A/N: This is my last full-length chapter I've had written up for months. Don't let that stop the reviews though! Just know that my next chap, reviews or not, won't be up for awhile.

*Super big thanks to EmilyTheShade for beta'ing this chap for me! I didn't know how much I needed you till you showed up on my doorstep. Thank-you.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

…

Chapter 17 – Love is Complicated

Mama's Cooking was just like Jared had described it, though parts of it were indescribable. There were three roaring fireplaces over which displayed either flowers, beautiful nature landscapes or the head of a tiger – depending on which part of the restaurant you were in. In the center of every table was a single rose in a smooth narrow vase. Yet for that classy touch, waiters and waitresses went around taking orders in jeans and sneakers. The menus themselves contained everything from a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a juice box to a prime rib or steak dinner. The latter apparently was only available on select Sundays, this being one of them.

"You could have it if you like," Jared said when he saw the menu item Melanie was staring at.

Quickly, she hid a blush.

"Oh no, I couldn't," she protested, well aware that she was relying on her dinner companion to pay the tab. If she was completely honest with herself, most of the denial was coming from the fact that she didn't want to appear high maintenance. Jared had assumed that of her once, and he'd been wrong. She didn't want to give him a reason to second guess that change of heart.

There was also the fact that whether she wanted to admit it or not, this looked and felt very much like a date. She didn't want to ruin it by Jared catching on and changing his mind. His behavior now was very contradictory to her initial assumptions about how he felt about her, which meant it was entirely possible that Sunny was right. Maybe Jared had let her believe what she want because he didn't think the age gap between them warranted him to pursue her.

"I tell you what," he said, interrupting her thoughts without warning. "I'll get one steak and we'll split it. Then you won't feel guilty about putting a hole in my pocket."

Her lips parted, but not words came out.

"Unless you'd prefer the rib?" His expression contorted suddenly. "You're not a vegetarian, are you?"

She sat up instantly, trying and failing to keep her voice from rising when she said "No!" in response.

Jared didn't react to the few stares that drew their way, or the blush that crept across Melanie's face as he glanced back down at his menu.

"Vegan?" he asked casually.

Melanie was not fooled. She saw remnants of the discomfort still on his face. For some reason it made her smile now; his gorgeous face all crinkled up into an adorable cringe.

"Do you know the difference?" she challenged, her self-confidence fully restored. She knew he could tell too because he looked up and grinned at her.

"Do you?"

Her jaw dropped in slight offense, but she was still smiling. Seconds later they both burst into laughter. When the waitress returned to the table they ordered one entrée of medium-rare steak and a handful of vegan/vegetarian-approved side dishes.

There was one moment that Melanie fretted before she truly let herself relax. The stress that came with what each of them would drink proved to be extremely stressful, and it was all in her head. What if Jared was a beer drinker? It seemed to be typical of grown men. Plus she'd seen him sharing a beer with Kyle plenty of times. Would him ordering an alcoholic beverage remind him that she was technically underage? Despite the fact that she'd been obliged to share a few select beverages with Sunny over the last month of course.

But she needn't have worried. Jared ordered two cokes for them without even so much as raising his eyebrows and catching her eye to see if she'd prefer something else. That was just fine with her. It released the last of her tension without her so much as having to lift a finger.

…

The rest of the afternoon flew by in a blur. Throughout it all, Jared maintained his constant mantra – this is completely innocent. Too much since he'd first met Melanie had he distanced himself from her for feeling what he shouldn't be feeling. The thought of what couldn't be tortured him, but the result wasn't just hurtful on his end; it was on hers as well. And what had Jeb said? Project Melanie had been instituted so that his niece would have a happy, enjoyable summer. Maybe Jared was biased, but he could have sworn she smiled most when she was with him.

In the back of his head Kyle chuckled cheerfully. With some effort, Jared was able to ignore it.

Still, he couldn't deny the fact that he was also happiest when he was with her. Letting his guard down again in the past week or so to fully embrace everything Project Melanie entailed had been the highlight of his summer. Melanie was better than ever on the bike. In fact he could have sworn that she didn't really need his help at all anymore, though when she caught him staring, she insisted that she did.

Beyond the bike was the tree house. The possibility alone that Melanie might fall from the tree in the midst of helping him build it was enough for him to immediately refuse her assistance. But she won him over like she always did when she'd produced an almost new ladder that apparently at some point Kyle had provided to her when she told him of her predicament.

"He told me it was no trouble," she had told him.

Jared had resisted the urge to scoff. "I'll bet it wasn't," he'd murmured.

Up inside that tree house, there had been moments. She would brush his hand reaching for a nail, or have to lean over him in order to get to the water bottle she'd brought up. Sometimes he would catch her staring at him when he stood, his white t-shirt sticking to his sweaty chest as he hammered some nails into the roof. It was hard not to acknowledge these things, hard not to act on them. But he resisted. He would be friendly with her and still not initiate any sort of…suggestive…physical contact.

But it was certainly getting harder.

John, a waiter at Mama's Cooking, had called to him to say hi to some of the staff in the kitchen before he left the restaurant with Melanie. Jared obliged, because quite honestly a lot of the kitchen staff were like family. They welcomed him into the town, just as Kyle had, when he first arrived. Some of these people gave him a free meal when he couldn't afford to pay for more than a bowl of soup or a salad. He owed much of his survival to them taking pity on his juvenile self.

"Jared!" Mama Betz had cooed to him when he entered the kitchen.

Well rounded and as sassy as the dark curls that rounded her face, Betsy Pickins had run the multi-varied restaurant she had been in her early twenties, taken it over from her grandmother when she decided retirement was better than cooking. Now, in her sixties, Betz' face didn't look a day past thirty-two, and Jared felt like an eight year old every time she squeezed him tight in her arms.

"Hey, Betz." He'd hugged her generously and chuckled when she gave him the scolding look that demanded him to correct himself. "Mama Betz," he'd said, and she grinned.

After making his rounds to the others in the kitchen, he found himself sinking onto a stool and updating them on all that was new in his life – nothing much.

"Looks like you have a girl now though," Jay, Betz's older brother, had commented, gesturing towards the kitchen door where Melanie likely was getting impatient.

Jared's expression had pure panic, and for more than one reason. One, he had not meant to neglect Melanie while he extended his stay in the kitchen, and two, well, she wasn't supposed to be his girl.

"Where'd you meet her?" Susie, their original sauce creationist had queried.

"Yeah, tell us everything," James, the newest addition to the staff, had pressed.

"All of you, shush," Betz had said, much to Jared's relief. "You all know Jared's not one to kiss and tell." She paused and then giggled. "Or he would have done so already."

Jared sighed, knowing he'd have to set the record straight before he left or rumors would be all over town and his well-known employer would likely have him fired.

"She's Jeb niece," he'd said, "And seventeen."

Silence had descended.

"So, she is obviously not my girl."

All that could be heard was the gentle simmer of almost boiling water on the stove.

He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. Why he let Kyle get into his head to even contemplate Melanie could be anything more than his boss's niece was beyond him.

"So, don't spread any rumors," he'd continued, forcefully. "I'm just showing her around town, since it's my day off and Sunny took off on her." He'd paused, waiting for them to catch on. "The O'Shea girl. I introduced them, and they hit it off."

They all nodded casually, and it had made him wish he hadn't even come in to say hello, hadn't taken Melanie out for lunch as well. But that aside, their reaction to Sunny and Melanie being friends also annoyed them. None of them looked fondly on Sunny because of how fond she was of getting tipsy, and often drunk. She wasn't really that loose with guys in general, but the kitchen staff here aligned the two and it made him defensive of her. Sunny was as much his sister as she was Kyle's. He loved his family here at Mama's Cooking, but on the rare occasion, they had stubborn prejudices he wasn't fond of.

"Anyway, I should go," he'd said. "Melanie's probably waiting."

Mama Betz, as always, picked up on his discomfort. She was probably the least prejudiced of all of them, which helped keep them in line and almost always left Jared feeling better when awkward moments like this arose.

"Aww, Jared, honey, we didn't mean anything by our…well, you know."

Jared had said nothing; only forced a tight smile. She'd hugged him tight and the rest of the staff waved to him cheerfully as he left.

When he got to the entrance and found Melanie waiting, he was worried his slightly put off mood would ruin the rest of her day. Her face lit up when she saw him though and he reached out with his hand to guide her out of the restaurant.

From then on until they wound back up at Kyle and Sunny's, Melanie and Jared forgot everything but each other. They found a tandem bike, and much to Jared's surprise, Melanie was eager to try it out. She even took the front seat and rode it like a pro, which made him very suspicious of her faltering the last time she'd ridden at the farm.

They'd stopped for about an hour on the far side of the lake and Jared taught her how to fish. As a little girl, tomboy as she was, she had apparently been too squeamish about putting worms on the hook at the end of the line, even when her father put them on for her. Now she was fearless and it drew her to Jared even more.

When they reached downtown, a group of musicians playing string instruments were playing on a corner.

"Watch this," Melanie had said, and Jared watched as she asked the violinist if she could borrow his violin for a few minutes. She proceeded to wow him and anyone near enough to listen as she played so fast and so eloquently, one would think she was a born prodigy.

"You amaze me sometimes, you know that?" he's said.

"Enough to get a piggy back?" she'd countered.

He'd laughed but crouched down enough for her to climb on and so they went, talking and laughing throughout the town until he felt her stomach grumbling on his back and suggested they return to Kyle's apartment to see if the two O'Sheas were both present and up for dinner.

Jared set her down when they reached the top of the steps. He took her hand and led her down the hall to the O'Shea apartment. Then he stopped and looked at her, and it felt like that date moment when he was supposed to kiss her goodnight. It was a bad idea, and he knew it. But she was so gorgeous and so fun and he couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a great day that he found himself thinking, what's the harm?

Time slowed down. He lost himself in her eyes, and unconsciously tucked a curl behind her ear.

"I had fun today," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

"Me too." He smiled, trying to appear normal, casual, even though his heart was racing. He was suddenly unbelievably nervous, but he felt himself drawn to her in a way he couldn't explain. There was a magnetism between them and he couldn't look away. He could only move closer.

Her eyes closed when there was only a breath between them, and then—

"Jared!" a voice boomed, followed by an open door swinging open and banging against the wall behind it.

Jared blinked and jerked back. Melanie looked confused and just as startled as he was. They both turned to see Kyle standing in his open doorway, forcing a gigantic smile.

"It has been hours since I've seen you, man." He roughly grabbed Jared's shoulder and pulled him into the apartment. As soon as he was inside, Kyle looked over his shoulder at Melanie. "Sunny will be out in a minute. She's just finishing her make up."

"Couldn't I just then—"

"She'll be right out," Kyle insisted cheerfully and shut the door in her face.

She gawked, then frowned and contemplated pounding on the door, but before she could she heard from inside, "Be out in a minute, Mel," from Sunny's sassy voice and knew she could do only two things: wait or run. Since she was hungry and without money, she decided to wait.

…

"What the hell, man?" Jared demanded after Kyle had pushed him past the kitchen into his room and shut the door behind him. He locked it before he offered any explanation. Then all he offered was a glare.

Jared raised his eyebrows, furiously waiting impatiently.

"You don't know?" Kyle asked, infuriated.

Jared scoffed. "No. Tell me. Please." He sat back on his friend's bed.

"You were going to kiss, Melanie," he stated meaningfully.

Jared's mouth opened and then closed when he realized he didn't know whether to confirm or deny the obvious.

"I was watching, dude," Kyle informed him. "There's a peephole in my door."

Jared's face wrinkled up. "Well, that's creepy."

"Not the point." Kyle walked around Jared for a half empty beer bottle lying on the floor. He turned the gap and drank some of the warm beer, making a face in disgust when he'd finished.

"That's gross," Jared said, watching him.

"I've done worse."

"I won't ask."

"Are you dating her or not?"

"Of course not."

Kyle raised his eyebrows. "Does she know that?"

"How could she possibly think that? It's one day out. We were just having fun."

Kyle's lips twisted from his choice of words.

"She might not think that's all it was if you would have kissed her."

Again Jared opened his mouth and then closed it, words failing him. Finally he sighed and dropped his head into his hands.

"What the hell am I doing…?"

Kyle came to sit beside him on the bed.

"Listening to me, I hope," he said, managing to take another swig of the warm beer.

Jared laughed. "Listening to you has gotten me nothing but trouble with everything Melanie-related."

"Not true," Kyle insisted. "I got you to accept your true feelings."

"Who cares about my true feelings?" Frustrated, Jared stood up and started to pace. "I took her to Mama's Cooking."

"Good place."

"Yeah, said hi to some of the staff in the kitchen before we left."

"Nice people. You owe them."

"Yeah, I do. And it was great until they all started silently judging me for eating one meal with Melanie and for informing them she's been bonding with Sunny."

Kyle's eyes narrowed instantly. "Why would being with Sunny—" Jared's look cut him off and he succumbed to the reality. "They still…?" he left the question unfinished.

"Of course they do. They don't…change."

"For some things that's great."

"Others not so much. I was afraid the way I left was going to ruin the whole rest of the day."

"What fixed it?"

Jared stopped by the window and sighed, looking into the empty scenery of the back courtyard.

"Melanie fixed it." Kyle said nothing, didn't even chuckle or smirk. "She makes everything better, you know? Lighter. Fun. It's freeing being with her."

Now Kyle stood and approached him in full serious mode.

"Jar, you have to decide."

Jared turned around. "I can't be with her, Kyle. I mean, I really shouldn't, regardless if she feels the same way."

"She does."

"It doesn't matter." He shook his head, suddenly wanting to throw something. "The way that staff, those people, who I truly love like family…the way they silently judge Sunny, even after all these years, even knowing why she does what she does…if Mel and I got together and they acted that way towards her? I really think I'd lose it."

"You're making excuses," Kyle said.

"Maybe." Jared shrugged.

"You can't do that," he insisted. "You have to decide, and you have to be smart about what you do next, because whatever it is, it'll affect Melanie in a strong way and your head has to be on straight when that happens."

Jared nodded noncommittally.

They both heard the apartment door close and Sunny sing out a farewell.

"You got any cold beer in the kitchen?" Jared asked.

Kyle grinned. "Hell, yes." He strode purposefully out of the room and to the refrigerator, producing two cold beer bottles. Jared took his and sat at the kitchen table.

"Wouldn't it be absolutely nuts if I was in love with her?" Jared finally said.

About to take another drink, Kyle lowered the bottle from his lips. He stared at his friend across the table, looking lost, confused and yearning for something he was sure he shouldn't have. Then he turned to look towards the pantry.

"I think we're going to need chips." He heard Jared sigh and shift uncomfortably across from him. He sprung to his feet and ran to the pantry. "Yes, we will definitely need chips."

"I just…" Jared began and then fell silent.

Kyle moved towards the fridge again. "Also, salsa."

…

A/N: I know it seems like Jared & Melanie will never get together, what with Jared's hang-up and what not, but I assure you this build-up will not be anticlimactic. You will like what's coming next. ;)