His hand on mine, we walk down the empty end of the rocky beach. Roxas stays close but doesn't look at me. I break the awkward silence since he obviously won't. "Are you getting extreme déjà vu right now?" I ask him.

He shrugs listlessly. "I guess. Why?"

I raise an eyebrow. Now I'm sort-of startled; something tells me for sure that I recognize my hand in his like this since it's found a home there so many times before. "Nothing… I thought this might jog your memory."

"About what?" he wonders. He says, "I was just thinking about stupid stuff from when I was five." He looks so nervous, fiddling with the chain in his free hand. I don't know what to think because it's very shiny and polished. His cheeks are tinted this adorable shade of red. He looks so scared that I sop walking to sling my arms loosely around his waist. He clenches his fist around the chain. Seriously, what's with him?

Why's he so nervous?

Where's the overconfident bastard I love?

Whoa… I love him…?

Huh… Guess I do.

"Rox, what's wrong?" I ask, fiddling with some of his fluffy hair.

He frowns. His eyes drop in the corners. "I…I wanted to ask you something, but I don't know if I should."

What, I'm suddenly not trustworthy or worth the time to be asked a single damn question? I thought we both liked each other and knew each other well. Excuse me, am I missing something? I pout. I am so missing something. I release my touch from him and he automatically looks disappointed. I ignore it.

"Why'd you let go?" he asks sadly.

"Why can't you ask me?"

His blush deepens greatly. He stammers. "I-I… um… uh… I uh… was going to ask you if…" He pauses and gulps.

I feel mad at him then. What's so difficult that he can't just ask me? What's wrong with him? He's so 'superior' to me that he can't ask me one goddamn question. This is not cool. "What is it Roxas? What is it that's so horrible you can't fucking bring your stupid self to ask me? Me! It's like we haven't been together since that trip to Destiny Islands. Like we're not lifelong friends."

He blinks. "We're together?"

Oh shit that came out wrong. "I mean as friends… It kind of became official at the islands."

"So… you don't think of me as more than a friend?" His eyes plead me to say no- to call him something more.

Of course I do, I want to say. I like you a lot.

"That's not true," I whisper cautiously, hanging my head. Melancholy tears escape my eyes. "How could you think such a thing?" I stifle a sob. "Have you not noticed the way I hate the 'other girls' or the way I look at you? Or the way I have no doubts in my mind that you're the boy in the picture on my nightstand?"

By now I'm crying uncontrollably. I don't even know why, but I am and it hurts. My face is buried in Roxas's sleeve. He pushes me away back to arm's length. Never in my life have I felt more rejected. What's wrong with this picture?

"Naminé…" He cups my face with one of his tan hands and tilts my chin up so that our eyes meet. "I wanted to ask… if you'll go steady with me."

My eyes go wide. Our locked gaze is suddenly a wall, shielding us from others—from the outside world. The chain in his hand proves to have a ring on it with a three-carat (holy shit THREE CARATS) princess-cut diamond. The coloring is IG and the clarity is breathtaking. The diamond is embedded into what looks like a promise ring band.

"I didn't think you'd want to wear it since it looks like an engagement ring…" Roxas quietly tells me. "It's a promise though." He gently pulls the chain over my head and lets the ring dangle near my collarbone. It sparkles in the late-afternoon light.

"What promise is that?" I ask, my voice cracking like an egg.

Roxas's forehead rests against mine. With the thumb on the hand he's cupping my face with, he wipes away my tears. Two pairs of blue eyes meet again, but mine keep slipping their gaze to Roxas's lips. He's so charming and irresistible right now. I might just lose it.

"I lost you once," he reminds me. Dead seriously he swears, "I'm not going to lose you again."

And with that, our lips meet. Sparks fly. And I feel alive.

/

"So when you kissed her she didn't pull away?" the daughter asked, riveted by her dad's story. He winked as if it answered her question. "Did she say yes?"

"If it was a know she sure as hell fooled me," her father said with a smile, nudging his 'little girl' with his elbow. She laughed. "Your sister never asks me to tell her these stories, you know."

Ah yes… the she-devil…

The blonde girl shrugged at the thought of her brunette sibling. "Call me crazy, but I enjoy love stories. And I know for sure she does too."

Her dad, donned in a comfortable all-black pajama set sighed. "You should try to be a little nicer to her. Your mother hates pulling you two out of fights."

At that moment, her beautiful blue-eyed mother walked in. She waned, stretching her back out tiredly. "It's five after midnight. Time for bed you two."

Father and daughter whined, unison in protest.

The woman stayed firm, cocking a flawless eyebrow. "Are you done yet?" She didn't even wait for an answer, just reached over, gripped her husband's earlobe, and dragged him away. He yelped. "You'd think after this many years you would learn to control yourself," the woman muttered, lying in bed.

"She loves the stories sweetheart. Don't take our bonding time awa. One of the two of us needs to be close to her; she's had it rough."

"Life with us is rough? I find us very well-off."

"We are. And hopefully that will never change—not for us and definitely not for our kids." He kissed the top of his wife's head. She seemed uncomfortable for whatever reason as her husband held her body close to his.

\\\

A/N: Hey guys. I know, I know, I've fuckin' disappeared. I feel horrible about it. Read this, and PLEASE REVIEW. If you want me back on here, review. :\ I miss you guys. I want a reason to come back.