You know what I find funny? This story has the most hits of all the ones I've written but it has the least amount of reviews which tells me something... Either I'm doing really well and no one could find anything to say in a review or everyone is way too lazy to review. Either way low review count. That's not to say I don't appreciate the reviews I do get because I do. Anyway a list of the characters screen names will be at the bottom since I just remembered that I never did say whose was whose. I own nothing.

Chapter 14: Sorting out the lies

"ER you said this house was big. This isn't big it's huge." Luis said.

"It just depends on your definition of huge or what you're comparing it too. Compared to Fulton's house yes this is huge but compared to the houses in Edina, where Adam lives, this house is just big. It's bigger on the inside which is where I want to be because I'm freezing. Now you can either stand here and stare at it or you can come inside and get warmed up. Chris and Ben already brought your stuff inside and probably to your rooms. If you do decide to come inside be sure to take your shoes and coats off in the mud room which is right inside the door. Come on Dean; let's go see if Matt was kind enough to make some hot chocolate." I said before walking inside.

After I kicked my shoes off and hung up my jacket I called for Matt. "Hey Matt where you at?" I called.

"In the kitchen and don't rhyme it's scary." He called back. I went through the living room, the formal dinning room, the smaller dinning room, and reached the kitchen. I heard Luis, Kenny, Julie, and Dean behind me.

"Dwayne!" Julie exclaimed as she came into the kitchen. I had been looking at Charlie when I had first come into the kitchen so I hadn't noticed him sitting there but now I looked at him sitting at the island in the center of the kitchen. Right next to him was my friend Aaron.

"What are...you said...your aunt...you ass." I cried before sprinting up the backstairs to right out side my dad's office on the third floor. I hit the button right next to the light switch and the steps to the attic came down. After climbing those stairs I pulled them up and walked to the farthest corner of the attic where an old couch sat down. I sat there for a few moments and then got up and walked to the speaker system my dad had wired through the entire house sliding it to the listen only position hoping someone had left the speaker on down stairs. I heard nothing for a little bit and then it came back on. Matt's voice came on loud and clear.

"The attic." He said. I might have missed something.

"That wasn't supposed to happen." Ben said.

"What did you expect?" Dean said angrily.

"Not that." Charlie put in.

"I shouldn't have talked you into coming." Ben said.

"Wait before we play the blame game I think you guys might want to introduce me." Aaron said. "I'm Aaron Hoffer; I've been her friend in Ohio for the better part of three years."

"Aaron this is her cousin Charlie, her boyfriend Dean Portman, her ex-boyfriend from Texas Dwayne Robertson, and Julie Gaffney, Luis Mendoza, and Kenny Wu. You should already know Chris and Ben and I'm her brother Matt." Matt said.

"Nice to meet you all."

"You know it isn't nice to eavesdrop." I heard a voice say in my ear. I jumped and then noticed it was just Fulton.

"Don't do that." I said smiling slightly. "How could he do this to me?"

"Who Dwayne?"

"Yeah."

"Because it's really awkward for him right now. How would you feel if you saw Dwayne in the arms of a girl you've know for two years?"

"Point taken. Shush their talking again."

"So you're the reason her brother beats the crap out of her?" Charlie asked.

"Charlie." Matt warned.

"What? It's true isn't it?" Charlie said.

"It's not my fault your cousin comes to the wrong conclusions and has anger management issues." Aaron snapped.

"How's Aaron's temper?" Fulton asked.

"It can stand up to Charlie's, he also plays outfield and to play that position you have to have a strong arm. I wouldn't want to make him hit me." I said.

"Back to the real issue here." Dean said. "What are you doing here, Dwayne?"

"I didn't want to come at first because the past two weeks have been kinda awkward but Ben told me that Lizzy wanted me here so somehow he convinced me to work through whatever problems I was having." Dwayne explained.

"What do you mean awkward?" Luis asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Dwayne said.

"What are you doing here Fulton?" I asked as they tried to get it out of Dwayne.

"I came to tell Portman something but when I saw them all speechless in the kitchen and Matt told me why I knew I had to come talk to you first after I turned the speaker on." Fulton answered.

"You said eavesdropping isn't nice but you're the one that let me." I said.

"I may have said it isn't nice but I didn't say you shouldn't do it."

"Why do I feel this way Fult?"

"I don't know maybe because Cowboy's never lied to you before and the fact that he could do it so easily now is making you think that it's possible he lied to you while you were dating him."

"You think I should go talk to him?"

"Maybe soon but let them finish their conversation first." He said.

I turned my attention back to the conversation in the kitchen.

"So what do we do now?" Julie asked.

"Someone needs to go talk to her." Matt said.

"But that's what Fulton's doing." Chris answered.

"I'll go talk to her I don't know how well Fulton knows how to handle this kind of situation I mean she's changed since the last time he had to deal with her." Aaron said.

"Well alright." Chris said. "Right this way."

"Everyone else up for the grand tour?" Matt asked.

I pushed the speaker button on the box and said "Christian Jacobs if you bring him up here I will never speak to you again."

"Shit. Fire-arm how much of that conversation did you hear?" Chris asked.

"Since Matt told Fulton where I was." I answered.

"Damn." Matt swore.

"What do you want?" Ben asked. I knew he wanted me to decide what to do about Tex.

"For life to be perfect again." I said.

"You know I can't erase the past five years." Ben answered.

"I don't know what to do." I said answering the original intent of his question.

"Why don't I give you all the grand tour and then we'll figure this out later?" Matt suggested.

We walked out of the attic and caught the tour group on the 2nd floor. I slid my hand into Charlie's as Fulton stood next to Dean. "What the..."

"Shush." I said quieting Charlie.

"Like I was saying this is Seth's old room and right next to it is my room." Matt droned on. "This is normally Connie's room when she stays over."

"Can we go in?" Luis asked.

"It's just another guest room. I don't see why you'd want too." Matt answered. Luis shrugged. "This is the room Julie will be staying in, a bathroom, a closet, the master bedroom, master bath also has a door connecting to the actual room, Ben's room, another closet, and finally Lizzy's room."

"Can we go in that one?" Dean asked.

"You've already been in there." Matt said.

"Probably more than once." Luis muttered.

"What about us? We haven't been in there." Aaron said.

"I don't see why not." Matt said.

"Because it's my room and maybe I don't want them in there." I barked sliding to the front and standing in front of my door.

"Come on it's not like we haven't seen your dorm room." Luis rebutted.

"And I've seen your other bedroom." Aaron put in.

"Alright fine." I said opening my door. They looked around and then backed out. I grabbed Dwayne's arm. "Stay here I want to talk to you." I whispered.

"Alright." He whispered back.

"Hey Matt, where's Dwayne's room?"

"Two doors to the left of Dean's." Matt answered.

"Thanks." I said. I waited until I couldn't see any of them on the back steps before I closed my door. When I did I turned to Dwayne who was sitting on the end of my bed. I pulled out my computer chair and turning it around backwards I put it at the end of my bed. I sat down in it and rested my arms on the back of my chair. "I know it's been awkward and for that I'm sorry but there has to be another reason."

"I was scared." He answered looking at his shoes. "I still am too."

"Scared of what?" I asked.

"What's gonna happen now."

"What do you mean?"

"What's gonna happen between the two of us. I loved you Kitten." He said using the old nickname he gave me. "I still do a bit, but now that you have Portman I'm just scared and confused."

I sighed because I knew this was gonna come up. "Babbit look at me." I said using his nickname. His normally clam, caring brown eyes were red and puffy. "Babbit you don't need to be scared or confused about anything. I know Dean's rep and tough and mean personality scare you so let's leave him out of the picture for a second. Okay?" I asked.

"Alright I don't know how that will help but alright." He said.

"I know we said we'd pick up where we left off when you came back to Texas, but things changed a bit. When I heard that my parents were forcing me to go to Eden Hall I thought it might be my chance to rekindle our relationship. Then I saw Dean Portman. I still have feelings for you Babbit that much has always been obvious to me. You have to believe me. I still have deep feelings for you but I also have feelings for Dean."

"You said you would leave him out of the picture." Dwayne pointed out.

"Sorry I'm trying. I still have feelings for you Babbit. You will always be my little Babbit, always there when I get knocked down to pick me back up again, my support, my leaning post, and the only one besides Matt that I trust completely. You know that don't you. You know nothing can change that right?"

"Are you sure about that?" He asked.

"Of course I'm sure. I may talk to Adam or Fulton or even Jesse about some things but you will always know everything about me." I answered.

"What about Portman?"

"Ok now back to Portman. Like I said when I came to Eden Hall I was kinda hoping to rekindle what we had but Dean got in the way of that. I knew I should have stayed away from him but I was falling for him Babbit you could see that even if you didn't want to. I knew you could see it. I have to let things run their course between us before I think about coming back to you. I'm betting you're scared that you'll do something to ruin our relationship and that he'll hurt you for it? Either that or he's gonna hurt you because he thinks you're a threat to our relationship?" He nodded. "Tex trust me on this if he ever hurts you because of those two things he'll be dealing with one of the reasons I'm a pitcher for a baseball team and not a softball team and my 4 very over protective brothers. Like I heard once 'Boyfriends may come and go but friends are forever.' You know that saying is true to me. I would put my reputation, my heart, my soul, and most likely my life on the line for one of my friends they are one of the most important things to me."

"Lizzy don't say that." Dwayne scolded.

"It's true though, as hard as it would be to chose between my boyfriend and my best friend I would chose my best friend every time. I'm not gonna stay with a guy that hurts my best friend. I'll dump Dean flat out and put him in the hospital if he hurt you. I bet you're still confuse about where this leaves you."

"Lizzy I care about you a lot but don't give up your relationship with Portman for me. I don't want to come between you two. He makes you happier than I ever could. I don't know how he does it but he does and I won't ruin that. I would rather lose you as a friend before I ruin true love."

"That's just the thing I don't know if it is true love. I like him a lot and I mean a lot but love is complicated. Babbit you and I have a relationship like no other. It's not like my relationship with Fulton or with Aaron or like mine and Dean's. Aaron and Fulton are my best friends, Dean is just my boyfriend and my best friend's best friend, but you Babbit are my best friend and my ex. I think that makes us special. You know my weak spots, how to really get to me, and some of my deepest, darkest secrets. Around you I don't have to worry about letting something slip. I can tell you stuff that I couldn't tell anyone else."

"Like?" Dwayne asked.

"Like the fact that I'm loaded. I don't even have to go to college if I didn't want to. My dad has put enough money in my trust fund that I can live comfortably for the rest of my life. Or the fact that my mom died 9 minutes after I was born and I want to know about her or the fact that when I see Matt out there giving the Ducks pointer's which I know he'll do to you guys this week, it makes me want to skate again."

"Then why don't you?" Dwayne asked looking at me.

"I haven't skated in nearly 2 years. I'm scared I'm not as good as I used to be."

"I've seen you skate twice I think and you're pretty good. Wait 2 years? Matt was 'killed' 5 years ago." Dwayne said using air quotes around killed.

"I know sometimes pitching wasn't enough I had to get out my feelings other ways. I used to skate twenty laps every time something went wrong. It was always right before the Zamboni went out on the ice. I got to be friends with the driver so he would hold off if I called him before he did go out. He would watch and tell me that he couldn't believe I didn't play hockey with my speed. Although it wasn't the same as actually playing hockey it gave me time to think."

"Really?"

"Yeah it also made me tired enough to just go home and sleep."

"Why don't you just try again? When I was watching and from what the Zamboni driver told you, you could be really good. Maybe as good at it as you are at baseball. Why don't you talk to Matt privately and ask him to help you brush up on your skills?"

"You think he would do that without laughing at me?"

"From what you told me of him and what I've seen of your interactions around here, I can see he loves you and wants you to be happy. If helping you will make you happy I know he won't. Even if he can get you to play the game he loves he would love to have you back skating again."

"Tex can I tell you something?"

"Lizzy you know you can tell me anything." He answered honestly.

"Seth took me to the Iceland games." I said quietly.

"He did?"

"Yeah the two against you guys. They were good games. It's one of the nicest things he's ever done for me."

"How come you didn't try to get back to the locker rooms to come see us?" I knew he really meant why didn't I try to come see him.

"I did but the guard said they if he went and checked every girl that claimed to be Charlie's cousin he would get fired. I told him to ask Coach Bombay if I used to play for them and he said he was too busy." I said.

"Oh wow." Dwayne answered standing. He reached for my hands and pulled me to my feet then kicked my chair out of the way slightly. "I'm sorry for chickening out on you."

"I understand Babbit." I hugged him and after a few seconds he hugged back.

"Kitten." He whispered.

"Yeah." I said.

"I'm glad Ben talked me into coming." Tex murmured.

"I'm glad you came Tex." I answered as my door creaked open.

"Fire-arm? Are you ok?" Chris asked. I knew it was Chris without looking because he's the only one who calls me Fire-arm.

"We're ok right Dwayne?" I asked.

"Yeah Kitten we're just fine."

"That's good. Matt says dinners ready. He made spaghetti." Chris said.

"With meatballs?" I asked.

"Oui." Chris answered in French. A smile tugged at the corners of my lips.

"Good."

"Wait what did he say?" Dwayne asked.

"He said yes." I answered as Chris walked out the door. We followed him and sat down. Dean was sitting on my left, Aaron on my right, and Dwayne was across from me. Fulton had gone home.

"Ben took Charlie home a little while ago but he said that a few of your friends were getting together for hockey practice down at the pond around noonish tomorrow." Matt said seeing my confused look.

"Noonish isn't a word Rot." Chris asked. Ben and I could hardly keep the smiles off our face.

"You want to bet on that Drool Bucket." Matt answered. I couldn't look at Ben for fear of bursting out laughing. The ducks looked a little confused and Aaron who had heard the stories had a worried look on his face.

"Sure bet you five bucks it ain't in the dictionary." Chris said.

"You're on. Lizzy the handy dictionary." Matt said.

"Why do I always have to get the dictionary?" I asked.

"Because you're the only impartial judge." Matt responded staring Chris down.

"That doesn't explain why I have to get the dictionary it just explains why I have to look it up." I said. Chris wasn't giving in so I went and got the big expensive dictionary that happened to be the only one left in the house. I brought it back and pushed my plate out of the way. Then wiping my hands on the butt of my jeans I turned to the n section.

"Hum let's see here. Nonviolence, noodle, nook, noon, noose, nopal. Sorry noonish is not in the dictionary." I said. Aaron leaned over and confirmed it.

"Nope not at all."

"Well looks like Rot actually lost to Drool Bucket for once." Ben said.

"Stuff it Green Bean." Matt said.

"Cough it up." Chris said.

"That ain't fair you knew it wasn't." Matt complained but handed over the cash anyway.

"Rot, Drool Bucket, Green Bean? You guys have weird nicknames." Dean said.

"We call Matt Rot because his favorite animal is a Rottweiler and Chris gets called Drool Bucket for one of two reasons. Either because his favorite animal is a slobbery Saint Bernard or because..." I started but Matt cut me off.

"Because he used to drool over the pretty girls that walked down the street and his shoes became like drool buckets. And Ben is Green Bean because Lizzy started that one. She was having problems saying Ben or Benjamin when she was little and one day he was wearing a green sweater. So she called him Bean. The sweater kinda made him look like a green bean so hence his nickname." Matt said.

"Any embarrassing one's about Lizzy?" Luis asked.

"Just one." Matt said.

"Please don't." I begged.

"Ain't isn't a word either." Chris interrupted changing the subject.

"It is too." I said.

"Bet you ten bucks it isn't in the dictionary." Chris said.

"Bet you twenty it is." I answered. Dwayne and Aaron both covered their mouths with their hands to keep from saying anything.

"You're on." Chris said after thinking it over. I flipped back to the A's and scanned till I found the word.

"Ain't, contraction, are not. Slang am not, is not, has not, or have not; do not, does not, did not." I read then handed it to Matt.

"She's right it's right here." Matt said.

"Damn kid." Chris said pulling out his wallet and handing over two tens.

"Easy money." I said putting it in my back pocket and taking the dictionary back from Matt.

"How?" Julie asked.

"I already knew it was in the dictionary. I got into it with Dwayne one day whether or not it was a word and made 5 bucks off him. Then Aaron said it wasn't a word either one day and I made ten dollars off him. Never tell me that ain't isn't a word." I said. I went and put it away. When I came back they were all still sitting there. I sat down and looked around. "There is one word though that I know for sure is not in any printed English dictionary. Anywhere from here across the globe and back wherever you find an English dictionary you won't find this one word."

"What word?" Ben asked.

"The f word." I said.

"What f word?" Matt asked.

"The f word." I said again.

"What word Lizzy?" Matt asked again. Then I realized he knew the word he just wanted to make sure I wasn't gonna say it.

"No way, I ain't swearing in English again. I've been in enough trouble as it is for swearing in English never again." I said looking at my food and eating.

"You ever been hit for swearing?" Dwayne asked.

"Not really but we haven't ever been spanked either. It normally results in time out if we did something bad."

"Not with my parents. A good hard smack across the butt to get the point across and Kyle and I won't do it again where they could find out." Julie put in. I think Kyle was her older brother.

"We used to, it's just that Lizzy's never been spanked. She was too young to remember it if she ever was." Matt said.

"What made Dad stop again?" Ben asked.

"That would be my fault." Chris said.

"How come I don't remember this?" I asked.

"You were 4 when it happened I think." Matt said. "You were playing with Seth on the floor when Chris came in after school and tripped over one of your toys. He swore and Dad over heard him. Chris looked up at Dad and Dad pointed to the kitchen. Chris hung his head and walked into the kitchen. He braced himself against the wall and waited."

"I used to think there was absolutely nothing worse than waiting for the blows to fall. He never hit us too hard, just hard enough to get his point across. I learned that day not to swear in English. Well at least not in front of my dad and four year old sister." Chris put in.

"Anyway like I was saying he stood there waiting and eventually Dad came in. I was sitting at the top of the back stairs listening. Dad hit his butt a few times and Chris started squirming. Dad didn't say anything while he was spanking Chris that I could hear I just heard Chris's muffled sobs. I crept a bit farther down the stairs to where I could see into the kitchen. Our dad's a pretty powerful man when he needs to be. Chris's squirming was too much because the next blow didn't land on his butt. Instead it caught his lower back and Chris howled his head off. Our dad immediately stopped. He looked from his hand to Chris's back and back and forth between the two a couple times, and then he headed for the stairs that I happened to be sitting on. He walked past me and stopped and looked at me. He told me to go help my brother and make sure Lizzy was ok. As I was walking down the stairs I heard him swear to God that he would never again lay a hand on one of his children." Matt said.

"That punishment wasn't as bad as what I got from them when Lizzy said the word at dinner. She was sitting in her booster seat and my mom asked what she did today. Lizzy looked up and said I learn-ed a new word. Mom asked what and she squealed the word like it was the coolest thing since Play-Doh and then started clapping her hands and singing the word. Finally Ben slapped his hand over her mouth and she stopped. My dad's look was astonished and mom seemed angry. She asked what happened and when I told her she was pissed. She couldn't believe that...how'd she put it again?" Chris asked.

"She said 'Robert I can't believe your son tainted my daughter like that.' Or something along those lines." Ben answered. I almost chocked on my piece of bread.

"What was the word?" Dean asked.

"Shit." Matt answered.

"Her daughter?" I said trying to clear my throat. Aaron started patting my back trying to help. "Thanks." I said when I was better.

"Yeah back when you weren't so...so..." Ben started.

"So rebellious?" Dwayne asked.

"Yeah and not a..." Ben said again.

"Tomboy?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah. Back when she was trying so hard to corrupt your small little mind. Anyway Alicia sent Chris to his room and took Lizzy upstairs for a long talk." Matt said.

"Alicia?" Luis asked.

"My mom." I answered. "Small and little are the same thing."

"I know." Matt said. "After that Chris learned French to get away with cursing in front of our parents. Seth tried the same thing with Spanish but once our dad heard him a few times it didn't work quite as well as Chris's French."

"Why not?" Dean asked.

"Because our dad can speak Spanish fluently." Ben said.

"Anyway I heard that Ben actually took German to get away with swearing." Matt said with interest. Ben nodded and a mischievous smile crossed his face. "And Lizzy here never swears."

"In front of Mom." I answered.

"Learned your lesson with that one didn't you." Ben said with concern in his eyes. I unconsciously rubbed my left upper arm.

"Yeah I did." I answered.

"What happened?" Dean asked.

"It's nothing." I said.

"What about your dad?" Dwayne asked changing the subject.

"My dad will give me anything. I can't do anything to get in trouble with him and trust me I've tried." I said.

"Not fair." Luis said.

"I know and I hate it." I said.

"What do you mean he'll give you anything?" Aaron asked.

"Remember how many cars I told you he wanted me to test drive?"

"Ten I do believe before you fell in love with the fixer-upper Mustang." Aaron said.

"Yeah he was really insistent about an '82 Roadster." I said.

"He tried to get you to get a Roadster?" Matt said in disbelief. He sounded mad or concerned but I couldn't tell which.

"Yeah mint condition, 600 miles, everything about it was original; guy only drove it to a convention once."

"And you turned it down? For a fixer-upper Mustang? Are you insane?" Dean asked. I flinched and he let out a yelp. "What was that for?" He asked glaring at Julie.

"He didn't know, I never told him." I said.

"Sorry." Julie said.

"Dean the only memory I have of an '82 Roadster is crashing through a fence, a ditch, and hitting a Great Dane." I said. "The only wreck Matt's ever been in with another person that I know of was when he was taking me to school and he swerved to miss a Great Dane. He hit a fence, a ditch, and still managed to hit the Great Dane. I was put in the hospital. They had to do three surgeries to fix me up. The first was exploratory, the second to take out a small part of my liver, and the third to take out my appendix that burst in the doctor's hand right after they removed it so sorry if I don't want a Roadster." I snapped.

"Sorry." He answered. A little later on we all went to bed and the next day Matt took the team out to the pond while Aaron and I spent the day in my room talking about the past three weeks. He also told me that Ben knew I wanted to see him for the holidays so he got him a plane ticket and flew him up. I rolled my eyes and muttered 'thank God for Ben' under my breath when I heard that one.

As I promised here is your list of Screen names that have been used in this story:

ERsRomeo-Aaron Hoffer, her best friend in Ohio
MDcocoa69-ER Jacobs, the main character
7LoneStars-Dwayne Robertson, other wise know as Cowboy, Tex, or Babbit
KPuckHockey56-Russ Tyler
HotCat6-Julie Gaffney, also known as Cat
SpeedSkater16-Ken Wu, Kenny or little bash bro
MiamiChicks22-Luis Mendoza
And if you couldn't get these last two I should shoot you in the head killing you painfully
#1BashBro21-Dean Portman, a.k.a Goose or Dean
FultonDigsChicks44-Fulton Reed, you really oughta be shot if you didn't get this one his names actually in the screen name.

You're welcome for the list and the rest of the ducks might show up every now and then. If anyone steals any part of my story or these screen names I so cleverly made up well I can't really do anything but I'll be imagining something horrible. Please tune in next time.