Chapter III
Ashley stood there staring at everyone in the room "what do you mean my room is gonna be a nursery?"
Anne sighed "Ashley we need the extra room for the babies, you'll be rooming with Amy for awhile."
Amy kept quiet but her mouth was drawn tight, Ashley sighed "why can't you just keep the babies in your guy's room?"
George shrugged his shoulders "it's only temporary until one of you can prove responsible enough to move into the garage, I remodeled the entire garage into a bedroom."
"what?" the sisters said in unison.
Amy stood up with John "i need the extra room, John and I could use the room and privacy..."
Ashley butted in "no way, I lost my room I should get the new room."
Anne shook her head "neither of you are getting the room right now, we're gonna wait and make our decision..."
"that's not fair" declared Amy.
"look, it's our decision we'll talk about it and see" said George "now no more fighting or neither of you will get it."
A knock at the door interrupted their conversation, Amy was already the closest so she went to answer it.
Ricky stood on the other side "hey Amy, just came by to hang out with John for awhile, that ok?"
She shook off her frustration "yeah come in, you know you can come see John whenever you want."
George and Anne left the room as Ricky and Amy came back in, the drummer was caring his son when he saw Ashley in the living room. She gave him a small nod and left the room to go call Griffin, the two parents sat down on the couch.
Amy watched Ricky bounce John on his knee and turned to look at him "look about the laptop..."
He turned and quirked an eyebrow "yeah?"
"why did you get it?" she asked.
He sighed "it's just a gift, are you saying I can't give you anything because we're not a couple?"
She shook her head "no that's not it... I just thought..."
"that I had an ulterior motive?" he sighed again "am I really that bad of a person that I can't do anything nice without being questioned. I know you hate me but still..."
"you think I hate you?" she asked slightly stunned at the accusation.
"look it's obvious you blame me for everything that happened and you, and you fight with me or get angry with me every time I come over" he kissed John's head and handed him back to her "look I'll come by later and just spend time with him."
Amy sputtered to herself "w-wait... I d-don't... I mean I-I..."
Ricky turned to hide the smirk that tugged at his lips "I'll call you later."
As he left he almost ran into Ashley on the porch, she turned to him and said into her cellphone "hold on Griffin."
Holding the phone to her shoulder she turned her attention to Ricky "are you busy?"
he shook his head "no why?"
"i need a ride to the mall" she explained pointing at her phone "I'm supposed to meet up with Griffin."
Ricky shrugged "sure come on."
She put the phone back to her ear "Griffin... yeah I'm on my way."
~The Mall~
When they pulled up Ashley was about to get out when she turned to the driver "are you doing anything else? If you want you can hang out with us here."
Ricky shrugged "doesn't exactly sound tempting."
"oh come on" Ashley said unbuckling her seat-belt "what else were you gonna do today?"
"i have to see Grace later" he said.
Ashley shook her head "well whatever...."
Ricky stopped realizing that he could maybe gleam more information about Amy if they hung out so he smirked "fine, let me go park and I'll hang out with you for awhile."
She threw a smirk back at him as she opened her door "alright hurry up."
Griffin was standing near the entrance when she stepped out, he waved "hey what's up with that you hanging out with Ricky again?"
She shrugged "he was already over at my house and I needed a ride, I asked him to hang out with us while we're here."
"why?" he asked watching her closely.
"well" she began "he wasn't doing anything today except waiting for Grace to come home, and besides I'll probably need a ride home."
Griffin crossed his arms "this gonna be the new thing? Are we gonna hang out with him from now on?"
"no, he just wasn't doing anything and he did take me to Six-Flags yesterday" she said looking over her shoulder "i think I can be nice for today and help him waste time till Grace gets back."
Ricky jogged up to them "hey."
Griffin nodded to him "hey."
Ashley rolled her eyes "come on, lets go loiter about."
They walked around making small talk Griffin on her left and Ricky on her right. The two boys seemed to get along with each other for the most part, as they neared the food court Ashley decided to stop for a smoothie.
They all sat at a table when Ashley brought up the garage/room that her father renovated "...they said the more responsible of us would get it."
"we'll after the pregnancy thing, I think you're in the lead against your sister" responded Griffin.
Ricky's eye twitched but Ashley just shrugged "still, they might give it to her because of the baby. It'd give her more room and privacy."
"but she has a boyfriend" said Griffin "since you don't I think you're father will be more inclined to give you the privacy of the new room."
Ricky nodded "why not just tell them that it will also help you in the long run? You could say that since the babies are inside you need the privacy, and the quiet to study for school."
Ashley smirked "that might work, besides I told my dad I wasn't interested in dating so he just might go for it. Although I'd have to convince my mom too."
The three changed topics and soon were just talking about nothing in particular. The topics went from school to music, then from celebrities to favorite foods. They were standing in a hot topic store when Ricky's phone went off.
"Hello?" he said answering it while moving out of the store.
"um... hey Ricky..."
The drummer smirked to himself "what is it Amy? Is John ok?"
"yeah, I just... look I don't hate you, I didn't realize I was being so cold towards you... honestly" said the girl on the other line.
Ricky just sighed but kept smirking "i don't know what to say. I mean you say you don't mean to act like that but it has been like this since you were first pregnant."
"i know" she said softly "i guess I just got used to it during the pregnancy, but I know you've been helping as much as possible. I didn't mean to make you the bad guy."
"look why don't I come back and we can talk about this?"
"uh... s-sure I guess..." she said quietly "I'll see you when you get here."
"ok see you in a few Ames" as he snapped his phone shut his smirk grew. Turning around he went to find Ashley to tell her he needed to go.
~Boykewich Household~
Ben lay on his bed one arm behind his head the other raised in the air, in his hand he held a photo form Italy. One of the many he had, but this one depicted not only the sausage prince but a short brunette leaning on his shoulder. He sighed softly and looked away from the picture not knowing what to do.
He rolled to his side and grabbed his cellphone from the night stand, steeling his resolve he opened his phone and began dialing a number.
He took one last look at the photo as he sat up when someone answered the other line "Pronto!"
Swallowing hard he smiled "Ciao bella, it's Ben."
A girls voice with a thick Italian accent responded happily "Ben! Hey how are you?"
The scrawny boy sighed "I'm good... um, are you still coming here for vacation?"
"yeah of course! Two more weeks" came the enthusiastic reply.
Ben nodded to himself "ok, so how have you been?"
~Juergens' Household~
Amy fidgeted as Ricky stepped into the house his usual smirk not present, he followed her into the living room "John's upstairs napping" she said.
Ricky nodded and when Amy sat he did the same but he was only inches away from her. She felt like blushing but held it back "um so..."
"yeah so..." said Ricky looking into her eyes "what now?"
Amy looked down "i don't know, I guess if I act like I have been you should point it out to me so I can stop."
"are you sure that won't make you angrier?"
Amy still didn't look back up "maybe sometimes, but I need to learn how to not act like that. You're gonna be in my life for a long time... I mean John's life... so I shouldn't act like that."
It took all his willpower to not smirk as he placed his hand over Amy's "that means a lot, so friends?"
Amy couldn't help the blush this time and stared at the floor even harder but nodded "y-yeah f-friends."
Ricky smiled lightly and squeezed her hand, then he decided to play with her and brushed her hair behind her ear so he could see part of her face. He smirked cockily when he saw her red face but pretended to be concerned "Ames you ok? Your face is really red."
Her heart beat quickened and she berated herself for attraction to the boy next to her, not knowing what to say she almost jumped off the couch when her mother called from upstairs 'saved by the bell' she thought.
Ricky couldn't help but grin like a Cheshire cat as Amy stood up refusing to look at him and walked stiffly to the stairs. His plans were coming to fruition slowly but in the back of his mind, subconsciously, he was thinking of the younger sister that he had actually been having fun with.