HI! So happy to be back! Not much to say about my absence since I've said it all already. Thank you thank you thank you for all the kind words and for being so understanding. Now let's get this party re-started.

So Cindy's dad is going to be played, or at least in my head, by Jon Hamm. It took me about a second to think of him and then a few more seconds to realize that he's perfect. Since I can't recall ever seeing him on the show, I've decided to name him Richard. It's sort of an inside joke, although if you're familiar with his recent work outside of Mad Men, you'll probably get it.

Alright, enough of me. Enjoy!

Cindy's POV

"This looks delicious, Mrs. Vortex." Liam commented about my mother's vegetarian meat loaf.

"Thank you Liam." My mother replied passively, as if she's told that every day.

We had finally made it to dinnertime and my nerves were at an all time high. It wasn't so much for my parents meeting Liam. I had no worries that they wouldn't find him as amazing as I do. I was more concerned for Liam meeting my parents, who, and I am completely aware of this, aren't exactly the most easy-going, and some would even say, nicest people around.

But as nervous as I was about it, everything seemed to be going completely okay. Liam was successfully charming the pants off both of them and probably not even noticing it. And I had yet to feel a trace of embarrassment at anything either mom or dad said.

I didn't really end up speaking much, and was content with just letting the three of them get acquainted. It wasn't until Liam mentioned meeting my friends earlier today that I was brought back into the conversation by my dad.

"I've been meaning to ask you, Cindy: whatever happened to you and the Neutron boy? You don't see each other as often as you used to."

Oh my God.

"Nothing happened, dad." At least nothing that I'm crazy enough to share. "We're still friends and all."

"Still? I wasn't aware you ever were." At that statement I realized that a few months ago, I would have said the exact same thing.

"We...are." I answered lamely while picking up a string bean with my fork. It was only then that I noticed how deviating this must have felt for Liam."We would just study and help each other out with homework." I started, feeling like I was now explaining it to three people. "But we just haven't gotten a chance to catch up since school started up again. It's not a big deal though. We're fine." I hope I ended with a sense of finality.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Mom began. "You know, seeing how close each of you are to being valedictorian."

"It's not like we were giving each other tips." At least not about anything school related. "We were just making sure we understand the material so that we don't fall behind or anything." Which wasn't a lie at all really. "Besides, I wouldn't want to beat him simply because he didn't know what he was doing. If he wasn't my equal, then where's the competition in that?" I added that mainly because I knew my mom would like it. The look that she exchanged with my dad right after only confirmed that she did.

As if sensing the awkwardness, since there was no way he could really avoid it, Liam broke the silence.

"I'm sure Cindy will get it." I don't know if it's because what he said was unexpected or we were all surprised to hear him talk about this topic but all three of us turned to look at him "She's crazy smart. Even if Jimmy wasn't helping her, I wouldn't worry about her being top of the class. I mean, she was smart enough to help Jimmy get into Caltech so-."

"Oh, so he did get accepted to Caltech." My mom surprised me by saying. At that, a million thoughts rushed into my head.

Jimmy's become a lot more humble than when he was a kid, which we can all appreciate. So it makes sense that I didn't hear about his acceptance through a far less reliable source than Carl. I assumed he simply wasn't showing off, resulting in a few people knowing as opposed to the whole town. While I still am a little upset that he didn't tell me himself earlier, I don't know how to feel about the fact that my mother knew before me.

"Richard, then he probably got into into MIT as well." And when she made that comment to my dad, that's what really got my attention.

My head snapped to face their direction.

"How do you know that?" I didn't mean for it to sound so angry. Luckily, nobody seemed to hear that in my tone.

"Know what?" Mom replied, as if there was a possibility I was talking about something else.

"About Jimmy getting into Caltech and...MIT." I said that last part like it was a word that I thought I was mispronouncing.

"I ran into his mother at the bank earlier today." She said it like it wasn't even important. "She told me about James's acceptances to those schools, but I suspected she was just stretching the truth. But since it seems to be going around, I suppose she wasn't. Naturally, I told her about Columbia and Brown and let her know we were waiting to hear back from Princeton. You haven't received anything from them have you, Cindy?"

"No mom." Unlike the past twenty times I've said it, there was a twinge of impatience in my response. She didn't seem to notice though, which made what I said easier. "Do- do you know if he's made up his mind about where he's going?"

"I haven't a clue Cynthia." She started calmly although I knew she wanted to know why I was so curious. "If you two are so friendly, why don't you ask him?"

I'll be sure to do just that.

"So he really is a genius then?" Liam put in. I felt so guilty that I completely forgot he was there. "I mean, those are pretty good schools. Cindy was telling me all about him, and I kept wondering, 'how smart could he actually be?'. But now, well, wow, that's pretty impressive." And he sounded like he sincerely thought it.

"He is, I'll admit." My mom answered. "I can fully understand why his mother is proud. But Liam, just be happy you didn't know him when he was a child or let alone, live in Retroville. You probably wouldn't like him as much as you seem too."

"Why? What happened?" He asked and unknowingly continued the Jimmy conversation.

"He was always causing trouble." My dad spoke again. "It would have been fine if he kept it to himself, but he would constantly put the whole town in danger. It's a miracle we're not all dead. Getting us abducted by aliens, giant robots running through town, one day he even made killer pants and set them loose."

"Those were all accidents." I found myself saying before dad could say another word. "He-he didn't mean for any of that to happen. They were all just...unfortunate consequences."

The silence that followed and the looks I go from the three of them were almost comical.

"Anyway," Dad continued after a moment, "let's hope that wherever he chooses to go to college is far away from here. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if his chaotic knowledge were to be released to its fullest potential."

Thankfully, after that comment from my dad, the unexpected Jimmy portion of our conversation came to an end. He managed to escape the dinner table, but unfortunately, he was unable to escape my thoughts.

It's difficult to say if Jimmy and I would have maintained our friends with benefits arrangement had I not met Liam. Before I left, there was no sign that it wouldn't and even if we didn't stay in touch at all while I was away, I don't think it affected the chances of anything stopping between us. It's certainly not the type of thing you just abruptly ask. Although I know it doesn't really matter, since I'm with Liam now, I can't help but be curious about it.

And even if we had stopped, Liam or no Liam, I like to think that Jimmy and I are mature enough to have been able to have a stable friendship after all. One that I expect would consist of us telling each other things like what colleges we got accepted to. I can understand, not very much, but I can understand why he didn't say anything about MIT. Even today at the Candy Bar, neither Sheen nor Carl let on that they knew anything about that school's acceptance so I can only assume he didn't tell them. But Caltech is very different. It's his top choice, where he wants to go most. He knows I know that, and he's known for a while that he got in. If he wanted to tell me when I got back, he's had plenty of time from then until earlier today. There's no excuse for him going three weeks without saying anything to me about it. Was he purposely planning that I find out through a third party source?

I wish I could say that's the extent of Jimmy's odd behavior but it really just seems to be part of a bigger issue.

Anyone could have foreseen that Jimmy and Liam meeting was going to be awkward. To prevent it from being a total angry blowout, I had it planned so that Jimmy would arrive at the Candy Bar with no knowledge of what he was really there for. I know it's not in Jimmy's nature to walk away from a confrontation, especially when it's already right in front of him. Luckily, I was right and the two of them were able to meet without any trouble. Well, except for Jimmy's ongoing snark that is. Liam didn't mention it at all after we left, and I don't know if that's because he didn't notice it or he was nice enough not to bring it up, but Jimmy's attitude didn't sit right with me and it was definitely something I wanted to talk to him about.

In fact, there's a few things I need to talk to him about.

Looking back on it, this pretty much started because I told him about Liam. The day I went down to the lab to tell Jimmy about him, it started off totally normal and, if I wasn't with Liam, we likely would have kissed in greeting. While I knew it would be somewhat upsetting for Jimmy to learn about Liam and our relationship, I could not have been prepared for how angry he seemed to be about it. His dry and rude tone made it more than obvious this is not the kind of conversation he thought we would be having. I suppose I was hoping that three weeks would be enough for him to cool down enough and be able to meet Liam without any problem. To further ensure that, I didn't mention Liam at all to him during that time.

While I can tell that the Liam factor is what caused the shift in our relationship, he doesn't, at all, have anything to do with what Jimmy and I were doing before I met him.

I had sex with Jimmy and continued to do so completely of my own free will. And I know he did as well. Seeing as we're both logically thinking, consenting human beings, there was undoubtedly going to be some sort of emotion going into our sexual relationship. It was impossible to just feel nothing about it. For him to say that what we did wasn't important or in any way impactful to him isn't only unnatural, it's a lie. How dare he say he didn't feel anything from our time together? There's no way that's true.

As deep in thought as I was, I was able to snap out of it before anyone else noticed and tried to get my attention.

By now I noticed that conversation was dying down and all our plates were nearly clear of food.

"Dinner was great, Mr. and Mrs. Vortex. Thanks for everything."

"It was a pleasure, Liam. Thank you for joining us." My mom replied with a surprisingly warm smile.

"We're just glad Cindy's met such a wonderful young man. I know the distance thing will be an issue but I look forward to seeing more of you." Dad said in our general direction with a grin of his own.

"Thank you. Let me help you clean up." He spoke as he reached for his plate. My parents didn't object and soon we were all cleaning up after ourselves and putting the dishes in the dishwasher. This only gave more time for them to get to know each other and for me to absorb the happiness and relief I felt that they were getting along.

I had worried that because of how Liam and I had met and given how much time we actually had to spend together, that my parents would be less than accepting. After all, from the day I saw him in Libby and mine's hotel lobby to today, meeting my parents, it's only been approximately one month. I also couldn't very well lie about how and when I met him. Seeing as I have probably exhausted my lying passes with them when it came to all the times I was with Jimmy, including a couple from before we even started having sex, where I would just tell them I was at Libby's or at the library, I didn't think it was wise.

Telling them about Liam went over so well that it was actually their idea to have him over for dinner, a request that he clearly couldn't turn down. From then on up until we entered my house earlier today, I was both anxious for it to be over yet couldn't wait for it to happen.

It was honestly too good to be true how smoothly everything went.

After we finished all the clearing up, I'm not entirely sure what was going on through my parents' heads since they quickly retired to their bedroom, leaving Liam and I all alone in my living room. Neither one of us said anything about him having to go back to his hotel soon and I was not going to be the one to bring it up. So within seconds we were kissing, indulging in each other like we had for a few short moments back in Aspen before I had to leave.

I'm not sure if me lying on the couch was a mutual decision but pretty soon that's how I ended up along with his hand placed gently on my waist.

I sighed, igniting a deeper kiss from him. His chest was right against mine, pinning me down. As I ran my fingers through his hair, he brought his up my side and ran his thumb along my breast. I turned my head to the side to release a breath and Liam immediately began softly biting my neck. It was definitely different than I was used to, and I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about it.

Removing his hand from my chest, he began kissing along my neckline, as his thumbs drew small circles on my upper arm.

"Oh...that feels nice." I let out.

"Yeah?"

"Mmm Hmm." I replied as I felt his other hand working its way up my thigh.

"Wait." I said as I gently pushed him off me. Thankfully, he retreated.

"What's wrong? I thought you were enjoying it."

"I-I am." I began feeling apologetic, even though I know I shouldn't. "It was just a little too fast, that's all."

He looked at me curiously for a second. Then a strike of realization hit him.

"Oh. Are you a-? You've never-?"

"No, I have. It's not that." I assured, knowing exactly what he meant. "It's just, you know, we're together. There's no need to rush anything. Let's just...take it slow, okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine." He answered as he adjusted himself. "Whatever you want, Cindy. I just want you to be comfortable." At those words, I had a quick and sudden flashback to the last person who said that to me.

"Okay, good." I smiled. And then, to make sure I completely pushed the previous thought out of my mind, I pulled Liam close and kissed him, one which he hastily accepted. I playfully pushed him into the couch and swung my leg around his lap, gripping onto his hair to keep him as close as possible. Despite him adjusting himself earlier, I could still feel him pretty prominently. It then occurred to me that I was being totally contradictory and was not in fact, going slow.

That's as far as it ended up going though.

It's not the right time. I'm very much aware of that. Whatever Liam was trying to do, he didn't give it a second attempt, which I was grateful for. We both nonverbally agreed that it was too soon and that here was definitely not the right place. My parents are right upstairs for Christ's sake!

When it would happen, I don't know. The first step, of course, is being able to see each other.

Before he left the next day, that's what we talked about. He would definitely make another visit during his spring break for a few days since he already had plans to spend the later part of it with his brother. Before that however, I would try to make it to be able to see him up in school for a weekend. We both knew it wasn't much, but the effort was what mattered most. Still, it didn't stop me from being absolutely devastated when I saw him in his car, full of his belongings, and drive off to school where I would go an even longer amount of time without seeing the boy that made me feel everything good all at once.

Jimmy's POV

I, for one, think that went pretty well.

Although realistically, it could have gone about a thousand times worse.

Seeing that the whole situation, meeting Cindy's...boyfriend took me by surprise, I should have been unprepared for it. But I like to think I handled myself exceptionally well, despite how excruciatingly difficult it was to do so. I suppose that was probably because, and I noticed this very early on in our encounter, Liam doesn't at all seem like a threat.

There's not much to him, at least from what I saw. Pretty boy more than anything else. I mean, he goes to a state school for crying out loud. And his hobbies include gliding on frozen water and picking up teenage female tourists at his workplace. That's borderline creepy if you ask me. And the way he didn't seem to mention anything about himself without being asked first seemed way too odd. Had it been anyone else, I would say they're just being shy or humble. But that hardly seems to be the case with Liam, with him waltzing down here unexpectedly and meeting Cindy's friends.

However, there is a reason Cindy likes him, and as much as I think I'll never understand girls and what goes on in their brains, the reason for her attraction to him is obvious. He's, for lack of a better word, new. He's not from around here. He's different, something she's never seen before, having been in this small town her whole life. As much as it kills me to say it, her falling for Liam is completely reasonable. Despite all the life threatening and dangerous places we have gone to when we were younger, meeting someone she would be romantically interested in was never really a possibility. Logically, it would happen when she's older and is living her life on her own terms, without being taken to unfamiliar and distant places.

So then what does that say about my role in her life and our relationship?

With those thoughts, anyone would think that it's because of me that Cindy hasn't met anyone. Even if you take away the Liam example, that still stands true. In the entire time I've known Cindy, I've never heard of her dating anyone or even having strong feelings for someone. There's been a few crushes here and there of course, but nothing serious enough to pursue.

Our jet-setting adventures dwindled down towards the end of middle school and completely stopped early in our freshmen year, but even then Cindy and I were still always around each other, playing a significant role in each other's lives. I suppose this would also explain why I've never seriously dated anyone, seeing as, without any friendly benefits or romantic feelings, Cindy is just important for me as I am for her. Of course, everyone thinking we like each other has something to do with it as well, but that's only really a consequence of Cindy and mine's relationship.

She met Liam while she was on vacation, away from not only Retroville but from me. If that realization alone, along with all the other ones I just had isn't enough proof, I don't know what is. She like him a lot, I can clearly tell. If it wasn't for the way she looks at him or the way she talks to Libby about him, conversations which I'm not proud to admit I've eavesdropped on, her telling him about Columbia before me should say everything.

I love her, and while that's a very boastful statement, all it really means is that I want her to be happy. If it can't be with me, then it's entirely up to her to see who gets that honor. I don't want to stay in the way of that.

They do say that if you love someone, you'll have to let them go.

If you want to leave a review, please read the following.

It's come to my attention that there will be some issues for reviews. I know that the site won't allow to post 2 reviews in a single chapter. Even though I changed the content of chapter 14 to the actual chapter, the site won't recognize it as being new material. So basically, if you left a review when this was just an author's note, you won't be able to post a review based on the chapter. You can however, I'm pretty sure, leave your review as a guest (not logged in) and just write your username where it asks you to fill it out (if you want). That should work I believe. If it doesn't, you can always send me the review in a PM (this would also be good so I can actually reply to you). Now, if you never left a review for the author's note, you should have no problem leaving one at all.

So sorry about this. I should have just posted this as a 15th chapter, but then the author's note would have been there and ruined the flow of things. Thanks so much guys and I really do hope to hear from you. To all my American readers, I wish you all a happy, safe, and, blessed Thanksgiving. I hope you're reading this as you're waiting for dinner, since I sort of planned it that way. Remember: it's okay to have that second slice of pie, if only for today. For everyone else, thank you so much. Love you all and I'll see you soon!