"So what exactly is the problem here?" Jack asked, looking at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Somebody knows. Somebody knows about me and Lilly."

"I thought you weren't going to ask her out," Jack said, looking confused. I should've known that this was far too complex for him to understand.

"I wasn't. I'm not. Shut up. What I'm saying, is that somebody found out that I maybe like her, and I don't know what the hell to do about it. She came in to ask me if she could leave work early, and I hardly knew what to say to her! Asked her about that stupid parcel that you dropped in. Was that supposed to be funny, by the way? It wasn't. But anyway, somebody at the office knows, and I'm betting that it's probably someone with a big mouth, because otherwise they wouldn't be interested. Which means that there's a chance that they'll tell someone, who will tell someone, who will tell someone, who will tell Lilly," I said.

Jack still looked dubious. "Right. And what do you plan on doing about that?"

"Oh, I have a perfect plan. That's exactly why I'm sitting here asking for your advice, because I already have a foolproof idea. That makes a whole lot of sense," I said, highly sarcastically.

Jack looked at me. "Am I supposed to be helping you?"

"Why the hell did I even come to ask you for advice?" I sat back, and screwed my eyes shut. I had no idea why I even bothered. It wasn't like I was going to get any good help out of him anyway.

"I was asking myself the same question," Jack muttered, obviously not very happy at the fact that I didn't appreciate his un-helpful advice.

I opened my eyes, ready to say something back, when Rachel poked her head into the room, obviously wanting to see what all the fuss was about.

"What's the matter?"

Jack smiled at her. Apparently he's only in a mood with me. "Oliver's just stressing out about Lilly. Nothing big."

"Nothing big?" I hissed. "Have you been listening to me these past twenty minutes? Wait. Of course you haven't. It's you."

"What's the matter?" Rachel asked, and I raised my eyebrows. It's bad enough talking to Jack about this sort of stuff, but talking to Jack's wife? Who must be slightly insane to be able to put up with my brother? Yeah, I don't think so.

I shook my head and began to stand up. "It's nothing. I thought Jack might be able to help, but I obviously thought wrong."

"Oliver. Sit down, and let me help," Rachel smiled patronisingly as she sat down next to my brother, and put her head on his shoulder.

"With what?" I asked, but did as she said, folding my arms as I did so. Just to let her know that I wasn't happy about it.

Jack looked at me, and rolled his eyes. "He's freaking out because he thinks that someone at his office might know that he has a thing for Lilly. And that Lilly might know that he has a thing for Lilly. And that Lilly might know that somebody knows that he has a thing for Lilly. And that - "

"Will you just shut up?" I snapped. A confused Jack was never a good thing.

"She knows?" Rachel looked at me. "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

I groaned. "Do you seriously think I'm here for the fun of it? That I enjoy dropping in to visit my brother just to chat about things?"

"Sorry," Rachel laughed, and I almost pointed out how un-funny this was. She spoke again before I could say anything. "How do you know that she knows?"

"I don't. I know that somebody in my office knows, and have a feeling that the person that knows likes to gossip. Why else would they be interested in my life? And, if the person that knows is a gossip, then it can't be long before Lilly knows, right?" I said, trying to give Rachel some information that was actually true.

Rachel thought for a minute. "I guess so. And you want to know how you can stop it spreading before Lilly finds out about it? Is that what you want to do?"

"Yeah," I nodded, relieved that someone had finally got it. Even if Rachel was insane enough to want to spend the rest of her life with my idiot brother, she was still able to use her brain.

"You can't do it," she said after a minutes thought.

And I'd just complimented her! In my head, but still, I'd complimented her. Now she was giving me nothing.

"What?" I asked, hoping she was joking.

Rachel looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry Oliver, but there is no way that you're going to be able to do that. If this person is a huge gossip like you fear, chances are she's already told someone. You'd have to do some serious damage control; going around telling everyone that they've told that you don't like Lilly. And even then, they probably won't believe you."

"So what am I supposed to do then?" I asked, knowing what she was going to tell me. Not that I wanted to hear it. Maybe she'd have another option. I hope she has another option.

"Tell her," Rachel stated, as bluntly as possible.

I sat up, the shock still hitting me even though I knew what she was going to say. "Tell her what? What exactly am I supposed to tell her?"

"Everything," Jack said, although how he got the authority to tell me what to do, I don't know.

"No. I can't. No way. I am not about to go up to my secretary, and tell her that I've been hiding my secret love for her since we first talked," I said, shaking my head.

"Okay, can you say that again?" Jack gasped, looking surprised. "I mean this morning you just liked her. Now you love her? When did this happen?"

I looked at him, trying to think of some way to cover up what I'd just said. Nothing came to me.

"Well that's it. You have to tell her now. My god, and then you can get together, and then whenever I go to visit Mom and Dad, I won't have grandma asking me when you're planning on getting married!" Jack said, sounding excited. Why the heck was he excited?

I looked at him, narrowing my eyes. But, because he's Jack, he didn't pick up on this, because he is dense.

"You know, whenever I go to see our parents, grandma always asks when you're going to give her her first grandchild. At first I kept reminding her of Carter, but I got sick of it eventually. She always did like you best anyway. Yeah, but I kept having to tell her that you were a loser and didn't even have a girlfriend yet. But now I can tell her that you're in love with this girl, and that it shouldn't be long before she gets her grandchild. She'll be so happy, and I won't have to endure the questioning! I tell you something though Oliver, if she pops her clogs before you and Lilly pop out her wanted grandchild, she'll be poppin' mad in heaven. Or hell. Or wherever it is that she's headed," Jack rambled.

I just looked at him. "If I say that I'll tell her, will you shut up?"

"Nope," Jack shook his head. "I will only shut up when you tell her. Because anybody can say that they'll talk to someone, but it's harder to actually do it. So until I know that you have definitely told her, I shall keep talking about grandma and how you were always treated better by her. Now, you claim that it isn't your fault, but I think it's probably because when you did bad stuff, you never got caught. Well, you did, but I always got caught more. And then blamed. Whereas you just got told not to do it again, like you were mentally challenged or something - "

I got up, unable to listen to him talking rubbish anymore. Rachel got up too, and followed me out of the room.

"I think you should do it. And not for the reason that Jack suggested, because you know him. But purely because you both deserve it. She seemed like a great girl, and I think that you guys would be great together. Obviously you don't have to listen to me, but I think she'd rather hear the truth from you, than from some idiot personal assistant or whatever who thinks they know the whole story," Rachel said, leaning on the banister as I walked over to the door. "Just think about it, okay Oliver? And once you've decided you'll do it - which you'd better - go for it. Don't let it hang in the air. Just tell her."

I didn't say anything. Just forced a smile, and then walked out of the door and into the night. It had turned dark since I turned up at Jack's. How long had I been there?

Whatever. Like that mattered. I had more important things to worry about. Like the fact that they were both right.

I hate it when my brother's right. Almost as much as I hate being wrong.