I woke up that morning to my phone ringing. I groaned and turned over, picking up the small device and pressing answer.

"Yes?" I answered groggily.

"Vanessa! Wake up, I wanna take you out to breakfast!" Liz said cheerfully.

"Alright, fine." I groaned, hanging up. I wasn't a morning person.

So, more time has passed. Jared officially has not spoken to me in a week. It bothered me everyday. Jensen and Liz tried fixing things but Jared wouldn't budge. I still couldn't believe how he was acting towards the situation. On a brighter side, Liz and Jensen were doing great and I was extremely happy for them.

I got out of bed reluctantly and took a shower, getting ready for breakfast with Liz. {{ you_might_hate_my_words/set?id=91078466}} When I walked downstairs, she was already waiting on the couch.

"Why aren't you at work?" I asked her.

"They let me off early this morning," She replied.

I nodded my head in understanding. Then we got in the car and she drove off to a restaurant about a half hour away that we had been wanting to go to for a while. Once we got there, we sat at a booth and a waiter took our order.

"So how are you and Joe?" Liz asked.

"We're not necessarily an item, but we still talk and hang out a lot." I shrugged. "How are you and Jen?"

"Amazing," She smiled.

"You know, Jared isn't the same lately." She added on.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Ever since you guys got in that huge fight, he acts totally different. He seems out of it, like he's sad about something and just wants to push everyone away." Liz said, frowning.

I bit my lip, thinking deeply about this. I was torn between weather Jared actually even cared about me or not. We've just been through so much together.

"Liz, I just don't know why he's doing what he's doing."

"Maybe he's repressing his feelings for you," She offered.

"Lets think realistically here." I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, Ness! You guys are totally meant to be!"

"Sure, my feelings for Jared may never go away but I'm willing to be just friends, even if it hurts. But we're not even friends right now." I sighed as I looked down, playing with my necklace.

"Vanessa, I hate seeing you like this. Look, one day you and Jared will be together again. I can almost promise you that." Liz told me.

I shrugged, glad the waiter interrupted our conversation by bringing our breakfast. We ate, then left a tip and left. Once we got back to the house, we decided to just chill out.

"Vanessa, we should get a pool built in. We have the room." Liz said, looking out at our backyard.

"You're right!" I said excitedly.

We got on my computer and instantly started looking online. We already had a deck, so we were gonna see if we could get it extended and stairs built so it could connect to an above ground pool. We checked for people who would do it cheap.

About an hour later, we found a decently priced above ground pool that we liked. It was huge! But, we decided that we would look for construction workers later. Then, Liz's phone rang.

"Hello? Yeah, okay! Bye!" She sounded happy.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Jensen, he wants me to come over and watch this movie he rented. He said you can come, too!" She smiled.

"Nah, I think I'll sit here for now. Maybe I'll go over there later." I shrugged.

"Are you sure?" Liz asked with concern.

I nodded and smiled reassuringly. After she left, I started planning out what I was going to do for work tomorrow with the kids. Before I knew it, it was already dark outside. Suddenly, I got a text message. It was from Joe, he told me to meet him at this park downtown and not to ask why. I laughed slightly as I got in my car and drove there.

I walked around aimlessly, I didn't see him. Someone jumped out and yelled 'Boo!' I yelped and spun around, ready to punch someone. I only saw Joe laughing hysterically.

"That wasn't funny!" I pouted.

"It was hilarious." He continued to laugh.

I rolled my eyes playfully, then asked him why I had to come here. He went behind the tree and pulled out a picnic basket. I was in awe, that was so cute.

"I hope you didn't eat dinner already," Joe said, laying down a blue blanket.

We sat down and he pulled out chicken sandwiches he had made, they were actually really good! And he even brought two pieces of his mom's homemade pecan pie, which was amazing!

"Joe, I can't even describe how sweet and amazing this was" I smiled at him.

"You haven't even heard the good news! I talked to Steve, and he wants to come over this Saturday at noon so you can cook for him! He said they need more people in the kitchen." Joe smiled.

"Are you serious?! Thank you so so so much!" I jumped up, hugging him.

Once I pulled away from hugging him, Joe looked down and kissed me quickly. I didn't expect it, but I kissed back. He pulled away and smiled at me again before we cleaned up the picnic. We sat around and talked for a bit, but didn't talk about the kiss. We just talked normally as if it didn't happen, it wasn't even awkward. Then Jensen called me.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, come over!" He told me.

"Alright, I'm with Joe right now but I'll be on my way." I said and hung up.

I turned to Joe.

"I'm supposed to go hang out with Jensen and Liz," I told him.

"What about Jared?"

"He and I aren't on speaking terms at the moment." I said, sighing.

"Awe, thats too bad. Well, I guess I'll see you later. I had fun." He smiled at the end.

"So did I, definitely! Your mom's pie was amazing and how you surprised me was so sweet, and I don't know how to repay you for the restaurant thing." I said, almost feeling guilty.

"It's okay, just think of it as a favor." Joe shrugged.

I smiled big, he was so nice. I gave him a hug, and he kissed me again briefly before I left. I really didn't know what to think about that, but I shrugged it off, not wanting to over think. I drove to Jensen's, and walked inside.

"Hey guys!" I smiled.

I was really happy from the Joe thing, I don't know why. I just was, I loved surprises and small, cute things like that. I wouldn't necessarily say Joe and I are going out though. I looked up and noticed Jensen and Liz were sitting on the couch, staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Why are you so happy?" Liz asked.

I told them about the Joe thing as I sat on a recliner, Liz 'aww!'d and thought it was , Jared walked in. I immediately stopped talking and sat back in the recliner, trying to turn away from the door.

"Hey," Jared greeted.

I bit my bottom lip, now feeling uncomfortable.

"Ness, can I talk to you?" Jared asked after a long silence.

It actually shocked me. I nodded slowly and stood up as we went out on Jensen's porch.

"Look, I can't go without talking to you. I'm sorry about what I said to Erin, I was just trying to get her off my back and it just kind of came out. You do mean a lot to me and I meant everything I said," Jared apologized.

There was another silence. I didn't know what to say.

"I forgive you," I finally found my voice.

"Are you sure?" He asked sheepishly.

"Of course. You're my best friend," I grinned.

Jared smiled and picked me up, spinning me around and hugging me tight.

"Good, because I missed you!"

"I missed you too," I said, laughing as he put me down.

I thought I would be more upset, but I was happy about everything Joe did for me. We spent the rest of the night talking and filling each other in on what's gone on in the past week. Although it was only a week, it felt so much longer. It was nice having Jared back in my life.