Ch. 19 Falling In or Out of Love?

Lilo was so tired from being up so late because of the dinner; that she slept through half of the day.

"Lilo, time to wake up," a voice softly stated.

She shifted in her bed as she mutters, "Not now."

"Lilo, wake up!" the voice exclaims.

Lilo groans as she turns over in her bed and puts the pillow around her head so she couldn't hear the annoying voice wake her. Soon the pillow was forceful pulled out and she knew what was coming.

"LILO!" the voice screams as she was shaken abruptly.

"What Nani?!" she yells sleepily.

"You slept most of the day away! Gus called three times for you, but I said you were too tired. Now, come on and get up!" Nani yells loudly.

"Fine... I'm up. I'll be down soon," Lilo tiredly stated.

Nani smiles after she leaves Lilo's room.

Few Minutes Later...

Lilo was downstairs wearing a ruby red t-shirt with jean shorts and treks to the kitchen as she hears the voicemails by Gus. She couldn't help but smile after each one. Lilo was giggling like a schoolgirl. Nani glances over and couldn't help but wonder about something.

She asks Lilo, "How is Gus these days?"

"He's great. Now I know how you felt with you and David. So this is love," Lilo answers.

"I don't know about that," Nani said.

"What do you mean?" Lilo asks her.

"Don't you think you rushed into this thing?" Nani pointed out.

"What?" Lilo asks confused.

"I'm just saying it could be puppy love, not real love," Nani replies.

"Then... If this isn't true love, what is?" Lilo asks intrigued about this conversation.

"Well... It's different for everyone. Like what happen with me when I was in high school, I thought I was in love with a guy named Inigo Hazari Nyklus."

"Inigo?" Lilo laughs.

"What? I thought I was in love with him. Though the nickname should have been enough for me," Nani retorted.

"What was the nickname?" Lilo asks.

"Inigo the Piggy-o," Nani had a smile on her face and so did Lilo, but soon it turn into laughter.

"How could you love a guy whose nickname was that?" Lilo asks in between laughs.

"Because of his gestures, this was when I didn't know David liked me. Also, cut me some slack. I was a teenager with no idea about love. I mean, cards with chocolates and a stuffed bears; he would even fill my locker with rose petals and love letters or poems. He was a romantic,"Nani commented.

"I never knew love, but I heard it from others," she added.

"Like what?" Lilo asks curiously.

Nani smiles widely, "Like how love makes you afraid. How it makes your heart race so much and then stops all at once, and how it makes your hands clammy and your head spins so fast. When you're in love, all you want to do is make the person you love smile all the time and make them happy. Sometimes you wish you didn't need to even breathe so you could kiss them all the time. You just want time to freeze at that moment and never want it to go forward. Love makes you want to curl up close to them at night and wake up next to them in the morning. You never want to be away from them. Love...Love makes you crazy. It can also make you very, very afraid."

"Wow. All that?" Lilo commented.

"More or less," Nani stated.

"So anyway, he would make many gifts and everyday was a different surprise. But, soon it was all too much. I...I told him off one day, but he wouldn't listen. Then, he started to harass me and that was when I told him. 'I don't love you anymore' but it just made things worse. One day, Inigo was waiting for me in front of my friend's car. He pressed me with my back against the other car. He was leaning up against me and I was so uncomfortable. It was obvious that he was hitting on me. People started to gather around us and looked back and forth between us. They started whispering quickly about the scene. Suddenly, he put his hand on my hip and started kissing my neck. I couldn't help but keep my mouth shut. Next, David came to my rescue. I remember some of them saying that they actually heard the gears in his brain firing. Others swear that a vein was about to pop from his forehead. But, no one would've thought that he would do what was coming next. David stormed pass the crowd until he arrived to us and with his left hand he pushed Inigo off me and with he right punched Inigo across the face so hard with such force it actually collided with the car. I remembered what David said to him in a deadly tone, 'Don't you DARE touch her ever again!' He then whipped around and pulled me away with him and took me to his car. Then he confessed his feelings for me and how he has loved me since we were in elementary school."

Flashback...

David was helping Nani feel better after what Inigo did to her; helped by trying to make her laugh or listening to her and giving her tissues. Nani and David were sitting in his car and she asks curiously, "Why did you do that? Why did you help me?"

"Because," David answers truthfully, "I love you. I couldn't let that jerk do what he pleases. I had to stop him from doing something to you. To hurt you."

"Thank you David," Nani said with a blush.

"So...you love me?" Nani asks questioningly.

"Yes. Yes, I do," David stated.

"I just….I can't believe this is happening. I love you, too….but I guess I was so scared of what you would think and didn't want to ruin our relationship. I've been so scared that if I told you, you'd hate me forever," Nani said truthfully.

"Really?" David said surprised, "Nani, I felt the same way. But, I realized one thing."

"What's that?" Nani asks.

"I could never hate you. No matter what, because I love you way too much," David said.

He laughs with a slight blush and Nani lightly chuckles.

"Why are you laughing?" David asks.

"Because, I never realize how cute you are and how you make me feel happy all the time," Nani said, "And you?"

"I-I never thought that this could happen. I've had these feelings for you for so long, and…..I never thought that you would ever feel the same about me. I've never been this happy either. It just s-seems too good to be real," he added.

"I know. But... you are the one for me. I know that line is corny, but...you mean a lot to me and what you did back there. Help make my love bloom. I guess I never thought it was possible to feel this much love," Nani said.

David smiled tenderly, and reached up to wipe away Nani's tears just like he had done before.

"It's real, baby," he whispered, "It's more real than anything else in the world. I love you, Nani Pelekai."

Nani smiled and sniffled again as another stray tear slid down her cheek. "I love you, too, David Kawena."

David inches close to her and kisses her on the lips. A smile tugged at Nani's lips, and she didn't hesitate to pull David in for a loving kiss. Their hearts fluttered as soon as their lips connected, and David couldn't help but sigh softly. Words could not describe how amazing it felt to finally have his true feelings out there and to know that Nani, the focus of all his desires, loved him back.

Their lips made a faint click as they parted the kiss, their faces just inches apart.

So, does this mean we're…..an item? Like...boyfriend and girlfriend?" David asked after several seconds of silence."Well, do you want us to be?" Nani asks.

"Only if you want us to be. I'd be proud to have you as my girlfriend." David answered with his usual loving smile.

"I'd love to have you as my boyfriend, too." Nani said as an absolutely adorable blush appeared on her cheeks.

Flashback ends...

"Yeah, love is something." Nani said after finished reminiscing the past.

"Wow, that was amazing what David did. And, I can't believe after that you realized you'd love him," Lilo stated.

"All I'm trying to say is this could be puppy love, that's all," Nani said.

Lilo looks down and was actually starting to think about it too.

Nani looks at her watch and sighs, "Great, I promised David I would meet up with him when he called and he hasn't called yet."

Nani stands up and goes to her room to change her clothes while Lilo slowly walks over to the living room; still pondering about what Nani said.

Ding-Dong!

The doorbell rang and Lilo went over to the open the door and as soon as she notices the boy with a green shirt with a dragon and brown khakis. Gus speaks happily, "Hey babe."

"His Gus," Lilo said slightly happy.

"Is this a bad time?" Gus asks, sensing Lilo's mood.

"No, please come on in. Come on," Lilo smiles.

Gus was about to kiss her and Lilo waited, but soon she turn to her cheek and Gus kisses it. Gus pulls back and Lilo said, "Sorry... I've a lot on my mind."

"Okay, we can talk inside then." Gus smiled.

Gus comes inside and both walk over to the couch.

"Mind telling me what's wrong?" Gus asks worriedly because of Lilo's withdrawn nature today.

"It's just... My sister told me a story about how she found love and... I don't know. I guess I'm over thinking it," Lilo said as she played with her fingers.

"Lilo, whatever doubts you feel. Let me make them disappear. I know we're young, but what I feel is true to you," Gus stated.

Gus turns Lilo's head and they found themselves just staring into each other's eyes. Without even thinking, Lilo leaned in and pressed her lips softly against Gus's. When she realized what she was doing, it was too late to stop; things were already set in motion.

'Something just seemed...off, though. About the whole thing. Something seemed out of place or missing when they kissed. It didn't make the experience any less enjoyable, because kissing Gus was okay; I just wanted to know what seemed to be missing. What could be missing from the kiss? What?What was missing? What could possibly be missing?'

"Whoa! Tone it down there, lovebirds!" Nani said as she rushes pass them as she gets ready to see David with her red and yellow striped t-shirt with blue jeans on. Both immediately separated and looked at Nani.

"Sorry, Nani. I didn't mean to make it look like that," Gus stated.

Lilo was standing idly still, thinking over what Nani had just said.

'Lovebirds.'

A chill went down her spine. 'Love. Love. How did I not see it before? That's what was missing!

...Love...with...'

"I gotta go," Nani shouted as she rushing out of the kitchen and out the back door.

Gus turns back to Lilo and kissed again, but was surprised when Lilo pulled away unexpectedly.

"Wait," she gasped, "W-we can't do this. It's wrong."

Before Gus could say anything, Lilo got up and was headed toward the door. The black haired boy quickly scrambled to his feet and went after her.

"Lilo, wait!" he said as he grabbed the her wrist and turned her around to press her back against the door.

He instantly loosened his grip a little when he saw the look on Lilo's face. The raven-haired girl actually looked scared, and that was the last thing Gus wanted her to feel right now.

"Please don't just walk away. Just take a second and think. How does it feel? Us standing here like this….me touching you…." he reached up to lightly slide his hand down Lilo's cheek, "…..the way I kissed you. How does all that feel?"

"It feels….wrong. It feels...so wrong. I-I don't know why," Lilo whispered.

"What do you mean?" Gus asks curiously.

Lilo was silent for several seconds. She looked surprised and confused and sad all at the same time. Gus wished so badly that he could know what was going on in the her head.

"What's wrong?" Gus finally asked.

Lilo sighs sadly, "I-I don't know. I-I never been in this position before. I just don't know."

Gus pulls himself off her and waits for her reason. She looked at Gus, who looked confused by what just happened; she didn't really want to do this.

But she had to.

"Gus...I...I don't think we...should do this," she gestured her finger between them, "anymore."

The look on Gus's face was enough to make her almost take it back.

"I...What?" Gus whispered, taking a step back, "I...Lilo, why? Wasn't...Wasn't everything going okay? Wasn't everything good?" he asked meekly, and Lilo took a deep, steadying breath.

"Gus...It's...It's not you, it's me. I just...I can't do it anymore. I can't do this anymore."

"...I...Okay." Gus mumbled. "I...I understand. Really, I do."

"Can...We still be friends then?" Gus asks sadly.

"Yeah," Lilo said somberly.

Both just stood there in silence and then Gus said breaking the awkwardness, "I...I guess I'll see you another time then?"

"Yeah," Lilo said.

She led him to the door and they said their goodbyes and then she closed the door. She puts her back to the door and slides down, she starts to think why she really fell in love with Gus. She pulls her knees up to her chest and rest her head on her knees.

'How could I have not seen it before? I thought for sure it was it, that it was there. That it was...Love! But now that the word was actually out in the open, I had to think about it. Did I truly love Gus? How did Nani describe love? Clammy hands. Fear. Kissing all the time. Curling up with them at night. But...I had all of those things and yet, I feel so empty inside.'

But now the word 'love' sent cold shivers of fear up and down her spine. She never remembered ever being this scared, not since the fear of losing Stitch. Nani's right. Love does make you afraid.

'Not even a tear fell. I don't feel sad about it. Did I really used Gus to help me get over Stitch? But, that's not me. Could it? No. I'm not that kind of person, I can't be. Then why? Why don't I feel a pinch in my heart or anything sad inside me?'

She releases a few tears; not because she's hurting but because she hurt Gus, but she doesn't feel a thing. No sadness, no regret from doing it. Nothing. She swiftly uses her arms to wipe away the few tears. She quickly walks over to a window and gazes the night sky in front of her, how all the stars in the sky seem to make the sky look like fireflies are flying around. She couldn't help but smile at the scenery before her; she was so lost in thought.

Meanwhile...

A black figure was near Lilo's house and stated lowly in his communicator, "Move up the plan! We need to in order to succeed! I don't care! Just move it!"

Another figure states, "Sir... If we act too rash, they might be able to suspect and then connect the pieces leading back to us."

"Then what do you think we should do?" the first figure asks impatiently.

"I don't know," the second stated in his communicator.

"I think we should make sure they don't suspect a thing," the voice stated.

The first figure smiles, "Ah... I know what you're talking about. Fine, we won't go onto the next phase until we make sure it is good to go."

The figure closes his device and glares at Lilo's house; to be more accurate, at Lilo. He speaks lowly, "Just wait... Lilo."

Back to Lilo...

Her eyes widen as she slowly looks around the room, "Hello?"

She noticed that something was different. A sudden chill had descended upon the room; the atmosphere changes dramatically making her skin react to the cool air. She felt the room get colder as if her body is warning her that danger is close to her and that should she leave. Run from where she was and stay running. She looks back to the window and then runs to Jumba's ship, hoping the feeling would go away. "Jumba! Stitch!"