•Familia•

Chapter 23: The Meetup

Aaron POV
Today is the day that we set up for Alex and Jermey to met. It's been a hard secret to keep. Alex is not the easiest person to keep secrets from, but we've managed to do it. He has no idea that he's going to this cafe for the meet up. He thinks it's some business deal. A part of me feels bad but it's needed for him to move on. He can't live life not knowing that Jermey has no hate and painting him as the bad guy. It's not mentally healthy. I just hope this doesn't back fire.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Nessa asks. She gets a yes from everyone.

"What is this business meeting for anyway?" Alex asks. I can feel everyone panic.

"It's some commercial" Roni says "I think they'll tell us more about when we get there" We take a breath of relief. We get out of the house before anymore questions are asked. We don't have to worry about the hassle of getting all the kids in. Paul and Wendy wanted to have a day with all the grandkids, even the ones that are not biologically theirs.

We're almost to the cafe that we scheduled the meet up when Alex speaks up.

"You guys know that I know all about your plan and that I'm meeting up with Jermey right?" He says

"WHAT?!" The rest of us say in unison.

"How?!" Nessa says

"I live in the same house as you guys, how would I not know? You guys really have to do better than with hiding secrets, but don't worry I'll still go. At first I was a little disappointed that you guys would do this behind my back but then I thought about it, I know that it would be hard to convince me to do it and it's for the better that we meet up. There's no good in unsolved problems."

"We all felt a little bad about it but we thought the same thing" Roni says

"Sorry" I apologize

"It's nothing to be sorry about. I just wanna get this over with and wanna know how you got in contact with him"

"He showed up at the party and Aaron talked to him. Aaron asked him nicely to leave and he said that Lauren sent him in her place. He said that he was sorry and he knew he shouldn't have came and he gave Aaron his number so that this whole setup could happen. He wanted to make things right." Kian says

"That makes me not dread this meeting that much" Alex says. We pull up in the parking lot. Alex unbuckles his seatbelt and starts to get out.

"You guys coming?" He asks "I need some support" We unbuckle and get out. We spot Jermey at a table and he waved at us to let us know that it's him. I guess he doesn't see Alex, but when he does he puts his hand down.

"It's ok, I know. Wassup Jermey, Long time no see"

"Hi?" Jermey says.

"Just because you're with Lauren and I'm not doesn't mean that we can't still be friends. The friendship that we had before is not lost."

"Your not mad? It's totally ok to be" Jermey says. It seems like he doesn't know the right thing to say. No one does.

"I got through that. It's no reason to be mad if she's happy. She's the mother of my children and I love her no matter what she's done to me. As long as someone's treating her right I'm going to keep smiling and be happy."

"You're strong. I applaud you for that. I just wanted to come clear things up with you just to make sure we were ok. I never intentionally meant to hurt you. I didn't even come on to Lauren when you guys were married. She started talking to me and I told her that it wasn't right, but she has a way with words."

"Oh trust me, I know" Alex jokes.

"Yeah she ended things but she still says that she loves you and the boys. The whole birthday thing was a part of the moving on thing. I think she just had to have one petty moment."

"I understand, but can you do one thing for me?" Alex asks

"Yeah sure, your wish is my command"

"Can you tell her that Adrian really misses her and he's been down about it. I live with Aaron, Kian, Nessa, and Roni now and could she please send him a letter."

"Definitely. Can I ask you a favor?" Jermey says

"Sure, whats is it?"

"Can we keep this up? I just don't want it to be a one time thing and our friendship was pretty bomb. You're a cool dude and I think I can learn a lot from you" Jermey says

"You always know I'm down to rekindle an old friendship. I'll text you about another met up" Alex says. They get up and hug. That went well. He comes up to us.

"All done" He says. We get up to leave and say bye to Jermey. I let everyone else walk in front of us.

"I'm really proud of you bro. You handle that like a champ and you've been the bigger man in this whole situation. I wanna know where you learned that from, I need a lesson." I say after patting his back and wrapping my arm around his shoulders.

"I learned it from you, so I guess you can say I learned from the best" He says and pushes my hat down harder on my head. He walks off. All the times that I teased him or he watched me react to situations that were frustrating or hard all cane to this moment in time. The moment where he told me that everything I've done for him has helped him through one of the hardest moments of his life.

"Love you Alex" I call after him

"I guess I love you too Aaron" He calls back