DGG: Oh geez, sorry about that. I swear I didn't forget about this story. I was just under so much stress while trying to juggle a full-time job plus full-time school. And it may have been more doable had the classes not been online and also accelerated. Always stressed out. But here I am. A little hiatus was exactly what I needed, and I have returned with the next chapter. Enjoy, Lovely Readers, and feel free to shoot me some reviews!

"So how'd it go last night?" Otto asked eagerly the next day as the four friends were lounging on the beach, taking a break from surfing. Currently the four were sitting on a large blue and white striped beach towel with Otto facing Reggie, Sam, and Twister.

"C'mon, Otto…" Twister cast his eyes away as he scratched his arm anxiously.

"Did you score or not?"

"Otto, how is that any of your business?" snapped Reggie while placing her hands on her hips in annoyance.

"Chill. This is just what guys do," the younger Rocket shrugged. "But you wouldn't know that since you never go out with anyone!"

"Don't even start with me!" the female warned.

"Okay, let's be honest. Which team are you playing for?"

"What!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sam held up his hands. "What?"

"Dude, she's like never been on a single date! I'm just wondering what her true reason is," Otto shrugged.

"Otto, I believe the keyword is 'never' in that sentence," the blonde pushed his glasses up.

"Excuse me? I have been out on dates before! Does anyone remember high school?" Reggie cried.

"I remember it," Twister muttered with a pout that went unnoticed by his best friend.

"That was forever ago!" Otto cried. "Plus it was high school! It like doesn't even count!"

"What are you saying? Of course it counts!"

"Whatever, Reg. Either way, that was high school, and it has been awhile. So c'mon, what's the reason?" Otto prodded.

"I told you guys that I'm just focusing on my career for now! Why is that such a bad thing?" Reggie threw her hands in the air in frustration.

"Uh huh. And how can we be sure it's not just a cover?"

"Relax, Otto. Besides, I know for a fact that Reggie plays it straight," Twister grinned; however, he instantly received a nervous prod from Sam's finger in his back, causing the red-head to realize what he'd just said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" demanded the sports star as he rounded on the Latino.

"Um…uh…it's…just that…I mean look at her," Twister stuttered while motioning toward her. "How could she not like guys?"

Otto stared at his friend as though he were insane as he attempted to figure out the male's logic; however, like most other times, he just couldn't decipher it.

"Twister, you're a real moron sometimes. You know that, right?"

The red-head laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm thirsty. I'm gonna go get something," Otto stood up. "You guys want anything?"

"I'm good," Sammy held up his hand while Reggie and Twister merely shook their heads.

"All right. I'll be back in a second," the male headed toward The Shore Shack.

"What was that back there?" the female glared at Twister while reaching across Sam and hitting the red-head in the arm.

"I'm sorry!" he cried, wincing.

"You could have blown the secret!"

"I'm sorry! It just slipped out!" he held his hands up in surrender.

Reggie gave him a reproachful glance.

"He was raggin' on my girlfriend! I had to defend her a little. That's my job!"

The female's expression softened.

"Your job is being a goofball," she reached over and pulled Twister's signature hat down over his eyes.

"Hey! Hands off," he laughed as he readjusted it.

"Just be more careful."

"I know. It's hard keeping this secret. I wanna be able to go out on real dates with my real girlfriend," he pouted.

"I know," Reggie returned the pout, "but it's just not the right time."

"I know," Twister frowned, his shoulders slumping.

"When will be the right time?" inquired Sam. "I mean, it's been almost seven years, guys."

Twister and Reggie exchanged nervous glances with one another.

"I don't think any time will be a good time to let Otto know, so why not just get it over with and tell him?" asked the geek.

"Because…" Reggie rubbed her hands up and down her arms nervously at the notion.

"C'mon, how bad could it truly be?" Sam shrugged.

"Believe me. With Otto it will be bad," spoke Reggie, Twister agreeing sadly.

"Well, I'm just saying that maybe –" Sam was suddenly cut off by the ringing of Twister's phone, for which the naturally tanned male immediately dove for and grabbed out of his bag.

"I gotta take this!" he smiled. "It's that dude from yesterday! I'll be right back!" he cried as he ran off to find a slightly quieter place to speak.

"I think you should tell Otto," Sam stated bluntly as soon as his friend left.

"Sammy," the female whispered urgently as Otto walked over and sat back down in his spot while sipping a nice, cool lemonade.

"Where's Twist?" he furrowed his eyebrows.

"He's taking a call from that agent from yesterday," smiled Reggie.

"Seriously? That's awesome!"

"Hey, Otto," Sam started, slowly.

"Yeah?"

"I want to ask you something hypothetical."

The female crinkled her brow in fear, realizing what her friend was doing.

"Shoot, Man," the athlete took another sip of his drink.

"How would you feel if –"

"Sam!" the female squeaked.

" – someone you know, like a friend or something –"

"Sam!" Reggie cried desperately.

" – wanted to date your sister?" the blonde finished.

Silence ensued as Otto merely stared at his friend whilst sipping the rest of his lemonade. The two waited, the silence becoming awkward as Otto continued to sip his drink. Once he sucked the last of his drink through his straw, he finally spoke.

"How would I feel if one of my friends wanted to date my sister?" he arched an eyebrow while keeping a straight face. "I would feel disgusted and betrayed. Then I would have to tell him that he's known my sister for so long, and that we're all like family, and that he'd better stay away from her!" he yelled. "Did she know you felt this way about her? I mean she must have from the way she was acting."

"What? No! I'm not talking about…" Sam held up his hands.

"Geez, Sammy, seriously! We're all like family! How could you even think of something like that?" the hot-headed male demanded.

"I wasn't! It was hypothetical!"

"We all know what that really means!"

"No, it was seriously just hypothetical!"

"Stay away from her, Squid!" he ordered. "In fact, move over a little. You're too close to her for my comfort at the moment."

"Oh my gosh," Reggie rolled her eyes as the blonde male inched over slightly to appease the other male.

"Sorry. I only brought it up because we had been talking about her dating life before you left!" Sam covered.

Otto remained quiet, his gaze set firmly on the blonde before he relaxed.

"Pfft. More like her lack of a dating life," Otto scoffed.

"That's enough," snapped Reggie. "Sam doesn't like me like that, and I don't like him like that. He was just teasing."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," her brother shrugged. "But seriously, stay away from her," he warned his friend.

"Will do," Sam gulped.

"I'm gonna go throw this away, so don't cozy up while I'm gone," he hopped up to get to a trashcan. "I mean it."

"You have nothing to worry about," Sam saluted him off.

"What the hell was that?" Reggie demanded once he was gone.

"I was just seeing how he'd take it," the geek fidgeted. "It wasn't well."

"Yeah. Exactly. Do you see why we can't tell him?"

"Still. You can't keep it a secret forever. Like I said, it's been nearly seven years."

The older female closed her eyes, feeling slightly ashamed, knowing fully well that her friend was right. However her eyes opened again when she felt someone's presence standing right in front her.

"Hey, so what's the news?" asked Sam with a smile.

Twister didn't answer. In fact, his entire demeanor had changed from when he had left. He was now very quiet and solemn.

"Is everything okay, Twister?" Reggie asked, concerned.

"Yeah," he frowned. "It's fine."

The two stared at him quizzically but had no further time to ask him anything before Otto ran back over.

"Hey, Man! So I heard that agent called you! What'd he say?"

"Um…can we not talk about it right now?"

"What?" Otto blinked. "Why? What happened?"

"Did they call off the deal or something?" asked Sam.

"No," Twister spoke.

"So what's the problem, then? Shouldn't you be happy?" Otto raised an eyebrow.

"It's just I don't wanna talk about it right now. Actually, I think I'm gonna just head home."

"What! You can't leave us hangin' like this!" Otto shouted as his best friend began packing up his things. "Twist, come on! What's the deal?"

Twister said nothing. Instead he just grabbed his bag and his board and headed for the parking lot.

"Wait a second," Reggie called after him while grabbing her own things before running to catch up to him. She finally made it to his truck, where he was loading his things into the truck bed. "Twister, what's up with you?"

"Nothing," he shrugged. "Well…actually I need to talk to you. I'll give you a lift home."

She blinked. She didn't like the tone in his voice as he said that. With a gulp she placed her things into the back of her boyfriend's truck and got in. However, rather than speak, as she thought they were going to, the car ride back to her place was nothing but an awkward silence. Ten minutes passed by before the male pulled his car into Reggie's driveway, where he turned off the ignition and just sat there.

"Twister," the female finally spoke, "what's going on? Are you okay?"

"No. Not really," he admitted.

"What's the problem? You were excited about this job yesterday. You were excited about it fifteen minutes ago. What's changed?"

"Okay," the red-head took in a deep breath. "It's like this. You know how they want me to do a documentary?"

"Yeah."

"So I'm going to have to be away for like…awhile…"

"Well, yeah. You'll be shooting a documentary. You having to be gone for awhile was understood."

"But I'll be gone…" he frowned.

"So?"

"So what about us?" he suddenly cried causing the female to jump in surprise. "We won't get to see each other!"

Her expression softened as she leaned over to embrace the male.

"Twister, don't worry. I'll obviously get to see you when you get back."

"Yeah, but I don't know when that'll be! We're not talking about going there for a few days or something! They said I may have to be there for months, or a year, or something! I'm gonna be gone for a really long time, and I told them I had to think about it!"

"A year?" she pulled away from him.

"Yeah! That's my point! I don't want to be away from here for that long. I don't want to be away from you for that long! This is…big. It's huge!"

"But that's exactly why you shouldn't pass this up, Twist," she urged him.

"Yeah, but you're more important to me than any job! I mean, we barely get to see each other now! I mean…you know, alone. If I do this, then I lose what little alone time I get with you! And I lose it for up to a year!"

"But you can't pass this up because of me!" she shook her head. "Quadruple Image is the hottest thing right now. If you do this, you'll get all the recognition you deserve!"

"But I won't have my girl," he bowed his head.

"Twist," she placed a sympathetic hand on his right shoulder.

"What should I do, Reggie?"

"I still think you should do it."

"Why?" he lifted his head and stared at her. "Don't you want me around? Doesn't this even upset you?"

"Well, of course it does, but I don't want you to pass this up and regret it! You know I love ya', Twister, and I know it'll be hard having you so far away for such an extended period of time, but you'll be able to call, right? We can do those video chats on the computer. We can do it as often as you want. It'll be like you never even left," Reggie smiled.

"It won't be the same!" he complained.

"But it will tide us over until you get back. It won't be too bad. I promise," she leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek, then rested her forehead against his. "Okay?"

"I guess, but I just…I don't know, Reggie. I'll miss you so much."

"And I'll miss you, Twist. But you'll hate yourself if you don't go through with this. And I'll feel terrible if I'm the main reason you decided not to do it."

"I guess you're right," he whispered while closing his eyes.

Reggie rubbed his left arm comfortingly for a moment as she attempted to hold in her tears. She realized how he felt. The thought of him being gone for so long was devastating, but she honestly couldn't let him bypass this opportunity. It was his big break.

"What are you guys doing?"

The two in the truck jumped and turned toward the driver's side window where Otto was leaning against the door and staring quizzically at the two.

"Nothing!" Twister's voice cracked nervously. "I wasn't doing anything to your sister if that's what you're thinking!"

Reggie sighed as she cast a sideways glance up at the roof of the truck.

"Smooth, Twist. That's not suspicious at all," she thought to herself.

The skater raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"What's going on here?" he demanded.

"Relax, Otto," Reggie spoke up while looking back toward her brother. "Twister was just telling me about how he may be gone for awhile, and he feels bad about leaving all of us for so long. We were just talking."

"You guys were a lot cozier than that!" his eyebrows knitted with anger.

"Relax," the female raised her voice authoritatively.

"Well, I guess I should call that guy back. Excuse me for a second," the red-head grabbed his phone and opened his door, knocking his friend backwards a little.

"Dude, watch it!" Otto cried.

"Sorry," the taller male mumbled distantly as he walked across the yard to make his call.

"What's wrong with him, Reggie?" asked Sam as the female got out of the truck and started gathering her things from the truck bed to take to her garage.

"That agent told him that the Quadruple Image documentary could take up to a year to film and he's nervous about being away from home for so long," she explained as Sam helped her with her things to the side door on the garage.

"Hacks," Otto mumbled as he kicked a rock while following his sister and friend.

Reggie rolled her eyes.

"A year?" Sam's jaw dropped.

"Yeah," Reggie frowned.

"Wait a second. They're over in Ohio, right? That's where he'd have to go, right?" Otto asked as they stepped into the garage.

"I assume that's where he'd be going, yeah," Reggie raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"He's gotta stay in Ohio for a year? I'd be upset about that too," Otto burst out laughing as he leaned against the doorjamb.

"Why?" she mused while putting her things away.

"Because it's Ohio! I mean come on! Ohio!"

"So what?"

"So who goes there willingly? Who actually wants to go there?"

"Otto, who cares?" Reggie shot him a look out of annoyance.

"About Ohio? That's exactly my point!" he laughed again.

"Otto!"

"Hey, guys," Twister squeezed passed his friend.

"So?" asked Otto eagerly. "What's goin' on?"

"I'm goin' to Ohio," he shrugged apathetically.

"Man, I'm not sure whether to be excited or feel bad for you, Bro."

"Otto!" his sister cried. "Quit dissing Ohio."

"That is not possible," he shook his head.

"So when do you have to leave?" asked Sam, steering the conversation back to the point.

The Latino winced.

"Tomorrow morning…"