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Sophomore year happened in the blink of an eye. At least, it felt that way to Zoey.

School kept her busy, and if she wasn't doing schoolwork, she was hanging out with her friends or keeping her little brother Dustin out of trouble. But there was something else developing under the surface of all of this, and only two people knew about it.

Chase's beloved grandmother passed away on his birthday. Zoey had been planning on bringing her to PCA as the best birthday present ever for her best friend, but at the last second Grandma Matthews had begged off because of 'the flu'.

The next night, as she held a sobbing Chase in her arms in the pouring rain, Zoey knew it hadn't just been 'the flu'.

Their relationship over the past three years hadn't fluctuated too much. They'd easily slipped into being best friends in eighth grade, Zoey's first year at PCA, along with the rest of their tight-knit group. But something was different about Zoey's friendship with Chase, though she'd never questioned it. She'd noticed things here and there, little aspects anyone else would wave away; hands resting a little too long, glances lasting a few extra moments, eyes brightening at mere mentions of the other, tension thicker and more obvious, expectations a little higher than normal.

In ninth grade, Zoey began noticing feelings that had been dormant before. Unexplainable jealousy towards her roommate, Lola; watching Chase longer than necessary; seeking him out just to see him smile at her; the awful Spring Break where she'd picked a stupid fight with him.

But then she'd gone on a date with a classmate named Shawn, and summer had crept up from no where, and they'd returned for sophomore year, and Chase had found himself a girlfriend. Rebecca.

They'd broken up soon enough, though not as quickly as Zoey would have liked. She wanted Chase to herself, and she wasn't sure why. She was pretty sure, however, that the answer was staring her in the face.

So after Chase's grandmother had died and Zoey had comforted him in the rain, and led him back to her dorm room and let him fall asleep on the couch with her head on his shoulder, they'd grown closer. Touches lasted much longer than normal, though not long enough, in Zoey's mind. Time alone with him became more precious. He started buying her lunch here and there, a Blix between classes, sometimes even dinner. In a group they sat close together, leg against leg, shoulder against shoulder, and he always walked her back to her dorm room at the end of the evening.

On one of the last days they had at PCA before the summer spread everyone across the country once more, a large chunk of the school went to the beach. Their friends ran into the water intending to have fun, but both Zoey and Chase made excuses and instead took a walk together along the shore, bumping against each other every other step.

They stopped so Zoey could pick up a certain shell that had caught her eye, and the wind picked up for a moment, blowing some loose stands of hair falling from her ponytail into her face. Chase smiled and tucked the strands behind her ear, making her blush. In a bold move, he left his hand at the base of her neck, under her ear, and the look in his eyes made her shiver in the seventy-five-degree heat. His bushy hair was being blown sideways by the breeze and she wanted to run her fingers through it.

It was the moment Zoey had been waiting for since eighth grade, though for the majority of those three years it had been subconsciously. You are a great guy, she told him sincerely.

That was apparently all the invitation Chase needed, and he put his other hand under her other ear and pulled her to him, not caring if most of the school could see them. They were a quarter of a mile from the crowd, anyway.

She smiled when he kissed her, the feeling of his lips on hers a very welcome action. She wondered why they hadn't been doing this since they'd met. She didn't even think of those other boys she'd kissed before. She only thought of Chase: his smile, his laugh, his eyes, his hair, his arms, his legs. She thought of his many expressive looks: joy and anger and pride and sadness.

They separated at the same time, and she was chuckling softly to herself. He was beaming like she had never seen before, and she thought of another of his looks: the look he got when he was watching her.

She asked him lightly, Now why haven't we ever done that before? And he replied, I don't know, but I've wanted to since I first saw you.

I'll let you in on a secret, she told him, and he waited expectantly, his hands on her shoulders. I've wanted to kiss you since I first saw you, too.

And for those words, he had to kiss her again.

It didn't get heated, and it didn't go beyond one more seconds-long kiss, but they walked back to their classmates with their hands clasped between them, and for now, that was enough. They had time for more later.

That was the first time Zoey had ever felt a rush of such intense feelings that she hadn't even known how to classify them, and the last time she had ever considered Chase as only her best friend.

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