bonus #5

hello everyone!! coming back to the story you all love so much after a few years with a bonus from the perspective of the reason Jace and Lexi met, drumroll please! you guessed it! it's Hallie! hope y'all enjoy...

Maybe if I wasn't in the process of changing JP's diaper while Connor tugged at the bottom of my shirt crying about something Maggie had done, I would've appreciated the irony of me babysitting Jace and Lexi's children more while they were out at dinner for their fifteenth anniversary. After all, the whole reason Jace and Lexi met was because my mom needed someone to babysit me while she went on a work trip. But alas, the past two hours of screaming, crying, and perfect storms, in the words of Taylor Swift, were enough to convince me that I did not want kids.... ever. Maybe I'd change my mind when I was older, but as a twenty year old this was most definitely not something I wanted to be dealing with anytime soon.

"Cal! Can you do something about this?" I called out, gesturing down at Connor who was viciously tugging on my shirt in tears. His crying was triggering JP, who I just calmed down from classic 'I want my mommy and daddy' fit that most two year old kids had when they were upset.

My brother, always the helpful one, was sitting on the couch reading some lifestyle magazine of Lexi's while simultaneously watching some college football rerun.

"And for the love of god, get your feet off of the coffee table or Lexi will kill you."

Of course, in typical Cal fashion, he ignored me and simply flipped the page of the magazine that I knew he had no interest at all in reading. I finished changing JP's diaper and hoisted him up in the crook of my arm while bending down to Connor.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked him. He was eight years old now and already looked like the mirror image of young Jace.

"Maggie called me stupid," he cried, burying his face in my shoulder and throwing his arms around my neck.

It took all of my balance not to fall over, now supporting his weight while holding baby JP.

Maggie and Connor had been fighting basically since the day Connor was born, which I understood very well. It was similar to how Cal and I had been for a while despite the fact that we had such a large age difference.

"Oh well I'm sure she didn't mean it, let me go talk to her, sweetie," with JP still in my arms, I walked up the stairs to Maggie's room and knocked softly before walking in.

"Maggie-"

"I didn't call him stupid!" She huffed, throwing her hands up, "I just said don't be stupid, and then he ran out of here crying!"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Ugh, kids. "Well, Connor is very upset, so could you apologize to him anyway?"

"Sorry you got your feelings hurt!" Down the steps, startling JP who began crying again, getting snot all over my shirt. I should've expected this.

And with that, knowing that was probably the best we were going to get, I headed downstairs, the crying JP still in my arms. Once I reached the ground floor, I placed JP into Cal's lap over the magazine, and Cal was forced to grab hold of him.

Immediately JP's crying stopped as he used his little hands to grab Cal's face. For some reason, JP absolutely loved Cal which was totally unfair because I'd been the one taking care of him all night while Cal just fooled around and did nothing.

"See Hal? This is how you calm a crying baby," He said with a smirk.

I sighed and rolled my eyes at him, walking over to the still teary Connor and sitting down in front of him. "I am sorry about what Maggie said."

"I-it's okay," he sniffled.

"She's wrong though Connor, you are the smartest little eight year old I've ever met!"

Connor flashed me a big smile, "Thanks, Auntie Hal," then he sped off toward his toy corner to go play with his legos.

I fell backward, laying on the soft carpet floor and releasing a sigh. I knew that while babysitting the Johnson kids, I needed to absorb and treasure every free moment of quiet peace I got because they never lasted long.

I thought it was kind of funny that the first boy I'd ever really loved was also named Connor, and he was halfway across the world building houses for children in Africa right now. Connor and I had always had the promise of summer, but that had gotten a little bit messed up the past two. We went to colleges across the country and the summer after our first year, I'd gone abroad, and now this summer, he was. I missed him so much and knowing I would have to wait until December to see him again hurt my heart, but it was part of our deal.

I'd always admired Jace and Lexi and longed for their type of love, and when I met Connor, I felt the way that I felt when I watched the two of them. But long distance was hard, and high school sweethearts don't always work out. Jace and Lexi made it work, but it definitely wasn't easy.

I remember in their third year of college, Lexi didn't come home with Jace for Thanksgiving and we were all sad, but then Jace fixed things and she was here for Christmas. I'd been so lucky to watch their love story growing up. I know Jace had a hard time with love because things hadn't worked out with our mom and our dad and he felt like love was always destined to fail and hurt you so bad, but Jace was brave. Jace took the leap and let himself be vulnerable than Lexi, and now Cal and I had a sister.

I also felt so fortunate that I had gotten to experience the fairytale movie type of love unfold right before my eyes. The few weeks every year I get to spend with Jace and Lexi, or when they come visit us are always my favorites, because they kind of helped raise me. They showed me what love should be like.

I sat up as I heard the front door unlock and looked up to see Jace and Lexi enter. Cal stood up, JP in his arms, and walked into the foyer to greet them. "Back so soon?" He asked.

"We missed the kids so much, and it didn't feel right to celebrate without you all, so we brought back cake!" Lexi said, her eyes wide and happy as she grabbed JP from Cal and he started babbling happy noises.

Jace held up the cake box and walked to set it on the dining room table, a huge grin on his face. He spun Connor around and gave him a hug, asking, "What's up, little man?"

And then he ran over to pick up Maggie, who had come down the stairs, and threw her over his shoulders in a firemen's carry, running around the house.

"Dad!" She shrieked, "I'm not a baby anymore!" But the smile on her face said she was enjoying it.

When Jace set down his oldest daughter, he pulled me under his arm and messed up my hair, "What up, Hal?"

I rolled my eyes, "Are you always gonna mess up my hair when you hug me?" I asked as I hugged him back.

"Are you always gonna be shorter than me?" He asked and Cal laughed, fist bumping him.

"Shut up," I laughed, "You both still suck!"

"And you're still short!" Cal retorted, holding a hand against his forehead with an 'L'.

"Boys, be nice," Lexi reprimanded sternly with a smile playing at the corners of her lips before pulling me into a warm hug, "Hallie, thank you so much for watching the kids."

Lexi's hugs were probably the best hugs ever. I squeezed her back tightly and buried my head in her shoulder. "Of course," I muttered, the sound muffled by her shoulder.

"Hey! I helped too!" Cal replied, sounding extremely offended.

Lexi pulled away and turned to face Cal, pointing her finger at him, "Cal Johnson, do not lie to me. I know you made your sister do all the work."

Cal let a lazy smile take over his face, holding up his hands in mock surrender, "You got me."

We crowded around the table as Jace unboxed the cake, standing back to look at Lexi with a starry look in his eyes. She gave him the same look in return, and I 'aww-ed' at how cute they were. "Here's to fifteen years of Jace marrying Lexi so we'd have the most kick ass sister!" Cal shouted. I fist bumped him as we all cheered and Jace began to cut the cake.

Sitting at the table with all of them, taking in all of the laughing, bickering, smiling, and fighting, I imagined that there wasn't any place on this Earth I'd rather be than exactly here with my favorite people.

"You okay, Hal?" Jace mouthed across the table, and I nodded my head quickly though I felt my eyes welling up with happy tears.

"Just happy," I mouthed back, and Jace's grin widened.

I felt my leg kicked from under the table and looked up to see Cal watching us, having witnessed the moment, "Love you," he mouthed to me, holding his finger up in front of my mouth, warning me not to make a big deal or he'd probably kill me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I laughed. I totally had the best brothers in the world.

After cake, Lexi went upstairs to put the boys to bed, and Maggie went back upstairs to play on her phone probably, leaving just me, Cal, and Jace downstairs.

"Just like old times, huh?" Jace asked with a smirk throwing his arms around the two of us as we all flopped onto the couch.

It was everything like old times and nothing like them all at the same time. It was perfect, and I never wanted it to end.

If you enjoyed this chapter from Hallie's perspective, go check out the spin-off to The Babysitter called Summer Love and it's sequel: Written in the Stars! Here's the synopsis:

Hallie Johnson is a lifeguard at Palm Rose Beach, and she is in a very complicated situation. It's the summer before she goes off to college, and she's faced with the one who got away and the one she never really recovered from, and both of them broke her heart.

And now they both want her back. It will be a summer of misunderstanding, forgiveness, life-guarding of course, big decisions, maturity, and just maybe, a little bit of love.