"How can this happen two days in a row?!" Jonesy shouted as he attempted to button his pants on his way down the stairs. It was more difficult than it looked. He and Jen were running significantly late… again.

"Don't ask me! I'm not the only one running late here!" Jen replied as she struggled to tie her shoes. She'd worn an average everyday t-shirt today to be sure there would be no more blouseless tank top incidents.

"You know, you guys are great role models for Robbie and me. Seriously, keep it up." Diego quipped over his bowl of cereal.

"SHUT UP!" Jen and Jonesy shouted simultaneously.

"Psh. Just sayin…" he replied. But his two older siblings didn't hear him. They were too busy grabbing food and supplies manically too argue with him any longer.

"I've got bananas!" Jen called.

"There's no more milk!" Jonesy shout-complained.

"You finished it yesterday, take orange juice."

"What about lunch?"

"Can't we buy it?"

"No cash!"

"Crap!" Jen hurried to fill two paper bags with enough food to satisfy two ravenous teens in as little time as possible. She reached for two bottles of water from the pantry to finish off her efforts.

"Leave the water, woman, we're burning time!" Jonesy ordered as he snatched bags from her and tossed them into his backpack.

"Sure! Fine! Whatever!" Jen ran out the door with Jonesy on her heels. "Be good today!" she called to Robbie and Diego, who stared in shock.

"Dude, don't ever let me end up like that when I'm in high school." Robbie said, slurping his milk.

"I'm not sure it's possible for anyone with half a brain." Diego took a bite of cereal.

"I've totally got half a brain." Robbie mentioned.

"Oh yeah, sure, man. Don't worry. You're fine." Diego rolled his eyes.

***

"Why are we always late?" Jonesy revved the engine.

"It's only been two days in a row," Jen replied, buckling up. She was doing her best to be optimistic.

Jonesy was silent for a moment, considering this. "Still."

"It's your fault anyway." Jen replied.

Jonesy sped up and passed a granny driver, gripping the steering wheel. "My fault? How is it only MY fault? You were there too!" He turned onto the school's private road.

"Because you were the one who wanted to go, you were the one that tricked me into going, and you were the one who didn't tell our parents in the first place. Therefore, it's your fault we were getting lectured until one in the morning and your fault that we're running so late. When you put it all in perspective, I was only along for the ride." Jen replied, inspecting her cuticles.

Jonesy realized too late that he'd forgotten his orange juice on the counter at home. He'd been looking forward to it. "I also took most of the rap so you wouldn't get in much trouble."

"Yeah… thanks for that, by the way." Jen said, feeling slightly guilty.

"It's the least I could do, seeing as it's 'all my fault'." Jonesy gave her a cocky grin.

"Har har, throw it back in my face." Jen opened the door as they pulled into the parking space. She didn't bother to run. At this point, she'd rather avoid Caitlin's inquiring looks.

"You know I will." Jonesy locked up and walked next to Jen.

"No project due today?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nah. I'd like to be just late enough to miss this class." He slowed his pace a bit.

Jen considered the evil look she'd gotten from her teacher yesterday and slowed down as well. "Good plan."

"Well, well, Goody-Two-Shoes Masterson skipping a class? That's pretty rare." Jonesy noted.

"Rare, but not unheard of." Jen corrected. "Hey… um, what you said yesterday…"

Jonesy pretended to be very interested in his zipper pull. "What? About… you?"

"Yeah…"

"I was… I was just messing around. I wanted to slow you down just enough so that I could take most of the blame. I felt bad about getting you into trouble with your mom and my dad and all that."

Jen noted that his knuckles were whitening as he gripped his bag. She wasn't too sure he was telling her the truth… and it seemed to be killing him. "You're sure?"

"Positive," he opened the door for her and then followed her inside. "Later, Jen."

She watched him stroll along the hallway and wished, for whatever reason, he wouldn't have denied what he'd said yesterday. She simply couldn't stand secrets. "Yeah… later…"

Once he was out of her sight in the stairwell, Jonesy paused and leaned against the wall. He took a deep breath and put his face in his hands, trying to calm his nerves. He listened intently to the silence of the stairwell. 'Why did I have to go and tell her that?' He raked his fingers through his hair, his hands shaking. '… I'm such an idiot.' He sank to the floor, balancing his weight on his haunches. He weighed his options on how to fix this situation. Obviously, Jen didn't feel the same way about him, and, to save his dignity, he'd have to prove somehow that he really had been joking. As if by fate, his answered presented itself in the form of… ladies. One of whom entered his sanctuary of a stairwell at that very moment.

"Jonesy?" She asked, tucking her long, curly red hair behind her ear. "Are you okay?" Jonesy couldn't remember her name. It had started with an M. Molly, maybe? Melinda? All Jonesy knew was that she was cute and she'd had a mild thing for him since their Freshman year.

Jonesy sighed and put on the charm. "Yeah. I've just had a really rough morning." He looked up at her with soft, sad eyes. "I'm pretty worn out."

"Oh no!" She knelt down next to him. "Are you feeling okay?" She placed a hand on his forehead.

"I'm not sick." He took her hand off his forehead and fiddled with her fingers. She blushed. "I'm just, you know… really stressed out and all that and it's totally been taking a toll on me." He squeezed her hand and looked into her eyes. "You ever feel that way?"

"All the time! Especially around the end of the semester." She looked at him earnestly.

"Maybe we could do something sometime. You know, to get the stress off and all that. Just you and me?" Jonesy gave her a shy smile.

"Oh, totally! That would be so much fun!" She giggled sheepishly.

"I hoped you'd think so. What's your number?"

She wrote it out on his hand along with her name: Miranda. Of course! Jonesy remembered it now. She'd been their class president when they were sophomores. Nice girl.

"Thanks! I'll call you sometime this week." Jonesy smiled.

"Sure! Anytime is great!" Miranda ruffled his hair.

"Great!" Jonesy waved goodbye to her as she ascended the stairs joyfully. Well, that was easy.

***

Lauren, Kim, Anja, and Lily were also easy to get dates with if you knew what to do and say. Ask the environmentalist for advice on conserving energy, offer the volleyball player a bottle of water when she looked thirsty, etc. Girls love a guy who cares. True, it was sneaky and underhanded and probably made him a terrible person on some level, but Jonesy also didn't need Jen to give him suspicious looks every time he asked her to pass the salt at the dinner table. Besides, Jonesy was so over brooding over Jen issues. Maybe one of these girls would be likable enough to be girlfriend material.

Jen, on the other hand, watched each of them pass through Jonesy's life skeptically. They were all so… not his type. Heck, he'd even brought a goth chick home. She was definitely not his type. What was Jonesy's deal, anyway, bringing home all these random girls? Sure, he'd dated lots of girls in the past and would probably date lots of girls in the future, but why so many all of a sudden? Surely, he wasn't having a self esteem crisis. It didn't seem to suit him.

Tonight, Jonesy was taking out Julia, the new employee at Grind Me. He breezed through the kitchen, smelling lightly of cologne and mint toothpaste. Jen sat cross-legged on the counter beside Robbie and Diego, who were watching him in awe. Though they would never admit it, to date so many girls in a single week… Jonesy was truly the master. Jen, however, thought it was ridiculous.

"So, what is this? Girl number twelve or thirteen?" she asked, snidely.

Jonesy shot her a look. "Eight."

"Only eight, huh? You're losing your game." Jen put her hands into her black sweatshirt (the same one Jonesy had given her).

"Only so many days in a week, Jennifer." he gave her a once over. "You look good in my clothes."

She gave him a playful kick in the side. "Get over yourself."

Jonesy turned to his brothers. "What do you think for tonight? Dinner, a movie, or both?"

"Dinner. Girls feel like it's more personal. Makes her more likely to feel like she knows you." Diego replied.

"A movie." Robbie disagreed. "You don't have to talk, but you can still get kissed."

The two younger brothers looked at each other for a moment. "Dinner and a movie. Dinner first." They said in perfect unison.

Jen stared in awe. Were all the Garcia men so devious? She wondered if their father had been the same way when he was young. Oh my gosh. What if he'd used the Garcia Deviousness on her mother!? Weird!! Noo!!

"You okay, Jen?" Jonesy asked.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"Woah! Not around me! I've got a date tonight!" Jonesy took a step back.

"Don't remind me…" Jen said, annoyed.

Jonesy cocked a grin. "Jealous?"

"More like horrified."

"Fantistic! And on that note, I'd better go. Don't want to be late." Jonesy said, pulling on his jacket. "Don't wait up."

A casual 'as if' was all Jen could think to say in response.

After Jonesy left, Diego turned to Robbie. "He's good."

"Real good." Robbie agreed.

"Ugh!" Jen hopped off the counter and went up to her room. The two boys looked at each other, then shrugged. Girls.

***

Before she'd realized it, Jen had, indeed, waited up for Jonesy. She'd watched two romantic comedies, written a report for school, and called everyone in the gang to chat. She hadn't realized why she was so antsy until she heard the front door open around midnight. Knowing Jonesy was home relaxed her immediately. Jen peeked out of her room and saw no one. She decided it would be a good time to brush her teeth before Jonesy commandeered the bathroom for the next hour like she knew he would. Jen tiptoed down the hall so she wouldn't wake up anyone else in the family and slipped into the bathroom.

"Knock, woman!" Jonesy shouted as quietly as possible, still pulling his belt out of his pants. "I was just about the get in the shower."

"I'm sorry I--"

"Trying to see me naked again, eh?" Jonesy wiggled his eyebrows.

"Trust me. Once is enough."

They stood in awkward silence for a while. Jen coughed. Jonesy played with a string hanging off his pants. He squeezed past her and proceeded to brush his teeth. "So, uh, what can I do you for?"

Jen snapped to attention. "Oh, uh, nothing, just wanted to brush my teeth."

"Beat ya to it."

"How was your date?" Jen blurted before she could stop herself.

"It went pretty well. Probably won't take her out again, but she was nice." Jonesy said, now working on flossing.

"Why not?"

'She's just not you.' Jonesy thought. "She's just not what I'm looking for. I mean, she was funny and smart and smokin' hot, but there wasn't a spark or anything, you know?"

"You wouldn't even use her for a make-out buddy?" Jen said, raising an eyebrow.

"I've... kind of grown out of that, I guess." Jonesy slid his tongue over his teeth, frowned, and brushed them a second time. Jen stared at him, slowly redefining him in her mind. Jonesy: a dataholic, loud, accusatory, obnoxious, secretly mature, genuine, caring, protective, spontaneous, criticizing, chauvinistic, stubborn, helpful, charming, fun loving… her mind raced with adjectives, both positive and negative before she realized she could only define Jonesy as … Jonesy.

Jen wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and rested her hand between his shoulder blades. "Thanks… for being Jonesy."

He smiled and put a hand over hers. "No problem, Jen."

"Jonesy, I need you to be honest with me. What's the truth about how you… you know… feel about me? Were you serious in the car that night we went bowling or were you really just kidding?" Jen held her breath.

"I was…" Jonesy looked at himself in the mirror. He didn't want to deny it anymore. "…serious that night we went bowling. Sorry, Jen. But I promise I won't bother you with it anymore! Just give me a little while, and I promise I'll get over you. I don't want it to be weird between us. Especially since we live in the same house."

"But I don't want you to!" Jen blurted out. 'Smooth Jen, very smooth…'

Jonesy turned to face her, her arms falling away from his waist. "You don't?"

"No!"

Jonesy was trying not to let himself get to hopeful. "And why not?"

"Because… well, I mean, maybe…. Maybe me too? I mean, maybe I have a thing for you too?" Jen stammered to find the right words.

Jonesy grinned. "I knew you still liked me from that time when we were younger! Looks like the Jonesmiester is a hot ticket item."

Jen rolled her eyes. "You're a real catch, Jonesy," she said sarcastically.

He kicked the door closed behind them and kissed her in one fluid motion. "Thanks. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a shower to take."

"But I need to brush my teeth." Jen gave him a puppy dog face, hoping it would work now that she'd affirmed her feelings.

"Nice try. I may be your boyfriend, but I'm also your stepbrother. And the stepbrother half of me gets a real joy out of kicking you out." He picked her up, set her out the door, and closed it in her face. "Sleep tight, dear."

"Jonesy!" Jen could only hear him chuckle behind the door. In five minutes, he'd decided that he was her boyfriend, decided that he was still allowed to torment her despite their odd romantic relationship, and decided that she wasn't allowed to brush her teeth. She was caught between feeling ecstatic that they were together and feeling ripped off on the whole 'I'm still you're stepbrother' thing. This was going to be one weird relationship.

***

I feel rather fancy placing the asterisks in the middle of the page instead of keeping them right aligned. Most of you probably didn't notice, but that's okay. It's more of a 'for me' thing. I like them this way. :)

Also, thanks to people that have told me I should be a writer, by the way! Both on this story and on Maybe Someday. I'm really flattered to hear that, since it's what I want to be once I finish college. Knowing that you think so gives me a lot of confidence. Thank you!