Ages:

Faith - 78
Tim - 50
Jim - 46
Delia - 44
Melinda - 42 (pregnant with Lana)
Ned - 20
Katie - 17
Aaron - 13
Mackenzie - 7

Katie had been practicing for weeks. She'd thrown herself into her drills and routines, perfecting them only a child with Clancy blood would. She was ready for sectionals. Or at least she thought she was ready.

As she dropped to the stage in exhaustion, her head turned on the cold floor with a sigh, she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She sat up only when she heard someone call over to her, sighing when she saw it was her coach coming toward her.

The older woman extended her hand to her and helped her up. She looked at her coach, a weary look on her face. "Go home, Clancy. No more practicing, that routine was flawless," her coach said. "I don't want you injuring yourself before the big competition tomorrow."

"Thanks," she breathed and smiled, stretching her arms above her head. "Are you sure?"

"Good effort, kid. I mean it," The older woman smiled.

Katie just nodded, taking the praise, walking off the matt to collect her water bottle before heading for the locker room. She quickly changed out of her practice clothes, slipping on yoga pants and a light hoodie before heading out to the parking lot to find her car. She threw her bag on the passenger seat before starting the car.

Blowing out a breath, she turned up the music and headed for home. It was Friday and it was family dinner night. This meant after a grueling day test-filled school day and hard dance practice, she was going to have to deal with her entire family.

Not that she didn't love then. She loved her family with all her heart, but all she wanted to do was take a bath and relax before she had so much homework to still do later on.

She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove down the familiar roads of her hometown. She drove home on autopilot, drive straight for a mile then it was three lefts and two rights.

Katie had to pull off to the side of the street when she sat the driveway was full. She counted five cars. Her grandma's, Delia's, Ned's, and both of her parents.

Great. Everybody was there.

She grabbed her dance bag, swinging it over her shoulder before grabbing her backpack too. before crossing the street toward the house. She tried her best to be quiet, closing the door with hardly any sound, but her mother noticed her first.

Melinda didn't say anything once she saw her point up the stairs and nearly make a break for it.

"There she is!" Katie turned around to see her grandmother standing in front of her, a glass of wine already in her hand. "Katie, my girl. Oh, how I've missed you." Faith whispered, kissing her cheek. "You must fill me in about the beginning of your senior year! How did your SATs go?"

"Hi Grandma, I've missed you too," she hummed, melting into her warmth. She pulled back quickly and held her at an arm's length. "I'll hug you properly and fill you in on everything later." She said, eyeing the stairs and then looking back at her. "I need a shower. I just got out of a two-hour practice."

"Oh alright dear," Faith smiled and let her go. "You be quick now."

Katie nearly stomped up the stairs and screamed like a toddler would've, but suppressed the urge. So much a nice, long, hot bath.

Fifteen minutes later, she stood in her bedroom in a towel. Katie had set out a purple sweater and leggings before she showered and quickly tied her hair in a tight bun on the top of her head.

Following her usual routine, she hastily threw on some foundation, mascara, and some lip gloss before she went downstairs. Katie found her family spread throughout the house and plopped down on the couch, her seat between her little brother and Ned.

"Hey," Ned said. "I thought I heard you, but then you were gone."

"Yeah, hi." She smiled at him. "I came in and ran upstairs to shower. Long dance rehearsal."

"Tired of being the perfect child?" Aaron laughed and accidentally he jerked into her as he tried to desperately save his character from a fatal hit from Ned.

"You do know that moving with the controller will not help you win against Ned, right?" She laughed and punched his side.

Her little brother gasped, "You killed me!"

"Oh get a life," she laughed, watching him move up off the couch and rolling her eyes. "I could probably even beat you and I suck."

"Doubt it," Aaron tossed back at her frustratedly.

"What's with him?" She looked at Ned, who shrugged and slid away from her a bit. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, you just… nothing," Ned muttered, his eyes avoiding hers. "How was practice? Did something happen? You seemed like you wanted to just run upstairs and hide away from everyone."

"Was I too close for comfort?" She teased, smiling at him as she leaned forward. "Practice was fine. I'm just tired and have a lot of homework to do. How are you?"

Katie knew that their feelings for each other were mutual, she wasn't as oblivious as her fifteen-year-old self anymore, but they still had to wait now that he was older and she was a few months shy of being eighteen.

Luckily, they were alone, for now, as her hand touched his chest. "Ned," she whispered, moving closer to him. "My brother's gone, and we're alone. For now at least. Can we just talk and be adults for once?"

"Katie," he muttered and touched her hand. Her touch burned him, his mind fizzing as she smiled at him. "I've told you."

"I know you like me, Ned," she whispered into his ear, her hand touching his thigh now. Katie could feel him, against the palm of her hand. She smirked, wanting to kiss him. God, he made her feel so alive. "C'mon... I know you do."

He shook his head. "No. That doesn't matter," he said, sliding her hand away and trying to put anything in his head to help him clear his head. "I can't make any promises to you right now."

She knew he was right, and she knew that he hated to hurt her, but that didn't make her feel better.

"I'm sorry, " he said as he stood up and moved to the dining room, sitting in beside his mother.

"So, Katie you find yourself a boy yet?" Faith had walked into the room, sitting in a chair nearby.

She sighed and glanced over to Ned in the dining room. "Not really. Nothing serious anyway."

"That's a shame." Faith said. "You'll find someone someday. I'm sure of it!"

"I'd hope so," she grinned and then walked into the kitchen. Her parents had just shared a kiss, her dad's hand resting on her mother's pregnant stomach as they parted when she came in. "How long on dinner?"

"Not long," Melinda said and then pulled her into a hug. "Long day, bug?"

She sighed into her shoulder, her lavender perfume relaxing her. "Can I skip out on dinner and just have an extra big breakfast?" She asked.

"You know that's not good for you, bug. Especially the night before your competition," Melinda sighed, rubbing her back. "I promise that you can shovel down your food and be upstairs in the next twenty. Alright?"

"Okay. I guess that's fine," she whispered and stretched before bending down to press a kiss to her mom's swollen stomach before she could ask her a million more questions. "How's my baby brother or sister doing?"

Her mother searched her face, seeing that something was behind the stress of school and dance in Katie's eyes, but not wanting to probe for it now when she didn't say anything. "They are doing good and were kicking up a storm earlier, but it's a relief that I can cook in peace," Melinda said as the oven beeped, and then Jim grabbed the garlic bread out for her. "Thanks, honey. Will you get everyone into the dining room?"

Everyone slowly filed into the dining room and took their places. Within ten minutes the table was a mess of various conversations, but she couldn't bring herself to enter any of them. She was just too tired and flirting with Ned had taken a lot out of her, just to be shot down.

She listened to her grandma talking about how her trip to Mexico was amazing and that she brought gifts for all of the kids. Ned was still teasing Aaron for losing that stupid video game and Mackenzie was raving about a swim technique she'd learned. Delia had sold two houses in the last week and was going on a vacation with Tim to celebrate soon.

That's when she met her dad's eyes from across the table and gave him a small smile, but that didn't seem to satisfy him as easily as it would've with her mom. "How was practice bug?" Jim asked from his position at the end of the table. "You've been quiet."

Katie passed the salad bowl to her brother after putting a small amount onto her plate. "It was good. Long and hard, so I'm pretty tired, but my coach said my routine was flawless." She said, grabbing a piece of garlic bread too. "She had to kick me out so I wouldn't keep practicing."

"That sounds like you Katie," Ned laughed and she didn't know whether to feel happy or to kick him under the table for being such a flip-flopping asshole.

"You're going to do great tomorrow, bug," her mom said, winking at her. "I'm sure of it. All of us will be there."

"Thanks, mom," she said and then took a bite of her salad.

"What time is the competition tomorrow?" Faith asked as she started to dig into the pasta. "I know it's a county over but I'd love to come."

Katie nodded. "Mine starts at eleven, but the entire thing starts at nine. So my team leaves the school on the bus by seven."

"Would you mind if I stayed here tonight then?" Faith asked, looking at her parents. "I would love to see Katie perform tomorrow since it's likely one of the last ones."

Melinda nodded and Jim smiled. "That's not a problem mom. I'll fix up the blowup bed in the nursery after we finish eating," her dad said.

Katie pushed her food around her plate. She looked over at her mom as Melinda mouthed five more minutes to her. She nodded and took a drink of her water.

The next five minutes were gonna drag on forever.

After dinner was over Katie snuck two beers from the fridge and ducked up the stairs before anyone asked her any more questions. She had too many assignments waiting to get finished and had gotten finished with her English quickly and now moved onto math, taking a sip of her first beer in between every problem until it was gone and she still had twenty more to go.

It was probably smarter to finish it before opening the second from how warm her cheeks were feeling. She tossed the empty bottle into her trash can in her bathroom and splashed some cold water onto her face as there was a knock at her door.

"Come in," she said, wiping her face with a towel before going back into her room. "Is my music too loud?"

The door opened to reveal Ned. "Can I still come in?" He asked.

"What do you want?" She muttered, rolling her eyes. "You've said enough to me today."

Ned pulled something from behind his back as he closed the door. A chocolate chip cookie as big as the palm of his hand was in his grasp. "Your mom just finished making these bad boys. I thought you'd want one while they were still hot." He said, leaning against the door.

She walked over to her bed and grabbed her second beer, opening it against better advice in the back of her mind, but Ned was pissing her off. Why was he like this? "You don't make any sense to me," she sighed and set the bottle down as she turned around and tossed the cap into the trash from where she was. "You always are sending me mixed signals and you're a fucking asshole."

He walked over to her. "And you've been drinking," he said, handing the cookie to her. "You didn't say a whole lot at dinner tonight. Was that my doing? Usually, no one can get you to stop talking."

"Are you gonna rat m out? I just had a long day," she said, setting the cookie on her bedside table. "I wanted to eat and get up here. I have a lot of homework."

"What kind?" He asked. "No. I won't rat you out."

"Run-of-the-mill English topic, some math, and I have to pick a topic for this history project," she said, sitting down on her bed and looking over all the stuff laid out.

"So just the math and picking the history topic then," he trailed off, not knowing what to say, but still knowing her a little too well. Ned always tended to be awkward around her when he knew he should apologize. He had been a jerk earlier, even if she'd kind of asked for it. "I'm sorry for hurting your feelings earlier."

"It's alright," she said and began to look over her math problems. "I was out of line for putting my hands on you like that. I wouldn't ever want to get you in trouble."

He shook his head and then sat beside her. "I'm still sorry. I do have these... feelings... for you. I just," he told her and then trailed off, but it was the first time he'd ever actually admitted it to her.

She wasn't aware that they were leaning toward each other until their faces were mere inches apart. Her eyes flicked to his lips, then back to his eyes and she was leaning closer to him, drawn to him like scrap metal was to a magnet.

Her eyes flickered closed a second before his lips finally ghosted over hers. He was exceedingly gentle with her, testing her the waters before going further. When she did not draw away or tell him to drop, he deepened the kiss.

Her hand threaded through his hair, tugging gently as his tongue traced along the seam of her lips, and she gladly allowed him. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. It was sweet, manly, and entirely intoxicating. His scent filled her senses, surrounding her and engulfing her in his musky warmth.

Her body thrummed with energy, stemming from the point where Ned's lips were melded to hers. The kiss felt so good that it overwhelmed her mind. Everything else was just background noise. He pulled her bottom lip between his to nibble softly on it. An involuntary moan curled up through her throat. None of the high school boys she had ever kissed made her feel like Ned always had.

They broke apart with a soft smacking sound. "I'm sorry," he whispered, and her eyes flew open to see his flushed face watching her closely. "I shouldn't have done that."

"Ned, don't say that." She shook her head, even if the truth of the situation hit her like a freight train. She was still a minor, and he was right. They shouldn't be doing this. Even if she wanted him to. "I know that we can't do anything right now, but please don't just kiss me and run away right now."

He held onto her hand for a moment, squeezed it, and then turned away. "You deserve better than me Katie and I'm sorry, but we'll talk about it another day," he sighed and walked toward the door. "I promise."

She couldn't look back at him, but she heard the door close behind him. She slumped against the bed, thoroughly perplexed. Ned Banks just kissed her and no matter how many times she told herself it was the wrong timing, it didn't change the way she felt about him. It had felt good and she had dreamt of that moment for years.

Her phone buzzed on her bed, displaying a text from him. It buzzed again before she had the chance to read it with another.

Ned - I'm sorry for running off. You deserve an explanation, and I'd understand if you didn't want me at the competition tomorrow.

Ned - I'd never want to make you uncomfortable, Katie. I'm sorry if I did.

The words sent a pang of regret to her stomach. Was she that revolting? Did he hate her kiss that much? She could see he was giving her an out, but she didn't want to take it. She wanted him to be there.

Katie - I understand why you ran off, but I want you there. You could never make me feel uncomfortable. You mean so much to me.

She texted him and turned back to her homework, her mind full of too many thoughts. And she wanted another cookie. Her phone buzzed a few minutes later and she frantically reached for it.

Ned - You sure do know how to make a guy feel special... I hope you know that I do care about you and that's why this is all so complicated. But what has never been complicated are my feelings for you. I can't get you out of my mind sometimes, but I just feel wrong for doing it.

Her entire body flushed with heat when she read that. Was he doing this? Ned freaking Banks? He couldn't get her out of his mind? Oh god.

Katie - Trust me, pretty boy. I feel the same way about you. You know that.

She cheekily sent him a text, hoping to get a rise out of him, and turned back to finish her homework. Once she was finished with her math problems, she snuck downstairs to get another cookie, and then back upstairs.

When she laid in bed that night, it was the thought of Ned Banks and his sugar-sweet lips that brought her to a trembling, blissful climax under her fingers. Even if she wished more than anything that it was his touch to bring her there.

One day. Soon she hoped.