When I reached and opened the door, I wasn't surprised to see Michael, beaming and panting, and looking as if he'd been running for a long time. His face was as red as his hair, and the sweat shone off of his skin in the bright sun.

"Hi." He panted.

I laughed. "Hey."

After looking him over, I moved out of the doorway.

"So, come in. I guess." I giggled at his baffled expression.

"Thanks." He said as he walked in. "Sorry to show up on such short notice. I had to get out of my house."

We made our way to the living room couch and sat down next to each other. And as he put his arm around my shoulder, I could feel the heat in my cheeks turning them a bright red. He cleared his throat.

"Maybe we aren't quite there yet." He remarked and took his arm away.

"Maybe not." I agreed.

I didn't want things to become awkward, so I decided to think of something to ask about. But the only thing running through my head was who was she? Who was the other girl he had been seeing?

"Can I ask who she was?" I asked quietly.

"Huh?" Micheal looked at me.

I felt a lump in the back of my throat. "Your ex."

"Oh." He looked at the ground. "Yeah, I guess Jaime wouldn't tell you, but... well..."

"Don't tell me..." I gasped.

"Yeah. It was her that I was seeing." He nodded.

"Jaime?!" I asked in shock.

"Yep." He sighed. "It's still pretty bad between us."

"Really?" I was a bit surprised because in the years I'd known Jaime, I never thought her to be the 'bitter ex' type.

"I'd rather not talk about her if it's ok with you," Michael said in a sad tone.

"Of course." I obliged to his request and moved on.

Part of me was angry. Angry at Jaime for keeping the fact that she was dating my best friend, and crush, a secret from me. Another part of me was... Sad. Maybe it showed on my face because the next thing I knew Michael wrapped his arms around me in a hug and then quickly pulled away and continued to look at the ground.

"Hey, don't be sad." He said softly.

"Alright." I murmured. "I guess I just... Can't help it."

"I'm sorry. I should've told you. But, we both felt it best not to." He told me.

"Why?" I asked, baffled.

"Jaime thought you'd be pissed if she told you. And I didn't want to tell you because of how I feel about you." He said.

"Wait..." I stopped him. "I don't understand. Why did you go with her if you have feelings for me?"

He looked at a loss for words. But then after a brief pause, he answered.

"We were both sad. Lonely. So, we hooked up one night and... Here we are." He chuckled slightly.

"How long were you together?" I asked.

"Eh, about a month. Give or take." He shrugged his shoulders.

"And who..." I paused, not wanting to say the words.

"Who cut the cord?" He finished for me.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"She did. Said I wasn't mature enough for her." He scoffed.

"I never thought Jaime to be the rude type." I mused. "She's always so nice."

"Oh, she was nice about it." He said. "It was just the point that after she ended it, she told all her friends that she was heartbroken and stuff."

As he was talking, I remembered him saying that things were 'still bad' between them. And I figured I should ask him everything I could while he was willing to talk about it.

"You said that things are still... Bad between you two." I said. "How come?"

He sighed. "Long story short, she thinks I'm playing the bitter ex right now."

After a moment, he looked up and faced me.

"Not that it's her fault." He insisted.

"What do you mean?" I was struggling to keep up with the story.

"I said some things. After we broke up." He looked down at his phone and then shook his head. "I wish I didn't... But, I have to go. My mom wants me home."

"Damn." I sighed in disappointment.

"I promise we'll hang out more." He said as he stood up. "We have to."

"Definitely. Don't be a stranger." I laughed and stood up with him.

He stood still for a moment, and then kissed me.

"I... Well, you know." He said awkwardly.

"Yes, I do," I replied happily.

He walked to the door and unlocked it before turning around. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Sure," I said.

He opened the door and then waved bye as he walked away. Closing the door and locking it behind him, I felt a smile spreading across my face. Not only had we kissed again, but he wanted to see me again. And not only that, but he promised to spend more time with me.

I felt like the happiest girl in the world. And in that small but big moment, I felt like nothing could bring me down. Not even an angry pounding on my door. Which was what I heard only moments after Michael left.

The angry pounding took me away from the huge euphoria that I was feeling, and I slowly turned around to open the door.

"Jaime?" I said, very surprised to see her angrily tapping her foot on the ground.

"Don't act all innocent!" She barked. "I know you're seeing him!"

"Seeing who?" I asked. Shit. Did she mean Micheal?

She rolled her eyes, but then started laughing.

"Ok, wow! Now I actually feel really bad!" She said through her laughing fit.

I could already hear my brother's triumphant giggles before he walked up behind her, and then I figured it out. Jake had probably put her up to pranking me.

"Sorry, Ray." She said after she was done laughing.

Ray. That was her nickname for me after she'd seen me trying to do math homework and pretending that my pencil was a ray gun used for destroying it.

I laughed. "It's alright. My brother put you up to it, didn't he?"

"Well..." She laughed.

I glared at him, but I couldn't stay mad at him for long. His victorious smile only made me smile more, and I had to admit that it was pretty funny. At least to me, it was. Right, now I will get my revenge... Insert evil laugh here. I thought.

Then again, maybe there was no need for me to prank them back and start a war. After all, I guess I should've expected this. Jake and Jaime were both regular pranksters. I knew this, so I should've seen this prank coming.

"Well, I'll admit it," I said after a few minutes. "You got me."

Jaime laughed and Jake just stood with the same happy grin on his face.

"Crap, I guess I can't leave you guys out here now can I?" I said with a mischievous smile.

Jake gasped. "You wouldn't dare!"

"No! Of course not! Come on inside." I laughed as I moved away from the door.

When Jaime didn't enter but instead moved away so that Jake could, I looked to her with a questioning look.

"I'd love to stay, but I can't. Homework." She said. "Bye, Jake."

He turned around and waved to Jaime. "Bye."

She walked away as I shut and locked the door and I turned to my brother, who was already sitting on the couch.

"Well?" I asked.

"Well, what?" He questioned.

"How'd it go?" I laughed.

"Oh!" He smiled. "Great!"

"That's awesome, bro!" I said as I sat down next to him. "Give me five!"

He laughed but happily did and then we talked about what had happened between me and Michael.

"So wait... I'm confused." My brother said after my hour-long ramble about my day. "Are you guys a thing now or what?"

"Oh, I don't know. I mean we haven't gone on like a date or anything..." I said timidly.

"So, you don't count him showing up at our door and promising to spend more time with you as anything?" He asked.

"Well, no..." I said.

"I have another question." He said but laughed at my exasperated expression. He really could push my buttons at times. "Last one. I promise."

"Ok, last one and then I'm starving," I replied.

"How did he get in the house yesterday?" He asked.

"Um..." I paused. That wasn't something I'd even thought about.

"Does he have a key?" Jake sounded like he'd already known that. But how? I'd never told him that I'd given a copy of our house key to Micheal.

I sighed. "Yeah."

He nodded and then looked over to the kitchen. I smiled and then walked into the kitchen.

"Feel like burgers tonight?" I yelled to him from the kitchen.

"Sounds good." He yelled back.

I grabbed the necessary ingredients and got to work cooking while at the same time thinking about the day's events.

Maybe Jake was right. Maybe I was thinking about things the wrong way. Or maybe I was overthinking it. Either way, my brain was having trouble keeping up with everything that was going on.

Later, as my brother and I ate, I realized that I hadn't even asked how he was doing after the previous day's events. How selfish.

"Wow, how rude of me," I said as I put down my burger.

"What?" My brother asked in the middle of chewing his food.

"I never asked how you're doing. After what happened last night I mean." I said, feeling guilty as hell.

"Oh..." He looked down at the table and sighed. "I'm fine, really."

"Maybe we could take you to the doctor." I mused. "I mean, they could tell us what caused it."

I didn't say the word 'seizure' because I knew my brother didn't even know it had happened.

"No!" He jumped. "No doctors!"

"Oh... Ok." I said, confused by his reaction. Why didn't he want help?

We finished eating and then he headed up to his room and me to mine, quickly giving each other goodnight hugs before going our separate ways.

I pulled open my dresser drawer, intent on finally cleaning it up, and making some money, and found some thick looking novels that I'd bought a few years back.

They were all pretty basic fantasy novels. I read the back of the closest book to my hand. A girl finds a mysterious island and then discovers that it's inhabited by dragons. I laughed. Maybe it would sell online for a decent buck or two.

Setting it aside, I picked up the next one. Even better. Can you survive a pixie apocalypse? It asked. Shaking my head at the stupidity of its description, I put it with the dragon inhabited island and moved on to the next. A promising one at last. This one read discover your inner earth power. Are you powered by water, fire, or air? Find out by reading this book!

It sounded like it was worth reading, so I took it to my bed and plopped myself in front of it. Flipping it open to the first page, I began reading.

When I was done reading the first chapter, I was hooked. So far, it seemed like an interactive book where all your choices mattered. There were several characters with whom you interacted with and using your power you had to try to save them from beasts that tried to kill them for their powers.

I discovered that as easy as that sounded, it wasn't a very easy task. I had also discovered that apparently I was powered by fire, which made my character in the book seem pretty badass.

Setting it on my nightstand, I sat up and looked at my phone to check the time. 10:34. I could pull off another hour, but then I'd have to go to bed.

Walking back to the open drawer, I sat down and picked up the next book inside.

When I finished making a pile of the books I wanted to sell, I found that it was a decent-sized pile. About 8 to 10 books. Yawning, I stood up and stretched.

Turning off my bedroom light before heading to my bed, I could hear noises coming from Jake's room. It was hard to make out, but listening closely revealed not just any noises.

I could hear his voice through the wall. Is he... Talking to himself? I asked myself.

Disregarding it, I went to bed and decided to ask him that next day.