A/N: Thank you all for your amazing reviews! They are what motivates me to write and update faster! Okay well here's chapter 3! I'm proud of myself, I really like this story and I'm doing a good job at updating quickly! Okay well read and enjoy and REVIEW! Okay thanks again! :D

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Chapter Three.

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Ben reacted to the sound of my brother entering the room immediately.

He sat up, picked me up and placed me on the bed, a good distance away from him. And just as my brother walked into view, he pulled his iPod out of his pocket and started saying, "I still can't believe you're into Black Flag. It just doesn't seem like you," when in fact we had already discussed my love for Black Flag. But Charlie wouldn't know the difference.

"Hey Ben." Charlie said. Then when he saw me, he said, "Oh, hey Tina. What are you doing here?"

I sighed. "Eh, just had kind of a crappy day, and I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, have you been waiting long?"

I shook my head. "No just for a few minutes." I was trying not to think about what had happened in those few minutes, for fear of blushing and giving us away. I was also trying to ignore the heat I felt between Ben and me, even just sitting next to each other.

We sat in awkward silence for a moment before Charlie said, "So... you wanted to talk?" I nodded and he said, "Okay, well do you want to go for a walk?"

"Yeah!" I said jumping up and grabbing my coat off the bed (the funny thing is I don't remember taking my coat off myself...). I said to Ben, "Well thanks for keeping me company. And you were right, that band was pretty good." I said not looking him in the eyes and forcing a smile to form on my face.

He smiled as well (a much better actor than me, I must say) and said, "Any time, Marty. See you around."

"Yeah... see you." I muttered, blushing a little and following my brother out of the room.

Once I closed the door behind me, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Charlie gave me a confused and curious look, but didn't say anything. He just kept walking.

We were walking aimlessly around the grounds when he finally said, "So what was going on with you and Ben? It seemed kind of awkward in there."

"Oh." I said, not knowing what to say. I decided on part of the truth. "Well, we sort of got in a fight on Saturday at lunch, while you were outside. And I haven't talked to him since them, so we were in the middle of talking about it when you came."

"So is that want you wanted to talk about? Ben?" he asked, smiling slightly.

I shook my head. "No, not really..."

"Well, what about then?"

"Um... Candace and I got into a fight today." I said.

Charlie raised his eyebrows at this. He knew that Candace and I do not get into fights. "What about?" He asked.

"Well... um... you, actually." I admitted, keeping my eyes on my feet.

"Oh." We were both silent for a moment before he said, "What about me?"

"Now before I answer that I have two questions for you." He nodded, letting me know to continue. "One, do you still like Candace?"

"Yes." He answered right away.

I smiled at that. Of course I already knew it, but it was nice to hear him actually say it.

"Okay, now what happened on Saturday, when you two went outside?"

He blushed at this. "Well, we continued to argue for a while, then she asked why I cared so much and I sort of... kissed her."

My mouth fell open. "You kissed her?!" He nodded. "So that's why she's acting like this... crap."

Charlie looked at me, confused. "What is she acting like?"

"Well," I said, "she hadn't talked to me at all since Saturday, so I didn't know what was going to happen when I picked her up for school. But she was acting totally normal. Then she starts going on about how James Riley isn't horrible looking and how she would talk to him. And I realized she was throwing herself at some guy to distract her from you."

He snorted. "Are you sure that's why she's doing that? Don't you think it's because she's really over me and she's trying to show everyone that by going out with some guy?"

I didn't even pause as I said, "Don't be ridiculous. She's totally in love with you. But anyway-"

"Wait, WHAT?"

"Charlie," I whined, "Let me finish! Okay so I decided to ask her what happened with you two and she said 'nothing' but of course she was lying. So I started saying how it's obvious that you two are into each other, but she started yelling at me that she didn't like you, which made it even more obvious that she does like you. Then she yelled at me for prying, which I guess I was doing a little, but I'm just trying to help, because you two were...are perfect together."

Charlie just stared at me for a minute. "So that's what the fight was about?"

I nodded. "Then I thought if she wouldn't tell me I would ask you, so here we are!" I said. "But I want to know what happened with that kiss!"

Again, Charlie blushed (which is really not like him) and said, "Well, like I said, I just sort of kissed her. And at first she was kissing me back, but after a minute she just pushed me away and walked back inside. I didn't know what to do... "

"Charlie..." I said, trying to comfort him. "She's probably just really confused. I'll talk to her about it, then maybe you could try talking to her. Not yelling, not kissing. Just talking."

He nodded, not saying anything.

"Oh, and just letting you know, she isn't into Ben."

He looked up. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she was only looking at him so much because she has this weird theory that he and I would be good together." I said, again hiding part of the truth. "She was studying him to see how he acted around me."

"Really?" He looked at me, laughter in his eyes. "And what do you think about this theory?"

I shrugged, trying not to blush. "It's Candace. I'm going to let her do all the studying of him she wants. You know there's no use trying to stop her."

He laughed a little. "That's true." He said. "But what I meant was is do you think he likes you? Or do you like him?"

I stopped walking. "No." I said, a little too fast. Charlie looked over at me, taking in my reaction.

"No... what?" he asked.

"No to your questions. Both of them." I said, then continued walking, trying to act normal.

"Really?" He asked, and started laughing again. "Because I think Ben does like you."

My head snapped up. "What?"

"I said I think he does like you."

"But isn't that weird for you?" I asked. Now Charlie and Candace were saying that Ben likes me. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't weird for Charlie.

"Well..." he said after a moment. "Yeah, I guess it kind of is." I signed. I should have known. "I mean, I guess that's why I always thought it would be weird for you with me and Candace, because I knew if it were you with one of my friends it would be weird with me."

"Right..." I muttered, slightly upset. I wasn't going to do anything if Charlie felt this way.

"But hey, if you like him, who am I to stop you?" He said, again looking at me skeptically.

I shook my head quickly. "No, I don't like him! Not at all."

"Okay..." he laughed.

We continued walking and talking for a while before heading back to his and Ben's room. I was nervous about seeing Ben again, but I tried my hardest to act cool and like nothing was wrong.

Charlie had to go to work, and I needed to be heading home. I said goodbye to Charlie and Ben, and started walking to my car.

I was about to open the door when I heart a voice behind me say, "Hey, Marty."

I turned around to see Ben standing there, smiling at me. My breath got caught in my throat. He was leaning casually against the the car next to mine. His perfection looked so effortless. He looked sexy. I was trying to remember how to breath correctly. I couldn't think straight. Nobody had ever had this type of effect on me before.

Apparently I hadn't responded quickly enough because he pushed himself off the car and came to stand right in front of me. I looked up at him, trying not to pass out, as he said, "What's up?"

"Um... nothing?" It sounded more like a question than anything. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind and not look like a complete idiot in front of Ben. "I was going to go home. What's up with you?" I asked, honestly wanting to know why he'd followed me, when I had already said goodbye.

"Well... I wanted to talk to you." He smirked, and I practically melted on the spot.

"Really?" I asked, almost in a whisper. "What about?"

"I don't know. Stuff..." He was slowly leaning down, getting closer and closer, until finally he kissed me, again.

I couldn't help myself. I automatically wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers finding their way into his hair. I felt his arms wrap around my waist as he pulled me closer to him. Something in the back of my mind was telling me that I shouldn't be doing this, but I couldn't figure out that reason. It was to amazing for me to even begin to think of stopping. So I just kept on kissing him.

After a while we needed to pull apart for air. "So much for wanting to talk." I said, breathing heavily.

He kissed me briefly before saying, between kisses, "Well, you don't seem to mind so much."

I giggled. "I guess you could say that." He pushed me up against my car and kissed me again, instantly shutting both of us up.

Some time later, I realized why I shouldn't be doing this. Charlie.

"Wait..." I said, reluctantly pushing Ben away. He looked confused and slightly hurt.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't do this." I pulled myself away from him. I turned around to get into my car.. But as I went to open the door, Ben blocked me.

"Why not?" He demanded.

I sighed. I didn't want him to know how I really feel about him. With that whole Olivia girl thing, he seems kind of like the man whore type. I could just be another one of his many girls. Plus, I couldn't be doing this after what Charlie had told me about it being weird if anything happened between Ben and me.

"Look," I started, "I can't, okay? I don't want to be just another one of your many girls that you mess around with one day before moving on the next."

He glared at me. "I'm not like that. At least not anymore."

"See?!" I said, knowing what I'd thought about him was true. "Besides, there's no way you could like me, okay? Just no way."

"And why the hell not?" He asked. "How do you know that?"

"I just do!" I was almost yelling now. I was so sad, knowing that nothing could even happen between us. "Okay, now I have to go..." I muttered.

"What is this really about, Marty? Because just a few minutes ago, you were kissing me."

"I was just in the moment. It doesn't matter." I muttered, trying to make excuses.

"That's bullshit and you know it." He said. Why was he fighting this so much?

"No it's not." I whined, trying desperately to get in my car, but he just wouldn't let me. "Plus there's Charlie, and-"

"So is that what this is about?" He asked. "Charlie? Look, he's a great friend, and I know that you two are really close, but he should be the least of your worries. I'm sure he would be fine with it."

"No he wouldn't." I said. "I know for a fact that he wouldn't, okay?"

He sighed and said, "Marty come on!"

Then I said the biggest lie of my life. "I don't like you like that, Ben!" I saw him flinch slightly away from me. "The kiss... it didn't mean anything to me."

He took a step back. After a moment he said. "Fine."

He started walking away, but I called him back. "Ben!" He turned around. I realized what I said was extremely harsh, and what I wanted more than anything was to just be friends with him, if nothing else. "I just meant, you're my friend. An amazing friend. And that's it. So are we okay? You know... still friends?" I asked shyly.

He was silent for a moment, contemplating my words. After a few minutes he said. "Yeah, of course we're still friends."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Ben."

"Sure..." he said, looking at the ground before saying. "I'll... call you later, or something..."

I smiled at him, even though he probably couldn't see it. "Good. I'll see you later, Ben."

He just nodded and walked away. I felt slightly better, but also worried. What if he hated me? What if he never wanted to see me or talk to me again? Although he did say we were still friends and that he'd call me.

But most importantly, why did he care so much?

I was thinking about all of this as I drove to Candace's house. I pushed all of the Ben stuff aside and focused on Candace and Charlie. I needed to talk to her about it.

I knocked on the door and her mother answered."Hello, Mrs. Fisher, is Candace here?"

Candace's mom smiled sweetly but said, "She is, but I'm sorry, she's not feeling well. Perhaps this could wait until tomorrow?"

I shook my head. "No, I know she's not feeling well, that's why I'm here." Mrs. Fisher looked confused, but let me in anyway.

I walked to Candace's room, and let myself in. She was sitting on her bed, writing, which is what she does when she's upset about something.

She looked up when I walked in. Then she glared at me and said, "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to talk to you." I said, sitting on her bed.

"Talk?" she asked, "Or pry into my personal life."

I sighed, annoyed and asked, "He kissed you?"

Her eyes widened and she blushed. "You talked to Charlie?"

I nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She closed her notebook, and put it away, mostly for something to do. Finally she said, "Well, he's your brother, and I thought it would be weird for you..."

"How many times do I have to tell you two that it's not weird for me?" I asked, starting to get annoyed with both of them constantly using this as their excuse.

"I know..." Candace said. "And thanks for that. It's also just that with him... I thought breaking up would be better, but it's only been worse. At least for me. I don't know about him."

"Oh, trust me, it's worse for him too." I said. She smiled at me. "And don't think of this as prying, but I just think you guys are so perfect together."

She looked up at me and whispered, "I know. I'm just not used to feeling like this about one person. It's so strange... but wonderful... and...,"

"You just don't know what to do with yourself, and every time he's around, you giggle like a little girl, and feel like passing out, and just seeing him, your heart aches..." I said, not even realizing what I was saying, but knowing that it was all completely true.

"Yeah..." Candace said, and sighed. After a moment though she shook her head and said, "Wait, what?"

"Huh?" I asked, coming out of my own moment.

"Where the hell did all of that come from?" she asked, looking at me, curiosity evident in her eyes.

I blushed. And Candace knew something was up. "What?" She asked, pulling me to sit next to her. "What happened?"

So I told her. There's no use trying to keep stuff from Candace, she'll always get it out of you eventually. I told her about the first kiss on Saturday, the one on Ben's bed before, the walk with Charlie, and at my car before I left. She was silent the whole time (which is a first for her) and just listened to my story, paying close attention.

When I was done she was silent for a moment. Then she smacked the back of my head.

"Ow!" I yelled. "What was that for?"

"Are you insane?" She said, ignoring my pain. That girl can hit hard. "This guy is totally gorgeous and is crazy about you, and you tell him you can't be with him because of Charlie? Are you CRAZY?!"

"Calm down, Candace." I said. Of course she would react like this. She's just a little crazy, but I love her.

"Okay, fine, but seriously, Marty!" She whined.

"Look, Charlie had just told me that it would be weird for him, so I wasn't about to just do that to him. I can't." I said.

"Sure it would be weird for Charlie, but only for a while. I'm sure once he saw how good you were together he'd be fine with it, and be happy for you!" She said.

"Maybe... but still." I muttered.

"Martina." She said seriously, "Do you like him?"

"Of course I like him, what could possible make you think that I don't?"

"Okay, okay, just making sure. Cause you've never actually said it out loud, you know." She pointed out.

"I guess..."

"Look, maybe you should talk to Charlie about how you feel, then talk to Ben after that. I'm sure Charlie and Ben would understand."

I just nodded. Maybe talking to Charlie wasn't such a bad idea after all. Then I remembered something. "Oh, I told Charlie to talk to you by the way."

"What?!" Candace shrieked. "Why would you do that?"

"Well we were talking and I told him you guys should talk about things, seriously. I just thought I'd let you know."

"But... I don't want to talk to him!" She said, hiding her face in her pillow.

"You're the one telling me I need to talk to Ben and Charlie." I said. She peeked out from behind her pillow to glare at me. I laughed. "Look, lets just agree that if the opportunity presents itself, we both talk. To Charlie in your case, and Charlie and Ben in my case."

After a minute, she sighed and said, "Fine, whatever. I promise."

"Thank you!" I smiled. We hung out for a while longer, just talking about stuff.

It was about 9:30 when the doorbell rang. We didn't bother going to see who it was, Candace's mom would answer it. But then her mom called her and said, "Candace, someone's here to see you!"

She sighed. "Okay mom." Then to me she said, "I wonder who it is this late."

She walked over to her bedroom window, which looked out at her front lawn and the street. When she looked outside, she froze, and didn't move.

After a moment I got up and waked over to her, saying, "What's wrong?" Then I saw who's car was parked on the street in front of her house.

"Is that...?" Candace started.

"Charlie's car?" I finished, hardly believing my eyes. "He decided to talk to you now? I'm going to kill him..." I started muttering. But Candace stopped me.

"No, it's okay." She said, trying to remain calm. "We promised that if the opportunity presented itself we would talk, so I am going to talk to Charlie. Okay?"

I just nodded. Together we left her room and walked to the door. Charlie was standing there looking slightly awkward. When he saw us he seemed quite shocked to see me.

"Oh, hey, Tina. What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I could say the same to you." I replied. "But we were just talking. I was actually just about to go... I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow, Charlie." He just nodded and I muttered a "See you later" to Candace.

I was just about to close the door behind me when Candace called out, "Wait! Marty?"

I turned around and looked back at her. She smiled slightly and said, "I'm going to call James and tell him I don't need a ride tomorrow. You can pick me up, right?"

I smiled back at her. "Of course." I said, and left. We were officially back to normal again. Wow, that must have been the shortest fight in the history of ever!

I drove home, thinking about Charlie and Candace a little, about how I would have to bug her for information tomorrow. But I was mostly thinking about Ben.

I knew that I really did like him, a lot. I just didn't know what to do about it. After everything that had happened today, I'd probably lost my only chance of him ever feeling the way I feel about him. Sure, I would love just being his friend, but still, after him kissing me... me kissing him, if felt like it was an all or nothing situation. And I wasn't sure if he wanted the all, while I did. Even so, I hardly know him. He'd just admitted to me that he used to have many girlfriends and mess around a lot. How could I trust him so quickly? I just don't know what to do.

When I got home I immediately started getting ready for bed. By 10 o'clock I was in bed, ready to fall asleep. But of my phone ringing prevented me from doing that right away.

I had a text message. It was from Ben. I took a deep breath as I pressed the 'view' button, not sure what to expect.

Hey, Marty. I just wanted to apologize for everything before. You were right, kissing you was just impulsive. I get that Charlie's your brother, and I don't want to lose him as a friend. So I hope we can still be friends. I love just talking to you. So call me tomorrow, okay? Bye.

I felt my heart break as I read the message over and over until I knew the words by heart. He doesn't like me the way I like him. At least it was all finally clear, and he still wanted to be friends. That was good, right?

I quickly replied before turning my phone off and going to sleep.

It's okay. I get it. And of course I still want to be friends. I'll talk to you tomorrow.

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A/N: Okay there's Chapter three! I don't know if it's any good. Sorry it's kind of short but I couldn't think of anything else to write. And I had to force myself to write the ending cause I honestly didn't know what was going to happen. Lol. Okay well again please review! Thanks for reading I hope you liked it! And I 'll try to update soon! Thanks!