Solve her problems

"Ethan why are you always mean?" asked Joy as she looked at Ethan. They had finished their juice boxes and chocolates, and he had asked her if she would like to go and play, to which she refused and then he frowned and looked like he was angry confusing Joy because for once she thought that he was happy to stay with her.

"I don't know what you mean." he replied.

"No you do, sometimes you look really happy, and then when I say something or do something, you call me a dummy and you are angry with me." said Joy with a frown.

"Do you not like me?" asked Joy.

"I don't like you." replied Ethan as Joy's frown deepened.

"I don't believe you." she replied. Ethan was so confusing, if he didn't like her then why did he try so hard to cheer her up? She was really confused by him.

"You confuse me a lot." she said pouting.

"And you annoy me a lot." he replied as he flicked her forehead lightly.

"You have a big forehead." he said.

"Hey, if I have a big forehead you have a big mouth." she replied.

"The one with a big mouth is you, you talk to much." replied Ethan.

"I don't like you very much when you start to get like this." she said as she frowned and he scoffed.

"Then you can just leave." said Ethan as he laid back on the wall.

"No, I don't know anyone here, and I feel safer with you." she said.

"Why don't you go look for your parents or your aunties and uncles?" he asked.

"They are busy, I don't want to trouble them, so please don't ask me to leave." said Joy.

"You can stay, just don't annoy me." he replied.

"Okay and how do I do that?" she asked as Ethan sighed shaking his head.

"Figure it out yourself." he replied.

"Okay, so how is Pluto doing?" asked Joy.

"Well she's growing bigger, it's almost hard for me to carry her now." replied Ethan.

"Really?" asked Joy as she gasped, she couldn't remember the last time she had played with Pluto.

"Yes, and she's eating more, and she gets these little fits where she chews everything in sight and that's annoying my mom a lot, she almost threatened to get rid of her." said Ethan causing Joy to gasp.

"I know right, but don't worry, my mom wouldn't dare do that, besides Pluto is a good girl and my mom likes her, whether she admits it or not." said Ethan as he laughed.

"Oh I wish that I could get a dog, Pluto is so cute, but my mommy is allergic to their fur." said Joy.

"Well you have that annoying chicken, how is she anyway?" asked Ethan.

"Well Maggie is doing good, I can't tell if she's growing though." said Joy as she laughed.

"I'm surprised that chicken is still alive, I thought you would be a terrible pet owner." said Ethan as he laughed.

"I'm not a terrible pet owner, I feed Maggie everyday and I make sure to play with her everyday too." replied Joy as the music coming from downstairs suddenly sounded louder.

"The music is getting really loud downstairs." said Joy raising her voice to make sure that Ethan could hear her.

"Yep, the adults are probably getting ready to try to dance." said Ethan as Joy laughed.

"I love dancing, would you like to dance with me?" she asked.

"No, that's weird." he said.

"How?" she asked.

"I don't expect you to get it dummy, come on let's go get some more snacks." he said as he stood up and Joy followed after him.

...

Lia sighed as she contemplated whether or not to get another drink. She didn't want to get drunk, but right now, she just didn't feel so good. As she was about to reach out for another drink, she stopped.

Alcohol wouldn't solve her problems, if anything, it would just make them worse.

Lia sighed as she walked away from the table. If she was to resist the temptation she had to run from it. She was looking for Pete and yet she had no luck in finding him.

Lia decided to just stay in one place, maybe he was also looking for her and they kept on missing each other because she was moving. She took a nonalcoholic drink from the waiter as she drank it.

Her eyes darted around looking at people when she stopped on someone she knew she had hurt so much. She gasped when she saw him and the fact that he seemed to have seen her first made her even more nervous.

She didn't know what to do. If she went over there to talk to him, she did not know how he would react. She had already troubled the people she had meant to apologize to, and she was not ready to continue to do that.

She was unsure of what to do, but to her surprise Nine raised his hand to wave to her first and she cautiously waved back at him and he smiled. Lia couldn't remember the last time he had smiled at her, it felt so good to see him do it again.

She tried to smile back, but he gave her a knowing look and walked away. Knowing Nine, that singular gesture was his way of saying that he forgave her, and she could not help but feel elated.

"There you are." said Pete as he touched her shoulder and she turned to look at him.

"I was looking for you everywhere." said Pete as he laughed.

"And so was I, where were you?" asked Lia as she hugged him.

"Well I went to look for Natasha." said Pete.

"And did you find her?" she asked and he nodded.

"I also saw her..." said Lia.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"I don't want to talk about it right now... I'll tell you later." she said as he nodded in understanding.

"I also saw Dom, and I had a chance to speak with him." she said.

"And how did that one go?" he asked.

"Better than expected... he's not as upset with me as I thought he would be." said Lia.

"That's great, I'm really glad to hear that Lia." said Pete as he smiled.

"So, what did you and Natasha talk about?" Lia asked, not out of jealousy, but out of genuine concern, she knew that she had come in between Natasha and Pete's friendship, and she really felt bad about that.

Pete had always been transparent with her, so she had no reason to be jealous or feel weird that he was good friends with someone he had once been in love with.

"Well she was still pretty upset that I didn't call her or text her for a while, but we sorted it out like we always do." said Pete as he smiled, he didn't want Lia to know what his future plans were, and that was why he had given her such a vague explanation.

"I'm happy that you did Peter." said Lia with a smile.

"Yes, so would you like to dance?" he asked with a smile.

"Oh I don't know." said Lia as she really did not know if she wanted to dance tonight.

"Really? I wanted to show you my awesome dance moves." said Pete with a wink as Lia laughed.

"Oh please, I don't think you can dance at all, if there's anyone between the two of us who can dance, it would be me." she replied confidently.

"Oh is that so?" asked Pete.

"It is." said Lia.

"Then show me, dance with me, even if it's only once." he said as he stretched out his hand.

"Oh well... okay just this once." she replied as she put her hand in his and they walked to the middle of the hall to join other couples that were dancing.

...

"Are you having a good time?" asked Nine as he looked at Jenny.

"Yes, I am." she replied.

"Are you sure about that, you look rather bored." said Nine causing Jenny to laugh.

"I'm an elementary school teacher, I always look bored outside the classroom, this is my excited face. This has to be the most interesting event I've ever been invited to, so yes, I am having a good time, stop thinking too much, I'm not bored with you." she said.

"I see, I'm sorry, it's just that I invited you here and I don't want you not to enjoy yourself." he said.

"It's alright Xavier, you don't have to worry." she said as she smiled.

"Would you like to dance?" she asked him with a quick wink.

"I'm not really a dancer." he replied a little bit nervous. He did not know why, but being here with Jenny made him really nervous and yet she seemed so relaxed, maybe it was this charm of hers that made Nine admire her so much.

"Neither am I, but this is a party right?" she asked him smiling.