Inspired by my unpacking from vacation this summer.

"I hate unpacking from camp, Jase. Really. You have no idea how much I loathe it," Caitlyn said into her phone as she sorted her dirty laundry.

"About as much as I do?" he guessed.

She laughed. "Probably. It just reminds me that summer's pretty much over now and that I won't get to see you for an entire year." She paused and winced. "Or anyone else, for that matter."

Jason snorted. "Come on, Caity. We both know I'm the only one you're missing."

Caitlyn scoffed and rolled her eyes as she chucked a pair of socks in her colors pile. "Yeah, yeah. You're handsome as sin and have a sparkling personality."

"Why, thank you, Caity. That means a lot coming from you."

"Don't get used to it, buster."

"Well, I'll bask in the glow of your compliments until next summer then," Jason said.

"So you're going to be back then? Not on tour?" she asked as she hung up a blue dress that had gone unworn that summer. She didn't even know why she had brought it really. Except that maybe Jason might like it.

She'd have to wait a year to find out now.

"Well, we will be on tour, but we have a two-week break right in the middle of camp, so guess where we'll be?"

Caitlyn smiled. "Hm…I don't know. Timbuktu?"

"That's right," he said with a laugh.

Caitlyn's bedroom door burst open and her nine-year-old cousin bounced in. "Who you talking to, Caity?"

Caitlyn glared. "No one. And don't call me Caity."

Jason frowned on the other end of the line.

"You let Jason call you Caity. That's who you're talking to isn't it? Is Jason your boyfriend?"

Caitlyn rolled her eyes and made a scathing noise. She pulled the phone away from her mouth and turned to face her cousin. "Jason gets away with it because he's Jason."

"And because he's your boyfriend, right?"

"He's not my boyfriend, Emma."

"Then why—?"

"Emma! Jason and I are not together, okay? Give it a rest. And get out of my room! Now!" Caitlyn barked.

She put the phone back to her ear as Emma left and laughed. "Sorry about that, Jase. Emma walked in and started harassing me."

"Glad to hear you think a relationship with me would be repulsive," Jason said sullenly.

Caitlyn frowned. "That's not what I meant, Jase. I just don't want people thinking we're…that you and I are more than…I don't want people getting the wrong idea about us."

"So dating me is 'wrong'?"

Caitlyn growled. "You're putting words in my mouth, Jason."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't say anything at all then, Caitlyn."

She winced as her full name hit her. "Jase…I…I…" she sighed.

"Cait! Come on! We're going to The Hoof and Horn for your welcome back dinner. If we don't leave now, we'll never get in," Emma said.

She bit her lip. "I have to go, Jase. I'm sorry."

He heard the click as she hung up, followed by the dial tone and dropped his phone from his ear with a sigh before throwing it across the room. He flopped down on his bed and hugged his bird plushie to his chest.

"Dude, what happened to your phone?" Nate asked as he walked in and picked up the battery that had exploded out of it when it hit the wall.

"I threw it," he answered with a non-committal shrug.

"Why?"

"Because I was mad."

"Why?" Nate asked for a second time, still mystified.

"Because I got in a fight with Caity."

"Over what?"

"Because she as good as said she found the idea of dating me repugnant, even if that's not what she meant, but I kept picking at it like one of those gross, oozy scabs and then she yelled at me, then I called her Caitlyn, then she hung up on me."

"You…called her Caitlyn?"

"Yes."

"I hate to tell you this when you already know, but…you messed up."

Jason sighed and rolled over to look at Nate. "There's only one way to fix this."

"Go buy a new phone to replace this one so when Caitlyn calls she'll actually be able to talk to you?"

"No. Well, yes. But I was thinking go to her house and talk to her in person."

Nate sighed. "You go to so much trouble for one girl."

Jason smiled slightly as he got up and grabbed the backpack from his desk. "When you fall in love with a girl, you'll get it."

Nate gave him an incredulous look. "In love? With Caitlyn? The girl who pushed you in the lake after Final Jam last year?"

"It was refreshing. Plus I pulled her in after me and she didn't mind."

"You're both insane."

"Yep," Jason said as he left his room.

Even though it was nice to be back with her aunt and uncle and cousins again, Caitlyn still couldn't shake the nagging feeling in her stomach as she looked down at her phone for the millionth time that night since she hung up with Jason. Knowing Jason, she figured that he would have called, or at the very least, texted her after what had happened. But she had sat through an entire dinner from appetizers to salad to entrée to dessert and not one peep had come from her phone. Her aunt had even taken away her phone because she kept staring at it.

As her uncle drove down the street, the van's headlights hit the front stoop, illuminating the planters and something else as well.

"Jason?" Caitlyn asked in wonder.

"Your boyfriend?" Emma asked mischievously.

She glared at the younger girl and quickly flipped the lock and hopped out the door.

"Caitlyn! The car is still moving!" he uncle yelled.

"I don't care!" she said as she ran up the sidewalk to the front door, stopping in front of Jason.

"Uh. Hi, Caity," he said sheepishly.

"Hi," she said, looking down at her feet.

A long moment of silence stretched between them before Caitlyn looked up at him. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

He quirked a smile at her and shrugged. "I thought I'd apologize for our fight."

"You could do that on the phone."

He chuckled. "Not exactly. I uh…I threw my phone against the wall after you hung up," he admitted with a blush.

"Um…why?" she asked.

"I was mad. I didn't mean to get in a fight with you."

"So you threw your phone against the wall, then decided to hop on a plane to come see me."

"To apologize."

"Do you do this after every fight with a girl, or am I a special case?" she asked.

He smiled at her softly. "You're a very special case, Caity."

Her aunt stuck her head out the front door. "You and your friend can come inside, Caitlyn."

"Okay, just a second," Caitlyn said, smiling at Jason as she rolled her eyes good naturedly.

"No, come in now. We haven't replaced the front porch light yet and I want to keep an eye on you and your friend."

"But—"

"Caitlyn," her aunt said warningly.

She sighed and grabbed Jason's wrist. "Fine. As long as we can go to my room. With the door closed. So the kidlets don't bug us with questions."

Her aunt gave Jason a long look before nodding. "Okay. I'll give you half an hour. But after that…I want you out here."

"Auntie, it's Jason," Caitlyn said with a sigh.

"That means, I pose no threat to her virtue," Jason said.

Caitlyn snorted. "Don't be fooled by his schoolboy appearance, Auntie. He pulled me into the lake last year."

"After you pushed me in."

"Whatever you do, don't bring the house down around us," her aunt said as she walked off.

Caitlyn gave Jason's wrist a tug and led him down the hallway to her room.

"Did your suitcase explode or something?" he asked as he looked around her room.

"Tch. No. I was unpacking when we got in the fight, remember?"

Jason winced. "Yeah. I'm sorry about that. Really."

She rolled her eyes and pushed him down onto the bed. "Stop apologizing. I forgive you already."

"But Caity…" he said as he grabbed her hand and entwined his fingers with hers. "I…You…We…"

"Yes?" she asked, blushing as she looked down at their hands.

"Does the idea of dating me really gross you out as much as it sounded?" he asked softly.

Caitlyn sighed and pushed her hair back. "N-no."

"Then why did you act like it?"

"Because…because…we're just friends, Jase."

"If it's as simple as that, why didn't you just say no? Why'd you yell and go on the defensive?"

She muttered something and pulled away from him, going back to her unpacking.

"What was that, Caity?" Jason asked.

She rolled her eyes and dropped the shirt she was unfolding. "I said, the suggestion of it makes me want it. And I don't like wanting things I can't have."

"Do you honestly think that, Caity?"

She shrugged uncomfortably and turned away from him. "Well…yeah…I mean…I guess…"

"You can totally have me, Caity. Just so you know."

She looked up at him in confusion, blinking several times before launching herself at him on the mattress.

"Ow, Caity. That was my stomach."

"I don't care."

"I do," he said, trying to move out from under her. "Your aunt probably heard that…"

"Well then, shut up and let me kiss you at least once before she comes up here, yeah?"

"I better not get in trouble for this…"

Caitlyn growled and punched his shoulder. "You worry too much. Now shut up," she ordered, grabbing his face in her hands and leaning forward. She pressed her lips against his, rather softly at first, but almost immediately deepened the kiss, pulling on his hair as she twisted it around her fingers and pressing her tongue against his teeth.

Jason let out a squeak of surprise before growling and pulling Caitlyn closer.

"Mom! Caitlyn and her not-boyfriend are making out on her bed!"

Jason immediately sat up, unceremoniously pushing Caitlyn off his lap and onto the floor.

"Don't listen to Emma, Auntie. She's just jealous I have a member of Connect 3 in my room!" Caitlyn yelled as she scrambled to get up and ran towards the door, pushing Emma out before she managed to close and lock it behind her cousin.

"Liar," Jason said with a smirk.

"Shut up. It's your fault we kissed."

"You pounced on me, babe."

Caitlyn fixed him with a glare and shoved his shoulder. "If you're going to be my boyfriend, come up with a better pet name for me than 'babe'. It sounds so…generic."

He snorted and pulled her into his lap. "Lady Caity?"

"Been working on that for a while, huh?"

"No!" he said quickly.

She arched a brow at him.

"Yes."

"Better. I'll have you trained yet, Sir Jason," Caitlyn said with a grin as she kissed him on the cheek.