Jason's POV

I woke up in the middle of the night, hearing a commotion below me. Remembering that Emily wasn't home, she, along many other girls from the cast, was actually sleeping over at Elizabeth's house, so I figured I'd better check it all out.

I descended the stairs rather slowly, as not to aware whoever was down there of my presence.

"Is it wrong for me to feel that way?" I heard Elizabeth ask softly.

A chorus of "no's" followed.

"He was a jerk," I heard Lainey say. "But I'm sure he already knows that, considering the fact that he's cowering in the staircase, right Jason?" she asked.

And just like that, I was busted.

I came forward, forgetting that I was still in sleeping attire; translation: shirtless.

"I thought you guys were going to be at Elizabeth's?" I asked, taking the chance to glance over in her direction. I drank all of her in: from the crown of her dark hair that was still down from the play, to the oversized shirt that made it seem like she wasn't wearing any bottoms, and of course the shortest of sleeping shorts that I knew she wouldn't even consider wearing out; that's just the kind of girl Elizabeth was.

"Audrey started flipping out about the noise, so we figured we'd crash here," Robin shrugged.

"Chocolate always makes everything better," Lainey said randomly.

"Oh, yeah!" everyone seemed to agree. They raided the fridge and the pantry, while I stood, cemented to my spot, mulling over how bad I felt that I'd hurt her.

Afterwards, Emily led the crew and their loot of cookies, and countless other snacks, up the stairs. They tip-toed into Emily's room, shutting the door behind them. I could hear their muffled voices, and wanted to know what they were saying, but I resigned to my bedroom, convinced that Lainey would bust me again.

I tossed and turned nearly all night; it was hard to sleep knowing that Elizabeth was right across the hallway. And debilitating knowing that I could do nothing about it. I know she doesn't want anything to do with me right about now.

I finally understand those expressions. You know the ones like "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone". And how something can be so close, yet so far away…

Elizabeth's POV

"For the first time in my life, I can genuinely say that I am not going to forgive a person," I said in between bites of my third chocolate chip cookie.

"Sure, totally, I mean we completely understand," Emily said a little too surely for my liking.

"I mean I know he's your brother and all but..." I couldn't find the right words to say. "Agghh! I'm so utterly confused."

"Why don't we play the Peanut M&Ms game?" Robin suggested.

"Why in the world didn't I think of that sooner?" Lainey laughed. "Come on now; pass the bag over here Maxie."

"Okay so hold out your hands," Emily instructed.

"Okay," I said tepidly.

"Now, your right hand is going to be for all of the reasons why you like Jason and why you should forgive him," Lainey began.

"But I don't like him," I argued. I mean I didn't, didn't I?

"Mhmm, sure," Maxie said.

"And your left hand is going to be for all the reasons you hate my brother," Emily said.

"Hate is a very strong word," I warned. "I don't hate anybody."

"Okay strongly dislike," Lulu added.

"So close your eyes and you just start talking, and I'll make the judgment call," Lainey volunteered.

"He's funny, and caring," I started. "But he's so unoptimistic."

"Okay so two to the right, and one in your left," Lainey tallied.

"I always have a good time when I'm with him, but Grams doesn't like him very much."

"He's a lot smarter then he portrays himself as, and I don't understand why he has to act a certain way to impress his friends."

"He's good with kids, I mean even after that first bad encounter with Carlos at tutoring, he figured out a way to relate classifying triangles to basketball, and now Carlos is doing so much better in math."

"He denied me to his friends. I don't think I can get over that part. Yet oddly enough, I still feel attracted to him. Physically, I mean. I kind of liked it when he kissed me."

"But I'm not sure if he likes me…"

"Of course he does, I mean we all know that kiss at the end of the play wasn't in the script!" Maxie exclaimed.

"Maxie!" Lulu hissed.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"Well in the event that he does," I began, "he shouldn't."

I opened my eyes to find that all of the M&Ms were in my right hand,

"Lainey, that's not funny. I'm pretty sure I said plenty of bad things about him too."

"We kind of lost count so we figured we'd put all of them in the good category," Emily shrugged.

"What she means is, you should have seen yourself when you were describing him. I mean even in this darkness, girl you were glowing!" Lainey laughed.

"I was?"

"No doubt about it. And I think that if you could forget about all the bad things that he did, and what other people are doing to get in the way, you'd be able to see that this fool loves you!" Lainey said.

"Emphasis on the fool," Emily confirmed, making all of us laugh.

"In all seriousness though, I think if you would let him, he could show you just how much."

I blushed.

"Aw come on guys, not like that!" Lainey giggled, triggering laughter around Emily's room.

"And most importantly, if you would let yourself, I think you could love him too," Lainey said.

She had no idea how close to the target she was.

"I need someone, who won't run away, as soon as, things, for lack of a better word, get tough," I said defiantly. "And believe me; it's going to get tough."

"That doesn't mean that you don't deserve to be loved," Lainey persisted.

"Future shrink much?" Emily directed towards Lainey.

"Hey, if the shoe fits," she shrugged.

"Well for what it's worth, we love you," Emily said. And they all hugged me at once.

"When did that stop being enough," I muttered in the tangle of arms, faces and hair.

"Sometime along the lines of when Jason would be at your house every afternoon?" Emily guessed. And we all laughed.

"You know that whichever you chose to do, we'll be behind you 1000. But just remember, your heart won't be the only one breaking." Lainey said.

I yawned and we all decided that it would be a good idea to go to sleep.

With about fifty sheets, comforters and pillows strewn across the carpeted floor, we settled into an area in the middle of the room. I was soon fast asleep. The last thing I heard was Lainey's voice:

"Let him love you Elizabeth," she whispered.

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