"Only friends?" I asked, trying to clarify what I had heard.
"Of course. Besides, I'm his best friends sister. Zaydon would kill him if he wanted to date me." Jaelie said, laughing at her last sentence.
"Oh." I said quietly.
"Besides, I have a boyfriend back home." She said, smiling bigger than before. I returned a smile.
"Where do you live?" I asked.
"New York. My family moved there about ten years ago when I was seven." Jaelie replied.
"Oh. Are you not adopted?" I asked, very curious now.
"No." She replied. By now we were on our way back up the road towards the woods.
"I'm guessing you're older than Zaydon, am I right?" I asked.
"Yeah, he turned sixteen a couple months ago." Jaelie replied. "I'm glad my parents are okay with us keeping in touch so we can hang out. Even if we do live in separate states."
"Do your parents visit him, too?" I asked.
"No. They don't really, uh.. like him." Jaelie replied, looking uncomfortable.
"Why not?" I asked, so surprised and kind of irritated towards her parents.
"I'll explain it to you another time when it's just the two of us.." Jaelie said as we were just catching up with Hale and Zaydon.
"Hey. I called Dannie about twenty times but she wont answer." Hale said.
"She might have gone back to the car." I suggested.
"I hope so. I'm getting worried." Hale said.
"Aww. How cute!" I gushed like a little girl. Hale gave me a sour look and I chuckled.
When we were back in the clear parking lot, we found Dannie leaning on her car.
"Sorry, I needed to be alone." She said as she clicked the button to unlock the doors. We all climbed into the warm car. This time Zaydon and I got in first in the back.
"Hale, why don't you sit up front with Dannie." Jaelie replied. I could hear Dannie muttering to herself, no doubt mocking Jaelie in a funny tone. I chuckled softly to myself.
"Yeah, cool." Hale agreed, getting into the passenger seat and smiling a bright, dazzling smile at Dannie, who's cheeks flushed pink. Jaelie climbed into the back seat and closed the door, shooting me a smile of accomplishment.
****
We dropped Hale off first, and Jaelie got up into the front seat after that. Dannie finally seemed to be okay with being around Jaelie, and so far they seemed to be having a nice conversation going about their favorite books.
"Hey, can I ask what made you so quiet before?" I asked Zaydon quietly so I wouldn't disturb the conversation in the front seat.
"Uh, it was just family stuff." Zaydon said. "Lots of stress. But it's all good now."
"Oh, okay cool." I replied. I realized I was never going to get him to say anything about it to me, which I guess was okay because it wasn't my business to know. Yet I was still so curious.
"I'm dropping you off next, Lynnee." Dannie announced. "Is that okay?"
"Yeah of course." I replied.
"Cool." She said, turning on the radio to a random station. On the way home, the rain began to pour.
"I can hardly even see through all this stupid rain." Dannie muttered, turning on the windshield wipers.
