Crimsonwings92: I realize that this chapter is quite a few weeks late in going up, but that's because I was trying to write more chapters so I don't get too far behind in this story. So, I just want to say I'm sorry to the two readers that reviewed this story and to the others that made it a favorite for them to read. I didn't want to make you guys wait too long and I'm going to try harder to avoid that. I also want to say thank you to the two readers that reviewed because, honestly, I like getting reviews. They make me feel that someone actually enjoys the story instead of having me guess that they may or may not like it, lol. Anyway, I digress. Here is the next chapter, so I hope you all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me.

Food and Basketball

Chapter 4: Our Saturday Afternoon Pt. 1

I was back in the shower, the sanctuary that I was craving since I was both freezing from the cold wind of outside and confused from my encounter with Riku. I pretty much lost the bet that Lauren didn't even know we had going, but I didn't care really as I replayed the afternoon's events over and over in my head, like some kind of movie that interested me a little too much. I remembered how surprised I was when I turned the corner in the kitchen and found Mr. Star Athlete on the other side, staring curiously at the cupcakes and cream-cheese frosting I had just finished making; I remember how his eyes lit up when he bit into that first finished cupcake, his praise making me blush like I usually do when someone critiques my culinary work; I remembered how gentle and sweet he was with me when putting the jacket on me to make sure that I would stay dry as we ran out in the rain to his car; I remembered his bright eyes…

I shook my head and dove under the spray of the hot water, letting it wash away every single thought I had in my head while it did the same to the soap on my body, but there was one thought that just refused to be erased, just one name.

Riku.

'Ugh! Just forget about him! It was nothing! HE is nothing!' I shouted in my head, grabbing my shampoo and squirting it into my hair where I lathered it up, 'He was just being nice so quite it!'

As much as I said that to myself, another little voice in the back of my head argued something completely different. Sighing, I decided to leave that thought, and that voice, alone and enjoyed the rest of my shower. I spent probably a little over 30 minutes in the shower before I finally cut the flow and stepped out into the steamy openness of my bathroom. I wrapped a towel around my bare body and another one around my wet hair before exiting the bathroom and into the safety of my room where I got dressed in a pair dark blue flannel pajama bottoms and a black tank top.

"Time to check in on the patient," I mumbled aloud, propping myself up on the many pillows that littered my queen sized bed as I pulled out my phone and dialed Lauren's number.

I waited as the phone rang and wondered if she was asleep when someone answered, that someone being my still very sick best friend; "Ello?" her nasally voice greeted me, making me giggle into my hand.

"Hey, Sick and Dying! How are you feeling?" I asked her jokingly, hearing her sniff.

"That's not funny, Tiana! I feel terrible still!" she cried, sniffling loudly before coughing, "This cold is such a bitch!"

She coughed again, hard, and the sound made me flinch, "Wow, you do sound bad. Are you taking your medicine?"

"Yeah. Mom went and got me some Nyquil and told me to take it in about an hour so it will knock me out and help me sleep," she answered, taking a moment to blow her nose, "Hey, so how was your day? Anything interesting happen?"

My mind immediately flashed to the time I spent with Riku in the kitchen of the Home Economics room, my cheeks heating up and making me shake my head; "Nope, nothing at all. Same boring classes that seem to get worse every year," I answered nonchalantly with a frown; my classes really were terrible.

"So no run ins with Mr. Tall, Pale and Sexy?" she teased and I rolled my eyes.

"Will you stop that already? Whatever happened between me and Riku was just a onetime deal and that was it. Nothing else is going on," I insisted, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Sure," she said flatly before adding, "Did something happen with Riku today because you didn't say no?"

I blinked and wondered how she was able to focus on what I didn't say when her mind was foggier than the city of Beijing. I knew she would just die to hear that Riku and I spent a little time together after school today, but I didn't feel like telling her right then as I seemed to be getting extremely tired all of a sudden and just wanted to close my eyes.

"Tiana?"

"Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. I'm not telling you until you get better," I told her, teasing her with my little secret.

"WHAT? You can't do that!" she cried, sounding devastated.

"I can do whatever I want, girlie. It's a free country," I retorted.

"Freedom is not free!"

"Don't start spewing that patriotic crap at me. I WILL hang up on you!"

"Fine. Sunday! You tell me what happened on Sunday!" she demanded, sounding very determined and I raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know you'll be better by Sunday?" I inquired, my eyes already getting droopy.

"Trust me, I will be! And we'll go out and hang around downtown. Maybe get some new boots or something for the coming fall and winter, go it?"

"In my hand, Peter Pan," I answered obediently, wanting to get off the phone, "I'll talk to you later, chick. Get better and get some more sleep, okay?"

"I will. Remember: Sunday!" she reminded, which I agreed to, before she hung up.

I sighed and clicked off as well, letting my hand and my phone fall to the mattress as I laid there staring up at the ceiling. I was very tired now, probably from being so worried on how I was going to get home earlier, and all I wanted to do was sleep. Turning over, I turned off my table lamp and threw myself into the comfort of darkness while snuggling under the warmth of my covers. I looked at the clock; it was nearing 8 right then which meant that Riku would be starting his game soon. I can imagine him now, face serious with focus and determination to win the game, his arms and legs rigid as he prepared for offense and defense, his strong voice shouting across the court to get the attention of his team members or to psych out the other team players as one of them went up for a shot. I then remembered when we were in the car, how he seemed…disappointed when I said that I wasn't going to be at the game and I suddenly felt bad, which is stupid because it's not like he invited me to go! No, he didn't need me there. Probably didn't want me there; he was just asking to make friendly conversation.

"It's no big deal," I mumbled to myself, sleep washing over me and my mind succumbing to my dreams, "It's not…a big…"

It was dark with only one spotlight fixed on me; I couldn't see a thing, try as I might to make sense of my surroundings. I wanted to call out, to see if anyone was out there, but I couldn't. It was like my mouth was glued shut, but for some reason, I didn't panic.

Another light.

Something flashed to the left of my vision and I turned to see that another light had fixed itself onto a basketball hoop that looked like one of the ones in our gymnasium. I tilted my head to the side, my brows furrowing in confusion, until a basketball rolled towards me and stopped right at my feet. Without really thinking about what I was doing, I reached down and picked up the dark orange ball and held it in my hands, staring at it for a long moment. Then I faced the basket and threw the ball up; it hit the rim but did not go in. It bounced off the rim and fell back to earth, the sound of the rubber ball hitting the floor echoing in my ears. The ball rolled back towards me and I picked it up again, raising my arms and shooting it up. I was way off this time around, not even touching the rim, but instead hitting it to the right of the little square on the backboard. Again, the ball rolled back towards me and again, I picked it up to shoot it.

Over and over and over I did this, trying and failing every time to make a basket and I felt myself becoming angry, so angry that I was nearly in tears that I couldn't make one stupid shot. More lights turned on and I just barely registered the shadowed outline of other people circling me, watching me fail. I didn't care about them, I barely even acknowledged their presence; the only thing that I focused on was getting the ball into the basket. No one but me was moving, no one came to help me, to show me what I was doing wrong and I didn't ask them, too afraid of their judgment to ask for any help. So I remained alone, picking up and shooting the ball only to miss it again and again, until finally I just couldn't take it and threw the ball as hard as I could at the basket, watched it hit the backboard and then fly over my head into the darkness somewhere. I remained in that same spot illuminated by the spotlight and just let the tears of frustration roll down my cheeks for what seemed like forever.

I heard a noise then and raised my head a little to see the basketball rolling back towards me until it hit the toe of my shoe. Wordlessly, I bent down to pick it and held it in my hands, just staring at it and making no attempt to make a shot. Then, for the first time since I've been there in that dark place with all those people around me, I opened my mouth.

"What do I do now?" I whispered quietly to myself, staring at the ball.

"Now, you try again-"

I blinked at the voice that flowed through my ears, watching as two strong hands came and settled over my dark ones gently and a warm bodily presence pressed against my back, letting me know that someone was there.

"And this time, I'll help you," the voice said with a tone of hidden promise.

I just nodded and let that person guide me; "First, you want to hold the ball until it feels comfortable in your hands," it said, turning the basketball in my hands until I felt it fit in my palms perfectly, "Okay? Does that feel good?"

I nodded and the voice chuckled in approval.

"Good. Now," the person bent down behind me and moved my feet, "Since you're right handed, you want to point your right foot towards the basket to guide the shot and move your left foot just slightly behind it."

My feet were spread just inside of the usual shoulder-length apart and then separated like the voice said. I was starting to feel comfortable now, everything was starting to make sense. The person stood back up and I felt hands on the back of my thighs, pushing my knees out until they were bent.

"Now you bend your knees and lift your arms up," it advised, helping to raise my arms to the proper position just over my head, "And when you shoot the ball, curve your hand like you're flicking it and give it an arch. Try it."

The presence backed away from me, leaving me to do this on my own. I hesitated and bit my lip, suddenly becoming scared that I might miss again.

"Don't worry, I'm right here…you can do this," the voice comforted me and suddenly, I didn't feel scared anymore.

Nodding, I bent my legs a little lower, raised my hands over my head, aimed for the square and shot the ball. I held my breath as it soared through the air and for a minute, I thought I would miss it anyway, but then it hit the rim and bounced up before slipping into the basket with a 'swoosh' sound. I smiled, I smiled big, like from ear to ear, and I clapped my hands.

"I did it! I did it!" I cheered, happy for myself and my joyful cries were met with a warm chuckle.

"See? I knew you could do it," the voice praised and suddenly, it was right behind me again, strong hands on my shoulders and that comforting voice speaking in my ear, "It's alright to ask for help sometimes, Tiana. It's okay to trust someone else. They won't always let you down, if you just give them a chance."

I stared at the ground beneath my feet, letting the voice soothe me while one of my hands raised up to grip the strong hand resting on my shoulder. That hand immediately encased mine and a rough thumb caressed my fingers.

"Just give me a chance and I'll take care of you," was the last thing it said before it left me, taking its warmth along with it.

I gasped and whirled around; wanting to call for it to wait, but it was already too late. The person was gone and so were the shadows that had been watching me and even the light on the basketball hoop was gone, leaving me all alone again. Alone in this dark place…because that's what I had chosen.

Sunday: Audience POV

"Which do you think? Hmm? Red or blue?"

Tiana looked up from the rack of long-sleeved dresses she had been sifting through when she heard Lauren's question, shaking loose black curls from her face so she could see the two articles of clothing better. Lauren presented to her best friend a choice between a red long-sleeved V-neck that came with a black stretch belt with the buckle shaped like a heart and the same shirt in dark blue and a round belt-buckle. Tiana bit her lip and titled her head to the side, taking both shirts into consideration on how they would look on her best friend, before pointing to the blue one.

"Try the blue one. It would go great with those earrings you got over the summer," she suggested, shrugging her shoulders as she went back to sifting through the rack of clothes.

Lauren looked at her friend with wide eyes for a minute before she gasped and stomped her dainty little feet in excitement, "Oh! You mean the snowflake earrings that I bought at that little boutique? You're right! I love those!"

She then draped the shirt over her arm and continued looking through some more clothes. It was Sunday afternoon and, in contrast to Friday's terrible storm and Saturday's gloomy clouds, the sun was bright and warm this day with a cool breeze to soothe the heat. True to her word, Lauren had gotten over her cold by Sunday, a quick recovery that Tiana questioned a little bit, and dragged Tiana out of her house for a lazy day out on the town. They were currently in Fashionista, a cute little store that carried sizes for both small and big girls at reasonable prices which made it a favorite store among the two best friends.

Tiana moved on to a different rack and instantly saw something that she liked: a purple knit jacket that just draped over her body. She took it off the rack and showed Lauren with a satisfied smile on her face.

"What do you think of this one?" she asked her, "It's only $7.99."

Lauren eyed it and giggled, waving her hand at it, "Oh, I love it! You should get it! It would go great with that black dress you have in your closet with those purple tights you bought, but never wore, and the new black boots you just got at Payless!"

"Hey…you're right! That does make a cute outfit," Tiana gushed, draping the jacket over her arm and shaking her head excitedly, "God, I love this store."

"You and me both, girlie," Lauren giggled, looking through a rack of skinny jeans before she raised her eyes to Tiana and then back down again, "So, um…you gonna tell me now?"

"Tell you what?" the other girl questioned distractedly as she pulled out a white, long-sleeved shirt with a happy face on it.

"What happened on Friday between you and Riku," Lauren explained lightly, as if it were a regular, everyday topic.

Tiana stopped and snapped her head around to eye her best friend, who was ignoring the look candidly while looking through the skinny jeans. Tiana rolled her eyes.

"Nothing really happened," she answered.

"Oh, come on! That's a lie!"

"All we did was talk!" the accused girl caved, sighing loudly and rolling her eyes to the ceiling, "Okay? He came into the kitchen where I was baking and we talked!"

Lauren tilted her head to the side as she watched her best friend distractedly moving from one rack to the next, "Why were you in the kitchen? Did something not good happen? Or were you just bored?"

Tiana shrugged, "Well, I didn't go to school prepared for a storm and I didn't have a ride, nor did I have money for the bus so I was kind of freaking out, thinking that I was stranded at the school overnight or something."

"Did you walk home? Tia!"

"I didn't walk home!" she exclaimed, throwing her hand in the air, "I got a ride, okay?"

"Oh…from who? The Woolson Twins?" Lauren questioned, tilting her head to the other side now.

Tiana became quiet and didn't answer at first, "Um…no…"

"Did Granda pick you up?"

"…No."

Lauren was confused by then, momentarily stumped at who her best friend had gotten a ride with when she caught sight of the bashful actions of said girl: the way she kept looking to the side, the way she chewed on her bottom lip, the way the tips of her ears started to get red. That's when Lauren realized it and a large, face-splitting grin spread across her lips.

"You got a ride…with Riku…didn't you?" she questioned in an excited whisper, her voice wobbling from the strain of wanting to scream out.

"Lauren…calm yourself," Tiana warned a minute too late as her best friend let out a loud, girly squeal of excitement that startled the employees and other customers of the store.

"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmyGOD!" she chanted, hopping from one foot to the next and grabbing Tiana's hands when said girl tried to stop her, "I knew it! I so knew it! He likes you, he totally does! There's no denying it now! And I know you like him! I know you do!"

"You don't know anything, Lauren, but what I know is that you need to calm down before you get us kicked out of here forever," the burgundy-eyed girl hissed fiercely, smiling reassuringly at one of the employees who looked rather worried.

"What did you guys do in the car, huh? Did you share an intimate moment? Did he lean in and kiss you slowly? Did he pounce on you out of passion? Or you on him?" Lauren rattled off, too excited to really bring herself down, "You guys got freaky huh? Am I going to be an auntie?"

"NO!" Tiana exclaimed loudly before checking herself and lowering her voice to a whisper, "No, Lauren, you're not going to be an auntie because Riku and I didn't do anything in his car. He just drove me home and dropped me off, THAT'S IT! There was no kissing and no pouncing and no getting freaky!"

"Uh huh," Lauren mumbled slyly, licking her top lip as she stared Tiana in the eye, "Maybe not now, but it will."

"I'm not even listening to you anymore; you are just talking all kinds of nonsense right now," Tiana dismissed, moving on to a rack for plus-sized skinny jeans to the sound of Lauren's giggles and snickers.

Their time at the Fashionista came to end when they went through their items to see what they could afford before heading up to the register. They made their purchases and left the store happier than they were when they first went in with a couple bags full of new clothes. Tiana and Lauren entertained themselves further by walking around and looking in store windows at all the new items that had come in. They eventually settled in front of the large water fountain at the center of the downtown plaza with cups of gelato, giggling and gossiping and relaxing in the warm afternoon sun.

(Party rock is in the house tonight/ Everybody just have a good time/ And we gonna make you lose your mind/ Everybody just have a good time)

"Oh! Oh my goodness," Lauren squealed when her cell phone began playing her favorite song, the girl flapping her hands as she tried to set her gelato down only for Tiana to take it so she can answer her phone, "Oh my…Hello?"

Her face was blank for a moment as the person on the other side talked then the biggest smile ever seen broke out on her face, which made Tiana narrow her eyes curiously at her.

"Oh, Demyx, hey!" she greeted, barely registering the wide-eyed look her best friend was giving her, "No, I'm not busy. What's up?...Oh, the instructions for our Computer class? Yeah, I remember them…"

"Hey, hey!" Tiana whispered, waving her hand to get Lauren's attention, "Is that Demyx Crolin? The guitar player?"

"Uh huh," Lauren nodded distractedly, trying to listen to her best friend and the guy on the phone.

"What's he doing calling you?" Tiana pestered, whispering with a hidden giggle in her voice.

Lauren just waved her off, trying to pay attention to what Demyx was saying, "Oh, uh huh! Yeah, actually it's pretty easy! I'm already half way done!...Yeah…"

"Hey, hey, hey! What's he doing calling you?" she pushed, then she gasped loudly, "Is he the person that brought you your homework on Friday? What's going on between you two? Oh my god!"

The girl with the braids gave her best friend a crazy look, becoming irritated that she couldn't hear Demyx talking. This didn't stop Tiana as she slid in close to Lauren with a sly smile.

"So how many nieces and nephews should I be expecting?"

"Shut up!" Lauren cried, whacking Tiana's gelato spoon out of the cup and effectively smearing some on the girl's face.

When she realized what she had done, her jaw dropped open in disbelief before she covered her mouth to suppress a laugh. Tiana had closed her eyes after she was assaulted, feeling the cold, sticky treat start to trickle down her cheek and towards her mouth and neck.

"I'm sorry," Lauren mouthed before getting up and walking around to the other side of the fountain, "What? No, sorry Demyx, my friend was distracting me so I had to shut her up. Now, what was the question?"

Tiana watched her friend walk away from the corner of her eye before she dug into her pocket to pull out one of the napkins she nabbed from Ive's Gelato Shoppe, using said napkin to wipe the chocolate gelato from her mouth.

"Mmhmm, getting on my case about some stupid guy, but apparently gets all abusive when I make one little comment," she mumbled under her breath, pulling out an extra spoon to use for the rest of her gelato.

"Tiana?"

Spoon full of gelato frozen in her mouth, owner of said name looked up when someone called her, eyes visibly widening and heart annoyingly starting to beat faster. Riku stood in front of the girl dressed in a pair of dark jeans, a light blue shirt and white kicks. His dog-tags clinked together when he moved and the sun glinted off of them, a light that matched the light flashing from his earring and his teal colored eyes. An amused smile adorned his face.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked her curiously.

Tiana blinked rapidly and involuntarily swallowed her mouthful of gelato, finding herself without words for once in her life; "Well, uh…I was just…ya know. Oh, for Christ sake," she stammered before smacking herself against her head, amusing the silver-haired boy all the more, "I was just hanging out with my best friend and enjoying the warm weather. There won't be much of it, you know, since we're in the fall season and winter is just around the corner."

"Heh, that is true," Riku agreed, sidestepping the many bags of purchases that belonged to Tiana and Lauren in order to sit in the place the missing girl once occupied.

Tiana watched him closely, burgundy eyes curious, "What about you? What are you doing out here all by your lonesome?"

Riku chuckled at her wording, shaking his head and moving aside the silver bangs that hung loosely in front of his face, "Well, I was hanging out with one of the guys from the team, but then we were kind of swarmed by a bunch of girls and I ducked out."

"Really? You willingly ducked out of an opportunity to be with girls? Of all the things," she inquired incredulously, scratching the back of her head as she crossed one leg over the other.

The young man blinked his eyes in confusion as he turned to face her, "Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Because it's surprising."

"Why?"

"Because it is!"

"Because I'm an athlete and you think that all athletes like to have all kinds of attention on them from the opposite sex, right?" he challenged, narrowing his eyes a little.

Tiana said nothing as she averted her gaze away from the piercing teal color of Riku's eyes, quickly scooping a spoonful of her cold treat up and into her mouth in order to keep herself from talking. Her cheeks burned from embarrassment since Riku pretty much hit the nail on the head. Said male sighed and looked away from her, fingers curling into a loose fist of agitation.

"Not all of us male athletes are like that, you know?" he voiced lightly, peering at her from the side to watch her reaction as he fiddled with his earring.

"I know," she answered, looking down into her cup.

"If you know, then why react the way you did?"

"Because I haven't met anyone that has shown me otherwise, okay?" she all but snapped, lifting her face so her eyes connected with his, "I know that not every athlete is the same, but regardless, I haven't met a guy that wasn't stereotypically cocky and bigheaded, okay? Then I met you, so sorry for being the victim of social prejudice."

This time, it was Riku who blinked in surprise at her confession, agitation withering away when he saw the defensive look in Tiana's eyes. He was amazed at how fast she jumped to defend herself, how quick she was to make sure that no one could really blame her for anything when it wasn't even her fault. Was she always like this?

Tiana sat back and looked into her cup of gelato again, scooping some more of the treat into her mouth to calm her nerves. Riku smiled gently and put his hand on her knee, making her look at him again.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to get snappy with you," he apologized, looking at the ground, "I guess I was a little annoyed because of the girls from earlier. They were all squawking and squealing at me while running their hands all over me. They basically tried to molest me!"

Tiana choked on a giggle, covering her mouth with her hand as a small cough escaped and she cleared her throat, "That's so funny."

"I can't believe you're laughing at my distress right now! I'm a victim of sexual harassment!" Riku cried, sitting up straighter and his face turning serious in order to persuade her; on the inside, though, he was laughing, too, at the situation.

Tiana knew this and laughed freely, "So call the police if you feel so violated."

"You have no sympathy for me, do you?"

"Awww, I have sympathy for you!" she corrected him, patting his head lightly and making him smirk, "I'm very sympathetic to the fact that the idea of having any girl you want bothers you."

"There is just no mercy from you, is there?" Riku inquired playfully as he reached his hand out and tickled her side, earning a surprised cry as Tiana tried to scoot away from his assaulting hand while laughing.

"Stop! Stopstopstop! Oh my, god, stop!" she demanded, turning to use her feet to bat him away since her hand was occupied with holding her gelato.

Riku and Tiana laughed together, both settling back to sit properly before they drew any more strange stares to them. Unbeknownst to them, though, Lauren had finally finished her conversation on the phone and was coming back around the fountain to Tiana when she spotted Riku already sitting with her. Stopping on a dime and preventing herself from squealing in excitement, she waited and analyzed the situation. She had teased her best friend before about how the silver-haired point guard of the basketball team seemed infatuated with her, but never really had any evidence for herself to go off of. Not until this very moment as she watched Riku discreetly put his arm around the back of the bench, his hand resting quite near Tiana's other shoulder and he seemed focused on every word she was saying. And Tiana herself didn't seem to mind the close proximity between herself and Riku as she smiled and laughed with him. Lauren was just beside herself with glee and didn't want their time together to end. Good thing she had a plan in mind already; so, straightening up and making it seem as if she had to hurry off somewhere, she quickly made her way to the couple on the bench.

"Oh, hey Lauren. Is everything cool?" Tiana asked her best friend as soon as she saw her.

"Hey, girlie! Hey Riku! Yeah, everything's fine, but look, I gotta get going okay? Demyx is struggling with our computer assignment and asked me to go over and help him out so I'm going to leave now," Lauren explained, setting about picking up her and Tiana's bags.

"Oh, okay. I'll go with you," Tiana said, preparing to get up.

Lauren stopped her, "No, no, no. You'll just get in the way really and, besides, it's somewhat of a long process and you'll just be sitting around his house with nothing to do and I can't do that to you."

"Well, then, take me home," Tiana suggested next, confused by Lauren's behavior.

Again, Lauren shook her head, "No way, you need to enjoy this day! You had a cold, rough day on Friday and did nothing in your house yesterday and who knows how long this nice weather will last before the cold really sets in? Enjoy your day and hang out with Riku!"

Riku and Tiana looked at each other then looked back at Lauren as she stood up with all of their bags in her hands. She smiled sweetly at the two with a certain gleam in her eye that Tiana had a sneaking suspicion about, before she waved and giggled, "Well, Ciao!"

Then she turned and was off, Tiana sputtering after her.

"W-Wait, Lauren! My bags!"

"I'll drop them off at your house later! Bye! Have fun!"

At the pace she was strutting, Lauren was gone in less than a minute, leaving her best friend and the very handsome basketball star alone together in the plaza. Tiana sighed and put her hand to her forehead, shaking her black curls as she mumbled under her breath.

"That girl will be the death of me, I swear."

"Lauren's a pretty interesting character," Riku commented, scratching his cheek with his finger.

"Oh, trust me, she's a lot more than just interesting," Tiana replied, rolling her eyes, "What do we do now?"

Riku chuckled and stood up to face her, "Well, she's right. It is a beautiful day and we don't know how long we'll have days like this. If Friday is anything to go by, not very long I think; we should make the best of it."

"Oh? And do what?"

There was a secret behind his smile as he held his hand out to her, "Whatever we want."

Tiana stared at his hand and then up at his face, those blue-green eyes drawing her in again. She wanted to fight that feeling, wanted to keep herself from falling into those eyes of his for fear of what would actually happen, but the longer he looked at her, the longer he smiled at her, the more she stopped caring.

She gingerly put her hand in his, "Okay."

End Chapter

Crimsonwings92: This was fun! Trying something new with how I write romance; don't want it to be too mushy, ya know? Cuz I know some people get tired of that. Anyway! Please review and tell me that you want this story to continue! Thanks so much! See ya next chapter! Ciao!