Chapter Twenty-Two

~~I just want to take a moment to point out that not only has MMB made it to 30K reads and nearly 2k votes, my other book Made In The Mafia (yes, shameless self promo) is at 69k reads. Hehe, I'm so immature...

So anywho, the winner of the challenge last chapter is, drumroll please, Yougotnoswaegg congratulations, you're awesome because you have read more than one of my books ^.^ thank you. Now go forth and read, vote, comment, etc. And thank you all so much for reading and the winner for well winning, and participating. Thank you again, enjoy. ♥~~

{Chapter Twenty-Two}

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" I ask worriedly. Ian nods, his eyes closed while I continue to stroke his hair. I have to go talk to Lydia who called me a minute ago in near tears, mumbling something about being at the park and her parents. I obviously need to make sure everything is okay but I don't want to leave Ian after what happened a little over an hour ago.

"Go, I'll be okay." He assures in a tired voice and I nod slowly though he can't see it.

"I'll be back." I state, stooping down to kiss him on the forehead. He nods slightly so I grab my keys off the nightstand and leave his room, keeping his door open. I make my way through the house, passing the living room where Owen and Haiden are talking. They seem to stop when I pass but I wave it off until Haiden calls my name.

I bite my lip, reluctantly moving back to the living room. I enter and notice the two have a movie muted on the TV, not seeming to care about it.

"Uhm, hi." I mumble, averting my eyes from Haiden.

"Why don't you have a seat?" Haiden offers and when my eyes return to the two I realize they don't actually look angry. Then again, I might just be reading them wrong. Hopefully I'm not.

"I actually have someone to meet." I reply and Owen arcs a brow.

"The other guy?" he asks. I cough, dropping my gaze and shifting uncomfortably when I realize Ian obviously told them, of course he did, he's obviously close with his dads.

"Owen," Haiden warns and elbows Owen in the side. I shake my head though, scratching the back of my neck.

"No, actually. It's my friend, she needs to talk to me." I reply, shifting uncomfortably.

"We will make this quick, then." Haiden assures. I wait a minute for him to continue and look up when Haiden doesn't start.

"Look Levy, you're an idiot." Owen drawls and Haiden elbows him in the side again so he clears his throat. "But you help Ian. You made him happier than I, well we, have seen him in quite a while. Then you two broke up, and Ian got bad again. He would hardly eat unless we made him, he was constantly blaring heavy metal and would barely talk to us.

"He was reverting back to the person he was after his ex took advantage of him. Look, my point is Ian needs you. He's a better person when he's around you, you make him happy, more like his old self. If you don't want to have a part in his life anymore, and you're just here because you feel guilty for him, then get the hell out of my house. But if you really care for him, then feel free to come over anytime you want. We would be glad to have you over." Owen finishes and I stare between the two in confusion. I open my mouth to speak but Owen cuts me a stern glare before continuing.

"And as long as Ian is happy, we don't care what kind of arrangement you have with him and the other guy. We want him to be happy, and you make him happy." Owen says, obviously a bit begrudgingly. I open my mouth to thank them, or something, but I can't seem to speak. I don't even know what to say, a simple thank you hardly seems fitting.

"I uh, thank you." I mumble and the two nod.

"Now you should go ahead and attend to your friend." Haiden states, obviously dismissing me without it seeming rude. I nod and leave the living room. I walk through the hall, out the front door, and to my car where I numbly drive to the park Lydia loves. I just can't believe everything seems to be working itself out, or starting to work itself out. Ian is talking to me, his dads don't want to kill me, and things are great with Jer.

I park in an empty spot, realizing since it is a weekend that there's a party going on. I get out and lock my car before looking around. I don't see Lydia so I slowly make my way across the large expanse of green grass, looking around for her. I nearly walk right past her because rather than having her hair dyed some bright, unnatural color, it's her natural dark, almost chocolate brown that she insists looks like shit.

I take a seat next to her on the green wooden bench and put my arm around her shoulders. She doesn't say anything in greeting and instead leans into my arms.

"What happened?" I ask after a while.

"Victoria and I were kissing and my mom walked in, freaked out then and my mom got mad at me. She told me she's sending me to some church camp for summer to "fix" me." She explains, sniffling as she does.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry. We'll figure this out." I assure, trying to think of something so she doesn't have to go.

"Thanks, Lev." She mumbles. I nod and rub her shoulders soothingly while she starts to cry into my chest. I don't comment though, I just continue to soothe her as best as I can.

"Do you want to stay the night? We can play games, watch movies and binge eat ice cream." I offer. She pulls away and nods, wiping her nose and eyes.

"That would be nice." She replies with a sniffle.

"Okay, come on." I urge, standing up and offering her my hand. She takes it and I lead her across the green grass, dodging some little kids playing tag, to my car. I open the passenger's door for her to get in, closing it before I get in the driver's seat and start the car. I carefully back out of the parking space and head towards my house.

I park next to Dad's car and get out of the car with Lydia, leading her across my yard to the door. I open the door, letting us in and go inside.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home and Lydia's going to stay the night." I call out, assuming they're in the house somewhere. I lead Lydia up the stairs, into my room after getting some ice cream and soda. Lydia lies down on the bed with the snacks while I move to my stack of DVDs, along with a few tapes I couldn't part with.

"What do you want to watch?" I ask, looking over all the titles on the cases.

"I want to watch 101 Dalmatians." She replies as she opens the cookie dough ice cream. I nod and carefully remove the tape from the stack before I slide it in my VCR. I turn on my TV, turn off the lights, and join Lydia on the bed.

I quickly text Ian, telling him I won't be back tonight, hoping he'll be okay. But then I realize this is Ian, he's stronger than his dads, and even I, think he is. He'll be okay. So I turn my phone to silent and enjoy my time with Lydia while we both ignore our problems for the time being.

The rest of the night we eat pizza my parents ordered for us, ice cream and drink a ton of soda while we watch a ton of movies. We laugh and joke around, avoiding the subject of how Lydia is going to avoid the camp until we fall asleep during The Long, Long Trailer.

~ ~ ~

I wake up to the sound of sirens. I open my eyes as I let out a groan, realizing at some point in the night Lydia had stolen all the blankets, kicked them off the bed, and used me as her personal heater. I sigh, glancing down at Lydia whose head is resting on my chest while her arms hug me in a crushing grip. I won't be surprised if I end up with bruises from her tight grasp around my torso.

"Lydia," I call, pulling one of my arms out of her crushing embrace to shake her a bit.

"Leave me alone if you want to live." She growls. I laugh but stop with a huff when she removes one of her arms from around my chest to punch me in the side.

"Ow, okay, jeez. Just let go, I have to pee." I mumble, pushing her away from me when I realize she fell back to sleep. I roll my eyes and manage to get out of bed without her killing me so I go into my bathroom to relieve my bladder. I flush, wash my hands and run a hand through my hair before going back into my room where Lydia is still snoring. Only now she's sprawled out on my bed, drooling on my pillow.

I shake my head and check my phone to make sure no one messaged me. I don't have any new messages so I toss it back on the dresser and leave my room. I go down the stairs into the kitchen where Mom's making scrambled eggs with bacon and toast.

"Smells good." I note, moving to the coffee pot full of fresh coffee. I pour some into a black mug and go to the fridge to pour some milk in, making the black liquid turn into a hazy toffee color. I take a seat at the small black wood table, sipping my coffee while Mom makes me a plate. She sets the plate of breakfast in front of me with a fork.

"Where is Lydia?" she asks, making another plate for herself. I assume Dad left already to go to work so I assume the plate is for Lydia, or herself.

"Lydia is right here." Lydia states, moving across the kitchen like a zombie to open the fridge. She pours herself a glass of orange juice as she claims it tastes better than coffee and wakes her up faster.

"Oh good, just in time. Here you go, hon." Mom sets the next plate full of eggs, bacon and toast in front of Lydia who nods her appreciation.

"Thank you. Sheryl." Lydia says but doesn't start eating, obviously with great difficulty on her part. I realize she's probably waiting for Mom so we can say grace, ever the polite little being. Whilst I on the other hand don't bother to wait because honestly I doubt God would care if I eat before thanking Him, obviously he knows how hungry I am and the last thing I want to do is wait any longer to eat.

Lydia rolls her eyes at me and I shrug. Mom doesn't seem bothered by my impatience, and instead sits down with her own plate before she bows her head with Lydia to say grace. They both finish with the prayer and say a collective "amen" then start eating. It's quiet for a while save for the clinking of the silver spoons on the brown ceramic plates until Mom breaks the silence.

"So Lydia, how is your Mom? I haven't spoken with her in quite a while." Mom adds thoughtfully, taking a drink from her glass of water.

"Oh she's," she stops and I can tell she's holding back an insult directed to her mom. I know Lydia loves her mom, but she crossed a line by threatening to send Lydia to a Jesus camp to fix something that isn't even a problem. "Fine." Lydia replies, taking a large drink from her orange juice.

"Oh good, I'll have to talk to her later today after church." Mom says. Then it's silent again until we finish eating. The two of us put our plates in the sink before moving up to my room, thanking Mom on the way.

"So what are we going to do?" I ask, looking around my room, once clean but now cluttered with DVD cases, empty cans of soda, and an empty tub of cookie dough ice cream.

"Clean your room?" she offers. I roll my eyes but nod, moving to pick up all the empty cans and tub of ice cream while Lydia stacks the DVDs in their perspective places. I go to the kitchen to throw everything away and go back to my room where she's making my bed. She sits down on it before looking around.

"Your phone buzzed, and I hope you don't mind but I'm going to go talk to Victoria. She was kind of freaked out yesterday, she didn't want to leave but, well, my mom." She says and I nod, not bothering to ask what about her mom because that's enough explanation. I check my phone, smiling slightly at the good morning message from Jer.

"Yeah, I don't mind. I actually have to talk to someone anyway." I reply, leaving out who I plan to talk to.

"Okay, well I'll talk to you later. Thanks for being here with me, Lev." She stands and pulls me into a tight hug.

"You don't have to thank me, Lyd. That's what friends are for." I reply. She pulls away and gathers her things before leaving my room. I sigh and flop down on my bed, texting Ian to tell him I'm coming over in a few minutes. I get changed, fix my hair, and gather my things before I leave the room, hoping Ian is feeling better today.