The Andrew Boys and Me(UNDER EDITING)

05

"No," he mumbles.

"Right..."

"Just come on." he says and I roll my eyes.

"Why are we going grocery shopping again?" I ask.

"Mom is having a barbecue with Tucker's family. She does this often. Especially when it gets closer to the end of September because she knows she can't do it anymore for a few months because of the cold. She loves barbecues" Jase explains as he puts several bottles of barbecue sauce into the cart.

"I've only been to like two barbecues in my life," I tell him as Vince fiddles with my hair in his little hands.

"Seriously?" Jase asks shocked.

I nod. "My mom has been leaving me home alone since I was three with Kennedy, my older sister, and she would watch me. I never really got the dream childhood with my mom. Plus we're not really close with our extended family. My mom cut them out."

"That sucks. I can't imagine not having my mom or dad in my life. I mean they drive me insane sometimes but I love them to death. Same with my siblings. Jack is literally my best friend. I'd probably be dead without him." he says and runs a hand through his hair.

Why can't this be Jase all the time? Vulnerable and honest and well...not a dick.

"Kennedy is six years older than me so as soon as I was twelve I spent every day alone. There were occasional days that I would be with my mom and she would take me shopping or watch movies with me. She was never that mom that was there for my first heartbreak or the one I told everything to. That was either Kennedy or Maddie. Mason's family was my family. He had everything I didn't and he made sure I had it too." I say with a smile on my lips. "That's the main reason he's so important to me."

"And here I thought you were just a pretty face, Haylee," Jase says with a heart-swooning smile. I blush unintentionally.

"Come on we have to finish and get out of here. There are parents looking at us like we're teen parents because of Vince." I say and shove him.

"Nothing wrong with that babe," he says and winks. "I'd be more than happy to repopulate with you."

And there goes vulnerable Jase.

Jase at I check out at the register and he quickly pays with the handful of cash his mother gave him before we left, making sure to tell him that any extra was to be used for lunch. The cashier is flirty with him, of course. Who wouldn't be when Jase looks the way he does?

We head out to the car and Jase loads up the groceries while I buckle Vince up in his car seat and he whines before I hand him a bottle. Kids are so impatient I swear. I get into the front seat and kick my feet on the dashboard, making myself comfortable.

"You hungry?" Jase asks and I nod.

He drives for a while until pulling up to an Italian restaurant. I get out and open the backseat door to get Vince only, surprise, he's asleep. I groan and pull him out trying not to wake him up which I luckily succeed in. His little face rests on my shoulder.

"I don't understand how he's so good with you," Jase says as he holds the door open for me and I walk in.

"It's not hard. You just have to know kids to know how they act." I say simply.

"How many?" the hostess asks.

"Two and a high chair," Jase answers.

She nods slowly before jotting something down and grabbing two menus and a booster seat . "You can follow me this way."