Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and any other holidays I've missed. You guys are all probably tired of hearing this, but I am sorry for all the major gaps in updates. So everyone knows, I have NOT forgot about either of my stories. I am going to see these through to the very end.

Here is the next chapter!

It was the Wednesday after Kaitlyn and BB's little friendly get together and the cousins were happy that things went very well. BB was extremely nervous that his little outburst would make things awkward between everybody, but it was the opposite. It seemed to bring the group of friends as well as the new inclusions closer together as a group.

Johnny and BB were goofing around in the gym since their Volleyball coach gave them the next three days free due to the team making it to the district playoffs and the coach felt they deserved a reward for their demanding work. Johnny was shooting hoops as BB decided to round off and start doing backflips down the gym floor. As BB reached the other end of the gym, he felt like he crashed into the wall. The next thing BB knew, the wall hoisted him in the air and sat him down on the folded-up wrestling mats near the wall. BB looked around and saw Tye with a shit-eating grin on his face trying hard not to laugh…and failing. Johnny hears the laughter and runs over to the pair. After a second of laughing, Tye composes himself enough to talk.

"Most of the team decides to hit the weight room, but you two decide to go out and play. Gargano is shooting baskets like Westbrook and BB is celebrating with backflips." Tye remarks with a smirk.

"We would have been there too if anybody would have told us. Is there a team meeting or something going on?" Johnny asks as Tye starts laughing again.

"I'm just giving you two a tough time. With the coach having no practice until Thursday, it's no doubt that most of the team do their own thing. For most of the team, that's flexing in the weight room mirror taking shirtless selfies for Instagram." Tye replies rolling his eyes getting a chuckle from the two younger team members.

"Know from experience, Tye?" BB asks jokingly. Tye smirks in return.

"You're talking about the little 'Perfect Ten' nickname, right?" Tye asks as BB nods the affirmative. "Quite honestly, I don't know how that got started in the first place. Let me put it to you this way. A little modesty, respect for other people, and respect for yourself goes a long way. Unlike some people in school, I don't have to post pictures of myself half naked on social media to build a reputation. But if got it…sometimes it doesn't hurt to show off. Just ask Seth." Tye smiles as BB and Johnny look at each other laughing.

It was midnight after the whole 'Truth or Dare' debacle. Everyone was having a blast until Seth got the idea to challenge all the guys to an arm wrestling contest for shits and giggles. BB and Johnny quickly declined. As much fun as it sounded, BB felt like he was much scrawnier in comparison to guys like Seth or Tye.

Tye was hesitant at first, but after lots of convincing from Seth, he decided to play along. The two teens went four rounds with both guys winning two rounds each. Minutes later, after Seth claimed that he was the stronger of the two, shirts came off and it turned into a full-fledged bodybuilder pose off. BB, Johnny, and Evan started laughing watching Kaitlyn's face turn beet red as she tried to get Seth to put his shirt on. In the end, Seth and Tye decided to declare the competition a tie and hold round two another day.

"I guess you're right." BB replied. "So…was there anything that we can help you with?" BB asks.

"Nope…realized that you two would still be goofing off in the gym on a free day. I wanted to give Gargano a little shit since him and little Miss LeRae would be going out on Friday." Tye replies looking over at Johnny. Johnny's face starts turning red and he turns away.

"Don't remind me. I mean I don't even know where to take her for a first date. BB, where did Seth take Kaitlyn on their first date?" Johnny asks as BB shrugs.

"I don't know. I just found out they were dating after I moved to Houston. I do remember Katie saying that about a week before I came down, Seth took her to watch one of those CrossFit competitions…but I highly doubt Candice is into CrossFit." BB answered.

"Yeah…that wouldn't help."

"What exactly is she interested in?" Tye asks.

"I know she is obsessed with baking. Let me see…the only thing I remember is seeing stuffed doll of Groot in her locker." Johnny answers as BB and Tye look at each other knowing. "What?"

"Groot? As in 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Groot?" BB asks as Johnny nods. "Johnny! She's nerdy! Making plans with her should be no problem!"

"He's right. I mean you can to the new Star Wars premiere and then eat afterwards to talk about the movie. It's a simple textbook date. Right?" Tye explains looking to BB.

"I wouldn't know. I haven't really dated." BB thought before nodding his head. "Sounds like a nice date to me."

"I guess it's a decision." Johnny said as the bell rings for the end of the day. BB and Johnny gather up their stuff and head to their lockers.

After school, Seth and Kaitlyn were sitting on the couch cuddling watching a movie. Seth starts kissing on the neck of Kaitlyn. The couple were too distracted with themselves that they didn't hear BB and Johnny walk in the front door. BB rolls his eyes and quietly counts to five before announcing their presence.

"Should we go back outside and wait until you guys are done?" BB yells making Seth and Kaitlyn jump. "Uncle Mike and Aunt Cheryl are at work, but I don't think that this counts as doing your anatomy homework."

"Shut up, Blaine! Practice ended early today; besides, you didn't see a thing! What are you two doing here?" Kaitlyn asks with a red face.

"We didn't have practice either and we were bored goofing around in the gym, so me and Johnny decided to come here and do homework. I bet you guys were doing homework too. I didn't think that Katie tattooed the textbook on her neck." BB answered laughing.

"SHUT UP BLAINE!" Seth and Kaitlyn both scream at BB. BB smirks and puts his hands up in surrender.

"Ok! Ok! Don't get mad. I'm done harassing you two. It was all in fun, Katie. Me and Johnny are heading upstairs to do homework. You guys get back to watching your movie." BB replies before him and Johnny head upstairs.

"What did you get for number sixteen?" Johnny asked BB while they did their math homework.

"Umm…X equals negative four. Does that sound about right?" BB answers looking at his work. Johnny takes a moment and reworks the problem.

"Yeah that was right. That's the last one, thank god." Johnny says closing the book and putting it in his backpack. "So…if you were going out on a date, where would you take a girl?" BB laughs and shakes his head.

"Johnny, you're being paranoid. You can take Candice to the dollar menu at McDonald's and she would be happy." BB answers with a smile. Johnny gives BB an almost pleading look. "Alright. I'm sorry. Let me think. The movie starts at 5:00, right?" BB asks and Johnny nods. BB thinks for a moment before coming up with an idea.

"I think I have it. Candice loves to bake. After the movie, I would take Candice to that little bakery a couple blocks from Evan's comic book shop. They have nice little soups and sandwiches to go along with those fancy cupcakes. How does that work for you?" BB explains as Johnny's look on his face brightens.

"Brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? Thanks for the help."

"Don't worry about it. What are friends for? I just remembered something. Me and Evan found something that we thought you might like." BB smiles and walks over to his closet. After a few seconds of looking BB steps out and tosses a shirt to Johnny. Johnny opens the shirt and the front shows a picture of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia with the words "Rebel Heart" in between them.

"What is this for?" Johnny asks.

"Evan and I were helping his parents with inventory and they had some extra shirts leftover and we thought that this one was meant for you. Wear it on Friday to the movies." BB says as he puts his new shirt in the hamper to be washed. BB turns around and is met with a hug from Johnny. BB gives him a quick look of confusion before quickly thinking about it.

"Blaine…don't think of it weirdly. Remember Johnny has been by himself ever since Tomasso got hurt, so being part of a group that genuinely cares about him is still a foreign concept to him. I guess me and him have a lot more in common than I thought." BB thought before returning the hug and smiling.

"That's what friends are for. Helping them in any way possible. I know you would do the same thing for me or any of us. I don't know about you, but I am getting hungry. Let's go see if dinner is ready."

After dinner, the four teens were in the living room playing Call of Duty…some better than others.

"Why did I agree to play with you guys on this game?" BB asked pouting at the television.

"Come on Blaine! It wasn't that bad. You did fine for your first time playing." Kaitlyn replied patting her cousin's shoulder.

"You've never played Call of Duty before?" Johnny asks shocked while BB nods his head. "How come?"

"I was never really interested in those games and my hand-eye coordination with shooting games is total garbage. I'm not very good."

"At least you gave it your best effort. It could have been worse. Now come on, let's start another match." Seth said as he was picking games in the menu as Cheryl came in with the phone.

"Blaine, it's for you." Cheryl said motioning for BB to take the phone.

"Who's calling me? Johnny's here and Evan's at the comic book store. Who else is left?" BB asks.

"How about this guy by the name of Chance?" Cheryl asks with a smirk on her face as BB takes the phone.

"Thanks. I'll take this in the other room." BB replies walking into the kitchen for some privacy.

"Who's Chance?" Johnny asks while Seth nods in agreement, silently wondering the same thing.

"My other cousin. Blaine's older brother. This is actually very surprising." Kaitlyn replies.

"Why's that?"

"Blaine and Chance haven't always had the best relationship. They haven't really talked in a while ever since Chance moved." Kaitlyn says grabbing her controller and lo

In the kitchen, BB is sitting at the kitchen table talking to his brother.

"Chance. How have you been? This is certainly a surprise." BB says.

"I've been good, but why is it a surprise that I called?"

"Well…we haven't talked to each other in almost a year in a half. You didn't come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so can you blame me for being surprised?"

"I guess not. I probably should have kept in contact more. There was a lot of stuff going on in my life."

"Like what?"

"That's something I can explain later, but not now. But I promise I will explain everything because I plan on coming to Houston very soon."

"OK. I'll hold you to that. So, what was with the surprise call?"

"I came down to OKC two weeks ago to surprise you and everyone, but Uncle Steve told me about everything that happened. Blaine, I'm sorry to hear about everything happened to you. Are you doing ok?"

"I'm doing better, thanks. One thing, though. If you have known for two weeks, why did you decide to call now?"

"Well…with everything that has been going on, I wanted you to give you your space. When I talked to dad at the prison, he recommended it. He said that this whole thing is a big misunderstanding and it will all blow over soon."

"Bullshit, Chance and you know it. You put that man on a pedestal and you were always his favorite. Don't try to pull that crap on me." BB asks getting angrier by the second.

"Blaine! Where the hell is this coming from? What has gotten into you?"

"I'm just saying I completely understand why you didn't talk to me…you don't believe me."

"Blaine! You are out of your fucking mind. What do you mean I don't believe you?"

"Exactly what I said. You held him in such high regard that when I say something that puts him in such a horrible image, you doubt it and deny that it could even be possible. It's always been this way. In your eyes, that bastard couldn't do anything wrong."

"Come on, Blaine! Don't be like that."

"Be like what? Realistic? Chance, I'm starting to get the feeling that this call was out of pity."

"Pity! Blaine, this is not out of p…."

"I'm done with this conversation. I'll talk to you later." BB said quickly hanging up the phone, not wanting to hear what Chance had to say. It was easy to tell that BB had been rattled by the conversation with Chance. BB decided to sneak upstairs into the bathroom to calm his nerves.

After spending a few moments in the bathroom, BB came downstairs to see that Seth and Johnny restarted the game and teaming up against online players. BB sat in the recliner next to Kaitlyn and watched the game. Seconds later, Kaitlyn noticed her cousin being more silent than usual and decided to bring him back into the conversation.

"How was Chance?" Kaitlyn asks BB, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"He was good. He told me to let you know that he said hi." BB said with a small smile on his face. Out of all the people in the family, Kaitlyn can read her cousin like a book. She knows something's wrong, but she's not going to question him until later.

"That's good. I'm glad he's doing well. Come on, Blaine. Take a turn and fight with me. We couldn't do any worse against each other." Kaitlyn said, trying to snap Blaine out of whatever funk he was in.

Hours later, after Johnny went home, Seth and Kaitlyn were talking in the living room before hearing a random noise.

"What is that?" Seth asks. Kaitlyn shrugs.

"I'm not sure. It is a little windy tonight, so something might have blown over. Who knows?"

About five seconds later, they hear the noise again. This time, they can figure out what the noise is.

"Now I definitely know what the noise is. It sounds like chains and they sound their ringing in your house. Where do you have chains hanging like that?" Seth says.

"Hmm. The only place I can think of with chains like that is down in the home gym in the basement. Who in the hell would be in the basement at one in the morning?" Kaitlyn asks in wonder.

"Could it be your mom or dad?"

"I don't think so. Dad and Mom went to sleep after we left to take Johnny home. So, it would have to be Blaine." Kaitlyn replies.

"Why would Blaine be in the basement?"

"I don't know but let me find out." Kaitlyn says as she runs downstairs to the basement. When she reaches the basement, she sees BB punching on the punching bag.

"Blaine? What are you doing down here?"

"Relieving some stress."

"It's after one in the morning. How long have you been down here?"

"When did we get back from taking Johnny home?"

"About two and a half hours ago."

"Then I've been down here two and a half hours." BB replies still punching.

"Come on, Blaine. You need to stop. Your arms have gotta be hurting right now." Kaitlyn says.

"They were hurting. I lost feeling in my arms about forty-five minutes ago." BB replies as Kaitlyn's eyes widen.

"That nut is gonna hurt himself. I need some help!" Kaitlyn thought as she runs back upstairs to get some help.

BB rolls his eyes as he continues punching. "Nothing personal, Katie. Just please leave me alone!"

Moments later, Kaitlyn comes back downstairs. This time, she has backup as Seth is following behind her. BB keeps punch for only a few seconds more before Seth comes from behind and picks him up.

"Wait! What are you doing?" BB asks Seth.

"Preventing you from hurting yourself more than you already have." Seth replies as he carries BB upstairs. BB tried to punch Seth on the back to try to get Seth to drop him, but as soon as he tried, he suddenly started feeling pain. As much as he wants to fight out of Seth's grip, BB decides against it and lets his hands just fall as he now realizes how exhausted he truly is. When the trio reach the living room, BB is dropped onto the couch. BB almost has a pout on his face when he looks around at Kaitlyn and Seth and wondering what the hell is going on…all while trying to still catch his breath.

"Alright, Blaine, spill it. Why the hell are you so pissed?" Kaitlyn asked.

"I'm not pissed. I just wanted to get in a good workout." BB replies trying to play it off.

"Blaine, you have never wanted to punch anything in your whole life. Why start now?" Kaitlyn answers calling BB on his lie. "Does this have anything to do with your phone call with Chance?"

As soon as BB heard his brother's name, BB's head snaps over to his cousin with eyes wide.

"What makes you think that?"

"Come on! I know you better than you know yourself sometimes. Ever since you got off the phone with your brother, your attitude has gone into the toilet. Now you know that it is much better to talk things out. It's either talk to me or you end up talking to mom and dad about this. You know that if you talk to them, they will make you end up talking to Chance."

BB really doesn't want to talk about this whole thing, especially with Seth here. BB then figures that Kaitlyn does have a point. He does have a bad habit of bottling his emotions…it has come back to bite him a few times. BB takes a deep breath and decides to tell Kaitlyn what happened with Chance.

"In the beginning, he was being really nice. I thought it was weird because neither of us were fighting. Seconds later, he brings up dad and how he told Chance that everything was a big misunderstanding." BB says as Kaitlyn puts an arm around the shoulder of her cousin. Seth—since he doesn't know the full story regarding Chance—sits there in silence as he listens to BB.

"Katie, he always put him on a pedestal. It makes me sick. He couldn't be that oblivious to what was going on. There's just no way! I knew that Chance was always the favorite. The muscle jock. The big football star. Those type of people always made me wanna…." BB starts going off before looking at Seth. "I'm sorry, Seth. I didn't mean it like that." BB finishes looking down at the floor, thinking he made an ass out of himself.

"No need to apologize. I got what you meant." Seth replies. BB looks up again and gives a small smile.

"Now that I think about it, I probably did go off the handle a little bit. It's just talking to Chance sometimes just drives me insane. I've tried talking to Chance years ago about this, but he just played me off like I was making this stuff up. You see, ever since mom passed, whatever relationship me and Chance seemed to break. I wish I could explain it better, but I really don't know how.

"Do you ever think that you two could talk it out and figure out why you two have the relationship you do?" Seth asks as BB shrugs.

"I don't know. I would like to find out one day, but right now I don't think that's possible. Chance idolized my dad. Those two have the same personality and ideology. Maybe in the future. I certainly hope so." BB said sadly. Kaitlyn wraps her arms around her cousin and gives him a hug.

"It's great to look into the future sometimes, but the future with Chance is not one of those things right now." Kaitlyn says as BB looks at her. "Right now, you should keep enjoying the present. I mean you are at a new school and have so many new friends since coming here. You have so much to live for and enjoy right now. There's no need to think about what could be. Just enjoy yourself and smell the roses."

BB doesn't know what to say, but all he feels right now is appreciation that Kaitlyn is here right now. Before this, if BB had any majorly depressing thoughts, he would hide away and keep everything to himself. He knows that Kaitlyn is right. He is in a new place in his teenage life and he can't keep bottling his emotions. He has so much good going on. He has made new friends like Seth, Johnny, Evan, and Tye. His support system is the biggest it has ever been.

As much as he wants to say something, the words just didn't want to come out. To show his appreciation, he returned the hug Kaitlyn gave him. Kaitlyn smiled and didn't let go. She knew how grateful he was…he just needed the extra push to get him to fully realize it.

Seth decides that he really doesn't need to be there, so he waves to Kaitlyn and leaves the house to go home and leave the cousins to themselves.

The next day, BB is in the bathroom drying his hair after taking a shower—wincing a little bit with the pain in his arms. Seconds later, Kaitlyn knocks on the open door and stands next to the sink.

"How are you feeling, Blaine?"

"Mentally or physically?"

"Both."

"My arms are pretty sore. Took some Tylenol this morning to ease the pain. They cramped badly when I woke up. Other than that, I'm ok."

"How about after last night."

"Katie, it was…definitely needed. I don't know what to say other than…thank you very much, Katie, for being there for me."

"That's what cousins are for. To help each other out. I'm just glad you're happy."

BB looks at Kaitlyn and smiles. "You don't know how much it meant to me." BB replies putting the towel in the hamper and walking over to Kaitlyn to give he a kiss on the cheek. "I love you, Katie."

"Love you too, Blaine." Kaitlyn said giving Blaine a quick hug. BB smiles and heads to his bedroom.

As much as last night's phone call drove him crazy and brought up horrible memories from the past, it also brought an enlightening experience. BB realizes he has got to try to push away from the past to fully enjoy what he currently has.

This is Chapter 12. If it seems rough flowing, it probably was. When things happen and there are months in gaps between when I get the chance to work, you can forget the flow of what I wanted to accomplish (oops!). After a bit, I figured out what I wanted to do with this chapter...Yay! I do apologize for any mistakes or goofs that this chapter included.

As you can see, BB is still fighting the demons of his past and talking with his brother didn't help anything. Thanks to the help of Kaitlyn, BB has been shown that he is truly cared for with his friends and family.

For all the followers and readers, Thank you very much for your support and continued reading! I greatly appreciate it.

Here's to the next chapter!