#ihpara

Ian With Spring Break having come and gone, Ian had taken the few days afterwards to recover from it. A couple of showers, shaves, and big meals and he was back to new. The guy loved camping, he really did, but a week full of it with the members of Greek Row in tow as well was more draining than one would have thought. Now that he was back in full swing, next came his baby. He could have easily had one of his pledges sud up the truck for him, but Ian didn't necessarily trust them them to not scratch the paint. So with the truck parked up over the curb within reach of the house, Ian had the pledges following suit to hand him whatever he needed, music humming lightly in the background as he rinsed off the back end. "Hey, you. Wax. Go." Ian said, nodding at one of the pledges to follow the orders.

Natalia So far, Spring sucked for Natalia. Instead of spending a week in a bikini, looking hot, she was stuck in the woods and being ignored by Ian. So, when everyone got back to campus, she was still in a pretty bad mood. And a few days later, she was still pissed off. And as she walked along Greek Row, coming back from one of her boring classes, she saw Ian outside of the Lambda house, washing his stupid truck, causing the small amount of sanity Natalia had left to snap. Marching over toward the house, she immediately kicked the radio that was playing some lame country music off of the bucket it was sitting on, causing it to fall onto the sidewalk. Next she reached down to grab the hose, tugging on it roughly to get it away from Ian.

Ian was twisted around to make sure the pledge actually listened that he hadn't seen who had came up to the yard, but soon enough heard the crash of the radio and a tug on the hose. Turning around quickly, Ian's eyes widened and brows immediately arched. "Natalia," He breathed out, moving to go and grab the hose back. "What the hell are you doing?"

Natalia 's eyes were narrowed on Ian as he whipped around. She pulled the hose back again, just as forcibly as before and quickly grabbed the nozzle in hand so he could get it back from her. "I am so fucking sick and tired of your stupid, immature games," she snapped at him before lifting the hose up, pressing down on the handle and spraying him with the water.

Ian eyed the nozzle gripped tightly in her hands before moving back up to her face, which had a very confused expression following at her words. "Immature games? I ain't doing anything," He defended, which soon was cut off by the sudden cool water being sprayed on him. He couldn't help but yelp at the feeling, though soon enough recovered with squinty eyes. "Natalia!" He hollered and held his hands up, stepping forward quickly to grasp the spray nozzle, spraying her a bit in the process.

Natalia scoffed when he denied playing games. That was total bull shit. He had been ignoring her for weeks now and when they were camping, he refused to help her and sent a pledge instead. She fought with him as he tried to get the spray out of her hands, getting sprayed as he did so. "Stop it," she yelled, yanking the hose to get the control back from him. "And stop lying! You know you have been playing with this stupid ignoring me shit!"

Ian struggled with gaining control of the hose. For someone who acted delicate often, she sure did put up a good fight. A groan passed his lips and he quickly moved behind her to wrap his stronger arms around her waist, lifting her up so she couldn't get on her feet or turn around to spray him. "Turn it off!" He hollered out to one of the pledges near the house who would be returning to him, holding a wiggling Natalia. "I'm not lying, Nat!"

Natalia was ready to start spraying him again but before she got the chance to, he was behind her and lifting her up. She started to scream and attempt to wiggle out of his grip, thinking it was the best defense she had since what guy wanted to be caught with his arms around a screaming girl? When the water pressure was cut off, rendering the hose useless, she whipped it behind her, hoping it would at least hit him in the back or something. "I hate you."

Ian figured he had gotten the upper hand with cutting the water supply off but was quickly ducking when a spray nozzle was being whipped in the direction of his head. "Natalia!" He hollered once more, eventually bringing her back down to her feet so his arms moved around hers instead, attempting to hold her hands down. "Calm down!" He breathed out, "What is with you?"

Natalia "I already told you," she bit back, fighting to get his arms from around her now that she was back on her feet. "I'm sick of all this bullshit, Ian! Either you're going to stop ignoring me and being stupid and passive aggressive or we're done. For good!"

Ian pulled his arms back when she continued to fight and not seem to calm down, turning his palms forward once he held them up for defense. "What do you want from me, then?" He asked, watching her for a moment in case she came at him again. "I don't get you."

Natalia took a step back from him once he released her, pulling her shirt down as it had ridden up during the struggle. "I just told you what I wanted," she pointed out, getting annoyed since he didn't seem like he was listening to her. "Stop ignoring me," she repeated, swatting at his hands.

Ian let out a frustrated breath and took a few steps back when she seemed to not let up on the hitting. "Okay, fine, I'm not ignoring you," Ian said and ducked a little when she swatted at him. "Are you gonna stop hitting me now?"

Natalia "Are you just saying that to get me to stop or are you actually going to stop ignoring me?" She questioned, not thinking it would be as easy as this. "Don't be a little bitch, Ian. I'm barely hitting you and you've taken hits from men like three times my size."

Ian "Yes, I'll stop ignoring you. I'll say hi to you at the next party to prove it," Ian countered and lifted his shoulders up in a shrug, though rolled his eyes. "I've taken plenty of hits but if you hit the same spot multiple times, it's gonna start to hurt."

Natalia narrowed her eyes at him since that was so not what she meant and he knew it. She was ready to hit him again, honestly. But she refrained. "So, is this it then? You're done with me so...you and I are over?"

Ian "Again, I don't get what you want." Ian repeated, watching her eyes narrow and mentally prepared himself for another round of the hitting. "You knew what I wanted, I don't think that matched what you wanted so... I'm doing us the favor."

Natalia set her hands on her hips, shaking her head at him. "How is that even fair? How...how do you even know what I want?" She questioned. "You never actually talked to me about any of this! So you're not doing us a favor. You're just being a dick!"

Ian reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose out of pure frustration, before exhaling a deep breath, trying to at least remain calm. "Fine, you know what?" Ian started, watching her. "Please, tell me now. What do you want?"

Natalia 's jaw clenched before her expression began to soften, her arms falling to her side before she brought them back up, crossing over her chest this time. She didn't really know how to fully answer the question in a way that made sense. She was completely new to anything beyond causal flings. She looked around, not making eye contact with him until she settled on what to say. "You," she breathed out softly.

Ian watched her as she fidgeted, almost expectingly. The entire time he was sure he was the one put out of his comfort zone trying to make what he wanted work, so hearing what Natalia wanted had curiosity getting the better of him. With brown eyes watching as her face softened from a lesser hard stare, Ian sighed, reaching up to move his hand through his hair. "Nat," He breathed out, almost laughing some. "I've never wanted anything but you."

Natalia couldn't help but pout slightly at his tone of voice. "I don't believe that," she said. Just like her, he played the field. It's changed, for sure. But that doesn't mean they didn't do it in the past. "Also, you have a funny way of showing it. Ignoring me and having other guys help me when I'm obviously trying to make a move."

Ian "Well, you should." Ian said with a shake of his head, pulling the damp shirt away from his stomach. Stepping up closer to her, Ian moved his hands down to her shoulders. "It's what I do. I'm kind of an idiot. I was under the impression you were just... waiting it out. Ready for me to graduate and dip and you're free again, and I didn't want that. So, I did what I do. Doesn't mean I don't want you."

Natalia kept her eyes on him as he stepped closer. She was done fighting with him at the moment. Now they were actually getting real with one another. "No, that's not what I want. But that's what always happens. But if you promise not to dip once you graduate, I promise not to either."

Ian watched her for any change in expressions after she said what she needed to say. She could easily change her mind if she really wanted, and that freaked him out a little. "You sure?" He asked, dropping his hands though staying a little closer. "'Cause I'm not going anywhere."

Natalia bit down on her bottom lip before letting a small smile form, her head nodding lightly. "I'm sure," she answered, reaching out to grasp onto his wet shirt, tugging him closer to her.

Ian moved his hand on up from the crook of her neck to her jaw, his thumb swiping along her bottom lip when he was tugged closer. "You gotta promise on a condition though," Ian started, craning his neck down since he was taller. "No more trying to spray me with the hose."

Natalia almost laughed at what he wanted her to promise him. "Mm, I don't know. I'm kind of digging this white t-shirt on you," she teased, leaning up slightly to press her lips against his.

Ian tilted his head away when she went to kiss him to b playful. "Y'know if you were to actually just let me wash my truck, you wouldn't have had to spray me to get it," He said, though eventually caved and leaned in to move his hand around her neck gently and kiss her like she wanted.

Natalia started to pout again when he pulled away from her before she got her kiss. "But my way is so much faster," she pointed out, her tone of voice playful. She smiled as she got her way, wrapping her arms loosely around him as she kissed him back.

Ian rolled his eyes some and moved his arms around her waist once she did the same. "A little meaner though," He murmured, deepening the kiss suddenly before he pulled himself back, a smirk on his face. "You were driven crazy, weren't you?"

Natalia "I can be a lot meaner," she warned teasingly. She tried to follow his lips as he pulled away, not wanting it to be over so soon after going so long. "Anyone can get a little crazy after being denied sugar for so long," she joked, tickling his sides lightly. "You weren't going crazy?"

Ian "Don't ever let me know how mean you can get," Ian chuckled when she practically chased the kiss and leaned in to give her another one like she wanted, before squirming when she tickled his sides, "Sugar addicted, huh? Yeah, I was, just a little. Though... it was kinda funny to see you struggling with the tent."

Natalia "Stay on my good side and you won't." She smiled into the second kiss, happy she was already kind of getting her way again. She giggled as he squirmed around. Though the giggling turned into a whine when he teased her about her tent. "Not funny. I did that on purpose so you could be all nature man sexy and then we could make out inside. But you ruined it. I was half tempted to make out with the pledge as revenge!"

Ian "Alright what if I somehow piss you off? Take pity on me?" He asked, arms moving tighter around her waist so he could press her close, stopping her tickling. "Well... for one, that would've sucked for you. He's one of the pledges that plays lacrosse so he's never gonna bulk up and probably means he sucks as a kisser." Ian said, leaning in a bit more. "Plus, I can do better than fixing a tent. I could've done a whole new shelter."

Natalia "How about you do your best not to, huh?" She countered, giving him a serious look before letting it melt into a more playful one. "I don't know, I hear scrawny guys aren't that bad," she teased, moving her arms up to wrap around his neck. "Could've but didn't because you were too busy being a jerk. Now you're going to have to really do something nice to get me back into your bed..."

Ian "I guess I can take that advice," Ian replied and moved his hands around her back to rest on his lower back. "Scrawny guys may not be bad but... you know what bulked up guys can offer." Ian countered, dipping down to steal a few kisses. "Lemme guess. Something flashy?"

Natalia "Mm, I don't know. A bulked up guy hasn't really given me anything in a while so I don't think I know about that anymore," she teased, a little smirk on her lips as she did so. She let out a small laugh as he stole kisses. "You know me so well," she breathed out before kissing him back.

Ian chuckled at her teasing, a little amused. "Well, we all know he's kind of an idiot and will easily make up for it now..." he trailed off, his neck straining down to deepen the little kisses he gave. "What if I were to say I have a little something already?" He murmured into her lips, though made little effort to stop kissing her.

Natalia nodded her head in agreement when he pretty much called himself an idiot. She definitely didn't think he was actually an idiot but he had his moments where he acted like one, just like she did. She was totally fine with forgetting about being mad and holding out on him as he kissed her. Though the moment he mentioned already having something, she pulled back from him. "Really?"

Ian figured they had moved past the talking and gotten more to the kissing, even in his front yard, before she got talking again. "Mm? Yeah," He breathed out a chuckle. "You didn't get just roses for Valentine's Day."

Natalia pulled back a little more when he mentioned the roses she received on Valentine's Day. She already knew those were from him but was a little surprised he had been saving gifts since then. "Now, were these gifts for Valentine's Day or for my birthday?"

Ian "You had a birthday? What?" Ian joked and moved his arms back around her waist. "Are you sure? I think that's in a couple of weeks..."

Natalia narrowed her eyes at him when he started to question her about her birthday. "You better be joking or I am right back to being mad at you!"

Ian grinned down at her and shook his head again, leaning down to steal a kiss again. "I'm kidding, you make it a goal for no one to forget your birthday," He said, grabbing her hand. "Come on, I'll make a pledge finish this up."

Natalia "Because my birthday is the most important day of the year," she pointed out before taking his hand. "Where are we going and what are we doing?"

Ian "I remember," Ian chuckled and glanced down at her, his brow arching. "Uh, don't you want those presents? Or do you wanna wait? Because... well... my baby does need washed and waxed to get it shinin'."

Natalia "Only if they're actual presents and not you naked and in bed because like I said before, you gotta do something nice to get any from me. And birthday presents do not count," she answered. She gave him a quick pout when he mentioned his truck. "What's more important, me or your truck?"

Ian "Well, for one, that wouldn't be a present. I would have to strip down in front of you and while that's a great present... where's the surprise?" He asked, laughing some. "Obviously the truck."

Natalia made a little face at him when he called himself a great present. She wasn't sure if something she got for free all the time could be considered a present but she didn't point that out to him. She scoffed at him and pulled her hand away from his at his answer. "Seriously?!"

Ian laughed at the obvious annoyance that clouded her voice before he immediately moved an arm around her shoulders. "I'm just kidding, babe," He said, dipping down to kiss her forehead. "You're the one always,"

Natalia didn't perk up like he probably figured she would once he said he was joking. "Mhm, that better be a real answer or I'll set your damn truck on fire," she threatened, keeping a completely straight face.

Ian had spent the better part of the last hour up and down a ladder with twinkle lights stapled up to the edge of the house, and the red decorations Rebecca had bought for him to hang. Sure, he might have been doing it for the attention and praise but he also grow up in a house with a ton of decorations. It would've been weird to go without. Stepping off the bottom of the ladder, Ian spotted Josh come down the drive toward one of the cars, assuming he was grabbing something from the trunk, which he used to grasp some of the icer snow to toss in his direction. "Missing Florida get?"

Josh was happy to be back in Boston with Deanna and happy that Ian was there too. He was not happy with the obvious flirting between Ian and Rachel or the current weather situation. Which was why he was bundled up in a thick jacket as he came outside to check on Ian. "Uh, yea," he answered, stopping as the snow was tossed at him. "I don't know why people wish for this White Christmas bs. It's awful," he added, slowly moving to Ian again. "You done decorating and flirting with my mother in law?"

Ian playfully rolled his eyes at him and swiped the extra snow off his jeans, chuckling. "It's pretty, as they would say." He said before he turned and pulled the ladder down to its lowest lock. "Hey, there wasn't any flirting." He joked. "Plus what's Christmas without Christmas lights? The dad is too busy at work so... I'll gladly help."

Josh shook his head quickly, completely disagreeing with the snow being pretty comment. He'd prefer his warm winters over this any day. "Mhm, sure there wasn't," he said, side eyeing his friend slightly. "Alright, I'll give you that. Does make the house look very nice. Back home, we mostly kept it simple. We'd get lights up on the palms and that was about it. The rest of the decorations were saved for the inside."

Ian warmed his hands together as he faced his friend and smirked a little. "She's hot, can you blame me? At least I'm ignoring the seventeen year old's advances." He said and shrugged, cracking the joke again. "Well... you ain't doing Christmas right then. You've gotta go big and go home. Once I build the dream house back in Texas, you'll see."

Josh "Well, she's married so maybe pull back a little. And yea, continue ignoring those advances. Eighteen and up only." He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to stay as warm as possible as they stood outside. "Yea, I'll see. Maybe even steal some of your fancy lights to put up on Deanna's dream home one day," he teased.

Ian rolled his eyes and laughed. "It's all in good fun. I got my share of sleeping with moms in high school." He said, moving to set the ladder down by the garage so it was out of the way. "You sure you're gonna be able to bear the cold to put them up?" He teased.

Josh shook his head in disapproval at Ian's comment. He knew he was going through a rough patch with Natalia but he really hoped he didn't spiral or do anything too crazy. "I'll be that person that puts them up super early. Like...around Halloween time."

Ian moved back up to Josh's side and nodded toward the door, though he leaned down to scoop the snow up as if he was gonna toss it again. "Dude...no. Only if you're old and out of your mind."

Josh narrowed his eyes at Ian as he scooped to grab more snow. "Well, Deanna does say I'm a grumpy grandpa so," he pointed out jokingly. "Nah, I'll brave the cold if Deanna wants our future house all lit up for the holidays. You know I let her boss me around and nothing is gonna change that."

Ian tossed it in Josh's direction even if the eyes were narrowed in his direction, his lips pulling at a smirk. "She's got weird kinks then," He laughed, jogging around Josh to the door so he couldn't retaliate. "Aw. How romantic. I think my heart is melting." Ian said, pulling his hand over his chest.

Josh huffed dramatically as Ian tossed the snow at him. He was moving toward the snow to get him back but Ian was already running over to the door and knew he wasn't going to get a clean shot at him without making someone else mad. "Shut up. Don't be jealous," he teased.

Ian stuck his tongue over in his direction though rubbed his chest again. "Seriously, so much cheese. How could I ever be jealous?"

Josh gave him a little look but decided not to comment, not wanting to upset Ian or anything like that. "Who wouldn't be jealous? I have the hottest wife that's ever existed," he covered, grinning over at Ian. "And she is a great cook. Like...I've never subscribed to that idea that a woman needs to cook and be in the kitchen but damn...Deanna can cook. I love her food."

Ian pulled a face and creased his brows together. "...Am i allowed to agree with that without getting hit? Because if so, yep. Your wife is hot as hell. If not, I didn't say any of that." He said with a shrug of his shoulders and he turned to head inside. "Can I get some of that?"

Josh considered the options for a moment before shrugging. "I'm gonna let you slide and agree she's hot. Just as long as you don't check her out and make a lot of comments about her looks," he answered, moving back toward the house and heading inside. "Get your own wife that likes to cook and is good at it."

Ian "Don't worry, I got that outta the way her freshmen year." He grinned with the joke before he knocked his boots together to clean the extra snow off. "Yeah... last chick I liked that cooks went for some guy I can't stand and the other doesn't cook at all, so."

Josh glared at Ian when he made his joke about Deanna but refrained for saying anything in response, knowing he was just messing with him. "Well, that you gotta get over, man. And the other...she can afford to buy a cook. But ya'll aren't really speaking right now so you gotta fix that first..."

Ian "Trust me, I'm over that. Got my ignoring outta the way and realized she ditched the idea a long time ago, so. Definitely over it. Kaleb is just annoying as hell." He said as he pulled the jacket off. "We're not speaking but that ain't my fault. It's hers."

Josh "Good. I'm happy you're over all of that. Hated seeing you all upset about it," he said, closing the door behind them and taking his jacket off. Though he left the thick sweater he had underneath on for the time being. "Yea, ok but...she's never going to admit fault and will be a brat until you make it up to her. You should know that already."

Ian laughed. "Yeah, me too. Not worth my time especially if I'm finishing out college." He said as he hung up the jacket so he didn't make a mess, ruffling up his hair. "I didn't even do anything though! Like... if she's pissed I took someone else on a date... she didn't even bid on me!"

Josh "Plus...I never really saw it," he commented, hanging his coat up and then moving to sit down on the couch in the living room. "At least not from her. No one wants a one sided relationship," he added. "I think she was mad about something else. I mean, that's why she didn't bid, right? You need to corner Deanna during her after midnight snack and see if she'll give you some answers on her friend."

Ian "Then why didn't you say anything?" He questioned with his brow arched and he looked over at his friend. "Yeah... and we all know she kicked me to the side once Kaleb came in the picture. Wherever the hell he came from." He said, moving to fling himself down as well. "... uh, maybe? I have no idea what it could be though. She doesn't share those things but I'm pretty sure she's just waiting out until our expiration date." He signed, running his hand over his face. "I just might have to."

Josh shrugged his shoulders lightly. "I figured I didn't know her well enough to really be all that sure. Plus, I can't tell you what to feel so if I told you, bro...drop that crush, I don't think you would have listened right away." Josh gave him a look as if he was dumb when he commented on Natalia. "Dude...obviously that's it. She thinks you have an expiration date so she's being distant and moody."

Ian "You see... this is why we have the Bro test. I knew it was a useful thing from the get go." He said and laughed a little, a little amused with it now. "Okay but... that's her. I don't want one."

Josh "Maybe I should actually start making your lady friends take them," he laughed. He shook his head at Ian. "Yea ok but...think about it. Ya'll aren't a couple, right? And ya'll don't really go on dates or anything and I don't know if I've ever known of her actually being someone's girlfriend in all the time I've known her. Maybe she's worried it's gonna happen to matter what so she's pushing you away?"

Ian "Yeah and this way you'll quit dissing on them," He said and shook his head as he leaned into the couch. "Yeah, because of her. I wa sunder the impression we were so that was news to me." He said, before glancing toward the stairs. "Where's your wife when you need her?"

Josh "Maybe," he joked. "I've never, ever heard you refer to Nat as your girlfriend," he pointed out to him. "You two are awful at talking about stuff. You need to get that done and maybe find a good place instead of passive aggressively ignoring each other," he added, pointing his finger at Ian and giving him a serious look. "I have no clue. Probably finding new ways to be mean," he answered, glancing around as he spoke to make sure she wasn't lurking around.

Ian made a face when Josh began making sense and once he pointed a finger at him, he grabbed the nearest throw pillow to chuck in his direction. "Sounds like work," He breathed, shaking his head before smirking. "Is there even any new ways?"

Josh "Relationships take work," he defended, grabbing the pillow and chucking it back at him. "I'm sure if there are, she'll find them and use about half of them on my this week," he joked. "She's like a sorceress too, by the way. She does something mean and then I end up apologize for it every time."

Ian ducked, or rather did his best to, to dodge the pillow being thrown back at him before he perked back up. "I guess so," He said, shrugging it off for the time being. He then shook his head and looked back at Josh with an amused look. "That's because you're just a softie for her."

Josh "No, no guess so, man. I know and you should know too. Plus, Nat can be a real piece of work sometimes. You've got a lot of high maintenance ahead of you if you wanna make that work," he pointed out. He laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "Yea, well...she's cute. I can't help it."

Ian reclined into the seat to get comfortable, shaking his head some. "Yeah... I nean, I guess I picked the most high maintaince girl there could possibly be, huh?" He said, before he heard some clicking of shoes and Deanna came down the stairs holding a few large presents. "Who's cute?" Deanna asked with a grin.

Josh nodded his head to answer Ian before cracking a smile. Josh liked Natalia but she really was high maintenance, there was no doubt about it. He heard toward Deanna as she entered the room, smirking a little over at her. "What do you got there?" He asked instead of answering her question.

Deanna eyed the two of them and gave a little look before she was leaning down to tuck each package she had near the tree in the corner. "Presents, obviously." She said, glancing over toward him. "You didn't answer."

Josh "Fair answer. You seem to be putting out a lot of presents. How spoiled is everyone this year?" He asked, still not answering her question. He knew she wasn't going to let it go and while he could easily tell her, it was more fun this way.

Deanna looked over toward Ian when Josh didn't give her an answer, and he simply chuckled and held his hands up in defense, not getting into it. "Super spoiled. I had extra money this year." She said as she moved around the back of the couch he was sitting on and moved her hands to his shoulders. "But someone isn't getting spoiled in more ways than just presents if he doesn't tell me..."

Josh glanced over at Ian to give him a look of warning in case he tried to tell Deanna and ruin the game too soon. He laughed as she walked around, leaning his head back to get a look at her. "Tell you want?" He asked, playing dumb.

Deanna looked at Ian as well, who was just laughing. "I ain't getting in the middle, nope." Ian said, and Deanna whined, leaning down at him. "Who's cute?" She repeated, leaning down like she was going to kiss him.

Josh couldn't help but laugh along with Ian, especially after Deanna began to whine. He shrugged his shoulders in response to her question. "Just some girl," he answered vaguely. "Why do you want to know so bad?"

Deanna made another face before she pulled up. "Fine, be like that." She said before she turned and sat down on the arm of the couch Ian was on instead. "Ian, are you hungry? Let me make you something. Grits? I can do that, since I learned." She said, grinning proudly.

Josh kept a smile on his face as she moved away from him and sat next to Ian, his head shaking lightly. "You're not gonna offer me any grits?" He asked, completely amused by her little attitude. "What kind of wife are you? Where's Nana? I'm gonna tell on you..."

Deanna "Nope, only sweet, innocent Ian." She said and reached up to tap Ian's head, glancing back st josh. "Rule number five on Papa's list of keeping a wife happy. You always tell her what she wants."

Josh "Ian's been flirting with your mom all day. Is he really sweet or innocent?" He pointed out to her. "Well, your Papa hasn't given me the handbook yet so how am I supposed to know these rules? And why should I tell you when you're being mean to me now?"

Deanna "Well welcome to the world of being Aiden, my friend. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to bone her too." She said toward Ian and shook her head. "You're supposed to know, and how am I being mean? I'm being nice to our friend..."

Josh laughed at Ian as Deanna teased him. "Ian is way better than him though," he defended. "To our friend being the key phrase, babe. Offering him grits and not me because you know I'd want some too. And you wonder why we don't tell you when we call you cute behind your back."

Deanna smirked a little and shook her head. "I guess he is," She laughed before she stood up and winked at him. "There you go. Was that so hard?"

Josh nodded his head lightly. "So hard," he answered. "One of the hardest things I've ever done," he joked. "Now come here..."

Deanna rolled her eyes at him and laughed before she moved toward his couch. "If that's hard you need to work on things, baby." She said, leaning down to kiss him.

Josh stayed completely still, waiting for her to get closer to him. He scrunched his nose up lightly at her comment and pulled back a little as she leaned in to kiss him. "I need to work on things?"

Deanna "I was just teasing," She said and leaned down to hold his chin to kiss him again. "You really want grits though? Because I did learn it..."

Josh smiled as she kissed him again, kissing her back this time. "Mm, not now. I love that you learned though," he answered, reaching out to pull her into his lap. "Best wife in the world."

Deanna sat back down on his lap when he pulled her and she leaned over to kiss his cheek, a smile on her face. "And don't you forget it." She said, looping her arm around his neck. "I hope you know how heavy your presents were."

Josh "As if you'd let me," he teased, smiling up at her. "Why didn't you tell me you needed help carrying heavy presents, you dork?" He laughed. "Are you going overboard with gifts?"

Deanna settled in on his lap and toyed with the hair on the back of his head. "Because I'm a strong woman and handled it well," She said and scrunched her nose up. "Uh no?"

Josh "You are a very strong woman who can handle anything but if something is heavy, you can ask for help and it won't make you any less strong," he pointed out to her. He reached up to playfully tap her nose as it scrunched up. "Liar," he accused.

Deanna leaned into his chest and laughed. "Alright, fair enough. I do have like eight packages still upstairs you can carry for me." She said and nipped at his finger. "I am not."

Josh "Alright. You got everything all wrapped though, right? I don't want to walk in and see something I'm not supposed to see," he said, making sure before he even started to get up. He smirked a little as she nipped at his finger, pulling her closer to him. "Then why don't I believe you?"

Deanna laughed and leaned up to ruffle his hair when he pulled her close. "Trust me, it's all wrapped and pretty for you." She said and winked at him. "Because you never do!"

Josh "Yea? Good, good...I'll definitely help you bring them down then." He might have forgotten all about Ian being in the room as he kept his eyes on Deanna, smiling a little too much at her. "That's not true. I believe you on some things."

Deanna "Aw, thank you, handsome." Deanna said and leaned up to kiss his temple, scrunching her nose. She then glanced between both her husband and his best friend "Keyword is some. Aka you never do! Ian, does he do this to you too?"

Ian released a low laugh from the back of his throat at the two of them, fumbling with his phone in the mean time. He knew Josh pretty much forgot about him, but if he had a pretty girl in his own lap, he probably would have done the same. "Hm?" He breathed out before chuckling. "Hell yeah he does. He's the worst husband ever."

Josh pretended to get offended by the both of them gaining up on him, pulling back the slightest bit from Deanna. "You both are insane. I am the best husband ever. I do nothing but love and support the two of you all the time. Sure, sometimes I question your moral compasses but...for good reason."

Deanna watched as he pulled back with an amused look on her face, glad Ian was able to catch on and play along with her. "You see, you should never, ever question your significant other's moral compass... and how is it ever for good reason?"

Josh "I disagree. If you don't question it, that's how you end up on those murder show that I'm sure all of Tri Pi studies for the future," he joked. "And...it's a good reason because if I don't question the moral compass, how would I determine that despite the trouble my wife gets into, she's still a good person at heart?"

Deanna "You should trust that your partner already has good morals and isn't a complete psycho killer. If they were being suspicious, maybe. If you caught signs, go for it. But us? Being perfectly innocent and sweet?" Deanna said, motioning in between her and Ian. "So do not deserve this kind of treatment. Also, I wouldn't call it trouble... maybe just a small fuss..."

Josh couldn't help the laugh that came out of him when Deanna called herself and Ian innocent and sweet. He had to wrap his arms around her a little tighter to keep from accidentally knocking her out of his lap at how hard he laughed. "Good one," he managed to breathe out between laughs. "A small fuss doesn't land a person in jail...how many times?"

Deanna could feel the laughter rumbling through Josh just by sitting on his knees and laughed herself when he held onto, reaching down to grip his arms. "I'm being serious!" She said, though failed to stop herself from laughing at that point. "Are we really counting?"

Josh kept on laughing when she insisted she was being serious. "Innocent and sweet?" He repeated, still laughing. "I'll give you sweet, babe. But you ain't innocent in the least." He nodded his head lightly at her, leaning in a little to kiss her shoulder. "Gotta be factual when we tell these stories to our children," he whispered to her.

Deanna sucked in a breath to quit laughing before she playfully brought her finger up to his neck to press again, which was cold from being outside in the garage. "You know I'm the sweetest in more ways than one," She offered, sending a wink in his direction. "Really? We're gonna tell our future children that mama got thrown in the slammer for put putting after hours and borrowing vintage booze?"

Josh flinched a little when she set her cold finger against his neck, knowing she did that on purchase. "I might need a reminder in some of those ways." He nodded his head lightly, smiling up at her. "Mhm, definitely. It's these stories we'll tell our kids to convince them to be good. We'll need to rely on your stories though since, you know, I'm a saint and I do no wrong."

Deanna saw the flinch and perked up at it, playfully walking her fingers around his neck so that it could dip into the back of the collar of the shirt. "You need a reminder, huh?" She teased, smiling as innocent as she could be now. "That's okay, I'm cool with that. I'll look like the mega fun parent that had a time of her life while your biggest scandal was banging a Tri Pi."

Josh groaned a little as she dipped her hand down into the back of his shirt, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Yes, I do need a reminder since at the current moment you're proving just how sweet you're not!" He shook his head at her and pulled back a little again. "Is that my biggest scandal though?"

Deanna grinned in victory at the groan and retracted her hand. "Sorry, my hand was cold. Needed a quick warm up." She defended which earned a light chuckle from Ian across the living room, who was comfortable on the couch corner on his phone. "Uh, yes?"

Josh shook his head at her and then got Ian a look as if to remind him that he was supposed to be on his side. "Such a jerk," he mumbled under his breath. "I think I might abandon you two and go somewhere warm," he threatened. He licked over his lips and gave Deanna a little smirk once she answered him. "Ok," he said simply.

Deanna "I think you and I both know I'm not a jerk and this is the warmest place you can be." She said, ruffling his hair up before leaning in to kiss his forehead. "Oh no. See, now that we're married, I get to know everything. So you don't get to do the mysterious thing where you say ok when really you're implying it's something else."

Josh "I don't know. It's been in the 70's back home," he argued. "Definitely warmer than this." He shook his head at her, giving her an amused look. "You know, sometimes I think you seem to think that I'm some innocent guy that you've corrupted or something."

Deanna "Yeah but that doesn't have an insanely sexy wife on your lap who has revealing Christmas presents for you and my amazing mama and cute baby sister, does it?" She asked with her head cocked to the side, a smirk toying on her lips. "Corrupted? Nah, you're too sweet to have been corrupted by me. That's a freshmen thing."

Josh "No, but...that has beaches...where girls are wearing bikinis because it's not super cold. Which is amazing since here, I gotta deal with layers of clothing on my insanely sexy wife," he countered. "I'm not too sweet," he defended. "I can be bad too."

Deanna "Girls in bikinis you can't touch so where's the fun in that?" She asked and grinned even more at that point. "You know layers are always easily removed, right?" Her nose nuzzled into his temple before pulling back to look down at him. "Gimme an example."

Josh "Good point. But maybe when I abandon the two of you, I'll actually just bring you both along and then I'll get to see you in a bikini," he suggested, shrugging slightly. "Ian's here," he reminded her in a whisper. "No. You don't get everything you want."

Deanna "You've already seen that plenty, dork. Like the one time you semi broke the rules and used the unlocked door to get into the school's pool?" She chuckled under her breath and tilted her head some to kiss his ear. "I know who's here," She murmured. "Please?"

Josh "Hey! Don't down play that amazing night," he said, completely serious. It was a good night and he would cherish that memory forever. He closed his eyes and let out a dramatic sigh as she kissed his ear, knowing she was only getting started. "No," he breathed out.

Deanna "I'm not down playing anything! It was a great night, you know that. Just reminding you that's when you got a glimpse of the goods." She grinned up at him and leaned back some to whisper into his ear again. "Please tell me, hubby?"

Josh "Good. Because that was kind of like a first date. I mean, not exactly a first date. But...you know...it was a really, really good night." He groaned lightly as she continued trying to get her way, shaking his head lightly. "What do I get if I say yes?"

Deanna "And to think I was annoyed with you before this basically first date or just a really, really good night." She laughed some, though quieter since she was close to his ear. "The best prize ever. Me."

Josh "Aha! So you weren't just tired!" He said, as if that was a huge mystery solved. "I knew you were making that up," he laughed. Josh licked over his lips, thinking it over for a moment. "But I already get that."

Deanna immediately rolled her eyes though it was more in an amused way than annoyed at that point. "Annoyed, tired, same thing. Being annoyed at you was exhausting." She clarified, ruffling his hair up as she did so. "Fine, you decided." She said, moving to swing her leg around so she could crawl off his lap into the other side of the couch.

Josh scoffed at her comment. "As if the constant mood swings coming from you weren't equally exhausting," he pointed out to her. "Ian could tell you how many bro talks were centered around 'I don't know why Deanna is mad at me' topic," he added. He began to pout when she moved off his lap, now liking that response from her.

Deanna "I mean... It wasn't that hard to figure out. Especially since half the time they were kicked off after you were visiting a sister of mine before my birthday or it was talks about you dating someone else." She shrugged, winking at him as she twisted around and rested her back into the couch this time, smirking at his pout.

Josh huffed at her comment. "You really gotta let that sister of yours thing go," he sighed, though he knew she would be taking that one to the grave. "You're such a mean wife. Here I am, just a man who is so in love with you and there you are, being mean."

Deanna stretched out on the couch and used the bottoms of her feet to push on his leg to shift him down to the other end playfully. "Never, ever. Who does that a day before Deanna Day?!" She asked, using her hands to help emphasize her statement before she grinned. "I'm a nice wife who just wants answers."

Josh "A technically single and weak willed guy," he answered, though mostly talking to himself. He reached out to grab her gently by her calves, massaging them gently as he kept his eyes on her, smirking a little. "I don't even remember what we were talking about. You distracted me too much."

Ian already wasn't in the best mood considering the passive aggressive back and forth between him and Natalia kind of put things in perspective for him, and it wasn't what he wanted to hear. So after telling a little lie to get out of the conversation, Ian definitely was quick to dip on out of the Lambda Sig house and head around to the back of ZBZ to knock against the glass back doors for Skylar to hear.

Skylar had been in the kitchen getting some more wine when she heard the knock at the back door, for a moment she thought she was going to have to go into bitch mode on some asshole trying to get in but when she pulled the shades back she saw that it was Ian. Unlocking the door she slid it open and smiled at him. "Hey, what's up?"

Ian stepped back from the door when he spotted Skylar heading his way and immediately shoved his hands back into his jean pockets to warm them up. "Heard you got booze and sweets, so." He said, flashing her his infamous half smile before dipping down to peck her cheek, sliding himself around her inside the warm house.

Skylar laughed softly as she closed the door since the cold air was not something she wanted to feel right now. "I do, awesome sweets and booze." She grabbed the wine bottle she had bought earlier and moved her arm around his, leading him up to her room. "So why do you need some booze and sweets?" She asked curiously as she watched him while they walked up the stairs together.

Ian pulled his hands free once he was able to bask in the warmth from the sorority house, immediately letting her easily take his arm. "Like always, I should've known." He joked and shook his head slowly before he let her lead on up toward her bedroom. "Do I gotta have a reason?"

Skylar tilted her head slightly towards him, raising an eyebrow. "Well, considering it's been a while since you've come to see me in the middle of the night I'd say there's gotta be a little reason." She pushed her door open again, smiling since her playlist was still going and waiting for him to step in before closing the door. "You know I can tell when something is wrong."

Ian "Well that's because it's off the table to come and take you to bed in the middle of the night," Ian joked with a shake of his head before he was moving into the room and heeling his shoes off, getting comfortable. "Just frustrated."

Skylar rolled her eyes playfully as she grabbed a cup and poured him some wine before refilling her cup and grabbing the giant bag of frosted animal crackers and container of nutella. "I'm sure it still burns your ass it's off the table." She replied playfully, nudging him as she got comfortable, leaning her back against the headboard with the pillow there for some cushion. "What are you frustrated about?"

Ian kicked his shoes aside and moved to toss himself down on the edge of his bed when his coat was off. "Oh yeah, baby. Literally dying without your love." He cracked the joke and grinned afterwards before taking a large gulp from the cup. "Natalia."

Skylar nudged him again, sticking her tongue out before grabbing an animal cracker and dipping it into the nutella, handing it to him. "Ah." She nodded her head as she grabbed her own and dipped it, popping it into her mouth. "What happened?"

Ian turned to look over at her when she handed him the cookie before taking it off her hands, immediately eating half of it. "Nothing, technically." He breathed out as he leaned his upper torso up to get comfortable on the end of the bed. "Assumed we were dating, assumed wrong, so kinda got the answer from her on what she wanted there."

Skylar watched him as he spoke, her head shaking a bit when he finally told her what was going on. "Ah, I see." She wiped her hands off and took another drink before scooting closer to him and moving her arms around his shoulders, her body leaning into his back as her hands rest over his chest. "Are you two done with whatever it is?"

Ian relaxed a bit more since he didn't realize how tense he actually was getting. "The hell if I know," Ian admitted, shaking his head some. "But I do know I ain't taking it as seriously if he isn't that into it. I'm kinda done with that."

Skylar smiled some when she felt him relax a little more, her hands moving back to rub his shoulders. "She'll realize how stupid she's being." She breathed out as she rubbed his shoulders for a few more moments. "Hopefully she'll realize that she'd be lucky to call you hers and have some sense knocked back into her to put something to what it is and take it seriously."

Ian was having an okay summer for the most part. The beginning was better than it was but once the wedding had come and gone, he was forced to return to Ohio for his court hearing and eventually they had come to a rather large chunk of change for the settlement, which sort of left Ian in some weird funk. He knew his parents didn't blame him, but the guilt that a lot of their savings went toward this accident felt to be pretty bad. He tried his best not to sulk, but it was proving apparent when most everyone was out back of the one story house in the built up pool and he was inside, moving around the kitchen to find something to eat instead.

Natalia was having a pretty great summer, which wasn't all that surprising. Her parents pretty much left her alone so all she did was party with friends, go to the beach or swim in the giant pool they had out back. But she knew Ian was in a funk when she said him at the wedding. And it was even more obvious whenever she talked to him over the phone or over Skype. So, she decided to be nice and give up the rest of her relaxing, drama free summer to cheer up her favorite guy. Which was harder than it seemed because airplanes were confusing and so was paying a taxi driver to take her to his house, especially since she had never been there before and the guy kept asking if it was "this one on the right" as if she knew the answer. But eventually they figured it out, she paid the man, got her stuff and made her way to the door. She rang the doorbell first and then started to knock on the door because she wanted him, or someone inside, to answer as fast as possible.

Ian wasn't entirely expecting anyone so he was a little confused on to who was there, since if it was Robbie with Emily or one of Wyatt's friends, they would've walked right in. "Just a sec!" He called out and nodded toward his mother when she yelled for him to get it, and eventually made his way out toward the living room, swinging the door open before he pushed the glass door open. "Natalia?" He breathed out after a moment, laughing a little since it was kinda mind blowing that she was here, on his front porch in Texas. "When'd you get here?"

Natalia didn't stop the knocking until the door was swinging open, which actually caught her off guard a little, causing her to jump back a little. Though when she said Ian in front of her, she couldn't help the wide smile from taking over his lips. "The one and only," she laughed. "Uh, like...forever ago. Did you not here me knocking?" She teased. "Now are you going to be the fine, Southern gentleman you and your hubby always claim you guys are and let me in or are you going to make me stand out here all day long?"

Ian blinked a couple of times, having to actually make sure that she was there. He always joked about her coming out and living the Texas style, but never actually believed she would do it. When she said forever ago, he gave her a little look. "You liar," He said with a laugh and shook his head before he stepped to the side so she could move inside, leaning down to grab one of her suit case. "You decide Texas is the place to be or something?"

Natalia winked at him as he called her a liar before stepping into his house, letting her fingers run over his chest as she moved pass him. "Mm, maybe," she answered, glancing back at him. "You're going to get the other one too, right?" She asked, seeing that he only grabbed one of her bags. "I mean...I did fly all this way to come see you...carrying my bags in is the least you could do," she added, laying on the sweet, innocent act thick.

Ian watched her wink and eventually shook his head, already feeling his mood shift and begin to feel amused. "I think that maybe is a yes," Ian chuckled before he leaned down and grabbed her other one, giving her a little look. "I plan on it," He said, laughing as he pulled the bags in before setting them near the hallway, turning to kick the door shut before turning face her. "Never answered my question." He said, coming up to her.

Natalia shrugged her shoulders, not denying or confirming if he was right. "Good because I seriously would feel bad for you if you started this visit off by making me pouty," she teased. As he came closer to her, she smirked and moved her arms up to wrap loosely around his neck. "And what question was that?" She asked, closing the space between them.

Ian moved his hands down naturally toward her hips and slid his fingers around them, pulling her a bit closer when she came to put her arms around him. "I may not be the smartest but I ain't that dumb," He chuckled and dipped his head to lean in a bit closer to her. "What brings you to Texas?"

Natalia bit down on her bottom lip to keep from smiling too much. "I thought you weren't dumb," she whispered, leaning in to bump her nose lightly against his. "You, obviously," she answered before leaning in to press her lips against his.

Ian chuckled under his breath when he saw her smiling. He was gonna lie, he was already in a better mood just from seeing her. Reaching up, he pushed some of her hair out of her eyes and back behind her dad. "Only with some things," he admitted, laughing under his breath before she stole a kiss. Good answer, definitely good answer. He started to kiss her back by pulling her in by her hips before he remembered his parents were just outside, and he pulled away after a moment. "Gotta admit, I never thought you would take visiting me seriously."

Natalia smiled against his lips as he kissed her back but immediately began to pout when he pulled away. Usually at this point they were pressing each other against a wall and pulling at each other's clothes. Which of course wasn't why she was there or really what she was expecting right away, but it was still a little strange at how short the kiss was. "Yea, well...I got bored and figured I'd see how the other side lived," she lied, downplaying the real reason she was there. "So, what do you do for fun around here?"

Ian arched his thicker brow at her response, totally not buying it. "You? Bored of the high life? I highly doubt that, darlin'." He said with a chuckle and gently tapped her chin dimple with his thumb as he turned the slightest bit, peering out the glass back door to where the rest of his family where. Not only were his parents out back grilling steaks, but Wyatt and most of the boys he hung out with were there and he was already expecting his older brother later on. "Uh, well..." He motioned toward the backyard. "Swim, grill. Get drunk. How about we get you stationed back in my room then you can meet my Ma.... If you'll be staying here..."

Natalia "Fine," she said with a slight sigh. "Maybe I missed you," she finally answered honestly, though made sure to keep her tone teasing as she spoke. She glanced behind her as Ian looked over her to see what he was looking at. "Swim? Well, I do love any excuse to wear a bikini," she laughed, turning back toward him, smirking lightly. "Only if that'll be ok. I know some families are super weird about like...female friends sleeping over. So, I can totally get a hotel if that's preferred."

Ian used the grip he had on her hip for the time being to pull her in closer to his front. "That's what I thought," He murmured, continuing to tease her before he officially let her go so he could turn and actually grab the rest of her stuff, gripping the larger suitcases with both his hands so he wouldn't make two trips. "I'd definitely love to see that bikini you always tell me about..." He said, more so to himself, before he nodded his head toward the hallway so she could follow after him. "Like that would go over well with my Ma. If she knew you were going to a hotel, she would stick my ass on the couch and offer you my entire room if you wanted. She doesn't believe hotels are home-y enough." He chuckled, almost a little too amused on how well he knew his mom would react. "Come on."

Natalia rolled her eyes as he teased her about missing him. "Whatever. You know I complete your life," she teased back. She took a small step back so he could grab all the stuff before following him down the hall. "Well, consider yourself lucky because I packed a whole bunch. Just don't get too excited since it looks like your whole family is out there." She laughed as he told her what his mom would do it she knew she was considering a hotel. "If I didn't wanna snuggle you later, I'd totally put this you on the couch thing to a test." Natalia stayed outside of his room for a moment, giving him an amused look. "Before I go in...prepare me. Are there a bunch of posters of like half naked girls on cars or like...fish on your walls?"

Ian lead her down the hallway past a couple of turns before he was able to make a left for his bedroom, giving her a little look. "Oh totally. Y'know you're the missing piece to make my life complete." He continued with the joking, before he used his back to push open his door. "Yeah, well... They won't always be here..." He said though pretty much got the dopiest smile on his face when he mentioned snuggling later on. "You got it, babe. And no.... no half naked girls but maybe a few cars..." He said, making a face before he turned and actually entered the room, moving to toss her suitcases down onto his queen sized bed.

Natalia "Say it like a joke but we both know it's super true," she insisted as she followed. She smirked a little more when he mentioned his family not always being there but refrained from commenting. "Typical," she teased, her nose scrunching up slightly as she headed into the room, her eyes moving around. "This feels very like your room back at Lambda," she commented, moving toward the him as he set the bags down. "But no Josh and a bigger bed," she added. "Which means a lot more fun to be had."

Ian "Yeah yeah, maybe..." He trailed off after a moment and slowly shook her head before he turned to face her more once he got into his room, laughing when he teased him. It was to be expected, anyway. Natalia never went anywhere without teasing at least somebody. "Well, yeah... Gotta make it home-y, like Ma says." He joked himself, and once she came up closer, he reached up so he could push some of her hair behind her ear. "Joshless is a sad thing, bigger bad... definitely a good thing." He smirked.

Natalia "Aw, you always listen to your mommy?" She teased some more, not being able to help it. She sucked in her bottom lip as he pushed her hair back, keeping her eyes on his. "Mm, no. Joshless is not a sad thing. Sure, your bro isn't here. But you know what's even better than him being here? Me! And we don't have to ask permission to sleep in your bedroom or call dibs because someone else might be there," she pointed out. "So, so much better."

Ian "Uh... Well, yes." He admitted, since he was pretty much a complete mama's boy. "Why would I? She's a smart woman." He joked, shaking his head before he leaned in and pressed a small kiss to the inner part of her forehead, chuckling under his breath soon afterwards. "You would say that, y'know." He said, before he pulled back and moved to take a seat on the foot of his bed, his hands reaching up to wrap around her hips. "You know, you make a good point..."

Natalia shook her head lightly at how quickly he admitted to it. "Mama's boy," she teased. "Of course I would say that. That's why I did," she laughed. She put her hands over his arms as he grabbed hold of her hips again, stepping closer to him. "I do every once in a while, huh?"

Ian gave her a little wider grin. "You know what they say... love a guy who loves his mama." He joked, craning his head back the slightest bit so he could steal a peek at her again, his lips still plastered up for her. "Well, remind me to let Josh know how much better you are than he is. I'm sure he'd love it." Keeping his hands on her hips, Ian got a much more natural grip once she was stepping closer to him, allowing her to move in between his legs if she pleased. "Yeah, you do. Pretty damn smart."

Natalia scrunched her nose up and shook her head. "No. Mama boys are usually low on the list because their mom's are super judgy with the girls they bring home. Or, I guess in this case, girls that show up at their home?" She gave him a small nod when he told her to remind him about talking to Josh. "Honestly, he should already know it. But I'll definitely remind you once we're all back at school." She perked up a little more as she moved between his legs and he called her smart. "Pretty damn smart of you to say that," she whispered, moving her arms around his neck as she began to lean down to kiss him.

Ian chuckled as she went to explain, and he shook his head slowly. "Nah, my Ma won't judge you. She isn't the type." He informed her, before he used his hands that had the grip on her waist to tug her down into his lap as she began to lean down. "He might get pouty on you," he teased, pulling her knees up to his hips before he leaned forward to kiss her again, sliding his hand up her back. He grinned at her next remark and pulled her closer. "I do try." He joked.

Natalia "Good to know," she said, hoping he was right. She didn't need another moth judging her. Her's already did that enough. She let out a small laugh as he tagged her into his lap, shifting a bit so she was sitting comfortably. "He can pout all he wants. I don't care," she informed him before she began to kiss him back. She smiled lightly against his lips before pulling back, glancing toward the bedroom door. "Should we shut that or are we being good kids right now?"

Ian smiled slightly and rubbed his thumbs over her hipbones, shifting so he was leaning back so she could get more comfortable in his lap. "Aw, you're so nice." He breathed out, pulling his mouth back as she did, reaching forward to steal another kiss. "We better be good for now, Ma is gonna come looking to see who was at the door anyway." He chuckled, playfully tapping her ass. "Later, no promises."

Natalia almost pouted when he said they had to be good for now. Though she wasn't all that surprised by his answer. He already admitted to being a mama's boy and no mama's boy ever does bad things while their mom was actually home. "I'm going to hold you to that," she said, giving him one last kiss before getting off of his lap. "But for now...maybe you should keep your hands to yourself. Stay a good boy..."

Ian chuckled under his breath as she spoke and he moved his hands off her hips when he got up, playfully stealing a kiss on her cheek. "You always do," He said, grinning as he reached down and grabbed her hand. "Am I allowed to hold this?"

Natalia scrunched up her nose a little as he grabbed her hand. "Only if you promise hand holding is the cheesiest this is gonna get," she teased. "I mean, seriously. You'd think some time away from your boyfriend would bring down the dork notch a little but apparently not."

Ian shook his head as she teased him and used the grip on her hand to tug into his side, pressing his lips against her temple. "Don't mess with me, woman. I'm always gonna be cheesy as hell and you're gonna have to deal with it." He chuckled, moving to pull her on out of the room so he could take her on out to the backyard. "You hungry?"

Natalia shook her head as he told her she would have to deal with his cheesiness. "Nope. You're gonna have to tone that shit down," she teased, leaning into him a little as he pulled her out of the room. "I'm starving. Totally made the mistake of not eating before I got on the plane. And plane food isn't yummy."

Ian rolled his eyes some though didn't mention it further, figuring he might as well play along with it. "Fine. Consider me toning it down." He said, holding his hands up since he dropped her's before moving on through the house, toward the backyard where he could tug the glass slider open. "Really? Packages peanuts weren't cutting it?" He teased.

Natalia flashed him a little smile has to promised to tone the cheese down. "Uh, they don't serve peanuts on planes anymore. Too many allergic people would die, duh," she answered, kind of teasing him. "They offer pretzels but who knows how long they've been sitting around. Also, those bags are so tiny. There are probably only like...three in them."

Ian couldn't help but simply shake his head at her teasing, since that's all he could really do. She always seemed to be a step ahead of him and he knew she liked it, so he just sort of let her enjoy it. "Really? That sucks. Peanuts were the best but you've got a point. Though, I'm surprised you didn't order a fancy ass steak or lobster, Miss High Class." He chuckled, moving his arm around to wiggle his fingers into her hip before he guided her on out of the house to the back patio, where his mother sat close by at the patio table, father tending the barbecue, and his brothers over near the set up pool over in the yard. "Ma," He called out after a moment to the darker haired woman, who already was perking up from her book once she saw Natalia trailing behind him. "This is Nat. Well... Natalia."

Natalia "I totally should have," she sighed as he teased her about ordering fancy food. Honestly, she wasn't all that hungry on the way to Texas but now that she was there, she felt like she was starving. She followed him out of the room, letting him lead the way to wherever he was taking her, leaning into him a little more. Though as he paraded her outside to his family, she stood up a little straighter. "Hello," she greeted, flashing them a smile and a small wave.

Ian "Well, you'll just learn your lesson this time." He chuckled and playfully ruffled up her hair before the two of them were in front of his parents, and he respectfully provided some distance for the two of them so it didn't seem like he was just all over her. Ian's mother, Michelle, immediately sat down her book and lift herself from the seat. ​"It's very nice to meet you, Natalia."​ She said, already making the move around the patio table to pull Natalia from Ian so she could hug her loosely. ​"Does this mean we've got a house guest?"​

Natalia "Thank you. It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Hawkins," she replied, trying to be polite. Her parents always said she made bad first impressions on people and she actually didn't want to do that with Ian's family. Which was why she resist the urge to make any kind of funny face as she was being pulled in for a hug. She could already tell that Ian's family was completely different than hers.

Ian ​"Please, call me Michelle, and Tate over there as well. He doesn't need to be reminded on how old he is."​ His mother responded with a light laugh, which earned a playful 'Hey!' from her husband over at the barbecue. Ian nodded his head, glancing between Natalia and his mom as she parted from the hug, knowing that wasn't really Natalia's style but his mom was his mom, she might've had to get used to it. "Uh, yeah. If that's cool." He said, which his mother only nodded with a smile on her face, eliciting his own. It was then that he turned toward the brunette. "I don't know if you've meet my brothers yet, they kinda roamed around the place during parents weekend... But if Wyatt drools on you, just slap him, ok?" He dipped his shoulder to get a little closer to her ear, laughing, and pointing his thumb toward the younger teenager in the pool with his two friends practically staring at Natalia.

Natalia "Right. Michelle and Tate," she laughed. Yea, they were definitely different than her parents. It took a lot of time before any of her friends were able to move from the Mrs. and Mr. status to a first name one. She definitely didn't have a problem with Ian's parents though. They seemed really nice so far. She laughed a little as Ian teased his brother, turning toward him a bit. "What do I do when you drool on me though?" She teased, giving him a little smirk.

Ian "​Well do make yourself at home. It's always nice when a nice lady is here visiting our boy,​" Michelle chuckled, mainly joking because it was no secret Ian never took a girl home other than Skylar, so that comment only caused an eyeroll from Ian. "What? I don't drool. I've got self control."

Natalia "Well, thank you so much for letting me stay," she said with a smile before she glanced over at Ian, not sure if that was serious or not. She really wasn't all that sure how many girls ended up having sleepovers with him during breaks and really hoped there wasn't a lot and she wasn't just another notch or she'd be pissed. But she was keeping that in for now, not wanting to go all jealous mode in front of his family. "Do you?" She continued to tease.

Ian His mother nodded and flashed Natalia another smile, knowing not to suffocate her or she would be chastised by Ian, so instead she just moved back to help her husband with the cooking so it would be done faster. Watching his parents for a moment, Ian turned slightly to face Natalia a bit more, dipping his head to be closer to her. "I do, yeah. You doubting me?"

Natalia bit down on her bottom lip, nodding her head lightly. "I'm totally doubting you," she whispered, tilting her head slightly so her lips were closer to his. "And I'm sure the second I'm in my bikini and in that pool, I'll be proven right."

Ian arched his eyebrow when she spoke. He definitely knew she was right but he was still gonna play this game with her. If his parents weren't close, he definitely would've taken that teasing to a whole other level. "We'll just have to see about that."

Natalia was actually trying to be good but it was kind of hard with him. They always teased one another so having to resist it now was a little difficult. "Mm, I guess we will," she said before moving away from him, heading toward the pool. "How's the water feeling, boys?" She asked the teenagers, deciding to tease a different Hawkins for a little bit.

Ian shook his head at her, knowing she definitely wasn't done with the teasing. "Devil," He chuckled, rubbing his chin before he turned to watch her movie toward the pool. Wyatt, who was just about seventeen, quickly stumbled to lean against the edge of the pool, looking straight at Natalia. "​Awesome... Really, really awesome.​"

Natalia glanced back at Ian and winked as he called her the devil. She smiled at his brother as he answered her, almost laughing a little. "Yea? Awesome. I love to swim and I think I might join you guys in a bit. If that's ok, that is..."

Ian shook his head, giving her a small look since he knew exactly what he was doing. "​Yeah! The waters great... You'll really enjoy it.​" Wyatt responded, giving Natalia a dopey smirk which earned Ian leaning over and smacking the back of his head. "Hey, dip. Your jaw is on the ground."

Natalia definitely had to resist laughing as Ian came up to smack his brother. "Ian!" She pretended to scold, lightly slapping his shoulder. "Be nice to your brother. He's being very nice and allowing me to interrupt his time with his friends to swim with them," she said, pretending to be innocent. "You going to come in too or just continue being mean?"

Ian turned to look Natalia and dropped his jaw. "What?! I didn't do anything!" He chuckled which caused a poked tongue out from his brother, before he turned to look toward Natalia. "Come on, I'll be nice."

Natalia laughed at his reaction, her head shaking lightly at him. "You're a dork," she teased. "Alright, good. Because only nice people can swim with us," she said, giving him a serious look before flashing a smile to his brother. "C'mon, let's go get our swim suits on," she said, grabbing his hand.

Ian turned his head to look at Wyatt before before back at Natalia, his jaw still dropped. "I think you're the mean one now," He teased, before his hand moved to hook around her shoulders and steer her into his side before he moved back inside the house, jogging off owned his bedroom.

Natalia scoffed at him as he called her mean. "I am nothing but nice," she insisted. She let him lead her back into the house so they could change. "I almost feel bad for what's about to happen," she joked once they were inside and away from his family.

Ian moving to drop his arm from around her neck, Ian looked toward her when he kicked his bedroom door open and shut, before turning to dig through his drawers for his trunks. "What? You killing my little brother?"

Natalia laughed a little at his question. "Yea," she answered with no shame. "I mean, I know I'm hot. But I am definitely the hottest girl they've seen in real life. Oh, gross...I just realized. I'm totally going to be in your brother and his friends' spank banks," she said, her nose scrunching up as she got her bikini out of her suitcase.

Ian reached behind his neck to grab the neck of his tank top to pull over his head, tossing it aside onto the bed. "Yeah. And you totally did it yourself. They're gonna dream about you and not be able to live up to your standards." He joked.

Natalia smirked lightly at him as he teased her. "Oh, Ian...you're the one that has to deal with it," she informed him. "I've definitely been in virgin's spank banks before. Not really new. But that's YOUR brother who is totally going to want all up on your sex buddy," she explained as she pulled her shirt off, tossing it onto his bed.

Ian lifted his brows the slightest bit before he turned to corner her in toward the end of his bed, his hands moving down to her waist, lifting her up to drop her down on his bed, leaning over her. "I don't think I've got anything to worry about..." He breathed, leaning into her.

Natalia smirked as he came over to her and grabbed her. "Maybe not with your brother," she teased, moving her arms up to wrap around his neck as he leaned into her. "But what makes you so sure in general, huh?" She questioned, tilting her chin up so her lips were closer to his.

Ian pressed his knee into the mattress so he could hover above her, nudging her chin back with his nose, lowering his lips down to her neck. "Just am. Wanna make a bet?" He breathed.

Natalia tilted her had back as his lips moved to her neck. "Just am? That's not a good enough answer," she laughed. "But yea, sure. Let's make a bet."

Ian playfully made a move to act as if he was biting at her neck, before he shook his head and chuckled, moving to lean up and peck his lips. "I'm gonna beat your ass."

Natalia laughed a little with him. Though she pulled back a little at his comment, raising an eyebrow at him. "You're going to beat my ass?" She questioned. "First, that sounds violent. And second, never gonna happen."

Ian licked over his lips and chuckled as he reached up to push her hair off her forehead, before leaning down to kiss along her neck again. "I'd never do anything violent, but yes, seriously. I'll beat ya."

Natalia smirked as he began kissing her neck again. "Mm, I know you wouldn't," she assured him, reaching her hand up to run her fingers through his hair. "But you won't beat me," she insisted before pushing him away. "And we're supposed to be getting changed...not distracted..."

Ian trailed his lips lightly along her skin and easily used his hand on her hip to pull her closer, before he pulled himself back and smirked at her. "We'll see. Come on." He chuckled, turning to head back to his dresser and grab his trunks to tug them on. "I'll get a head start on beating you."

Natalia stayed on the bed for a moment longer, smirking over at him before she finally got up and finished getting undressed to put her bikini on. "You can't start beating me now. There's no one for you to be in competition with here," she pointed out to him.

Ian tugged his trunks over his hips and tied the drawstring so it wouldn't slid down, reaching around her to slip out of the room, grabbing a couple larger towels from the hall closet so she wouldn't have to sit around all wet when they were done with the pool. "Ha, normally I would say that stings but..." He said, playfully sticking his tongue out at her before he turned to toss her a towel. "Ready?"

Natalia finished getting the swim suit on and took her jewelry off, setting it down on top of his dresser. She rolled her eyes when he stuck his tongue out at her and caught the towel. "Super ready," she said, twirling a little so he could get a good look at her body in the swim suit. "Are you?"

Ian watched her momentarily and leaned his shoulder into the arch way of the room as he waited for her to be officially done, and when she made a little twirl, his brows immediately shot up. "Nice," He complimented and ran his tongue over his lips, though shook his head. "Don't try tempting me though. Ain't gonna work."

Natalia flashed him a smile as he complimented her but laughed at his next comment. "Please. I wasn't even trying to be tempting," she said, moving closer to him. "But when I do...you definitely won't be able to resist," she whispered as she walked pass him and back down the hall.

Ian "Yeah yeah, sure you weren't." He said and waved her off, narrowing his eyes in toward her a bit when he continued to poke with him. He knew that he probably was gonna definitely give into her, but holding out was fun while it lasted. Following behind her, Ian tossed the towel over his shoulder and slid the glass door shut behind them when they got outside, before he turned to head over to the pool, grabbing a pool noodle to lean over and smack his brother with it before he quickly jumped in.

Natalia set her towel down onto one of the chairs outside, watching Ian run off to the pool. She couldn't help but laugh a little at him and his actions. She didn't have any siblings or cousins so she never knew what it was like to grow up with another person like this. So, she wasn't sure if Ian messing with his brother was just a sibling thing or a guy thing. Either way, it was kind of amusing to watch. She moved around the pool to get in by using the steps, not wanting to just jump in and splash around like Ian had.

Ian was already soaked in the pool and had the water wading around him by the time she was using the steps to get in the water, moving his hands over his face after he ran them through his locks, nudging his brother back. "Do me a favor, don't get drool in the pool, you punk." He muttered to Wyatt with a chuckle which only earned a groan, before he moved up to the pool, playfully making a move to act like he was gonna splash her.

Natalia looked over toward Ian and his brother when she heard the groaning, playfully narrowing her eyes since she was sure it had something to do with her. She stopped in her tracks though as Ian came up to her and pretended like he was going to start splashing. She raised a hand toward him and gave him a serious look. "Don't you dare."

Ian had a grin slowly spreading over his face, one that could probably be read as mischievous while he kept his hand upright in position. "Don't I dare... what?" He taunted, a smirk growing over his lips to replace the grin, easing a little closer.

Natalia shook her head as he began to grin, knowing this was just encouraging him to be a jerk. "Don't splash me," she said, still giving him a serious look and using a serious tone. "If you splash me, you will not have a fun night at all."

Ian tried not to laugh at how serious she got since she never really pulled off serious well, before he dropped his hand into the water and dipped down until the water was at his shoulders. "Fine, I won't splash. Promise."

Natalia kept her eyes on him, making sure he wasn't pretending only to splash her the moment she let her guard down. "Good," she said, moving further into the water. "I hate being splashed," she added as if it weren't obvious.

Ian "I think I gathered that pretty easily," Ian joked and leaned himself back so he was reclining back into the water, before he looked back toward her, licking his lips. "No water in the hair, either?"

Natalia playfully rolled her eyes as he teased her and continued to wade into the water a little further, moving closer to him. "I'll get it wet," she answered. "I just like relaxing and taking my time in the pool. I'm not like you who just jumps in."

Ian dropped his body back down into the water and ran his hand over his hair, ruffling up the water to get it out. "Alright, I guess that's fair." He chuckled and dipped forward, loosely winding his arm around her slender hips.

Natalia smiled a little as he moved his arms around her, moving closer to him. "So, is this what you've been doing all summer? Swimming around in your little, backyard pool?" She asked, her arms moving around his neck.

Ian used the muscles in his arm, not that it required much, to tug her into his front and lightly brush her hair behind her ear. "Pretty much. Most of the time Robbie and Em are here, and dad's other coaches. If not this, we're out at the lake with the boat or down at the pub." He chuckled, shrugging. "It's not so bad."

Natalia "Robbie's your hot older brother, right?" She asked in a teasing tone, flashing him a devious smile. "That all sounds so...Friday Night Lights-y," she continued to tease. "Not that I've actually ever seen that show."

Ian gave her a little look and nodded. "Yeah, that's what I heard. Also hot, 7 years older engaged brother." He said with a laugh, adding humor into it before he was laughing again. "Yeah, I get that a lot. I was the running back and everything, Robbie was the quarterback, and Wyatt there is the tailback. Though how do you figure if you've never seen the show?" He said, smirking at her.

Natalia shrugged her shoulders up a little. "Engagements fall apart," she continued to joke with him. She gave him a slightly confused face as he started talking about the different football positions. "I don't know what any of that mean," she whispered to him, being completely serious. "Uh, because it's footbally and I am pretty sure its based in the south?"

Ian arched his eyebrow upward. "I dunno, babe. Maybe. But those two have stuck it out since high school so... who knows?" He shook his head, his fingers tickling her hips. "I didn't expect ya too." he joked back with her, moving his finger up to bump on the tip of her nose. "Close. Actually, it's Texas. Fake town pretty close to here..."

Natalia "Because he hasn't met me yet," she mumbled, really trying to mess with him now just for the hell of it. She laughed as he tickled her and moved to wrap her legs loosely around his waist. "If it's a fake town, how can it be close to here?"

Ian shook his head at her, refraining from cracking another joke. "Maybe, but we'll see. You can be pretty irresistible at times..." He said, keeping his grip on her loose when he heard her laugh ring from his ears. "It was filmed near by. Or parts were... The Dairy Queen in the town over was used for one of the locations. We get tourists all the time for it."

Natalia quirked up an eyebrow at him. "Irresistible at times? Baby, I'm always irresistible," she informed him, leaning in to nip playfully at his bottom lip. "Oh, gotcha. That makes more sense. But like, is that supposed to impress me? Make me think Texas is amazing?"

Ian attempted to hold back a chuckle and shook his head after the little nip. "Oh yeah? Is that so?" He joked, moving his fingers over the lower part of her back, leaning into her more. "Texas is amazing, baby. I'll prove it."

Natalia nodded her head matter-of-factly as he questioned her. "Yep. It's definitely so," she insisted. She shook her head lightly at him when he insisted that Texas was amazing and that he was going to prove it. "Well, get to proving it then because so far, I'm still more of a Cali girl."

Ian loosened his grip so he could use one arm to wade around in the water, dipping down so his shoulders could get wet. "We'll see about that. And that's because you haven't expanded your horizons, baby."

Natalia rolled her eyes at him when he started on about her not expanding her horizons. "You sound like a hippy now," she teased, moving her legs from around him and pulling away. "Why don't you expand your horizons and admit my hometown is way cooler," she teased.

Ian "I do not, everyone says that. Not just the hippies." He countered with a chuckle and shook his head before he let her pull back from him, which he used to lean back and dip his hair into the water, running it through it. "I can't, I haven't been there."

Natalia "But mostly hippies," she teased. Natalia dipped herself under the water for a moment, quickly coming back up and wiping the water from her face. "Mm, well, you'll just have to come visit one day."

Ian "Fine. I'm a hippie. Maybe I'll just go and grab a tie dying kit and get straight to it..." he joked, watching her as she dipped down. How she managed to still look so good kind of blew his mind. "Maybe I will. What part of Cali?"

Natalia "Maybe you should. Bring a little more color into your dull life," she joked back. She ran her fingers through her hair, scoffing a little as he asked her what part of California she was from. "Mill Valley," she answered. "I've totally told you that a hundred times, Ian."

Ian "You've got that covered already for me, babe." He chuckled and shook his head, leaning back into the edge of the pool so his arm could rest on the side. "Okay, okay, but too be fair... I only think of LA when I hear Cali."

Natalia "Aw, that was almost cute," she laughed, swimming a little further away from him. "Ok, well...if you're wanting to go to LA, you'll be over six hours away from me. Also, in a gross city. LA is dirty and there are a lot of homeless people. Mill Valley is so much more amazing. And we're not too far from the Golden Gate so you can drive over to San Fran for the day whenever."

Ian "Almost? I thought it was pretty damn cute." He said as he leaned up and moved down into the water, inching forward so he was moving closer and closer to her on the other side of the pool. "How's the boating there?"

Natalia "I said almost so I clearly meant almost." She quirked up an eyebrow as he began to move closer to her, thinking he was about to corner her in the pool. "Mm, it's alright. You would actually probably like it. The town's pretty much a camping, hiking and boating place."

Ian gave her a little look but shook it off, easily turning so that she would be backed up in another direction. "Sounds like my kinda town," He joked with a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth, and eventually, he glanced toward his brother and his friend before he reached around Natalia for the floating volleyball, chucking it at the boys for staring. "And what's a lady like you, who I'm pretty sure hates all that, doing there?"

Natalia knew he'd like the sound of her hometown. Honestly, it was an outdoorsy place so it wasn't surprising. Granted, it was outdoorsy with a bunch of rich people who totally cheated at the whole nature thing but close enough. She glanced toward the other boys as Ian threw a ball at them, a confused look on her face. "House parties, boat parties and parties in the wood," she answered. "Or like I said, drive over the bridge and spend a day in San Fran."

Ian watched his brother and his friend dip down into the water to dodge the ball thrown at him before he was turning his head to pay attention to Natalia a bit more, nodding his head some. "So... a ton of parties?" He chuckled, moving up to push some of her damp hair off her forehead, stealing a kiss.

Natalia nodded her head lightly. "Yep. But this is me we're talking about. Are we all that surprised?" She joked, laughing a little. She smiled against his lips as he kissed her, her arms moving up to loosely wrap around him.

Ian "No, I guess I can't say I'm all that surprised." He breathed into the kiss a light chuckle, his fingertips gripping her hips while he tugged her in a little closer, licking at his lips once he pulled away. "I like how that is though."

Natalia pulled back a little, giving him a curious look at his comment. "Like how that is what?" She asked, not really following along anymore now that she had been distracted by his lips.

Ian had a look of amusement cross his features as she got distracted. "I like how you are." He said.

Natalia 's lips slowly turned up into a huge grin before letting out light laughter. "I'd hope so," she breathed out. "Or it would be super awkward that I'm here right now..."

Ian refrained from rolling his eyes and gave her nose a gently bob on the tip. "Well, either way, I'm glad that you decided to come on out here."

Natalia playfully scrunched her nose up as he bopped the tip of it, letting out another laugh. "Yea, well...I missed you. And I was like, if I'm missing him, he's definitely missing me. So, here I am."

Ian used the grip he previously had on her hips to pull her in closer, leaning into her. "Well, gotta admit. I was definitely missing you."

Natalia got all smirky when he admitted he was missing her, leaning up to bump her nose against his. "You can show me how much later," she whispered before pulling back. "But for now, lets get back to swimming and stop being gross like your hubby and my way out of his league bestie."

Ian watched the smirk fall over her lips and he slowly shook his head, pulling back from her. "Bet. I will." He said with a laugh and shook his head. "Be nice. They claim to be in love."

Natalia playfully rolled her eyes at his comment about Josh and Deanna. "Well, I'm not so sure what the rules are on all of that but they probably totally are. Doesn't mean it's any less gross though."

Ian dropped down into the water and laughed under his breath. "Okay, yeah. That's fair. They are pretty gross when it comes to each other. I've never wanted to vomit more in my life."

Natalia laughed as he agreed to their grossness. "Thank you! Like, yay, you're happy but calm down with all that noise. Not everyone wants to hear it or see it," she said, running her hands through her hair. "But I feel like that about like all couples. Ollie and Ryan, boo. Willa and Landon, boo. Mateo and his little ZBZ girl, boo. Boring."

Ian watched her for a moment and waded around in the water, an amused smile on his face. "You actually gonna sit here and tell me you don't enjoy that for yourself every once in a while?"

Natalia "For myself, I'm totally ok with it because I'm cute and I like being kissed on and I don't care who sees it," she answered. "But when other people are doing it, gross."

Ian watched her for a second and looked over her face. "Ah. Got it. Youre the exception... I was gonna say though... you like it flashy, remember?" He laughed, nodding his head. "But yknow they'll make fun of you when it happens."

Natalia "I love it flashy," she corrected as she swam around a bit. "I'm too good to just casually slip into a relationship with. A guy needs to win me over from my other suitors," she informed him, in case he needed reminding. "No, they won't. Because if they do, whoever is being cute with me will beat them up."

Ian shook his head and leaned into the side of the wall, knowing she was pretty much dropping hints. "And who's the other suitors?" He chuckled, moving his hand through his hair. "I doubt you'll beat your best friend. Josh? Have at it."

Natalia smirked to herself as he asked who her other suitors were. "That's for me to know and you to...well, either get over or attempt to beat," she answered, moving her arms through the water. "Deanna wouldn't make fun of me. And I'm so telling him that you gave me the go ahead to beat him up."

Ian "How am I supposed to attempt to beat if I don't know who they are? But fine, I won't tell you mine." He said and shook his head, watching her for a moment. "She so would. And your tiny ass wouldn't do anything."

Natalia "Please. As if you've got anyone else competing against me," she teased. She used to actually know his go to list but lately it seemed like she was his main so she wasn't sure anymore. She'd be surprised if he was still messing around with other girls, to be honest. And maybe a little hurt. She scoffed at him. "She would not! And I so would. Don't underestimate me and my tiny ass!"

Ian "How do you know there isn't? It's been a month since we've seen each other, there easily could be." Ian replied with a light chuckle. Sure, he was totally bluffing. Half the girls he even had a thing with kind of dimmed out. His chance with Emma was out the window by this point, and from what he can tell, the feeling he got when he was around her while she was with some other guy almost wasn't even worth it. Sky was borderline taken, and the rest were sort of flings. Not that it just meant Natalia was in the lead, but more so focusing on Natalia was worth more now to him than before. "You sure? Bet. She so will once I sweep that tiny ass off the floor, and I'm definitely underestimating."

Natalia "Because I'm so much more amazing than any other girl you've come into contact with. That would be like going from drinking Dom Perignon to Barefoot Bubbly. Just no where near as good and just so, so sad." She knew he could sleep around if he wanted to. And honestly, he probably was. But she was going to stay in denial and pretend to think he's been only with her lately to make herself feel better. "I'm so sure. I'll take that bet. Deanna loves me and wouldn't make fun of me ever. And just you watch, I'm going to get back to campus and beat your best friend up and it'll all be your fault."

Ian turned his body in the water so he could wade himself around her, watching her carefully. He could honestly tell she had a hint of jealousy in her but he still couldn't tell if he was imagining it or it was actually there. "Ouch. Way to make me feel so below the standards here, babe." He said, licking his lips, before laughing. "Bring it on, dimples."

Natalia "Hey, you should feel special that you get to have some of the good stuff," she pointed out, smirking over at him as she turned to make sure she was actually facing him. "Oh, it's totally on," she whispered in a teasing tone as she splashed him with the water. Before he could get her back, she began swimming toward his brother to use him and his friend as a shield.

Ian "Mm, no. Not special. Now I'm just feeling a bit used." Ian responded with a quick shake of his head before he was splashed with water, his jaw playfully dropping. He knew she was about to play dirty because she was already on the other side of the pool, behind his brother. "Y'know the scrawny kid doesn't scare me, right?" He laughed, moving up to point at his brother.

Natalia giggled mischievously as she got to the other boys and heard Ian's comments. She shook her head lightly at him before gasping, pretending to be offended by him. "Hey! They're not scrawny," she lied, reaching out to touch both of the boy's on their arms, playfully flirting with them a little.

Ian heard her laughter and as much as he was trying to keep the straight act up, it was hard not to crack a smile with her around. "You clearly got a different definition of buff, then." Ian chuckled, which Wyatt immediately glared and scoffed. "​Hey!​" Wyatt responded, reaching out to pull a classic Ian to smack him on the back of his head once he got un-distracted by Natalia, which Ian used to wrap himself around his brother to dunk him.

Natalia continued to laugh as Ian continued to tease his brother, which only grew louder as the two boys and their antics. She used the opportunity of Ian dunking Wyatt to quickly swim pass him to the other, more shallow end of the pool where she could stand up and maybe have a little better footing if he tried to get her. "Play nice," she called out, teasing a little more.

Ian used the muscles in his shoulder and arms to toss his younger brother toward the other end of the pool, both their laughter around them as Ian shook his head free from the water, ruffling his hair so the water drops got out of his eyes. Glancing back behind her when she called at him, Ian flashed her a playful smirk before he swam toward her until he got footing, and inched closer to her, before jerking around to grab her waist from behind and lift her up, acting as if he was gonna throw her. "i'm always nice." He breathed out into her ear, kissing her neck.

Natalia let out a little scream as he grabbed and lifted her. She reached down quickly to grab onto his arms, in hopes that would keep him from actually throwing her like she expected. "Oh, me too," she remarked sarcastically when he claimed to be always nice. She let out a soft laugh as he kissed her beck, tilting her head to the side slightly.

Ian laughed a little louder at the scream that came from her lips and tightened his hold on her slender waist, though not tight enough to feel like she was being suffocated or something since he was much bigger than her. "You? Nice? You're funny, baby." He said in response to her sarcastic remark, turning to kiss her ear.

Natalia scoffed when he sarcastically agreed that she was nice. Sure, she was being sarcastic herself but she didn't appreciate it back. "Hey! I am nice," she argued, trying to twist around in his arms. "Say I'm nice right now."

Ian turned his head and playfully nibbled on her neck, not too hard and playful. Though when she squirmed around to turn her body, he loosened his grip to let her, before holding her up and up into his chest. "What do I get if I do?"

Natalia began to pout when he didn't immediately do what she wanted him to do. "Hm, depends. What do you want?" She asked, shooting him a little smirk.

Ian watched her pout and moved his hands from her waist to her upper torso, gently lowering her down back into the water. "What are my options?"

Natalia eyed him carefully as he put her back down into the water, making sure he wasn't about to dunk her or something. "Hm," she began, tilting her head to the side to show she was in deep thought. "A kiss now or a kiss later," she said, smiling cutely up at him.

Ian tilted his head backward as if he was in thought before he pulled her body flush against his front, moving his hand to gently push some of her hair behind her ear. "I'm gonna say later, so I can kiss you properly."

Natalia smirked at his answer, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck. "Good choice," she whispered before pulling away from him. "But you gotta tell me I'm nice first or you get nothing."

Ian let her arms move around his neck and he lowered her back down so she could be back in the water, though kept her up in his grip so she could relax in the water if she wanted. "You're the nicest person I know," he murmured, leaning in to rest his forehead on hers.

Natalia perked up as he finally gave her what she wanted. "Mm, I know," she said, smiling at him for a moment before she pulled away from him and went back to swimming around the pool. "Now tell me I'm the prettiest."

Ian wanted to roll his eyes but refrained, moving back to lean into the edge of the pool. "You sure? This is a lot...."

Natalia scoffed when he didn't immediately do what she asked and actually got a little offended. "Are you saying I'm not the prettiest?"

Ian "No," He defended, slowly shaking his head as he watched her swim around. "Im saying I'm worried it's gonna go to your head or something." He teased.

Natalia stood up a little in the water, running her fingers through her wet and messy hair. "Sounds like you're just saying that. So, now I'm completely offended and so over you."

Ian narrowed his eyes in toward her and broke a smile, before he leaned forward. "You aren't the prettiest. More like the most gorgeous."

Natalia rolled her eyes when he called her the most gorgeous. "Yea, that's so not going to help you now. Most gorgeous? You sound like my grandma stating a super obvious fact."

Ian "Isn't pretty more vague than gorgeous though?" He gave her a confused look and shook his head as he moved around her, so he could move his body to float in the water instead. "Your methods are hella weird."

Natalia "Maybe but gorgeous is still a term my grandma uses for everything. So for me, it's lame. Maybe you should find a word that's better than both of them," she suggested, watching as he began to float around.

Ian half heard what she was saying since the water was up to his ears at that point but could make it out pretty well, an amused smile now crossing his lips rather easily. "Alright, no more gorgeous. Noted." He said, moving his arms out in the water. "Beautiful, ravishing, alluring, stunning, elegant, exquisite..." He said, beginning to list them off out loud before he looked toward her and winked. "Foxy."

Natalia laughed as he began to list off adjectives to describer her, moving closer to where he was. "But you have to say I'm the most of those things," she reminded him, being a jackass as this point.

Ian pulled himself back up into a standing position and moved up real close to her, hunching his shoulders so he could be at her level. "You're the most perfect over everything, and that's what you're getting." He chuckled, moving his hands to frame her cheeks before stealing a kiss, moving away from her to pull himself out of the pool by the edge. "Come on, dinners gonna be done soon."

Natalia gave him a wide grin as he said she was the most perfect. Before she could say anything else, he was stealing a kiss from her, which she had no problem with. "Hey! That kiss was supposed to be for later," she teased. She moved back to the stairs when he told her that dinner would be done soon and got out of the pool, ringing her hair. "Mm, good. I'm still so hungry."

Ian licked over his lips and ducked down to grab the towels he had carried out for them. "So I stole one, whatcha gonna do about it?" He teased as he tossed her a towel and rubbed his arms with his own. "You good with burgers?"

Natalia shrugged her shoulders up as she caught the towel. "I'll think of something," she answered as she began to dry herself off, a little smirk playing on her lips. "Mm, I'm great with burgers."

Ian pulled the towel around his neck once he got most of the access water on his body dried off, flashing her one of his signature smirks. "We'll see," He laughed, before he moved to hop off the deck of the pool and held his hand out to help her. "Good, 'cause Pops' burgers are to die for."

Natalia wrapped the towel around her once she was mostly dried, reaching out to grab his hand and moving up onto the deck with him. "Well, I don't want to die," she joked, moving closer to him.

Ian slid his fingers between her's and used that grip to pull her into his side. "Well, don't actually die, dork." He chuckled, nuzzling his nose on her temple before he sat himself down on a patio chair.

Natalia playfully rolled her eyes at him when he laughed. "I'm joking, dork," she teased, laughing lightly. She moved to take a seat next to him at the table as the food was being put out.

Ian watched her momentarily and had this sort of big dopey smile on his face. It was completely random for her to come on out to Texas, but he definitely was enjoying it. "I'm glad you came out here." He murmured.

Natalia glanced over toward him, seeing the dopey look on his face, which put one on her own face. "Well, I'm glad you're glad," she laughed, leaning in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Ian twisted his head the slightest bit to catch her lips instead, before a smirk spread across his lips. "Better be."

Natalia let out a soft laugh against his lips before pulling back. "Just like you better be glad to see me," she teased, winking at him before turning back around.

Ian , so far, hadn't exactly made much of an effort to even leave the Lambda house let alone even go to his classes, which was probably the last thing he should be doing, but whatever. Beside the point. His world was all kinda frozen in time since the events on Saturday. It was easy for some of the people to just tell him it was fine, that it was an accident and that happens all the time. Which was true, he got that. It was an accident though an accident that fell on his hands, and that had him guilt stricken. Along with that, the outcome of the player's surgery was revealed that morning and needless to say, Ian felt sick. He actually had put a kid in a wheelchair, and that thought was gonna be on his mind and shoulders for a long while. It was no secret, too, since the tvs around campus were constantly blaring the events, the outcomes, and this idea that it was a planned out task due to Ian's "aggression" on the field. It got to the point where once he came downstairs, the tv's had to be switched over or turned off, because that's all anyone could seem to talk about. His ultimate goal that night, though, was just to get drink and sleep it off before he had to deal with it the next day. Tossing on one of his t-shirts, Ian moved from his room on down the flight of stairs, narrowing his eyes in at a pledge who had his eyes glued to the tv blaring the news, yet again, before heading for the kitchen.

Skylar had been at the game that Saturday, like she always is, cheering on Ian and the rest of the boys. She had always been like that, in high school she had a lot of pride for the Varsity boys so she went to every game, it was the same for CRU and even better since she was pretty good friends with Ian anyway. She had been worried after what happened at the game, she knew that Ian didn't purposely do anything, shit like this happens, everyone knows that. Contact sports can be dangerous. But when she heard about the surgery and everything she knew Ian would be beating himself up so she got dressed and went over to Lambda. She didn't even knock, just walked right into the house, seeing him heading into the kitchen before she tilted her head towards the pledge that was watching the news report. Shaking her head, she walked up to him and grabbed the remote out of his hand, slapping him upside the head before turning off the TV. "Go to your dorm." She said to him in a stern tone before putting the remote down and heading into the kitchen. "Hey, hun. How you holding up?"

Ian thought he had heard someone enter the house though didn't think much of it, figuring it was Ryan or AJ or some other brother coming home from the day. He eventually heard Skylar though, just as he popped open a can of Coors Lite. "Fine," He said and turned toward her even more. "What're you doing here?"

Skylar watched him as he opened a can of beer, coming towards him. "Came to see you and how you were doing. I was at the game Saturday like I always am." She breathed out, brushing her fingers through his hair to tame it a bit. "Now how are you really?"

Ian took a quick drink of his beer as she came closer and touched his hair, which elicited a tiny half smile from him. "Yeah. Did you see how much we raised?" He murmured after a moment before she kind of dug into the deeper stuff, which he shrugged his shoulders. "I paralyzed a kid so pretty awesome."

Skylar nodded his head a bit. "Yeah, I saw." She smiled a little but when he finally answered her she frowned a little bit, her hand resting against his cheek. "It'll get better, hun." She took his free hand and started to lead him upstairs so they could talk in a more private setting since he still had pledges and brother's wandering out of their rooms. "And you know it's not your fault, Ian. It's not like you purposely did that shit."

Ian "It was a good turn out." Which it normally would be, but that also meant thousands of people saw him injure the guy. Inhaling a sharp breath, Ian slightly leaned into Skylar's touch before he ushered himself to follow her. "Yeah but he wouldn't be in there if it wasn't for me."

Skylar sat down on the bed as she watched him a moment. "Honey, football can be dangerous, you got heavy ass guys slamming into each other and running into each other while you're all handling the ball. Things like that happen, you can't carry all that weight on yourself. Hell, Joe Theismann, everyone knows what happened to his leg when he was taken down by Lawrence Taylor. If this kid blames it on you then he's a dick because he knows what kind of injuries can happen in this sport."

Ian moved into the bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him so it wasn't gaping wide open like it usually was when everyone in the house was awake. Clearing his throat, Ian set aside his can before he tossed himself down on the bed, running a hand over his face. "Yeah... Okay. I get it. It happens but... Still sucks. He's gonna be in a wheelchair."

Skylar turned towards him, leaning over him some so she could pull his hand away from his face. "He will be but his life hasn't ended. He can still do all kinds of things and you can always apologize to him and offer him friendship if it's really bothering you. This will all blow over."

Ian looked up when Skylar practically forced him to look at her and nodded. "Yeah but we aren't stuck in a damn chair. My friendship ain't gonna change that."

Skylar shook her head. "Offering friendship shows that you didn't do it on purpose that you are sorry for what happened and that you want to be there for him. It won't change him being stuck in a chair but it could ease it some." She brushed her thumb against his cheek. "You're not a terrible person, Ian. It's an accident, everyone knows you'd never do something like that. Accidents happen, at least he's alive, there's a silver lining here."

Ian glanced toward Skylar for a moment. He knew she was just trying to make him feel better, and while it was somewhat working, he still was feeling guilty as hell and a lot wasn't going to change that. "Yeah... Okay. Makes sense." Ian said, rubbing over his face with his hand. "I don't know how the hell to act though."

Skylar moved to lay back, bringing her with him so they could cuddle, bringing her hand up to run her fingers through his hair in a comforting manner. "You'll figure it out. You're smart." She said in a soft tone.

Ian honestly felt a little comforted when he felt her hand in his hair, allowing his body to relax into the mattress for the first time that day. "You're one of a select few that think that." Ian said, sighing softly.

Skylar continued to move her fingers through his hair, knowing how calming that could be for someone, a soft chuckle falling from her lips. "I see more than what other people see." She breathed out in a gentle tone, her fingertips lightly caressing the back of his neck as she continued to run her fingers through his hair.

Ian released a small laugh when she continued moving her fingers and got even more comfortable with her, knowing she knew what she was doing. "Yeah, well, clearly you're the better one here."

Skylar smirked a bit when he spoke. "Well of course." She breathed with a soft laugh before lightly pressing a kiss to his forehead. "You'll be okay though and I'm always gonna be here if you need me. You know that."

Ian nodded his head and blinked a couple of times, releasing a soft laugh from the back of her through though it was half hearted. "Yeah yeah... I know." He said, leaning up on his elbows. "Don't worry about me though."

Skylar smiled at him , her head shaking. "I'll try not to but I'm a worrier, I do it without even realizing it, hun." After a moment she shifted onto her side more so they could lay comfortably in bed together. "You should sleep though, you look like you haven't slept any."

Ian watched her as she got comfortable before he stretched his body out, rubbing his hand over his face. "Well, babe. Try harder." Ian said through his muffled hand and he laughed again. "And I really haven't. You staying here?"

Skylar nodded her head as she slipped her jacket off and tossed it over on the chair near his desk, kicking her shoes off the bed. "Yeah, but no making out or funny business." She warned playfully before kissing his cheek. "Just rest."

Ian rolled his eyes some and heeled off the socks he wore, since he was still in basketball shorts and a tank, so he tossed the blanket over him and allowed room for her. "I never expected anything." He said, shaking his head as he rolled onto her side.

Skylar moved under the blanket with him, her arms moving around him as she cuddled into him. "Oh don't roll your eyes." She breathed out in a soft tone. "You know I was playing."

Ian moved his arm out so she could comfortably move in closer to him. "Yeah. I know you are. You've got a man now and that's crossing a line." He teased, rubbing her arm.

Skylar scrunched her nose up a little as he teased her but a smile was playing on her lips. "We'll always have when we're thirty." She replied in a soft tone, a light chuckle leaving her lips.

Ian really hated spring games.

Not because it was for charity since the admission to the stadium was a canned food drive or because he had an opportunity to crush the rival team before the actual season even started without needing to worry about his stats, but mainly because the alumni and the boosters took a charity game all too seriously and half the time, he was out of football mode, not in the middle of it. Still, it was noon and pretty sunny for Ohio in April and the best day for a football game.

Given he had already been at the field for a few hours now, having warmed up and changed into the lighter padding and the older jerseys from the previous players from years prior, as per tradition. The stadium was already beginning to rumble with day drinking college students ditching their beers outside of the admission gates and families filing in on the other side to watch their favorite college sports teams go at it for the good - even if both teams hated each other.

Scratch that, Ian really loved spring games. 

Most of the first half of the game was kind of a blur, since it all was moving so quickly. CRU was ahead of the Bobcats early on in the first quarter, and considering the stadium was growing by the second, the atmosphere was getting hyped and the players were getting more and more into it. Come second quarter, the score went back and forth. Up some, down some, back and forth for a good portion after half time was well over.

Ian didn’t exactly know how most of the fourth quarter went by so quickly or changed as much as it did, but naturally between two teams who were known rivals, trash talk ensued. It wasn’t an uncommon thing and wasn’t thought much more about, though as soon as jersey number 13 was up in the air and landing hard near the end zone of the field due to the force of Ian’s shoulder colliding with his torso, time kind of froze from then on.

Trainers and medics were rushed onto the field as soon as it became known that the player, laying flat on his back, hadn’t made an effort to move to get up. Bad sign already, and that would have sent Ian into panic mode any other time, but the intensity of it all kind of made him stay still. The only time he actually moved was when his coaches came forth to usher him over to the sidelines to let the trainers do their work, while the remaining players on the field brought themselves down to one knee. The parents of said player already rushing out to the field to join the coaches and the medics.   

It was kind of a given that the came was coming to a close after the incident, but with the amount of people around him talking at him, Ian couldn’t exactly bring his eyes off the stretcher being wheeled out and collapsed down to the turf and the brace moving around the player’s neck to steadily hold his neck and the flashing lights of the emergency truck moving out to the field to cut the time of the transportation. 

“Ian, we gotta go to locker room.” He heard someone talk at him, which was pretty sure another player. He was going to have to go to the locker room before things got out of hand and was going to answer questions, he knew it, but he still couldn’t exactly move. Instead, he gripped the face guard of his helmet a bit tighter. 

“Ian, locker room. Now.”

Ian wasn't going to lie, being back in Texas for the better part of winter break definitely relaxed him some bit. He loved Ohio and loved college, but Texas was always going to be a place he fell back to, even after college. The whole mantra of 'Texas Forever' that came from just a tv show was actually a big deal around the state, and Dallas was just home. His brothers were there, mom, dad, old girlfriends and friends, and even Josh for the most part. That didn't mean he didn't miss a few select people in Ohio, which was why he had already pulled up outside of ZBZ and leaned against the hood of his older Chevy, making obnoxious noises for Emma to hear after he already texted her his arrival.

Emma ended up coming back to Ohio not long after Christmas, she spent the lot of time she could with her mom, her dad not being around, which wasn't anything out of the normal. Now that school was starting back up, everyone was slowly trickling back on to campus, which she enjoyed. seeing the few people she actually liked. After receiving a text from Ian, letting her know that he was coming to get her, she changed into something a little warmer. After hearing noises, she knew he had arrived. Grabbing her phone, the brunette headed outside, finding Ian rather easily. "Hey." She gave him a small smile, heading over to him. "Happy to be back?"

Ian found himself grinning as soon as Emma came up his way, leaning down so his arms could loop around her waist, tugging her up against him slightly. "You know it," He teased, tapping her lower back. "You?"

Emma dropped down off the curb, moving over, putting her arms around his neck loosely, laughing a bit as he pulled her up in his arms. Normally, she hated when people picked her up, but that was just Ian, so she didn't mind it so much. "Okay, I know, you missed me, so you're happy to be back for this reason alone." She teased, pulling back to look at him. "So what's on the agenda for tonight?"

Ian rolled his eyes a little at her teasing and he tickled her side some, before he brought her back down to her feet. "Yeah, maybe I missed you a little. That's all, though." He did a little teasing of his own before releasing her from his grip when she pulled back, reaching behind him to tug open the passenger door of the cabin of the truck. "Can't say, but you're in for the night of your life, babe."

Emma rolled her eyes at his statement all while squirming around in his grasp some. "I think you missed me more than a little seeing as you texted me pretty quickly to tell me you were kidnapping me." Smirking, she moved to get up into his truck, swinging her legs in and buckling up. "I'm pretty sure you say that to every girl you meet, but okay, let's see what you got." Once the door was closed, she waited for him to come in from the other side, curious to know where they were going.

Ian rolled his key ring around his finger and chuckled a little. "Whatever, I ain't ashamed to admit I missed someone. Just didn't wanna mess with your ego too much." Ian, laughing, pulled himself into his own driver's side once she was settled in and turned the key in the ignition, starting up the engine of the truck. "I do not. Ouch. I gotta better game than to use that line everytime." He said, shaking his head. "Have some faith."

Ian rolled his key ring around his finger and chuckled a little. "Whatever, I ain't ashamed to admit I missed someone. Just didn't wanna mess with your ego too much." Ian, laughing, pulled himself into his own driver's side once she was settled in and turned the key in the ignition, starting up the engine of the truck. "I do not. Ouch. I gotta better game than to use that line everytime." He said, shaking his head. "Have some faith."

Emma nodded slightly. "Yeah, I don't think you have a problem admitting how much you missed someone like Josh." Emma teased, knowing how close the boys relationship was, she took almost any chance she could to make comments about them being boyfriends or something like that. "Me, however, might be a different story." Nudging him once he was settled in the car. "So I get the cheesy lines?" Tilting her head to the side, resting back against the seat. "Okay, blow my mind, Ian."

Ian "Oh no, I can't deny that. That's like.... Like I'm ashamed of him or something, and that's my /bro/. It would be brotrayal if I actually was ashamed of him." He shook his head. It was no secret how close the two boys were, but it never bothered Ian much. His and Josh's relationship was unique to them, and he was probably closest person to Ian. "I don't know about that. Why would I be ashamed of you?" He questioned, flashing one of his half grins in her genera direction before he pulled his older truck away from the ZBZ curb to merge onto a busier road of campus. "You also can't say things like that, or else my mind just gets dirty."

Emma listened to Ian, nodding her head. She knew how close they were to one another, which she thought was a good thing because that was someone Ian could open up too completely, which she thought was good, because she knew there was more too him than just how he acted around girls and around her. "Because I have a tendency for violence and I some times interrupt bro-talk with my sleep overs." She teased, running her tongue along her bottom lip, brushing her fingers through her hair. "You would take it that way, you were the one who brought up the it being the night of my life, that sounds dirty."

Ian couldn't help but laugh a little at the girl though nodded his head, because she was right. She had a violent nature but Ian was actually curious about all that, and would be lying if it wasn't a total turn on at times. "Yeah, well.... You're right about that, but that's besides the point." He chuckled lowly. "Just say the word and we'll make this a not so silent night, babe." He winked.

Emma shrugged her shoulders. "Usually my violence has reason behind it, and I've only hurt two people since coming to campus and they both deserved it, one tried to grope me when I was trying to get his drunk ass out of my bed, and the other was a douche bag, so my track record isn't terrible." She'd laugh a bit, Emma was definitely rough around the edges by a lot, but she wasn't completely hard to everyone. Rolling her eyes, she nudged his shoulder. "Just take me where you are taking me, you."

Ian arched his eyebrow slightly and smiled a little. "Don't gotta explain it, it's all justified to me." Ian chuckled again, because if it was being honestly, how Emma presented herself kinda amazed him. Not many girls were like that. Licking his lips, Ian laughed and nodded. "You hungry?"

Emma nodded her head. "Is it only justified to you so I don't turn on you?" She teased, running her tongue over her bottom lip, resting against the seat. "Yeah, I'm starving actually, I've been busy all day getting crap ready for school next week." Brushing her fingers through her hair, looking over at him. "Food is a good idea."

Ian "What? No, never." Ian countered with a teasing grin on his face, but was actually serious. He then nodded his head when she confirmed his next destination, and eventually pulled into the parking lot of his favorite pizza place. "I figured as much, but had to double check."

Emma raised an eyebrow at him. "I think we both know I can kick your butt anyways." The brunette said with a smile, looking over at him. "Well, thank you for double checking, but I am more than good with food, always." She smiled, once they pulled into the parking lot. "You're lucky, I don't make you carry me around, just letting you know."

Ian laughed and reached over to gently tap her chin with his thumb, before he pulled into a parking spot and shut down the engine. "You definitely could kick my ass, I know you could." He said, making sure he had his wallet and phone in his pocket. "Why?"

Emma nodded. "I'm glad you admit that, because I would have to have a serious talk with you about that." Smiling a bit, she moved out of the car, stretching out a bit. "Well, my feet hurt from running around all day, and usually when that comes, I tend to make you carry me or piggy back rides because I like to take advantage of your strength."

Ian "Well, the only time I would overpower you would be in bed, so, yeah you'd kick my ass." He shrugged his shoulders and hopped out of the truck and nudged the door shut again, moving around the hood to meet her. "Take advantage of my strength all you want. It's here for grabs."

Emma rolled her eyes. "You know, you whole argument that you don't really wanna sleep with me is slowly faltering each and every time you decide to bring up sleeping with me." Nudging him again, she moved, turning him around and hopping up onto his bag, getting comfortable so he could grab on to her legs. "Thank you."

Ian "Who said I didn't want to sleep with you? because if it was me... I definitely lied." He shook his head and laughed as he was turned and eventually felt Emma's small body up on his back, looping his arm underneath her legs to keep her lifted up. "Anything for you." He teased.

Emma rolled her eyes. "You've never outright refused it but one time, in a conversation very similar to this, you called me crazy." She let out a laugh, resting her head against him as he carried her. "Now that is what I like to here, if you said that more often things would always be smooth sailing with you and I." Teasing, she nudged her nose against his cheek, moving back into her comfortable position.

Ian "Okay, well... I changed my mind." He nodded his head and laughed as he nudged his head with hers, and he moved to pull open the door to the restaurant, not caring about the looks he got from carrying her. "I'll remember that then."

Emma turned her head some so she could look at him better. "Oh? And what exactly is it that changed your mind?" She was genuinely curious at this point, he had kind of been hellbent on the 'just friends' train for a while there. Once they were in, she leaned her head against his until he found a place to sit, moving from his back, she moved to slide into the booth and crossed her legs indian style, and leaned her forearms against the table. "So, how were the Hawkins this year? Does your mom still love me?" She asked with a smile.

Ian shrugged his shoulders. "New Year, why the hell not?" He countered even if it wasn't actually factual, but Ian figured if it ever happened, it happened. Rubbing at her thighs, Ian moved toward a booth that he was pointed toward and let Emma down from his back, then scooted in across from her. "Pretty good, Josh did a surprise visit. Mom still adores you."

Emma shrugged. "True, very true." She didn't know if her and Ian would ever do something like that, mainly because he was already hooking up with one of her sisters and a Gamma girl, so she didn't know how well that would play out. It would be weird, wouldn't it? She nodded. "Always good, that was nice of your boyfriend to do." She smirked, looking down at the menu. "Well, I like your mom, so that's good, she's a nice lady."

Ian licked his lips and laughed a little before he leaned back into the booth and rubbed his hands together, and looked down at the menu to find something he wanted to drink. "Hell yeah it was, and the roadtrip home was fun as hell too. We just teased him about calling Deanna on que every night." He laughed, shaking his head. "Yeah, you'll have to come back down next time."

Emma ran her fingers through her curls, pushing them out of her face as she decided on what she wanted to eat and drink. "Ah, so I see Deanna won out on the Autumn/Deanna debacle thing." She let out a small laugh, remembering her conversation with the sole purpose of 'don't be a dick' being the moral of that story. "Ah, he getting whipped?" She smiled a bit. "Sure, better than going home to where my dad complains about my life choices."

Ian shrugged his shoulders again. "I don't know, I mean, he still talks to Autumn? Pretty sure. He's confused on the thing if you really think about it." Shrugging his shoulders, Ian leaned forward and laughed before clasping his hands together. "A little, i'd say." He chuckled. "You know you're always welcome in Texas."

Emma nodded a little. "Yeah, when he talked to me about it, I could tell he was confused, but I told him to not be an asshole because he's not an asshole." Shrugging her shoulders, a smile came to her lips a bit. "I'm glad, I actually really like Texas." She smile a bit, running her tongue along her bottom lip. When the waitress came over, she smiled toward her, placing her order, then looked to Ian.