Starstruck1: Hey, I want to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews! I still need a lot more though. Again, Thank youz! Oh, And Guess What... this is a long chapter! yay!

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Nikki found herself standing across the street from PizzaPizza over thinking. Should I go? No, maybe I shouldn't. Oh I'm such a wimp, he is my brother for godsake! I am such a loser. Just go! My thoughts begun to swirl in my mind. But finally I took a step closer to the street and crossed it slowly making my way to PizzaPizza. It was dark out but the street lamps helped me see the outline of people. I glanced around searching for any sign of him. Finally I spotted the blonde-haired boy. He was sitting at a table a little farther down to where I was standing. I akwardly made my way over to him.

"Hi." I said as I approached the small table. He pushed his seat back and stood up. He got taller, Nikki thought.

"Hey." He gave me a hug and then motioned for me to sit down.

"Gosh, you have grown!" He said as a smile raced across his lips.

"So have you!" I laughed.

"Guess we all did. How are you?" Bradin looked just as nervous as I was. I could feel my feet taping against the ground.

"Okay. Hows your uh...the Denim, um...thing." I laughed at my sentence, luckily he understood.

"Denim Boards, yeah, its good. So ah, listen, have you told Aunt Ava about..."

"Me calling you?" I asked. He nodded. "I haven't, I didn't know what to say. Its not like we don't talk, because we do, its just. She is always busy with her work, she is never home any more, and since Johnny moved out there is no one ever home." I felt proud for saying exactly what I wanted to. I surprised myself. I thought I wouldn't be so open to Bradin, for some reason I was.

"What about Jay?" Bradin asked. His eye brows doing a little jig as they took turns raising.

"He has his shop. Its just, when you left you didn't just leave me, you left Derrick too. I can't figure out how he can deal with it all." The last words made me choke a little. My throat began to burn like it does when your trying to hold back tears.

"Hey, hey. You know I didn't mean to leave you. I just did what I thought was best for me and for you, for Derrick too. If I didnÕt sign, how were we going to get money for college, there is three of us, and you know Aunt Ava doesn't have the money to pay for all of us." Bradin said moving his hands around as he tried to explain.

I just nodded. I didn't know what to say. I felt bad for being mad at him about signing, he was right, if he didn't take the job, how would Derrick and I get to college? After an hour of talking I finally told him I had to go.

"So do you want me to talk to Aunt Ava?" He asked. I knew exactly what I wanted, I just didn't want to say it. But, I didn't want to leave things unsaid. I was afraid of that. Afraid that if I didn't say everything then they would gather up into a huge pile, like a garage that gets so messy its impossible to clean.

"The truth? I want you to move back home."