Chapter 3
DJ wasn't really sure what to do. She'd given up both the guys she liked because they were fighting over her, and...for another reason. She knew it had been like a year, and that Kimmy was over her by now, but for some reason, her heart had a special place for her quirky best friend.
DJ knew it was too late to go back. She knew that Kimmy would probably hate her if she went crawling back. She never should have dumped her for Steve. She and Kimmy had been together since they were thirteen, and they'd been best friends for most of their lives before that. But she had to go and lose all of that for a guy she'd only known just over a year. Maybe it was the fact that being in love with a man would be so much easier. She wouldn't have to go through the trouble of coming out, or deal with the possibility that she wouldn't be accepted. DJ realized that this was her subconcious reason for breaking up with Kimmy for Steve, and now she hated herself for it.
The thing that kept replaying in her mind was an old memory, one from a year and a half earlier, when they were at Camp Lakota. She and Kimmy had purposefully stayed awake until the other councillors in their cabin fell asleep, so they could cuddle before going to sleep. For some reason, that silly escapade was the one thing DJ kept thinking about.
"What's wrong, DJ?" Michelle asked, walking into her older sister's room.
"Nothing," DJ replied, not wanting to tell Michelle about all the stuff going through her mind.
"Are you thinking about Kimmy?" Michelle asked her. DJ looked at her eight-year-old sister, shocked.
"How did you...?" DJ asked, unable to express her confusion with words.
"I can tell you still love her," Michelle said. "You look at her the same way Aunt Becky looks at Uncle Jesse."
"How do you even remember walking in on us kissing that time?" DJ asked.
"I've been spying on you ever since," Michelle said with a grin.
"Michelle!" DJ scolded. "Why were you spying on us?"
"Cause it was fun to watch," Michelle told her. DJ scowled. "But I've seen the way Kimmy looks at you, too."
"What do you mean?" DJ asked.
"You've seen the way she kisses the guys she dates, she always makes sure you're watching. She's trying to make you jealous." Michelle explained.
"You think so?" DJ asked.
"I know it," Michelle told her.
Michelle walked into the yard and looked out into the Gibblers' yard though the loose board in the fence. Kimmy was out there barbecuing.
"Hey, squirt," Kimmy greeted her visitor.
"I was right," Michelle said. "She still loves you."
"Wow, really?" Kimmy asked.
"I said yes, now pay up, Gibbler," Michelle put her hand through the gap between the pickets, holding it out. Kimmy slapped a $20 bill in her hand.
"You drive a hard bargain, kid," Kimmy said. "Squid?" She held up the rubbery meat with her tongs.
"Eww, gross, no!" Michelle said, and pulled back into her own yard, letting the board fall back into place. Kimmy put her squid on a plate and turned off the grill. Taking off her apron and chef's hat she walked around to the front of her house and over to the Tanners'.
DJ heard a knock at her bedroom door.
"Come in," she called, acting casual.
"Hey, Deej," Kimmy said, entering the bedroom and shutting the door behind her.
"Hey, Kimmy, what's going on?" DJ asked.
"DJ, I have to ask you something," Kimmy said. "Do you still have feelings for me?"
"Umm, yeah, actually," DJ admitted, looking down, ashamed.
"DJ, I still love you, too," Kimmy said.
"Really?" DJ asked, looking up and into her best friend's eyes. "After all this time?"
"Yeah," Kimmy said. DJ leaned over and kissed Kimmy with all her emotion that she'd been hiding for so long.
"There's something I have to tell you, too," DJ said. "I would have told you before, but I thought it would have made things awkward."
"What is it, Deej?" Kimmy asked.
"That night you got drunk at that frat party, and I got you to stay here overnight, we made out," DJ said.
"We did?" Kimmy asked, shocked at what she was hearing.
"Yeah, you kissed me and I let you because it was what I had wanted for so long. I just assumed it was because you were drunk and didn't think it meant anything," DJ said.
"I don't remember that," Kimmy said.
"That hickey on your neck wasn't from a guy at the frat house," DJ said, blushing. Kimmy smirked.
"I missed you, Deej," Kimmy said, wrapping her best friend in a hug.
"I missed you, too," DJ replied, before kissing Kimmy once again.
"Yes!" Michelle whispered to herself outside DJ's door, where she'd been eavesdropping. "My plan worked."