"Is there a problem here?"

I took a few steps towards the much bigger man, acting a lot more confident than I actually was. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but I could see that he was getting a little too close and Lexi was starting to look uncomfortable. She knew how to handle herself around guys, but I knew her well enough to know that when she started to get that look in her eyes, it was time for me to step in.

"Why don't you mind your own business?" he replied, grabbing Lexi's arm and trying to pull her away from me.

"Let go of me," she said as forcefully as she could, but I can't imagine it was very intimidating to a guy like that.

She tried to escape, but he was too much stronger than her. I don't know who this guy thought he was, but nobody lays a hand on her and gets away with it. I punched him as hard as I could, and he let go of her arm. He stared at me for a moment, shocked that I had actually hit him, before coming towards me angrily.

I felt someone shaking me and my eyes fluttered open groggily. There she was, her shoulder-length red hair falling in front of her face, sitting on the side of my bed – my best friend, Alexa Marie Kennedy. The girl I had been though everything with, ever since we first met when she moved in next door to me when we were both five-years old. I don't know what I would do without her. Hell, when I decided to move out to Los Angeles with Jason and Nate so we could really start pursuing music, I begged her to go to college in the city – and she did, because she knew, even though I would never admit it, that I was scared. Everyone always makes fun of us for being "joined at the hip," but I don't care. It's true, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Hey, Lex," I muttered, rubbing my eyes.

"I can see your date didn't go well last night," she glanced at the empty space next to me in my bed and smirked.

"She ordered a hamburger," I told her. "I took her to a really nice restaurant, and she ordered a hamburger. Who the hell does that?"

Lexi laughed. "Maybe she just likes hamburgers. You know, you'd probably have better luck if you could look passed the very first thing a girl does that bothers you. You get hung up on one thing…"

"Are you saying I'm picky or something?" I joked.

She always made fun of me for being "picky." I prefer to look at it as being "selective," but she doesn't see a distinction.

"I'm just saying, you might have better luck if you learn to accept peoples' little nuances…"

"I accept yours," I said matter-of-factly.

Lexi pretended to be offended. "What do you mean? I'm perfect, aren't I?"

"Yeah, sure," I laughed. "At least I know you would never order a hamburger at Valentino."

"I'm a vegetarian," she reminded me.

"Exactly. Do you remember when we went to that party in high school and that guy was messing with you so I punched him in the face?"

"Oh, right, and then he kicked your ass…"

I glared at her. "I don't remember anything like that happening…"

"Well, that doesn't surprise me, since you were unconscious," she grinned.

I grabbed a spare pillow next to me and hit her with it. Lexi screamed and jumped on me. Good thing she's small. She started tickling me – she knows how much I hate that. So, of course, she does it as much as she can.

"Of all the girls I could have been best friends with, why did I choose the bitchiest?"

She made the most pathetic pouty-face I've ever seen and pretended she was about to cry. "Shaney, you love me."

"Well…" I pretended to think really hard about it.

"Tell me you love me."

I sat up and gave her a peck on the lips. "Fine, I love you. Let's get some breakfast."

"Nate already made coffee."

It wasn't really hard to figure out why most of the girls I dated didn't like Lexi. They were always jealous of her. I never understood what the big deal was. So what, I kissed my best friend. Haven't they ever watched Will & Grace? Not that I like that show anything…and I guess their situation is a little different, but still. We'd known each other for practically our whole lives. Nobody ever believed me when I said I'd never seen her as more than a friend, but it's true. I guess, in a way, she made it easy to weed out the girls I had no future with. If they couldn't accept her, I didn't want anything to do with them, because Lexi wasn't going anywhere.

She was my first kiss, though. First grade, next to the swings at recess. The other kids wanted to play "wedding" and they made us be the bride and groom. It was a lovely ceremony, really. Especially when they threw sand at us instead of rice. Our teacher was pretty mad.

She was, kind of, my first real kiss, too. I was about to go on my first date, with this girl named Kristen that I really liked. I started freaking out because I'd never kissed a girl, and what if I was bad at it? So she showed me how. It was kind of a waste because it turned out that Kristen didn't even want me to kiss her, but at least I knew for next time. Seriously, why go on a date with someone if you don't want them to kiss you? To this day, I still don't understand.

Nate was in the kitchen when we walked in. As soon as he saw me, he rolled his eyes. He did it pretty much every morning, so I was used to it by now. We had the same conversation every time, but for some reason he never understood.

Lexi poured two cups of coffee and handed me one. "I'm going to the gym, I'll see you guys later. And don't forget that people are coming over tonight for the pool party, okay? Don't make other plans!"

Nate and I were infamous for accidently planning to be in about five places at once. It was ironic, really; we made fun of Jason so much for being forgetful that he hired a personal assistant, but we were just as bad as he was.

"Thanks," I said, indicating the mug in my hand. "See ya."

She kissed me on the cheek and disappeared from the kitchen. I glanced at Nate expectantly, waiting for him to start in on his usual rant.

"Man…when is she going to come out of your room looking satisfied?"

I just shook my head and laughed. It blew his mind that I could be friends with a girl without wanting to sleep with her. "Just because you can't hold down a friendship with a girl, doesn't mean it's impossible."

"That's not even what I'm talking about," he replied. "I'm talking about that girl. How can you look at her and not just want to rip her clothes off? She is like…the hottest girl I've ever seen, I'm pretty sure. You're honestly going to sit there and try to tell me she isn't?"

I just shrugged. What did he want me to say?

"She's beautiful, yeah, but…when I look at her, I still see the girl who held my hand on the first day of kindergarten because I was afraid to leave my mom."

"Aww, what a sweet story," Nate said sarcastically. "But it's time to wake up, dude, because that little girl is all grown up."

"She's your friend, too, why don't you sleep with her?"

"Well, because my girlfriend probably wouldn't be too happy about that…" he pointed out. "But before Caitlyn, you think I didn't try?"

I thought back for a moment. "Oh, last tour, right? She told me about that."

"She told you?"

I had to smirk a little at his embarrassment. "She tells me everything."

"I should have guessed that," he sighed. "But seriously, she comes into your room like every night in those really, really short shorts and a sports bra…and you just want to talk?"

"Yes."

"So…you hug, you kiss, you barely leave the house without her, you fall asleep together practically every night…but you don't have sex? That sucks, dude. You're like one of those old married couples that never have sex anymore. It's very sad."

"Okay, man, whatever," I gave up.

"I'm just saying, if I were you, I'd be taking a lot of cold showers…"

Maybe if I had friends that were more mature than fifteen-year old boys, they would understand. But whatever, I don't care. I stood up and grabbed a PopTart before I started towards my room.

I couldn't help but think about one thing he said, though: "That little girl is all grown up."

A/N: REVIEW PLEASE!!! I have the next couple of chapters written, more or less, so the more reviews I get, the more likely I'll post it sooner…*wink wink*