Chapter 2: Kisses

A/N: Thank you to my reviewers. I am so happy that you know it was weird to switch from angst to cheesy fluff. I am officially done school and into summer holidays so many updates about to be on your way. On everything. I should have the Despair epilogue up tonight or Sunday. And chapter one of INTP's sequel by the Monday. So be excited, lol.

Me no own.

xxxx… Love you forever but you're driving me insane …xxxx

Theresa launched herself into the living room and onto the couch that held Herry and Jay, right after Atlanta. Giggling at the boys' shocked faces, Theresa turned off the T.V they were watching and waited for their protests.

"Hey, we were watching that!" Odie cried. Herry scowled at her.

"But I want to go to a movie, and Atlanta chose the new horror. I went along with it on the condition that I get to choose next time." Theresa informed them. Archie grinned and stood up also.

"Well, what are we waiting for!? If Drama Queen agrees to a horror movie, why are we complaining? Come on Jay! What Theresa wants she gets, remember? I thought you had decided upon this." Archie teased. Jay flushed but stood up, joining Archie, Theresa and Atlanta at the door.

"Are you guys coming?" Jay asked.

"Neil is at the gods' talking to Aphrodite. But I'm in, and so is Odie." Herry said.

The teens piled into the truck, hoping to catch the seven o'clock show.

There were only four tickets left for the seven show. They had some in the 9:00 show, but not many. Atlanta cringed inwardly, because she knew Jay was about to say they would all go to the 9:00 show together. Theresa had to be at Persephone's at 10:00. She would never make the show and her mentor's lesson.

Theresa was pleading her with her large emerald eyes. Atlanta had to make the best friend sacrifice.

"Archie and I will go to the 9:00 show together. We have our boards here; we will just hang out for a couple of hours. You guys go in." Atlanta said quickly, cutting Jay off. He looked like he was going to argue, but Theresa interrupted.

"Are you sure? I mean, we can all wait…" Theresa winked obnoxiously. Atlanta stifled a laugh and nodded.

"No problem, right Arch?" Atlanta answered.

"Course not." Archie replied quickly. Spending time with Atlanta was never a problem. Plus, Archie wasn't as oblivious as Jay and caught the glances the girl's were sending each other.

"Well, okay. But if Cronus shows-" Jay started but Herry interrupted.

"Are you an idiot, or are you just normally that uptight? Let it go man, relax. Cronus shows, we fight him. He isn't here, so just…chill. Go get your seats, I will buy the popcorn."

Jay looked stunned and moderately aggravated. It was the look he got before he went into the whole 'world responsibility' lecture. Atlanta snatched Archie's hand,

"Well, we are off. Go get your seats." The red-head ordered, dragging her purple haired best friend out of the theatre. Theresa tugged on Jay's sleeve.

"Come on Jay. Let's have fun. Just for me okay?"

Jay looked down at her and sighed. He had no chance. Theresa always got her way.

Especially from him. Man, he spoiled her. But whenever he let her get what she wanted, the special grin she gave no one else but him was worth it.

Besides, a girl so pretty needed to be spoiled.

"Alright, do you want something to eat first, I'll buy?" Jay asked. Theresa grinned at him and Jay flushed.

"No, I'm fine. But can I sit by you? Horrors aren't really my thing…" Theresa informed him shyly. Jay beamed internally.

Oh Yeah. He just hit the Theresa jackpot. A terrifying horror movie, jam packed with audience and a strawberry blonde, green eyed goddess hanging off him.

If Cronus interrupted this, Jay would kill him, and then bring him back to life, only to kill him again.

xxxx… And life is now worth living, if only because of you …xxxx

Archie and Atlanta gave up boarding soon after they couldn't see the pavement. So they ditched their boards in Herry's truck and walked towards the park. They would have run, but then they would be all sweaty for the movie.

"Hey Lanta. What was Theresa trying to get you to do at the theatre?" Archie's voice seemed out of place in the comfortable silence.

"She wanted to go to the movie with Jay, and she knew he was about to say we should all go together and she has training with Persephone soon. So I volunteered to go later, so she could go with Jay."

"So I'm pretty much a tool in the get Jay and Theresa together scheme?" Archie wondered, a bit put out that the red-head hadn't wanted to go with him to the theatre alone.

"No! I was helping Theresa get a boy, because that's just what girls do. So I said I would go to the movie later and I didn't think you would mind!" Atlanta scowled, "And in case you didn't notice, I volunteered you, not Herry or Odie, because I will have the most fun with you at the movie's later."

Archie felt guilty that he had accused her of using him. He didn't mean for it to come out that way…

"Lanta, come here!" Archie said, trying to grab the red-head attempting to storm away from him. She spun and Archie pulled her back.

"What!" She exclaimed angrily. Archie sighed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that you were using me. I was just wondering why you were trying so hard to get Theresa and Jay together. I'm happy we are going to the movies later; I have fun when I'm with you. Besides, if I went in there now, I have a feeling Theresa would scream my ear off. And no offense, but I need that ear, and you aren't frightened of anything."

Atlanta was a bit stunned. Since when did Archie apologize to anyone!? Atlanta wasn't sure but she was ecstatic at the fact that Archie had lots of fun with her! And he thought she wasn't afraid of anything; that was a bonus.

"I am afraid of some things. But thank you for apologizing." Atlanta gave him a tenuous smile, trying not to cringe at the menacing sky.

"What are you afraid of?" Archie asked, really curious as to what the seemingly not afraid of anything red head would be scared of. She knew he was scared of water, but not much else.

"Nothing you need to know about. But I think we are about to get wet." Atlanta replied playfully. Archie looked at the rain clouds above them and clapped.

"Oh good. This will be fun! Do you mind getting you're pretty hair wet?" Archie wondered.

Atlanta looked at him questioningly, and Archie realized what he had said. He nearly died of embarrassment.

"I have pretty hair?" Atlanta asked, a mixture of amusement, shock and embarrassment written on her face.

"Uhh. Yeah. It looks different tonight. Nice." Archie stumbled over his sentence.

"Awe, thanks dork. You aren't looking bad yourself." Atlanta replied.

She shook her head lightly. She wasn't lying when she said he looked 'not bad'. Actually that was a huge understatement. He wasn't wearing his usual blue shorts, blue sweater combo. Today he was just wearing his white wife beater (I just call them that, because I hate the term muscle shirts. I don't mean offense or anything) and denim jeans. Atlanta just had to notice that his sweater did him no justice, totally covering the toned muscles apparent through the tight shirt. And the shorts were okay, but denim was definitely giving Atlanta a whole new opinion on his derriere.

'Okay, stop Atlanta. He doesn't check you out every time you buy a new outfit. And he surely doesn't notice your butt.'

"Anyway, it is about to rain, and I want to go to the park." Archie explained, "Do you want to come?"

"Well…where else could I go?" Atlanta wondered rhetorically, giving a nervous laugh.

Archie grinned and grabbed her hand, walking towards the sandy park surrounded by trees. Lightning flashed in the distance.

"Umm, aren't you not supposed to go where there are high things in a lightning storm?" Atlanta wondered. Archie just looked at her and grinned.

"Don't worry. I won't let the big scary electricity get you!" Archie promised. Atlanta scowled.

Just as the park came into view, the rain started. It poured down, completely soaking Atlanta and Archie within minutes. It was actually a lot of fun, racing around in the pouring rain.

But that didn't last long, because with the rain, came the thunder.

xxxx… Hold up boy, she can't wait much longer for you to realize …xxxx

Theresa jumped, trying not to throw her popcorn everywhere. What a time to get the front row. Jay sat solemnly beside her, looking like he wasn't the least bit perturbed by the horrific movie. Theresa tried not to cry and scream and make him be embarrassed of her. The last thing Theresa wanted was for Jay to be embarrassed by her, and yet Theresa seemed to have a knack for embarrassing those people she loved.

Another jumpy part came and Theresa let out a shriek. A few people turned to look at her and the strawberry blonde blushed deeply.

"Sorry Jay." She murmured. He turned to her, obviously confused.

"For what?" He asked.

"Being embarrassing." Theresa muttered, her cheeks flaming. What was it her ex, Josh, had said to her. Oh yeah: 'Jeez, Theresa you are like a bull in a china shop. You break everything you touch. Just try not to move around and don't say anything. You might embarrass me. Just stand there and look pretty. It is what you're best at.'

At the time, Theresa had thought it was a compliment, that he was only telling her she looked pretty. That was why she had put up with it for so long. And then as soon as she got rid of Josh her father had started doing the same thing.

"Theresa, you never embarrass me. It isn't your fault those people are stupid jerks and the movie is frightening. Do you want to leave?" Jay replied. Theresa was a bit shocked. She never embarrassed Jay?

"No, it's okay. I want to see the end." Theresa said softly, knowing that even though the brunette beside her was a bit too serious, a bit too centered on the God of Time and way too oblivious of her feelings, she really liked him.

Actually, she loved him. And she was getting deeper by the minute.

She jumped again, stifling a scream, but emitting a gasp. A head turned to glare at her.

Jay glared back and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.

Man, she loved this boy. But did he love her?

"Thank you Jay. Sorry I am clumsy and embarrassing." Theresa whispered. Jay laughed quietly.

"Theresa, you may be clumsy, but you aren't embarrassing. It's kind of cute, don't worry."

Theresa blushed in the darkness of the theatre.

"Thanks Jay." She mumbled, twining his hand with her own. He didn't pull away, but he did turn her to look at him.

His cognac eyes stared deeply into hers. She knew he was smiling, just by the tender expression he wore. Theresa had seen that look only on two other people before.

Archie when he looked at Atlanta and her dad when he looked at her mother before she died.

Jay leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips, almost as if he expected her to pull away. Theresa deepened the kiss, firmly showing him she had no intention of pulling away from this.

Jay pulled back slowly, grinning cockily. Theresa's head swam.

"What was-" Theresa started. Jay set his finger on her lips.

"Don't talk or I might be tempted to do it again." He muttered against her ear. Theresa had an intense urge to start blabbering to see if he would, but at the moment, she was content that he was whispering sweet things in her ear.

xxxx… It feels good. Is that reason enough for you?…xxxx

Archie could not find Atlanta. One moment she had been running and laughing with him, and now she was no where in site.

"Lanta?" He called anxiously.

"Here!" She replied loudly. Archie glanced to the voice and saw she was lying on the ground, hiding behind a bedraggled bush.

"What are you doing back here?" Archie asked, ducking down beside her.

"Uhh, hiding! That's it! Yes, I was hiding..." Atlanta's unconvincing sentence trailed off.

Archie stared at her, brow raised. Since when did Atlanta lie to him so obviously?

Thunder crashed and Atlanta jumped. Archie smiled slowly.

"You're afraid of thunder aren't you?" Archie accused the very wet girl in front of him.

"No! I'm not afraid of anything!" She snapped. Archie almost believed her until thunder sounded again and she fell on her butt in the mud.

Archie reached down and pulled her close to him. She fell into him and tried to pull away.

"Hey, why didn't you tell me earlier? We could have gone home." Archie muttered.

"Well, you see-" Atlanta stuttered a bit. She couldn't tell him that at home she would have huddled under her bed, trying not to cry, all alone. She couldn't tell him that she felt safer with him. She obviously couldn't tell him why she was afraid of thunder.

"Atlanta. Why are you afraid of thunder?" Archie asked. Atlanta sighed and tried to move away, only to dive into him when the thunder rolled again.

"It was a really stormy night and someone snuck into our house and tried to steal some things. My younger brother saw him and told him to stop. The man killed him and then came after me. At this time, my mother had phoned the police and my dad was trying to stop the man. He tried to kill me but my dad got in the way and he died instead. He was arrested, but only jailed for a few years. He's out again now." Atlanta said in a rush. Archie looked horrified.

"Lanta, you know it's not your fault your dad died right?" Archie wondered.

Atlanta bit her lip. Archie hugged her closely.

"It isn't. Trust me. I thought it was my fault that my parents abandoned me for the longest time, but it isn't. He died for you, he did it by choice. He wouldn't want you to suffer for the choice he made out of love."

Atlanta held back her tears. She would not cry. She never cried. Plus, the thunder wasn't scaring her too badly when she was wrapped in Archie's arms. Unfortunately, he let her go and looked at her.

"Don't worry Lanta. I won't let anything hurt you." Archie swore, smiling a little at the soaked woman. Her shirt clung to her body, giving him a wonderful idea of what was usually hidden beneath her baggy clothes.

Atlanta smiled at him, surprised that her macho dork could be so sweet. Plus, the fact that his shirt had gone completely see through was a total bonus. Man, since when did Archie look like this!? I mean, he had the same body yesterday at the beach, but he hadn't taken off his shirt.

Plus the fact that he was dripping wet added to the scrumptiousness of that pure male body.

Atlanta pushed him to the ground and leaned down and kissed him. She was shocked at her actions, but more surprised at Archie's reaction.

He flipped her, shielding her from the rain, never even breaking the kiss. He pressed his soaked form to her and let his hands take weight off her. Her hands fluttered down his side shyly.

He broke the kiss to look at her hungrily. Atlanta had never felt as desired as she did when he looked at her like he wanted to eat her whole.

"Atlanta, I don't know-" He started.

"Kiss me." Atlanta demanded halfway through his sentence. He grinned.

"That's what I'm here for." He whispered as he kissed her forehead softly. "I won't let anything hurt you."

Atlanta smiled and let him kiss her gently, deepening the kiss as the moment wore on. He gently bit her lip, taking advantage of her gasp by exploring her mouth. She met him evenly, discovering her own talent.

Making Archie beg.

She pulled away mid-kiss, watching Archie's eyes darken. He leaned down and she turned her head, letting him kiss her cheek. He growled lightly.

"Atlanta… Don't play this game."

"I think I like this game though!" She muttered back, nibbling his ear. He clamped his mouth shut and leaned his head on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him and turned so he could lie beside her. He embraced her, letting her head fall on his shoulder.

"Atlanta, since when do you kiss me randomly?" Archie asked, still replaying the last few torturously wonderful moments in his head.

Atlanta looked at him, narrowing her eyes. "Do you have a problem with it?" She asked venomously. Archie's eyes widened.

"Of course not, I was just wondering cause, well you are Atlanta, and I'm just your best friend."

"Well, what's that supposed to mean!?" Atlanta exclaimed. Archie cringed.

"Uhh, that you are way too good for me." He said softly. Atlanta's eyes widened, and then turned gentle.

"Yeah right. You are too good for me. You do absolutely everything right, even as you say all the wrong things. You hug me when I'm scared, even though I laugh at you for your fear of water. You don't ask why I want you to kiss me, you just do it." Atlanta snuggled deeper into his chest, "You are my best friend. And you are perfect."

Archie smiled, tightening his hold on the red-head. Here he was, worried about telling her he 'cared about her' and she kisses him first. Man, the guys would never let this drop. He would forever be known as the boy who didn't tell her.

"Atlanta. I want to be more than your best friend. I don't want you to tell me to kiss you; I just want to do it. And I definitely don't want another Pan incident; because I can't handle seeing other guys look at you, forget touching you. And I always want to know your safe, because I love you."

Atlanta was speechless. She had hoped to maybe, maybe get an arm around her during the movie. But this…this was so much better and so much worse at the same time. What if Jay didn't do anything with Theresa and Atlanta came home ready to spill about how Archie loved her?

But who cared. Theresa could deal.

"I love you too." Atlanta blurted. She blushed fire hydrant red. Archie wiped a wet strand of hair away from her eyes.

"So will you go out with me?" He asked. Atlanta blushed even darker.

"Took you long enough to ask…. Of course."

Archie kissed her again and pulled her to her feet. The rain was just letting up.

"It's 8:15 and we have a movie to catch. First date?" Archie asked, a little bit red himself. Atlanta nodded.

"Okay, well considering we are both muddy, wet and look like we have just been in a war, I vote we race there." Atlanta declared. Archie grinned and sprinted towards the movie theatre, watching as Atlanta tried to speed ahead. She soon succeeded and Archie attempted to regain the lead, failing miserably.

But you know, some things never change.

xxxx… You've begun to feel like home …xxxx

Theresa sat on the roof, her large flannel pajama pants fluttering around her in the humid breeze. It was eleven, and Atlanta should have been home by now. Theresa wanted to tell Atlanta that Jay had kissed her!

The roof's door opened, and Theresa spun, expecting to find Atlanta. Instead, Jay walked towards her. He looked tired, thoughtful and content. Relaxed.

It was strange.

"Theresa?" He called softly, careful not to wake anyone who might be sleeping. Theresa walked towards him.

"Yeah Jay?" She answered when she was beside him.

"I was thinking," he grimaced and glanced at her apologetically, "about Cronus. And I was thinking how I should not get involved with you at all. Mostly because if Cronus found out he would totally try and use that to his advantage. And I couldn't live with myself if you were hurt."

"Jay…" Theresa started, clamping her mouth down when Jay shushed her.

"But then I thought about it and I realized something. It was as if someone slapped me. You see, you aren't a liability, hell you can take care of yourself. Half the time you beat me in practice. Plus, if we die doing this thing, saving the world, don't you think we deserve a little happiness?"

He sighed slightly and looked at her. His brown eyes were determined. He walked towards her, his stride slightly aggressive. Theresa backed against the brownstone's wall. He pressed her to it.

"And I thought: Cronus can take his stupid power, scythes and world and shove it. I want to have fun before I try to destroy the God of Time, and I am tired of trying not to care about you Theresa. So I have decided that the world can just back off for a second while I kiss you."

Jay kissed her, tenderly, not angrily like she had expected. He pressed her against the wall, one arm around her waist and the other behind her head. Theresa lightly raked her nails down his back.

"Jay, you can't just ignore me tomorrow after this." Theresa whispered. Jay leaned back, his eyes hazy with desire.

"I don't think I can ignore you ever again. Actually, I wasn't ignoring you before; I was just trying to stay away from you. I swear you are worse than Aphrodite."

"Excuse me?" Theresa asked testily.

"I meant you are too beautiful for your own good. Now before I kiss you again promise me something." Jay answered. Theresa nodded, blushing at his comment. "You need to make sure to be safe when you fight Cronus. If he finds out, he will use you against me or vice versa. So try not to get caught and I will do the same."

"Done." Theresa agreed, spinning him around and pressing him against the wall, kissing him fiercely. She pulled away.

"I think I just heard Atlanta. I should go." She murmured.

"I heard her too." Jay nodded, "Go see her."

Theresa smiled and went to walk away. A warm hand reached out and snatched her arm, pulling her back.

"Theresa, you mean so much to me." Jay whispered into her ear, smoothing down her hair. The strawberry blonde smiled tenderly.

"You too Jay. But you knew that didn't you?"

"I was really hoping so. See you tomorrow." Jay muttered, kissing her once on her forehead.

Theresa slipped from the roof to Atlanta's bedroom. She plopped on the bed, waiting for the red-head to come to her.

xxxx… Cause we have spoken everything, everything short of I love you…xxxx

A/N: Okay, umm, so here's the thing. I know some people don't like lemons, but I kinda want to do one. If you don't like them, but like the story, let me know. If enough people don't want a lemon, I will just write a one-shot. But if you wouldn't mind a lemon, I would like to try one. So please review and tell me!