"Damn, that was crazy, Kate." I was still getting my chuckles out.

"It's one of the craziest things I've ever done," Kate shook her head, "I would get into my whole self-discovery story, but I'm kind of hungry. How about you?"

"I don't know, is there a place to go to at this hour?"

I grabbed my phone and saw it was four AM.

"I brought some snacks in my bag. Just in case I was going to be home more than out."

"Oh," I raised my eyebrows, "Yeah, whatcha got?"

She jumped out of bed and laid her bag down, swiftly opening the front and letting it drop down. Under her neatly folded skirts were the same small boxes of cereal she gave me before.

"Do you want the same one?" She lifted up a blue box.

"Yes." I grabbed it out of her hand. I opened it right away and poured it into my mouth. Some of the cereal and sugar completely missed my mouth. She got back into bed again, opening her own box, and ate them one piece at a time.

"These taste so good at four in the morning." I already finished mine.

"They kind of do." She nodded, "Do you want another one?"

"No," I put my box aside on the table, "You should try to toss those into my mouth."

She chuckled slightly and then readied a Fruit Loop in her hand to throw. I got ready with my mouth hanging open and, as she threw them, they were hitting my forehead and being thrown past my head more than actually landing. The last one I actually chased for, diving backwards and slid off the bed. I landed on my back with a thud while I heard Kate laughing and gasping.

"Max, are you okay?"

I stood up quickly, hopping to my feet, "I meant to do that."

The pain was going to get to me in the morning. I rolled my shoulders back and got into bed again, watching her eat more of her cereal. I picked at the ones around me on the bed and ate them. She continued to eat, wordlessly and still one at a time, as if she was deep in thought.

"How about you?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, "What about me?"

"I told my story about my first time," she pointed at herself, then at me, "I want to hear what you have."

I clicked my tongue, "I don't have one. I've only kissed one person!"

"Who's that?"

I didn't answer at first. I thought about it as if she would find it weird that Chloe and I have kissed before. Then, I thought about it longer and it shouldn't be that weird! Kate was still friends with someone she went all the way with, so there was nothing strange about it.

"It was Chloe." I answered somewhat proudly.

"I thought you were going to say your ex-boyfriend."

"Nope, we never got that far. Was it worth it? I dunno, Rachel slapped me for it."

"Is that what she was talking about earlier?"

"Yup! She said she would forgive us if we let her hit us!"

"When did this happen?" She was amused. I could see it in her smile.

"It was raining a lot, so whenever that was. Plus, Rachel and Chloe were already together, so… that was messed up on my part."

"Because of a moment thing or what was it?"

"I think it was a moment thing? Okay, imagine, you're with someone outside playing in the rain. When she grabs you into a hug, there's this moment where you're looking into each other's eyes and then you just… kiss."

"I could tell you liked it very much." She poked at me.

"It wasn't worth it after being slapped by Rachel. You do not want that."

"I'll try not to get on her bad side."

"I have a feeling that you never will."

Kate finished her box of cereal and got out of bed to grab mine and threw it into the trash can inside the bathroom. She hopped back into the bed again, leaning over to get closer to me, leaning on her hands. "Do you like girls, Max?"

"Yeah, I hope you didn't think I only like dudes."

"You only ever talked about dating a boy, so forgive me for thinking you were."

"Nope, I like both. I would make a bi joke, but I have none."

She snickered slightly, "Let me know when you come up with one."

My mind started running and gears started going. I wish Rachel was here to give me one.

We both lied down again on our bed, turned towards each other. Kate was staring at something on me. I started to touch my lips and cheeks.

"Is there something on my face?"

"Just a little," she reached over, wipes away at the corners of my mouth, "Here. There was cereal on your face."

"Thanks," I bit my lip, thinking deeply on my question, "I would have never noticed."

"You're welcome," she pressed her lips together, "Can you… talk about when you started identifying as bi?"

"Sure, um, Rachel really helped me with that. Honestly, maybe Chloe also helped with that. Not because of the kiss, but just… her, in general? She's hella cool. To be honest, I didn't dwell on being bi or anything because I was around Rachel and Chloe all the time and they're the two gayest people on Earth. As for telling my parents, it was horrifying and I had to do it through Skype, but they took it pretty well. They even said they kinda knew already."

Kate nodded; she looked a little sad hearing it. I wonder what she has to say. If I make her cry again, I'm jumping out of this house. Not really, but I'll hate myself again.

I cleared my throat, "You mentioned earlier about the staying up late thing. Can you elaborate on that?"

"Well…" she released an exhausted sigh, "Give me a minute."

"Take all the time you need."

She reached her hand, stopping about halfway, and I held hers instantly. "I guess that and the whole self-discovery thing tie in together," She spoke again, more sorrowful, "I knew since I was really little, actually. It was so weird, because I always had crushes on girls but told myself I was jealous or every girl felt that way. When I started ninth grade and my parents kept trying to pair me up with "nice boys from next door" or "from our church" that took a toll on me. I acted like I liked them and wanted to talk to them. My parents got mad every time I turn them down or I admit that I never spoke to them again."

"Your parents are such assholes…"

"That's not even half of it. I started to really listen and pay attention to what everyone says and how they said it. Whenever gay people or anybody LGBT was mentioned, it was always so negative and hateful. It affected me to act like I wasn't crushing on every girl I saw. In high school, I didn't talk to anyone about it with anyone, but I self-diagnosed myself to…"

She tightened her grip around my hand. My heartbeat was getting faster and I gazed at her, waiting.

"What did you do?"

"I diagnosed myself as having depression. I was restless, I never wanted to eat, I was so slow and always apathetic, I lost interest in my hobbies… I still have insomnia and that's why I talked to people so late in the night. It's comforting…"

Kate started to sniffle and her eyes were watering. She was fluttering her eyes, blinking her tears out, gripping at her cardigan, but I didn't want her to act strong now. I pulled her in; now I was the one holding her to my chest. She stayed still before I felt her hands on my back.

"It wasn't just my family," her voice was hoarse again, "I got bullied a lot in middle school and I don't even know why. Everyone just disliked me… It was always about how I looked and a few even made fun of how I looked at other girls?"

She cried and whimpered into my chest, gripping my shirt in her fists. I avoided uttering another sound. Something in me told me that she never talks about this. It was justified, like she said, it was never easy talking about these things. Hearing her and seeing her like this; this was the most vulnerable a person could ever be.

"Kate, I had no idea…"

I can't imagine how much pain she was going through. I can't imagine the pain she has right now. She spoke to me at night because she was depressed. She feels that way nearly every night and looked to me to feel better.

She lifted her head off to clean her face, "Everyone's always fighting something, right?"

I never want to see her like this again. Ever.

"Did you ever see someone about this?"

"I never could," she spluttered, "I always feel bad whenever I call for help. Like, I'm only annoying everyone and that everyone is friends with me because they feel bad. With her, my friends… especially to you, you always tell me it's okay and I can't stop thinking that it's really not okay!"

"It really is okay! Kate, you have no clue how much I love talking to you and being around you. You always make my day better. I never want to be apart from you and I never want our conversations to end, because ever since I met you, my life has never been brighter."

I really couldn't be more indirect with my feelings than that. Chloe, I swear, I'm not in love with her!

She was quiet, but still sniffling. It gradually changed into a weak giggle. It was subtle and I didn't notice at first, but I couldn't help but muster a smirk.

"Are you sure you still think you're as smooth as sandpaper?"

"I'm pretty sure I still am."

She lifted her head again, using both hands to wipe her tears away and was beaming again, "You should reconsider it."

Outside the window, the sun was coming up. It was at the edge of the ocean, peeking out and turning the dark blue sky into purple and orange.

"You think they'll be back soon?" She asked me. She was coughing and still rubbing her eye.

"Of course, they should be back by now." I spun around and checked my phone. Alas, there was nothing.

I turned back and Kate was still lying on her side, facing towards me with a tired smile.

"Are you okay?" I reached, placing my hand on her side. She twitched the moment I touched her, backed up and pushed my hand away, and let out a very high-pitched giggle fit.

"Y-yes, I'm fine." She replied.

I was frozen in place at first, letting what happened process in my brain. When everything clicked together, a simper grew on my face and my eyes locked onto her torso.

"Max, no—"

I pounced on her, grabbing and playing with her sides, straddling her lap. I could feel her kicking her feet and she was trying her best to knock my hands away, but her lively giggles and the look of pure joy and excitement on her face were contagious and nice to see again after what we were talking about.

"M-Max, stop! I can't breathe!" She squealed in between breaths.

I thought I had the upper hand, but she used the strength she had to push me over and get on top of me. She gripped my wrists tightly and held them down above my head. I watched as she breathed heavily and got her last breathy chuckle out. I gulped and felt my mouth dry up. I was so overwhelmed by this whole situation: her on top of me, holding me down, while she's panting and sweating.

She lets out a sigh of relief and freed my arms from her grasp, "I win, never do that again."

I would reply, but all that came out was noise. We haven't broken eye contact yet. I was hypnotized and I was stuck back in her gorgeous hazel eyes, lost in the amber and green hues, and I couldn't seem to escape. I didn't want to. She was still for a moment, as if she was lost in me, too. We were still locked on as she leaned down, hovering above me.

I didn't know what I was thinking, but my first instinct was to grab at her cardigan to take it off. My intention was to make sure it was overheating, but the situation made it way more sexual. She didn't stop me. I could feel her breath. Our foreheads were touching and we were both obviously nervous. When it was half off, my eyes went down at the first thing I noticed was a scar. A scar going straight across her forearm. On both arms. Next, I was pulled closer, she pulled me by the shirt collar, a centimeter apart.

"Max! Kate! We're home!"

Kate jerked back and she snapped around to look out the door towards Chloe's voice. She hurriedly got off of me and fixing her jacket again. She turned to me, her cheeks were pink, and her eyes were wide. Wide like I saw something I wasn't supposed to see.

"Hello?! What the fuck are you guys doing?!" Chloe yelled again.

"Earth to Max and Kate!" Rachel hollered.

Kate ran out of the room, "Sorry, we were sleeping!"

I sighed in exasperation, making my bangs fly upwards. I need time to let that sink in.

"Hey Maxtropolis!" Chloe found me and jumped into bed, landing so hard I bounced up.

"Hey, how was your night?"

"It was hella awesome! Once we got back, we were in that crowd and dancing and jumping and the music was hella crazy! And you'll be proud of me for this, I didn't drink a single ass drop of beer! Or… maybe like one sip, but then I gave it to someone else! How are you feeling? You really scared the shit out of us."

I turned my head as I sighed in annoyance and confusion.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the fucking bed," her mood was down instantly, "What happened here?"

Dog, what do I say first? What was about to happen or what I saw? Kate was telling me about being honest, but she was hiding something too. The scars looked recent too.

"I–I don't know. We were talking about our problems and ourselves and next thing I knew, she was on top of me—"

"Bitch, are you serious?!"

"U–um, well—"

"Holy shit," Chloe pushed me down and then hit herself in the head, "I wish I could reverse time or some shit!"

"That would be helpful…" I rested on my arms.

Chloe gave me a bewildered look and was shaking her hands from all this gay information she had to comprehend. Incomprehensive mumbles and shocked eyes were all she was able to do. I shrugged my shoulders in embarrassment.

What do I do now? A moment like that happening, especially to me, will never happen again.

We heard from downstairs, "Oh, my god!"

Rachel sounded very surprised—hella surprised, actually. Chloe and I shot out of bed and ran to the railing, where we saw Rachel and Kate in almost the same position we were in earlier.

"Well, well, well," Chloe purred, "What do we have here?"

"You're not allowed to slap me!" Rachel pointed back at us.

"What—No fair!"

"Not like I was making out with her!"

I leaned over to Chloe, whispering, "Did you get hit again?"

"No, uh… She released her anger in a different way."

I didn't question it. There was a very clear pink blush on Kate's face, I could see it from where I was, and she looked too nervous. This was so weird.

I dunno what to do in this situation… I should just wait until she says something first! What the hell was this day?

Chloe dragged me back into my room again, letting out an annoyed sigh, "Dude, you need to do something about this!"

"What could I do? When you guys came, she left immediately."

"Again, you go up to her and just. Ask." She clapped my hands together. Again, she was making it sound so easy.

She was definitely angry that she couldn't intervene and do it for me, as much as it was needed and that she wanted. She must have noticed my discomfort and ruffled with my hair.

"We'll help you, okay?"