Ruthie POV

When we pulled apart, Martin smiled at me before saying "I love you. I've probably loved you for a while but... well I am stubborn"

"Don't I know it" I quipped as I rolled my eyes and Martin pretended to be offended. We stepped away from one another and took a seat on the couch, a few feet apart from one another.

I had to laugh at the picture we made. A few weeks ago, we would have been practically sitting in one another's lap and now we were acting like strangers.

Martin cleared his throat and then said "We should talk"

"Hmm, I remember those words led me to insomnia two weeks ago" I replied as Martin smiled in response before continuing "Well now that we are aware of our feelings towards one another, we should probably decide what to do"

"What do we need to decide upon? You love me and I love you, so we start dating" I replied as Martin laughed before replying "If only it was that simple. Hanging out and dating is two entirely different things"

"How so?" I countered before continuing "we will still hang out and do homework and watch movies..."

"And kiss" Martin loudly interrupted me as he stood up and began pacing before continuing "we'll make out and it will become harder and harder to stop"

"Martin I think you are overreacting. I have made out with guys before and really it's not that big of a deal to stop" I replied as I looked at him. He stopped and said "Oh really?"

"Yes really" I replied

"So kissing me will be the same as the other guys you went out with?"

"Yes"

"Should we test your theory out?" he suggested a dangerous glint in his eye as he stalked over to the couch and pulled me up before placing his arms around my waist.

"Don't you think it's kind of early to start kissing?" I feebly asked as my heart started pounding wildly and Martin smirked "I'm testing your theory. If we have nothing to worry about then it will be smooth sailing until we decide what to do next"

"What to do next?" I asked as I wrinkled my nose before continuing "That sounds ominous. Are you expecting us to break up at some point?"

"I'm not sure, who knows?" Martin replied before stepping closer to me and I said "Brewer step away from me. You are crowding my personal space"

Martin simply grinned before descending on me. As soon as our lips touched, there was a spark and my heart stopped for a moment before speeding up and then just as I got use to the crazy stiletto beats of my heart, I felt Martin's tongue gently asking for entrance and as I allowed it, a low groan came from Martin, who opened his eyes in shock before stepping away from me.

I loudly protested as he looked at me and smiled. "Can we do that every time?" I asked him with a grin as he automatically replied "I sure hope so" before shaking his head and saying "No, that's the point I was trying to make. We can't do that every time or we may end up doing something we will regret"

I looked at him and nodded as I tried to concentrate on the matter at hand but it was really hard when he looked so rumpled and adorable. Who would have thought that he was such a great kisser? Well he does look like a great kisser and his lips are very…kissable however; he always has that air of responsibility…….

"Ruthie? Are you listening to me?"

I nodded slowly and asked "So no kissing?" as I pouted at the thought of not being able to experience that thrilling feeling excitement on a regular basis.

"Well...uh..." Martin began as I said "We can't date and not kiss"

"Why not?" he asked as I looked at him in surprise and he began laughing before relenting "alright we'll take it day by day and figure it out. Maybe we can kiss on special occasions and on regular days just stick to kissing each other on the cheek"

"Okay" I agreed as I gave him a hug and promptly stood on my tiptoes to kiss him on the lips which began another delicious bout of warm fuzzy feelings.

When we finally pulled apart I looked Martin in the eye and said "one more request"

"Name it"

"Let's keep this development to ourselves for a while, deal?"

"How long is for a while?" he asked as he frowned slightly

"I'm not sure, a couple of months?"

"Months! Ruthie, your dad only has about nine months left; I don't want to lie to him"

"Are you counting? That's totally morbid and wrong! Besides who's to say that he won't die at all. He seems to be doing better. We need time to figure everything out. I refuse to let my dad know we are dating and have him die thinking that his little girl is all taken care of and then you dump me. Then I will be all alone without my dad and without you"

"What?" Martin asked clearly aghast

"Don't pretend like you don't have a clue on what I'm talking about. I know my dad had the 'talk' with you"

"What's with the quotation marks" Martin asked me smirking as I punched him in the arm and said "Don't be a jerk right now. I am being serious"

"Okay, sorry. So we will keep it a secret for a couple of months."

"Thanks" I said and gave him a hug as he hugged me back and asked "so are you staying for dinner?"

"Sure" I replied happily taking a seat as Martin stepped away from me and went into the kitchen.

After dinner, we sat down on the couch and Martin turned the TV on while I curled up right next to him, before he placed his arm around me. We stayed like that for the first hour of a movie that was playing before he said "So... are we dating exclusively or just dating?"

"I don't know" I said a bit impatiently as I turned my attention back to the movie.

"Well we should probably decide on that soon, don't you think?"

"What difference does it make?" I asked him as he turned to look at me and replied "a big difference. If we are keeping this a secret from your dad then we should probably not be exclusive."

"Why not?" I asked as I winced inwardly at the petulant tone of my voice.

"Because I said so" Martin replied as I grumbled "that's real mature Brewer"

The next two months passed with out any problems and for the most part I think we were able to fool most of my family. We would have dinner most nights with my family and on the weekends would have dinner with each other.

I made sure that I didn't stay over every night and we usually invited Sandy and Simon out for some sort of game night once a week. Of course the first time we tried that, Martin and Sandy got into a nasty fight that we had to actually separate them. I think that was when I finally realized that Martin had been really hurt by Sandy's lies and was going to most likely never like her.

The non exclusive dating thing wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I went out with a couple of guys from school to keep my parents from being suspicious and fortunately Martin didn't seem to mind since he was so busy with school, baseball, and work.

On most nights that I went out on my 'dates' I ended up at Martin's, where I would describe the night and then we would just hang out and relax. Those were the times I enjoyed the most, because on those nights either from worry or jealousy, Martin and I would end up discussing our hopes and dreams and our future, together as a couple.

Even though it was not very often, on those nights he would forget his ridiculous notions on kissing and take me in his arms and kiss me, and in every kiss there seemed to be an unspoken promise of being together for the rest of our lives. Of course everything would change in the morning and Martin would go back to being the responsible, steadfast guy that everyone loved and I would pinch myself and wondered if it had really happened.

That evening we were at my parents having dinner and I had invited Noah to come along since I hadn't really spent any time with him outside of the studio. Noah was currently seeing some girl that he had met at the market and she seemed very sweet and perfect for him. He spent most of the night talking about her to me and asking for advice.

Dinner had gone by without a hitch and we were in the dessert portion of the meal and Noah and I were sitting side by side on the couch discussing graduation and my plans. I felt sleepy, content, and happy. Of course that was probably because Noah was running his hands through my hair and everyone who knew me, knew that running their hands through my hair was my weakness. I think Noah was doing this because he knew that tonight I had made the decision that I would tell my parents about Martin and I.

I looked over at Martin and noticed that his fists were clenched but then I glanced around and noticed that Sandy and Aaron was there with Simon, so I didn't really think any thing of it. Yesterday at our apartment, Martin had come over for dinner and Sandy was there and he had gone ballistic because I had failed to mention this to him when I had invited him over. It was all very ugly and ended with us going out to eat instead of staying home.

Martin POV

I watched as Noah ran his grubby hands through Ruth's curly locks and nobody seemed to care that their youngest daughter was practically in his lap. I couldn't believe my girlfriend was so fickle that she would allow some other guy to touch her, especially the very same guy that seemed to be in love with her.

"Well" said the voice in my head "she really isn't your girlfriend. Remember you told her that you two should be non exclusive. So it's not her fault if she is flirting with another guy. She's not really yours. Not until you tell her that you want to be exclusive. Once that is done, you will have every right to beat Noah to a bloody pulp.

I looked over to see Sandy watching me as I tried to refrain from rolling my eyes. She had unsuccessfully tried to speak to me again at dinner and I had ignored her again. When was she going to get the point that I wasn't going to speak to her? Wasn't last night's fiasco enough?

I finally decided to walk over to Noah and Ruthie when I saw him whisper something in her ear and she laughed out loud.

"Hey" I said as I approached them

"Hey Martin" Noah said smiling as Ruthie also smiled at me

"Ruthie, may I speak to you in private?" I asked her as she looked at me carefully before replying "Sure Martin. Noah, please excuse us" and stood up as we walked into the kitchen.

"So what's the problem?" she asked me as she leaned against the counter and looked up at me.

"What's the problem? The problem is Noah and his hands" I replied a bit loudly.

"Will you please lower your voice before everyone comes in to investigate" Ruthie admonished as she looked at me.

"I changed my mind" I said as she asked "about what?"

"About us"

"Oh, Okay" she replied softly as she lowered her head a bit and I asked her "So are we in agreement?"

"Sure if that's what you want" she replied bitterly as she choked back some tears and I stared at her aghast. I thought she loved me, why was she crying?

"Why are you crying? I thought this was what you wanted?" I finally asked her as she looked up at me, her nose red and her eyes shiny from her tears as she replied "What I wanted? I just want to be with you, in any way, shape or form."

"Well me too," I replied loudly as I pulled her into a hug before continuing "I just want you to myself, exclusively. If we are going to do this then let's do it the right way. Okay?"

I felt Ruthie's nod before she lifted her head and I bent down to kiss her gently on the lips. Of course the gentle kiss turned into a more passionate one as I held her closer to me and lifeted her onto the counter where she slipped her arms around my neck and murmured her approval. See this was our problem. When ever we kissed each other we seemed to lose time of our surroundings.

When we pulled apart we heard a wry voice say "well it seems as though my prayers have been answered" We looked over to see Rev. Camden staring at us with a trace of sternness and amusement on his face. Great I thought as Ruthie squeaked and slipped off the counter falling on her backside.