A few days later, Patricia was on her way to Ms. Burnal's house to see Eddie and Ms. Miller. Eddie had texted her an hour before, asking if she could go with him to talk to his mom. Apparently Ms. Miller wanted to talk to Patricia some more. Patricia smiled politely at a mom walking a set of girl-triplets down the road. Patricia felt sorry for the poor woman. Two of the girls were on bikes and were circling around their mother and the last one was skipping ahead of the group, almost running into Patricia. The woman gave a hurried smile back as she continued to try to take control of her children.

Patricia was a house away from Ms. Burnal's house when she heard a voice calling her name.

"Patricia Williamson!" The man's voice said again. Grandpa Lewis, Alfie's grandfather, was walking swiftly toward Patricia, who had stopped. "I haven't seen you in so long, dear! How are you?"

"I'm great." Patricia nodded. "How are you?"

"Oh, you know, this old guy is getting a bit… older." Grandpa Lewis said.

"Is everything okay?" Patricia asked.

"Oh, everything's fine! I've just been doing the same old, same old. You know, running around, eating bananas, having water balloon wars with my grandson and his friend Jeremy."

"Jerome." Patricia quietly corrected.

"Well, that's what I said, isn't it?" Grandpa Lewis asked, looking genuinely confused.

"Right." Patricia quickly agreed. The older man could be a bit… loony sometimes. Everyone figured that was probably where Alfie got his mind from.

"Where are you headed off to now, Piper?"

"I'm Patricia." Patricia slowly said.

"Same difference."

"Gee, thanks." Patricia rolled her eyes. "I'm off to Ms. Burnal's house to—"

"Oh, how is she?"

Patricia paused to look at Grandpa Lewis. "I have no idea."

"Well, if you don't know, then why are you going over there?"

"To… See how she's doing." Patricia finished, wanting to end the conversation. "Bye, Mr. Lewis!"

"Please, call me Grandpa!" Grandpa Lewis said as Patricia began to head off.

Patricia sighed and rolled her eyes again before banging on Ms. Burnal's door. A tan, Hispanic woman with dark hair opened the door.

"Oh, hello, Patricia." Ms. Burnal greeted. "I was just heading off to the store. Ms. Miller is in the living room. Come on in."

"Thanks." Patricia said as Ms. Burnal closed the door behind Patricia, heading to her car.

"Patricia!" Ms. Miller stood up from the couch as Patricia entered the living room. She hugged Patricia like she was an old friend. "Oh, it's so nice to see you again!"

"It's nice to see you, too." Patricia nervously stuck her hands in her leather jacket pockets as she sat down. "Where's Eddie at?"

"He went to go take a call. It was Drake, I think." Ms. Miller shrugged, sitting back down.

"Drew?" Patricia guessed.

"Oh, yeah! That was it! Drew!" Ms. Miller nodded. "Want to hear more embarrassing Eddie stories?"

"Sure!" Patricia smiled at her boyfriend's mom.

"Well, when Eddie was little—about eight, I'd say—he'd wear his underwear on his head, especially the football ones and run around the neighborhood, telling everyone that he was 'Mr. Super-Underpants'."

"Really?" Patricia laughed. "I can actually see that."

"He did clear up until he was 10." Ms. Miller added.

"Oh, Mom!" Eddie groaned as he reentered the room. "That was a bit unnecessary."

"Nah, Patricia enjoys it." Ms. Miller said as Eddie sat down next to his girlfriend.

"It's true, you know." Patricia teased. "What'd Drew want?"

"He's having a party in a couple of weeks and wanted to invite us." Eddie answered.

"Really?" Patricia asked. "He hasn't had many parties this summer."

"I think it's because of his track record of parties," Eddie softly said, referring to the major events that took place the last couple parties.

"Yeah, I guess that's a good point." Patricia gave Eddie a half-smile.

"What's been happening?" Ms. Miller innocently asked.

"Uhh…" Eddie and Patricia shared a look.

"There have been a couple of fights." Eddie finished. It wasn't a full lie since there was, but it wasn't the entire truth, either.

"Oh." Ms. Miller replied, frowning slightly.

"Anyway," Eddie continued. He looked at Patricia. "It's pretty formal, so wear a dress. Just not a prom dress or anything."

"Me? In a prom dress?" Patricia chuckled. "You must be going crazy."

"Yeah, I must be." Eddie nodded slowly in agreement.

"Ooh, it sounds like fun!" Ms. Miller gushed. "Are you two going together?"

"Yes." Eddie answered at the same time Patricia said "I don't know."

"What do you mean you 'don't know'?" Eddie asked her, slightly panicked.

"Well, you haven't asked me yet, now have you?" Patricia pointed out, giving Eddie a look.

"Oh, Eddie, you have to ask her." Ms. Miller said, shaking her head.

"Since when?!" Eddie made random movements with his hands. "I'm your boyfriend!"

"I never said I would go with you to the party." Patricia shrugged, sitting back.

"Ugh." Eddie groaned. "Fine. Patricia, will you please go to Drew's end-of-summer party with me?"

"Well," Patricia pretended to think. "I guess." She smirked.

"Gee, way to make a guy feel special." Eddie rolled his eyes. He put an arm around his now-happy girlfriend.

I know this seemed like a bit of a filler, but the ending is coming near, and it's going to end with another party. So, in other words, the ending has been introduced. Wow. That sounded a LOT more depressing than I meant for it to be.

A VERY SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT TO Filipino_Lovely on Twitter! Thanks again for the encouraging Tweets (:

xXAquaMangoXx: A very good point. Thanks for your support on Twitter also! (:

Drmiracle: ;)

sarvaniluvsbooks: Hahaha your comment made me laugh! XD

DesiredHOA101: A lot of people requested it, so… BOOM! ;D

Seddielover945: That's exactly what I was going for. ;)

See y'all soon! (: