*titters* Over a hundred reviews! *dances in a circle around self* I LOVE YOU! I'm not kidding, I think I might actually love you!

Alright, this chapter... ugh, what should I say about this chapter... I've written it at least twice now so this better be good enough! :P The first time I wrote it, it was quite boring but I hope this version is a little better. If not, tell me. Please. I need all the help I can get, and I'm doing this for you as well as for myself so your opinion does matter :)

Previously on Bittersweet: Charlie has finally grown the balls to ask Jane out. Their date went well, suppose Charlie got over his shyness for a while... Wickham tells Lizzy about his relationship with Will but she finds it hard to believe it. Then, Will finally tells the truth about Wickham and how he abused his little sister. Lizzy and Will agree to be friends (Yay!).

Chapter 10 – Close

WPOV

I woke up that Saturday morning to a strange sound coming from the street. I opened up my window, rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked outside. There, in the middle of the street, were two people fighting. Well, not really though – the girl was shouting and the guy just stood there, taking it all. I realised I recognised both of them. At first I started boiling with anger; it felt a bit like betrayal that she was even speaking to him. My hands gripped the windowpane as my face flushed with anger. Then it happened: she delivered one impressive punch to his face before kneeing him in the groin. Now, instead of anger, I felt a sense of pride.

She walked back to the direction of the house, only turning back when Wickham called something unforgivable after her. I was sure she was giving him the same death look she had so often given me. If it hadn't been for the fact that I hated the guy, I would have felt sorry for him. She then turned around again and disappeared into the house. Wick, however, dragged himself to his feet and walked away.

Nothing was heard from Wickham after that incident, not that it came as a surprise to either me or Ben. It was, however, close to the end of the semester so others might have thought it was a bit strange.

Being close to the end of the semester, it meant the final exams were slowly coming up. I dreaded them but I looked forward to summer. So, they were just a small obstacle before the wondrous summer to come. I had a job at my father's law firm, again and I got to do what I enjoyed most. Well, one of the things I enjoyed the most.

Also, since it was May, my eighteenth birthday was coming up. I was a little nervous about becoming an adult but really, how much would change? I would still go to school, I would still live with my parents and I would still call them 'Mom' and 'Dad'. Yeah, I was going to start paying taxes but that was about it.

I thought about what I might do for my birthday this year. Becoming an adult was something big but I never cared much for partying or being around too many people. Maybe a quiet dinner with the parents or watching a movie and eating pizza with a couple of friends. The latter was much more appealing.

"Do you guys want to come over to my house on Friday?" I asked the gang the following Monday.

"After the disastrous party at my house I don't think I'm ever going to another party," was Charlie's reply.

"It's not going to be a party," I said. "We'll just watch a movie or something and eat pizza."

"That does sound appealing," Ben said thoughtfully. "I'm in."

"Great," I said with a grin. Then I looked over at Jane and Charlotte.

"We're invited too?" Charlotte asked, referring to the two of them.

"Of course you are."

"Oh..." Jane said, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Alright, that sounds good."

"Sure," Charlotte said and smiled.

"Great. I was thinking about inviting my cousin, Richard. You don't mind, do you?"

"Why would we mind?" Ben asked.

"It can be a little awkward when you don't know everyone invited. It's like you're not free to be yourself."

"Lizzy never has a problem with 'being herself'," Charlotte said, earning a look from her friend.

"It sounds great. I love meeting new people," Jane smiled sweetly. I didn't need to turn to Charlie to see that he was lost in that smile of hers.

I called Richie later that day to invite him.

"Will there be hot chicks?" was his first question.

"...There will be three good-looking girls, yes."

"Count me in, then!" he said. "But don't expect a present, I never know what to get you; I don't know where to shop for stuck-up arses."

"Ha ha, very funny," I said sarcastically. "You don't have to get me a present. You'll never be able to top the present you gave me when we were thirteen, anyway."

"The lacy thong?" he asked. I could hear him grinning. "Have you used it?"

"Oh, yeah. Use it all the time. In fact, I'm wearing it right now."

"You sexy bastard."

...

The school-week was over. It had been harder than I had expected. It seems as if the teachers use everything in their power to torture their students before school is completely out. The give you a mediocre amount over the semester and then dump everything on us during the last few days. I suppose I should have been use to it but this isn't something you can prepare yourself for. I almost wanted to call my birthday party off because I was so exhausted but a little fun was something we all needed before our finals would begin.

Ben and Jane arrived first, followed by Charlie and then Charlotte. We had to wait a while before Richie came.

"I'm starving," Ben said while we waited. We were currently watching a documentary about birds in the city.

"Me too," said Charlotte. "When will your cousin get here?"

"I don't know," I said. "He said he'd be here at eight." It was now nearing nine.

"Can't we just start without him?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, at least order the pizza now so it will be ready when he comes," Ben said.

I ended up doing just that and we started watching The King's Speech, chosen by Ben.

"Colin Firth is the hottest man alive," Ben commented when we were about ten minutes into the movie.

"But he's so old," Charlotte said.

"Doesn't matter, he's sexy," Ben said. Then she turned to me and said quietly, "You kind of look like him, Will."

Surprised would not begin to describe how I felt at that moment. Ecstatic is more like. I gave her a brilliant smile and she smiled coyly.

The pizza arrived and Richie came shortly after. We had all begun to eat when he finally knocked.

"I'll get it," I said and left the living room. I opened the door to reveal my best friend/cousin. "Hey, Richie."

He shook my hand. "Happy birthday, bro."

I lead him to the group. I introduced him to them all; his eyes remained longer on Ben than I would have liked. He stole my seat and sat immediately down next to her, pulling her into a conversation.

"So, Ben is it?" he asked.

"Actually, it's Lizzy. Only Will calls me that," Ben said after swallowing her bite of pizza.

"Pleasure to meet you, Lizzy. I'm Richard, as he said before," he said. Then he gave her his infamous smile and I knew she was lost. She blushed becomingly and looked down at her food.

Damn that Richard.

I sulked as we watched the movie. Richard spent most of the time talking to Ben and, as hard as this was for me to admit, I was feeling a bit jealous. Charlotte was the only one that watched the movie, since Charlie was busy trying to talk to Jane. He was getting better at it; he only got tongue-tied a few times. Jane nodded her head and smiled but I wasn't sure whether or not she was actually listening to him. She used to be interested in him and a little shy around him too but after their date, I wasn't so sure. She might have liked the attention but gotten bored with him, or something.

"So, would you like to hang out sometime?" It was Richard's voice that interrupted my thoughts.

"Sure," was Ben's reply.

Then they exchanged phone numbers.

I may love my cousin in a way but at that moment I wanted nothing more than to strangle him.

The credits rolled and I reached for my empty glass.

"I'm going for a refill, anyone want me to get something?"

"Can you bring the soda?" Charlie asked.

"And maybe some chips, too," Richie said without looking up.

"And dip," Charlotte added.

I sighed and walked towards the kitchen. I poured some soda into my glass. I heard someone behind me picking up the bags of chips. It was Ben.

"Can't make the birthday boy do all the work," she explained.

"Thanks," I smiled and she smiled warmly back.

She put some chips into a bowl and I got the dip from the refrigerator. She was heading back towards the living room when I spoke up.

"Ben?"

She took a step back and turned to face me. "Yeah?"

I had no idea what I was going to say in the first place so I just stared at her awkwardly without saying a word.

"Nothing," I finally mumbled.

"Is something wrong?" she asked and put the things down.

"I'm fine."

She didn't look convinced.

"Is there something you want to talk about?"

"Yes... no."

"You know you can talk to me. We're friends, right? And friends share stuff. I mean, I don't want us to become some teenage soap opera but a few feeling related conversations are allowed."

I chuckled.

"It's just... Richie," I said quietly.

"What about him?"

"He's... I don't know. He has a 'reputation' of sorts... I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"Dude," she grabbed me by the shoulders, "I just met him tonight. You can relax."

I released the breath I was holding, secretly loving the way she touched me, and gave her a small smile.

She picked up the things she had put down and we walked together into the living room. Richie was now talking up Charlotte, who was blushing at every word. I looked at Ben to see if she felt jealousy but instead I caught her smirking.

"He's quite the charmer," she said quietly.

The rest of the evening was spent in pleasant conversation. Richie pulled Ben in the conversation he was having with Charlotte and Charlie stared at the wall while I talked to Jane. I didn't have the guts to ask her directly if she still liked Charlie so I just talked to her about the upcoming finals. I thought I might get the details about her and Charlie from Ben later.

Richard was the last to leave. He helped me clean up afterwards, and by 'help' I mean he stood in the corner talking while I did the cleaning.

"Charlotte's pretty hot," he said. "A little dull, though."

"She's not dull, she's just shy, I suppose. She's kind of funny when you get to know her."

Richard waved my comment off. "Lizzy is cute too, and very funny. She told me some interesting stories about the two of you."

"She talked about me?" I asked, surprised, ignoring the 'cute' comment.

He nodded. "From what I heard, I can't believe the two of you are actually friends."

"I've told you about her before," I pointed out.

Something seemed to dawn on him. "She's Bennie? The girl that stole your Pokémon collection? The one that beat you in WoW? The girl who you swore to hate but I could tell you admired?" He didn't wait for my replies.

"Yup, that's her."

"Wow... she sounds cool. A nerd, but cool."

"Yeah, she's pretty great," I said. He looked at me, trying to tell me something but it just wasn't getting through. "What?"

"Mind if I... you know."

I didn't like what he was suggesting by raising his eyebrows.

"Richie, I know your story and I don't like it. Please just stay away from her."

"Aw, little Willy's got a crush," he teased.

"Shut up, Richie!"

...

Now that my birthday was over and the last day of school was starting, I could finally focus on my final exams.

I had English with Ben and Charlotte before lunch. The teacher gave up teaching because everyone was too excited to go home so we were all free to talk. It was hard to miss Caroline's voice talking loudly to her posse about the summer trend and bikini diets. I mostly kept quiet and read a little for my first final but Charlotte and Ben were busy talking about Howie Dean. The guy in question was sitting a few seats away from us. I looked up when that discussion began but I wished I had stopped listening. My ears had a mind of their own.

"His shirt is a bit see-through," Ben commented. I would have groaned if I knew no one would have heard me.

"Yeah, you can see his muscles flexing underneath it," Charlotte said.

"He's really becoming buff."

"Mhm." Charlotte was practically drooling.

"It's a shame, he used to have such a nice body but now he's gone and ruined it by working too much out."

"What are you talking about? He's hot."

"Too big muscles aren't that attractive," Ben stated. "When I hug a guy I want him to be soft and cuddly, not rock hard and intimidating."

"Lizzy likes fat guys," Charlotte teased in a sing-song voice.

I wanted to go outside to the large tree I had been staring at during the entire exchange and bang my head against it until it would fall down from its roots.

After class, I removed myself from their company and tried to find Charlie. I found him at the library behind some stacks of books. His already big eyes were bulging out of his head and he had bitten most of his nails off. In short: he was nervous.

"Hey," I greeted. He barely looked up before burying his nose back into one of the books. "You alright?" I asked. He laughed a short hysterical laughter and mumbled something. I put my hand on his shoulder as a comforting touch but it didn't seem to work. "You know you're going to do well on your exams, don't worry so much."

"If I don't get into medical school I will never forgive myself," he said.

"You're just eighteen, dude. Relax."

"Says the one who has his first internship at the age of fifteen."

"Charles, how many times do I have to tell you? It's not an internship, alright? I'm usually just an assistant to actual lawyers."

"Po-tay-to, po-tah-to," he waved his hand.

I chuckled at him.

"Alright, you won't do something drastic if I were to leave?" I asked.

"What? Like slid my throat with these books? Believe me, I've tried, it doesn't work."

I slapped his shoulder once in a friendly manner before leaving. I went to the lunchroom and sat down with Ben and Charlotte. They were now talking about their upcoming exams so I thought it was safe for me to listen.

"I'm never going to pass Science; I don't understand anything," Ben said.

"Stop it, you've never failed a course before," Charlotte said.

"There's a first time for everything," Ben muttered.

I ended up offering to help, despite not being very good at Science myself. She gladly accepted.

When we walked home that day, I offered to start immediately since our first exam was Science.

"Right now?" she asked, eyebrows raised. I shrugged and nodded. "Do you have food?"

"Yup. I even have peanut butter and jelly, if that's of any interest."

"I'm there!"

We walked into my empty house and went straight into the kitchen. I prepared two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches which we ate at the kitchen table. At first we were silent until Ben started making faces.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"The silence is overbearing."

"So you're showing me your half-digested food?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Yup."

I averted my attention to my own sandwich to hide my smile. She was just too adorable sometimes. Kind of gross but in a cute way.

I know I've asked this quite often already but, um, review?