Chapter 14

Jon Snow Stark POV

Gendry, Pod and Sam are staying at least one night with me. They might stay two nights, or at least Sam might. I'm not sure. We're just planning on ordering some pizza and gaming a little bit, I definitely need this time to relax with the boys.

Sam shows up first I hear a knock at the door and open it to see Sam, he's earlier than I expected. "Oh, hey," I say when I see him. "You're early."

"Yeah, I wanted to head over," Sam says. "Gilly and baby Sam are doing well, I made sure they're okay."

"That's good," I say. "They definitely come first."

Gendry and Podrick show up not long after. Gendry brought some alcohol, even though I have a little bit. "Hey guys," I say when they come to the door. "Come in."

"Where's Dany?" Podrick asks.

"She's staying at Cersei's place," I say, closing the door. "They work together now, so it makes sense for her to stay there this weekend."

"Where do they work?" Gendry asks.

"A seafood place by campus," I say. "Cersei apparently doesn't take the job seriously at all."

"I'm not shocked by that," Podrick says, laughing. He sits on my bed with me and turns to Sam, who's getting a drink in the kitchen. "How are things with Gilly."

"It's going great," Sam says. "It's nice to finally have a weekend with friends though; work, school and being a father is incredibly tiring."

"I bet," I say. "Are you guys still getting married?"

I wish Sam and I talked more than we do, he's definitely my best friend. I get that life gets hectic, but we should make more of an effort to keep in touch.

"We definitely are," Sam says. "We want to wait until next summer, though. And we honestly might just elope."

"Any reason why?" Podrick asks. "Does Gilly not want a big wedding like most girls?"

"No," Sam says. "She's also worried her dad will find out and try to show up, we don't want that to happen." That makes sense, it sucks that they have to worry about that.

"How is it living with Dany?" Podrick asks.

"It's great," I say. "It feels right, like this is how it's supposed to be. I want to stay with her forever."

"Aww, that's sweet," Sam says. "Finding the one is really amazing."

"Are you still dating Sansa's friend?" I ask Podrick.

"Yeah, Myrcella," he says, his face lighting up at the mention of her name. "She lives with me and Gendry now."

"Woah, really?" Sam asks.

"Yeah," Podrick says. "Her home situation was really bad with her dad and her brother, so he let her come live with us. I think he just didn't want her there for him to have to deal with anymore."

"How is that?" I ask. "Is it weird, since she's still in high school?"

"It's a little hectic to manage everthing, but it's worth it," Podrick says. "She's in a much better situation now, that's all that matters."

"How are things with Sansa and your family?" Sam asks. "I know it was kinda rough there for a while."

"It's going okay," I say. "My dad wants to talk to me about some stuff regarding my biological mom over Thanksgiving break."

"Are you nervous about that?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, but I'm trying not to think about it too much," I say. "I think it's time I know the truth about where I come from, and I feel ready."

There's a long pause in the conversation. Gendry's being really quiet, I'm not sure what's going on with him. He's giving one-word responses and not really engaging at all. He's just laying on the couch and looking at the ceiling.

"Gendry?" I ask him. He looks at me. "You okay, man?"

"Just feeling a little down," he says. "I'll be fine."

"What's wrong?" Sam asks. Podrick gives him a look.

"Arya and I broke up again," Gendry says. "It's been hard on me."

"What happened?" Sam asks. "I didn't realize you guys got back together."

"Yeah, her parents decided they didn't approve of the age difference," Gendry says. "They said she couldn't keep seeing me." I hate how he talks about "her parents" like they're not also my parents.

"So she dumped you?" Sam asks.

"No, I broke up with her," he says. "I didn't want to be getting her in trouble."

"Gendry," I say. "What did I tell you would happen if you hurt my sister? I thought you said you loved her."

"I do," Gendry snaps at me. "God, I love her so fucking much. I just knew I was hurting her."

"I'm just protective of Arya," I say. "I don't want to see her hurt."

"Me neither," Gendry says. "But Jon, trust me. I'm already beating myself up over this every day, I don't need to hear any of it from you. There's nothing you could say to me that would make me feel worse than I already feel."

"So you don't think you could make it work with her?" Sam asks.

"Not right now," he says. "She wanted to sneak around with me, I said no."

I pause, I didn't know he actually turned that down. "Why did you say no?" I ask.

"I knew your parents would be angry and it would just get worse for her," he says. "I didn't want to risk her getting in more trouble."

That's actually really nice of him, I'm glad he put Arya's best interest over what he wanted. Most guys wouldn't do that. It's still weird that he ever dated my sister, and I still don't love the idea. I just never imagined that he loved and cared about her this deeply.

I'm glad Sam and Gilly are still happy. I want to go to their wedding, but I understand if they want to elope and keep it small. They're young to gey married, but I feel like it's meant to be just like Robb and Talisa were. I do want to marry Dany, but I think it would be best to wait until after college for that. I know we'll be together forever, I'm not in a hurry.

Daenerys Targaryen POV

I'm staying with Cersei this weekend while Jon has his friends over. I'm hoping it doesn't go too badly, but she and I have been getting along better lately so I'm hopeful. We had a lunch shift today, and now we're just hanging out at her apartment.

We're drinking wine and watching TV when Jaime walks out of his room. He and Cersei don't say anything to each other, which is really weird. "Hey," I say to Jaime. "How's it going? I've barely seen you since I got here."

He looks at me as he walks into the kitchen. "Oh, I'm alright," he says. "How are things with Jon?"

"Pretty good," I say. "He's having some friends over tonight, I hope it's okay that I'm here."

"Of course," Jaime says. "You know you're always welcome here."

"How is school for you?" I ask.

"It's going okay, just a little stressful," he says. "I decided to major in business, so that's getting difficult."

"Are you going to go to law school like you talked about?"

"Probably," he says. "That's the plan."

There's silence as he makes himself a plate of food. I can't put my finger on it, but there's clearly tension between him and Cersei. They're not even looking at each other.

"Oh, before I forget," Cersei says to me. "I want to throw a party over winter break for my 21st birthday, would you be down to help me plan it?"

"Sure," I say. "That sounds like fun, would it be with people from high school?"

"Yeah, whoever can come," she says. "Luckily a lot of people will be in town so we can probably get a few people back together."

I know it'll be tiring because Cersei will definitely get drunk and crazy at something like that, but I can make an exception for her birthday. I just wish she would limit it to that.

"That sounds like a plan," I say. "I'll probably do something small for my 21st in January, probably just something at my place."

"You don't want to go out or anything?"

"Well, Jon won't be able to drink yet," I say. "So I think doing something at my place is best. I'd invite you, Jaime, Bronn and Jorah."

"Oh, makes sense," she says. "I'd still be down."

Jaime walks back into his room with his food without saying a word to Cersei. I can feel the awkwardness.

"Is everything okay with you two?" I ask Cersei after he shuts the door behind him.

"What do you mean?"

"Cersei, come on," I say. "I can tell there's tension between you guys."

"He's not happy I'm dating Bronn," she says. "I think we just need some space."

"That may not be a bad idea."

"You think?"

"Yeah," I say. "You guys have always been really close, it may be good to start finding who you are as individuals now that you're becoming adults."

"I guess you're right," Cersei says. "That's not a bad way to look at it."

I'm glad that didn't upset her, but I think she can see that I have a point. I do think she and Jaime should figure out who they are as individuals, they've always had an unhealthily close relationship. Maybe taking some space is good for them.

Cersei Lannister POV

There's still so much tension between me and Jaime right now, but it does feel good to be having a sleepover with Dany like old times.

"Work was so crazy today," Dany says as we're hanging out on the couch. "I know it's the weekend, but damn it was intense."

"I know," I say. "The manager got onto me for standing around."

"I saw that," Dany says. "He kinda had a point, it really didn't help things with how busy we were."

"Whatever, he still overreacted."

While we're hanging out, I get a text from Bronn.

*What are you doing?* It says.

*Not much, just hanging with Dany.*

Ding. *Can I come over? I have something I want to drop off to you.*

*Sure, what is it?*

Ding. *It's a surprise…*

*Sure, come on over.*

"Hey Dany," I say to her as we're sitting on the couch. "Can Bronn come over? He just wants to drop something off to me."

"I thought we were having a girls' night."

"We are," I say. "He just said he has a surprise for me."

"Okay," Dany says after a pause. "I guess that's fine."

A few minutes later there's a knock at the door, I get up to answer it. Bronn is outside with a bottle of wine. "Hey," I say, giving him a kiss. "So what's the surprise?"

"I got this for you," he says, handing me the bottle. "It's a really nice wine, it's supposed to be really good."

"Thank you so much, where did you get it from?"

"A guy I sell to regularly was short on cash so he gave me this," he says. "I don't really want it."

"You were fine with that?"

"Yeah, I've known him for a long time so I know he's good for it."

"Well, thank you," I say. "I really appreciate that."

"Of course," he says. There's a pause. "Can I come inside for a minute?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," I respond. "I mean, I'd love for you too. It's just that Dany's staying over tonight and Jaime's kind of in a mood right now. It might be awkward."

"Makes sense, that's fine," he says. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay," I say. "I work until midnight."

"Just call me when you get off, we'll plan a time to hang out."

"Okay, bye." I give him a kiss and head back inside.

"What did Bronn want to drop off to you?" Dany asks me as I walk into the kitchen and open the bottle of wine.

"He got this bottle of wine from a guy he sells to," I say, pouring myself a glass. "Do you want some? It's supposed to be really nice."

"Sure," Dany says, getting up and walking into the kitchen. "How are things going with you two?"

"It's been good," I say. "We had sex and we're dating, but it's still not serious."

"Is he nice to you?"

"Yeah, he always has been," I say, pouring her a glass of wine. "I thought you didn't approve of him."

"I don't really," she says. "But if he's nice to you and you're happy, then I can live with it."

"I am," I say. "Jaime just still doesn't approve, so it's been tense between us."

"Yeah, I can tell," Dany says. "I can see where he's coming from."

"Whatever, I don't care."

I feel like I can never do anything right with Dany and Jaime these days. I'm either drinking too much, or they don't like who I'm dating, or I'm too rude or I'm taking too many drugs. Bronn doesn't judge me like that, I like spending time with him and I want to keep seeing where it leads.

I'm glad things are getting better between me and Dany, it was pretty rocky there for a while in our friendship. It seems like lately I can't have things be good with everyone in my life. It's either tense with Dany, tense with Jaime or tense with everyone else. I guess drama doesn't really let up in life after high school like everyone told me it would.

Jaime Lannister POV

I'm glad Dany's here, it's helping alleviate some of the tension between me and Cersei. I'm sure it's awkward for her, but I'm just grateful there's a mediator. I decide to call Brienne after talking some with Dany and Cersei, they'll be hanging out so I won't have to worry as much about Cersei asking who I'm talking to.

I walk into my room and sit on my bed while dialing Brienne's number. "Hello?" She says when she picks up.

"Hey," I say. "Is now a good time to talk?"

"Sure, I'm not doing much," she says. "Just watching some TV, how's it going?"

"It's fine," I say. "Daenerys is staying with us this weekend, so I'm pretty glad about that."

"Does it help having someone else around so it's not just you and Cersei?"

"Yeah," I say. "But it was awkward because Bronn came over earlier. He didn't come in but I heard them talking."

"And Bronn is Cersei's boyfriend?"

"Yeah," I say. "He just came to drop something off, but it was still awkward knowing he was here since we used to be really close."

There's a pause. "I don't really want to talk about Cersei," Brienne finally says. "I feel weird about it."

"Okay, that's fine," I say. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," she says. "Let's just change the subject."

"So you're just at home?" I ask. "I thought you would be out partying or something." She laughs at that. I was sort of joking, but it kind of makes sense since she's single and 25.

"I'm definitely not a partier," she says. "You should know that about me."

"Yeah, but I'm just saying."

"With the amount I excercise, drinking at all wouldn't be a good idea."

"How has this school year been so far?" I ask after a pause.

"It's been okay," she says. "Same as always, I'm just hoping it'll be my last year."

"Right, because you want to go into sports medicine."

"Yeah," she says. "I'm kinda done coaching."

"Forever?"

"At least for a while," she says. "I know it wasn't that long ago that I was in high school, but dealing with high schoolers is rough."

"Yeah I bet," I say, chuckling. "I'm really excited to see you over Thanksgiving break."

"Hey now, don't get ahead of yourself," she says. "We'll revisit that if we're still even talking by then."

"We will be," I say. "I'm confident in that."

"I hope you're right, but I don't want to speak too soon." I hear her yawn after saying that.

"Are you tired?" I ask.

"Yeah," she says. "I should probably go to bed, I have an early workout class tomorrow."

"Okay, we'll talk soon," I say. "Have a good night."

"Bye, Jaime."

We hang up, I feel good about that conversation. I'm glad we're still talking, and I hope we can build up our relationship and she can trust me again by the time Thanksgiving break rolls around. I'm going to work really hard to get to the point where she trusts me again.

If we're still talking by then, I want to ask her to be my girlfriend. I feel like I should since we're talking again and I was her first. I know long distance probably won't be easy to navigate, but anything seems like a piece of cake after dealing with Cersei for so long.

For the majority of my life, I thought she and I would be together forever. Now I just don't know what to think. So much has happened between us, but at the end of the day she's still family and she's still my first love.

Despite everything, I'm still not ready to fully let her go. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't want to start things back up with her if she broke up with Bronn. I'm just not sure I can do it anymore with her, and I hate the hold she still has on me.