Author's Note/Disclaimer:
See other chapters.
Woah! After reading this part of Needful Things, which if you love Castle Rock and Ace Merrill you ought to read, I felt inspired. You get a lot more on the perspective of everyone's favorite bad boy. So if he seems different and turns out to be a huge jerk you know why. Kisses and cookies for everyone because I feel like cookies...
Oh, if you don't like drunk people passed out everywhere don't read this chappie. Because they're in it. Yay!
Meg-a-dew-drop- I updated for you. And I laugh because Ace is oh-so-sexy. Yay for me! You better post the story soon or you die. No joke. And remember to check out Chapter Four of Break Away because I left you a quotey-quote.

Cassie- YAY! I was wondering when you would come back to me. I missed you so much. I can't say about Ace because I have a secret plan, that only Meg-a-dew-drop knows about… or she'd better anyway. But I will say it works out for almost everyone in the end.

OTHlover04- Yay! I love you!

MisguidedWhisperer- She makes out with Ace, I make out with Gordie. Life evens out. I want to thank you loads for adding me to your story. Yay for kissing Ace, who is mine! At least I like to think so. Meanwhile, update soon or I'm going to cry in my corner. Much love!

Chapter Seven

I woke up in the back of Ace's car with Ace's arm around my waist. For a minute I was confused about where I was and what the hell I was doing there, but everything came back to me just as quick as it had been gone. I was relieved to remember that we hadn't had more than an "innocent" make-out session. I wondered where everyone else was.

"Ace," I whispered. "Ace, c'mon and get up. We've got to get back home."

It was still dark outside, which told me that it probably wasn't later than three in the morning. We had been out here for hours now.

Ace sat up, bleary eyed and shirtless, and I found myself smirking a little. That had definitely been better than camping out in a tent all night. But I felt a nagging little voice tell me that what I had done was wrong. I told that voice where to go.

"What?" He asked.

"I've got to get home. If my Aunt wakes us up in the morning or something-" Ace cut me off by kissing me.

"She won't. You've got plenty of time and I think everyone's pretty passed out anyway. So, why don't you stay a little longer and keep me company."

I felt a little more relaxed.

We snuck out of the car quietly so we wouldn't wake anyone else up. The idea was to get down to the lake so I could at least cool my feet off. I almost laughed out loud when I saw the scene before me.

Eyeball and Lizzie were curled up next to each other on the ground, Lizzie snoring louder than Eyeball. Danni was in the backseat of Vince's car with Charlie, Cassie snoozing away in the front seat in Fuzzy's lap. Jez was passed out cold on Billy's chest. Vince and Jack were lying on the ground, both sound asleep.

"They got trashed." I whispered, a huge smile on my face.

I was sitting on the dock with Ace's arm around my shoulder and my feet dipped in the cool lake. It was nice just the two of us. I was pretty sure we were going out. Boy was I wrong.

I let the girls wake up on their own, Danni and Lizzie had the worst of hangovers so I ended up driving us back to my house. The sun hadn't even thought about rising yet, so we crept back into the tents where I fell asleep for another couple of hours.

"Oh beautiful cousin of mine." Emery said, banging on the tent. I sat up, ready to kill the little shit. Cassie groaned and put her pillow over her head. Lizzie followed suite.

"Shut up Emery. What do you want?" I asked poking my head out of the tent. Sheldon and Drew were waking up Jez and Danni.

"Aunt Heather said I was supposed to wake you up." Emery shook his head. I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. Mom was here already? It had been barely two weeks since we'd been here. How was she on her feet that quickly?

"Alright, thanks buddy." I said apologetically. Cassie and Lizzie were up when I went back in.

"What's wrong?" Lizzie asked.

"Nothing. Uh, my mom's here already."

Lizzie nodded knowingly and mouthed 'tell me later.' I winked at her, letting her know I definitely would.

"What exactly happened last night?" Danni asked as she loaded everything into her car, which I was now in love with.

"I'll tell you when we have a lot of time." I couldn't help but laugh a little. She shook her head.

"We were hammered." Cassie said, hopping in the back.

"That's putting it lightly keed." I agreed.

They drove off, leaving me to go into the house by myself.

Inside the house my mom was having a cup of coffee with Aunt Carolyn. I smiled and gave her a hug. When I did I noticed two things.

One, she was wearing a new engagement ring on her finger. The second was that she was no longer her usual rail thin.

"Hi sweetie." She greeted.

"You must be Jovanna." An unfamiliar male voice greeted me. I turned around, feeling a little sick. I had no idea what was going on and I didn't like it. I caught a glimpse of Chris in the back room. He shook his head.

"Jovie, dear, meet Jonathan. John is my fiancé."

I almost choked and part of me wishes I had.

Jonathan was about 6'0", a little taller than my Dad. He had green eyes, but they looked cold and unfriendly. He had a stony face that went well with his dark rust brown hair.

"Fiancé?" I asked. She nodded happily when I stuck out my hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

"And there's another surprise." Mom waited until Drew was in the room to announce it. I held my breath, hoping I was dead wrong. "I'm having another baby." Nope, I was right.

"What about Dad?" Drew asked cautiously. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jonathan glare.

"Of course you'll still see your father. Now, why don't you two run along? Your Aunt and I have a lot of things to talk about."

"Come on Drew." I said, ushering my little brother out of the front door. We sat on the porch before either of us said anything.

"This bites the bag." Drew sighed. I gave him a hug, poor kid.

"Yeah, but it's going to be okay little buddy. Jonathan isn't our new dad and we can always call Dad when we need him. Besides, Jonathan might be… nice." I didn't believe myself but Drew did.

"Thanks Jovie. I love you."

"Yeah, I love you too kid. Now go dig a ditch with Emery and Sheldon or something. And take Debbie with you!" I exclaimed as he ran towards the terrible two. The front door swung open and Chris sat down next to me.

"You okay?" He asked. I nodded, feeling anything but. I smiled a little.

"What do you say we round up Lizzie and the boys and go to Blue Point? I'm a little hungry to tell you the truth."

"Sounds good." Chris agreed. "Are you sure you're feeling okay though? I mean, I know you guys went with Ace and Eyeball last night…"

I stopped in my tracks. He grinned.

"It's no big deal. I mean Teddy and I had a bet going on it. Looks like I'm getting some money. Now I have to have the details..."

"You little weasel." I laughed, giving Chris a noogie. "And the details are as follows, I didn't get drunk. And you can tell Teddy that I wouldn't touch him if he was the last boy on the face of the planet!" I declared.

At this point in time, life was slowly rolling downhill.