I Don't own Oreos, The Eagles, Converse or any other real life stuff mentioned in this story. I do own the characters though. Please don't steal them and I won't maul you. Trust me, I'm secretly a ninja. ;p Enjoy!

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SOS for Oreos

We definitely should have brought Oreos. Calebs eyes are dark and he looks like he's about to gnaw off his fingers. I sigh into the black night air chokingly thick with water, and place a shaking hand tentatively on his knee. His dark gaze whips back to my face, his usual smirk eaten off by hunger and something else I couldn't place. I curl my fingers slowly, popping my knuckles and rolling them off his warm leg with about as much stealth as a jet engine. I feel like someone just put a seed bag on my head, so I look down to my green converse-clad feet which are freezing cold and soaked to the bone, trying not to let my breath get shaky. But my eyes are already blurring as drops of tears collect on my thick eyelashes.

"Sorry." I mumble, cursing myself for my gravelly and so not ok voice.

Caleb sighs and slides a long gangly arm around my shoulder, slowly curling me into his tall frame. I shift so my knees are slightly overlapping his thighs, hovering between sitting next to him and on him, and burrow my face into his red flannel which overlaps a tight black shirt. Coincidently my favorite of his. He starts to stroke my flat brown hair and Barrie's his mouth into my hair to kiss my head slightly, then rests his chin on top so we sort of look like a puzzle that's slowly rearranging its pieces.

"It's not your fault Jen. I should've thought of the fact that sails don't sail at night. I also should have realized what a clutz you are and brought another set of oars…."

I groan into his shoulder and reluctantly lift my head to meet dark brown eyes that seem to melt me into him farther with a sigh.

"So what now?" I asked with a weak smile trying to lighten the mood. He tilted his head in weariness and blew out a whistle of air to the sky.

"Well there's not much we can do, Jen, except wait for morning and hope someone comes. Why did I agree to come here again?" He grumbles sliding a hand down his face and closing his eyes, leaning his head back into the breeze that rippled across the still lake. I flick the side of his forehead in annoyance and lean into him.

"Best friend bonding you idiot!" He opens one eye and raises an eyebrow at me.

"Says the girl that came up with that idea. And what kind of name is 'best friend bonding'? I'm not nine," I smack his shoulder.

"Ow! Would you stop it will the hitting?" I roll my eyes and mumble a 'fine' before attempting to fall asleep on Caleb's shoulder with a contented sigh. He sees my move and pulls me off him.

"No. You are not sleeping on me and making my shoulder ache tomorrow. Do you know how bony your head is? It's like there's no brain inside there," he jokes rapping lightly on my forehead. I scowl.

"Well what do you propose we do Caleb. It's not like someone's rowing across the lake to give us bored games!" I huff gesturing widely to the already dimming blue water. He tilts his head.

"Hang on," he pretends to lick his thumb and index fingers before placing them on the corners of my frown and attempting to lift them up. "Got a little something there…. Now that's better." He says grinning as I try for a smile and lean into the hand that's brushing my jawline, trying to breathe steadily through my nose. Caleb catches it and gives me an odd look, whilst searching and sifting through my dull swamp-colored eyes.

His thumb starts hesitantly tracing my lips and I felt a warm shudder run up my spine. I peeked up at his eyes from under dark lashes and let my lips gently fall apart. His eyes were nearly black and looked like the embers of a fire someone was poking with a stick. Restless, determined. His other hand shakily lands on my arm and starts tracing swirling patterns up my forearm to my elbow.

I think that's what pulls me out of the sweet molasses I'm dripping into, because I swiftly run a hand through my hair, cutting off his contact with me and hiding a faint red blush from spreading across my freckled cheeks like wildfire. My brain is suddenly on again and it's like someone turned on a guns and roses track because I'm suddenly hit with hundreds of thoughts that my brain had had whilst I was -well- not thinking. He's your best friend. Stop acting weird. Jus kiss him already! Jump out of the boat and swim-fast. Don't look up don't look up don't look up.

I look up.

He looks really confused. He's running a hand through his hair and darting his eyes everywhere- anywhere but me. I shakily sigh and look away whilst trembling, although it's not really that cold. Don't ruin this Jen. I think frantically while trying to think of someway to backtrack the moment. Even though I know I don't want to.

Caleb has always been there. Playing alien with the weird girl next door in brown cardboard refrigerator boxes, and making mud pies we'd serve on his mom's white blue and gold China. Teaching me how to fly a kite, and blow a bubblegum bubble. Taking me to the 9th grade dance when no one else wanted to go with the bookworm that hasn't said two words all year. Yeah. I think that's when it started being different for me. He wasn't just my best friend. I fly out of my reverie and realize that we haven't spoken for about five minutes. Crap. Now it's awkward.

"Hey, wanna play a game?!" I'm startled by the squeaky voice until I realize it's mine. I cringe as soon as it's out of my mouth and wish I could take it back. Caleb looks just as startled and his wide eyes snap to stare at me in a way that looks like he was so lost he forgot I was here. That's not good either. Even as I turn my eyes away to look for something -anything- to turn into a game, I can feel his eyes burning into my back and try not to shake. From the cold of course.

"Umm, s-sure." He says running a hand through his thick brown hair. He looks pale and awkward which is so not him that I'm starting to seriously consider the swimming to shore idea. I continue digging through the orange boat tackle box that I was sitting on and try to come up with something. Anything. I send a silent prayer to anyone listening. Oh, I feel something! I eagerly dig my hand farther down through plush life jackets and blankets, through red packets of beef jerky and thermoses of water till I come upon a!.….

Marker. A marker, seriously? Ok so I'm stranded on a desert island with my water and beef jerky so I decide, hey, why not try eating a marker too! Too cold at night? Well just draw on yourself to attract sunlight! It's also good for drawing a SOS signal on the sand!

If sand could actually be drawn on…. Doubt it.

"A marker?" I jump a little and turn around to see Caleb raising his eyebrows at me. I'm relieved that he's slightly recovered, although he's still pale, and melt into a smile of relief.

"Ya we could….um…..draw on the boat?" Caleb gives me a look.

"This is my dad's boat. You're not writing on it." I put my hand on hips which is actually weird because I'm sitting down.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" I say rolling my eyes. Ever the disbeliever he is. We could make this boat have hearts and stars and rainbows yet he wants to keep it the same old brown swampy color? Can anyone say fashion connoisseur? No? Thought not.

He smirks and holds out his arm gesturing for me to give him something. I slap a bag of beef jerky into it making him tilt his head and give me a look that said, really?

"Give me your arm, Jen. You trapped us in the middle of the lake in October, I get to be your tattoo artist. Fair's fair, now show some skin." He says, then immediately blushes pink at the last comment. I internally groan. This is gonna be a long night. So I give him my wrist. He avoids my eyes and holds out the other hand, slouching over so that a piece of brown hair flops onto his forehead and hides his left eye. My hand starts to twitch as I smother the instinct to push it back behind his ear. As I'm thinking this my mind begins to stray, making connections. His ear had recently been studded by a small black gem that was utterly sexy and made me long to kiss his ear lobe. I followed his ear to his jaw line that protruded in a smooth arc to his chin. A path I've imagined since since two years ago running my fingers down countless times. That connected to his strong chin that he usually held in his calloused hand when he was bored I class. And right above that was his lips. God I hated them. They'd caused me endless pain from the time I was a freshman to now, a completely pathetic junior pining after her best friend. But I still couldn't keep my eyes from tracing them over and over again as if I was stenciling them out in my brain so I couldn't ever forget them. They were slightly pink in an adorable way that made a knot in my stomach clench painfully. I chewed on my own lips as I watched them move. Almost as if they were forming words…hmmmm…..wait. Oh my god he'd been talking and I was checking him out. Crapcrapcrapcrap.

My eyes shot to his face in a quick attempt to look like I was paying perfect attention. But he was my best friend and I had no such luck. He was just finishing a sentence and was staring at me strangely with a light blush shading his cheeks.

"...tening to me, are you? Jen? Hello earth to Jennifer!" He shouted waving his hands in front of my face. I blinked a few times and pushed his hands away quickly.

"Of course I was listening!"

"Then what did I just say?"

"'Then what did I just say?'"

"Jen-"

"Are you gonna draw on me or what Fabio?"

"Fabio?"

"Please," I whine slightly, rubbing my temples. "Just draw on me. Give me ink poisoning. I don't care, just do it."

He sits back looking confused and laments with a sigh. "Okay, okay. Then give me the marker like I was asking for before you zoned out, Upton."

I blush hard and handed him the marker, keeping my eyes down on my converse. With a click he opens the black marker cap and gently turns over my tingling wrist so he can draw on the underside of my arm. Probably so my mom won't hoard him with environmental speeches on the dangers of ink. I remember once in fourth grade when he'd come over to my house like he did every day after school to watch TV. He was so into Spongebob he unconsciously moved forward till he was about 3 feet away from the television. I laughed my ass off when Mom started yelling at him about what TV does to people's brains and handed him a brochure on eyesight. A brochure! My Mom's a total activist and health nut, so it didn't really come as a surprise when we started hanging out at Caleb's house instead and snacking on oreos all day. Oreos were his favorite. It was actually how we met.

"Watcha drawing?" I drawl in a southern accent, making him smile. Suddenly all the breath is sucked out of my lungs as the corners of his mouth turn up beautifully. He had major dimples that made me feel dizzy with swoonage. God, he was gorgeous.

"You'll just have to wait and see, now won't you darlin'." He drawls back at me, holding back a grin as he mimics my southern accent. I laugh lightly as his fingers trailed up and down my arms, swirling patterns of roses and briars and little leaves. I tilt my head back in ecstasy and inhale the sweet lake breeze through my nose as a cold wind blows my straight brown hair into waves across the air. I realize the fingers on my arm are gone and have left a cold space on my arm. I peer at Caleb, my hair resting silently down my back and across my shoulders. He's staring at me wide eyed silently with his jaw slightly dropped open and brown eyes swirling with black.

"What?" I say slightly panicked.

"N-nothing don't worry about it." His eyes are flickering between staring into my eyes and somewhere a little lower. He tries for a grin, but just ends up with a deflated smile. I scoot closer to him.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh….sure. Sure. Really sure-" I didn't even realize he'd been scooching away till he fell off the bench. I yelp and grip the sides of the boat as it sways, sloshing water into the front. Calebs face is bright red as he sits back down on the bench quickly. So is mine. I really screwed this up. I really screwed us up.

Crap.

"I'm going to sleep, it's getting late." I sigh in defeat as I shuffle around our supplies to the opposite bench. Thank God theres two. I pack a life preserver under my head for a pillow and curl up on the wooden bench and shut my eyes. It's five minutes later that I finally hear Caleb move his position on the end of the bench to cross the boat for a life preserver himself.

"What, no goodnight?" He jokes, but it comes out flat. I hear the dead silence as I tense and wait for him to sit back down. He sighs and plops himself onto the bench.

"Goodnight."

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Light streams into my vision and I mumble something about not wanting to get up yet. The light suddenly is gone and out of curiosity I turn over and come face to face with Caleb. I shriek and fall off the bench. Calebs eyes are wide with alarm as he peers down at me.

"Are you okay?" He says. I groan and roll over to see stars dotting the black sky like freckles. Wait. Stars?

"Why am I awake when the sun is asleep Anderson?" I grit out. He shrugs.

"I got bored and wanted to use the flashlight," he smirks. Obviously he had his old confidence back. But it just left me annoyed. "I also wanted to see if you wanted to play a game. As I said, I'm bored." He scratches the back of his neck like it's no big deal, but I see his mouth twist into a frown for a few quick seconds before recovering and going blank again. Calebs never been one for fights. His parents got divorced when he was 6, a year before he moved in with his mother and I met him. I always hated that I wasn't there for him, even when I didn't know him. I sigh and roll my eyes pushing past him to the tackle box.

"Well I'm awake now so I might as well. Why are you up now anyways?" I say pulling out a blue blanket and pulling an elastic around my hair, fastening it into a sloppy bun.

"Couldn't sleep." He mumbles almost incoherently.

"O-okay." I say suddenly feeling a fist close over my heart. Was I so disgusting that after we almost kissed he can't even sleep? I was pathetic. He's just a guy. But he's my best friend. I think sadly. I try to reason with myself. It's not like I even like him that much. I deflate a little as I realize I just told myself a big lie. I was kind of in love with him. Kind of.

I use those two words to keep a distance from the feelings that are already threatening to overtake me and look over at Caleb.

"So what do y'wanna do?" I ask nonchalantly. In a wobbly voice. I should really just shut up.

"Jen?"

"I'm fine. Just-what do you want to do." I say quickly. His eyes are filled with concerned for a second, but just as quickly they're pushed behind a wall of indifference. I felt like calling him a bastard and clamped my hands around the blanket so I didn't strangle him.

Or myself.

"Let's play what are the odds." I screw up my nose.

"Isn't that like truth or dare? The game created for girly nine year olds at slumber parties?" He rolls his eyes.

"No miss drama queen. One person dares the other, then we both say a number 1-5. If we say the same number they person has to do the dare." I give him an exhausted look. "What, scared?" He smirks leaning towards where I'm sitting on the tackle box.

Even though it's only a few inches, I freeze and try to get control of my heart before he notices.

Crap.

"No. I'll go first," I say using the sentence as an excuse to get air rushed in and out of my lungs. Breathe Jen, breathe.

"What are the odds….." crap think of something. And here I am back in a variation of the tacklebox incident. Great. "What are the odds you'll let me draw girly hearts and flowers on your back?" He raises his eyebrows in a way that said, seriously Jen this is what you came up with?

Sadly yes. Yes it is.

"Okay," he shrugs amusedly. "On three say your number same time as me. Ready? One, two, three!"

"3!"

"3!"

I grin wildly. "Well what do ya know, little Callie's all grown up and getting a tat like her much more mature, talented, beautiful, smart-"

"Okay, Jennifer! We get it. And really? Callie? Never again or something very bad will happen to you…." He trails off with wide eyes and a sarcastic nod.

"Okay you creepy old man. Next thing I know, whenever I come over to your house you'll be screaming, 'get off my property!' Now turn around you big moron." I say rolling my eyes. He just grins and laughs at me in a way that makes me sigh in happiness. I'm so pathetic.

I think as soon as he turned around we both realized the problem with this dare. How was I supposed to draw on his back with his shirt on?

Crap.

He immediately tenses, muscles straining against the t-shirt which only make me more nervous. Oh god, I'm probably gonna be so shaky that I end up drawing clouds instead of flowers. Slightly shaky and feeling a fresh dew of cold sweat on my forehead, I roll up his t-shirt to his upper back, trying hard not to let our skin come into contact. I uncap the black marker and try to steady my hand. Imagine girly hearts and flowers. Not clouds. Not Caleb. Hearts and flo-

"If it would be easier I can just take it off." A hoarse voice breaks through the thick silence and I jump. It was Caleb.

" Umm…. sure sure why not just go ahead I'll be waiting here behind you can't wait to draw heart and flowers and more flowers…" I trail off realizing I was going nowhere with my pointless blabbing. Ok this was so stupid. He was my best friend and just because we almost kissed I had become girly blubbery mess! And anyways he's just a guy.

A guy with a hot body.

Crap. And I was only staring at the back. Oh my god imagine the abs. No! Bad! Focus. I need to focus.

Apparently Caleb also realizes this because he mumbles a little strained, "Uh…. you can start anytime now Jen."

"Right, right. Ya this cap is just being-difficult…." I say while staring at the cap in my hand.

I sigh. Just get over it. okay, it's not even a big deal. I place a hand on his back to steady myself and start in with the marker, trying to ignore the insistent tingles traveling up my hand and through my splayed fingers like lightning. I start in on a curve of a petal and rope in four more petals. Then I create some sweeping vines, following the path of his tanned muscles and feel him shudder underneath my hand. I take a deep breath and continue, creating little hearts along the way that trail like raindrops around the vines. I get a little caught up in my masterpiece that I almost forget Caleb's there. I loop a few more roses and lilies, then lightly trail my fingernail along the petals in inspection of my masterpiece. I do this a few more times, tilting my finger to follow the arcs and slopes of the marker lines. Then I use my finger as a marker guide as I trace a vine down his spine and suddenly there's a big black slash across my drawing as Caleb whips around eyes wild.

"What are you doing?" I blink up at him, breaking out of my trance.

"Drawing." He stares at me a second longer. Just stares at me, chocolate eyes burning into my gray ones with so much intensity that I gulp unconsciously. His gaze drops back down to his thumbs which are twiddling with each other mindlessly. I look out over the black water and welcome the calming sound of waves lapping against our boat. I wonder what time it is. The stars are white like tiny diamonds and are shining as bright as ever against the blue-black blanket of sky they are so delicately fastened to.

"Ok, my turn."

I whip my head around. His eyes are crinkled at the corners as if he's happy, but he's frowning, the corners of his lips turned down slightly. Suddenly I'm a little nervous and pull on a strand of light brown hair that's fallen out of my bun, curling and uncurling it around my finger.

"Your turn for what?"

"What are the odds."

"Oh. okay go ahead."

He leans his elbows onto his knees so he's about a foot away from me. And this is the moment I realize he's still shirtless.

And yes. He so does have abs. Okay, let's all say it together now.

Crap.

"Shirt, Caleb." I manage to choke out while staring at my fingers which are currently impaling the heels of my hands.

"Oh. Shit, sorry Jen." He says suddenly, startled into yanking it back over his head. But the image of his bronzed skin is still tattooed in my mind and it's like the shirt is still lying across the bench. His eyes find mine with a hesitant smile, and a fire engine red blush flashes across his cheeks. I grin at his adorableness and let out a light laugh. He grins back and soon we're laughing at our absurd awkwardness and stupidity.

The laughter slowly dies and we're left smiling comfortably for what seems like the first time in forever(let me pause to sing along with Ana from Frozen).

"Okay," Caleb says, scooching closer as I obliviously smile at him. "What are the odds…." He pauses, his smile suddenly melting like candle wax, dripping, dripping, "you'll kiss me?" He says hesitantly.

I'm pretty sure I heard wrong.

"What?" I squeak, and I don't even care how much I sound like a four year old. My best friend sort of just asked to kiss me!

I think.

"You heard me, Jennifer."

"I'm not so sure I did, Caleb."

"I'm positive you did," He says running a hand through his hair and flitting his eyes across the water.

"No I did not."

"Yes. You. Did."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"No."

"Yes."

"NO!"

"YES!"

"Then say it again!"

"Fine! What are the odds you'll kiss me?!" I deflate a little at the realization that I'd heard correctly.

"Oh." Come on Jen, nows your chance, and if it wasn't meant to be you won't say the same number. "On three then." Calebs gaze whips back to meet mine with wide disbelieving eyes.

"O-o-kay. One…." He starts slowly. I mentally send him signals. 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5.

"Two…" No! I think quickly. What if it ruins our friendship? What if he never will be able to look me in the eye again? What if all we've built crumbles because of one brush of lips at an absurdly late hour, trapped in a small fishing boat in the middle of a lake I couldn't even remember the name of. In a millisecond I'm someplace far away in an old grocery store that smells of rotting fruit and B.O., while my mother pushes a squeaky red cart that's coated in orange rust.

I smooth out my green corduroy dress with the overall buckles and tiny blue flowers while trying to keep up with Mommy. She's mumbling something about wheat germ as she scans the shelf and I find myself staring at a box of cookies on a table near the bakery.

"No, honey. Sugar is the devil's food." My mother scolds as she drags me away down the 'granola and nuts' isle in search of cashews. Bleh. I turn around to send one last smoldering look towards the cookies when I see them scooped up by a little boy about my age. Hes got short brown hair that sticks up in tufts and dark brown eyes that are almost black. I gasp in delight. Maybe he's an alien!

The boy quickly tries to stuff the cookies down his red shirt that says, 'junior firefighter', while his Mom isn't looking. Its not working out very well. The jumbo sized box doesn't fit down his collar and he's in such a hurry he doesn't seen to realize he could just stick it up from the bottom. I sigh. Poor kid. I know how you feel. Suddenly his alien eyes glance towards mine and then hes speed-walking over to me, sending nervous glances at his mother over his shoulder.

"Hi," He says with a buck-toothed smile full of innocent mischief. "I'm Caleb! Wanna help me take these Oreos?" I frown.

"What's an Oreo?" he gapes at me in disbelief before grabbing onto my shoulders and shaking me.

"The best cookies in the Earth! And that's big!" Hes says gesturing wildly. I nod solemnly. They must be a big deal, the earth is big. "So now you have to try 'em- erm- what your name?"

"Jennifer Isabelle Dey," I say proudly, holding out my hand like I see Daddy do every Sunday at church to this other alien guy who's always wearing a white night gown. Weird. Caleb shakes my hand and cocks his head to the right.

"You look more like a Jen to me. I'm gonna call you Jen!"

"Okay!" I say smiling. I'd never had a nickname before.

"Caleb?" Calls his Mom. His eyes widen and he tugs me behind a shelf.

"I can promise you Oreos if you help me! Please?" Caleb asks, giving me puppy dog eyes.

"But isn't that stealing?" I frown. Caleb shakes his head earnestly.

"Nuh-uh! My mommy says stealing is when you take something," he says solemnly. "But we're not taking them, we're eating them." oooh. I get it. I smile at him.

"You're smart! Don't worry, i'll help you!" He grins at me happily. I look around real quick "Okay. On three, we run to the door." He nods his head, getting a serious look in his eyes.

"One," he says.

"Two," I say giddily. No wheat germ for me!

"THREE!"

"5!" I hear myself yelling at the same time as Caleb yells,

"5!" We stare at eachother, me giddy yet mortified, and him wary and something else I can't place. The 7-year-old versions of us melt away and I'm left with the boy I'm in love with.

And let me tell you, realizing this doesn't make me giddy and confident. No. It makes me nervous, scared, and a little panicked.

And also kinda sweaty.

"Is this okay with you?" Caleb asks uncertainly, fingers inching towards my wrist and curling gently around my hand sending hot sparks up my arm.

"Sure, it's just a game right?" I squeak, whilst mentally slapping myself. I sound like I'm dying.

"Ya, just a stupid game…." Caleb trails off, his dark alien eyes tidally locked on mine as he slowly leans forward. I try to stealthily gulp and lick my lips while staring at the feature of his that's caused me so much pain over the last couple years. The feature I'm now considering to be my favorite.

We're breathing heavily as we're a couple inches away, not even brushed lips yet. His eyes still haven't left mine and I'm trembling a little. He takes a deep breath as if he's about to plunge underwater, lets it out and in one fell swoop his warm mouth is covering mine.

I immediately sink into him and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling his face closer to mine and twisting his dark hair around my fingers. He lets out a moan and opens his mouth to mine. His lips are soft and passionate and send my mind reeling, lost in the moment. Lost in him. As he's sucking on my bottom lip, I run my hands down his chest lightly swirling, drawing with my fingers patterns of hearts and flowers, and hearts….

He slips a warm hand under my shirt right beside my belly button. Everything about him is so warm, and I gasp into the kiss, desperately trying to pull him closer, to get more of him. But there's no space left between us and I desperately fist his t-shirt into my hands and all I'm thinking is more, more, more.

We pull away, our need for oxygen overcoming our need for the kiss, but not by much. I suck in deep lungfuls of air and so is Caleb, our foreheads still touching feeling like electricity, my hands still tightly fisted around his black shirt leaving wrinkles. Somewhere in the process his red flannel shirt was flung onto the ground and my buns come down leaving my hair in messy brown waves. Calebs lips are red and puffy, his eyes wide, as he looks at me with disbelief.

"Damn," He says shakily, still gulping down air, "You're a hell of a good kisser, Jen." I laugh softly, but it breaks as I realize something.

It was all for the game. It was just a game. He doesn't like me that way.

And I need to get over it.

crap.

"Thanks," I say, my voice breaking with the effort of not crying, " Okay my turn, what are the odds-"

"What?" Caleb asks with shock, burning holes into my eyes.

"You wanna keep playing the game, right?" I say softly, not meeting his eyes. Ah, there you are converse. Suddenly my chin is turned to face him, forced to look into his eyes as he stares back, hurt, astonishment and anger mirrored in them like shards of broken glass.

"You think I'd kiss you like that," He hisses, gesturing wildly to my form-fitting The Eagles shirt that's riding up over my tanned stomach. I blush furiously and yank it back down self-consciously. "If I was playing a game?"

"Well what else would you be doing," I shoot back hurtfully, feeling a hot tear make a line straight down my cheek. "If you're so disgusted of me touching you that you fall off a bench to get away from me? huh? " I ask while wiping furiously at my eyes, willing the tears to stop streaking down my face and the fist clenching around my heart to go away. His eyes fill with alarm as his dark eyes take in my unattractively red face, striped with salty tears.

"Shit. Please don't cry, Jen," He pleads earnestly whilst running a hand through his brown locks, and blowing out a cloud of air into the midnight sky. " I didn't mean to fall I just…." He mumbles trailing off. Sentences clearly weren't his forte at this moment in time. "I-It's your fault anyways." He stutters after a beat, not meeting my eyes, hand still in his hair as if gorilla-glued there.

I gape at him openly. "My fault?!" I screech. "How the fudge is this my fault? Did I push you off the bench?"

"No!" He yells.

"Then how is it my fault?"

"You're the one who didn't bring the oreos, Jennifer!"

"Answer the question, Caleb!"

"You're too damn perfect, alright?!" He finally bellows, then takes a deep breath after our screaming-match. I immediately fall silent in shock. I stare at him as his eyes drill into mine. I think I just stare at him for a full minute until I finally summon an intelligent response.

I open my mouth. Pause. Open it again.

"What?" His eyes are rim with fear as he laughs shakily at my pathetic attempt to comprehend what the heck he just meant.

"You're too damn perfect." He says, scratching at the side of his head, glancing up at me every few seconds to confirm I haven't started swimming to shore yet.

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean, Anderson?!" I say starting to raise my voice. He looks up at me in disbelief.

"How can you not see it?" He mumbles to himself, propping his head on his hand as he examines my face, eyes flickering as if processing information. "Every obnoxious laugh, every time you go all music snob on me, every time you bump into me, every time you beat me in super mario bros, every smirk, every single time your face is covered in oreo crumbs, damn, I just can't help it," He whispers hoarsely. My tongue darts out to lick my lips nervously. He catches it and stares at my lips for a second before continuing. "I-I just-It's just that…." He trails off, taking a deep, frustrated, breath. My bemusement clears a little and I allow a smirk to grace my face.

"You like me, don't you?" I say laughing a little at his lack of speech.

"Do not." He mumbles with a small smile peeking out from under his hand covering it as he gazes up at me.

"Do too!" I cackle at him, teasing his ego. "I'm just too damn perfect, remember?"

"Exactly, so I definitely don't like you…." He trails off with a glint in his chocolate eyes. I melt a little. I raise an eyebrow and decide to humor him, knowing that I'll likely be his punch-line.

"And why don't you like me exactly?" I say rolling my eyes at his antics.

"Because I love you." He says, his eyes twinkling.

Crap.

The smile slips off my face, and my eyes widen. I can't find a breath in the air. He loves me. A dozen thoughts run through my brain. But I only listen to one.

I fling my arms around his neck and press my lips to his passionately. He grins into the kiss and opens his warm mouth against mine. I moan as he bites down on my lip and quickly pull back before I forget my name to put my forehead against his, ignoring his whines of protest. My stormy gray eyes meet his.

"I love you too."

His eyes fill with light and he laughs, tracing his finger along my jaw, making me lean into his touch as he tilts my head, slower than the first kiss, or the second, but it's the one that fills me with love and hope. He slowly takes in my bottom lip and nuzzles his nose with mine, leaving me light headed with happiness. He breaks the kiss and presses me slowly down onto the bench, our eyes not breaking from each others for a second, and puts one hand on each side of my head, covering my body with his. He grins and moves to kiss me again, tilting his head as a bright light suddenly flashes across the boat and the black water.

His eyes widen comically as he yelps and falls off me to the floor. I put a hand over my eyes and blink into the light.

"What in Gods name are you kids doing out here at this hour?" Shouts a gruff voice, from a small boat not forty feet away. I glance questionally down at Caleb, both our cheeks flushed red.

"Grandpa James." He grumbles, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a long stream of air. Then his eyes suddenly widen and he jumps up beside me on the bench.

"Did you bring Oreos?"

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So yay! That's my first ever post on Fictionpress (Don't own that either) and I can't wait to post more! Comment and tell me what you think of my writing, and what I can improve on. Love y'all! Keep being unpredictable…. :P

-TheGirlinPurpleGlasses