Hi everyone :) Thought I'd update early as a Thanksgiving gift


November

Turns out it wasn't just a dance after all. Kendall had given Mercedes his number. Texting turned to phone calls, phone calls turned to dates, and dates turned into actually dating. They were the new couple of Hopkins, and I wasn't happy.

Kendall didn't let Mercedes stop him from talking to me and hanging out, but it wasn't the same. He wasn't randomly climbing through my window anymore, and I never thought I would actually miss that.

Of course, Mercedes still wasn't happy with the fact that Kendall and I were friends, and she was constantly trying to distance him from me by spending all her time with him. He started picking her up for school, leaving me to drive by myself. He sat with her in class and during lunch. It was just new for me.

"You can't be mad at him for having a girlfriend," Camille said. "Even if she is the Regina George of this place."

"I'm not mad at him, not even close. I just miss hanging out with him."

"It was like this when you were with Jett though," she said and I agreed. I did leave Kendall a lot for Jett, but he was my boyfriend at the time.

"Yeah, and he turned out to be a total douche."

"Well Mercedes makes the evil queen from Snow White look like Mother Theresa, so I can't see that relationship lasting too long."

"Yeah, you're probably right," I said.

"Jo!" I heard a male voice call down the hallway. I turned around, hoping it was Kendall, but of course it wasn't.

"Hey Tyler," I said.

"Geez, don't be too excited to see me," he joked and I smiled.

"Sorry, just a lot on my mind. That's all."

"It's fine. You busy later?"

"No. Is this your way of asking me out?"

"Just for coffee, as friends, no big deal. I'll even make you pay for yourself," he said and winked at me.

"Well if you put it that way," I said. "That'd be great."

"Meet me by my car after school then?"

"Sure."

I watched as Tyler walked away and saw the Camille was standing there with a huge smile on her face.

"What are you smiling about, you freak?" I asked as I gave her a weird look.

"He's so adorable and you two have a date!"

"It's not a date. Honestly, I don't see him that way at all."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't hold out for Kendall, Jo. If you do, you'll let life pass you by."

"Who said I was holding out for Kendall? I'm going with Tyler after school, right?"

"You mean you've moved on from your best friend? That's disappointing," I heard someone say behind me. I turned around and it was Kendall. Finally, I thought to myself.

"Just as fair, seems like you've moved on from your best friend as well," I said.

"No, it just seems like Mercedes has a radar for whenever I go to talk to you because she drags me off somewhere else."

"Sounds normal," I said and shrugged.

"How is Mercedes?" Camille asked, trying to be friendly.

"She's alright."

"Well don't you sound happy," she laughed. "I'd sound a little more happy since she's on her way over here."

"You're kidding," Kendall said and rolled his eyes. "Let me be quick then. I was going to see if you wanted to hang out after school today, but since you're busy we're hanging out tomorrow. No excuses or I'll climb through your window and drag you out of your house and into mine."

"That sounds dangerous," I said and smiled. I saw Mercedes was standing behind him and only heard the last part, so I thought it'd be appropriate if I messed with her a bit. "And what will we do after you drag me into your house."

"Oh you know, take advantage of you. The usual," Kendall said and then was smacked upside the head by Mercedes. Kendall looked at me as I tried not to laugh and glared. "That was mean."

"You should know better than anyone that I'm not nice," I said and smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kendall. You can bring me to school since my car's going into shop tonight."

"Bye Jo," he said before being dragged down the hallway by Mercedes.

"She's like pure evil," Camille said.

"Oh, I know."

"Mom, Dad, I'm home," I said as I walked into my house.

"Hi sweetheart," my mom said as I went into the kitchen and sat down at the table. "How was your day?"

"I've had better," I mumbled."

"Where'd you go after school?" my dad asked.

"The coffee shop with my friend," I said, the word friend tasted wrong in my mouth. "Well, not really my friend anymore."

"Why, what happened?" my mom asked, but I was saved by the doorbell ringing.

"I'll get it," I ran quickly to the door and saw Kendall was standing on the other side. I opened it and gave him a confused look. "What are you doing here?"

"My mom's out with Katie still and I'm hungry," he said as he walked in. "Figured I'd crash on dinner."

"Where's you-know-who?" I asked as I looked outside, half-expecting to see Mercedes in a car across the street with binoculars and cursing me halfway to hell.

"Home. She thinks I'm sleeping because I told her I didn't feel well," he said and smiled. "So, what's your mom cooking for dinner?"

"Homemade meatballs and sauce," I said.

"Great, my favorite," he said. We walked into the kitchen together and he greeted my parents.

"Kendall, I haven't seen you around in a while," Mrs. Taylor said.

"Yeah, I've been busy unfortunately, but I figured I'd stop by unannounced and have dinner with you guys."

"Sure. Why don't you two go upstairs and we'll call you down when dinner's ready," my dad said. The two of us walked upstairs to my room and he plopped down on my bed.

"You're probably the only guy my dad would allow up in my bedroom without a problem," I said and shook my head as I picked up some of the clothes that were thrown all over the floor.

"No need to clean up because I'm here," Kendall said as he turned on my TV.

"Well your room makes mine look absolutely spotless," I told him as I threw the dirty clothes in my hamper. "At least from what I recall from the last time I was in your room which was three weeks ago."

"Well tomorrow when we spend the entire day together braid each others hair and having pillow fights you can see how lovely my room is," he said and I threw a pillow that was on the floor at him. "Pillow fights are for tomorrow, Josephine."

"You're such a jerk," I said as I climbed onto my bed next to him.

"A jerk that you missed oh so much that you went to replace me. How was that kid, by the way?"

"I did miss you," I said quietly as I hugged him. "Today was such a shit-show. I don't even think I want to talk about it because I'd end up reliving it."

"Oh, now you have to tell me."

"So, I sat at the table in the corner in the coffee shop and waited for him to come back with the coffee. It was fine at first, normal conversation, until he went to kiss me."

"He what?" Kendall said, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, so I had just taken a sip of my coffee and I accidently spit it out in his face. He wasn't very happy about that."

"Oh my God," Kendall said in between laughs since he couldn't hold it in anymore. "I wish I would have been there for that."

"It was so embarrassing. He yelled at me after that, then I told him I was glad I spit coffee in his face and that next time he goes to kiss a girl he should think twice."

"Poor kid."

"No! He made me walk home!"

"Why didn't you call me? I would have picked you up."

"I didn't want to interrupt your time with Mercedes."

"Please, interrupt away."

"Don't seem so happy," I said and laughed.

"Shut up," he smiled as he pulled me closer.

"Dinner's ready!" my mom called after a few minutes.

Kendall and I raced downstairs, which resulted in me shoving him into a wall and then him picking me up and carrying me to the kitchen table.

"You two are insane," my dad said as he rolled his eyes at the two of us. "Dig in."

"Don't mind if I do," Kendall said and started grabbing food. "So Mr. Taylor, how's work going?"

"Busy, a lot of paper work and getting cases together. You interested in law, Kendall?"

"I'm not sure yet. I still have that idea in my head that I'll get into the NHL," Kendall said sheepishly.

"Good luck with that," I said as I reached for the spaghetti, and was reprimanded by my mother. "I'm only kidding. He knows that I want him to make it to the NHL, I fully support his dream."

"Yes, so I can introduce you to my famous friends."

"I'm still supporting your dreams, right?" I said and smiled at him.

"You guys figure out what you're doing for next week?" my mom asked.

"What's next week?" I said.

"Thanksgiving Eve."

"Oh, right," I said, completely forgetting how close it was. "Not sure yet. We'll find something."

"Are you going to be walking in the house when your mother is waking up to start cooking again?" my dad asked and I just gave him a big smile. "Kendall, make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble this year."

"I'll try my best. Last year, it was out of my hands though."

"Hey! The girl threw up in my hair, she deserved to be punched."

"No one threw up in your hair. She slipped on your throw up and her drink spilled."

"Oh, well," I said and blushed. "Great meatballs, Mom."

"Ridiculous," was all my mom said as she shook her head at me.

The next day, I walked to Kendall's car and waited for him. I saw him walking down the parking lot with Mercedes hanging all over him.

"Hey Kendall, hey Mercedes," I said politely. Mercedes gave me a dirty look before she grabbed Kendall's face and started kissing him. I looked away the two of them and waited for them to finish.

"I have to go," I heard Kendall tell her. I looked at the couple and saw she was pissed off and he looked annoyed.

"Should I stop by your house in a little bit?" she asked and glared at me.

"No, because I already told you I'm hanging out with Jo today. I'll talk to you later," he said and got into his car. I gave Mercedes a small smile before I got into his car and watched her stomp away.

"Kendall, if it's a problem we're hanging out, I'll just go home so you could have Mercedes over," I told him. I didn't want to interfere with his relationship, even though I was happy to hang out with him without the ice queen.

"No," he said as he started driving. "We haven't hung out so we're going to today and I'm going to kick your ass in Monopoly."

"You're on," I said and laughed.

"I can't believe you're winning," he said as he threw his money on the floor. "I never lose Monopoly."

"That's because we usually play as a team. Clearly I'm the better player," I said and smirked.

"Yeah, yeah."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, and I figured this would be as good of a time as any to tell Kendall about Jett.

"So, Jett tried to have sex with me over the summer. I didn't want to and he walked out of my house and broke up with me through text message the next day," I said, keeping my eyes focused on the floor.

"He what?" Kendall said, the anger evident in his voice. "Why didn't you tell me? I would have beaten the shit out of him."

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you. Will you calm down and sit?" I said as I tugged on his arm.

"He didn't force himself on you, did he?"

"No, because I punched him in the face and told him no means no."

"That's my girl," Kendall said and smiled. He walked over to me and brought me into his arms. "You should have told me sooner."

"I know. I just didn't want to talk about it, and then you started dating Mercedes so I just didn't want to make you worry."

"I'm always worried about you, Jo. You're my best friend," he said.

"Thanks Kendall," I said and hugged him tighter.

We stayed like that for a few minutes until his phone started ringing. He groaned as he looked at the caller ID that said 'Mercedes'.

"You should probably answer that."

"No, it's okay," he said and put his phone on silent. "She's pissing me off lately."

"You guys seem happy."

"We aren't," he said and laughed. "But I just don't know if I want to be happy with her."

"Who do you want to be happy with then?" I asked and he gave me a sad smile.

"Not sure yet."

"Kendall, I'm home!" Mrs. Knight said as she walked in with Katie.

"Hi!" I said as I ran downstairs to see them since it's been a while.

"Jo!" Katie said and ran to give me a hug. "You haven't been around in a while."

"Yeah, I know. The big bad bitch took my place," I said and Mrs. Knight nodded in agreement before walking into the kitchen.

"Mom doesn't like Mercedes."

"Can't imagine why she wouldn't," I said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I stopped bringing her around when they were home to avoid upsetting my mom," Kendall said. "Much easier that way."

"Last time she was here, she told Mom that her cooking was terrible and that she had a five-star in-house chef that she'd give us the number to and try to cut us a deal."

"Wow," I said, completely in shock someone would have the nerve to say that to Mrs. Knight. That woman is the strongest person I know after everything life threw her way. "Well, Mrs. Knight, I happen to think you're the best cook, and I hope your cooking tonight because I'll be here for dinner."

"Thank you, Jo," she said and gave me a genuine smile. "Kendall, start bringing her around more often again, please."

"Yeah, I think I'm going to have to," Kendall said and smiled at me.

"You're girlfriend's a complete bitch. Besides my mom, your mom is the best cook. I could live off of her food and die from a food coma very happily," I said as I walked into Kendall's room and lay down on his bed.

"I drove her home after she said that," he said as he lay next to me.

"She was so out of line. Your mom is such an amazing person, Kendall," I told him as I laid my head on his chest. "Especially since she's raised you and Katie for seven years on her own."

"It's hard," he sighed. "I don't know what I'd do without my mom."

"Let's not think of that. Let's watch mindless TV," I said, knowing this subject was still touchy for Kendall. He kissed my forehead, silently thanking me for knowing him so well.

I ended up falling asleep at Kendall's and in the morning I woke up in his arms. Thisissowrong, I thought to myself. I shook Kendall awake and he jumped out of his bed.

"Mercedes' is going to be pissed," I told him and he shrugged.

"How many fucks do I give? Zero," he told me and I laughed.

"You really shouldn't say those things. You might give off the impression that you're unhappy in your relationship with the oh-so-perfect Mercedes Griffin."

"Oh no, I wouldn't want people to think that," he said sarcastically.

"If you're so unhappy with her, why don't you break up? You deserve to be happy Kendall."

"Times like this I wish my dad was still around," Kendall said as he sat up in bed. I wrapped my arms around his waist to try to comfort him.

"He's watching over you," I said to him. "He'd be so proud of you, I know he's proud of you."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know I am, and I'm only your best friend."

"My dad would have loved you," Kendall said which made me smile. "He would always tell me when I was younger to seize the opportunity when ever one came up, because who knows how long it will be around."

"Sounds like a smart man."

"He was. I think I'm going to start taking his advice."

"And what opportunity will you be seizing?"

"Well, the first one is to go back to sleep since it's Saturday. So lay back down and go back to sleep," Kendall said and I gave him a look.

"Is that the best idea? I can just go home."

"Nope," he said as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me down. "You're staying right here."


Hope you liked it! REVIEW & let me know what you thought. You know, with the amount of people who've looked at the story - I'd have about 300 reviews lol.

I'm gonna do what I used to do on my old stories & send PREVIEWS of the next chapter. That's right, if you want a little taste of the next chapter before next week - then review ;)

Have a Happy Thanksgiving ! :D