“I hate everything,” Kellin groaned into my couch cushion. I laughed as I sat in an adjacent chair.

“C’mon Kell, it’s not that bad.”

He picked his head up and looked at me like I had two heads. “Not that bad? It’s horrible!” He put his head back in the couch and groaned. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You sound like Gabi when the guy she was crushing on didn’t ask her to homecoming.”

“It’s the same thing,” he spoke with his muffled voice.

“Kellin it’s going to be okay.”

“How do you know? I’ll tell you how: you don’t.” I sighed.

“Kells…” He sat up and looked at me.

“Kaylee, we’ve been dating for three months and I can’t read him. You know how bad I wanna tell him that I’m in love with him? So bad. You know why I can’t? Because I’m pretty sure he won’t say it back. You know why I know that? Because I can’t read him, meaning that whatever’s going on in his head isn’t good.”

I sighed again. I knew what Kellin was going through. Those brothers were really hard to read in general.

“I know what you’re going through Kellin, really.” He scoffed.

“You don’t even know if you’re in love with Mike. I know I love Vic.” He put his face back in the couch and groaned once again.

“Just tell him tonight then. It’s New Year’s Eve and we’re going skating. You guys can get all close and gay and shit and tell him at midnight. It’ll be perfect.” He looked up.

“I have to tell him?”

“Well, yeah.” Swear, his eyes literally bulged out of his head. “You said you didn’t know if he loved you or not so why not tell him first. You’ll get your feelings out and if he rejects you then you know that the relationship’s not worth it.”

“But that’s just it, I want it to be worth it!”

“Well you’ll never know unless you get your crap so we can go eat.” He huffed but got up and put his shoes on.

***

“Is Kellin okay?” I looked at Kell then back at Mike.

“No,” I said simply. We were at the skating rink and Kellin was acting distraught. Poor guy. “He’s just waiting for something.”

“He’s gonna be waiting for a while.” I looked at my boyfriend questionably.

“You know what’s going on?”

“Yeah,” he replied nonchalantly.

“How?”

“Vic talks a lot when he’s drunk,” was all he said.

“Well does Vic know that Kellin…” I trailed off.

“Oh yeah. Everyone knows that Kellin’s in love with him. Hell, people who don’t know Kellin know that he’s in love with him.”

“Then why won’t Vic say anything?”

“The short shit’s a punk.” I giggled. “Seriously,” he said in between laughs, “he’s just scared that things will change. He’s only said the L word to one person and he didn’t even mean it. He wants to be sure that he won’t be putting his heart out there and lose his best friend.”

“That makes sense but he should at least tell Kellin that. The guy’s in agony.”

“He doesn’t want Kellin to leave. He thinks that if he tells him that that Kell will break up with him because he’s not serious about the relationship.” I frowned but didn’t say anything else.

Eventually I was able to drag Mike out onto the ice and watch as he fell flat on his ass as soon as his feet hit the surface. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Man fuck this, I’m from California. I’m gonna take you surfing see how you like it when I start laughing when a wave knocks you over.”

“Aw, c’mon, it was funny,” I said as I helped him up.

“And it’ll be funny when you fall off the board.”

“You don’t have to be mean,” I said jokingly as I wrapped my arms around his waist. He kissed my lips sweetly.

“I’m only mean when you’re a jerk, and even when you are you’re still cute.” I blushed.

“Hey, you’re causing traffic and get your hands off my sister.” I stuck my tongue at Brandon as he and Ariel skated past us.

“He’s right though; maybe we should get moving.” I pouted a little, not wanting to let him go. “C’mon, teach me how to skate or some shit.”

***



“3…2…1…Happy New Year!”

I looked around at the couples on the ice as they kissed each other to bring in the New Year. Mike and Kaylee, Brandon and his girlfriend, even Gabi and Tony were getting closer. They weren’t kissing though but you could tell that there was something there.

Vic looked at me shyly and took my hand. I smiled at him as I closed the small space between us. Without saying a word to each other our lips collided. The kiss was short but sweet and left me wanting more. I had to fight it off though.

I wanted to tell Vic how I felt about him but there just wasn’t a good opportunity. I thought maybe I could do it before midnight but we were too busy trying to keep each other up on the ice. We had clung to each other for dear life. You would think that would be the perfect time to tell him right? Wrong. Whenever I tried I would either get chocked up or distracted by how cute my boyfriend looked shuffling along on the ice.

We skated for a little while longer before Kay invited us all back to her place for hot chocolate. Of course none of us objected.

We all sat in various spots of Kay’s living enjoying our drinks and stupid conversation.

“By the way, I’m never doing that again.” Gabi laughed at Jaime’s comment.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because one, I’m Mexican and we don’t do ice and two, my ass hurts.” We all laughed at that one.

“Do you wanna sleep it off?” Kay asked.

“I’d love to.” Next thing we knew Jaime was on the ground with a pillow under his head.

“Anyone else?” Kay asked with a chuckle.

“Nope, you all can have whatever this is. I’m leaving with Ariel.” Brandon kissed his sisters on their heads and left with his girlfriend.

“Well Gabs you can sleep with me. The rest of you can decide sleeping arrangements on your own. Goodnight boys.”

“Goodnight babe. I love you.” Kaylee stopped in her tracks and looked Mike.

“What?”

“What?”

“You love me?”

“….what?”

We stared at the two of them as Kaylee made her way over to him on the couch.

“You love me?” He scratched the back of his head nervously.

“I mean, yeah, I guess.” He looked up at her. “I think I do. I love you Kaylee.”

Her face lit up like the fireworks we had seen earlier. Without missing a beat her arms were around his neck and they were kissing. I don’t know why but the boys started clapping and cheering. I looked at Gabi questionably and she just shrugged. I guess that was just how they were.

“I love you too Mike.” The boys cheered louder which made Kaylee laugh. “Thanks guys.”

“Hey, my little brother’s in love. That’s something to cheer about.” Mike rolled his eyes and kissed Kay again.

I couldn’t help but get jealous as I watched them. I wanted Vic to say those words to me so bad. I wanted Vic to look at me the way Mike looked at Kay. I wanted….

“Do you ever wonder what it’d be like to be in love?” I looked at Vic and noticed that Kaylee and Gabi had left the room.

“What do you mean?” I asked. He shrugged.

“I’m just wondering. I’ve never been in love. I wanna know what it’s like.” He took his gaze off the wall and looked at me. “You ever been in love?”

“Yeah actually. It’s pretty nice.”

“How so?”

I thought about it. “You spend all your time with the person you love and it’s still not enough. When they’re gone you miss them like crazy and when they’re close to you, you want them closer. I know that sounds clingy but it’s really nice. You have someone you’d do anything for and know that they’d do anything for you. You have someone you can talk to about absolutely anything and know that they won’t judge you. You can trust them with your secrets, fantasies, wildest dreams and trust them to keep them and support you. They’re your best friend who you can’t live without. They’re perfect in your eyes.”

Vic seemed to think it over before he smiled at me. “That sounds pretty nice. I hope to feel that one day.”

I tried to hide the hurt and sadness on my face with a fake smile. “I hope so too.”

After a few minutes the four of them were asleep on various places in the living room. I couldn’t sleep though. How could Vic not know that I was talking about him?

Notes

Double update!!!!

Sorry this chapter kinda sucks. I honestly didn't expect to post this tonight but I was wide awake and said fuck it. Anyway there's one more chapter left then I'll start the sequel so read up and comment and rate.