A/N: Welcome to the next installment of How You Get the Girl. There are things I really like in this chapter, and things that I don't really care for, but I felt were necessary in order to move the story along. This chapter is called "Remind Her How it Used to Be."

Enjoy!

Jimmy came back into the coffee shop with a big grin on his face. "She wants to meet me at the park so that we can talk. Do you think that's a good thing?"

"Of course it is. If she didn't want to get back together with you, she would have just told you over the phone," Cindy suggested.

"You're probably right. Oh, crap! What should I even talk about?"

"Just reminder her how it used to be, you know, before you got too busy with your science stuff. Remember how head over heels you were for her when you first started dating? Tell her about that stuff, and how much you miss that part of your relationship."

"Thanks, Cindy. You're seriously the best. I hate to do this, but I have to go. Betty wants to meet in an hour, and I need to go home and change," Jimmy said as he looked at his hoodie and basketball shorts.

"No worries, I get it," Cindy replied.

"What would I do without you, Vortex?" Jimmy stood up to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yep, good luck," Cindy uttered quietly.

As soon as Jimmy left, Cindy started pounding her head on the table.

"That was super awkward." Cindy heard from behind her.

She turned around and saw Sheen standing there with two coffee cups. "What are you doing, Sheen?"

"Nothing, I was just picking up something for Libby before heading over to her house. The question is: what are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Libby told me that you're helping him get back together with Betty. Why would you do that?"

"Because he's my friend and being with Betty will make him happy. He deserves to be happy," Cindy explained. She had been telling herself that for a long time, it was starting to feel less real.

"Don't you deserve to be happy too?" Sheen inquired.

"Whatever."

"Let me tell you a little bit about Jimmy," Sheen began.

"I think I know him pretty well." Cindy rolled her eyes.

"Just, hear me out. Jimmy is clueless. He's not gonna pick up on your subtlety. You need to tell him how you feel, straight up."

"And why the hell would I do that?"

"You might be surprised by the answer that you get."

"When did you get all philosophical?"

"Ritalin is one hell of a drug," Sheen laughed.

Cindy smiled, "Thanks for the advice, Sheen, but I think I'll stick to my plan of bottling up my feelings. It's doing wonders."

"Your sarcasm has been noted, and will be relayed to Libby shortly. Enjoy your Sunday," Sheen said as he walked out of the coffee shop.

Cindy finished her latte and started to leave. She decided to go for a run after all. She definitely needed to blow off some steam.

Jimmy sat waiting nervously in the park. He had the flowers from the night before on his lap. He kept looking at his watch wondering, where Betty was. He began to panic, thinking that he was in the wrong place, or that she had changed her mind.

Just when he was about to text her to see where she was, Betty walked over, smiling. She gave a small wave when she saw Jimmy looking at her.

Jimmy stood up and wiped his palms on his pants. He had changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt he knew Betty liked.

"Hey, Jimmy," Betty said as she approached him.

"Hi, Betty," Jimmy stammered as he handed her the flowers.

"Wow, thanks! I love pink roses." Betty leaned in and gave Jimmy a kiss on the cheek. "I thought about what you said, and if you are being absolutely honest, then I would love to try dating again. You have to promise me though that you are going to commit. Don't blow me off for some invention."

"Of course not," Jimmy said smiling. "I know that I have to prove to you that I want to be with you, and I'll do whatever it takes, I promise."

"Perfect!" Betty smiled.

"So since, we're going to try again, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dance with me," Jimmy asked quietly.

"Listen, I'm glad we're getting back together, but we're going to need to work up to that. Let's try this for a couple weeks, and if things are going well, then I'll go to prom with you," Betty offered.

Jimmy just nodded. He was disappointed, but not surprised by her response. When they broke up, Betty had given him an ultimatum: her, or his inventions. At the time he was on the verge of a scientific breakthrough, and wanted to finish it, so he had chosen his work. Betty was heartbroken. It would take some time for her to trust him again.

Jimmy and Betty spent the afternoon in the park. They reminisced about when they first started dating. Jimmy remembered how love struck he had been. He could hardly sleep, or think about anything else besides Betty. But after a few weeks, the lust began to dissolve. Jimmy knew it was typical for the initial "honeymoon" period to wear off, but he almost didn't care. He started working more in his lab, and spent less time with Betty, until finally they broke up.

Jimmy hadn't wondered why he seemed to stop caring about his relationship with Betty. He had been so head-over-heels for her since elementary school that he was in shock for the first week of their relationship. He figured that after the initial shock, he must have just settled into the relationship. He thought that was what was supposed to happen. Jimmy had never been in love, so he had nothing to compare it to. After he and Betty broke up, at first it seemed fine, but after about a month, he had finished his project, and he realized that had made a mistake. Jimmy had felt ready to focus on a relationship, but it had been too late. That was when he had gone to Cindy for help.

"Jimmy, I'm so excited that you wanted to go out again. After I thought about it some more, I realized that I probably wasn't being that great of a girlfriend," Betty confessed.

"What are you talking about? It was my fault. I was so focused on my lab work that I was being a terrible boyfriend."

"Well, I should have realized that dating you would come with the entire genius package."

"I really am sorry for what happened. But that's in the past, and now we can learn and grow from that experience," Jimmy stated.

"That's right! Well, anyway. I promise to give you your space when you need it, as long as you promise to be there for me when I need you."

"Of course, Betty. I'm not going to ruin it this time. I promise." Jimmy smiled.

Betty smiled back and said, "Great! Listen, I've got to get going, but meet me before school tomorrow. I'll need your moral support when I tell my friends we're dating again."

"Will do, Betty."

Betty leaned forward and kissed Jimmy before smiling and walking away. She gave him a small wave as she left.

Jimmy furrowed his brow. When she kissed him, he didn't feel that spark like he used to.

Cindy stopped to take a break from her run. She was still angry. She was angry at Libby for telling Sheen what was going on, she was angry at Sheen for his unwanted advice, but mostly she was angry at herself for getting into this situation in the first place.

She looked up and saw that she was in front of her karate studio. Normally, it was closed on Sundays, but she saw her instructor inside. Cindy waved to him and he came over and unlocked the door.

"Good morning, Cindy. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Good morning, Master Ishida. I was just blowing off some steam, but it's not working. Why are you here? It's Sunday."

"I'm practicing for my meet in Japan next month. Don't tell me you forgot!"

"That's right! Well, don't let me bother you. I'll see you on Tuesday."

"Actually, if you still need to blow off steam, I could use a sparring partner. We all know how you get when you're upset about something," Master Ishida smiled.

Cindy laughed as she followed her teacher inside.

"You were on fire, Cindy. Geez, what are you so mad about?" Master Ishida commented after they had completed their sparring.

Cindy sighed. "It's just stupid high school stuff. Prom is in a few weeks, and my stupid neighbor asked me to help him get back together with his old girlfriend." Cindy had always trusted Master Ishida. He was a young master, still in college, and he was always willing to lend an ear. He was like the big brother Cindy never had.

"And you don't like this girl?" Master Ishida guessed.

"No, there's nothing really wrong with her, I just don't think Jimmy and her work together that well."

Master Ishida smiled to himself. "Oh, it's Jimmy. Now I get it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Cindy, pretty much any time you've been this upset about something, it has to do with Jimmy. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on."

"You'd be surprised," Cindy muttered.

Master Ishida laughed, realizing the irony in his comment. "Look, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you should tell him how you feel. I get it: you don't want to ruin your friendship. But is helping him get the wrong girl really what you want to be doing?"

"No, but I can't back out of it now. That would ruin our friendship too. I'm just going to have to ride this one out."

"Can I make a suggestion?" Master Ishida offered. "Why don't you try spending time with him doing things that he likes? Rini and I were friends for years before we started dating. She started coming with me to my meets, and showed a genuine interest in the things I liked. Obviously it worked."

"When do you get to see Rini?" Cindy asked, knowing it had been awhile since her teacher had seen his long-distance girlfriend.

"Twenty-five days," Master Ishida smiled softly. "I can't believe it's been six months. Did I tell you that she's moving here? She got accepted to my school."

"That's awesome! Maybe I'll give your idea a try. I know that there's a science lecture at the museum next weekend. I guess it wouldn't hurt to see if he wants to go. Ugh, am I being shady if I try to steal him away from his 'budding romance?'" Cindy asked.

"I don't think that's what you're doing. You're just helping him realize what he's had all along." Master Ishida stood up and helped Cindy to her feet. "Besides, this strategy takes time. I can't guarantee that he won't go to prom with this girl, but if you keep on him, he'll start to see that you are definitely the one he should be with."

"Thanks, Master Ishida." Cindy bowed. "I appreciate you letting me blow off some steam and letting me vent. I don't know what I would do without you."

Master Ishida nodded and let Cindy out of the studio. Cindy made her way back home in a much better mood.

When Jimmy got home from the park, he texted Sheen and Carl to come over. He needed some guys' advice about getting back together with Betty. Carl had never dated anybody, but he still had a good point of view to share, and Sheen was, surprisingly, really good at all that romance stuff.

"Can I just say that I think it's a bit crazy that you wanted to get back together with Betty? I mean, you broke up for a reason right?" Carl asked.

"Why is it crazy? We broke up because I wasn't ready to commit to the relationship. Betty didn't do anything wrong," Jimmy tried to reason.

"Dude, you're seeing things from an insider's perspective. Of course you don't think she did anything wrong. But don't you remember that she gave you an ultimatum? What kind of girl makes a guy choose between her and his passion?" Sheen asked.

"So you're telling me that Libby is totally fine with you geek-ing out about Ultra Lord?"

"Jimmy, please. Superheroes are the in thing right now. Besides, I make time for both. Libby and I do plenty of stuff together, but we both also know that it's okay to do things on our own. She doesn't make me go shopping with her, and I don't make her watch Ultra Lord with me. We understand that we both need to be individuals in our relationship."

"Unbelievable. Who would have thought that Sheen Estevez would be the relationship guru?" Carl stated in awe.

"Anyway," Jimmy said. "I think that I need to prove to Betty that I'm willing to commit, so I think I should give up the science stuff, at least for a while."

"Jimmy, that's a bad idea. You'll end up resenting Betty if you do that," Carl replied.

"He's right, dude. You said that she promised to give you your space when you needed it. A relationship is a two-way street. She needs to hold up her end of the compromise just like you have to hold up your end. If you need some time to yourself, you need to tell her that. You have to communicate with her," Sheen explained.

"Okay, you are seriously freaking me out, Sheen. What happened to the hyper-active, short attention-spanned kid that we grew up with?" Carl asked in a serious tone.

"Seriously, Sheen. It is a bit freaky," Jimmy added.

"Why are we talking about me? You wanted us over here for a reason." Sheen drew the conversation away from him. "So, did you kiss her?"

Jimmy smiled. "Yeah, but it was weird. After she kissed me, I didn't really feel anything."

"What do you mean?" Carl tilted his head in curiosity.

"I don't know. Like, back when we were first dating, there was a spark between us. It's hard to explain. When we kissed, I would feel like a rush of energy through my body, but earlier today, it was like, nothing. I didn't feel anything," Jimmy explained.

"Well, you're not in a new relationship. This is an old one. Maybe you're just picking back up from where you left off," Carl tried to reason.

"No, I don't think so." Sheen shook his head. "Jimmy, do you really want to be with Betty?"

"Yeah. Yes. Sure."

"'Sure'?" Sheen repeated skeptically. "If you really wanted to be in a relationship with her your answer should be 'Yes, without a doubt. I want to date Betty Quinlan.' What's holding you back? Is it Cindy?"

"Cindy? What about her?" Jimmy gave Sheen a quizzical look.

"Oh, come on! You've got to be kidding me. Everybody, and I do mean everybody, knows that you have a thing for Cindy," Sheen said.

"I do not!" Jimmy crossed his arms in a huff. "She's my best friend. Besides, she's the one who helped me get Betty back."

"Right, and why did you go to her for help? Could it possibly be to spend more time with her?" Sheen gave an exaggerated gasp. "Shocking."

"You're an ass."

Jimmy's phone notified him of a new text message. I forgot to send this to you. Sorry. (1 attachment) Jimmy downloaded the image and smiled. Cindy had sent him the picture from Winter Formal.

"What are you smiling about?" Carl asked.

Sheen grabbed the phone from Jimmy's hand.

"Hey! That's my property, give it back!" Jimmy tried to reach for the phone, but even though he had grown a lot over the years, Sheen was still much taller than him.

Sheen stood on Jimmy's bed with the phone held above his head. "Well this picture is freaking adorable. When was this?"

"Give me my phone, Sheen."

"Answer the question, Jimmy."

"It was from Winter Formal."

"And you're going to sit here trying to convince me that you don't like Cindy, and then she sends you a picture of you giving her a kiss? Nice try."

"We were just goofing around. My parents had tortured us for like twenty minutes taking pictures, so she wanted to take a funny one."

Sheen tossed the phone back to Jimmy before sitting back down on the bed. "Jimmy, admit it: you like Cindy. It's okay. You can like two people at the same time. Just be careful."

"So what if I do like Cindy? It's not like she likes me back. I mean maybe at one time when we were kids we liked each other, but now…" Jimmy faded out.

Sheen and Carl eyed each other, wondering if they should tell Jimmy the truth.

"Here's a hypothetical for you. Maybe it will help you make a decision. What if Cindy did like you back? What would you do?" Carl inquired.

"Well, if she did like me, then why would she help me get back together with my previously ex-girlfriend?"

"Because she wants you to be happy!" Sheen blurted before slapping his hands over his mouth.

Carl gave Sheen an are-you-kidding-me face. "Hypothetically," Carl added to Sheen's comment.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Okay, well, hypothetically, why would she not tell me that she likes me?"

"For the same reason that you don't tell her: you don't want to ruin your friendship. You guys worked really hard to overcome your childhood rivalry. Honestly, we're all surprised that you guys are such close friends. You hardly ever bicker anymore, and you actually help each other with schoolwork instead of competing against one another. It's been a huge stress off of all of us," Carl replied.

Jimmy sat in silence for several moments. Were his friends right? Had he pushed his feelings for Cindy so far down that he actually forgot that he really did like Cindy? It made sense. He had worked so hard to build up a friendship with Cindy that he didn't want to ruin it by sharing his feelings. It didn't matter anyway. She didn't like him that way, and he was with Betty.

"This is stupid. Cindy doesn't like me like that, and I'm with Betty, so it doesn't matter."

Sheen's eye twitched slightly before he replied. "You know what? You're probably right. But don't think we're just going to let that 'Cindy's my best friend' comment slide. You owe us. Candy Bar. Right now."

Jimmy sighed as he got up off his bed. "All right, but don't go overboard. I don't have a lot of extra cash right now, and I still have to buy prom tickets. Well, hopefully."

"You should have thought of that before you decided that Cindy ranked higher on your friends list than we do," Carl teased as he followed his friends down to the hover car.

A/N: I really liked writing Master Ishida. There aren't a lot of fics that I've read that talk about Cindy's martial arts, and I wanted it to still be an important part of her life.

If you've read Party at a Rich Dude's House, you might have noticed that I wrote Sheen a little more mature. I feel like I've done that here as well. I don't know why, it just feels natural that he would kind of reign in the crazy a bit.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think.