( Note - The outfit aesthetics are at the end of the chapter too if you want to see them separately. Sorry if these suck, imagine whatever you'd like, these are just what I'll be describing.

This is also another long chapter at 18k+ words. )

...

"She's madness in a pretty package."

...

"This is bad, this is really, really bad. Why did i agree to this? Why would you let me agree to this?!"

"Okay, first of all, calm the fuck down, it's really not as bad as you're making it out to be. And secondly, you are the one who agreed to it, and i told you it was a terrible idea but you ignored me and it's not like i control you so don't blame me. And last but not least, leave your damn tie alone! You keep messing it up!" Willow scolds, slapping Wes' hands away as he continues to tug on it, ruining her hard work.

"I'm sorry, okay?! But i can't breathe in this thing." He complains, turning to face the mirror as he tugs at it again, loosening it enough to pull off over his head before undoing the top three buttons of his shirt, giving himself room to breathe. "Is it hot? It feels really hot in here, we should open some windows."

Willow sighs, watching as her brother walks away to open the window of their bedroom, beginning to pace the room as she settles on her bed, sitting crossed legged with her hands in her lap as she waits for his panic to end, or at least calm down. "Are you sure you even need to be in a suit? Soph didn't mention the dinner being anywhere fancy fancy."

Wes pauses, eyes widening as he quickly dives onto his bed, throwing the blankets around in search of his phone, dialing his girlfriends number once he finds it. "Sophia?!" He shouts as the girl answers.

"Hey babe." Sophia greets, gasping as a clattering sounds through the phone, telling Wes to hold on as she grabs the make up palette's she had dropped, groaning in frustration as she finds one of them had broke. "Damnit." She mumbles, turning her attention back to the call. "Are you guys leaving soon? And is everyone still coming or did they back out yet? I wouldn't be surprised if-"

"Sophia!" He cuts her off.

"What?" She chuckles, not picking up the panic in his tone. "I knew it, they changed their minds already, didn't they?"

"I swear-" Wes grumbles, Willow rolling her eyes as she stands from her bed to snatch her brothers phone from his hand, talking to her friend before her brother started yet another argument with his girlfriend after they had only just gotten over the last. Usually she would just leave them to it but today wasn't going to turn out well if she did.

"Hey Soph."

"Hi Wills." She greets through slight confusion. "Is something wrong? What happened to Wes?"

"Nothing, he's just freaking out." She brushes it off. "Where are we going again? And does it require formal wear? Like, a suit and tie kind of formal wear?"

Sophia nods, forgetting for a moment that she couldn't be seen but quickly catches herself. "Oh. Yeah, it does." She confirms, a frown growing on her glossy lips. "Why? Is Sasha not there yet?"

"No, i didn't even know she was coming over. I thought we were just meeting her there?" Willow says, eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "Why is she-"

"Wills?! Wes?!" The girl in question suddenly shouts, a bang coming from the front door.

"And she just got here." Willow says, freezing for a moment as her confusion gets the better of her and distracts her, another loud bang knocking her out of her trance as she quickly shakes her head, rushing to get the door and forcing Wes off his bed to follow behind her.

"Finally." Sasha complains, pushing past the twins to their livingroom, several garment bags hanging over her arms and shoulders. "Took you long enough."

"Sorry? We weren't expecting you." Wes says, rolling his eyes as he kicks the door closed.

"Yeah, what're you doing here?" Willow asks, following behind her friend. "What's in the bags?"

"Dresses for us, some suits and stuff for the boys." She shrugs, walking past the girl and back into the hallway, picking up another large bag. "And this is for hair, nails, make up, and whatever else we're gonna need to get ready." She lists, placing the bag on the table and looking around for the friend they were missing. "Where's Cam? Did he ditch us already?"

"He's making sure Sky doesn't drown in the bath tub." Willow says while unzipping one of the bags, opening it to see a sage green suit. "Who's is this?"

"Uh," Sasha mumbles, looking for the tag. "Cam's."

"What's mine?" The boy asks, following behind a soaking wet Skyla, who runs into the room covered in soap and bubbles, leaving a trail of water behind her.

"Skyla!" Willow scolds, catching the child by her wrist before she could make an even bigger mess. "What did we say about getting water everywhere?!"

"Not to..." The girl mumbles, bottom lip jutting out in a pout as she's dragged back to the bathroom and placed back into the tub.

"Stay here, I'll be right back, okay?" Willow says, handing her a rubber duck to keep her occupied, the girl happily taking it and becoming distracted. "Don't drown."

The little girl only nods, beginning to splash around as if she were in a pool.

"Great, that's just... great..." willow sighs as more water hits the floor, shaking her head and leaving the bathroom in attempts to ignore it.

If i don't see it, i won't have to clean it, she tells herself. Though she knew that was no more than a stupid wish that will only put off having to mop it up, because eventually she would have to. Or, maybe she could make Wes do it. Better him than me, she smiles at the thought of getting out of the work.

"Wills, come get your dress." Sasha calls from the livingroom.

Willow closes her eyes, stopping to take a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the day she was going to have ⏤ being forced into an uncomfortable environment, surrounded by people she didn't know and didn't care to know, and the ones she did know she didn't particularly like, such as Monica and Johan Conner. Not to mention the evening events were far out of her comfort zone ⏤ first class theatres and restaurants in the rich area of their city, places where formal clothing are a must, because god forbid you wear something as disgustingly comfortable as your everyday jeans and a tshirt, if you do you must be poor or troubled and everyone will look down on you.

Willow could remember her first eight years of life being lived in that place, surrounded by people who would stick up their nose at anything they pegged as something only the lower class people have. Back then she was a child, so she could often get away with wearing only regular jeans and tops, sometimes if she were extra lucky she was even allowed to wear big, baggy t shirts that she would steal from her father and brothers closets, because just as long as they had an expensive price tag attached to them, they were deemed suitable enough for their neighborhood to find acceptable. Otherwise, she was forced into a variety of dresses and skirts and pretty pink blouses with designs of flowers or sparkles. Back then, image was all that mattered. Having the perfect reputation was everything.

The DeLaCruz family used to be one that was constantly in the spotlight. With Victoria and Robbie each being buissness owners, one having built their empire from the ground up, starting out of nothing, and the other from inheriting it all. They had gained names for themselves, and in turn, their children. And with such a big, important name came responsiblity, attention, influence, and worst of all, drama. If they did one thing wrong, made one mistake, it was in some gossip article hours later and everyone knew. Victoria and Robbie did their best to shield their kids from that for as long as they could, but there were times when they couldn't hide behind the four walls of their family home, protected by the tall gates they built to keep the world out. They had appearances to make, jobs to do, places to be. So the best they could to at times was to stuff their kids into costumes of perfection, masks of deceit being placed over their faces to hide their flaws. But there's only so long people can hide ⏤ pretend. The truth always comes out.

The truth of the DeLaCruz's came out when they lost two of their dearest family members.

That's when the curtains opened and the family was thrown out into the hurricane of problems they weren't ready for while in the midst of their grief. That was when the tall gates couldn't protect them anymore and fell, letting in everyone to see the truth. The truth of being humans, of having flaws ⏤ of having emotions, some they couldn't handle, they didn't know how, leading to mistakes being made. But when you're that high up on the social scale of the world, mistakes are unacceptable, and most of the time, unforgivable.

Ian and Noel were lucky. They were able to fix the mistakes their family had made when they were in that bad place. They were able to get them that pristine image back ⏤ able to give them a fresh start. For the most part, at least. The articles, the gossip posts, the news stories, they made them disappear. But just because they were gone didn't mean that people would forget. They never did, and they never would.

No one would forget the dozens of articles written on Victoria, from the countless times she had to be placed ⏤ forced into the backseats of cop cars. The photos taken when someone recognized her in some trashy club after she was banned from all her usual, upscale drinking spots. The times when she would go on her notorious benders that always ended in her in a pair of handcuffs, spending the night in a cell as she waited for any one of her children to bail her out, only to repeat the process the next night.

No one would forget the children of the family and the ways they acted out.

Xander getting caught stealing cigarettes and food from corner stores and alcohol from everywhere he and his friends thought they would have a chance. The police reports filed against him for many cases of assault after the usual school fights he would get into escalated to jumping unsuspecting civilians and participating in street fights and secret street races with a line up of expensive cars he would sneak away with from his family's garage, uncaring on if he or his friends would wreck them or not, or if they would even make it home. That didn't matter to him. Anywhere he could get that thrill, that adrenaline rush, he would. He never cared how dangerous it was. He didn't care about anything after the accident. Not his friends, not his family, not even himself, and certainly not about keeping their clean reputation in check. But he could see his brothers did. He could see how disappointed they were in his behavior, in him ⏤ how they kept trying to fix it, him and his behavior, and how when they couldn't, they left. So he did too. He tried to be better, for himself, for his mother, for his younger siblings, and for the older ones that left, because maybe then they would come back. But it was too hard. He couldn't do it. So he did the next best thing he could come up with while in that broken state of mind. He ran. Maybe if he was gone, the rest would be able to heal. They didn't.

Jayden followed in Xander's footsteps, getting into fights of his own and even breaking some poor kids bones after they made the mistake of messing with him on a bad day, whether they had just looked at him wrong or made a harmless joke, they would pay with tears, and if they were really unlucky, some blood. His grades plummeted to hell and he had even dropped out of school for a couple of weeks. He didn't see why it mattered. Everyone else did whatever it was they wanted, so why shouldn't he? That mindset lasted no more than two months, because as soon as Elena had taken him and Phoenix in he was forced into therapy and back into school ⏤ having tutors shoved in his face to help him get his grades back up and many, many options on how he wanted to deal with his problems, or as everyone else called them ⏤ everyone being the several therapists he was given at the time ⏤, emotions. He had managed to patch himself back up after a while, being able to find that mask he wore for majority of his life again. But it was too late. Reporters had already gotten their stories, they had already gotten everything they needed to damage his name further, to ruin it before he even had a chance to truly make anything of it. It was too late.

Phoenix wasn't like the rest of his siblings during that dark time in their lives. He didn't fall apart, he didn't ruin his name, and there were never any articles written about some horrible thing he did like there were about his brothers. But he also wasn't desperately holding himself together either, he didn't grasp onto any of the shards that remained after their reputation was shattered, continuing to fake smiles and hold onto their masks as if it were a life line. He never cared about things like that. Not even when he was a kid being lectured about being on his best behavior in front of the eyes of everyone who watched them, being told to not give them a story. Instead, he was frozen. Stuck in a place of time where everything was completely fine. It was almost as if he wasn't even there, like he was on autopilot, watching himself operate from outside of his body. Phoenix couldn't remember anything clearly from that month, anything after that family day at the beach was a blur, a nightmare that was sped up into a mess of random moments and pictures that played like some old video you would find in the attic, packed away deep in a box that was left behind to be forgotten about. It was to the point where it was barely recognizable to him, like it wasn't himself living through it but rather some character in a movie, something he was watching through a screen. He knew there were some rumors, some name calling, people referring to him as some kind of zombie or robot, but that was it. He escaped with only a dent in his name, one that slowly disappeared with time, only to be remembered by very few.

Ian and Noel were the ones who grasped onto the broken pieces of their picture perfect lives, clinging onto them with the hope of putting them back together one day. And for some, they did, at a price. The cost being their family. Back then, that was a price they were willing to pay. Fixing the problems on the outside by giving up what really mattered, the values on the inside ⏤ family, loyalty, honor, love. It was a mistake they were working hard to repair, just like they repaired their reputations. But something the two always failed to realize was, that just because they glued those pieces they so desperately held on to back together, doesn't mean they can't see the scars left behind, the marks from the places they broke. Just like the twins will never be able to forget the hurt they caused them when they chose those pieces over them. Ian and Noel had fixed their images on the outside, maybe even painted new ones over the damage that was caused in attempts to make it prettier, more pleasing and deceitful, making it easy for people to be fooled so they couldn't see what lies hidden underneath, the scars that are still trying to heal, and though they tried to hide it, Ian and Noel remembered. They remembered everything and they always would.

Tonight those memories were being brought up again, being shoved into Willow's face to taunt her. Lately, that's all they ever did, and she didn't know if she could make it through a whole night with them, a night where she would feel like she was in a constant state of deja-vu ⏤ reliving memories she would much rather forget and shove into the darkest corner of her mind, not to be seen again until she was ready, that way they couldn't act as a constant reminder of all that she had lost.

That's what tonight was. A reminder.

The dresses and tuxes they had to wear to impress Monica and Johan was a reminder of when she was forced into fancy, designer dresses and gowns as a child, being dragged to different chains of events by her parents ⏤ dinners, parties, award shows, ceremonies, celebrations of all kinds ⏤ anything that her parents were attending that was child friendly she and the rest of her siblings were forced to follow, despite any complaints they made along the way.

The theatre, a place her sister used to love. Willow could remember only being Skyla's age when Jamie started sneaking her out to go see plays with her, making it their thing, saying it was 'sister time' whenever one of their brothers caught them and tried to join.

Sophia's lectures of them being on their best behaviors so her parents wouldn't have any reason to try and take her away from them, the speech being similar to the one Victoria and Robbie would always give their kids when one would act up in public for anyone to see.

Even just the way they were trying to impress Sophia's parents was taking her back to the way her family would do the same for the people around them, putting on a show in hopes of becoming the most well liked, being the ones the people loved the most, that worked in their favor. That got them to top of the world ⏤ to that desired place with the shiney title of number one.

Willow could pick apart every detail she had been told about the night so far and she was sure she would be able to find resemblance in everything, being able to relate tonight to any other night from her childhood. But, if she did that it would take the rest of the day at least and she would miss their plans.

On second thought, maybe she could. She would much rather stay home anyways. She didn't see a reason why she couldn't at least try to get out of it-

"Wills? Can you talk to Sophia? She's freaking out and wants to make sure you're not gonna ditch."

There was her reason. Sophia. She would kill Willow if she found out she even dared to think ⏤ dream ⏤ about trying to escape the night, let alone actually go through with it.

"Uh... sure?" She hesitates, not liking the idea of having to converse with a stressed out Sophia Conner. That could be classified as a form of torture, she was sure. "Why don't you talk to her?"

Wes shrugs, passing the girl his phone where a call with the blonde girl was muted, waiting for Willow to pick up. "I tried, so did Cam and Sash but she said she wanted you to promise something."

"Promise what?" Willow frowns, eyes flicking down to her brothers phone for a split second.

"Ask her." He says simply, walking away without another word.

"Wow, so helpful, thank you." Willow rolls her eyes, turning her attention to the phone call as she takes it off of mute. "Sophia?"

"Willow, thank god. Are you guys still coming? Wes said you were but i can practically feel his anxiety through the phone so I'm not buying it, it feels like he's not telling me something."

Willow raises a brow, going into her room and settling back down on her bed. "Are you sure that's not just your anxiety?"

"No," She admits. "But still, i want to make sure this is perfect. It has to be perfect. You guys have to be on time, okay?"

"We will be." She assures, "Relax. Everything's gonna be fine, Soph."

Sophia sighs. "I know, but-" she gets cut off by her bedroom door opening, Monica standing in the door way, in the process of putting in her earrings. "Yes, Mom?"

"I just wanted to let you know that there's been a change in plan." She informs, putting in her last earring and walking over to Sophia who sits in front of her brand new vanity.

"What kind of change?" Sophia asks in annoyance, panic rising in her chest.

Pushing her daughter over so she could check her reflection, Monica sighs. "Oh, nothing bad. It's just that the play has been canceled and we're now going to watch an opera."

Hearing this Willow gapes, dread over taking her. And she thought it was bad before, now they had to sit through people screaming and calling it singing.

As if reading her thoughts, Sophia's face scrunches up with a look of distaste. "Why? Can't we just go to the next show or something?"

Monica rolls her eyes, smoothing down her dress before glancing to Sophia with a look of disapproval. "That would be rude, Sophia. You know that. And, it would also be a waste of money."

"As if you don't have enough to get away with it." The blonde mumbles, still angry over the fact that she had been forced to move away from her friends and her childhood home, not to mention the new school she's deemed to be hell in disguise.

"Enough." Monica warns.

"I didn't even start!" Sophia defends.

"You did, and i advise you don't say anything else." Monica says, turning her attention to the dress her daughter was wearing. "Hmm."

Sophia furrows her brows, looking down at the peachy, pink dress she was wearing, wondering what her mother thought was wrong with it. "What?" She asks, looking back up to her mom.

"Nothing," Monica shrugs it off, Sophia pushing for an answer, not buying the first due to the way Monica continues to look at her with judgement. "No, it's... fine."

"Fine meaning good or hideous?"

"Just fine." Monica says, turning to leave her daughter with one last sentence. "Besides, it's not like you'd change anyways, no matter how badly you look."

Willow scoffs over the phone, the noise reminding Sophia she was still there and making her attention turn back to the call. "Do you think my dress is ugly?"

"I haven't seen what it looks like but i already know it's beautiful, just like you." Willow tells her. "You know what is ugly though?"

"My hair?" Sophia frowns pulling at her blonde locks, now being left unsatisfied after what Monica said.

"Your mother's attitude." She corrects, "don't let her get to you, Soph. You, your dress, your hair, and whatever else you're wearing is perfect, okay?"

Sophia sighs, staring at her reflection to look for something she can fix. "You haven't even seen me yet."

"I've seen you practically everyday since we were eleven, i know what you look like." Willow reminds, laying down on her bed as she continues to try and talk her friend up, not wanting her to be down on the night she's been talking ⏤ stressing ⏤ about, since last week when she found out about it, trying to make sure it would all be perfect. "You know who else thinks you're perfect?"

"Who?"

"Wes." She grins.

Sophia blushes, biting her lip to fight against her growing smile. "Shut up." She shakes her head, laughing.

"I'm not wrong, though." Willow continues to tease.

"Whatever. Let's just get back to the point, okay? You're still going to come?"

Willow sighs, "Yeah, I'll come."

"Promise?"

She rolls her eyes. "Sure, i promise."

"Okay. Thank you." Sophia says, letting out a breath of relief. "Now go get ready, you can't-"

"Be late? Yeah, i know." Willow finishes for her. "We won't be late. I'll make sure we're all ready in time. Besides, there's still like, five hours before we even have to leave."

"I know, but it has to be perfect."

"So I've heard." She mumbles. "You know, I'm really getting tired of this word. Perfect. It's so fake."

"Willow." The blonde warns.

"Right, yeah, we won't be late. Everything will be fine ⏤ perfect. I promise."

Sophia thanks her again, agreeing to end the call so Willow could do as she said, get ready so they wouldn't be late.

"You good?" Sasha asks, startling Willow who finally notices her standing in the doorway.

"Why wouldn't i be?" Willow raises a brow at the girl who shrugs, making her way over with a dress bag.

"Just checking."

"Thanks, but I'm fine." Willow assures, nodding to the dress. "That mine?"

"Yep." Sasha nods, hanging it on the handles of her dresses and coming over with a make up bag.

"Well can i see it?"

"Nope." Sasha shakes her head, taking a seat beside the girl. "Make up and nails first, then hair, and then you can see the dress."

"Why?" Willow narrows her eyes, looking her up and down in question. What was she trying to do? Was she hiding something? "Oh my god. Is the dress ugly? Is that why i can't see it? 'Cause you think I'll refuse to wear it?"

Sasha chuckles at the girls panic, finding it amusing as she continues to fire off questions of what was wrong with the dress and why she couldn't see it. "Nothing, i just know you'll whine about it anyways, so I'm saving myself from that torture."

Willow scoffs in offense. "You're making me sound like a child."

"Then don't act like one." Sasha shrugs, pushing the brunette to lie back down. "Now shut up so i can do your make up." She orders.

Willow doesn't protest, laying flat on her back and brushing the hair off of her face to allow Sasha to do her make up without problem. "Do you-"

Willow's cut off when the words catch in her throat, shock overtaking her brain as suddenly Sasha's on top of her, straddling her hips and leaning over her.

"What?" Sasha smirks when she sees the way Willow flushes, skin turning pink. She leans down slightly, stopping when their faces were only inches apart, not bothering to hide her own blush nor the way her eyes flick down to her lips.

She blinks, slowly snapping out of the trance her friend had put her in. "Uh... what're you doing?"

Sasha furrows a brow, pretending to be confused as she raises a make up brush, one Willow had only just realized she was holding. "Your makeup?" She answers, tilting her head as she continues to play dumb, as if she had no clue what she was doing or of the effect that she has on the girl underneath her.

"Oh." Is all that Willow manages to get out.

"Is that okay?" Sasha asks, sitting up more to give Willow a little more space. "You can do it yourself if you want, i just remember how much you complain about make up and how you have no idea how to do it."

"It's okay." Willow assures, voice soft and quiet, almost like a whisper.

Taking a deep breath to gather herself Willow lets her eyes fall closed, relaxing as Sasha begins, bringing the brush to her skin, painting her a mask for the evening. One she had no doubt she would need.

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"Sissy!" Skyla calls, running into her older siblings bedroom. "Look! Look!"

Sasha rolls off her, tossing the brush she was using into her bag before Skyla could see it, knowing she would beg to get hers done too.

"What's up, Sky?" Willow asks, propping herself up on her elbows to see her sister.

Skyla grins, handing her sister the hanger that holds the dress she was given to wear for the day. "Look how pretty it is!"

Willow nods, holding the dress out in front of her to get a good look at it. "You're right, it's very pretty."

"Yours is pretty too." Skyla says with a shrug. "Mine is better though."

"How do you know what mine looks like? I haven't even seen it yet." Willow questions, playfully narrowing her eyes at the little girl who giggles.

"I picked it for you." She answers with a proud grin. "Duh!"

"Oh, really?" Willow raises a brow at the girl, looking to Sasha who nods in confirmation. "Can i see it now then?"

"Now that I'm pretty much done your make up, sure." Sasha agrees, climbing off the bed and going towards the black garnet bag, unzipping it to reveal a black dress with a red cherry print decorating it.

"Do you like it?" Skyla asks, looking up at her sister with big hopeful eyes that leaves her with only one option.

"Of course i do, Sky, it's almost as beautiful as yours." Willow tells her, giving the girl a convincing smile as she reaches forward to poke her nose, making the girl wrinkle it under her touch and laugh. "How about you go look for something to do with your hair while i finish getting ready?"

"Okay!" She agrees, turning to leave as she begins to shout for Wes, demanding his phone so she could scroll Pinterest.

Once her sisters gone Willow turns back to Sasha, giving her a look that screams 'are you kidding me'. The Paris shakes her head, pointing a finger at her. "Don't look at me like that, it was either this or a rainbow dress with a unicorn on the front, and i figured you'd rather have the one that didn't come with high heals that were covered in glitter and fur." She defends, sitting back down beside her.

Willow groans. "But why this one? Why would you even let her choose it when you guys wouldn't even let me choose it, even though I'm the one that has to wear it?"

"Because you would've chosen sweatpants or something and tried to get out of it." Sasha says with a knowing look. "And it wasn't me who let her choose it, it was Sophia."

"Of course it was." Willow sighs, knowing their blonde friend could never actually tell Skyla no ⏤ especially when the little girl pulls out her infamous puppy dog eyes.

"It's not an ugly dress." Sasha observes, nudging Willow's arm. "At least it doesn't have a bubble gum pink tail or came with a matching golden horn headband with little ears."

Willow laughs, "It had a tail?" She asks in disbelief.

Sasha nods with a laugh of her own. "A braided tail."

"Wow, fancy."

"Right?" Sasha agrees, playing along with the joke. "Actually, maybe i should've let her get that one."

Willow shakes her head. "On second thought, this ones perfect."

"Yeah, that's what i thought." Sasha chuckles, pushing off her spot to dig through her bag. "Okay, hair time." She decides, getting a sigh from Willow. "And nails."

"How exciting."

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"This is the last time I'm ever doing this."

Sasha shakes her head at the girls complaints, a smile tugging at her lips as she finishes Willow's hair, letting the last piece of her brown locks drop from the curling iron, replacing the usual straight strands with a curl to match the rest. "Don't jinx it." She warns, dropping the hair tool onto the floor beside them. "Next thing we'll know, Sophia's gonna be dragging us to some gala, or something like that."

Willow only stares at her, unamused by even the thought of jinxing that into existence. "Over my dead body." She says with complete seriousness that the other girl couldn't help but laugh.

Sasha chuckles, moving to sit in front of Willow instead, grabbing her hand and looking over her freshly painted nails for any smudges. Finding none she nods, pleased they were finally done. All they had to do was change into their dresses and make sure everyone else was done. "I wouldn't risk jinxing that, either." She says, pushing her freshly curled hair over her shoulders and cupping her jaw. "Now stay still." She orders, holding the lipstick to the girls mouth, painting her lips a cherry red to match the ones on her dress.

"Are we done now?" Willow whines as Sasha pulls away, looking her over and nodding.

"Done." Sasha confirms, tossing the lipstick back into her bag and pushing herself off the ground. "Now all you gotta do is help Sky get ready."

"And make sure the boys don't ruin their suits or anything." Willow adds as she falls back, laying herself against the floor. "Wes hates dressing up, he always ruins his tie and i doubt Cam's ever even worn a suit before."

"Probably not." Sasha shakes her head, standing in front of Willow's mirror and doing touch ups her own make up, glossing her lips. "I swear, I've never seen him wear anything but jeans and t-shirts."

"I don't think he owns anything other than jeans or t-shirts." Willow points out, eyes squinting in thought as she stares at the ceiling. "Just some flannels and a hoodie or two for when it gets cold."

"Sissy!" Skyla shouts, the sound of clattering making the older sister close her eyes in dread.

"Damnit." She curses, sitting up and rushing towards her sisters room, walking in to find a mess of elastics, barettes, headbands, combs, and a brush flung across her bedroom floor, Skyla sitting on top of her dresser. "What are you doing?" She asks.

"I'm stuck."

"Yeah, i can see that." Willow shakes her head, picking the girl up and placing her back on the floor, kneeling down to pick everything up. "What were you doing, sky

Skyla sits down beside her, helping clean the mess she made. "I was tryna do my hair so we can leave faster."

"I told you I'd do it." Willow says, dropping the last of the barretts into the plastic container, standing and placing it back onto the dresser where it belonged, taking Skyla's handful of elastics and dropping them in with the colorful clips. "Come on, we have to brush your hair first." She says, taking the brush and sitting on the girls bed, placing her in front of her and running a hand through her hair, her fingers getting stuck in the tangles. "Hopefully there's no little birds in here."

"Birds?" Skyla frowns.

Willow nods, starting by brushing out the girls tips. "When you let your hair get all knotted, baby birds mistake it for their nests and crawl into it when you're sleeping."

The girls eyebrows pinch together in thought, a look of worry and fear crossing her face. "But birdies are too big to live on my head."

"Not all of them. There are some birds that're so small you can't even see them." Willow lies, working the brush up higher into her hair. "But don't worry, they only come when people don't brush their hair and let it get all knotted." She assures, a pleased smile tugging on her lips when she sees her sisters reaction to her story.

Skyla's frown deepens and she starts to play with end of her shirt, becoming nervous. She needed to start brushing her hair more.

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

Willow raises a brow as she watches her friend fiddle with his collar, trying to fix it but only making it worse.

"Okay, stop, stop. Please. I'll fix it for you." She cuts in, moving to stand in front of Cameron with a chuckle, the boy letting out a breath of relief.

"Thank god. This thing is so annoying."

Willow laughs, straightening out his collar and fixing his sleeves for him. "The jacket? Or the whole evening?"

"Both."

"Tell me about it." She agrees, dusting off his shoulders and turning him to face the bathroom mirror that hangs over the sink. "There."

"Thanks, Wills." He mumbles, frowning and pulling at his sleeves again.

"Stop it." She warns, swatting at his hands. "You're gonna mess them up again."

He groans, letting her fix them again.

"Stop pouting." She teases, pulling him out of the bathroom and down the hall to the livingroom, where Wes stands, also struggling to fix his jacket. "You guys are so clueless, you know that? Come here." She chuckles, pulling her twin over to her by his sleeve and taking hold of his coat collar.

The twins could remember a time when this was a regular thing. How whenever they went out, Victoria always had to straighten out her husband and sons jackets for them, getting her daughters help to make sure the boys looked nice. They did it everytime and it just became a routine. Which probably explained why Wes had no idea what he was doing.

"There," Willow says, patting her brothers head and giving him a smile. "Now we're all ready. All i need to do is get Skyla and we can go."

"I don't know if that's good or bad news." Cameron says, sitting in the chair and staring at his phone, trying to think of an excuse for why he couldn't go, anything other than him just not wanting to.

"Neither do i." She admits, grabbing the small purse Sasha had left on the table for her and looking through it, checking if it was empty. "Should i be bringing anything?"

"Anything like what?" Wes asks.

"I don't know." She shrugs, looking around for any ideas. "What would we need?"

"I don't know." Wes shrugs. "I'm just bringing my phone."

"You're no help." She complains, huffing and heading back down the hallway, leaving the two boys to themselves while she figures out what to bring. "Sash? What am i supposed to use this for?"

"To carry things..." she answers. "Have you never seen a purse before?"

"I have, I've just never used one." She mumbles, looking around her bed for her phone and smokes. "I should be bringing money, right?"

Sasha shakes her head, finishing packing up her make up and everything else she had brought. "Nah, Soph said Monica was paying for it all."

"But-"

"Wills, the only thing we need to bring are ourselves, just like we promised Sophia." Sasha tells her, placing her bag beside the bedroom door before joining the girl on the bed, flopping down on her back and looking over at her. "Just bring your phone, keys, and smokes. Maybe something to keep Skyla entertained."

"Right." She nods, dropping her lighter into her bag with her smokes and phone before placing it at the side of the bed, taking a moment to lay down and relax. "This is so hard for no reason."

Sasha nods in agreement, playing with the purple strings of her dress. "Yeah. But, at least we only have to stick it out for a few hours."

"That's a few hours too long."

Sasha shrugs. "We could just ditch." She suggests, looking over at the girl who shakes her head.

"I wish."

"Wishes are stupid. Let's just do it." She decides, moving to sit up.

Willow shakes her head again, catching Sasha by her arm and pulling her back down. "No, we can't.

Sasha sighs. "Why not?"

"Sophia needs us." She reminds.

"She can survive without us." Sasha argues. "Tonight would go better if we didn't go, so, if anything, she'd end up thanking us for ditching. And besides, Wes should be going by himself anyways, he's the one dating her and this is like a 'meeting the parents thing', not a 'friends' thing."

"You're not entirely wrong." Willow admits with a roll of her eyes, letting out a yawn. "How am i already tired? We haven't even left the house yet."

Sasha mumbles through a yawn of her own, agreeing with a 'beats me'. She didn't understand it either, it was just the way things worked.

The girls are interrupted by the sound of shuffling and loud pattering footsteps retreating across the hall.

Willow closes her eyes, knowing immediately who it was as she shouts for her sister to come back, though only goes ignored. "Skyla?!"

"I'm busy!"

She scoffs at her sisters cheeky response, looking over to Sasha who laughs at her annoyance. "Do you think if i ignore it it'll go away?"

"What, Sky?" Sasha snorts, shaking her head. "Hell no."

"Yeah, i know." She sighs, pushing herself off the bed and heading toward her sisters room, not bothering to knock and just walking in, finding Skyla sitting on the floor with her mirror, Sasha's make up spread out around her and lipstick smeared across her lips. "Oh my god. Skyla!" She scolds, snatching the lipstick from her hand and gathering the rest before Skyla could make a bigger mess than she already had.

"What's going on?" Wes asks, entering the room after hearing his twins yells. But he finds himself stuck in place for a minute at the sight of his baby sisters face, trying to hold in a laugh when Willow throws him a warning glare over her shoulder. "Oh..."

"Shut up." Willow says, pointing a finger at him, more so his expression that shows what he's about to do. "Don't you dare laugh."

He shakes his head with a grin, eyes swimming with amusement as be quickly turns to leave. "Good luck!" He calls, bursting into laughter as soon as his back is towards them.

"Wes!" She shouts, grabbing one of Skyla's toys off the ground and chucking it at him, just barely missing him when he runs away, disappearing down the hall.

"Missed me!" He teases, ducking into the livingroom when Willow comes out with another toy, fully prepared to try again. "Okay, I'm sorry!"

"Idiot." She mumbles, dropping the toy to the ground and making her way back over to the pouting toddler who was attempting to reach the make up Willow had placed high out of her reach. "Stop it." She warns, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at the little girl who whines.

"But-"

"No." Willow cuts her off, scooping up everything she had stolen from Sasha's bag and walking away before she could protest. "Go clean your face."

"I don't wanna!"

"Too bad, so sad. Wash your face." She orders, piling the make up back into Sasha's bag, the girl looking over at her with a raised brow.

"What's going on?"

"Sky decided to become a make up artist." Willow grumbles, looking through the bag further. "Did you bring any make up wipes?"

"Yeah, here." Sasha answers, joining Willow on the floor and unzipping the side of her bag and handing her a pack of wipes. "You need help?"

"No, it's okay." Willow declines, taking a deep breath before standing, reluctantly making her way back to Skyla's room. "Come here, Sky."

"No." The girl shakes her head, crossing her arms and refusing to move from her place on her bed.

"Sky."

"No!" She repeats, staying stubborn and only moving further away from her sister, rolling closer to the wall.

"Skyla, enough." She warns, storming over to the bed and pulling open the top of the wipes, pulling one out. "Let me clean you up, we have to get going or we'll miss the bus."

"But why?!" She groans, reluctantly moving to sit in front of her big sister, letting her take the make up off.

"Because you got it all over your face, Sky, and we need to leave." She explains, wiping the lipstick smeared across her cheek.

"No, why can't i wear make up and you can?" She asks again.

"Because Sophia asked me to, Sky. She wanted me and Sasha to look extra nice tonight." She tells her softly. "But, if you want, I'll help you put a little bit on, okay?"

"Okay!" Skyla nods, excitedly agreeing.

"Okay, but then we have to leave so we're not late." She says, dropping the dirty wipe into the small trashcan in the corner of Sky's room, looking around her array of toys. "Is there anything you want to bring?"

"Can i bring crayons and paper?"

"If you still have that small coloring book, sure."

"Yay!"

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"Okay, come on, get out." Willow rushes, herding the four out of the apartment in front of her, pausing in the doorway and scanning the apartment.

"Wills, you coming?" Wes asks, nudging her.

"Yeah, I'll meet you guys downstairs, i just forgot my keys." She says, waving him off and telling him to go ahead.

"Okay, hurry." He tells her, letting the door close and heading down the hall to catch up with Skyla, Sasha and Cameron.

Willow takes off the heels she was forced to wear and drops them to the floor, turning to boost herself onto the kitchen countertop, slowly standing on the cool surface and looking on top of the fridge for one of the envelopes of cash Victoria leaves for them, hidden away in an old, empty box of a cereal, knowing it wouldn't be touched as none of the kids liked that brand. Once she finds it she takes out a bill of a hundred dollars and folds it up, pulling off her phone case and setting it inside to act as emergency money.

Putting her phone case back on and placing it back in her bag she closes the envelope again, sliding it back into the box and pushing it to the back to hide behind all the other boxes, jumping down from the counter and picking up her shoes, swiping her keys off the table and rushing out the door, locking it and running barefoot down the hall to catch up with her friends, knowing she was less likely to fall and break her neck than if she tried running in high heels.

Or so she thought.

"Ow, fuck." She cries as she hits the floor. "Ouch. Why the hell is the floor so hard?!"

"Willow, come on!"

"Give me a minute!"

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"Fucking finally." Willow breathes out as they approach the theatre where they were supposed to meet up with Sophia and her parents.

"Only took four hours." Sasha grumbles, already over the day, much like the people around her ⏤ minus Skyla, the little girl more than excited to meet new people and watch a play, unaware of the plans having changed.

"And who's fault is that?" Cameron asks.

"Yours." The girl shrugs, unwilling to take responsibility.

The boy scoffs. "No, not even close. It's yours, with your make up and hair and oh, flirting with your best friend, can't forget that one."

"Fuck off." Sasha grumbles, elbowing him in the ribs.

Cameron returns the gesture, accompanying it with more mocking comments, being brave enough to tease the girl in public when they had to behave and she couldn't try and tackle him or anything of the sort.

Sasha let's it go on for no more than a minute before snapping, grabbing her friend by the ear and twisting it. "One more word and you won't make it to the show, only to the hospital with some broken bones."

"Yeah, right." He rolls his eyes, knowing she would never actually harm him. Shoving her hand away he leans down to whisper one more teasing remark in her ear, just to annoy her a little bit more, before running off to catch up with the rest of their friends.

"Why am i even friends with him." Sasha asks herself as she watches him run off, nearly tripping as he catches up to the others, stopping beside Willow to throw an arm around her shoulders, looking over his shoulder at her with a smirk. "I hate you." She mouths to him, giving him the finger.

Seeing Cameron stick his tongue out to the Paris girl that lingers behind them, Willow shakes her head at the boy. "Why're you bugging her?"

He shrugs. "'Cause it's fun."

"It really isn't."

"It is for me." He grins, turning his attention to the little girl in Willow's arms next. "You excited to see Sophia?"

Skyla nods, too busy looking around for the blonde girl to actually answer him.

"Look, Sky, over there." Wes points out, nudging his little sister and pointing to the small family that wait for them across the street. "There she is."

"Sophie!" Skyla starts to yell, screaming while waving her arms around to try and get her attention, nearly smacking the three teenagers around her in the face in the process.

Sophia laughs, waving back at the little girl as she begins to walk towards them, meeting the five at the crosswalk and immediately taking her from Willow for a hug. "Hi Sky."

"Hi." She smiles, wrapping her arms around her neck and giving her a squeeze. "I miss you."

"I missed you too." Sophia says, kissing her cheek and trying to place her on the ground, but Skyla protests, tightening her grip so Sophia couldn't out her down "Aw, what's wrong, Sky?"

"You been gone forever." Skyla says with a sniffle, having not seen her for a week, which really did feel like forever to her, especially when she was used to having her around nearly all day every day.

"I know, I'm sorry." Sophia says, rubbing small circles on the girls back to soothe her. "I'll try to come over more, okay? I promise."

"Okay." Skyla says, reluctantly allowing herself to be passed back to Willow.

Sophia and Wes greet each other with a quick kiss before the girl turns her attention to his suit, looking it over with a pleased smile. "See? It looks good." She tells him, brushing his messy hair out of his face. "It would be better if you actually brushed your hair."

"I did brush it." Wes defends, running a hand through it.

"When?" She asks, raising a brow at him.

"Last night..." He admits with a huff, ignoring the look his girlfriend gives him and instead changing the subject. "You look beautiful." He compliments, kissing her forehead as an extra gesture, almost like a silent apology.

"Told you." Willow tells her with a teasing grin.

Sophia playfully rolls her eyes at her friend, praying that the blush she could feel rising wasn't noticeable. "Shut up." She mumbles, looking over her friend, slightly surprised she was actually fully dressed up. "You're really here." She smiles. "And you wore the dress."

"I promised, so i had to." Willow sighs. "But trust me, i thought about making a run for it, like, ten times."

"Of course you did." She chuckles, looking to their last two friends to greet and compliment them, along with thanking them for coming.

"Sophia?" Johan calls, approaching the group by himself. "It's time to head inside."

"Okay." Sophia says, "We'll be right there."

"Alright, but don't take to long." He warns, already beginning to walk away. "You know how impatient your mother is."

"Impatient, rude, miserable." She lists under her breath, rolling her eyes, her friends holding in their laughter at her newfound attitude. "And a million other things i will not be naming."

"Just make sure she doesn't hear." Cameron advises with a shrug, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Now are we doing this or what? 'Cause if not, I'm leaving, there's some leftover pizza at home with my name on it."

"No there isn't, that's mine." Wes argues, starting to bicker with the Hansley boy who immediately denies it.

"Are they serious?" Sasha narrows her eyes at the two who ignore her, continuing to argue as if that box of cold pizza was their last meal. "Idiots."

"Apparently." Willow mumbles, watching the two amusedly until she notices Sophia's upset expression. She sighs, knowing she would have to stop their argument before it escalated and risked ruining the evening. "Okay, stop, it's just a pizza." She orders the two, shoving her way between them so they would be forced to separate.

The two ignore her, arguing over her head instead.

"Shut up!" She snaps, flicking Wes' forehead and turns to Cameron, about to do the same but he backs away before she could.

"Okay!" He retreats, holding a hand against his forehead as if trying to protect it while his other is held in front of him to keep her away.

"You're such a big baby." Sasha teases him just as he had earlier.

"Shut up." He glares as she laughs at him. "You're such a bully." He complains, flicking her forehead and jumping away to hide behind Willow when she comes at him.

Willow rolls her eyes, pushing him away from her. "Don't try and hide behind me." She tells him, scoffing when he takes Skyla from her instead and holds her out in front of him, forcing the little girl into being his human shield as he runs from an angry Sasha who tries to hit him with her bag.

Skyla only laughs as she's spun around, finding the situation hilarious. "She's gonna get us! Run Cammy!" She cheers when he listens, dodging the Paris girl and circling their group of friends to gain some space between them. "Faster, faster!"

Sophia sighs, giving the twins a pleading look for help.

Willow clicks her tongue, glancing around at the three who continue to run around them before looking back to Sophia. "Okay, why don't you go inside with Wes and wait? I'll handle this, okay?" She suggests, nudging her brother towards the blonde who nods.

Wes looks to his sister. "You sure you'll be okay?"

She nods, "Yeah, just go."

"Okay." He says, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend and leading her away, trying to reassure her everything would be alright.

Willow turns around, grabbing Cameron and Sasha by their arms and forcing them to still. "Enough!"

"He started it!" Sasha argues, smacking his arm with her bag.

"There, you got him back, now stop." She tells her, pushing her hand down and turning to Cameron. "And you, next time you try to use my little sister as a human shield, I'm gonna let her do more than just hit you with a bag." She threatens, taking Skyla from him and placing her on the ground.

"But she had fun." He defends, pointing to the child who was still smiling.

"I don't care. You got her all wound up and now she's not gonna be able to sit still for this stupid show." She points out, gesturing to the girl who was rocking back and forth on her heels, buzzing with energy.

Cameron purses his lips, now seeing his mistake. "Sorry..."

"Whatever, just knock it off, we can't be causing scenes today, remember? Sophia says this needs to go perfectly and i promised it would, so please, don't make me break that promise, this means too much to her." She says, the two bowing their heads in shame that they had gotten caught up and caused their friends distress.

"Right. Sorry." Sasha says, nudging Cameron who nods, repeating an apology.

"Save it for Sophia, she's waiting inside." She tells them, taking her sisters hand and leading them towards the door, pausing to look at Cameron one more time. "And by the way, me and Skyla finished that pizza last night."

Cameron gapes in offense. "And you didn't save me any?!"

"Nope." Skyla says with a giggle, finding the older boys expression funny.

"Wills!" He whines.

"What?" She shrugs. "It was only fair, since you and Wes hogged the other two boxes to yourselves."

"No we didn't-"

"Yes you did." She cuts him off, opening the door and holding it open for the two behind her. "Now shush, we're on our best behavior's, remember?"

"Right. Best behaviors."

"Hear that, Sky?" Willow asks, "You gotta be good too, okay?"

"Okay." She agrees, putting on a big smile as they approach the four that wait for them in the lobby. "Hi!"

"Oh," Monica mumbles as she looks down to the girl, giving her a small smile. "Hi."

"Mom, this is Skyla, you've met her a couple of times before." Sophia introduces, gesturing to the little girl before looking to the other three. "And you know Willow, Cameron, and Sasha."

"Of course." The woman nods, giving the other three a smile, one with far less effort than the one she had given the the younger girl. "It's nice to see you all again."

"It's nice to see you too." Willow says, nudging the two beside her when they do nothing but stare. "Right?"

"Right, yeah, nice to see you." Cameron says, giving Sasha a look that makes her roll her eyes.

"Nice to see you." She simply repeats with a nod to the woman.

"Well, shall we?" Monica suggests after an awkward moment of silence, pointing towards the people crowding in through the large doors to find their seats.

"Yes, please." Cameron breathes out, desperate to escape the tension surrounding them.

"Great... Let's go."

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"How long is this thing?" Cameron complains, leaning over to whisper to Willow and Sasha, tired after sitting through three hours of the show. "I need to pee."

"Join the club." Sasha hisses, pushing his face away. "This thing is taking forever."

"Yeah, i thought this was only going to be a few hours, two at most?"

"And i thought we were seeing a play, but look how that turned out."

"We were supposed to see a play and it was only supposed to be two hours, but the plans obviously changed." Willow rolls her eyes. "Now be quiet, before people start yelling at us again."

"But when is it over?" Cameron asks again.

She shrugs. "How would i know? We were supposed to see a play."

"Exactly!"

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"This has been the longest three hours of my life."

"Tell me about it." Willow nods along with her friend, leaning against the wall as she searches through her new purse, looking for her cigarettes. "And that's saying a lot, considering i live with you and Wes."

"That was so rude!"

"Rude but true."

"Only a little bit." He mumbles, joining her side and taking a cigarette.

"Get your own pack." Willow frowns, taking it back for herself. "These things are expensive."

"That's why I'm stealing yours." He deadpans, plucking it back from her hand for himself, placing it between his lips and moving away before she could take it back.

"Fine, keep it." She rolls her eyes. It's not like it's my money buying them anyways. She thinks, knowing that the money was coming from Victoria, and she knew her mother wouldn't miss it. "You want my lighter too?" She offers, Cameron not picking up on her sarcasm, or not caring about it, as he accepts and grabs it from her hand to light his smoke.

"Yeah, thanks."

She scoffs, "That was sarcasm, dingus."

"So?" He asks, unbothered as he exhales a cloud of smoke, tossing the lighter back to her and laughing when she struggles to catch it, failing and letting it hit the ground. "God, you suck at catching."

"You suck at throwing." She retorts as she leans down and picks up her lighter, running her thumb over the Nirvana logo on the side to wipe the dirt off. "You got it dirty." She complains.

"Just wipe it off." He tells her.

"With what? My shoe? Sophia will kill me if i get this dress dirty."

He sighs, holding out his hand. "Here, give it."

"Are you gonna throw it again?" She asks skeptically.

"No." He rolls his eyes.

"Are you lying?" She asks, narrowing her eyes at him when he shakes his head.

"No, just give it." He insists, stretching his arm out more.

Reluctantly, she hands it over, watching the boy flip the sleeve of his jacket inside out before starting to clean it. "Here," he says, handing it back to her. "It's clean again."

"Thanks." She hums, flicking the flame on and lighting her stick of nicotine. "How much longer of a break do you think we have left? Y'know, before Sophia comes and drags us back inside?"

"Uh, not long. Not long at all." He says, pointing out their angry blonde friend who stomps her way over to them. "Like, now."

"Crap." Willow winces as she approaches, immediately stopping and taking their cigarettes from them.

"Seriously?! You guys are ridiculous. You said you were going to the bathrooms!" She scolds. "But no, you lied so you can stand out here and kill yourselves with these stupid cancer sticks. Again, ridiculous!"

Willow and Cameron both keep their gazes on the ground as they stand in silence, like a child whose getting lectured by their parent or teacher, not daring to glance at one another, knowing that as soon as they did they wouldn't be able to hold in the laughter they were trying so hard to contain so they wouldn't upset Sophia anymore than they already had.

"Give me your packs." She demands, holding her hand out to them, glaring at Cameron when he smacks her hand and mumbles 'high five'. "Smokes, now."

"Fine." Willow gives in with a sigh, placing the two smokes in the blondes hand and watching sadly as she drops them in her purse, acting as if those were the only smokes she had, like she didn't still have her pack hidden in her bag.

"Thank you." Sophia nods, pleased that Willow was making this easy. "Now let's go, intermission is over."

Willow nods, dropping them back into her purse and following silently behind her friend, not wanting to be walked inside like Cameron, who was being held by his wrist and dragged.

"Oh, and you need to talk to Sky. She was trying to steal the little binoculars." Sophia informs Willow who frowns in confusion.

"What? Why?"

Sophia shrugs. "Something about wanting to try and find little invisible birds." She says, Willow's eyes going wide when she realizes her mistake.

Oops.

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

Another hour and a half later and majority of the group were ready for bed, tired due to pure boredom. It seemed that the only one actually enjoying the music was Monica, who tried hard to act like it was the best idea she ever had, but deep down inside, she knew she was wrong, she too would have enjoyed the play more.

"Is it almost over?" Willow asks Sophia through a whisper, leaning over her twin to speak to the blonde, the one she figured would know.

"I'm not sure..." She answers, eyebrows knitting together in focus as she forces herself to continue watching, wanting nothing more than to close her eyes and sneak in a nap. She was exhausted after being up all night worrying over how this would go, if her mother would relent and let her live her life with her friends by her side. "I think so."

"I hope so." Wes says, moving around in his seat to get more comfortable.

"Me too." Willow agrees, laying back in her seat to get more comfortable while being trapped between Skyla, who fell asleep in her lap and was now hugging her torso like a koala bear with her head resting on her chest , and Sasha who was half asleep and leaning on her shoulder with Cameron sleeping on hers.

"Wills, please don't fall asleep." Wes says, nudging her arm.

"Shh." She shushes.

"Wills." He repeats, poking at her until she answers.

"Stop." She asks, swatting his hand away.

"Stay awake." He demands.

"I am awake." She mumbles, the words almost incoherent.

"Really? You don't look awake." He says, gesturing to her closed eyes and relaxed demeanor, sighing when she doesn't answer. "Willow."

"What?" She whines, peeking an eye open at him.

"Wake up."

"No."

"Please?" He begs, but she ignores him, laying her head on Sasha's and letting out a breath, fully prepared to take a nap. "Wills, please?!"

"Why?!" She complains, looking over at her twin who shrugs.

"If i have to suffer through this then so do you."

"That's so mean." She tells him, faking betrayal.

"Payback for when you dragged me to watch a Barbie movie with Sky." He says. "You said if you had to go, i had to go too."

"You loved that movie and you know it." She defends.

"I did not!" He denies, a very obvious lie that makes Willow laugh.

"Yeah, right." She says with an amused smile, knowing he secretly loved every Barbie movie Skyla made them watch, sometimes more than Skyla herself. "Whatever you wanna tell yourself."

"Can you just stay awake?" He asks again, crossing his arm as he sinks further in his chair when people start to glare at them for making too much noise.

"Sorry." Willow apologizes to the older woman who sends them a disappointed look along with a request for them to 'quiet down'. "Fine, I'll stay awake." She agrees, voice quieter than before.

"Thank you."

"You're not welcome."

"You're so grumpy."

"You're so annoying."

"I know, i get it from you."

"Fuck off."

"No swearing!" Sophia scolds. "Both of you knock it off and stay awake."

"Sorry..."

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"Thank fuck." Sasha breathes out as she rushes out of the large building, pushing past people to get outside, hoping that the night was finally over. "Sweet freedom."

"You're so dramatic." Sophia mutters, watching her press a kiss to her fingers and place it in the air, claiming she was releasing it to the wind.

"Always have been, always will be." She nods, not caring and owning the title proudly. "I need a smoke."

"No." Sophia says, snatching the pack from her hands as soon as she pulled it out. "No, no, no."

"What the- give those back!" Sasha demands, lunging forward to try and take them back, but Sophia only shoves them into her purse and cradles the bag to her chest, holding onto it for dear life. "Those are mine!"

"Yes, and you'll get them back later." She assures, shrugging the girls hands off of her. "But for now, no smoking."

Sasha clenches her jaw, staring her friend down for a moment before rolling her eyes and giving up when she see's the pleading look Sophia gives her. "Fine."

Sophia smiles. "Okay... Thank you."

"Whatever." Sasha mumbles, turning her attention to their friends who finally emerge from the building. "You hear the new rule? No smoking."

"Yeah, we heard." Cameron sighs sadly. "She already took ours away."

"It's not a new rule." Sophia scoffs. "I told you to be on your best behaviors, that includes not killing yourselves by smoking these things." She says, rushing forward to grab yet another pack that Wes pulls out, clearly not paying attention to the conversation. "That includes you too, Wes."

"What?" He asks cluelessly, looking between his pack of cigarettes and the angry face of his girlfriend. "What'd i do?"

"Breathed." Sasha says, her answer making Willow and Cameron laugh while Wes frowns in confused.

"Huh."

"Nothing." Willow tells him, patting his shoulder as she shoots Sasha a look of amusement. "Soph doesn't want us smoking today." She informs, taking a deep breath as she digs out her whole pac and hands them over, making a sacrifice for her friends sanity. "There, now you have them all. So, maybe you can calm down."

"Okay." She nods, dropping the rest into her purse and taking a deep breath, forcing a smile onto her face when she sees her parents approaching.

"You kids ready?" Monica asks.

Sophia nods.

"For what?" Sasha asks. sending her friends a confused glance, not knowing there was anything else planned.

"Dinner, of course." The woman answers, turning to Willow next and gesturing to the sleeping child in her arms. "Are you two going to be joining us? It's alright if you can't, we'll understand."

Willow opens her mouth, fully prepared to accept the chance of escaping the dinner she had been dreading the entire week, but before she could Sophia and Wes answer for her.

"No, they'll join."

"They're coming."

Willow looks at the two who give her passive aggressive smiles, silently telling her she didn't have a choice. "We'd love to come." She says through a fake smile of her own.

"Good, we're glad to have you." Monica nods, looking around them at the parked cars. "Do you have a ride?"

"No, we took the bus." She tells her. "So we'll just meet you there."

"Oh, no, that just won't do." She shakes her head, digging through her bag for her cell phone. "Someone can come with us and I'll call a taxi for the rest of you."

Wes shakes his head. "Oh, you don't have to do that."

"Don't be silly, it's no problem." She waves them off, dialing the number and walking away to talk to the operator.

"I'll be in the car." Johan informs his daughter, already walking away.

"K..." Sophia mutters, watching him leave and glancing at her mother, finding the offer way out of character for her. She was pleased though, Monica was actually trying, she was really giving her friends a chance.

"Why is she being so nice?" Willow asks. "Doesn't she hate us?"

"She does." Wes confirms. "Or, at least she's supposed to."

"Yeah, why is she being so nice?" Sasha questions, raising a brow. "It's kinda freakin' me out."

"Maybe she's paying the cap company to kill us and make it look like a car accident." Cameron speculates, the group turning to glare at him for his absurd guess. "What?"

"Don't be so stupid." Sasha tells him.

"Fine." He shrugs, frowning in offense.

"Thank-"

"Then she's paying them to kidnap us."

"Cam!"

"What?!" He holds his hands up in surrender. "It's just a theory!"

"The cab's gonna kidnap us?!" Skyla cries.

"Look what you've done!" Wes smacks the boy upside the head, Cameron doing no more than groaning as he knew it was deserved ⏤ Skyla would never take a cab again.

"No one's going to kidnap us, Sky." Willow reassures her, bouncing her slightly to try and calm her before she had a meltdown. "Cam's just being silly."

"Yeah, I'm just joking around Sky, don't worry."

The girl frowns, still scared but says nothing else, only leans further into her sisters arms and hides her face in her neck.

"It's okay Sky." Willow hushes her.

"Alright, a taxi is on it's way, and this should cover the fee- is everything okay?" Monica asks when she notices the distraught toddler. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, she just got scared." Wes tells her, rubbing a hand up and down Skyla's back, helping Willow keep her calm. "Cameron brought up something he seen from a movie about a cab driver kidnapping someone, she heard and got freaked out." He explains.

"I thought she was sleeping." The boy sheepishly admits when the woman gives him a look.

Monica sighs, looking to the little girl. "How about she comes in the car with us?" She offers, looking to Wes and Sophia. "Assuming you two won't mind watching her."

"No, of course not." Wes says while Sophia just shakes her head, never refusing spending time with the little girl. "Come on, Sky." He says, taking her from Willow.

"Where we going?" She asks, looking to her big brother.

"To eat." He answers, moving her hair out of their faces.

"Where they going?" She asks next, pointing to the other three.

"They're going to meet us there." He reassures, looking to the three. "Right?" He asks with raised brows, knowing they may try to take off and go home instead.

"Right." They agree after a second of hesitation, a shared glance between them and a stern 'don't even think about it' look from the couple. "We'll meet you there." Willow tells her sister, giving her cheek a quick kiss. "Promise."

"Okay." Skyla says, waving Willow back over to her.

"What?" Willow asks, leaning closer to her.

"Your turn." She says, pressing a kiss to Willow's cheek, making her smile.

"Aw, thank you Sky." She says, kissing the girls forehead and backing away.

"Why didn't i get one?" Sophia asks, pretending her feelings were hurt and crossing her arms.

"If she get's one, i get one." Sasha pipes up.

Skyla smiles and nods, giving them both a kiss.

"Hey, what about me?!" Cameron whines making the girl giggle.

"Fine, you can have one too."

"Well don't sound too happy about it." He scoffs, but still goes in to get his kiss.

"You too." Skyla says, leaning up and pecking Wes' cheek.

"Okay, i hate to break this up but your taxi is here." Monica says, giving the group a smile, for once, a genuine one. She had to admit, they weren't as bad as she thought.

"Thanks." Willow tells the woman, returning her smile.

"Don't worry about it, just come get me when you get to the restaurant and I'll handle the cost." She says, turning to the three who were going with her. "Let's go."

"Bye, don't get kidnapped!"

"Sky, we're not going to get kidnapped."

"Hopefully."

"Cam, shut up."

"I'm just saying!"

"Well don't say anything."

"You're so mean to me."

"Then don't be an idiot."

"See!"

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"Thank you again, Monica, we really appreciate everything you've done for us tonight." Willow says.

"It's nothing. Order anything you like, it's on us." She assures, pushing out of her seat. "Excuse me."

"Uh, where are you going?" Sophia asks her mother.

"To find your father." She says. "Just figure out what you all want, I'll be right back. Remember, get whatever you'd like, we've got the bill covered."

"Thank god." Cameron mumbles as the woman leaves, leaning over to Wes to show him the prices. "You see how expensive this shit is?"

"Shh."

"No, I'm serious. I'd have to sell a kidney or something to be able to eat here."

"And I'm the dramatic one?" Sasha asks, eyebrows raised in amusement.

"You are pretty dramatic though." Willow shrugs, finishing buttering a dinner roll and handing it over to Skyla who begins picking it apart, eating it in little pieces.

"I know that." Sasha says with a roll of her eyes.

"You keep rolling them and they're going to get stuck back there." Wes teases with a grin.

"You promise? Then i wouldn't have to see your face again." She instantly replies, smirking when his grin vanishes.

"Damn." Cameron laughs.

"Oh my god!" Sophia gasps, slapping a hand over her mouth, not wanting to laugh at her boyfriends expense.

"Bitch." Wes glares.

"Asshole." She fires back, the boy holding up his middle finger in response, a gesture she gladly returns with a smile, one that he mirrors after a moment.

"You guys are so weird." Cameron observes, looking between them, going ignored as the two become distracted, acting as though nothing happened, just like they always did. "So weird."

"Not as weird as you." The Paris girl says, not sparing him a glance as she chooses what she wants to eat and turns to Willow. "What're you getting?"

"I have no idea." She says, chin sitting in her elbow as she reads over the options, nothing sounding appealing. "There's too much. What about you?"

"Steak." She answers. "You should get one."

"Okay." Willow nods, not caring to choose anything else. "Steak it is."

"Have you guys decided what you wanted?" Monica asks as she sits back down, Johan finally joining the table.

Sophia looks around to her friends, each giving a nod. "Yeah, we're just waiting on you and Dad."

"Alright then, let's order."

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"So, how's school going for you kids?"

At the woman's question the twins share a concerned glance, both hating the topic more than anything.

"Good..." Wes nods, looking to Sophia who refuses to look anywhere but her lap, dread written across her face. "Yeah, uh, school's great. Right, Wills?"

With a quick, discreet glare aimed at her twin Willow turns to Monica with a nod. "School's fine." She says, giving a tight lipped smile before changing the subject. "How's work? Sophia said you got promoted, or something."

"Yes, I-"

"Wills, look." Wes cuts in, pointing across the restaurant to three men who had just entered.

"Jesus, why are they everywhere?" Cameron groans, letting his head fall forward onto the table with a thud.

"'Cause they're stalkers." Sasha answers with a scoff, glaring at them from her seat.

"Stalkers?" Monica frowns, turning in her seat to try and figure out who they were talking about. "Who? Do i need to call the police?"

"No, no, it's not like that." Willow tells her, shaking her head as she sinks down in her seat, attempting to hide from her other brothers. "They're not actually stalkers." She says, eyebrows pulling together when she thinks about it more. "I don't think they are, at least."

"They are." Sasha insists. "Remember when they secretly followed us from Cam's just so they could find you and Wes?"

"Oh my god," Wes complains, having heard this more times than he could count over the last month. "Can you just let it go already? We get it, they're creeps. Jesus."

Sasha narrows her eyes at him, questioning if he was serious or not. "No, Wes, i will not let the fact that your brothers are freaks, who follow young girls without their knowledge, go. Alright? And that's not just me being dramatic either, it was a creepy thing for them to do and if they do it again I will call the cops on them, i don't care if they're your brothers."

Willow sighs, rubbing her temples as she feels the headache coming on. The night was going so well, and now in the span of five minutes it felt as though it was falling apart. "Okay, let's just all take a deep breath, and calm-"

"Willow? Wes?"

"And there goes that idea." The girl mumbles, slowly turning to face a confused Phoenix. "Hey..."

"What are you doing here?" He asks, knowing this is the kind of place the twins always hated, ever since they were kids and would throw fits over having to go out for dinner instead of just ordering in pizza. "I thought you guys hated fancy restaurants?"

"No." Wes shakes his head, leaning his elbows onto the table and giving his brother a look that tells him all he needs to know ⏤ to stop talking. "We don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh, what are you guys doing here?" Willow asks, changing the subject once more.

"Noel wanted us to get dinner, but he wouldn't tell us why." He says, shrugging. "Something about needing to talk." Not knowing what to say she only nods, turning to her twin for help, the awkward silence prompting the older of the siblings to continue. "We went to the apartment to see if you guys could join us, but, obviously you're busy. So..."

"Well," Monica starts, glancing around the table. "I don't see any problem in you joining us for dinner, only if it's alright with the twins, of course." She offers, looking to the two in question with a kind, deceitful smile.

Sophia gapes, shaking her head at her mother. "Oh, Mom-"

"What?" She asks, tilting her head with a feigned look of confusion, acting as if she couldn't feel the tension that grows thicker around them by the second. "I'm being kind, giving them a chance just like you asked me to. And besides, it was only an offer." She says, looking to the twins then Phoenix. "Feel free to decline."

"Oh, uhm. I don't-"

"Please?!" Skyla cuts her sister off, tugging on the sleeve of her dress. "I'm bored. I want brothers to stay too."

"Sky, I don't think that's a good idea..." She tells her softly, trailing off when Skyla pulls out her sad puppy dog eyes, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout and wobbling slightly, looking like she was on the verge of tears. "Uh... Wes? Your turn."

"What?" He asks, looking at his twin with wide eyes when all she does is shrug and motion to the youngest of them, "Uh, Sky, tonight's not a good night to... uh... fine."

"Yay!" Skyla cheers when her brother gives in, turning to Phoenix who tilts his head in confusion, not sure what to do. It was clear he was unwanted by majority of the table and he was prepared to decline the offer, but then Skyla started tugging on his arm, begging for him to agree and sit beside her. "Please? They say yes!"

With one more look around and a glance over his shoulder to the two he came with, both of whom were oblivious to the situation and were on their phones, not paying attention to the world around them, Phoenix caves, proving even more to Skyla that none of her siblings could resist her. "Okay, sure, I'll go get Jayden and Noel." He agrees, giving his little sister a smile.

"And I'll go see if we can get a bigger table, or at least some extra chairs." Monica decides, pushing out of her seat and walking off before her daughter could object.

Sophia sighs, shoulders slumping in defeat as she watches her mother leave, glancing at her father who doesn't even spare her a glance of his own, the man dead to the world as he stares at his phone laying in his lap. "Well, this is going to be a disaster."

"Maybe it won't be as bad as we think." Cameron shrugs, taking a new route of optimism. But at the deadpan looks he gets in return he rolls his eyes. "Fine, this night sucks. They're totally gonna burn down the restaurant and take us down with it. Better? Or should i keep going?"

"Nope, we're good." Wes shakes his head.

"No, he's right, this is awful." Sophia sighs sadly, folding her arms on the table and laying her head against them. "I just wanted one night to prove Monica wrong, but, i guess tonight's not that night."

"Soph," Wes breathes out, putting an arm around his girlfriend and pulling her into him for a hug. "Tonight is going good, and them joining us won't change that, okay? I'll make sure of it." He promises, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before letting her go and standing.

"Where are you going?" She asks, looking at him with confusion.

"To make sure they don't mess tonight up." he says, turning to his twin. "Come on Wills."

The girl raises a brow as he marches past her and towards their brothers, not waiting for anything or anyone. "Okay... Uh, stay here Sky, we'll be right back." She tells the girl who nods, coloring quietly on her napkin. "Wes, wait up!" She calls, slinging her bag over her shoulder and trying to catch up to him.

"Hey." Wes greets his brothers. "I need a favor."

"No, no, no, it isn't a favor." Willow says as she reaches the four, tripping into her twins side. "Stupid heels." She curses, catching the last two of her brothers off guard when they take in her appearance, surprised to find her in a dress and heels, her hair and make up done.

Jayden laughs, reaching forward and pulling on one of her curls. "What happened to you?"

Willow swats his hand away, glaring at him. "One more word and that fork is going into your neck." She threatens, pointing to a fork in the hand of a man eating behind her, minding his own business.

He only smirks and raises his hands in surrender, amused by her threat.

"Uhm, Phoenix tells us we've been invited to join you all for dinner?" Noel asks, looking between Jayden and Willow, the former still silently glaring at the man who only raises a brow at her, silently challenging her to say something else. "Is that alright with you guys, or would you like us to leave?"

"Skyla wants you here, so join if you want." Wes tells them. "But please, Sophia needs this night to go perfectly, so no drama."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Phoenix asks. "Our whole family is drama."

Wes rolls his eyes at the reminder of the mess known as their family. "I don't know, just... be on your best behaviors?" He says, repeating the line Sophia had repeated so many times over the past week they were practically engraved in his brain.

Willow furrows her brow, finally turning away from Jayden and looking to Wes. "Best behaviors?" She repeats, the boy shrugging in response.

"I don't know what to say!" He stresses. "Why don't you say something?"

"I did." She defends, pointing to Jayden. "I threatened him with a fork."

"Gee, how helpful." The twin scoffs.

"You know what, screw this. I'm going pee." She decides, shoving past Jayden and Noel and disappearing into the bathroom, giving herself a much needed break from the people around her. The night was dragging on too long for her liking.

"Thanks for the help, Wills! It's truly, very appreciated!" Wes calls after her, going ignored by the girl who only opens the door to give him the finger before letting it fall closed again, making him scoff. "Wow."

"That looks like it's going well..." Cameron trails off, holding in a laugh at the scene before him.

"Shut up." Sasha says, turning to Sophia. "I'm gonna go check on her. You coming?"

Sophia nods with a sigh, looking to Skyla with a small smile. "You need the bathroom, Sky?"

The girl nods, dropping the crayons Willow brought for her and sliding off her chair, holding a hand up for either of the older girls to take.

"K, come here." Sasha says, taking her hand and gently leading her towards the restrooms, flicking Wes' arm when she passes by. "Idiot." She hisses quietly, getting nothing but a glare in return when he notices Skyla in earshot.

"Sorry." Sophia apologizes for their friend, squeezing his arm as she follows behind the other two, sending him a grateful smile over her shoulder before disappearing behind the piece of wood.

"Wills?" Sasha calls.

"Sissy?" Skyla calls, knocking on every stall they pass.

"Shit." Willow mumbles, putting out the cigarette she was smoking out on the bottom of her shoe and dropping it into her purse, pretending not to notice the cloud of smoke around her as she opens the stall door and quickly comes out, letting it close again behind her. "Hey."

Sophia crosses her arms, staring her friend down. "Tell me you are not smoking in here?!"

"Uh-"

"Willow Alexandria DeLaCruz!"

"Oh, she full named you." Sasha mumbles, stepping away from the angry blonde and turning to the little girl beside her who giggles at the look on her sisters face. "Come on, Sky, I'll help you."

"No, i big girl." Skyla insists, walking into the stall by herself and closing the door before anyone could follow her.

"Okay then..." Sasha mumbles, laughing when the door opens a moment later to Skyla's defeated face.

"The toilet too tall." She grumbles.

"Oh, yeah?" Willow asks amusedly, walking over to her sister, taking the chance of getting away from Sophia who would no doubt give her a lecture and take away the last two cigarettes she had been sneaky enough to save. She wouldn't like that, because this time she would actually have none. "Here, I'll help you, the toilet's not taller than me." She tells her, closing the stall door behind her and locking it.

"This isn't over, Willow." Sophia warns.

"Sorry, I can't hear you."

"The door's made of metal, it's not soundproof." She points out, going ignored. "I know you can hear me!"

Silence.

"Willow!"

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"Oh thank god, i was beginning to worry." Monica sighs. "I was starting to think you all were kidnapped or something."

"Not kidnapped." Sasha shakes her head, plopping down in her seat. "Just stalling."

"Sasha!" Sophia warns, the girl shrugging in response.

"What?" She asks. "I'm only joking."

"You joke too much." She deadpans, taking a deep breath and turning to her mother who asks where everyone else is. "Willow's in the bathroom with Skyla and Wes is waiting for them with their brothers."

"You mean their inconveniences." Sasha corrects under her breath, catching Cameron off guard and making him laugh, causing him to choke on his drink in the process.

"Cam, root beer is dripping out of your nose." Sophia cringes, handing him some napkins while Sasha only laughs at him, taking out her phone and snapping a picture, making fun of him while he glares at her, cleaning up the mess he made.

Willow frowns as she re-approaches the table, taking in the state of her friend. "What the hell happened?"

"Cam happened." Sasha laughs, putting her phone away. "He like, spit his drink all over."

"It was your fault!" He accuses, dropping the pile of napkins onto the table.

"What'd she do?" Willow asks, helping Skyla back into her seat.

"Nothing!" Sasha defends. "He just doesn't know how to drink properly."

"You made me laugh!"

"I didn't make you do anything. I'm just funny."

"Funny looking."

"I swear to-"

"Okay!" Sophia cuts in, glaring at her two friends. "Enough. It was no ones fault." She tells them, turning to Cameron. "Are you okay?"

He nods, sending Sasha a look as he says, "I'm fine."

She scoffs. "Why're you looking at me like i tried to kill you, or something?"

"Because you did!"

"No, i didn't! If anything, you tried to kill yourself."

"Both of you, shut up." Sophia snaps, hand slamming on the table to get their attention, successfully shutting them up. "Best behavior's." She reminds, glaring at them until they nod and quiet down, settling for silently glaring at each other.

"Hey," Wes greets, leading his brothers over to the table. "What's going on?" He asks, noticing the look on his girlfriends face of pure annoyance.

"Nothing." Willow is quick to answer, turning to her other three brothers, ready to introduce them to Monica and Johan. "Uhm, these are three of our brothers, Jayden, Phoenix and Noel." She introduces, pointing out who was who.

"Hi, I'm Sophia's mother, Monica. It's nice to meet you." Monica says, standing to shake their hands, pausing when she got to Noel, eyebrows pinching together in thought. "I'm sorry, do i know you?"

The man shakes his head, not recognizing the woman in front of him. "No, I don't think you do."

"Sorry, it's just... you look very familiar." She says, letting it go and sitting back down, searching her brain for where she knew him from. "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you." He says, sitting down beside who he assumed to be Sophia's father.

"Of course." Monica nods, smiling to the waiter who places her drink in front of her. "So, uh, I wasn't aware Victoria had other children." She starts, not noticing the look of dread that pass over the faces around her. "Is there a story there?"

"Oh, there's definitely a story there." Jayden says with a nod, sipping on the drink Skyla had demanded they share.

"Jayden." Wes warns, glaring at him from across the table.

"It's just not one worth sharing tonight." He continues, sending the woman a smile. "Maybe another time though, if the twins decide they want to tell it to you."

The woman tilts her head. "Consider my interest piqued."

Willow laughs awkwardly, looking around for something to talk about, eyes landing on Sophia's father, a man she assumed to be dead inside by how little he interacted that evening. So, she decided it was his turn to suffer. "Mr. Conner? Sophia says you got a new job." She says, him only humming in response. "How's that going?"

"Fine."

Sophia groans, looking to her mother for help, the woman sighing and turning to her husband. "Johan, get off of your cellphone." She tells him, snapping in his face as if trying to break a trance. "You're being spoken to, have some human decency and acknowledge her."

The man clenches his jaw, looking up at his wife who only raises a brow, daring him to say something against her. Forcing a smile he turns to Willow and nods. "I haven't officially started yet, but i hope it goes well. Thank you for asking."

"I'm sorry. Johan Conner?" Noel asks, interrupting the father who nods, looking back down to his cell phone, not bothering to look at the man beside him.

"Yes, that's me. And you are."

"Your new boss, if I'm correct." He says, Johan's head snapping up at the words. "Noel DeLaCruz." He introduces, holding a hand out to Johan who immediately takes it, nodding in respect to the man who had hired him just two weeks before.

"Nice to officially meet you, sir." Johan says.

"I knew i recognized you from somewhere." Monica chuckles, the lightbulb finally going on for her.

"You called it." He nods, looking to his siblings who sit awkwardly in silence. "What a crazy coincidence, right?"

"Right." They agree, looking to Sophia who sits idly, looking between her parents and Noel with an unreadable expression. "What a weird... coincidence." Wes continues, nudging his girlfriend. "Right, Soph?"

"Yeah." She nods, turning her attention to the drink in front of her, poking around the ice with her straw. "Totally crazy."

Sasha purses her lips, looking around the table before turning to Cameron beside her. "Do you think they'd notice if we left?"

"Yes." Willow says, kicking her under the table. "Don't even try it."

Sasha sighs, "Fine."

"So, did you guys order yet?" Phoenix asks.

"Not yet."

"I'll go find a waiter." Cameron volunteers, practically jumping out of his seat at the chance of escaping the table, more so the awkwardness around it.

"Thank you." Monica smiles.

"Trust me, It's my pleasure." He assures, quickly walking away in search of a server, Sasha watching him go with a sigh.

"Lucky bitch."

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

The night wasn't as bad as Willow thought it would be, she had to admit. Even after her brothers had joined them. But, it still wasn't one she would ever willingly go through again. Not for anything less than a million dollars, at least.

"How about dessert, anyone?" Monica asks, picking up the dessert menu and flipping through the pages. "I hear they have some excellent cakes here. I think i might get something, a little treat."

"I think we should probably get going." Willow says, looking to Skyla who was half asleep in her chair, incoherently babbling on to Phoenix as she laid against his side. "It's getting pretty late and we should get her home to bed."

"Oh, are you sure?" Monica asks with a frown, looking at the girl over her menu.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. Today was great though and we appreciate you giving us a chance, and for everything you've done for us." She tells her, sincerity clear in her tone.

"Well of course, anything for Sophia." Monica says, looking over to her daughter who smiles. "Would you like me to call you all another taxi?"

"We can give them a ride." Phoenix answers, looking to his younger siblings. "If you want, we can drop you guys off."

"Sure." Willow accepts, looking to Skyla who was rubbing her eyes and yawning. "You ready to go home, Sky?" She asks, running a hand over the girls hair.

"Yeah." Skyla agrees, holding her hands out to her sister to be picked up. "Sleep time."

"Okay, but let's go clean you up first. You got food all over your face." Willow tells her, picking her up from her seat and heading toward the bathrooms. "We'll be right back."

"Uhm, i have to take a phone call." Noel says, a look of worry on his face as he quickly pushes out of his chair, phone in hand. "Take your time, I'll be waiting outside." He tells them, rushing off without another word.

Wes raises a brow at his brother's strange behavior, looking to the other two brothers with a questioning look. "What was that all about?"

"Not sure." Phoenix shrugs.

"Probably some work problem." Jayden brushes it off, looking at the dessert menu. "You think the brownie is good? Or should i get something else? Oh, the cheese cake looks delicious."

"I thought we weren't staying for dessert?" Sasha grumbles with a whine, desperate for the night to end.

He only ignores her.

"I hate you."

"Same here, why don't you walk home?"

"Stop it, both of you."

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"This has been fun."

"Has it really, though?" Sasha mumbles quietly to Cameron who forces back a laugh and nudges her in warning to stop.

"Tonight was nice."

"For you." She continues to mumble on incoherently, countering everything Monica says with her usual snarky comments, Cameron shaking his head with an amused smile, trying his best to ignore her.

"We should do it again sometime."

"No chance in hell." She shakes her head, turning to walk away before she could get dragged into any future plans. "Oh look, there's Noel, we better leave now." She lies, hooking her arm with the Hansley boy and pulling him away with her, waving the rest of her friends along. "Come on."

Willow shakes her head with a sigh, turning to Sophia with a warm smile, pulling her friend into a hug. "Message me tomorrow?" She asks her friend.

"Of course." Sophia nods, squeezing her bestfriend tighter. "Thanks for tonight. It went better than i thought it would."

"Don't thank me, if i could, i would've climbed out the bathroom window and ran away." Willow tells her, voice lowering to a whisper like she was telling her something top secret.

"You probably tried that too, didn't you?" She asks, getting a nod of confirmation.

"Yep."

"'Course you did." Sophia laughs, pulling away with an amused smile.

Willow laughs, nodding over to Wes. "Ready to go?" She asks, the boy nodding, having already said his goodbyes.

"Call me later." Wes tells his girlfriend, opening her car door for her and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "I love you."

"I will." Sophia smiles, pecking his lips and kissing the top of Skyla's head, the little girl sleeping in her brothers arms. "I love you too." She tells him, sliding into the backseat and waving at him through her window when he closes the door for her. "Bye."

Monica only nods to the boy in farewell, getting into the passenger seat and ordering her husband to drive without another word to the kids she spent the evening with.

Walking over to his twin, Wes raises a brow at her. "We made it through the night."

"Shocking, right?" She asks with a grin, proud of herself for pushing through something she found so difficult and out of her comfort zone.

"Completely." Wes agrees with a grin of his own, throwing an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side, leading her towards their two friends who stand alone. "Where's Noel?"

"Don't know, don't care." Sasha shrugs, cigarette hanging from her lips as she scrolls away on her phone. "I think I'm just gonna call Alisha to come pick me up, you wanna catch a ride?"

"Maybe." Willow says, joining her side and plucking the cigarette from between her lips, placing it between her own and taking a long drag, shoulders slumping in relief as the smoke invades her lungs. "I've needed one of these all day."

"What? A cancer stick?" Cameron asks, holding up the pack Sophia had stolen from her earlier, the once blue case now having 'cancer sticks' written across it in black ink.

"Oh my god, how'd you get these? She told me she dropped them back at the opera place." Willow says, snatching the pack from his hands and holding it to her chest as if it were some important artifact she spent a hundred years searching for.

"She lied." He shrugs, leaning against the wall on the other side of Sasha who glances between them in confusion.

"Who lied?" She asks.

"Sophia." He informs, pointing to the pack in Willow's hands. "She told Willow she lost them at the opera place, but i stole them out of her purse when you guys were in the washroom." He says proudly, making a point of ignoring the look Wes sends his way. "Figured you'd want them back."

"Why didn't you just ask for them?" Wes asks.

"I did, she lied." Cameron tells him.

"She didn't get a chance to lie to me. I just demanded them back, even unzipped her purse for her." Sasha says, lighting another one since Willow had stolen the first.

"Lucky. Thanks, Cam." Willow says, opening the top and offering him one, which he gladly takes, asking for a lighter that she gives, throwing the Nirvana one at him like he had done to her earlier, but unlike her, he caught it with ease. "Show off."

He smirks, a cocky grin as he lights the cigarette and pockets the lighter. "I'm just better than you."

"Doubtful." Sasha comments with a shake of her head, a cloud of smoke leaving her lips.

"Why're you so mean to me?" Cameron complains with a whine.

"Because it's so fun." She says with a grin, pinching his cheek and laughing when he groans in annoyance and shoves her away, rubbing at his cheek with a pout. "See? Fun."

"No, you're just evil." He retorts, narrowing his eyes at her.

She shrugs. "Or that, yeah." She agrees, turning her attention to the twins. "Where are the other ones? Did they take off?"

"No, Jayden wanted dessert so we gotta wait." Wes tells her, trading Willow their sister for a cigarette, taking her place beside Sasha while she takes Skyla a few feet away from all the smoke. "And i don't know where the hell Noel disappeared to."

"Is that really surprising though?" She snorts. "I mean, isn't that kinda his thing? Disappearing?"

Cameron winces at the unamused looks his friends give the girl. "Too soon, Sash." He tells her, patting her shoulder. "Too soon."

"Sorry." She apologizes, cringing to herself.

"It's fine." Willow shrugs it off, knowing it was something she herself would say.

"So, should i call Alisha to come pick us up, or..?"

Willow looks to Wes who shrugs, not caring who took them home as long as they got there. "I'll just go ask Phoenix and Jayden." She decides, adjusting Skyla on her waist and turning to head back inside.

It wasn't hard to find her two brothers who hadn't moved an inch, still sitting at their table and stuffing their faces with dessert.

"Oh, hey, Wills." Phoenix greets when he notices her. "You should try some of this." He says, pointing his fork at the cake that sits in the middle of the table. "It's so good."

"You guys are pigs." She shakes her head, lip curling in disgust at the way they devour the food, grunting and moaning and making a mess of themselves and the table. How was Skyla, the four year old, cleaner than the two grown men? "You know, you two are making a bigger mess than she did, and she's a child."

"I don't see your point." Jayden speaks through a mouthful of food, crumbs of the pie he had shoved in his mouth falling past his lips.

"The point is, ew." She cringes, reluctantly sitting down to talk to them. "Where's Noel?"

"Outside?" Phoenix suggests, voice unsure as he wipes his face. "Isn't he?"

"No," She shakes her head, looking at him as if he were dumb. "If he was, i wouldn't be asking you two."

"Right." He sighs, glancing to Jayden who shrugs.

"I don't know. He just ran off, said he needed to take a call."

"K, well, we're just gonna catch a ride with Sasha then." She sighs, holding Skyla to her chest as she stands, the little girls arms winding around her neck as she murmurs sleepily.

"Uh, we can drive you-"

She shakes her head, giving them a small smile. "No, it's okay. Thanks though."

"Are you sure?" Phoenix asks, standing with her.

She nods, shuffling Skyla's weight to her other side. "Yeah, it's fine."

"Here, let me." He offers, taking Skyla from the girl who let's out a breath of relief. "I'll hold her and come wait with you guys."

"Thanks." She says, looking to Jayden who was leaning back in his chair, looking tired and full. "You comin'?"

"Just... give me a minute." He mumbles, patting his stomach. "I'll catch up."

Willow raises a brow, amused by his state. "Alright, don't explode while we're gone."

"No promises." He waves her off, making her chuckle.

"You need some money for the bill?" Phoenix asks.

Jayden shakes his head with a smirk. "Nope. Bill's paid by Monica."

"So you just got a bunch of dessert's because it's free?" Willow asks, scoffing out a laugh when he nods and grins, proud of himself.

"Yup."

"Unbelievable."

"You're just jealous you didn't think of it."

"Shut up." She rolls her eyes, Jayden laughing as he points to her and says 'i knew it'. "Whatever, explode for all i care." She grumbles, flipping him off as she walks away.

Jayden only laughs harder.

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"She's taking forever." Wes complains, tossing his cigarette to the ground. "Just ask Alisha to come get us. This is taking too long."

"Already did." Sasha says, slipping her phone back into her purse and sliding down the wall, taking a seat on the ground with a sigh. "She's gonna be here soon."

"How soon?" Cameron asks, sitting down beside her.

"Like, ten minutes soon, probably less." She answers. "She was at her boyfriends and he only lives like twenty minutes from here."

"Then how's she gonna make it here in only ten?" Wes questions, joining them on the ground.

"'Cause she speeds." Sasha shrugs, flicking her lighter on and off.

"Oh, yeah." Cameron remembers, eyebrows pinching together in concern. "On second thought, maybe we should just take the bus..."

"She's not that bad." Sasha rolls her eyes. "She just... occasionally... ignores some stop signs."

"Yeah, 'cause that makes it so much better." Wes snorts. "Cam's right, if we want to make it home, in one piece, we should probably just take the bus."

"You guys act like you haven't been in a car with her driving before. She's been like our part time chauffeur since we were thirteen." She points out.

"And she's almost killed us, what? At least a hundred times since?"

"Ha ha." Sasha grumbles, elbowing Wes in the side. "You're so funny."

"I know." He agrees, playfully shoving her shoulder.

"Is that Noel?" Cameron asks suddenly, pointing to a man across the street, standing behind a car.

"Let's find out." Wes says, pushing himself up and yelling his brothers name, the man's head snapping in their direction so fast Wes thought he might have gotten whiplash. "You giving us a ride, or what?!" He calls, waving him back over, frowning when he only turns the other way, still talking into his phone. "What's he doing?"

"Talking to someone." Sasha states, raising a brow as the man waves his arms around, making wild gestures as if talking ⏤ shouting with his hands.

"More like yelling at them." Cameron snickers, leaning his head back against the wall.

Wes rolls his eyes. "Thanks, captain obvious."

"You asked." Sasha tells him. "Don't be a dick to us just 'cause your brothers acting crazier than usual."

"He's not crazy." Wes defends, surprising not only the other two, but himself as well.

"No, he's just a stalker."

Cameron bites his lip, forcing back a laugh at the girls response.

"Let it go already!"

"Why should-"

"Hey, you guys ready to go?" Noel asks, making it across the street and looking around. "Where's everyone else?"

"Inside, trying to find you." Wes tells him. "Who were you talking to?"

"No one." He answers, too quick for any of them to buy it. "We should get going."

"Are you sure you can drive us?" Cameron asks. "You sound busy."

"I'll wait for Alisha." Sasha decides, continuing to play with her lighter, flicking the flame on and off.

Wes looks down at her, "You sure?"

"Yeah." She nods, giving him a smile. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

"I'll wait with you." Cameron offers, staying seated beside her.

"You don't-"

"Have to what? Risk my life by getting in a car with your sister?" He guesses.

"Yeah, exactly."

He shrugs, bumping her shoulder with his. "It's kinda fun."

She laughs, nodding in agreement. "Kinda."

"Alright, now that that's settled, let's go." Noel says, clapping his hands together and pointing to his car that was parked across the street. "You go ahead, I'll grab the others."

"Why're you in such a rush?" Wes asks, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Something was off, but he couldn't figure out what it was. "And why do you keep checking your phone?" He asks, the man quickly slipping it into his pocket and acting as if he was never even holding it.

"I'm not."

"You are." Wes disagrees. "Are you waiting for someone?"

"No-"

"There you are!"

The unfamiliar voice has the three kids startled and they quickly turn to face two men they don't recognize, even though two of them should.

"We couldn't remember what restaurant you said, so we went to a few other places first." One of the men continues, not paying attention as he crosses the street, his focus so solely on Noel that he doesn't even notice the presence of the other three. Not until the other one points them out. "Oh... hi."

"What are you doing here? Didn't you get my messages?!" Noel questions, his tone frantic and catching everyone off guard.

"No, my phone died. Hence why we ended up going to the wrong place, and why we're late." The first explains, looking past Noel and to Wes. "It's nice to see you again, Weston. It's been too long."

The boy furrows his eyebrows, looking between the man he didn't recognize and his brother. "Do i know you?" He asks, glancing back at his friends who look just as confused as him.

Before anyone could say anything else, they're interrupted by three out of the four missing siblings joining them, Willow's smile immediately falling and her laugh dying in her throat as she catches sight of the two strange men.

"Ian? Xander?"

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

Willow DeLaCruz

Sasha Paris

Sophia Conner

Skyla DeLaCruz

Wes DeLaCruz

Cameron Hansley

Drama?? About time, yeah?

Anyways, I'm sorry if this is kind of boring. I didn't exactly know how to write this chapter since I've never been to an opera and i doubt i ever will go to one, and the fanciest restaurant I've ever been to is applebees. That also explains why the outfits might be awful, i just picked whatever caught my eye on pinterest, so feel free to imagine anything else you'd like, those are just what i was imagining when i wrote this.

This was honestly so hard for me to finish writing, even though i started this chapter over a month ago. I'm just still in a bad place mentally, maybe even worse than before, the reason being it's officially been over a year now since my dad died, the death anniversary being only four/five days ago. There's still a lot of drama going on with his death and more things coming up so it's just been worse than usual. Sorry, i don't wanna trauma dump or anything, i just thought you all deserve an explanation.

Anyways, things are just kinda bad for me right now and i thought getting back to writing would help, but now i don't know. So basically, sorry in advance if updates start getting slower and all over the place again. I'm trying my best to get these chapters out for you guys but sometimes i can't bring myself to actually focus on writing and get through a chapter, sometimes it'll even take me a week just to write a thousand words.

So, that explains that and now, let's move on.

Ian and Xander are here!

How do you feel about that and how do you think the twins will react?

Whose your favorite characters so far? I'm actually really curious.

Do you think Monica's coming around? Or is she faking it?

Finally, sorry for any mistakes, as always, this chapter is unedited.

Please, please vote and comment, reading the comments makes me so happy for literally no reason and it just gives me motivation to keep writing. In short, don't be a ghost reader.

Thanks for reading<3