Another request. Boy oh boy. :) I cranked this one out in a half hour. Maybe it shows. XD Hope you all like this one. It's different. Definitely. I'm not used to this pairing. But I hope it's alright. Read and enjoy! :D

You know how, on your birthday, people ask you if you feel any different? You wonder it you look any different? It's a joke. It doesn't happen that way.

She pulled at the bags under her eyes, having expected to see some miraculous transformation when she looked at herself in the mirror. Nothing. Hair still brown, eyes still brown, body still lacking any shape whatsoever. Still short, still Katie.

Wasn't something great supposed to happen on your eighteenth? Weren't you supposed to realize who you were, and just figure it all out?

She sighed. Her bed was unmade, and she estimated about five minutes til Kendall came in with pillows and a birthday cupcake.

The smell of bacon wafted around the room from down the hall. She floated towards it.

Standing at the stove was the one reason she really could even stand relationships these days.

"Hey," she greeted him, as he flipped a pancake. She grinned. "Those culinary classes did you good."

She pretended to check him out. He chuckled. His hair was still rumpled from sleep, and he was in his PJ's. His hazel eyes lingered on her.

"Happy birthday, Kat." James kissed her, and she figured she might as well kiss him back. I mean, he was her boyfriend and all.

When they broke apart, she was breathing rather hard. And the first thing she figured out that day was it takes someone really special to make you feel that way with just one kiss.

After she had gotten her breath back, and he was back to flipping pancakes.

It took him forever to say, "You're legal now."

"Yup. Wanna get married?"

He smiled. "Sure. Wait a few years and I'm all yours."

"You mean you're not now?"

"You're an idiot," he murmured, pecking her again on the lips.

And then the whirlwind blew in.

"Happy BIRTHday, baby sister!" He gave her a huge bone-crushing hug, and a huge, wet, slobbery kiss on the cheek. She wiped it off with a disgusted look, thanking God for him in her mind at the same time.

"Sup, bro." Fist bumps all around. Minus two.

And the second thing she figured out was, no matter how much she loved Kendall, she would always miss her adopted brothers. Med school and traveling the world had to happen sometime, though.

"Carlos called from Egypt last night for you Katie," Kendall said. "But you were asleep. He's still getting the hang of time zones." They all rolled their eyes.

"Of course. I hope you told him I love him," Katie said reproachfully.

Kendall nodded, ruffling her hair with a smile. Then he saw the food.

And so, her adult life began.

"Don't open them yet!" James said, covering her eyes.

"I can't..." she said.

"OK, well, now you can."

She saw two surfboards and a picnic basket. A fire pit stood off to the side.

"You're not..."

"Yes, I am. I'm gonna teach you to surf."

He bounded out to the water, pulling off his shirt and grabbing his surfboard. He stopped. Katie hadn't moved.

"C'mon babe," he pleaded, making his eyes go big and his mouth all pouty.

"Awwww man! You can't do that!"

"It's worse when you do it!" James retorted.

"Fine," she said, knowing how much he simply couldn't resist her. She stripped down to her swimsuit and picked up her surfboard, walking gingerly towards the beach.

"I'm gonna fall," she saw fair to warn him.

"We'll go on the same one the first time."

He climbed on belly down, and she lay on top of him. Soon enough, with his paddling and the waves helping, they were out in the open. A small crest could be seen speeding towards them from the distance.

"OK," he said reassuringly. "Here it comes."

The third thing she figured out that day was it really was a good idea to tell your surfing instructor you can't swim.

She panicked when the wave rolled over her, and automatically groped for his body, which had risen, fluid as the water around him, from the board. She slid off without even realizing.

It was deep enough she that couldn't feel the bottom. Her breaths were wasted in gasps, as she saw bubble after precious bubble float to the surface. How long before he would stop and figure out she wasn't with him anymore?

Her vision was clouded in white, so it was easy to see the splotches of black as they crept up on the edges of her sight. She wanted to cry out, but it all felt like a dream.

So when two strong hands lifted her bodily out of the water it took her almost five seconds for her to realize that she could breathe again.

She vomited sea, as James held her tightly, scolding and comforting and interrogating and kissing her. He helped her pump the rest of the water out, and she sat there, clinging to him, sitting in the shallows.

"What the heck, Katie..." he said quietly. "You can't swim?"

"No," she said shakily. "I thought you would hold on."

"You have to stand when you surf."

"I'm sorry," she said, cursing herself for the worry and guilt in his eyes, and for the fact that now she was looking around to see if anyone had seen the whole thing go down.

"No, I am. I should have been-"

"I'm fine now, James honey."

He looked at her. Really LOOKED at her. He was reading her soul.

"I want to try again." She liked that look of admiration that he gave her. She would have said anything to get it.

So, a few hours of swim lessons later, and one wave slightly dominated, she crashed to the sand. She was more tired than she ever could have imagined.

The fourth thing she realized was that she, Katie Knight, was brave. And hardworking. And that she didn't give up. These meant more than her cowardice, and her pride.

Because who would have known that she would have learned to surf by the time the day was up, when she began not even knowing how to swim?

He doled out cold pizza and sliced fruit and bottled water, and they ate it all, she probably more than him.

He got a wonderful fire going, and it was so warm, and so amazingly comfortable to sit by, that she couldn't move a muscle.

He cradled her softly in his arms, and the stars saw two, young and in love, with sleep in their eyes.

"I kinda want to say something."

James cleared a hair out of her eyes. "Anything."

"You practically saved my life. I was chicken, but you didn't care. You went on with me anyway."

"So what? I love you, and I... well, what else could I do?"

"Gotten mad? Anyone else would've."

"Well, I bet anyone else doesn't adore you as much as I do."

She smiled.

"Do I get a present?"

He looked at her, than smacked himself. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I-"

"James? Just kiss me and I won't care either way."

The feel of his skin, the taste of his lips, the way he smelled, the way he held her, it all made so much sense, she wondered why people just couldn't love the way they could.

And the last thing she figured out that day was that she was, and more than likely would always be, hopelessly tangled in this favor that had been thrown her way. This favor who was kissing her so hard. She couldn't breathe again. But she didn't care. She wanted to die in his arms.

She was an adult. And heck, maybe she had figured some things out after all.

:D

~Starbucks