Chapter 10:

"Aubrey!" Jesse exclaimed, wrapping her in a bear hug. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?" he asked, picking her up and spinning her in circles.

"I missed you Jesse. I took the first flight here today. Beca gave me your address."

Jesse set her down and cupped her face. He crashed his lips against hers as they stood in the rain.

"So…you…flew…all…the way…here?" he asked between kissing her.

"Mhmm."

"I love you."

"I love you Jesse."

"Come on. You're soaking wet." He said, pulling her and her suitcase into the house.

"Jesse, who is it?" someone yelled.

"Come here Jordan." He yelled back.

A second later, a teenage girl appeared at the top of the stairs. "Whoa. Jesse what is going on?" she asked.

"She missed me." He said like a dork, wrapping his arm around Aubrey's waist.

"It's true." Aubrey confessed. She leaned up and kissed Jesse's cheek.

"Come on. You need dry clothes." He told her, pulling her to his bedroom which was downstairs. Jesse got her a towel and wrapped it around her. "I can't believe you're here. What about you dad?"

"I'm with Chloe." She said with a wink.

"Gotcha."

Jesse walked over to his drawers and pulled out clothes.

"Uh Jess? You do realize I have clothes with me, right?"

"Yeah, I know. But you look so damn adorable when you wear mine." He said, throwing her the clothes.

Aubrey sighed with a laugh and walked into his bathroom. She came out a few minutes later in his t-shirt and sweatpants that were rolled up so the sort of fit her. Jesse threw on a hoodie since his shirt got a little wet.

"See! Adorable!" he told her, grabbing her waist and pulling her into a kiss. Aubrey grinned and shoved her hands into his hoodie pocket. She stood on the balls of her feet so she could reach his lips. "I've missed doing that." He whispered. Jesse wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Aubrey leaned her head on his chest.

"I have too." She told him.

Jesse kissed the top of her head. "I love you Aubrey."

"I love you so much Jesse."

They finally unfolded from each other.

"So…this is your room." She said, taking notice of all the movie and band posters as well as his giant collection of cds and vinyl's and many shelves of movies. "Yep. It's definitely yours." She joked.

"Hey, hey. I'm sure yours depicts you just as much."

"You're right. It does." She confessed.

"Come on. I'll properly introduce you now." He said, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the room. They wound up in the kitchen area. "Mark come here." he said to the boy who was sitting on the couch in the living room watching a video.

"What?" he whined.

"Say hello to Aubrey."

Mark spun around on heels and faced them. "Well hello, there."

"Okay, I said say hello, not hit on her." Jesse warned.

"Ah relax Jesse. I'm just messing with you." He stuck his hand out towards Aubrey which she shook. "It's good to finally meet you. Jesse won't stop talking about you. Maybe he'll finally shut up."

"Okay. Go back to your movie." Jesse interrupted.

"So you talked about me a lot?" Aubrey teased.

"More than a lot. I feel like I already know you." Jordan responded, making her way to the refrigerator. "Nice to meet personally, Aubrey."

"You too, Jordan."

"Now there's another girl in the house when mom's at work."

"For a couple days at least." Aubrey told her.

"Jordan, you need to eat something. Don't just drink water." Jesse told her.

Jordan sighed and pulled out a package of applesauce. "Fine." She ran back upstairs to her room.

"Someone is very paternal." Aubrey looked at him carefully.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you later." He said quietly.

Aubrey nodded when he said this.

"My folks should be home shortly. They will be thrilled to meet you."

"Okay! Oh wait. Speaking of parents. My mother says hi."

"Your mom? She knows about us?"

"Yeah, she sort of figured it out."

"But your dad still doesn't know…"

"No. I couldn't bring myself to tell him. I'm sorry Jesse."

"It's okay, Bree." He said, wrapping his arms around her. "It'll take some time. We've got all the time in the world."

"Kids I'm home!" they heard from the front of the house.

"Come on, I'll introduce you." He said. Aubrey walked behind him, so she wasn't exactly visible just yet. "Hey, mom. I want you to meet someone."

"Um. Okay then?" she said, setting her bag down.

Jesse turned around and wrapped his arm around Aubrey's waist and gently nudged her forward. "She won't bite." He whispered.

His mother gasped when she saw Aubrey standing there. A huge smile appeared on her face. "You must be Aubrey." She said excitedly. She stepped forward and wrapped Aubrey in a hug.

"It's so nice to meet you." Aubrey told her.

"If I may ask, what are you doing here? I mean you're welcome here anytime."

"No, I understand." Aubrey told her, walking backing up to Jesse now. "I, um…, I actually really missed him." She said, placing her hand on his chest.

"I'm irresistible." Jesse teased.

"Oh, I'm sure you are." His mother told him. "Well, our house is your house Aubrey. I hope you enjoy your stay."

"Thank you. I will."

"I'll start making dinner. Has Jordan eaten anything today?"

"I made her eat applesauce. I think she had yogurt for breakfast."

"Okay. Thank you."

Jesse nodded and dragged Aubrey back to his room. They fell down on his bed and laid there.

"Curious yet?" he asked.

"A little, but you don't have to tell me. It's personal."

"No Aubrey. We tell each other everything. Jordan is in recovery. She suffers from anorexia. It got to the point where she was in the hospital. They put her in a rehab facility for a year. She's only been out for a few months. We have to make sure she doesn't slip back into it."

"Oh. I'm so sorry, Jess."

"It's okay. But I need to tell you this. She might get snippy with you at dinner."

"Really? Why?"

"Meals are hard for her. She is a nice person, but it's difficult when food is involved. She just gets upset, so if she says anything, don't take it personal. She will come and apologize if she does."

Aubrey grew quiet. She can't imagine what their family went through. That must have been difficult for all of them. "Okay, Jesse."

Aubrey got up and opened her suitcase and pulled out new clothes. She went into the bathroom and came out a couple minutes later in jeans and a plaid shirt. "As much as I love you and your clothes, I figured I should look somewhat decent at dinner."

"Understandable."

The two walked out to the kitchen and saw that dinner was almost finished. They help set the table and moved the food over to the table.

"Jordan, Mark, dinner is ready!" his mother called. Footsteps were heard coming down the stairs as she came down for dinner.

They all sat down at the table, Aubrey between Jesse and Jordan, Mark on the other side of Jesse, and his mom between the two younger siblings. The five of them passed around the food and began to eat. Aubrey noticed that Jordan was taking long bites, like it was killing her to eat. Which it probably was to her. Jordan didn't say anything the whole time. Jesse talked a lot about what was happening and he brought up Aubrey a few times. She tried not to blush when he said her name, but she couldn't help it.

After dinner, Aubrey and Jesse did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. "Thank you for helping, Aubrey."

"Oh it's fine. I actually don't mind cleaning. It's weird."

"Well let's go before my mom hears and puts you to work." He joked. They went back to his room, which she learned was the only bedroom on the first floor.

They sat down on the floor against the foot of his bed. Aubrey threw her legs over Jesse's and rested her head on his shoulder. Jesse wrapped his arms around her tiny figure and rested his head on top of hers. "I still can't believe you're actually here."

"Well believe it, mister." She teased.

"How long are you here for?"

"How long do you want me to be here?"

"Forever."

"Well, I hate to object, but we have to go back to school." She joked.

"Oh, you know what I mean. I don't want you to leave."

"Then I'm not going anywhere." She told him. She got up from the ground.

"I thought you said you weren't going anywhere?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"I'm not. But I am going to put on comfortable clothes." She said as she walked to her suitcase and then to the bathroom. She came out in her pajama shorts and a tank top.

"Oh. You're going to torture me?" Jesse asked jokingly.

"Get used to it, Swanson." She said, leaning up and kissing him lightly.

"Pure torture." He said, kissing her back. "You want to watch a movie?"

"Sure. What, out of your thousands of movies, would you like to watch?" she teased.

Jesse walked over to his shelves of movies and picked one out. "House At The End of The Street. You will be surprised. Come on. Let's go make popcorn." He said, he walked over to Aubrey and turned around and bent down slightly.

"Oh! Piggy-back rides. I feel special!" she teased, jumping onto his back. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms loosely around his neck. He wrapped his arms under her legs to keep her from sliding. He ran out to the kitchen with her on his back and set her down on the counter. He went to the pantry and pulled out a thing of popcorn and put it in the microwave.

"We still have our movie nights." He said told her as he made his way back to her while they waited for the popcorn. He put his hands on her waist and leaned in and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck as the continued to lock lips.

They were interrupted by the beeping of the microwave. "Damn." Jesse mumbled under his breath. Aubrey giggled and hopped off the counter as Jesse got the popcorn.

"Come on, bree." Jesse grabbed her hand and walked to his room. They laid down on his bed and started the movie.

Parts of the movie scared Aubrey, so she buried her head into Jesse's side. Jesse wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. Aubrey managed to watch the ending of the movie. "Wait! What? Wha- How? Oh my God! What?"

"Told you, you'd be surprised." He smirked.

"That was um…okay, wow!"

"I'm glad you liked it…I think?"

Aubrey smiled and crawled under the covers next to Jesse. She turned over and faced him. Aubrey wrapped her arm around his waist and scooted closer to him. Jesse placed his arm on top of hers and kissed her forehead.

"I'm so glad you're here, Aubrey." He whispered in her ear.

"I'm so glad you're mine." She told him. Aubrey gently kissed his soft lips. "Goodnight Jesse."

"Goodnight, sweetie." He told her.

Aubrey's eyes fluttered closed as she slowly fell asleep in his arms. Jesse watched as she fell asleep in his bed. He held Aubrey close to him and felt his stomach get butterflies. He gently leaned forward and kissed her forehead. He leaned back and shut his eyes, bringing memories to mind of him and Aubrey.