.oOo.

Oh God.

He screwed up again. He screwed it up again. He had the radio playing at full blast as me mumbled to himself and texted Gwen at every stoplight. He dare not write any of this down, or tell Gwen. She said it herself – one more fuck-up and it's over.

Bridgette then texted him. Oh, God, what now? "I think i kno y i dont like goeff."

"not now im drivin"

Of course, the statement was hypocritical. He just didn't want to talk to her now.

School wasn't any better. Of course, everybody was in a cheery mood – school was out on Wednesday for winter break. When he got there, he talked to Gwen for a few moments in the hallway until she left to go to homeroom. Then, Bridgette approached him.

"Look," she sighed, and with a shuddering breath said, "I think I know why I don't like Geoff as much."

"Yeah?"he asked. "Why?"

She paused and whispered, "Because I think I like you."

He paused. Oh, no. Oh, shit, shit, shit, he really screwed up. "Oh…that's…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, you don't like me, you love Gwen. I heard all that bullshit before," she said. "I just wanted to let you know."

"Oh." He nodded, and she shrugged before leaving. He called after her, "Bridgette?"

She turned. "Yeah?"

"…don't break up with Geoff." He told her. She looked down at the tiled floor, and looked back up at him, nodding. "Okay. Thanks, Duncan."

"No problem." He shrugged, leaned against his locker to shut it, and skedaddled off to homeroom.

.oOo.

"This is so cool!"

I was in awe as Bridgette showed me the sunken boat. School was just released for winter break. Currently we were standing in two inches of water, and the scum at the bottom stuck to my flip flops, but I didn't care. This was cool.

"Yeah," she grinned, and started blushing. "Not to freak you out or convince you to like, burn this thing down or anything, but this is where Duncan and I kissed that once."

I paused. She had to bring it up. "No, it's fine. I'm over it. It was just a mistake."

"Yeah. A mistake." She then looked around, her eye locked on a glove box thing. I turned to her and smiled.

"Want to open it?" I asked.

"It's scummy." She said. "How do we open it?"

I shrugged, grabbed an oar, and jabbed the rusty thing open. We looked inside. There was nothing there. It didn't have to be cool, like a love letter from 1901 or the Heart of the Ocean or anything. I would've settled for corncob pipe – either way, it would technically be sunken treasure.

"It's just empty?" Bridgette asked.

"Well, that was a waste of time."

I then heard a car pull over on the bridge above, and a voice call, "What the hell are you two doing?"

I turned. Duncan was smiling looking down at us. "Duncan! Hey, hon!"

Bridgette quietly waved. I called, "Where are you going?"

"Your house," he responded. I supposed so, since there was nothing else in West Wildwood to do.

"Why? What were you planning on doing, sir?"

"Dropping off roses for you."

I blushed. "Aw! Really?"

"No." he snickered.

My smile faded. "Oh."

He started laughing. "Yeah, no, I didn't get you any flowers."

Bridgette called up, "We'll be up there in a minute."

She playfully added, "We'll race you to my house. You can pick her up there."

"You're on," he smiled, and hopped back in his car as we climbed over to the boat. Of course, Duncan was the clear winner, we knew that once we challenged him. When we got there, he was of course in the driveway.

I waved her goodbye, and climbed in his car. I looked back at Bridgette, who was already back in her house. She was quiet lately. It worried me. I mean, her and Geoff are doing fine…at least, I think they are.

I turned to Duncan and asked, "So where are you planning to take me?"

"Somewhere quiet," he said.

"How about that shitty beach with the crappy playground?" I offered.

"The one that probably has syringes lying around underneath the swing set?" (We believe that's where the druggies of the city hang out after dusk.)

"Yes, that one."

"Okay, sounds good."

I then pointed forward and exclaimed, "Onward!"

We drove to the beach and simply sat on the wet sand, looking out at the clear water. Of course, this was probably the cleanest part of the settlement – clean water, and lots of sea life, like crabs and all that.

It was so cliché. Yet so perfect. After some talking and kissing, we left and he stopped in front of my house. I looked at him for a moment, until we started gently kissing. I was half-expecting my dad to come out and spray the car with the hose to warn Duncan to stop gnawing at my face. To my relief, he didn't. However, afterwards, I whispered in his ear flirtatiously, "How about we go back to your place?"

He grinned and immediately started going back to his house. "My parents are out grocery shopping. We can stay upstairs all night if we're lucky."

"Nice," I smiled, and when we got home, we immediately rushed upstairs. "Awesome."

My night over was pleasant. Satin didn't come in, and didn't whine to, either. Sure, Duncan's parents called and offered dinner, but he just yelled at them, saying he wasn't hungry.

We kissed and had fucked and did all that delicious stuff until we simply fell asleep (door locked, because we're not stupid enough to leave it open).

I woke up at five o'clock in the morning. My dad left for his commute at six, so I decided I should go. I wrote a quick note:

Merry Christmas Eve, love! But seriously, I had to go at like, five in the morning. Ha. So don't think I abandoned you like a hooker or anything like in the movies. Love you for…ever? Yeah, ever. Talk to you later. –Gwen

I snuck out, and started walking home. Three-fourths of the way there, I stopped and looked forward, mortified. Holy shit.

I forgot my fucking bra at Duncan's. A few moments after, I shrugged it off. Meh, let the boy keep it.