*Dream flashback*

'Hey Ann... it's been a long time.' You look up from the sidewalk to see Eddie standing in front of you with a comforting smile.

'Holy shit!' You say beaming. You give him a hug. 'Wow, what have you been up to?'

'Nothing much, Dying Breed just finished up a tour.' He says nodding.

'I know! Congrats on the album going platinum.'

'Thanks, I appreciate it.' He replies with a chuckle in a modest tone.

It's been a year since you and Eddie saw each other. About a month after Ryusuke left Eddie had dropped out of school to tour with Dying Breed. You hadn't really talked to him after that.

'Wow, it's so great to see you!' You exclaim happily.

'Likewise, it's been weird not having you two around. Takes a lot of getting use to.' He grins.

'Have you talked to Ray at all?' You ask with a meek smile.

'Yeah, but not much.'

'How is he?' You ask, your smile fading slightly.

'He says he's fine.'

*End*

Your eyes opened and looked around your room. You reached for your glasses and put them on. 'Freedom!' You grinned and got up. You hadn't been allowed out of your house for the past two weeks, which you thought was your mom overreacting, but apparently your grandma also had something to do with it.

You skipped to the bathroom, took care of your hygiene and then went back to your room. You dialed Ryusuke's number and waited for an answer.

"Hello?"

"HIIII! I'm FREE!" You said loudly with joy.

"Cool." You heard a smile in Ryusuke's voice.

"Can I come over? Pretty please?" You asked trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Yeah, sure." He chuckled. "Anytime is fine."

"YAY! I shall be there in a jiff." You said beaming. "Byes!"

"Later." You both hung up and you went about your business. After you got ready you went downstairs, hoping your mom wouldn't flip out for some reason.

"Hey buddy." You grinned at her. "I'm going to go hang out with friends."

"Fine." She grumbled reading a newspaper.

"Okay, awesome! Bye-bye." You waved and went out the door.

After walking for a bit you got to Ryusuke's and happily opened the door. Taira, Chiba, Saku, and Koyuki were all there and Chiba grinned at you.

"Well hello." He giggled with a diabolic expression.

"What?" You raised an eyebrow.

"Your boyfriend's in the back." Chiba snickered pointing to the pond. You smacked the back of his head semi hard.

"He's not my boyfriend." You walked out to the back and ran up to Ryusuke.

"Dude, that was sooooo shitty!" You pouted and hugged him. He chucked and gave you a squeeze back. "Did you miss me?" You fluttered your eyelashes.

"Yeah actually." He smiled and let go of you as you let go of him.

"Hooray! I missed you too! It totally sucked!"

"Yeah, it's really weird not having you show up at my house at 6AM." He said teasingly with a smile.

"Hey, that was one time." You said making a face.

"Yeah and the other time you came here at 5 in the morning." He grinned as you narrowed your eyes.

"Well... neh." You stuck your tongue out at him.

"Brilliant comeback."

"Oh shut up." You elbowed him gently. "Wanna go inside and annoy everyone?"

"Sure." He followed you into the house.

"How was solitary confinement?" Taira asked tilting his body to the left trying to get his virtual car ahead of Chiba's.

"Horrible. My mom had me washing dishes and cleaning non-stop." You plopped down on the floor and yawned.

"I know what that's like." Koyuki said with a small smile as he and Saku played chess.

"I'm not surprised, 'tis a bus boy's job." You nodded.

Koyuki laughed. "My boss is a psycho though."

"Yeah, he threw a knife at you once, right?" Saku asked moving his bishop.

"Uh-huh, thankfully he can't aim." Koyuki grinned sheepishly. "Check."

"Again? Hmmm." Saku slowly moved his knight, blocking his king.

"You just lost." You said studying the game.

"Huh?" Saku asked as Koyuki took his knight with his queen.

"Checkmate."

"Oh crap." Saku laughed. "Yet again, he beats me."

You laughed. "Ryusuke's the worst chess player in the world."

"Shut up." He replied reading a book.

"What? It's true." You smiled and he shrugged.

"Have you two continued on from Ryusuke's birthday?" Chiba asked giggling.

"I hate you, you know that right?" Chiba burst out laughing and then abruptly stopped.

"NOOOO!" He screamed as Taira beat him at the racing game they were playing. Taira chuckled as Chiba curled up in a ball. "Weak man!"

"How did you find out anyway? You were passed out on the floor." You asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Saku told me, I only wish I had a video camera! You could have been the next Paris Hilton!"

You shook your head chuckling. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

"Never!" He then got up and went into the kitchen. "HEY RYUSUKE! WE'RE ALL OUT OF RAMEN!"

You yawned and opened the door to the fishing hole after getting more ramen for Chiba.

"I love you!" Chiba hugged you and grabbed the bag you were holding and ran into the kitchen happily.

"You owe me, Ray, the waitress person was a total bitch." You sat down on the floor and stretched. He looked up at you as he chuckled. "It's totally not funny." He shrugged and went back to his book.

"You mind grabbing me a bowl of ramen too?" Taira asked Chiba as he strummed Ryusuke's unplugged electric guitar.

"FINE!" He yelled back.

"And one for me?" Ryusuke added lazily. Chiba's head popped out of the kitchen and he pouted. "What? You're the ramen chef."

"FINE!" He yelled again.

You laughed. "You're a nut."

"You're just about as nutty as I am." He pointed out with a huge grin.

"Yeah, but you have nuts, so." You said casually making everyone laugh.

All of your heads turned as you heard the door open.

"Oh hey Maho." Koyuki said smiling.

"Hey Koyuki!" She waved and laughed.

"Where the hell did you run off to?" Ryusuke asked looking up as Maho closed the door.

"I told you already. God you never listen." She rolled her eyes and sat down next to you. Ryusuke shrugged and continued reading.

"She went to Yokohama." You said to Ryusuke laughing in slight disbelief. "I can't believe you forgot, she was talking about it all last month."

"I wasn't really paying attention."

"You're such a dick." She glared at him and shook her head. "So anyway, I heard about your little make out session."

"Saku, how many people did you tell?" You asked looking over at him, he was about to respond but Maho interrupted.

"Chiba told me." She shrugged and then grinned at her brother. "Was it a good present, Ray?"

"I was drunk." He stated with a shrug not looking up. You made yourself smile, but felt a little sad.

"Oh, riiiight." She teased and leaned back on the wall. "I got you something in Yokohama." She tossed a small box at him and he caught it.

"What is it?" He held up a key chain with a small metal guitar pick on it.

"A key chain you moron. You put your keys on it." She shook her head and yawned. "Dad said Happy Birthday by the way."

"Ah." He put the key chain on a bookshelf and went back to reading.

After a few more hours, everyone went their separate ways, leaving you and Ryusuke.

"Why am I always the last one at your house?" You asked, playing solitaire.

"No idea." Ryusuke shrugged nearing the end of his book.

"I can't believe you almost finished that entire thing in a day." You eyed him with an eyebrow raised. "That takes conviction." He laughed.

"Not really, I just like the series."

"Yeah me too. I assume Maho got you hooked?" You asked smiling. He nodded and chuckled. About 5 minutes passed and you were almost finished with your solitaire game. 'Dammit, the Jack must still be under one of the piles.' You thought to yourself with a frown.

"Can I ask you something?" Ryusuke looked up at you from his book.

"Oh yeah, sure." You put down the cards and looked at him.

"I mean, it's probably a stupid question." He said with a shrug.

"Come on, what's your question?" You smiled encouragingly.

"Well... do you remember on my birthday when we were drunk towards the end of the day?" He asked trying to sound casual.

"Yeeeeah, which part?" You asked.

"The, I don't know, make-out fiesta?" He replied quickly with a short laugh.

"Oh right, yeah... sorry about that." You forced a small smile and looked back down at the cards.

"It's fine... I just wanted to ask you if it, meant anything." He was looking into your eyes and you cocked your head trying to figure out how you should answer. To be honest that question had been floating around in your mind for the past two weeks. To you it did but you were afraid... no petrified he would say he didn't like you like that and it would ruin your friendship. "I told you it was a stupid question." He said with a chuckle.

"Well, to me it did... or at least I wanted to think it did." You said quietly, blushing furiously.

"What? Really?" He asked seeming surprised.

"I can't help what I felt." You said with a shrug and a slight smile.

"I felt the same way." Ryusuke said after a small pause.

"Really?" You asked raising your eyebrows. He nodded.

"It's weird but ever since you came over here I kinda felt like… I mean, I figured it was because I missed you or something, but now I kinda think it's not just that." He said hurriedly.

"So have I." You said shocked that he felt the same way. "I didn't want to ruin our friendship."

Ryusuke's lips curled into small smile and he nodded. "Same here… Well that's a load off my mind."

"Oh my god, I totally know the feeling." You chuckled letting out a big sigh. "Phew."

"Nice to have that out of the way." He said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Agreed." You said beaming at him with a nod.

There was a bit of an awkward silence until you peeped up again. "So what does this mean?... Are we like, together now or whatever?"

"Uhh… I don't know, do you want to be together?" He asked.

"I guess? I mean, if you want to." There was another few moments of quiet. For once, neither of you could really think of anything to say. Your phone broke the silence playing the Jaws theme.

"I'd better get that, it's my mom's ringtone." You said with a small smile as you reached for your phone.

"Alright." He said quickly returning the smile with a nod.

"Hello?" You answered the phone.

"Anna, it's 8PM, I except you home in 15 minutes." Your mom's voice said firmly.

"But my curfew's at 11." You replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, well, I'm changing it. You lost curfew and you haven't earned it back." She responded.

"It takes a half hour to get home from Ryusuke's." You said in an annoyed tone.

"Make it fifteen." She said sounding pissed off so you decided not to mess with her.

"Fine." You said making a face and hung up the phone. "I have to go." You frowned.

"Ah, that sucks." He said getting up to face you.

"Yeah." You stood there for a few seconds staring at the floor. You looked up at him and chuckled slightly. "Well… bye I guess." Before you knew what was happening, Ryusuke's lips were pressed against yours. Your eyes widened in surprise but then gently closed. You placed your arms around his neck as he put his hands on your hips and pulled you closer to him. After what seemed like an eternity, Ryusuke broke the best kiss you'd had in your life and put his forehead against yours so your noses touched.

"Okay, now we can say goodbye."

You smiled and nuzzled his nose. "Well now I don't want to."

He returned the smile and hugged you. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah... until tomorrow."