"Camille, I'm done."

"Oh c'mon Grace."

Getting out of things with Camille wasn't the easiest of task's, but I knew I couldn't carry on with her ridiculous plan. I'd been prepared for a lot of negativity and pleading from her, but I didn't have the time for it. Our conversation was supposed to be a simple get-it-done-and-get-out kind of deal, but she was making it a lot harder than it had to be. But I couldn't say I was completely surprised by it.

"No, I told you!" I exclaimed, once again picking up my shoulder bag.

I was supposed to be at the pet-store by four, and it was half past three. School finished at three, and the bus usually got me home by ten minutes passed. I'd already changed into my uniform; A red long sleeved T-shirt, blue jeans, and my usual grey ankle boots. I was good-to-go, but Camille wasn't going to let the plan go anytime soon.

"You're just having one of your temporary freak-outs, just calm down and re-think this." She said.

I groaned. "I have re-thought this thing! A lot! It's not going to work, Camille. Why wont you get that?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're just freaking out over nothing. This plan has worked so far, who says we won't get it all the way?"

"Camille, I saw them today, okay? On my school field-trip, I saw them. Did you know they worked in a Meat-Plant?" I asked, crossing my arms as I stood near the door.

"Maybe." She shrugged, a sheepish smile on her face.

I shook my head in disbelief. "I just can't believe you. Camille, get someone else to do it for you, because I'm done. Okay? Done."

"You're not done until I say you're done!" Her tone changed in a split-second. She somehow went from soothing and trying to calm me down, to pissed and acting like my boss.

"I'm not one of your whore friends that you think you can boss around because they're dumb-asses. I'm your sister, don't you get that?" I sighed, shaking my head.

She crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. "Yes, you are. Which is why you have more of a reason to do this, to help me."

I stared at her for a moment, running everything through my mind. I had to get out of the plan, I would go crazy if I didn't.

"No, Camille. Get someone else to do it. I'll be home later, okay?"

"No, not okay. Grace we planned this together, you can't just back out now." Her tone changed back to the sweet and kind sister, but I didn't like it.

"Look, can we talk about it later? I really need to get to work. Think you can give me a lift?" I asked hopefully. She always gave me a ride to work, but I knew which bus to take if she couldn't.

"Get the bus." She snapped, shooting my a quick glare before entering the living room.

I shook my head and sighed as I opened the front-door, and made my way towards the bus-stop.

~...~...~...~...~...~

I rushed into the small pet-store, repeatedly cussing out my big-sister.

The bus had come twenty minutes late, and it took at least ten minutes for the vehicle to get me to my destination. So at the end of it all, I was late for work. But thankfully it was my first time being late, and I'd never been more grateful that my Aunt owned the store.

"Nice to see you Grace." She greeted, wiping her hands with a towel as she entered the main part of the store.

"Hi Belle, sorry I'm late." I sighed, dumping my bag underneath the counter.

"Camille?" She asked knowingly.

"You have no idea."

She nodded and headed back into the other rooms, the one where we usually kept the animal grooming equipment. I ran my fingers through my hair and quickly tossed it up into a messy ponytail, pinning the name-tag to my T-shirt afterwards.

Aunt Belle had been blanked by my parents, one of the main reasons being that she'd quit a well-paying job to run the store instead. But when I'd turned sixteen and my dad had requested that I find a job, she jumped straight in. Offered me a job at the store as soon as she found out, which she found out from my grandparents, with my parents having blanked her out and everything. And while my mom and dad had completely flipped out, I couldn't have been more relieved to find a job.

"So, how's school?" She asked, once again coming out from the back room. Except this time, she held a German-Shepard puppy in her arms.

"Stressful." I shrugged, hopping up onto the stool.

"It can't be that bad." She smiled, putting the puppy down in the pen with the others.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "You don't even know the half of it. Anyway, do you need me to do anything?"

She shook her head and picked up one of the other puppy's. It wasn't hard to tell the puppy's apart, they all wore different colour collars to avoid confusion.

"Just what you usually do. Stand behind the counter and look pretty."

I smiled in amusement. "Thanks Belle, but that's Camille's job."

She rolled her eyes at me. "No, Camille's job is to serve drinks and look slutty. For sisters that spend as much time together as you do, you couldn't be more different."

"Yeah well, that's the case with most siblings." I shrugged, resting my arms on the glass counter.

"No, some siblings have things in common. Both you and Camille are very different. Like me and your mother." She said, putting down the puppy and walking towards me.

"That's taking it a little too far, Belle's. You and mom fight like there's no tomorrow in the same room. But me and Camille get along really well."

"Is that why you had to take the bus today?" She smirked, earning a small glare from me.

"No. We just had a disagreement about something."

"A disagreement? About what?" The main thing about my Aunt was, she was very eager to know about people's lives. Probably because it was the most excitement and information she'd never get from her own life.

"Nothing," I stressed, causing her to roll her eyes. "Just a little thing, but we'll probably be fine by tomorrow."

"Fine." She sighed, knowing she wouldn't get anything gossipy out of me. "At least check on the new kittens I got in."

I smiled. "New? God, these kittens go so quick."

"That's because they're so adorable, but with the crime rate in this city people seem to be buying the puppy's a lot more. Wanna train 'em up to be guard dogs." She said as we headed towards the kitten pen.

"Guard-Dogs? Jesus, what is this city coming to?" I sighed, crouching down to scan the new kittens.

"It's becoming dangerous more than anything, I can't walk home without worrying about getting raped or mugged."

I nodded in understanding, picking up the smallest kitten and holding it to my chest. It dug it's claws into my shirt, it's nails scraping against my chest.

"Well, bad side to living in Boston I guess." I shrugged, standing straight with the kitten still clinging to my shirt.

"No, it's the bad side of living in this part of Boston, you're safe." She said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, for now. What's gonna happen when the muggers decide to go higher in the world? The first place they're gonna go is the suburbs." I told her.

"Fair point." She muttered.

Despite being in a busy part of town, the store didn't get many customers. And if they did, it was usually someone looking to hit on the workers. If it wasn't me, it was Belle's other helper - my cousin Tamara. Belle was intent on keeping the store in the family apparently.

"Oh my god." She suddenly gasped.

"What?" I questioned, continuing to stare down at the beautiful white kitten in my arms.

The bell above the door rang, alerting us that someone had entered. And once I looked, my eyes widened.

"Oh god," I silently whined.

"I'm being nice here, very nice. Do you wanna take this guy or can I?" Belle asked, turning to face me.

"You take him." I rushed out, shaking my head frantically.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Are you serious? Wait, do you know that guy?"

I shrugged slightly. "You could say that."

"Ex?"

"Just go for it."

She smiled gratefully and fluffed up her hair before heading towards him.

I turned away from the two, instead choosing to pay attention to the small animal attached to my shirt. I quickly glanced to check the gender, finding out that it was a girl. The urge to look and see what was going on with Belle was driving me crazy, but I knew I couldn't draw any attention to myself. It was going against everything I'd said to Camille earlier on. But as I prayed he didn't see me, I knew the universe just wasn't that kind to me.

"Well, hello there stranger."

I sighed to myself, but smiled as I turned around. "Hi Connor."

"So, dis is yer work place?" He asked, glancing around the store.

"Yup. Not the best job in the world but it's money right?" I shrugged.

He nodded. "Guess so."

"So, what exactly are you doing in here?" I asked, stroking the kittens small head.

"Well see, I was on me way 'ome when I saw this beautiful little thing through the window. I jus' had to get a closer look." He replied, lightly scratching the kittens head.

"Really?"

"Aye, cat's not too bad either." He smirked, looking quite proud of himself.

"Good line, just about beats 'did it hurt when you fell from heaven'." I said, smiling in amusement.

"Well, I do put a lot o' thought into me lines."

"I'll bet. But seriously, what are you doing in here?" I asked, turning to full face him.

"Same reason I gave ye las' night lass. Jus' wanted ta see ye again." He admitted.

I nodded and turned, bending down to place the kitten back into the pen before facing him again. "Why?"

His eyebrows raised. "What d'ya mean?"

"Why do you want to see me again? It's a simple question Connor." I shrugged, crossing my arms.

"Maybe 'cause I like ye. Yer gorgeous, good ta talk ta, an' ye don' punch me brother when he talks about shaggin' ye." He replied, earning a small laugh from me.

"I don't know." I sighed.

On the inside I was beating the shit out of myself. The guy was hot, funny, sweet, and I'd never talked to anyone as easy to talk to as him and his brother. And here he was, practically asking me out, and I was hesitating. But I knew it was only because of the circumstances. If Camille hadn't slept with his brother, and we had met under normal terms, I'd be saying yes in a heartbeat. But if Camille hadn't banged his brother, I'd have probably never met him.

"C'mon Gracie, what's the worst dat could 'appen?" He said, shrugging slightly.

"Gee I don't know, lots of things. You could half a split-personality that would beat me to death, resulting in me winding up in a ditch somewhere. Or, you could be a pimp trying to get some new girls in," I smiled, counting the reasons off on my fingers.

"See, that quick-wit. That's why I like ye!" He exclaimed.

I tilted my head at him. "I barely know you."

He rolled his eyes but nodded, pausing for a moment in thought before replying. "Fine den. Here we go; Me name's Connor McManus, I'm twenty-five years ol', I got a twin brother, me favourite colours green - not because I'm Irish, I love action movies, an' I came to America four years ago."

"You know, you just told me fifth-date information." I told him.

"C'mon lass, work wit me here!"

I rolled my eyes, but replied anyway. "Okay; My full name's Grace Marie Carter, I live with my older sister and both parents, I've lived in Boston my whole life, and my favourite colours blue."

"See, was dat so hard?" He asked, moving forward to rest his hands on my waist.

I sighed. "I guess not."

"Good girl. Now et's not like I'm askin' ye ta marry me. Jus' give me about...a week."

"A week?" I asked. He nodded. "Fine, guess it couldn't hurt."

"Dat's the spirit lass!" He exclaimed.

"But that doesn't mean we're dating." I rushed out, resting my hands on his shoulders.

"Okay, we're not datin'. So, when should I take ye out?" He smirked.

I narrowed my eyes and lightly shoved him. "Ass. Besides, I'm pretty occupied this week."

He shrugged. "I'll figure somethin' out. What time's are ye occupied?"

"On Monday's to Fridays I'm busy until three in the afternoon. Except on Mondays and Thursdays I'm pretty much occupied until seven." I told him.

He nodded, looking quite surprised at the busy schedule I had going. "Still wanna see me?" I asked, smiling slightly.

"O' course I do. Tell ye what, tomorrow I wan' ye to meet me at the diner. Ye know which one I'm talkin' about." He replied.

"You mean the one I got assaulted in?" I asked, an amused smirk on my face.

"I prefer to tink of et as the place ye met the mos' amazin' man in the worl'. But yeah." He shrugged.

I sighed to myself. "If I say yes, will you leave the store and let me work without any distractions?"

A smug smile appeared and I wished I'd worded it differently. "So, I'm distractin'?"

"Don't look so happy Connor."

"Okay, okay. But yes, I'll leave if ye say yes." He agreed.

I nodded. "Okay, then yes I'll meet you tomorrow at the diner. What time?"

"How's five?"

"Five's good."

"So, I'll see ye tomorrow?"

"Yep. But just so you know, you're not paying for me."

He raised his eyebrows. "Is dat right?"

I nodded. "Mhmm."

"See lass the ting about dat is," He leaned forward till his mouth was right next to my ear. "I do what I want. An' if I wanna pay for ye, I will."

Ignoring the tingles in my stomach, I managed to choke up a reply. "Okay."

He leaned back, looking way too smug as he did. "Good girl."

"Okay jackass, get out of here so I can work." I playfully snapped, gently pushing him towards the door.

"Ye jus' gonna send me on me way without anythin' to occupy me thoughts?!" He exclaimed in disbelief, holding his arms out.

I shook my head. "Nope, you want something then you'll figure out a way to get it. Girls don't make the first move, guys do."

"Little sexist there don' ye think?"

"Nope. Bye Connor." I smiled, heading back towards the front-desk.

As I slid behind the counter to sit back on the stool, I rested my arms on the counter. I'd expected him to just take my small remark and leave. But that just proved how much we still had to learn about each other. And one of things I'd gotten from him, was that he had to have the last word - or kiss.

"No goin' anywhere yet lass." He reached across the counter and lightly gripped the front of my T-shirt, pulling me towards him.

A small squeak managed to leave my mouth, but only a small one since he managed to smash his lips against mine.

Now, I'd only kissed about a handful of guys in my seventeen years of existence. And in that moment, I knew the exact reason why most girls dated older guys. They were a lot better than boys our own age. Well, Connor was better at kissing than guys my own age were anyway.

He pulled back, giving me a small closed-mouth kiss before speaking. "So, how was dat for makin' the first move?"

It took a few seconds for the words to get to me, but they finally did. "That was good."

He smirked and nodded, leaning back slightly while releasing my shirt. "Good ta hear. I'll see ye tomorrow lass."

"Yeah." I sighed, still pretty tingled up and dazed from the kiss.

"See ye soon."

I nodded and waved slightly as he exited the store. But the clearing of someone's throat got my attention.

"Sorry Belle's."

"Don't apologise to me. Man what I wouldn't give to be seventeen again." She muttered, turning and heading into the back room again.

I smiled to myself and sighed, feeling slightly giddy as I let my head rest on the counter.