Sydney POV

…

…

It's morning.

I take a deep breath and stretch.

…

Wait…

Austin?

Oh crap.

I fell asleep.

Mom and Dad let him stay over last night, and we watched movies with Kevin and Corey in the media room.

But they both fell asleep about 1 AM.

So we kicked on another movie.

And fell asleep.

Oops.

Hopefully Mom and Dad won't be mad.

I feel Austin pull me closer and breathe out.

"Are you awake?" I whisper.

"Yeah. Did I wake you?" he said sleepily.

"No. Hi."

He chuckled. "Hi. Your phone went off about 45 minutes ago, before we were up."

"What'd it say?"

"Corey saw us cuddled up in here and told your parents."

"What?" I scramble up and take my phone from him.

"Hey honey, Corey says you and Austin are asleep in the media room. We won't wake you, we know you've been putting in long hours in the studio. Beck and Jade are over and we bought breakfast. Love you." –Mom

I smile and hand him my phone back.

"We're not in trouble." I say, then lie back down.

He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me.

"Did you sleep well? That's a bigger concern to me."

"I slept good. How about you?" I ask.

"I slept great. You snore."

Aww man…

"I'm sorry." I groan.

Austin laughed. "It's fine. I'll get used to it over the years."

I smile. "You better."

"Or I better buy those earplugs they show on TV."

I shove my elbow into his chest.

"Ahh!" He gasped.

I knocked the wind out of him.

"Not funny." I say.

He gasped for air for a moment, then said "Fine. Whatever you say. Just don't do that again. Please."

"I'm strong." I say happily.

"You hit a soft spot, and I wasn't expecting it." He said.

"Suuuure. You ready?"

"NO!" he yelped, scrambling away from me.

"Oh good! You're up!" I hear Ellie's voice.

I roll over and see her peeking over the couch.

"How are you two lovebirds? Have fun last night?" She smiled.

"Not the kind of fun you're referring to. Sorry." Austin coyly smiled back at her.

"So I'm not going to be an aunt?" Ellie said, sounding sad.

"Nope. Sorry." I sit up and smile.

"So when are you guys going to start acting like normal couples?" Ellie asked.

I quickly go red, and Austin hung his head.

"What's your guy's name Ellie?" I ask her.

"None of your business!" She bit back at me.

"Is breakfast still downstairs?" Austin asked.

"Yeah, but all the adults are down there, so beware. Oh, and Olivia just got here."

Austin lit up, then hopped to his feet, pulled me up and dashed away.

"Bye!" I call out, as he disappeared down the stairs.

When I look to Ellie, she's smiling at me.

"What?"

"When you two get married, I'm being the maid of honor."

"I…Uh…yeah. Sure." I give her a look, then walk around the couch and start downstairs.

I hear Olivia squeal, and voices downstairs as I descend.

"—tching a movie and I guess we fell asleep. Sorry about that." Austin said just as I walk into the kitchen and see everyone holding napkins and surrounded by boxes/

"Hey! Morning!" Jade smiled at me.

I wave as Mom hugged me.

"Thanks for playing it cool." I whisper in her ear, and she just smiled at me.

"We got breakfast tacos and kolaches. You know where the drinks are." Dad said, then kept eating his kolache.

"Thank you." I say, then pouring myself some orange juice.

I'm trying to wean myself off coffee this summer.

So far I've been good, but it's taken about an hour to wake up fully.

As I put the OJ back, I feel a small body hug me from behind.

"Hi sissy."

I smile and turn to see Corey smiling up at me.

"Hey. You want something?"

"Yes please." He smiled at me.

I take his glass and refill it, then hand it back.

"Thank you." He walked away, clearly content.

I take a breakfast taco and start eating.

"Fafa!"

I glance over and see Olivia reaching for me.

I set my food down and take her, then swallow.

"Hi." I say, as she grabbed onto me and laid her head onto my chest.

"Hey, what are you two up to tonight?" Dad asked Austin, and implying me.

"Uhm…as far as I know, nothing. Everything ok?" He asked looking to me.

"Well, we have plans to go out for dinner and were wondering if you could take the kids out for dinner." Mom smiled.

Austin appealed to me and looked over.

"Sure. Where do you want us to go?" I ask, as Aunt Jade and Aunt Tori light up.

"We don't care. Your fathr is buying ,so it won't really matter."

"Will we have Olivia?" Austin asked, causing her to perk up on my shoulder.

"No, she'll be at my parents."

Olivia silently grabbed for Austin and he slid over and grabbed her.

"Ok. Sounds good. We got this. Right?" Austin asked me.

"Right." I say, then looking for Corey.

…

Where'd they go.

"What do you want?" Austin said as Olivia started squirming.

"She's hungry." Andre said, as Mom went to the fridge.

"Oh, ok." Austin said, moving to hand her back to Aunt Tori.

"No, you can do it."

"I…uhm, ok." He said, taking the bottle from mom.

Quickly Olivia snatched it from him and turned away from him.

Mom, Beck, Aunt Jade and Andre laughed.

Aunt Tori looked embarrassed.

"Sorry about her…" Tori blushed

"She's bossy!" Jade beamed.

"You know who that reminds me of…" Dad smiled, looking at Olivia.

"Who?" I ask.

"You." Mom said, not looking as happy.

"I was not bossy…" I say, affronted.

No way.

"Ohhhh yes you were." Dad said.

"You might have been the baby, but you ran that house." Jade said.

Austin laughed, and I look to Uncle Andre or Aunt Tori.

"Hey, you and I used to fight over blocks all the time. You hated me even touching them." Uncle Andre smirked.

Austin just grinned. "This is hilarious."

I roll my eyes.

"I'll top it off. You used to just stop and sit anytime you got to tile or stone and demand we carry you." Dad smiled.

"Oh that's not fair. And I still don't like going barefoot on cold floors." I saydefensively.

Suddenly everyone looked impressed.

"Good point." Beck said.

"I take it back then. But I won't carry you." Dad smiled.

"Whatever…" I groan.

"Do you need to go home?" Mom asked Austin.

"Uhh…I'll see. Let me ask…" Austin said, pulling out his phone.

(8 Hours Later)

The din of the surrounding restaurant softly overshadowed our table, as everyone sipped the drinks that just came to our table.

We decided to come to Peppers and try to stay incognito.

DeVaughn is 3 tables down if we need him, but I don't think we will. Nobody has recognized us so far.

Or at least hasn't made an effort to come say hello.

I fiddle with my phone as Matt and Corey are talking about some sports thing.

"No, Tulo can turn it faster." Corey said.

"I'll take AP. He doesn't mess it up, and you don't have to worry if you're 5 rows behind the dugout!" Matt retorted.

Austin smiled while sipping his lemonade.

Ellie is texting, to no surprise.

"Good call." She looked at me.

"Thanks." I smile.

Austin rubbed my thigh and said "Yeah, good idea Syd. Just what we all needed. A nice dinner, ice cream, then home to burn off a ton of sugar." He grinned at Matt and Corey.

They both stopped talking and gave us big goofy smiles.

"Are you staying over again Austin?" Corey asked.

"Yeah bud. But this time I plan on making it to the spare bedroom." He joked. "Sorry about this morning. Must have been kind of weird."

"No. Not really. It was just like Mommy and Daddy when they're asleep." Corey said.

Ellie turned to me, clearly trying to hide her surprise.

"Uh, yeah." I say.

"So how's baseball coming for you guys?" Austin asked Corey, Matt and Kevin, who has been really quiet.

"Good." Corey said simply, then grabbed his drink.

"Eh. Our pitchers have been sucking." Kevin shrugged.

"And our bats disappeared when school got out." Matt frowned.

"Hmm. Any idea why?" Austin asked.

Both Kevin and Matt shrug, while Ellie is absorbed in her phone.

"Ok. When was the last time you guys hit for an hour at the cages?"

They shrugged again.

"Sounds like you guys needs to hit out this slump." He said.

"Ooh! Can I come?" Corey asked.

"Sure.

"Will you hit?" Matt asked.

"A little, sure." Austin said coolly.

"Okay…the chicken tenders and fries…." Our waitress popped up, trays and food suddenly here and deposited Corey's food in front of him.

Matt and Kevin got their bacon burgers, Ellie got her grilled chicken Caesar salad, I got Spicy Buffalo Chicken and Austin…

Oh lord.

Got the jalapeño fire burger.

"Let me know if I can get you guys anything." The waitress smiled at Austin, then walked off.

"Whoa." Corey said, looking at Austin's food.

"Mine." He said protectively, crouching down and eying us all warily.

The guys all laughed, and Ellie chuckled.

"Do I need to order milk along with that?" I ask.

"No. Thanks for thinking of me though." He smiled at me, then started eating.

I look to everyone else, and they're already multiple bites into their food.

I gotta get going.

The next 5 or so minutes is marked by everyone eating, separated by sparse "Thank You's" from everyone to Austin and I.

"Don't leave Ellie out of this. It's her too." Austin selflessly said, grabbing like 5 fries and dunking them into his ketchup.

"Nah, it was you and Sydney. Good idea." She smiled at me.

"Thanks." I say, then keep eating.

When I look up, Kevin and Matt are looking in the same direction.

And Austin is biting his lip and looking at them.

That's his tip off that something is wrong.

I gently nudge Austin, and he waved me off.

Kevin still hasn't moved.

Matt finally catches him in the ribs with a elbow, which brings him back to reality and he began eating with great gusto.

However, he's done in two bites.

Austin signaled for the waitress and asked for our check.

Kevin clearly doesn't know what to do, and is joining into Corey and Matt's discussion halfheartedly while having the same blank look on his face.

Ellie gave me the silent "What's going on?" look while Austin used Dad's credit card to pay, then got to his feet and gestured us to the car.

The boys take the lead, still happily jabbering on.

Austin, Ellie and I hang back just a moment.

…

"What just happened back there?" Ellie asked.

Austin checked Kevin's back, then whispered "Remember that girl I said that he liked that I saw at school then at his games?"

Ellie and I both nod.

"Well that girl walked right by us, and him with a different guy."

Oh.

…

Ouch.

"Isn't he a little young to be going out alone?" Ellie asked.

"I think she's older than he is." He said, just as we get to the outside door.

Austin played some music on the short trip to the frozen yogurt shop, and we all piled out.

He stopped by the register and said that he'd be paying for us, while the boys and Ellie were drawn to the frozen treat.

As soon as he started walking towards the frozen yogurt, I softly hug him.

"Hi."

"Hi." He replied, not looking happy.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"I feel bad for Kevin. That was rough."

"Yeah. But he's tough. He'll be ok."

He nodded, still biting his lip and walked to get fro-yo.

We both get our usual, and I let him add the extra gummy bear for luck.

"Your total is $9.25." The lady at the register said.

Austin handed over the card again, then got it right back.

"Thank you, have a good night." She smiled at him.

He's MINE!

I hate how many girls stare at—

"Hey Kevin." A girls voice said.

I look over and hear the air come out of Austin.

That must be her.

"Oh. Sorry Matt. Didn't see you guys. What are you doing here?" The girl smiled at them.

"We're just getting dessert." Matt said, and Kevin nodded.

"Oh my god you're Sydney Valentine." The guy said, and I look over.

The girl gasped and immediately tackled me into a hug.

"Hi! Oh my gosh. I love you. You're my idol."

"Uh, hi. Thanks." I smile shyly.

I don't like doing this…

I really hope Kevin doesn't get mad at me for this.

"You…you're Kevin's sister?" The girl immediately said.

"Yeah." I say shyly.

"I didn't know he had a sister." The guy said.

"Doesn't matter." Kevin said suddenly, not sounding thrilled.

"yeah, anyway it was great meeting you guys. I'd love to chat but I gotta get them home." Austin qickly jumped in.

"Ok. Good seeing you!" The girl smiled.

"Bye!" Corey said as I wave.

…

Austin picked up where he left off with the music on the drive home.

When he stopped, Matt and Kevin couldn't have gotten out faster.

By the time we're all in, Kevin is pulling Mom and dad into their room.

Leaving Aunt Jade and Uncle Beck looking confused with the rest of us.

"What happened? He looked like he was gonna cry." Aunt Jade said.

"He had a bad night…" Austin said, rubbing his neck.

Yeah.

(A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry about the delays. Thank my aunt who tries to keep me busy 24/7, which despite her good intentions is driving me crazy. I'm going to try to speed up the update rate. I did want to say that we have less than 10 chapters left in the story. Going into this I knew that there was going to be loose strings at the end, but I didn't mind because the kids are between the ages of 8 and 16 and you're going to have loose strings at that age. My main priority is to get faster updates and to maintain the quality and standard I've set in the previous story and this one. I don't want to wreck Sydney or anyone else's character by dragging it out and make them into something I don't want. Anyway, sorry about my quick rant. Thanks for reading.)