Freed (Fireproof #1) *discontinued for now*

16

I paid for the dress and jacket, which was luckily on sale or I would not have been able to afford it, before we went to get something to eat. I did not go shopping that much and therefore had no idea where we were headed before we stood in front of Starbucks.

"Why don't Josh and I order, then you guys can go and find a table" Lane suggested, when we got inside. No one objected to it, instead, we all gave them our orders.

"over there" Rae pointed at a table not far from where we stood, it was one of the few that were actually free, so we hurried over there before anyone else could take the table.

"So... since Ree is wearing a leather jacket, I thought it'd be cool if we all did" Nate said, when the other got back with our stuff, and somehow that ended up in the boys all arguing who was the hottest. I do not know what happened - I stopped paying attention early. At the time I barely understood how they had agreed on the dress, not that it would have mattered anyway.

"Should we just ditch them?" I asked Rae, tired of hearing the four argue. She give me a look that showed, that she too was about to give up on them. "Guys" it was loud enough to bring their attention to me, "what is with you today? Seriously, you've argued more times than I've seen you argue before today. Does it really matter who's the hottest? And if you have to do it, can you at least not do it when Rae and I am here?"

"Sorry" they mumbled, clearly not wanting to admit to it

"Thank you, now can we talk about something..." and right at that moment, my phone started ringing. I checked the caller ID, it was Jay, and so I picked it up. "Hey" I said into the phone

"Where are you?"

"Seriously, you can't even say hello - that's not a nice way to greet your sister"

"Oh, the sister that were supposed to be home by now? My fault, now where are you?"

"At the mall"

"Sure about that?"

"If I weren't sure, would I say it?"

"No"

"Exactly"

"Anyway, I'm coming to pick you up - I'll be there in... ten, meet me by the entrance"

"See you in a bit" I ended the call; somehow I was sad about leaving the others, in a weird way I had enjoyed today.

I picked up the bags and said goodbye to the boys, whilst Rae decided to leave as well, and went to the entrance. By the time we got there, Jay was already waiting; therefore, I quickly embraced Rae in a hug before getting in the car with Jay.

"Sorry I forgot about coming home, I didn't mean to"

"It's alright, but don't forget again"

"I won't, I promise"

"Great, now that's settled, what's in the bag?"

"My outfit for the concert, the boys insisted we went shopping to get our outfits to match"

"Great, it's this Saturday, right?"

"Last I checked - you didn't make other plans did you?"

"Don't worry; I just needed to be sure. You see, a few months ago, I met this amazing guy." that is right Jay is gay, and he has known that for a while now. It was also the reason our dad started being rougher with him. "We started talking... and eventually fell for each other." Jay' phone rang; he took it and put it on speaker. "Hey honey, you're on speaker and Ree is here with me"

"Okay, I just wanted to let you know I'll be at yours in about a quarter" a masculine voice said from the phone

"Sounds good" Jay hung up

"Something you forgot to tell me?" I asked crossing my arms

"My boyfriend Aiden is coming over tonight? For dinner?"

"I guessed that much already"

"Sorry, okay? He just wanted to come around and meet my amazing, and forgiving, sister"

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" I snapped at him

"I was afraid of your reaction, that you'd be mad at me"

"And you thought it'd be better if you waited?" I lowered my head. "C'mon Jay, you know I'd never be mad about you dating - I'm only mad you didn't tell me sooner" Jay didn't get to say more, for he had already parked and I was out as soon as I had finished my sentence.

Sometimes I did not understand him. It did not take Jay much longer to come up, only he was not alone. With him was a guy I had never seen before, but would be seeing much more off in the future. The man was a little taller than I, and his hair dark as the night. I quickly concluded that the boy was hot.

"I'm Aiden" he smiled "and you must be the infamous Ree, it's nice to finally meet you" he shot a glare at Jay

"Nice to meet you" I shook his hand, I genuinely meant it was nice to meat him, it was just the circumstances I was not happy with. If only Jay had warned me a little earlier.

"If you two go into the living room I'll just finish the meal," Jay said, breaking the awkward silence that had gotten after we had greeted each other

After about five minutes Aiden spoke up, "Ree?" he said but didn't wait for me to answer, just carried on, "I know you might not like me right now, but I would really appreciate it if you would just give me a chance, Jay has become my everything and he just makes me so happy, and all I wish is for you to give me a chance, to prove to you I'm not that bad of a person."

I found myself not really knowing what to answer. "It's not that I think you are a bad person, and it's not that I don't want to give you a chance. It's actually not you I'm mad at, it's my brother"

"But why?"

"Because he didn't tell me sooner"

"I get it"

"No, you don't. You see, Jay and I - we don't have secrets for each others."