The next day Ellie got up early to help her mom get the food ready before their family got there. They have already been cooking food for a few hours whenever the doorbell rang.

" They're already here? I'm not even ready yet!" Clara said while she made the salad. Ellie chuckled as she wiped the flour off of her hands with a towel that was on the kitchen island. " I'll open the door."

She walked over to the door and opened it, revealing her aunt, uncle and cousins. Her aunt Breelan smiled at her. " How's my favorite niece doing?"

Elile chuckled. " I'm your only niece."

Breelan shrugged her shoulders. " That's true." she said and Ellie stepped to the side, letting them walk inside and as Andrew walked down the stairs.

" Hey, family!" Andrew greeted.

" Andy!" the cousins yelled excitedly and ran over to Andrew. Andrew laughed and fell back on the stairs as they hugged him, pretending that they knocked him over. " You guys are so strong now! You can probably beat me at wrestling now."

" You bet we can!" Oliver grinned while his twin brother nodded in agreement. " Yeah, we're this old now which means we're stronger than you." his twin brother, Owen, said as he showed Andrew five fingers.

Andrew chuckled and nodded. " Yeah, that does mean you're stronger."

" You boys aren't getting into trouble are ya?" Sawyer, Andrew's and Ellie's uncle, asked as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him while Breelan went into the kitchen to help her sister and Ellie finish cooking.

" Not yet!" Owen grinned.

" Okay, good." Sawyer said. " Andy, make you sure keep them in line."

" Yes, sir." Andrew chuckles as he salutes.

" So, my sister has been telling me you're the lead of a play? Did I hear her right or am I going death?" Breelan asked Ellie as she put on an apron.

Ellie nodded. " Yeah, you heard her right. I wasn't going to audition for it, but my friend got me to audition."

" She's talking about Ricky." Clara joined in with a smirk on her face and Ellie rolled eyes.

Breelan raised an eyebrow. " Now I'm interested. Please do tell."

" Ricky is her friend that got her to audition for it and is also the one playing Troy." Clara explained and Ellie couldn't help the blush that was forming on her face. " Can we not talk about this right now? Like can we talk about how Dexter isn't here?"

" You know he isn't here because he's spending Thanksgiving with his family." Clara told her and Ellie sighed.

" What? No, we are talking about this. I'm around boys all the time and I miss hanging out with girls and talking about girl stuff." Breelan sighed as she got the bread out of the oven whenever it dinged.

" Fine." Ellie caved in. " I think I might like him, I even went to homecoming with him and it was great, like really great and I think maybe he might like me too, but the problem is one of my friends is his ex girlfriend and I just don't want things to be weird between us."

Breelan nodded. " That could be a problem. But if your friend knows about your feelings for him and is okay with that, then your friend should be happy for you. Have you told your friend about your feelings for him?"

Ellie shook her head. " Nope." she said, popping the ' p' in the word as she leaned against the counter, watching her mom and aunt do the last finishing touches on the food. " I wanna tell her, but I don't know how she's going to react to it."

" Well, I'm sure that everything is going to work out good." Clara said. " And if not, then who cares about boys and friends."

Breelan and Ellie both look at her and then Clara laughs. " I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" she walk over to Ellie and places a kiss on her forehead. " I really am sure everything is going to work out."

Ellie smiled. " Thanks, mom."

Clara nods and then glances around the kitchen. Once she made sure everything was done and ready, she smiles.

" Okay, food is finally ready!" she announces.

****

It was almost time for Ashlyn's party whenever the doorbell rang. Oliver ran over and opened the door before anyone else could. " Mom, there's some girl I don't know at the door!"

Ellie chuckled along with everyone else and got up to go see who it was. " Thanks for answering the door, Ollie." she said and ruffled his hair. " You're welcome." he grinned and ran back to the dining room. Ellie looked over and was surprised to see that Gina was standing there.

She smiled. " Hi, Gina."

Ellie shook her head. " It's okay. We've just been hanging out and playing cards." she then noticed the cupcakes in her hands and grinned. " Those cupcakes look really good."

Gina chuckled. " Thanks, I made them for the party." she held the cupcakes with one hand and got something out of her jacket pocket. " I also made you this."

She handed Ellie a cute beaded bracelet and she then showed her the matching one that Gina had for herself. " Just a little thank you for being one nice to me and actually being a friend to me. It's hard being new and making friends."

" You made me a friendship bracelet?" Ellie asked with surprise as she smiled and then put it on her right wrist. " Thank you, Gina. Really, I mean that."

Gina nodded and smiled at her. " You're welcome and I thought that maybe we could meet up with Ricky and go to Ashlyn's together." she got something else out of her pocket and Ellie smiled seeing the multicolored hat. " I also made this and thought you might want it since it's sorta freezing out."

Ellie chuckles. " Thanks." she takes the hat from her and tries it on. " How does it look?" she asked and did a pose. Gina laughed. " It looks great."

" I don't really think this is my style, but you could give it to Ricky. He would probably wear it." Ellie said as she took it off and handed it to Gina.

" Alrighty." Gina spoke as she put it back in her pocket.

" Yeah, that's fine with me. Come on in and I'll put my shoes on." she let Gina inside and closed the door behind her.

She then got her shoes on and went to the living room where they were playing cards. " Hey, I'm gonna head over to the party at Ashlyn's."

" Alright, be careful." Clara said and then noticed Gina standing at the door. She smiled. " You must be the talented Gina!"

Gina shrugged her shoulders and smiled shyly. " Yeah."

" It's nice to finally meet you, Gina. I'm her mother, Clara. You two have fun at the party!" Clara tells her with a smile and Gina chuckled. " It's nice to meet you too and we will."

Soon Ellie and Gina left, walking to Ricky's house since he didn't live that far away and they figured they could ride in his car.

They got to Ricky's house a few minutes later and Ellie knocked on the door. Seconds later the door opened revealing Ricky and Ellie thought he looked like he might've been crying, but he put on a smile.

" Gina, Ellie. Hey."

" Hey." Ellie and Gina greets.

" You guys can come in." Ricky gestured to inside and stepped out of the way so they could walk in. " Thanks." Ellie sent him a smile as they walked in and he closed the door, still surprised that they were there.

" We were thinking we could all walk to Ashlyn's together." Ellie said and Gina nodded as she put the tray of cupcakes down on the kitchen island. " Yup and I also made you this hat since I figured it would be freezing out."

Ricky raised an eyebrow as he looked at the hat and pointed at it. " You made that?"

" Yeah, with help from Youtube of course and I was gonna give this to Ellie, but we both agreed it would be better for you." Gina said and Ellie nodded while Gina handed Ricky the hat.

" Um, thanks." Ricky said and walked to the other side of the kitchen, laying the hat on the other end of the kitchen island. " C-can I meet you guys there?" he stuttered and Ellie frowned, knowing that something was wrong.

" What's wrong?" she asked as he put a cup by the sink that was on the kitchen island.

" Yeah, is everything okay?" Gina asked, noticing he was acting sad.

" Yeah. Yup." Ricky said, his voice cracking at the end as he turned around and leaned against the counter.

" You're not okay." Ellie observed.

Ricky sighed as he did his best not to cry in front of them. " I guess my mom has a new boyfriend and it's just a lot."

Ellie and Gina frowned, both feeling sorry this happened to him and both understanding in some way what he was going through. " I'm sorry. I hate to be a downer." Ricky apologized.

" It's okay." Ellie said.

" Yeah, I get it." Gina nods and Ricky shakes his head. " No offense, but I don't think you do."

" Let me guess." Gina sighed. " You're mad at everyone and everything because just when you're getting use to things changing they change again."

Ricky looks at her with a little surprise. " Am I close?" Gina asked and Ricky was silent for a moment before he nodded. " A little bit."

" Not just a hat rack, my friend." Gina grinned and the three of them shared a laugh. " Who told you about..." Ricky started to say, but Gina interrupted. " Ricky, I'm not sure you notice, but, um, my family's just me and my mom."

" She works at FEMA, so we basically move whenever disaster strikes. I've had a few feelings in my life." Gina mentions and Ellie frowns. She honestly felt bad for Gina.

Ricky bit his lower lip and shook his head. " Yeah, of course, I'm sorry."

" Don't be." Gina shakes her head. " I'm just saying you just gotta ignore it and push through."

" That's what I do." Ellie admits. " Whenever my dad died I thought things couldn't get worse, but then my mom got a new boyfriend and I didn't like him at first, but I'm starting to like him."

" Think I should, like, text her ' Happy Thanksgiving' or something?" Ricky asked the both of them.

Gina scoffs. " No." she walks over and leans on the counter next to him. " What I think we should do is go to the party and spend a few hours being drama dorks as the good Lord intended." Gina smiled and playfully elbowed him. " Do what makes you happy."

" Now that sounds like a good plan." Ellie grins.

Ricky was silent for a moment until he sighed and walked over to the kitchen island that Ellie was leaning her left arm on. " Give me that hat." Ricky sighed even though there was a small smile on his face and the girls laugh.

Ellie hands him the hat, ignoring the spark she felt when their fingers brushed against each other as Ricky took the hat from her. He sent her a goofy smile as he put the hat on that was even too big for him. Ellie and Gina shared a laugh.

" Yeah, we were right, E, the hat does look better on him." Gina laughed and Ellie nodded in agreement while Ricky rolled his eyes and laughed.

" Even though the hat is too big." Ellie laughed and Ricky shrugged his shoulders while Gina picked up the cupcakes.

" I'll grow into it." Ricky smiled.

Gina chuckled as they walked out the door. " Okay. Um, I mean, it kinda works."

A/N so happy i finally got this book updated! i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, i honestly had fun writing it! also don't forget to check out some of my other books!