A/N I can't stop writing! I think this bad boy might be finished in the next week or so! And it only took me seven years to finish it. ;)

Chapter 11

Shelby ripped open her door so violently, Remus was surprised it didn't go flying off the truck. She slammed it closed behind her with equal force. Remus barely had time to get in the truck before she was throwing it in gear and speeding off down the road. He quickly buckled his seatbelt. It was raining again, just as hard as before- big fat drops that soaked the windshield faster than the wipers could keep up with.

"Shelby, I-" he began.

"That asshole! Did you hear how he was talking about me? 'The Muggle'. He acted like I wasn't even in the room! AND HE WAS GOING TO ERASE MY MEMORY? Shouldn't there be laws against that?" she was full-on screaming, her hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.

"Shelbs, he didn't mean anyth-"

"You're defending him!" she shrieked, swerving on the road slightly. Remus gripped arm-rest and didn't answer.

"I understand now," she said, her voice breaking, "I understand everything. It's fine to be my friend when it's just you and I, but the minute we're with other people… other people like you, you're embarrassed of me!"

"What are you talking about, Shelby?" Remus asked, thoroughly bewildered.

"Don't play dumb!" she cried, "What other explanation is there? We're best mates back home, then when Sirius shows up, you act sullen and quiet, like I'm not even around. You didn't want to go to the party with me tonight, you never did! You don't want people knowing you've got a Muggle for a best friend! I'm such an idiot! I bought all of that stupid, soppy stuff you were saying earlier and you were lying to me. It all makes sense now," she was crying now, not even bothering to stop the tears that were freely streaming down her face.

"That's not true," he said helplessly, wanting to cry himself.

"You have another explanation?" she challenged, angrily dragging the back of her hand across her wet face, "Why else would you think it was so horrible to have to kiss me tonight?"

"Are you joking?" he exploded, "You think the reason I didn't want to kiss you tonight is because I'm embarrassed by you?"

"Yes," she sobbed, "And I was stupid enough before I came home from the States to think that this might actually be the summer that I was finally able to tell you how I felt about you… to tell you I was in love with you and to hopefully hear the same from you. But you don't even like me, do you Remus?"

Before Remus could unequivocally deny what she had said, a loud booming sound blasted throughout the truck cabin.

"What was that?" he asked, eyes widened as Shelby pulled off to the side of the road.

"Flat tire," she wept, "Could this night be any worse?"

The truck stopped and she laid her head on the steering wheel, crying. Instinctively Remus slid over in the seat and put his arm around her.

"Shelby," he said quietly.

"Please don't touch me," she said in a small voice, leaning out of his grasp and opening her door. She stepped out into the rainy night and slammed the door once more behind her. With a huge sigh, he watched her move to the bed of the truck and pull out a spare tire, and various other tools he couldn't identify.

He stepped out of the truck and met her on the other side, where she was apparently using one of the tools to lift one side of the truck off of the ground.

"Let me help you," he said loudly, over the noisy torrent of rain beating the ground as it fell.

"What would you know about changing a tire?" she shouted as a crash of thunder sounded.

"Nothing," he admitted, kneeling down beside her as she cranked the tool.

"Shelby," he said, wiping rain from his eyes, "The reason I didn't want to kiss you tonight-"

"Don't," she snapped, "I've been completely embarrassed enough for one night."

"No, listen to me!" he yelled, grabbing her arm. He pulled her to her feet and she looked up at him, and whether it was rain or tears streaming down her face, he couldn't tell.

"Shelby, I didn't want to kiss you tonight because… it just felt wrong. In all the times I ever imagined kissing you- and believe me, the thought has crossed my mind probably twenty times a day every day for at least the last five years- I never imagined it the way things were going tonight. Shelby… I…"

Lightning illuminated the ridiculous scene they found themselves enacting. The beat up old truck teetered helplessly on one side, they were both bedraggled looking, soaked to the bone, her hands were covered in grease from the tire tools. He hesitated for a brief moment before finally surrendering to the feelings he'd kept bottled up for years. Remus, for all his cool, reasonable calmness understood that it was now or never.

"Shelby… I'm in love with you. I always have been. Ever since we were kids. I meant every word I said to you tonight. You're smart and funny and beautiful and you're the only girl that I'll ever love. I'll love you as long as I live. And even though this isn't the way I imagined our first kiss either, I'll be damned if I don't kiss you now."

Before she could reply, he grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her fiercely. She was surprised at first, he could tell. He felt her body tensed up. Soon, however, she relaxed into him, returning his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. How long they stood that way, he couldn't have said. All that mattered was that he was kissing her and she was kissing him back.