OK, this'll be interesting. BTW, I do not own "Never Gonna Happen". That belongs to Lily Allen, as far as I know. Thanks for reviewing, Beth and 1st cavusarmy.

Fine, so Rhonda continued to stay silent for the rest of the day. But Curly had figured out what type of character traits he should show. Dramatics were not what Rhonda wanted, he could see that now. The only way to make any progress with her was with subtlety and sweetness.

It'd be hard, and Curly knew it. "But it's my one chance to show my love that I'm more than that crazy kid I used to be!" he reminded himself. "I can pull this off."

But after that one incident, Rhonda seemed to become a little less Ice Queen. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but Curly started to convince himself that she didn't hate him as much as she had. He continued to devote himself to her, but tried to be a little more detached. When he was working, he didn't pay any attention to Rhonda, except to occasionally look up and ask her how she was. She would usually just shrug, but occasionally she'd say "As always."

Curly still took Rhonda out frequently, but as far as she saw, he didn't stare at her intently for hours, and his whole world didn't seem to revolve around her, which was pleasing. After years of this attention, it was refreshing to have him moderating it. If it had been completely lost, Rhonda knew she would have missed it, as much as she hated to admit it. But on the other hand, Curly still giving her a lot of attention but not so much that it was obsessive and creepy was actually...nice. And he was still considerate. He stopped his surprise attacks with pulling her into a hug from behind, or trying to kiss her. Anything that could be described as a surprise attack was just grabbing her hand, or putting an arm around her.

A week of this less-than-obsessive behaviour seemed to pay off. By the end of the week, Rhonda started speaking again. Granted, her most likely words were along the lines of talking about leaving, or whining about her outfits getting creased or needing to be dry-cleaned. "At least you could do that at home with your parents' dry-cleaner's, but here we only have a washing machine!"

It was on a Friday that Curly went out, one of the rare times he was on his own. He'd asked Rhonda if she wanted to go with him, but she'd declined, so he'd locked the door from the outside and left. But when he came back, a singing voice from the inside stopped him.

"How on earth could I be any more obvious?

It never really did and now it's never gonna happen with the two of us.

I don't understand what it is that you're chasing after,

But it makes me really sad to hear you sound so desperate, it just makes it harder."

The song was playing on the radio in the background, but Curly was more focused on the voice, and when he opened the door, he found Rhonda, eyes closed, singing along to the music; "I can see how it's confusing,

It could be considered using when I call you up straight out of the blue

But I don't understand what else a girl in my position's to do..."

But she obviously heard the door open and close, because she opened her eyes and immediately stopped, although the English-accented voice on the radio continued to sing "Now I know you feel betrayed but it's been weeks since I got..."

"Don't stop on my account." Curly said. "You can continue."

Rhonda switched the radio off in reply. "I don't know the rest of the song."

"What song is it anyway?" Curly asked curiously. "I don't listen to the radio that much."

"'Never Gonna Happen'." Rhonda answered. "Lily Allen."

"The English pop singer? I think I know her." She nodded, and a smirk crept onto Curly's face. "You've got good taste. And may I add, an amazing singing voice."

Rhonda's tan skin became flushed with pink, and she looked at the floor as she blushed. "That wasn't really normal, me singing." she muttered, looking anywhere but at him. "I don't sing much."

At that moment, Curly became a bit thoughtful. He knew some of Lily Allen's music, and even had a few mp3s of her songs. "Wait...I think I do know that song." He played the music he thought it was, and Rhonda's blush deepened as the female voice sang.

"I don't wanna hurt you cause I don't think it's a virtue

But you and I have come to our end.

Believe me when I tell you that I never wanna see you again

And please can you stop calling cause it's getting really boring

And I've told you I don't want to be friends

Believe me when I tell you that I never want to see you again."

Curly immediately understood why Rhonda had turned off the radio and started blushing. Rhonda had said over and over again that she didn't like him, she never would like him, and that she didn't ever want to hear from him. The words of that first verse reflected exactly what she'd been saying to him all of those years. And as the chorus played, he realized that although this wasn't exactly something she'd said, he could tell she'd been thinking it.

"This isn't good for me." he thought. "I have to turn around her idea of me. I know how she thinks of me – that it's over and she wants me to go away, and I'm desperate. Well, she's right, I am desperate...but only for her. It's always been her."

Rhonda quietly got up and went into the bedroom. As she did so, Curly slapped himself, trying to get back into the real world. "OK, so she still doesn't really like me. But I have to do something to show her I'm not just some desperate little psycho!" Anyone else could have told Curly what he really needed to do, but the thought didn't enter his mind.

Meanwhile, Rhonda lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. It had been almost three weeks locked in the apartment, and she hated it. Her silence had been broken, and she was thinking that being stuck with Curly wasn't quite as horrifying as she remembered from her brief time as his girlfriend in fourth grade, but she still wished that she could just run, that she had the chance to escape.

"Why hasn't anyone found me yet?" she wondered miserably. "Don't Mommy and Daddy even care? Do my friends even realize I'm gone?"

She wished she knew what was happening back in Hillwood.

We'll go back to Hillwood in the next chapter. Please review!