Hey y'all! Thanks for those of you who reviewed the last chapter or took interest in it. Told ya I wasn't going to make you guys wait long for the next chapter, so here it is! Enjoy!

Warning: Some strong language and references to underage drinking are in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or settings from Rocket Power. I also don't own Peter Parker or Mary Jane Watson from the Marvel comic book universe.

Sorry for any grammatical errors!

Chapter Seven

-Twister's POV-

"Because I love you."

There. I'd said it.

After six entire years, after years of pining, after all those years of misery and beating myself up and scaring myself and trying to run away from my feelings, I'd finally said it. In a way I'd never imagined.

I'd always dreamed of saying those three words to her—and always during more extravagant scenarios. I'd dreamed that I could be the Peter Parker to her Mary Jane Watson, swooping in and catching her in my arms as she fell, and then saying it and kissing her before she watched me leave to go save the day. Or both of us watching the world fall apart and burn, a post-apocalyptic war raging around us, and I say it before we kiss, before one of us dies and we never have another chance. And then there was the one dream I'd had once that was more true to life: saving her from drowning, holding her in my arms on the beach, and whispering the words to her as she said them back.

I never knew for sure if I would ever tell her. Every time I had wanted to in the past, I'd found some excuse not to. I didn't want to risk throwing our years of friendship away. I didn't want to split up our group of friends. I didn't want things between Otto and I to never really be the same again. I didn't want to hurt her in any way. And after she began dating Trent, I knew that I was too late, and that I'd already had so few chances before, but maybe I would never have the chance to tell her ever again.

Years of hesitation, years of being so careful. And yet the words slipped out of me after having one beer.

On the night that Reggie called me for comfort after she had been cheated on.

I was horrified at myself. I slapped my hand, the hand that she'd held, over my mouth in horror. My entire body was flushed, and I was trembling like my very life was in danger. I was such an idiot.

Reggie was just staring at me, an unprecedented look of pure shock on her face. Her eyes were boring into me like two spotlights. "What?"

I was a moron. I was terrible. I was awful. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Why the fuck was I such an idiot?

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to tell her when she was single, and not crying over another guy. This was wrong, this was all wrong.

But it was too late. It was out now. I'd said it. She'd heard it. I could never take it back. It was now or never. And now I had to do it properly, do it the right way instead of the coward's way, or I would regret it for the rest of my life.

I took my hand away from my face, and then I swallowed hard. And I repeated myself in a clear voice. "Reggie, I love you."

She was still staring at me, almost staring through me—like she was somewhere else. The quiet seconds felt like entire years, dragged on for eternity. She blinked, looking down for a second, and then she looked back up at me. She finally spoke. "You mean as a friend," she paused, an unsure look crossing her face. "Right?"

I was still shaking . Dammit, why couldn't I stop shaking? I needed to do this bravely. Strongly. "No, Reg." I said. I looked straight into her eyes. "You know that's not how I mean it. There was once a time, a very long time ago, when I loved you as a friend. But that's not how I feel anymore."

"It's not?" She didn't break our gaze. I saw my own fear reflected in her eyes.

I shook my head once. My heart was pounding so fast, it felt like it might explode inside of me. I was starting to feel dizzy. "It's not. Regina Rocket," her whole name felt so heavy and intense on my tongue. "I am in love with you. And I have been in love with you for a long time."

I didn't know if I was imagining things, but I thought that Reggie had started to tremble, too. I couldn't read her face. "A long time?"

"Yes."

Her voice was so quiet. Vulnerable. "How long?"

"Six years." I swallowed hard. "It started when you saved my life when I almost drowned, and it just…grew from there. Grew as we got older."

She had covered her mouth with her hand, just staring and staring at me in mystification, like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She dropped her hand suddenly. "Why?"

I hadn't expected that. "What?"

The look of confusion on her face had grown. She was shaking her head. "Why do you love me?"

I cocked my head at her, furrowing my brow. "You're asking…you're asking me why I'm in love with you?" I sat up straighter. "You're asking why?"

"I just—" Reggie shook her head hard, like she was shaking herself out of a fog. "I just…don't understand why."

Why was she acting like it was so impossible that I would love her? Did she not believe me? "Reg," I said. I stood up, facing her as she remained sitting on her bed. I stared down at her incredulously. "Why wouldn't I love you?" My voice shook.

She just gazed up at me, silent, and for the tiniest moment, her lip quivered. And that was it. I was gone for good. All the strength and carefulness and control within me collapsed all at once. Very slowly, I lifted my hands to either side of her soft face, cradling it with care between them. The way I'd wanted to for years.

My voice was shaking again as I continued. "Why wouldn't I love you exactly the way you are? As the girl I knew as a boy and as the girl I know now?" I searched her eyes with mine. The familiar warm chocolate brown gaze of hers had become so wounded, so vulnerable over the past year. "The girl who kicks absolutely everyone's ass at every sport she tries, effortlessly. The girl that always speaks up for others and has the courage to do what's right, more than anyone else I've ever known. The girl who gives everyone chances, even if they don't deserve them. The girl who gives and gives until she can't anymore. The girl who always looks beautiful even when she wears sweatpants, or has scrapes from skateboarding, or when she's been crying. The girl who would give her life for her family. The girl who risked her life to save mine and acted like it was no big deal."

Reggie had begun crying. I hadn't seen her cry in a long time. "Twist." Her tears spilled onto my palms, ran down my wrists and all the way down to my elbows.

Seeing her own tears made the back of my throat sting, but I didn't care if she saw me cry. "Anyone who wouldn't love that girl is absolutely crazy, and I pity them. Because I love her. And I would love her again. I would love her a hundred times. A thousand times." My voice cracked. Tears started to blind my vision. "There's something that my dad always used to say to my mom, and she would always say it back. It wasn't around me or my brother; they only said it when they thought we weren't around. But sometimes I would walk past their bedroom door, and I'd hear it. It was something my dad had written to my mom, back when they were dating, and then when they got married they said it in their vows to each other. They used to say it to each other every day." I stopped, closing my eyes, trying to remember every word. I'd heard it so often when I was a kid that I had it memorized. I recited it in a soft voice. "Te amo. Te adoro. Eres espectacular. Eres hermosa. Eres divina. Eres la persona mas maravillosa del mundo. Eres mi todo. Te quiero con todo mi alma. Eres el amor de mi vida y cada dia te quiero mas." I opened my eyes again.

Reggie was gazing up at me in a way I'd only been able to dream about. "What does it mean?"

"It means, 'I love you. I adore you. You are spectacular. You are beautiful. You are divine. You are the most wonderful person in the world. You are my everything. I love you with all of my soul. You are the love of my life, and every day I love you more.'" I gazed back at her, my chest aching the way that only she could manage to do. "That's what you mean to me, Reg." I took another deep breath, almost gasping. "Things have been so crazy, and lately not even my home has felt like home anymore. My parents…my parents might be splitting up. They were the only people in this whole world that I thought had found true love. They've been together for almost 22 years, and their marriage is falling apart. And Lars is at college and he's starting his own life. And things at my house are uncomfortable and cold and I don't even recognize it anymore, and it scares me." I felt a tear trickle off of my chin. "But even though I'm scared and unsure of everything, it's made me realize even more that you've always been home to me."

Some silence passed. My words settled into the air, never to be taken back. The energy pulsing between us was unreal, almost unbearable.

After a few moments, she finally broke our locked gaze, closing her eyes and letting her head fall forward out of my hands, leaning her forehead onto my chest. Finally, she said, "Oh my God."

"Yeah," I said dumbly. Not knowing what else to do, I cradled my arms around her shoulders, hugging her to me. She melted into me. My heart throbbed. "I didn't mean to tell you now. Really, I didn't mean to. I'd always planned it differently. I should have waited, and this isn't fair of me to dump all of this on you today of all days. God damn it. I'm sorry."

She shook her head, her face still buried in my chest. The sensation of her against me was out of this fucking world. "Don't apologize."

"But I mean…this can't be easy to take in. Especially all at once." I cringed. "And I picked a terrible time to do this."

She chuckled silently, her shoulders bouncing. "Well, if not now, then when?" She glanced up at me. "Why didn't you ever tell me? All this time?"

"I have no idea." I shook my head. "I know I should have, but I was scared."

Reggie tilted her head back further, getting a better look at me. "Scared of what?"

My face reddened. "A lot of things. The aftermath, for one."

"Twister. If you were afraid of rejection, I get that, but…" she trailed off, burying her face in my chest again and letting out a big sigh. Then she turned her head to the side, continuing but still not looking at me. "You wouldn't have been rejected."

I froze. Then I let go of her, jumping backwards. "What? Wait…" Had I just heard that correctly? "What?"

Reggie was actually turning pink. She was blushing. Because of me. "I said you wouldn't have been rejected." She was looking at me helplessly. "I have to be honest, Twist. There have been times when I've seen you…that way. But I didn't think you would ever feel that way about me. I thought you just saw me as a sister, so I ignored it."

My heartbeat increased all over again as I listened to her. "You liked me?!"

In reply, she just chuckled once, nervously, and covered her face with both of her hands.

I made a noise of astonishment. "Reggie! Holy shit!" I flew back over to her and took her hands away from her face. She was bright red. "You're being serious? You're not lying?" Before she could answer, I added in a gravely serious tone, "Wait. Before you say anything, I have to say this. I didn't tell you how I felt to force you to say anything back. You don't have to lie to me. You don't have to say anything. I just wanted to tell you. So that you'd know. I don't expect anything from you. And if you do say something, don't say it to me unless you really mean it. Okay?"

Reggie nodded, and then took a deep breath before she started. "I just want to say that I did like you. I liked you a few times, actually. And if you had asked me out, I wouldn't have said no." She sighed again, taking hold of both of my hands and lacing her fingers through mine.

I was dazed. "I can't believe you liked me and I didn't know," I said, though it was mostly to myself. I laughed once. "Maybe I am stupid."

She smiled faintly, squeezing both of my hands. "Twist."

The way she said my name was amazing. Even the way she held my hands felt amazing. My head felt like it was floating above the clouds. "Yes?"

"You mean so much to me. I want you to know that right now." Her eyes had darkened.

Something about the way she'd looked as she said that made me tense up. I was suddenly terrified. Oh God. Oh no. "Okay," I said, wary.

"No, I mean it." She squeezed my hands again. "I've known you almost my entire life. You're very important to me, no matter what. You should know that."

I hadn't known that she had felt that way. I'd hoped, of course. But I didn't know. "Now I do," I said.

Reggie continued. "And that's why I'm taking this really seriously. It's why I need some time to give you a real answer."

I swallowed hard. "Okay."

"And this isn't a no," she added quickly. "I just think that I owe you a real answer after thinking over everything clearly. When I haven't been drinking. And when I haven't just been crying and upset over some other guy that isn't you. I owe you that." She looked at me softly, her eyes begging me to understand.

It wasn't a no. She wasn't rejecting me. I nodded. She needed that, and she deserved it. Especially after everything I'd just told her, and everything she'd been through. "Of course." I squeezed her hands back. Her hands felt so good in mine. So soft. I wondered how long it would be until I could hold them again. "Take some time. Take as much time as you need."

"I just need to sort some things out first. Take care of some things."

I ran my thumbs over her thumbs, smoothing over her skin. "I'll be here." My voice was almost a whisper. "I can wait. I promise."

When her phone started ringing suddenly, loudly, we startled apart. As we both laughed uneasily, Reggie reached for her phone and looked at its screen. She stopped cold, her face draining. I knew who it had to be immediately.

"Reg…you probably shouldn't answer that," I said, shaking my head. "Talking to him right now would be a really bad idea."

She paused only a moment. "Don't worry, I'm not going to." She sent the call straight to voicemail, then tossed her phone on the ground. "I will have to talk to him eventually, though."

My stomach dropped, but before I could say anything, the sound of the front door slamming shut made us both jump again. "Reggie!" It was Otto. "Hey, you awake?"

Even though we hadn't really done anything wrong, and Otto was no Raymundo, we looked at each other with wide eyes before scrambling to hide the evidence—hiding the empty beer bottles and the rest of the full ones under her bed. Then I stood in the middle of her room for a moment, puzzled. "Um," I jabbed a thumb towards her door. "I should go. It's getting late."

She nodded. "Yeah, sure. Don't want your parents to worry."

What neither of us was saying was that we didn't want Otto seeing the two of us in her room, alone and with beer, and blowing a gasket. Even though he was my best friend, something told me he wouldn't go easy on us. After saying a quick "bye" to Reggie, which felt unbelievably awkward and formal after what had just gone down between us, I power walked out of her room, nearly running straight into Otto as I went down the stairs.

"Whoa, hey! Twist?" Otto jumped, looking perplexed as soon as he saw me. "Where's the fire, bro?"

"Hey, man!" I managed to get out as I jogged the rest of the way down the stairs, making a beeline for the front door.

Before I flew outside and shut the door behind me, I heard him call after me, "Twist? What were you doing upstairs?"

#

I spent a few minutes outside in the chilly, dark, mid-November night, pacing across the concrete of the cul-de-sac. Then I jogged around in circles, trying to burn off all of the leftover nervous energy, and slapped myself in the face a few times for good measure, just to make sure I really was awake.

Yep. What had just happened was real, and it wasn't some fever or some intense beer induced dream.

It really happened.

When I walked up the walkway to my house, I already knew that my parents were still awake. All of the lights were on.

I walked through the front door grudgingly, seeing them sitting in the living room waiting for me, thinking they had seen that the bottles of beer were missing from the refrigerator and were about to give me an earful. Instead, they told me to sit down.

The still, frigid atmosphere was enough to convince me to obey, and I immediately sat. "What's going on?" I said. As soon as it left my mouth, I knew I'd regret asking.

And what my mom said didn't entirely surprise me, but devastated me all the same. "Your father and I are getting a divorce."

So now that some new developments have taken place, how will things go from here? (Also, I hope the Spanish was okay...been a while since I took Spanish, haha.) Stay tuned, the next chapter is coming up soon!

Please review! Thank you to all of you guys for all of your support and for reading this story and sticking with it this whole time, it honestly means a lot to me. Thank you and thank you again.

-MsButterFingers