I watched her swallow, her eyes get bright and her words were trembling when she asked back, “He called me a tease?”

At the look on her face and the sound of her words, I felt my heart get heavy.

My poor girl.

I leaned into her and lifted a hand to her jaw.

Stroking her soft cheek with my thumb, I whispered, “Yes, my lovely girl. He was most ungentlemanly.”

“He acted like he liked me,” she whispered back.

“He likely does,” I told her. “He also has to show a certain face to his friends and feels he has to play his role as big man in a way that he can keep that role but has the mistaken and rather juvenile impression that doing that means gathering conquests and behaving very badly.”

She was still whispering when she told me, “But Josie, I’ve liked him since…forever.”

I pulled in another deep breath, long since gone from my high school years but remembering quite acutely what it was like to crush on a boy and have him show me the attention I so craved.

Thus, I stroked her cheek again and replied, “I think now you’re experiencing a lot of things, my lovely. And one of them is simply the fact that he does not live up to what you thought he would be. But he doesn’t. It may take some time for you to come to terms with this but the fact of the matter is it’s true. And perhaps my words tonight will penetrate in some way and he’ll look at you with different eyes. But if he does and his attention returns to you, you must not accept anything but that which is grounded not only in attraction but also respect, kindness and affection.”

“He’s the cutest guy in school,” she informed me.

“This may be true but I assure you, if you heard his words tonight, he would appear far less attractive to you, even if those words hadn’t been spoken about you,” I shared.

“That’s totally true, Amber,” boy Taylor put in at this juncture and I dropped my hand as we both looked to him. “He was totally a douche.”

“He’s always been a douche,” girl Taylor murmured.

“It’s extremely improper for me to call a young teenaged boy a douche,” I stated and everyone looked at me. “That said, Taylor is right. He was definitely a douche.”

I saw Amber’s eyes widen to extremes as both Taylors burst out laughing.

Then to my relief, I saw Amber’s eyes light as she joined them but grabbed my hand, held it and forced through her amusement, “Josie, you saying the word douche is the funniest thing I think I’ve heard in my life.”

I liked it that she was holding my hand. I liked it that she didn’t dissolve into tears at hearing what had occurred with Noah Young. I liked it that she didn’t get angry with me and cause a scene by throwing a tantrum that it was arguable, but having been a teenaged girl at one point in my life, I would weigh in that it was deserved.

Last and most important, I liked it that now she was laughing.

I stopped liking it or thinking anything when we heard a shrieked, “Seriously Conner! You think you can scrape me off?”

“Uh-oh,” Amber mumbled, her hand squeezing mine as our eyes darted to where I’d seen Conner with his girlfriend before.

He was still there, as was she. They were still standing close. But now Conner had moved the blonde girl behind him in a protective manner as a rather voluptuous (for a high school girl), relatively petite and definitely angry girl faced off against them.

“You, yeah you!” she kept shrieking and now was pointing at who I assumed was Ellie. “You think I can’t take you?”

Conner’s face was a frozen mask of anger and he took a step toward the brunette even as he shoved the blonde further behind him and it was at this that I found my feet moving without my brain telling them to do so.

They did this, taking me straight to Conner.

I felt Amber and the Taylors trailing me.

I stopped wide to the side (and Amber and the Taylors stopped with me) and looked to Conner who was looking at me.

He started, “Josie—”

“I think you need privacy with this young lady,” I said quietly and pointedly. I then turned my eyes to the blonde as well as reached a hand out to her. “Come,” I encouraged.

“Ellie,” Amber whispered close to my back.

So I was correct.

I nodded and pushed my hand further toward Ellie. “Come, Ellie. Let’s go sit, watch the game and await Conner.”

Ellie looked to Conner who was looking over his shoulder at her.

“Go,” he said gently. “Josie’ll take care of you.”

She pressed her lips together, hesitated but a moment and finally moved toward me.

“Watch your back,” the brunette hissed as she got close to me.

Ellie scuttled closer and I took her hand. Hers clasped mine surprisingly tight even though she had to have no idea who I was (outside of the fact that I was with her boyfriend’s sister).

I took her hand and moved her away, my gaze going back to Conner.

His eyes were on me. “I’ve got this, Josie.”

“Yeah, you think you do,” the brunette was still hissing. “But you don’t.”

Oh dear.

It appeared Conner had his hands full.

I moved Ellie clear of the burgeoning fray and did it quickly, Amber and the Taylors trailing.

We got well away, moved in close to the side of the bleachers, and I found us another pocket of privacy. I could tell the game had started but I could also see Ellie’s face was pale and stricken and her hand had not loosened even a smidgeon in mine.

I turned to her when we stopped and Amber and the Taylors huddled close.

“I’m Josephine,” I introduced myself.

“Yeah,” she said quietly, her voice timid, her eyes not exactly meeting mine. “Con told me about you. His dad’s new girlfriend.”

At her words, I felt shafts of fire burn through me like spears were drilling from top to toe. This feeling was painful because this feeling was hope in the face of hopelessness. It took everything I had not to focus on that feeling and instead focus on this frightened shy girl.

“I think Conner would like it if you would sit with myself and Conner’s dad. He’ll find us when he’s done with that young lady,” I told her.

She shook her head. “It won’t matter. She’ll get to me. She’s been saying at school for days she’s going to take me out.”

“Then you shouldn’t be alone,” boy Taylor stated, getting close.

“We’ll stick by you, Ellie,” Amber assured, also getting close.

“Mia’s just ticked she knows she’s not going to make the cut and you are. She’ll burn out,” girl Taylor told her, also getting close.

When she did, I sighed.

Make the cut, indeed.

Conner had weaved this tangled web. I certainly hoped he had it in him to unravel it without too much heartache.

“I think I need to sit down,” Ellie said softly.

“Let’s get her to the bleachers,” I urged and immediately moved my charges to do just that.

I found the set of stairs that were closest to our seats. I also saw Jake sitting amongst the crowd, a seat open on either side of him on the blanket, one for the absent Ethan, one for the absent me.

I let Ellie go but curled my fingers around Amber’s arm and dipped down to say in her ear, “Can you take Ellie up and ask your father to come down?”

When I pulled away, she caught my eyes and nodded.

Boy Taylor grabbed the forgotten cocoas from my other hand and they all scrambled up. They then pushed in front of the four spectators to get to Jake. I saw Amber bend down and talk to him then I saw his eyes come to me. He stood, his eyes never leaving me as he and the children shuffled around. He eased in front of the spectators then I watched as he jogged down the stairs to me.

When he got to me, I took his hand without a word and tugged him to the spot the youngsters and I had vacated earlier.

I stopped us and got close.

Thereupon, I got up on my toes to get closer and launched in.

“I have much to say and not much time,” I announced.

His brows shot up.

I sallied forth.

“I’ll explain later so you can get angry without an audience as to what prompted me to make a number of rash decisions but right now I’ll break it down. With your permission, I’ll be taking Amber and the Taylors to see Bounce in Boston whenever it is they’re playing there. I know the band and am relatively close to the front man so I can get backstage passes. I’ll chaperone them. But I want very much for Amber and her friends to have this as I’ve met Noah Young, it was not a pleasant meeting, I dislike him greatly and I wish for Amber and the Taylors to be able to rub his nose in their not only attending the concert but meeting the performers.”

Jake blinked.

I carried on.

“Conner is currently calming down a rather irate young lady who has threatened bodily harm to Ellie. Amber, the Taylors and I forged to the rescue and thus Ellie is with us awaiting Conner’s return. I would think that he may need you to intervene at some point as, for reasons unknown to me, it would seem the girls may start turning on each other rather than aiming their ire at Conner, who I imagine could take it and who arguably deserves it. It isn’t my place to say but he may need a mature guiding hand as he maneuvers the minefield toward monogamy.”

Jake said nothing. He simply stared at me.

“And, just to say,” I continued. “Amber and Noah, if they were ever officially together, have broken up. I played an, um…rather substantial hand in that, alas. It’s likely there will be some teenaged girl moods in your house for the foreseeable future. Or, uh…more of them. I’d like to apologize for that in advance.”

I stopped speaking and Jake continued to stare at me for a moment before he asked, “Jesus, Slick, how long were you gone?”

It seemed like a year.

I didn’t share this. In fact, I decided not to speak at all.

“Does Con need me now?” Jake asked into my silence.

“He says he has it,” I shared.

“Then he has it,” he muttered, looking down to his boots.

I got closer and realized I was still holding his hand. I drew back on mine but couldn’t release his because when I did this, his fingers tightened.

“I’m sorry, Jake. I may have made a bit of a mess.”

His eyes cut to mine. “What went down with Noah?”

Oh dear.

“Perhaps I can tell you later,” I suggested.

“What went down with Noah, Josie?”

I stared into his eyes and noted he was not going to back down.

So it was me who held his hand tighter and I again got closer before I shared, “Obviously, he has no idea who I am and thus I overheard him—as boy Taylor put it—trash talking Amber.”

Jake’s mouth got tight in a way I found vaguely frightening but I persevered.

“I’m afraid I lost my temper and gave him a talking to,” I admitted.

“You gave him a talking to,” he repeated.

“Indeed,” I confirmed.

He said nothing to that and asked, “I need to have a word with Noah’s parents?”

I shook my head quickly.

Jake studied me.

Then he asked quietly, “He was trash talking Amber?”

I nodded my head slowly.

His big man energy started expanding all around.

“What’d he say?”

It was then I got even closer, lifted my free hand and put it on his chest, trying to find the words I needed.

I found them from memory of what boy Taylor had said and stated, “It doesn’t matter, Jake. I laid him out.”

He again studied me before asking, “Amber know what he said?”

“Some of it, yes. But I think the Taylors have that in hand. They’re quite supportive in a way it’s most gratifying. Further, neither of them likes Noah very much.”

“Was she there?”

I shook my head.

He took in a big breath and exhaled.

Then he shocked me by grinning, turning into me so he could sling his arm around my shoulders and tuck me into his side as he moved us toward the bleachers, stating, “Then I guess we’re goin’ to a concert in a couple weeks, Slick.”

We?

I didn’t ask this.

And I didn’t because I was noting that it was awkward walking with him with his arm around my shoulders and mine hanging down at my sides, so I slid one of mine around his waist.

Jake kept us connected until we hit the steps that led to our seats in the bleachers. He bid me to go before him and did this by putting a hand in the small of my back and gently pushing me toward the stairs.