Hi all! Apologies for the delay in updating. I am moving states in the next couple of days so the next chapter may be a few weeks late as well.

Shout out to all my reviewers- Footychick (sorry I took so long), Torithy (thank you so much- I love Caitlin in Road tripping), Elyse Black (thank you for saying it cheers you up, I was hoping to do that), sphinx005 (I love those stories! Noah wasn't based on Dylan but that's how it has come out. I always though Dylan had very gay undertones though) and InvisibleOrphan (welcome to the reviews, I'm so glad you and your friend like it). Thanks also to all the readers of this story- I'm writing for you.

Disclaimer- Ricki Lake kicked me off her show, something about stalking her to get to Uncle Steven. I am not sure. But Rosie O'Donnell is starting a new panel show and has invited Emilio on. She says it's a cinch to get Steven to admit his uncle-parentage and will get back to me. Until she does, Disney and Uncle Steven own the rights.

We left the diner along with Portman, two pizzas, a box of sandwiches, some fries and a huge box of brownies. Casey had come to the school once for a meeting, and was completely horrified at the food. She liked to give us each something extra when we went in, and hardly let us pay. Since some of the ducks were out of town, she was like our surrogate mother.

'Thank god you guys are back! I'm starving' Connie reached out and reefed the box of brownies from my arms as soon as we had gotten back to my dorm. In a second, Tammy and her were digging in, with one in each hand.

'Jules, PMS ok?' Connie snapped, stuffing brownies in her face. I must have looked horrified.

'Right, well thanks for that piece of info Connie' Jesse stole a brownie out of the box. Ken went to follow, but Connie's evil eye stopped him cold.

'Connie, it's nice to share'

'Like hell' she retorted, grabbing another brownie. Tammy followed suit. Kale grabbed the box away from them.

'Step back ladies. Those brownies are no good on the hips' Noah said to them sternly.

Tammy screamed. We all looked at her in shock and concern.

'I have a goddamn meet this weekend. And I am eating chocolate! What kind of person am I?' she wailed, trying to scrape brownie off her tongue.

'Umm a hungry one?' Kale supplied. 'A PMS one?'

'Watch it boy. I am not beneath biting someone on the kneecap someone, especially as I don't come much past their kneecaps' Tammy retorted grinning, as Connie shot him a death look.

'Where's Charlie? Don't tell me I got all this food for nothing?' Portman whined. 'Although running into these guys was a bonus' Noah rolled his eyes at me.

'Of course it was, Porty' Noah said dryly as Connie choked a piece of brownie.

'Porty?! That is awesome. Porty' she collapsed in laughter, crumbs spraying everywhere.

'Connie, step away from the brownies' Charlie came into the room followed by a morose looking Adam.

I glanced at Ken, who rolled his eyes back at me. While I felt quite sorry for Adam and his problems, it was really beyond our control. Connie and Charlie were completely in love and probably always had been. Adam had never made an attempt with Connie before so we couldn't understand why, when his best friend suddenly was happy, he decided to like the same girl. And then had to mope about it cause he was unhappy.

'Cheer up Banks, you look like your best friend just stole a girl off you' Noah remarked casually. I choked, probably on my own saliva. Ken's eyes went wide and Adam looked at both of us accusingly. Connie looked puzzled for a second, then laughed.

'Don't be silly guys. If Charlie ever cheated on me…'

'You would cut his balls off with a rusty skate blade and feed them to the fishes' Portman, Ken and I said in unison.

'No, I would feed him to the fishes. I would keep the testicles as a reminder of how he wronged me' Connie replied smugly and somewhat scarily. Charlie backed away from his girlfriend, hands over his crotch.

'Ok get out of our room. Now. Wait, leave the brownies. Tam, Noah, Julie stay. I have gossip..' Connie sang.

The boys looked at each other. Connie was known for her psycho PMS moods and this seemed to be one of them. Portman and Fulton had settled in for the long haul on the beanbags and Kale had bagged the armchair. When Connie gave them the evil eye, they shot up, grabbing the boxes of food.

'We are going, we're going, jeez' Fulton said hurriedly, trying to kiss his girlfriend on the cheek. Tammy laughed at him as Connie stood up threateningly.

'Bye baby, I love you' Charlie told his girlfriend sweetly, kissing her on the forehead.

'Don't patronize me Conway' she remarked harshly. I exchanged glances with Ken and Portman, ushering them out the door.

'She's one scary girl' Kale remarked as the door shut behind the boys.

'Excuse me, are you not going to?' Connie turned her evil glare on him.

'Nah. I want to hear the goss.' Kale said casually, grabbing a brownie. Casey must have packed a shitload of them, there was more coming out of that box than from Mary Poppins' bag.

Connie sighed dramatically.

'Ok then Kale, be one of the girls then. Are you gay by the way?' she asked caustically.

'Bi' he replied grinning. Noah and I looked at him in shock.

'So I have a chance there partner?' Noah asked, eyes wide.

'Nah I'm more into sporty guys. Like Adam.'

Tammy had gone bright red from holding in her laughter. I was just completely shocked.

'Are you serious?' I asked, twirling my hair. 'Adam?'

'Well he's clearly gay, no matter what he says,' Kale remarked, stretching out his very long legs on the carpet. 'But no Jules, I'm not into Adam. I'm very into you though'

I gulped, very theatrically. Noah grinned and Connie smiled.

'So does that mean you want to hook up with Jules?' she asked him.

'Yeah of course I do. Do you not know what people say about this girl?' he replied, giving my hand a squeeze. I was so hot and bothered, I thought I was going to keel over and die. Kale wanted to hook up with me? Part of me was ecstatic, the other part yearned for Portman's familiarity.

'Actually, that is some of the goss I have' Connie squealed, jumping on the beanbag. Tammy winced, holding her hands delicately to her ears. I loved that she was not into the girly squeal for no reason like me.

'So the word is that two of the Ducks think Julie is fine, besides Portman, and a number of football boys have expressed interest in the, and I uote 'the hockey player with the blonde hair that got hot overnight'. I mean Jules, you're an enigma!'

Two ducks? I thought I was going to be sick.

'Hmm two ducks, besides Portman. Well Kale is officially a Duck now, does he count?' Noah asked

'Yeah actually he does. But Jesse has mentioned how amazing you are and Russ thinks you are a hottie' Connie said smugly. I now could understand why Charlie kept using the family analogy. They were like my brothers.

'I think they are great guys but…I don't know'

'Once you go black, you never go back hey Jules?' Noah teased me, seeing the shock on my face. I swatted him with a brownie.

'They don't want to hook up with you Jules' Tammy spoke up. 'But they have mentioned that Portman has treated you like crap and that you didn't deserve that as you are totally a babe. They were just looking out for you. Stop spreading rumours Constance' Connie grinned sheepishly.

'So it's really only Kale who wants to hook up with Julie. Wait, when you said bi, do you mean you hook up with dudes too?' She asked, throwing Noah a look.

'I was kidding Connie.' Kale sighed.

'What's the rest of the goss Connie?' Tammy asked. I thanked her silently with my inflamed red face.

'Well it's about Guy. Apparently he got caught with his pants down- literally- having sex with his best friends' sister. Worst, or best part, depending on who is telling the story- herpes abounded' she laughed. I gasped, shocked.

'Hasn't she heard of protection?' Kale wondered. I noticed that we were still hand in hand. It didn't feel like Portman. It felt…nice.

'Guy's skanky. Anyway, let's eat' Connie said brightly, reaching for another brownie. I had no idea how many she had consumed but I knew I was probably going to be holding her head over the toilet all night.

Noah and Tammy left about 5 minutes after, giggling, their two blonde heads in conspiratorial whispers. I felt a little pang of jealousy- Noah was my best friend outside the Ducks. He felt my eyes on him and turned around slightly, winking at me.

Connie had gone in to brush her teeth (and probably to throw up) and had left Kale and I sitting on the floor, still hand in hand albeit discreetly.

'Julie?' he asked, green eyes shining at me. Such a cliché, but soooo hot.

'Kale?' I replied, twisting my hair with my free hand.

'I was serious about the hooking up part. To be honest, I am not a serious guy and I don't want a serious relationship. But if I have to be here, I want to have some fun. If you're up for it then…' he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders.

I weighed this up heavily in my mind. He wanted to have a casual relationship with me? Where we kiss and cuddle and have sex but are not tied together. Wasn't that kind of what Portman and I had had, and then not had? What if I fell for him? He must have seen the debate raging in my head, as he squeezed my hand.

'You don't love me Jules. You love Portman, and that's not going to change anything. But until you work things out, he will probably hook up with people. Why not have some fun for a change. It is senior year after all. And trust me, Im not going to fall in love with you, no offence. I'm not the falling in love type' he said, brushing my hair off my face.

I thought of Portman and how much I felt for him. I looked at Kale and it seemed to be purely sexual attraction. I liked him, he was a great guy, but Portman had my heart. But until he worked on his issues, we could never be.

'Ok,' I nodded, squeezing his hand.

He raised his eyebrows at me quizzically. I nodded again.

'But I want to keep it secret. We can have fun, but I don't want Portman to know' I felt like a liar and a cheat and not to mention a major slut. Who does this kind of thing?

'Jules, we don't have to have sex. But its fun just to hang out with someone, and well, I like you better than the others' he smiled. I felt better that we didn't have to have sex. It wasn't that I didn't want- the boy was hot But giving myself to someone like that? I wasn't sure I could go through with it completely.

He pulled me up to a standing position. Taking a quick glance at the bathroom door, where I could here Connie singing in the shower, he cupped my chin in his hand and kissed me.

It wasn't a Portman kiss. His kisses were dangerous, salty yet sweet, hard and amazing. Kale's was…soft, more experienced somehow. It was good. Very good. When he broke away I craved more. But it was missing the Portman touch, the thrill of seeing the face of the boy I loved. Kale was a great looking substitute but I guess it was devoid of emotion somewhat.

'When you and Portman get it together, then we break it off. I told you Jules, I don't get attached. But its fun while it lasts' he sent me a cheeky grin and left the room. Oh god, what was I doing? This wasn't me- Julie Gaffney, casual relationship? Or was that what had happened between Portman and I? Was I destined to be casual girl forever?