"Happy one year and three week Nanniversary!"
I cover my mouth with my hand and take in the over-the-top decorated house. To my left, there's the Kennedy family and, to my right, there is a lifesize cardboard cutout of myself. There's a slideshow of photos playing on the TV so The Nanny theme song. Streamers and balloons cover all of the walls. This is one-hundred-percent the Kennedy's way.
"You didn't," I say slowly, standing closer to take a look at the cutout.
"That was my idea," Jonas announces proudly. "Adds some real flare."
I shake my head and crouch down to give the twins a hug, then Ethan. I take Bethany in my arms before kissing Addison and Jonas' heads. Elliott puckers his lips, and I just push his arm lightly and laugh.
"This is unbelievable," I say. "Bethany, did you plan this whole thing?"
She nods and giggles with delight as I tickle her sides.
"Come on, Ivy," Crystal urges, taking my hand in hers, "sit at the table!"
I follow her into the dining room and sit at the end seat decorated with newborn balloons that read, "it's a girl!"
"So, what's on the menu tonight?" I ask as the rest of the family sits around the dining table.
"Courtesy of Chef Liott," Elliott announces proudly and lifts the lid to a silver platter filled with grilled cheese sandwiches.
I smile and meet his eyes. "How'd you know I've been craving your gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches?"
He shrugs. "I know that's not the only thing you've been craving of mine," he says and wiggles his eyebrows.
Jonas gags. "Hello! Children are present!"
"No one asked you, Jonas," Elliott fires back.
Jonas sticks out his tongue, and Elliott immediately mimics his brother by sticking out his tongue as well.
"Can we just have a nice meal for Ivy's nanniversary?" Addison asks. "For once you two could stop fighting."
"I'm not fighting," Jonas defends.
"Yeah, who said we were fighting?" Elliott asks, wearing a smile. "Sounds to me like you're the one trying to pick a fight, Ad."
"True," Jonas says and points at Elliott. "Why do you always have to fight us, Ad?"
Ethan and the twins cheer in agreement with Jonas and Elliott.
Addison rolls her eyes and turns to look at me. "Do you see what I have to live with? Gosh, I miss having you around."
I laugh and place a grilled cheese sandwich on my plate. "At least you have Bethany to keep you sane." Bethany throws her food onto the floor and starts laughing maniacally. "I spoke too soon."
"So, Ivy," Jonas changes the conversation to avoid being the one to clean up Beth's mess, "how's your love life going?"
I glance over at Elliott, who has already gotten out of his seat to clean up the mess. "Uh. It's... It's going."
Elliott snorts.
"Good for you," Jonas says. "Mine sucks, by the way. I'm not making things about me or anything, but it sucks."
"Way to not make things about you, Jo," Elliott says, crouching on the floor with a paper towel in his hand.
Jonas just nods. "Yeah, so I'm just trying to keep things steady. I try to talk to Jett about it, but it seems his love life is going quite swimmingly, yes? No?"
"Yeah, I guess it is. He and Noel are very close, but I don't know how romantically anything is," I say slowly.
"Right. Well, they are very close. They do everything together." He takes a large bite of his sandwich and continues talking. "It's great for Jett. I'm so happy that he spends all of his time with Noel."
"And no time with Jonas," Rose adds, nudging Crystal with her elbow.
"But he's not jealous or anything," Crystal laughs.
The whole family laughs, except for Jonas.
I raise my eyebrows. "You're jealous of Jett and Noel?"
"No! No, no, no." He shakes his head side-to-side before changing the direction to up-and-down. "Yeah, actually yes. I am. Yes."
"Why are you jealous?" I ask. "I mean, you sort of forced them together, yeah?"
Jonas sighs, "yeah, I know...but Jett's my best friend, okay? He's been my best friend for a year." He sets his sandwich down. "But now that Noel's in the picture I don't ever get to see him."
"Aw, this must have been how Flynn felt when Ivy got in my picture," Elliott says with a pout, sitting back in his chair.
I smile. "Jonas, you have to tell Jett how you feel. He'll make time for you!"
"I don't want him to just 'make time for me.'" He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I want to be his time."
"You're going to be a very possessive boyfriend one day," Elliott says, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.
Jonas rolls his eyes. "Whatever. Just know that if Jett shows up with Noel tonight, I'm leaving the party."
"Where are you going to go?" Elliott asks, his mouth stuffed with grilled cheese sandwiches. And yet he's still so attractive.
I cock my head to the side. "Wait, what party?" I look around at the rest of the family. "We're having a party?"
"Yeah, we invited all of your friends!" Rosie says excitedly. "Flynn, Nora, Myrtle, Jett, Elm, Mikey, Martin, Levi..." She trails off. "There's more, but I'm not that good with names."
I laugh. "Why are you guys doing all of this for me?"
"Because we love to part-ay!" Ethan says, standing on his chair and circling his hips around.
Elliott lifts him off the chair and plops him back in his seat. "Cool it before I put you in Elm's crate."
"Is that a promise or a threat?" Ethan asks, one eyebrow raised, his pointer finger tapping his chin.
"I'll get the dessert!" Crystal volunteers and jets out of her seat into the kitchen. Rose follows behind her.
"Keep it away from Ethan," Elliott says, tickling his little brother. "Hell knows what this kid is like on a sugar high."
The twins come back in the kitchen with a cake and set it in front of me. "I baked it. Crystal frosted it. Ethan placed in ten candles because that's how old he thinks you are."
"Let me just light the candles real quick," Crystal says, leaning over the table with a lighter.
"Whoa, whoa!" Elliott jumps out of his seat. "Crys, give me the lighter."
"No, I can do it," she says confidently, trying to start up the lighter.
Elliott reaches for it again. "Just give me the lighter before you burn the whole house down, okay?"
"No! I said I got this!" she screams and struggles against Elliott. "Liott, stop!"
"No, Crystal, stop!" Elliott fights back.
"Hey, guys, why don't we just-" I stop mid-sentence, too stunned to continue.
Crystal sets the table cloth on fire.
~~
"Well, this was a good way to start a party," Elliott sighs after finishing his conversation with the fireman. "Looks like we'll have to cancel."
"What? No!" the kids cry out.
"We've been planning for weeks, Li," Addison complains.
"We can't go inside. The whole house smells like smoke and burnt grilled cheese," Elliott sighs. "I'm sorry, guys."
"Why don't we have the party in the backyard?" I suggest. "It's a nice night outside."
"I don't want to have the party outside!" Crystal whines. "There are too many bugs."
"Maybe you shouldn't talk right now, Crystal, okay?" Elliott snaps. "Not after you nearly burned us all alive in there."
Crystal frowns, placing her head in her hands.
"Hey, hey, it was an accident, and we're all okay," I say, squeezing her arm lightly. "That's all that matters."
I hear the familiar bark from Elm and look up to see Nora, Jett, and the dog running towards us. I stand up from the driveway curb and accept the bear hug Nora gives me.
"Jett said he saw a fire truck outside the Kennedy's, and I didn't believe him. Oh my gosh. Is everyone okay?" Nora looks around frantically, her overly caring and worried side taking over. "Where's Beth?"
"She's with the ambulance," I say. "They're just checking on her since she's an infant. She'll be fine. The fire didn't even spread far in the house either."
"What happened?" Jett asks, sitting next to Jonas on the curb.
Jonas leans back on his hands and shrugs his shoulders. "Things got a little too lit."
Jett laughs. "I'm glad you're living and making jokes."
Jonas smiles and nods, his eyes glued to the dark street. For a moment, I believed Jonas would come clean to Jett and tell him about Noel and how he feels. By the way he talked about it before, I can see that it's really getting to him.
I sit down on the curb next to Elliott, who throws his arm over my shoulder to pull me closer against his side. There is an unexplainable comfort when I am held in his arms, something I only feel with him. As my first love, he'll always be alive in my heart. No matter how hard I try to change that, I can't. I get butterflies and tingly feelings when he smiles at me, or reaches for my hand.
"Ivy, I'm sorry I ruined your nanniversary," Crystal apologizes, her lips in a pout.
I shake my head and take her hand in mine, pulling her into my lap. "You didn't ruin a thing, Crystal." She flops her feet on to Elliott's lap, and he holds her by the ankle. "Also, I thought the night was just getting started!"
"Yeah, that's right," Elliott agrees. "Come on, Crys." He stands up and holds out both of his hands for her to take. "Let's go set up the party in the backyard before the guests start arriving."
She goes with her brother, a small smile set on her face. Ethan and Rosie follow them inside. I scoot over to sit closer to Jett, Jonas, and Nora. Elm sits by me, attacking my face with his slobbery tongue. I only allow it because I made him go on a nature walk with Nora and Jett tonight.
"Is Noel coming tonight?" I ask Jett curiously.
"I didn't invite him," Jett answers. "He doesn't really know you, so I thought it might be awkward for him."
Jonas nods. "Yeah, I agree."
"Of course you do," Jett mumbles.
Jonas raises his eyebrows. "What is that supposed to mean, man?"
"You don't like Noel," Jett says as if it's obvious. "I don't think that'll come as much of a surprise to you."
Jonas starts speaking in incoherent exasperated mumbles, holding a hand to his chest. "Why, that is just absurd!"
Jett shakes his head. "Just admit it, dude."
"No, you admit it!" Jonas shoots back.
"Admit what?"
"Just...admit it, man!" Jonas screams. "You know what to admit!"
Jett rolls his eyes. "Jonas, I know Noel didn't write that note in my yearbook, and I know who did."
"What?" Jonas pulls his eyebrows together. "I thought you knew it was Noel because his phone-"
"I know his handwriting now," Jett sighs. "And I know your fake handwriting. It makes sense."
Jonas shakes his head. "Me? No. I didn't write that note. You've got it all wrong."
"Jo," Jett says calmly, "in the wise words of John Mayer, say what you need to say."
Jonas sighs and looks from me to Jett to Nora. He taps his foot on the street nervously, his leg bouncing up and down. "I don't have anything to say to you." He stands up and walks into the house, leaving me with my sister and my brother.
"Well," Nora says, "I'm glad to be leaving high school drama behind when I go to college."
"Yeah, I wish I could say it goes away," I sigh, standing up from the curb. "I have to go spend the entire night with a boy I fell in love with while nannying his family and pretend that I don't want to be with him romantically when in fact that is just the one thing I want most."
"Remind me to never make my life harder than it needs to be," Nora says to Jett. She smiles knowingly and stands up to go with me to the backyard.
Flynn is the first to arrive as we set up. Mikey is quick behind him, riding in on his bike with a giant platter of cheese and crackers courtesy of his mother. The boys help us get the backyard decorated for a party.
Slowly, more and more of our friends started showing up. Jake came with Carter. Levi, Mo, and Amy showed up together. Martin the pizza guy brought six boxes of pizza and decided to stay. As soon as Elliott's friends from the cliff started showing up, I got nervous.
Yogi might come tonight. As far as Elliott's concerned, we get along just fine. I still haven't told him about the night at Jake's party. I don't know what Elliott might do, nor what Yogi might do in defense. I'm more scared of the latter. I don't want anything to happen to Elliott because of me.
"Hey, Ives, you look nervous," Elliott comments, handing me a drink and sitting on the patio chair next to me. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, yeah," I lie and put on a fake smile. "I'm fine. I just didn't know if Jett and Jonas got into a fist fight over there."
Elliott laughs lightly, his head in the direction of where the two boys are playing bags. "I'd be interested to see Jett's karate skills. He's a junior black belt, yeah?"
I nod and take a sip of my drink. "He'd knock Jonas out in one kick."
"Uh, I don't know about that," Elliott laughs.
"What do you mean? You don't think Jett could take Jonas?"
Elliott shrugs. "I didn't say that."
"But that's what you were implying," I pressure. "You think Jonas would beat Jett in a fight?"
"Honestly, Ivy, yeah. I do."
I drop my jaw. "Are you kidding?"
"No, I'm not. My brother broke that Darren kid's nose. Also, didn't he give dickface a black eye one time? And wasn't he defending your brother?"
"Jett doesn't like to use violence," I defend.
Elliott smirks and sips his drink. "Sure, sure."
"Don't double sure me, Elliott," I snap. "Jett could kick Jonas' ass if he wanted to, and that's a promise."
"Yeah?" He sits up in the chair, leaning over to be closer to me. "Wanna bet?"
I cross my arms over my chest. "What are stakes?"
"If Jett wins, I stay in the friendzone a few more years, maybe five. If Jonas wins, you have to claim me as your boyfriend."
I roll my eyes. "I have to claim you as my boyfriend?"
"Yep." He rubs his hands together. "That includes kissing and everything."
I purse my lips together and think for a moment. "Fine. Only because I know my brother is going to win."
Elliott smiles and gets out of his chair to go get the boys. I stand up to follow him. I turn to pick up my drink, but someone steps in my way, that someone being Yogi.
I huff. "What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't miss your big party!" he says loudly, though to him he's probably whispering.
"Just leave me alone, okay?" I sigh, running a hand through my hair. "I don't want to cause a scene or anything."
He smiles. "Okay."
I move around him to get to where Elliott is talking to the boys. Both Jett and Jonas look annoyed.
"I'm not fighting him, Elliott," Jonas says when I arrive next to his brother.
"Yeah, it's stupid," Jett agrees. "I'm not going to hurt Jonas for a bet."
"Well, who said you'd be able to hurt me?" Jonas asks, placing a hand on his hip.
Jett shrugs. "I mean, no offense, man, but I'm a black belt."
"Junior black belt," Jonas corrects. "I've broken a kid's nose before."
"I've stabbed a guy," Jett says way too proudly.
Jonas nods, crossing his arms over his chest and staring down his best friend. "Fine. Let's fight."
"I'm not fighting you, Jonas!"
"Why? Are you scared you'll lose?" Jonas challenges.
Elliott looks at me with an excited smile. I shake my head, although I am curious to see who would come out victorious in this fight.
"No, I'm not," Jett says. "I don't want to fight you."
Jonas makes the first move, pushing Jett in the chest. "Come on! Fight me!"
Jett shakes his head. "You don't want to do this, man."
Jonas pushes him again. "Come on!"
"Dammit," Jett mutters before grabbing Jonas' hand that was on its way for another shove and twisting it behind his back.
Honestly, the next few fighting moments are all a blur. Jett kicks Jonas in the head. Jonas tackles Jett to the ground. They roll around throwing punches for a minute or so. They're back on their feet. Jett goes for another kick, but Jonas ducks it this time. It's an exciting fight. I cheer for both sides, unable to stay loyal to my brother.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Flynn asks as he comes running to the rescue.
Elliott grabs him by the shirt and stops him from interfering. "Just let it happen."
"They're killing each other," Flynn says worriedly. "Aren't you two concerned?"
Elliott places his pointer finger over his lips to silence Flynn. Confused, Flynn stands back to watch the fight. He ends up getting really into it as well, oo-ing and aw-ing at the different moves.
"I taught him that one," Elliott says proudly when Jonas punches Jett in the stomach.
Jett falls to the ground, and Jonas is quick to tackle him. Jonas brings his fist up, preparing to throw a punch directly in Jett's face.
"Finish him!" Flynn screams like some fan at a wrestling match.
Jonas hesitates too long, and Jett is able to reverse the positions and have the upper hand. He covers Jonas' face with his hand and holds it there. Jonas struggles to get out of the grip.
"I quit," Jonas says through a muffled voice. "You win."
Jett jumps off his friend and lifts his hands up in the air victoriously. Flynn runs over and spins him around. Jonas gets up from the grass, pushes past Elliott, and runs inside the burnt grilled cheese house.
I turn to Elliott, feeling oddly disappointed about the outcome of the fight. "So, looks like it's another five years in the friendzone for you."
He nods. "Yeah, looks like it." He chews on his lip before looking up at me. "Did Jonas hesitate?"
"What?"
"Was it just me, or did Jonas hesitate right before punching Jett in the face?" he asks.
"Maybe," I say with a shrug. "He just might not be cutout for the dog eat dog world, Li."
Elliott shakes his head. "No, Ivy, that's not it. If it were me, and that was Flynn, I'd punch him repeatedly in the face."
"Gee, thanks," Flynn says, standing next to his friend.
"What's your point, Elliott?" I ask.
"I just..." He stops when Jett approaches our group. "Good fight, buddy."
"Thanks. I'm going inside to put some ice on my entire body," Jett announces. "Jonas is there, right?"
"Yeah, man," Elliott says and pats Jett lightly on the back. He waits for my brother to be far enough away before saying, "I think my brother is in love with Jett."
"Elliott," I sigh.
"I'm serious," he argues. "Didn't you see the way he looked at Jett when he had his fist raised?" He sighs. "You don't look at your best friend like that."
Flynn clicks his tongue. "This seems like a you two type of problem. I'm going to go dance with my girlfriend," he says, quickly leaving us alone to join Nora by the stereo.
"Well, Elliott," I pause, "what do you want to do?"
"I want my brother to know that it's okay if he likes Jett," Elliott says.
"You don't think he knows that already?" I ask.
Elliott lifts his hands to his sides. "Hell, I don't know, Ivy. Why else wouldn't my brother tell me that he's gay?"
"Maybe he's confused," I try. "I don't know, Liott. Maybe you want him to come to you first."
"Yeah, maybe," Elliott sighs and rubs his forehead. "You're probably right."
I nod. "I usually am."
He smiles, his eyes meeting mine. "Another five years? Just kill me now. It'll be less painful."
I laugh. "I'm sorry, but-"
"Ivy, can you believe the nerve of that man?" Carter asks, stomping right next to me. "Did you see that Yogag is here?"
Elliott raises an eyebrow. "Yogag?"
"Why would you invite him, Elliott?" Carter asks. "If someone did that to Jake, I'd make sure the bitch never saw the sun again."
"Did what?" Elliott questions, asking me instead of Carter.
Carter forms her mouth into an 'o' shape when she realizes I haven't told Elliott yet. "Oh. You know, I hate when people steal the last wine cooler from my boyfriend." She places her hand on my shoulder. "Great party by the way." She mouths, "sorry."
"Yeah, thanks for coming, Carter," I say.
"Yogi stole the last wine cooler? And you didn't think to tell me? I'll beat his ass," Elliott says jokingly, though an underlying tone proves his last words to be true.
"Honestly, nothing happened," I say. "Carter is just making a bigger deal out of nothing. You know how she is."
"No, I don't know how she is." He scratches the slight after shave left on his face. "But maybe something more happened to make you and Carter instant friends? Something that Yogi did?"
"Li," I start.
"Ivy, did he do something to you?" Elliott asks, his voice stern.
I shake my head, but can't bring myself to actually say the lie.
"Did he do something to you?" he asks, holding both sides of my face so I can't look away. "Yes or no?"
I close my eyes. "Yes."
"Shit." Elliott drops his hands from my face. I grab his arm, tugging on him to stay close.
"Please, don't do anything," I beg, trying to keep him from leaving my side. "Carter already beat him up. She kicked him in the butt; it was great. He wouldn't put his hands on her, but who knows what he could do to you."
"I'm not going to just...God!" He shakes his head. "What did he do?" He holds his hand up. "Don't answer that. It doesn't matter. I'm killing him either way."
I grab him by his shirt to keep him from storming off. "Elliott, stop. Yogi gets some type of twisted satisfaction from you being pissed off. That's probably why he did it in the first place. Let's not give him any reason to be satisfied, okay?"
"How can you expect me to just do nothing?" he asks exasperatedly.
"I don't expect you to just do nothing. I'm asking you not to do anything," I say, rubbing his jawline with the palm of my hand.
He nods, his head held in my hand. I drop my hand and take his in mine.
"You have me so whipped, and I'm not even your damn boyfriend for another five years from now!"
I laugh and pull him over to where a few other of our friends are dancing. "May I have this dance, my boyfriend-to-be?"
He smiles genuinely and pulls me close against his chest. I shut my eyes as we rock back-and-forth to The Wind by Cat Stevens. He spins me around and pulls me into a dip. I laugh, tipping my head back until he lifts me back into his chest. The song finishes and a more upbeat song comes on.
The twins join us on the dance floor, a little spot under their weeping willow tree. Elliott dances with Rose in his arms. I dance with Crystal, spinning her around and dipping her back. The twins switch to dance with each other. Elliott starts doing some dance moves, and I have to step back to admire how he still manages to look so hot while acting so damn weird.
"Ivy, why the hell is my little brother inside with a bag of frozen peas on his groin?" Nora asks, ripping me away from the dance floor.
I raise my eyebrows and pretend to look as shocked as possible. "That is brand new information."
"Ivy!" she presses warningly.
"What?" I sigh. "He had a little rift with Jonas. It wasn't a big deal."
"Yeah, we supervised the whole thing," Elliott jumps in.
Nora looks at me with incredulous, widened eyes.
"Not helping, babe," I say, patting his stomach. "Listen, Nor, it was just boys being boys. They're still friends."
"Then why was Jett icing his balls all alone?"
"That's something a man likes to do by himself," Elliott says, a grin on his face.
Nora rolls her eyes. "He seemed really upset. He wouldn't talk to me. He said, 'ask Ivy.' So I'm asking why my brother got in a fight with his best friend. Was it over Noel?"
I bite my lip, feeling guilty about pitting the two against each other. "We sort of made a bet about which of our brothers would win in a fight."
Nora raises her eyebrows and chews on the side of her cheek. "Well, I hope you quickly learned Jett would win that easily."
"Actually," Elliott starts, but I cut him off.
"Of course he won," I say proudly.
Nora nods. "Duh." She crosses her arms over her chest. "Where's Jonas?"
"I haven't seen him since the fight," Elliott admits. "Have you?"
"Yeah, I asked you where he was just to challenge you for some fun," Nora sasses. "No, I haven't seen him, genius."
Elliott raises his hands up in defense. "Okay, sorry, Sassy McSasster."
"Aren't you a bit worried about where he might be?" Nora asks.
"He's fourteen. He didn't get that far." Elliott looks at me. "He didn't get that far, right, Ivy?"
I shrug. "I don't know. He's a crafty fourteen-year-old boy."
Elliott nods. "You're right." He pulls out his phone. "I think I can check on Find My Friends or whatever, yeah?" He scrolls through the app with a confused look on his face. His face relaxes when he finds Jonas. "I know where he is."
"Is he far?" I ask, peering over his shoulder to see his screen.
"He went to the cliff."
~~
AN:
JoNaSS
we'll finally get the low down on Jonas and Jett and Noel FINALE yeet
who do you think would win in these fist fights:
1) Elliott vs Yogi
2) Ivy vs her mom
3) Martin vs Dominos Employee
I'm so close to 3 million WHAT EVEN I'm not okay
I love you guys oh so much!! thank you for supporting this story and understanding that I can't always update as quickly as you'd appreciate! endless thanks & love
alsoooo I nominated this story to the Wattys which is exciting! it's my first Wattys ever so I'm super duper pumped to say the least. wish me luck!!
I think I'll also submit In Plain Sight when I meet the requirements for that! speaking of that crazy story, make sure to read it because it is not only a mystery, but a romance and a comedy!!!! yeah that's right I said it. it's sick. and I'd be super happy if you read it.
well that's all I gotta say today ily peace out keep it cool stay out of trouble
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