I apologize ahead of time that this author note is kind of long. Okay, so here's the deal. I realize that it's been forever since I last posted, but I've been panicked for a little while about the plot of this whole story. I re-read the chapters all the way through and was pretty much disgusted with how unorganized and choppy my chapters and thoughts were. And I'm a perfectionist, so if I don't think its good enough, it's hard to continue with. So here's what I've decided. I'm gonna keep on posting chapters, but you all sort of have to figure that these are almost like a collection of one-shots that, once I'm finished, or at least a while from now, I'll edit them and combine with other scenes to create a better blended, longer complete story. If that makes any sense :) Basically what I'm saying is that I greatly apologize that this fic is so rough, but that I'll make it much better once all of these scattered chapters are written, and I promise you'll all love it by the time it's all done! Hope that made some sense haha. Thanks to all of you for your endless support and reviews. Keep it up and enjoy!!!

Chapter twelve.

"Penny…are you and Seaweed...I mean, have you…"

Penny stared at Tracy, eyes wide. "Have we what?"

Tracy sighed. "Never mind."

Her friend shrugged, turning back to the history test retake. It was ironic that after missing it the first time, she still hadn't studied. The thought of the subject brought her back to why she hadn't taken it earlier. What had changed so much? One kiss that went a little farther than usual had sent her into a flurry of daydreams that made her feel more out of place than ever. But where normally she loved the individuality, this was a difference she would love to get rid of as soon as possible. Unless…maybe she was just behind. If Penny and Seaweed were, then maybe…

"Okay Pen. Here's the thing." Tracy glanced over as her history teacher continued to snore in the corner. "Have you and Seaweed…done anything?"

"Like what?"

Honestly, sometimes Penny's naivety was absolutely maddening.

"You know…I mean…" she lowered her voice. "How far have you gone with him?"

"Tracy!" Penny's jaw dropped. "That is private!"

"I know…sorry…it's just that-"

"Wait." Penny grabbed her arm. "You and Link. Have you two-"

"No! No, of course not." Tracy's face heated up. "I was just wondering about…about you and Seaweed…"

Penny pursed her lips, for a moment looking frighteningly like her mother before a slight smile took over and softened her features. "Well, not that it is your business, Tracy Turnblad, but we have not. I'm surprised you would even ask…it's much too soon!"

Tracy gave a slight nod and turned back to her desk.

There, she just spelled it out for you. It's too soon.

"It's too soon…" She whispered under her breath. She wasn't even sure that she wanted anything more. In fact, she didn't really know what she wanted. All she was aware of was that these feelings were coming on much too fast, and they were much too inappropriate.

Especially for school! She shook her head, looking at the test. And while you're trying to retake a test, nonetheless!

"Okay…History." Tracy sighed and lifted the paper. "Mesozoic Era…"

She felt something hit her foot. Turning down, she picked up the small wad of paper and carefully opened it.

"I love you."

She looked back to see Link, a sheepish smile on his face as he pretended to focus on the test in front of him.

God, he was adorable.

Tracy grinned and turned to her paper, starting to doodle. It was official. She couldn't focus any longer. She would be sure and blame him for distracting her later, not that she really cared anymore. Thinking about Link beat out school any day.

XXX

"So, the test retake…" Tracy murmured as she and Link walked out to the car after finishing with the show for the day.

"Yeah?" He grinned.

"I failed. I'm sure of it." She looked over at him, hoping selfishly that he would tell her the same thing…that he would confess he couldn't focus because of her.

"Well, we're probably in the same boat. Then again, I have a 3.8, so-"

Tracy stopped dead in her tracks. "What?!"

"What?" Link gave a gorgeous smile of mock innocence. "Didn't think I was that smart, did you?"

"Well, no…I mean, it's just that…well, you're…"

"Handsome? Cute? All yours?" Her cheeks turned pink for the fifth time that day. "Believe it or not darlin', but if I can get my mind off of you long enough to focus, I'm a pretty good student." He poked her nose playfully. "I guess you can add intelligence to my list of appealing traits, huh?"

Tracy swallowed her shock. "Oh…well, wow Link, that's great for you. As for me…" She hated thinking about grades. "Well, let's just say that passing half of my classes this year would take a miracle…in the past month they have significantly dropped. A lot." She sighed. "I guess plummeted is more the right word…"

"Why don't I tutor you, then?" Link stopped and looked at her as they reached the car. "I don't want your grades dropping because of me…" She eyed him suspiciously. "Honest! There's a math test on Friday, right? Let me help you. We'll just study, I promise. Nothing else."

"Oh no, that's not it." That's definitely not it. "I just…I don't know if…" She gulped as his blue eyes zeroed in on her own. "I don't know…if I could pay attention."

Link laughed, opening the car door. "What, you think I'll bore you to death? C'mon, give me some credit! At least I'm not as bad as Mr. Walker...I mean you won't fall asleep while I'm teaching, will you?" He chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. We'll work something out. No matter what, you'll do at least a little better with my help, right?"

Tracy sat down with a smile. "Right."

He had no idea.

XXX

"Ma'am, this meatloaf was absolutely delicious!" Link wiped his mouth as Tracy's mom lit up.

"Oh, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!"

"I sure did. Thank you so much for having me over."

"Well, it's not that wonderful." Edna Turnblad smiled, shyly waiting for another compliment.

Link took a deep breath, out of words. He glanced over at Tracy for help. "It was just great, ma. We both loved it. But we've gotta go study now."

"Sure you don't want some dessert?"

"No time. Sorry." Tracy grabbed Link's hand, pulling him to the stairs.

"TRACY!" Her daughter immediately stopped. "Door. Open." Edna ordered before heading to the kitchen.

"Sorry about my ma…I know she's a little intense, but-"

"I like her." Link grinned. "Things are much more interesting here than they are back home."

Tracy paused for a moment, trying to get up her nerves. "Link. When…when can I meet your family?"

Link looked up at her. "Soon. I promise." He smiled, taking a seat on the side of the bed. "Alright then, where's your math book?"

"Right." Tracy jumped up, heading to her closet. After ten minutes of digging, she found it in the back. "No wonder I never study, I can't even find my-" Her mind went blank. "Oh."

"You okay?"

She numbly nodded. Link Larkin is laying on my bed. Link. Larkin. On my bed.

Had she been more alert, she probably would have laughed. After all this time, the simplest things still got to her. Like the way her boyfriend was sprawled out casually, arms relaxed behind his head. On my bed. She could actually see the muscles flexing underneath his sweater.

"Trace?" He sat up, starting to become more concerned when she didn't answer.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine." She shook her head and took a seat beside him, stopping her mind from traveling any farther than the text book in front of her. "Here it is."

He opened to the index. "Okay, so the test is on…"

"Chapter Eighteen." Her heart skipped as she felt him rest one arm nonchalantly around her shoulder, the other hand flipping pages.

"Alright…this isn't too bad. You should pick it up pretty fast." He licked his thumb to turn to the next page, and Tracy blacked out for a minute. Next thing I know he'll start smoothing back his hair again…

"You sure you're okay?" Link stared as she let out another huge breath of air.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I'm-" She turned her head to face him dead on.

"Fine?" he asked with a warm smile, less than an inch away.

"Yes." she breathed.

"Good." He grinned, propping up the book with his free hand. "Okay, so this chapter focuses mainly on algebraic equations. I wouldn't worry too much about the word problems. Mr. Walker told us last week that he hates writing tests, so I doubt he'd take the time to plan out something that complex. What you should really understand is…" he glanced around the room for a minute before spotting what he needed on the nightstand beside her. Still keeping one arm behind her head, he leaned over to grab the pen. Tracy took a deep breath as his hair tickled her nose. He smelled. So. Good.

She felt the heat coming off of his body, the fabric of his sweater delicately brushing her blouse as he leaned on top of her.

"Wow."

"What?" He returned to his previous position, pen in hand.

"Oh. Oh…I just…realized…its Thursday. This week has gone by so fast." She stuttered. How pathetic.

"I know. I can barely keep up. Ever since you came around time is passing far too quickly for my liking. If I had my way, every minute with you would last for an hour." He shot her a big smile, completely unaware of the affect of his words.

Tracy just stared. The excuse had been terrible from the start, and there was no way she could build on it any more. Not to mention the fact that after catching one whiff of him, the smell was starting to permeate her thoughts. Like a mixture of Ultra clutch, citrus and spice…

"Trace?"

"Yeah, what?" She quickly jerked out of her thoughts to avoid further questioning.

Tracy watched as he twisted to the side, reaching into his back pocket. He might as well be laying on top of me, she thought as he once again found his way into her face. Pulling out a receipt from lunch, he unfolded it, resting back down. "Okay, see here…" He pulled the cap off the pen with his mouth, spitting it to the side to write out an equation. Tracy pretended that she didn't see the pen spitting and attempted to focus even harder than before. "See this? What would you do to this one?"

She blanked. "I would…uhm…well, I…is that a four or a nine?"

"It's a two, Trace."

"Oh, right. Right…well then…" She stopped talking when he positioned the pen in her grasp, wrapping his hands over the top of hers.

"First, you need to find common traits." He guided her to the paper, drawing lines between the similar numbers. "Got it?"

She nodded weakly, suddenly aware of his pulse, beating onto her hand in perfect rhythm.

"Okay…what do you do next?"

With a brief stroke of genius, she shakily began to add the numbers. "Good!" He grinned and, to her disappointment, took back his hand.

She hesitantly finished the equation. "Seventy three equals x?"

Link beamed. "Exactly! See, you haven't even fallen asleep yet!"

Yeah, like that's gonna happen. More like I haven't passed out yet…

"Okay, let's try another." She started to tuck a hair behind her ear but he beat her to it, carefully brushing it back off her face. "How about number eight?"

"Sure." She managed to gasp out. Why was he making this increasingly more difficult for her to bear? First with the bed lying, and then the hand holding, and now the hair sweeping…

"Trace?" It took her a moment to look over at his worried face.

"Huh."

"What's going on?"

"Huh?"

"What's going on?" He cupped her face in his hand. "You doing alright? You seem so…confused."

"Oh, well, I am." Stupid, stupid, stupid. The correct answer is 'no Link, I am not confused.' "I mean, because…I don't understand number eight."

"Oh. Okay, here." And then he reached over and grabbed her hand again to help her write it out. Of course.

This was going to be a long night.

XXX

Link strolled into the school building, stopping by the flagpole to pick a stray dandelion popping out of a crevice. It was ten minutes until final bell, meaning that half of the school hadn't even arrived yet. When he had gone to Tracy's front door to pick her up, Mr. Turnblad had said she went to school early, and told him to meet her there. He swallowed his fears as his mind immediately shot back to the last time she had 'gone to school early'. But that was over, they had worked things out…he took a deep breath and headed to her locker, daisy in hand.

He hoped that it didn't have to do with last night…she had seemed so strange…so distant. And even more frustrating was that she wouldn't share with him what was going on, but had rather sent him home at seven thirty, telling him they'd continue work later. He had tried for a kiss, but ended up with a soft press on the cheek. Hardly the kind of warm affection he would have been expecting after the other night. Not that he was really expecting anything…he felt ashamed for the way he had let things go the other night. The second her lips were on his it was hard to stay a gentleman, and he had almost let things go too far. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her away, especially since their last argument about his intentions. He was trying extra hard to stay as polite and courteous as possible. But god, did Trace ever make that hard. It seemed that everything she did the night before made him just want to kiss her even more…her confusion was too adorable. Still, something was wrong, and he intended to get to the bottom of it. Eventually.

His heart stopped for a moment and then started again, this time with a wild new rhythm.

There she was.

Looking more beautiful than ever as she attempted to carry a colossal stack of books and still have a hand to swing the locker door shut. He ran over, catching a few before they fell. "Mornin' beautiful."

"Good morning." She smiled as he shut the locker, taking most of the books off of her hands.

"Where we heading to?" Link bowed in to her lips, but Tracy looked down, so he settled for a soft kiss on the forehead.

"The library. I have to return all of these to Ms. Norman before bell or else they're overdue."

"Got it." Link stopped her for a moment, pulling the flower out of his suit pocket. "Here little darlin'." Balancing the books in one arm, he gently tucked the dandelion into her headband, kissing her cheek gently.

"Oh."

Boom.

At least ten books dropped out of her hands, crashing to the floor with a loud echo.

"Oh…" Tracy repeated for a moment, still staring at Link. "…Oh!" she dropped to the ground (and back to reality), scooping them up nervously. "We'd better hurry or I'll be late." And with that said, she started scooting along even faster than before, Link trailing close behind with ease. He couldn't help but be amused with the fact that while she hurriedly jogged down the hall, Link was keeping up with the slowest of walking paces.

"How're you doing since last night? You seemed a little distracted…"

"Oh, was I? Well I'm much better now, thanks."

Link frowned. Doubtful.

"Alright…after the show today, I'll come back over and we can keep on studying. With the test tomorrow, we don't want to waste any time."

"But-"

"Grades are important, Trace, and I want you to do well." He gave a firm nod as they reached the library door. Tracy dropped her books in the bin, and he followed suit.

She stared away for a moment, then sighed. "Okay."

Well. Not exactly the enthusiastic response he was hoping for, but Link would take anything at this point. "Okay, good." He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she looked down with a blush. Ducking out of his grasp, she quickly brushed past him. "I've gotta get to class, Link."

"Final bell hasn't even rung yet…"

"I know, but…I have to be there early today…" She turned back around, looking at him with a smile. "Sorry." Still blushing, she gave him a gentle pat on the chest before continuing on her way.

Link, if possible, was more confused than before. Why was she avoiding him?

He hoped that insisting on seeing her tonight wasn't making things worse. Slumping against the lockers, he grimly awaited the bell.

Tonight.

He hadn't kissed those lips for forty eight hours and it was starting to show, so by god something had better be changing soon.

XXX

Tracy focused on finishing the current problem, purposely keeping her gaze away from Link. And the fact that he was, once again, lying next to her.

Twirling his curl.

Focus.

"Forty two equals y."

"Okay, good! Try this one out." She sat up, staring at the page.

"Which one?"

Link quickly reached over to guide her. "Here." And there he was, touching her hand again. It felt good. Too good.

"Thirsty? How about some water?" Tracy jumped up, bolting out of the room.

"What?" Link followed behind as she headed to the kitchen.

"Time for a study break, I think. Don't you?" She bit her lip adorably. His heart melted. He wanted to kiss her so badly right then and there…

No. Focus.

"Sure…just a short one though. It's getting late, and we still haven't covered half of the material." He watched as Tracy filled two glasses with water, carefully handing one over. He reached out, closing his hand over hers. "Thanks." He slowly traced a finger down her arm.

Her reflexes immediately failed and the glass dropped to the floor, shattering into a few sharp shards. "Oh…oh Link, I'm so sorry." She crouched down, picking up the pieces.

"No, no let me. I don't want you getting cut." Link took the splintered pieces from her. "You're not hurt, are you?" He brushed her cheek gently.

"No, I'm fine." He stared at her, his finger starting to tingle just from touching her soft skin. "We should probably start studying again."

"Yeah. Yeah, of course." He agreed reluctantly, remembering his promise.

'We'll just study. Nothing else.'

Once again, Tracy jumped up and started running back up the stairs. Link hoped that the jumping wasn't becoming a habit. It was making it awfully hard for him to grab her and kiss her if she kept on running away.

No. No grabbing. No kissing. Focus.

Dropping the glass in the trash can, he walked up to see her resuming her study spot, book already open. "What should I work on next?" She said, eyes focused on a page.

Link crawled onto the bed beside her, lying closer than before. "Number ten." He whispered, placing a gentle hand on her knee to help support the book.

Tracy sprung into the air. "Y'know what? I actually think I've got this chapter down pretty good. In fact, I feel quite prepared for the test already! Maybe we should call it a night."

"What?"

She yawned dramatically. "Yeah…my ma will be wanting me to go to sleep soon anyways. I'm just so tired…"

"Trace…that's not how you look when you yawn."

"Is so!"

"Is not. I watch you yawn every day in History, and it looks nothing like that." He pulled her back down to sit next to him on the bed.

She smiled dreamily, her disguise disappearing for a moment. "You watch me in History?"

"Always. Now what's going on?"

"Nothing…"

He grabbed her chin in his hands, pulling her face up to his. "Hey. Talk to me. Remember? We tell each other when something's bothering us."

She bit her lip again.

Again? Could she possibly be making it any more difficult for him to stay centered on the problem at hand?

She gave a small smile, pulling out of his grasp. "Really Link, its nothing. I'm sorry, I do appreciate your help, I'm just a little tired. C'mon, I'll walk you to your car."

He squinted his eyes, starting at her with scrutiny. "Really?"

She turned around, walking out the bedroom door. "Really. C'mon." He reluctantly followed, taking her hand as she started down the hall. As they passed the living room, Link watched as Mr. and Mrs. Turnblad sat curled up on the couch, watching a late night television show, and put on his best charm.

"Goodnight sir…ma'am. Thank you so much again for dinner. It was just swell." Mr. Turnblad nodded in approval, and Mrs. Turnblad swiftly blushed. Mission accomplished.

The two stepped out into the warm night, a gentle breeze floating in the air. With only a month left until school got out, summer's quick approach was starting to reveal itself. Link led Tracy out to the car, finally stopping as he reached the door. She watched him nervously, and he frowned.

What was going on?

"Goodnight, darlin'. Sweet dreams." He smiled, casually leaning in for a kiss. Her face immediately transformed to the color of an overly ripe tomato. She carefully kissed him on the cheek, aware of the fact that every part of her being was quickly heating up with the close contact. She avoided the desire to push the kiss farther, and pulled back.

"Goodnight."

"You're sure you're alright, then?"

"Of course." She smiled reassuringly as he hopped into the car, unrolling the window.

"Absolutely sure?" Tracy gave him a look. The don't go there look.

Link could tell something was wrong, but decided not to push it. If it was important enough, she would talk to him in due time.

Tracy watched as he rolled away, emotions on absolute overload. All night she'd wanted to kiss him…to hold him…but she knew she shouldn't. Why? Because of the fact that the result would be exactly what she was feeling now. Desire…yearning…want…longing… No matter how she said it, it still came out sounding completely inappropriate.

"And of course he had to wait until right before leaving to do this, so it'll be keeping me up all night, wishing for things…things I should not be wishing for." She growled in frustration, slamming the front door shut. The most aggravating part of it was that it didn't seem like he was even half as much as enticed as she. Not that she really expected him to be, it's just that knowing that she was alone in her thoughts made the existence of them even harder to bear. Maybe I should just talk to him about it…

She had to laugh. Yeah, that wouldn't be awkward. Tracy was pretty sure that discussing her innermost desires about Link with Link would not be counted under the "telling him if there was ever anything wrong" category. It was so humiliating to think about the fact that just a few days ago, she had been upset with Link because she thought he was moving too fast. And now, all of the sudden, there he was acting like the perfect boyfriend, and all she wanted to do was jump on top of him and kiss him and…

Oh, dear. Thinking about what she wanted to do was only seeming to make it all worse…what was wrong with her? It didn't seem like any other couples at school had any uncontrollable urges…and she couldn't help but believe that Link was feeling cool and collected as usual. These inappropriate things crossing her mind had surely never even gotten near his…

She remembered his expression for a moment when she had pulled away from their last kiss. He looked so…disappointed. She knew that he wanted to know what was going on with her, and the fact that she wasn't talking was starting to create a rift between the two of them that would surely only get bigger with time.

So then hide it better, she thought. It's important to get these feelings under control…but in the meantime, you've got to stay a good girlfriend. If you're not going to tell him about it (which she most certainly wasn't), you can't let him see there's anything to tell.

With sudden determination, Tracy stomped up to her room, shutting the door to finalize the idea. She could control her feelings…her thoughts…she would just stop thinking about those things…like the way his hand slipped to her knee…the way he leaned on top of her to reach for a pen…the way his body, even when a room away, still radiated enough heat to boil water…things like that…

"Of course I can!" she said with resolve. She slipped under the covers, still able to smell him on the pillows. Taking a deep breath in, she drifted off into a world where keeping her cravings under control was no longer necessary.

And as embarrassed as she was to admit it, she liked it much better that way.

XXX

"Morning." Tracy hopped into the car.

"Morning…" Link looked over, inspecting her expression. She looked fairly normal. Well, normal for Tracy that is.

"How was your night?" He asked, pulling out.

"Oh, just fine. Yours?"

"Wonderful." He said with fake pleasantry. It had been terrible. He had been fighting the urge to drive back over and force her to kiss him goodnight until it was finally morning, and by then the gesture become fairly pointless. He missed holding her…but the last thing he wanted to do was make her unreadable fears even worse. Then again, she did seem much better…

Red light.

Link turned his gaze over to her and made a decision, leaning in to grab her lips. And then the frenzy returned. The blush quickly spread, and before he could inquire, the light turned.

"Link. Green." She said hesitantly, looking out the window.

"Right." He watched as her breathless appearance from the other night automatically returned. Taking one hand off the wheel and keeping eyes on the road, he reached over to grab her hand. Even out of his peripheral vision, there was no mistaking her response. She flinched.

"Did you just flinch?" he pulled into the school, turning off the car.

"What? No, of course not."

"Yes you did. You flinched." He actually felt hurt. As humiliating as it was to admit, his ego had been bruised for the first time. Ever.

"No I didn't." she said sternly. "Link, my hand twitched. There is a big difference between a twitch and a flinch. I didn't flinch."

"You flinched." He said, teeth clenched. "That was no twitch. For a moment, I thought you were back to normal, but apparently I was wrong." He shot a frustrated glance at her fire hydrant coloring. "Tracy. This is ridiculous. What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing." She softly replied.

"How am I supposed to help you get through this, if you don't even tell me what's going on?"

"I don't need help getting through this, Link. There is nothing you can do, so as far as you're concerned, nothing is wrong. Nothing, okay?"

She was almost starting to seem angry. Link's heart immediately dropped, and he quickly softened. He didn't want to lose her again. "Trace, please just tell me. Even if you don't think it's important, it might be to me."

"No." Tracy opened the door, and forced a smile. "Really, I'm okay. See you after school?" she gently shut the door, hurrying into the building before he could even get the car door open.

XXX

"Tracy! Phone!" Edna Turnblad stood at the bottom of the stairs, balancing the telephone on top of an enormous pile of laundry in her hands. Tracy walked to her window seat and picked up the receiver in her room, resting her head against the glass.

"Hello Penny, now is really not-"

"Hey, darlin'."

"Oh." She choked for a minute. Definitely not the person she was expecting. "Hi, Link!" she gasped out, forcing a smile on her face to lighten the tone of her voice. "How are you?"

"I'm…I'm good." She heard the pause on the line and fought back the impulse to pound her head against the window. He could tell that something was wrong. "I just…wanted to know how you did on the math test. We never really got the chance to talk…"

Tracy flinched as the words unsaid hung in the air. He had been a great teacher, but was sitting so close to her in math class that she could breathe him in whenever a small breeze carried through the room. And honestly, it was impossible to focus once the thought of him drifted into her imagination. She thought that she had done horribly, and was too ashamed to admit it after all of his hard efforts. And so she purposely hadn't brought it up. And he had noticed.

"I…think I did really…great. You were a great teacher…I'm sure I got a great grade."

"Great." He responded, clearing his throat. There was a prolonged silence in which either caller opened and closed their mouth, not sure of what to say. Link finally took a breath, forcing out the words on his mind. "I wanted to, y'know, check on you. You seemed pretty…scattered today…"

"Oh." Tracy collapsed on the window seat. He could tell. Apparently acting wasn't one of her fortes in comparison to dancing. "No, no I'm amazing. I just…I was just having a hard day, I guess."

"Oh. Okay." he swallowed hard, listening to her breathing for a moment. "It's just…if something was going on…I would want you to tell me…"

Tracy decided to cover her guilt with a laugh. She nervously giggled, feeling like a complete idiot and immediately cringing at the pathetic attempt to act normal. "What in the world would ever be going on?"

"Well…" she heard him suck in some air. "I mean…well, Trace, this morning…you flinched."

"I did not flinch!" she groaned. Of course I flinched. It wasn't like a bad flinch; but the moment his skin was against hers, her hand burst into flame. It was burning up, and when you've got a bolt of electricity frying up your insides, it's hard not to make some movement. "Link, of course I didn't flinch. Please let this go…I love that you're being so attentive, but really, I'm fine."

"Well…" she listened carefully, waiting for him to voice his defeat. "Alright then, I just wanted to check in." He still wasn't convinced…he knew it, and she knew it. But it would have to be good enough for tonight.

"Goodnight!" she said cheerily.

"Night, baby." he waited for her to hang up. She waited for him to hang up. After a while the two noticed their breathing and realized that neither had left the line.

"Trace?"

"Yeah, Link?" The happy mask was starting to peel off of her voice.

"Please…c'mon. This is killin' me."

"Link, you have nothing to worry about. Everything is perfectly fine, okay? Now get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"But-"

"Link."

"…Okay."

Tracy hung up the phone and nose-dived onto the bed, letting out a long groan. So she couldn't act. This was going to be a problem. She curled up in a tight ball, drifting to sleep before she even had time to consider pajamas.

XXX

Link pulled out of his driveway, heading over to Tracy's faster than ever. It seemed that the longer he was dating her, the less sleep he got.

What was going on?

He had to give her space…she didn't want to talk about it. Then again, the last time he didn't pressure her for an answer; it had almost cost them their relationship. There was no way he was ever losing her again.

Link shut the door as Tracy climbed inside. He mechanically placed his hands on the steering wheel and shot her a smile. "How are you doing?"

"Great." She grinned and tightened her grip on her bag.

He let out a noticeable sigh and pulled out into traffic, stomach twisting into knots. This felt almost like dating Amber…where neither one really cared about the other, but rather put on a plastic forefront to last through the day, exhausted by the time they could return home and lose the act. There was only one crushing difference with Tracy – he loved her more than the world.

"Uhm…" Tracy took a shallow breath and looked out her window to avoid eye contact. "I'm sorry…if I've seemed a little out of it lately. But its…it's really nothing. I just am having some thoughts…and I'm not sure what to do with them yet."

Link couldn't help but smile and breathe a sigh of relief. Progress. "What kind of thoughts, darlin'?"

She shrilly laughed. "Oh, nothing important. Just some things I have to think over, is all. Don't worry."

"But-"

"Don't worry."

And as soon as it had emerged, the progress was gone. Link's stomach sunk as he pulled into the lot. "Tracy…"

He saw the humiliated look on her face as she stared straight ahead. "Trace…you're scaring me." The smile that had been painted on her lips the entire trip started to tremble as he caught a shiny glint in her eye.

"Link, just let it go."

"I can't! This could be something terribly serious, and I don't even know if you would tell me!" he sounded so pathetic, whining complaints. It seemed like the day before all over again.

"It's not serious."

"It is to me." He looked at her for a long while, placing a hand on either shoulder. "Tell me now."

"I'll take the bus to rehearsal with Seaweed and Penny. Don't worry about giving me a ride."

"What?"

"They want to catch up with me anyways, it's been awhile. I'll see you at the station though, okay?"

"What? Tracy…"

She looked back at him, obviously torn. "I just don't know what to do. I'm trying. I really am. But you're making this way too hard on me, Link. You're just too perfect…" She said in a scared tone, quickly shutting the door and rushing inside.

XXX

Okee dokee…so there you all go! Still not as perfect as I want it to be, but as I said, all of this will be better put together once all of these chapters have been written and revised as a whole. Reviews are great :) + input on the direction of the plot. Thanks a bunch!

OH + for the record "For the Longest Time" is so good! When I put it in the story for Link to sing to Tracy, it was sort of just based off of the lyrics because I'd never actually heard the song. But I looked it up online and now it's always stuck in my head :)