Chapter 10

My clothes were rather casual. I was wearing plain jeans, a checkered shirt with a white t-shirt underneath and my beloved snickers. I completely forgot about my car being at the garage, and sighed as it was a bit far to walk, but there was nothing I could do about it.

A half hour later I knocked on Kyle's door, but it wasn't him who opened for me. As soon as Ben saw it was me, he began smirking rather annoyingly.

"Hello, lovely. Miss me already?" he asked nonchalantly and I rolled my eyes.

"Actually I forgot you were even here" I mocked and wished he would just let me in. He filled the whole doorway the way he stood with one arm resting on the doorframe. If I wanted to move past him, without him moving, I would have to duck under his arm and I didn't want to get that close to him.

"You're lucky. I still have a hard time just ignoring his presence" Kyle commented dryly and I felt my mouth creep up in a smile.

"Where would the fun be in that?" Ben said smugly and dropped his arm, so that I could come in, but he didn't move, which – unfortunately – closed the distance between us drastically. I didn't even glance in his direction as I moved past him.

"Did you hear something, Kyle, or is it just me imagining things?" I said a bit childishly as I pretended his older brother wasn't there. Kyle smiled as said brother closed the door behind me.

"Very funny. Now go play, kids" Ben shot back with a smirk.

"They're in the living room" Kyle said and led me into his apartment. The 'living room' shared the same four walls as the kitchen and the table where I ate breakfast last time I was here. It consisted of two comfy-looking couches and a big flat screen, which was currently used by Logan, Timmy and Winston who seemed to be playing some sort of race-game on Kyle's play station. I wasn't quite sure which game it was, but it could easily be need for speed.

Sarah stood up from her seat next to Josh in one of the couches and immediately gave me a hug like the one she gave me earlier today. Josh waved with a smile, not standing up from his seat, and the three others simply nodded in acknowledgment.

"Finally another female" Sarah said happily and I faked surprise.

"What? You don't count Ben in?"

"No, they can keep him on the male side" Sarah joked along and we giggled. God, it was good to relax and joke around like this. I could really see me as friends with these guys. It just felt… natural to be with them. Not like when I was with Charlie's friends, where I constantly felt on edge and uncomfortable.

"Cocky, much?" Ben asked from his place near the refrigerator. Sarah put her arm around my shoulder.

"No, just one of us" she said with a cocky smile.

Ben looked very patronizing all of a sudden and with his comment the mood changed drastically. The boys even paused their game even though they didn't turn around to look at him.

"That little doll will never be one of us" he almost spat, but then seemed to get a mood swing, as he smirked like before. The way he said 'doll' made it sound like I was weak or… exposable, like I wasn't a person, but an object that could easily be replaced. I didn't know what that guy thought of me, but even as I didn't really care about what he thought about me, I absolutely loathed being called weak.

"But that doesn't mean you can't go ahead and play with her for the time being. She is rather lovely to look at" and with that he left. Oh, you better run, you prick. What the hell was that about? And why did everybody seem to freeze like that?

"Don't listen to him, Cailyn. He's an ass" Kyle said angrily, but it was clear that his anger was towards his brother.

"Yeah, he has never been a people-person and I wouldn't take him seriously" Timmy pointed out. He gave me a reassuring smile, but it still felt a bit awkward.

"Oh really, I didn't realize. He hides it so well" I said in my most sarcastic and sweetly innocent tone.

"Yeah, well" Sarah said with a shrug, barely keeping herself from laughing. Kyle was the first one to crack and soon we all burst into laughter. It wasn't even that funny, it was just a result of letting go of the tension and awkwardness.

"Let's pop in a movie, before I die from boredom" Josh then sighed, annoyed with the awkwardness Ben had caused.

"What a loss" Winston smirked mockingly, but Josh simply waved away his comment with a smile.

"And what do you propose we watch? Remember last time, you wanted to watch a movie with all of us here?" Kyle reminded his friend which made Timmy and Logan laugh lightly.

"It took hours before we could agree on one movie" Logan said.

"Yeah, but remember how good that movie was" Josh tried happily ignoring his friends objections. I smiled as their small bickering continued. Soon Kyle pulled out of the arguments with his hands raised in surrender and walking towards the kitchen, giving the excuse of having to find something to drink and some snacks for everyone. I took advantage of the situation by following him.

When I got into his kitchen, he had already put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and has started to find some bowls.

"Need any help?" I offered and stood beside him. He smiled boyishly down to me and I couldn't help but smile back at him.

"You can fill this…" he handed me a bowl as he spoke.

"… with this" and he gave me a back of chips. After a few moments we had spent in silence, with him stealing small glances at me, and opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, I teasingly said:

"You know, you look like a goldfish if you keep doing that"

"What a sexy goldfish I am" he said, looking high and mighty, which caused me to smack him on his arm and he laughed.

"Even if my stupid brother makes you feel otherwise… you should know that you're always welcome here and…" his hand went to his neck and he looked me in the eyes with a shy smile that made my heart flutter in an alien way.

"I think I can speak for the rest of the guys when I say, that we all enjoy hanging out with you" he finished, clearly not used to talking of stuff like that. I smiled happily.

"Likewise. And don't worry about your brother being rude, I'm used to it" I told him and considered, before standing on my toes and giving him a light peck on the cheek.

"But thanks. I appreciate you telling me this" I whispered softly and looked him in the eyes. He blinked a couple of times before smirking shyly.

"You're welcome"

A/U

Thanks a lot for reading and for responding to my fanfic – in a rewiew and so ^-^

Sorry for uploading a bit late. It wasn't planned, but I have been on vacation and was without my beloved laptop, but hopefully I will upload chapters more frequently in the future.