and my brothers.

"You just love messing with the boys." Jay tsks as I make my way over to him and Peyton.

"The kid's cute and I promised him it would happen one day." I shrug. He loves his car and maybe me a little. "Why are you here?"

"I said you could come home with me, but I never said I drove." Peyton smiles. "Jay offered to drive us to my house."

"But I wanted fries." I pout, claiming the front seat.

They both ignore me.

Showing up to Peyton's house, I groan as I notice the car parked in the driveway. "What is he doing here?"

Slamming my door shut, AJ runs towards us. "Let's do this!"

"Do what?" I demand.

"Talk about why you're being so weird." He states.

"I'm not being weird." I snip.

"Before break, you and Aspen were ready to kill each other. Today was the opposite of that. Plus, I brought burgers and fries from that place you like." He shakes the bag.

Looking at the boys, I shake my head. "You two don't get to corrupt my best friend and use her innocence as a way to get me alone."

"Actually, it was her idea." Jay says.

Peyton squeaks and drops her house key after opening the door.

"Peyton!" I screech. "How could you?"

"We're curious and Beau wouldn't be thrilled if he knew they would be here, so... ta-da?" She blushes as I plop down on the couch.

I don't know if I should be pissed or impressed she schemed. My little innocent nerd is growing up; I'm a proud mom. "Good job."

She flashes a smile, "Thanks now spill."

Grunting, I tear into my burger. "Fine, what're you three dying to know?"

"Why aren't you and Aspen still fighting?" AJ blurts out. "Before, you two were like actually fighting and now it's like the ordeal never happened."

"Well, Steve almost died and that gave us perspective." I roll my eyes.

"That's not the reason." Jay scolds and I flip him off.

"Fine. We agreed to stop bitching and to get along with each other's choice of partner."

"That's why you didn't punch Mere square in the nose!" AJ shouts and I nod.

"Trust me, it was hard not to." So I just mentally cut her head off instead and hope she chokes on her salad.

"So that's why Aspen gave Beau a pencil instead of telling him to find one shoved up his ass today." Jay concludes.

"I'm missing my daily dose of Aspen being mean to Beau?" AJ asks and I nod. "This sucks."

"Sorry, but us fighting with them causes me and Aspen to fight and we agreed to not do that anymore." I feel like I'm talking to children. They share a look before bursting into laughter. "What?"

The laughter continues and pisses me off. Finally, Jay wipes his eyes. "This is gonna end horribly."

"Is not." I protest.

"Jo, you and Aspen bicker constantly."

"It's like a weird, erotic foreplay." AJ agrees.

My jaw drops. "One, oh my God, that's sickening." Nope. I never needed to hear that because it's gross and wrong. "Two, we're still bickering just not over Beau and Mere."

"But eventually, you two will and it will be explosive." Jay says.

"Nope, we value our friendship too much for that." I state firmly. They calm down and I smile to myself. We can do this. I know so.

AJ tosses me a soda before joining me, "Fine, then can we address Beau not being cool with you hanging out with us? We miss our girl."

"Beau is fine with this. I told you he was." I flick his throat and he winces.

"Sorry, but I don't buy it." He grins and I punch him.

"At least he doesn't glare at you whenever you two talk." Jay offers bitterly.

"Well, he would if he knew what type of relationship we had." AJ reasons and I choke on my drink.

"No!" I manage to get out between coughs. "Beau will never learn about our... special friendship and you will never tell him." That will be explosive. If he knew I was still friends with someone I did that with. Two, including Jay but we were dating. That's expected. He would hate AJ for life and I just don't need that drama in my life.

It meant nothing. He means nothing. I love him like an annoying brother, and we learned our lesson. Sometimes I wonder why we did it, so it doesn't need to be common knowledge. Only our group knows, and it stays that way.

AJ nods and Jay slaps his back. "No offense but he'd probably rearrange your face and that's your best feature."

Not necessarily, but the boy's got a point.

Turning to Jay, I feel bad. "I'll talk to him again, I promise. You're my friend and he does need to learn that."

"Thanks, because I probably won't punch him but I'm ready to give him a piece of my mind." He brushes his curly hair out of his eyes.

"I'd hate for that to happen." I fight a giggle at the thought. That'd be an interesting encounter to say the least. I'd bring popcorn and an icepack.

Settling down, we watch a movie. As the end credits roll, the garage door opens and Peyton's mom, Kim, and her girlfriend, Stacy, walk in.

"Kids, what a pleasant surprise." Kim grins from ear to ear. "My boys are back and my sweet Jovie. I'm as spoiled as can be."

Hugging her tightly, I wave to Stacy.

"We were going to take Peyton to dinner but if you three would like to join, we'd love that."Stacy says.

"I'm good." I offer, not wanting to extend my welcome. Plus, I know how Peyton feels about letting Stacy experience what her life is like, even if she's growing to like this girlfriend.

"Ma is making Grandma's casserole for dinner." Jay stands to his feet. "It's my favorite."

"Of course, honey." Kim hugs him. "AJ, what about you?"

AJ stops, taking in her kind smile and he scratches the back of his head. "Sure, Ms. Kim, only if we go to that vegan place that had those lettuce wraps.

She claps her hands and we say our goodbyes. Jay and I silently make it to his car and I clear my throat. Something isn't settling well.

"When were you two over at Peyton's?"

"You and Aspen are busy in relationships, and Gentry tries to help your mom whenever he isn't finding a pretty girl so that leaves the three of us pretty lonely at times. Last week, though, everyone was gone but us, so we surprised Peyton to see if she wanted to hang."

"Peyton hates people being around Stacy." I automatically respond. I'm the only one who spends time with the girlfriends.

"Yes, but Kim opened the door and insisted we stay, so we did. Then we came back a few more times because we were bored, and it was fun."

"Oh." I don't know why I'm so butt hurt. She's my best friend but she's allowed to have others. Hell, that's what I wanted. She probably would've said something today. I'm just a little selfish at the moment. "That's great."

He smiles my favorite, calming smile that assures everything is just fine. "Where to?"

Checking my phone, I sigh. "The Jones residence, my kind driver."

*****

Walking into the Jones house, I'm greeted by the sound of a baby screaming and three panicking teenage boys.

"Jo, thank God!" Gentry shouts.

"Give her the baby." Houston all but steals Brooklynn out of Garner's hands and shoves her into mine.

"What the hell is going on?" I demand, bouncing her lightly.

"She won't sleep." Gentry cries.

"She won't eat." Garner looks like he's been through war, a variety of food staining his shirt. How many times did they try to feed her?

"She won't shut the fuck up." Houston says, rubbing his head.

"Where are your parents?" I head to the kitchen and they follow.

"Dad had therapy and then he insisted on having a meal that wasn't at home so they're at dinner." He says.

"Have you guys eaten?" They all shake their heads and Brooklynn's screams lowers to a cry. Shit, this is when Aspen would come in handy. "Okay, Gentry order Chinese take-out. Houston, clean up all the toys. Garner, put away all the food and change your shirt." I sniff him and gag on the smell of spinach and banana. "Maybe shower."

They all nod and I grab an ice pack and medicine before heading to her nursery. "Someone's teething. Yes, they are."

Baby talk, while annoying, is very effective. She giggles as I turn her sound machine and diffuser on, continuing to ramble in an annoying voice. Rocking her in her chair, I sigh and shove a frozen ice pack in her mouth. "This will feel good, I promise."

Forty-five minutes of rocking, hushing and drying tears later, my phone rings just as she's beginning to doze off.

"Hey, Boo." I whisper.

"Where are you?" He asks. "I brought an icee for our hangout and you aren't home."

Shit, I knew I forgot something. "I'm currently with Baby Brookie. She's teething and her parents are out. Isn't that right, missy." Put the baby talk away, now.

"Oh."

"I'm sorry, Boo. You could come over, if you'd like." I offer.

"I don't know if Aspen would like that." He pouts.

"Aspen would be cool." I assure him. "He's not even home."

"Really?" He perks up. "Then I'm on my way."

Shaking my head, I hang up and put my favorite girl to bed. After watching her sleep like a creep, I sneak downstairs and grab my container of for just as there's a knock on the door.

Squealing, I great Beau and let him sit on the porch swing. "Thank you." I kiss him as I take the Icee.

"Sesame chicken and an Icee?" He wrinkles his nose in disgust and I laugh.

"It's all going the same place." That's what my momma says to argue wine with breakfast some days so why not now. "How was your day?"

"Good. I'm struggling in Econ but besides that, everything is great." He shrugs.

"Do you need help because I'm doing great in Econ and we worked well last time." I smirk. When we actually worked.

"No, I'll be fine. I've already worked something out with my teacher." He says.

Testing to call his bluff, I'm distracted by the sound of swearing and crutches followed by another voice scolding. Jumping up, I run down the steps to find Steve and Lena making their way to us.

Hugging him, I hide my face in his chest and breathe. "I'm happy you're doing better."

"I'm doing great now that I've gotten to see my beautiful Jovie Grace." He chuckles.

"Tell your beautiful Jovie Grace that she's hurting your stitches, you stubborn ass." Lena says and I let go.

"Sorry." Maybe I was hugging a little too tight.

"It's fine, love." Lena hugs me. "We missed you yesterday."

"That'd be my fault." Beau clears his throat. "Sorry for that."

I blush as their attention is diverted to him. It really was his fault.

"That's fine, how are you doing?" Steve asks, stumbling on his crutches. Lena and I lunge for him. "I'm fine, leave me be."

"Someone's grouchy." I snicker.

"I went to the mall and enjoyed it." He says. "That should tell you how miserable I've been stuck here." Lena rolls her eyes. "With my loving wife and daughter of course."

Helping him inside, Lena grabs my arm. "You three are welcome to spend the night. Your mom's working later and you're already here. Plus, Aspen will probably be late getting in and he might sleep in."

Nodding, I kiss her cheek. "Got it."

Closing the door, I find Beau back on the swing. Grabbing my food, I sit back down and dig in.

"How was your afternoon with Peyton?"

"Good." I say with a mouth full of noodles. "AJ and Jay joined us and we just watched a movie."

"I didn't know Jay would be there." He tenses.

"Neither did I, they ambushed me." I chuckle.

"So then you just didn't tell me?" His jaw clenches.

"They're two of my best friends. I shouldn't have to tell you if I'm spending time with my friends." I snap. "And I wonder why they think you hate them."

"I don't hate them." He snaps.

"So I just can't date you and hang out with friends I love?" I demand.

"It's not that!" He shouts.

"Then what?" I demand. "Because my friends are over it. I'm over it. It's stupid. Not once did I ask who you were with when on break."

"That's not fair."

"How is that not fair!"

"Can I get inside my house?" A voice asks and I'm about to tell Aspen to fuck off when I take him in.

"Fuck, what happened?" I ask, eyeing up his soaked clothes and shivering teeth. It's too cold for this.

"Long story." He grumbles, moving up the stairs. "Beau, nice to see you but it's late and my neighborhood has a rule about public fights. Maybe it's best if you two continue this tomorrow."

Beau stares at me for a second before nodding. I don't wait to watch him drive off, looking for a blanket.

"Jojo, just let me shower." Aspen begs and I stop fussing. I'm freezing just by looking at him. I end up in the kitchen.

"Beau left?" Lena asks, wiping the countertop down and I nod, stuffing my face with more noodles.

"He left all right."

"Do I need to kick his ass?" Steve grunts and I almost lecture him on the importance of healing but I don't have the energy to play along.

"I-I just don't know how to make him understand my guy friends are my people and I'm not going to leave them."

"Is this about Aspen?" Lena pulls my hair off my neck.

"No, they don't like each other at all, but Jay is his biggest issue." I groan. "Oh, Aspen's home."

Eating my feelings and contemplating my relationship, Lena hugs me. "Then you two need to have a serious talk. Jay is the yin to your yang. He's a calming presence in your life and Beau needs to overlook a silly two-month mistake and accept your friendship."

Sniffling, I hug her back. "Thanks. I'm gonna go to sleep."

Shuffling downstairs, I discover Gentry already asleep on the pull-out couch. Plugging his phone in, I peck his head since he's not awake to shove me away. "Night, Gen. Love you."

Opening the door to Aspen's room, I silently change for bed and by the time he's out of the bathroom, I'm under the covers.

"You still have a relationship?" He asks.

I snort. "Should I be asking you the same question?" His eyes darken. "What happened?"

"We're still together." He grunts. "We started bickering after she complained about having a picnic. I thought we could watch the stars and she didn't want to. So she shoved me in the lake and demanded I take her home."

Oh. "Do you guys look at the stars often?"

"No, it's not like..."

"Like what?" I demand.

I watch his throat bob. "It's not like that."

Turning over, I sigh. "Beau and I are fighting but still dating."

And we leave the conversation at that.

*****

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