"Unh," Ren mumbled, when asked what she wanted to do that day.

She, Chris, Gordie, and Elizabeth were seated around a booth in the coffee shop that Zeke worked at. All of their eyes were rimmed with red and dragged down with dark circles. They weren't moving too quickly.

"We could play pool," Gordie suggested.

"I hate pool," Elizabeth grumbled. "We should just sleep."

Zeke came up to their table and sat next to his sister. Apparently he was on his break. "Hello. I'm going to shoot myself."

"You don't say," Elizabeth muttered, her head down on the table.

"Yes. This chick that just started working here, her name's Suzy, has totally been all flirty with me, and then so I go to ask her out and she's like 'No, you're the scum of the earth.'" He sighed dramatically. "I'm not SCUM." When all he got for a reply were blank, bleary stares, he decided to change the subject. "So, Lizzy, what did you and Gordie do after I kindly left you alone to do as you wished in your bedroom at two in the morning?"

Slowly, Elizabeth moved her head to stare at him. "I hate you."

"Why?"

Ren asked pleasantly, "Why was Gordie in your bedroom at two in the morning?"

"Ten bucks says they were having sex," Zeke said.

Elizabeth squawked. "Zeke! Shut up!"

Chris' eyebrows raised in concern. "I didn't think you were allowed to date, let alone do it with Gordie."

"Stop talking!" she cried.

"Okay, see, get this," Zeke began, shifting into story-mode. "I'm sleeping in Elizabeth's bed--not because my family is incestuous of course, but because I think I have cheese molding under my bed and it smells bad--and all of a sudden, I wake up, and here's Lachance sitting next to me on the bed, looking at me. Then he screamed, and then I did, and then we yelled for awhile, and my question was, exactly how often does he do that? I mean, sneaking in through my sister's window to come and sit on her bed and watch her sleep? That's the question."

"May I kill you?" Elizabeth asked.

"Look, I couldn't sleep!" Gordie exclaimed, blushing under the impressed stares from Ren and Chris. "I couldn't sleep and I was bored, so I decided to go bug Ellie. I didn't expect her brother to be in her room!"

"But soft, what light from yonder window breaks?" Ren giggled. "Blah blah blah, it's Gordie…um…Shakespeare terms…come to alight fair Elizabethan's…bed…with his…dagger!"

"You're such a freak," Chris laughed.

"Um, Chris?" Gordie said, looking at him sheepishly.

"Yeah?"

"I gotta tell you something that I should have told you a long time ago."

"You and Elizabeth are going out."

"Oh." Gordie smirked. "You know. Okay then."

"You knew?" Elizabeth cried.

Grinning, Ren patted her hand. "Elizabeth…it couldn't have been more clear than if you had written it in neon letters eight feet tall."

"How?"

"We figured it out," Ren said, shrugging.

Gordie yelled, "I TOLD YOU SHE WAS A SPY!"

Chris laughed. "Gordie, give it a rest. You two were so clingy and googly-eyed, it was pretty hard not to notice."

Suddenly, Zeke gasped. "Hold up, go back a few sentences. Elizabeth's going out with Lachance?"

"Oy," Chris muttered, burying his head in his hands.

Zeke just laughed. "Hahaha, wait until Dad finds out. Wait a minute, did you turn sixteen already?"

"Zeke, you will not tell him," Elizabeth snapped.

"Why not? I think that it would be funny and I'd laugh."

"I'll help you get with that Suzy girl."

"You? How?" he scoffed. "The best you could do is Gordie."

"Hey!" Gordie and Elizabeth both cried.

"Do you want my help or not?" Elizabeth demanded.

"It couldn't hurt."

"You gotta swear you won't tell Dad first."

"Fine, I swear to God I won't tell."

"Recite this poem to her." She cleared her throat theatrically. "'Who else could make my heart get all gooey, but you, my true love Suzy.'"

Ren, Chris, and Gordie all clapped. "This from a girl who's failing English," Chris said, impressed.

They decided to go to a movie. There was a Bridget Bardot flick playing, but Elizabeth wouldn't be able to get in, so they went to Born Free.

"Look what I can do," Gordie taunted, holding Elizabeth's hand tightly. "Ha."

"That's great, Gordie," Chris laughed.

Ren, who was sitting between Chris and Elizabeth, turned to her and whispered, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Shh," Gordie hissed. "There's a lion."

"What?"

"The movie's on!"

"Sorry!" She looked back at Elizabeth, smiling. "So? Why didn't you tell us?"

She shrugged, taking a drink of her coke. "Even though we weren't going out per se, Gordie and I have always kinda had to hide what we felt for each other, right? We've always been just friends, but at the same time, we were always more. So then it officially changed, and we're not used to letting people in on it. So we didn't say anything."

Ren just grinned. "You're so cute together."

Elizabeth giggled idiotically, unable to stop for a good sixty seconds. "Yes we are." She laughed delightedly for awhile longer. "Anyway, um, how serious are you and Chris?"

Sighing, Ren stole a glance at him. He was engulfed in the movie, every once in awhile grinning at the lion on the screen. Noticing her looking at him, he did a double take and then stared at her in confusion. "Do you want a sip of my drink?" he asked.

She smiled, shook her head, and closed her hand over his. "No thanks." Leaning over to talk to Elizabeth again, she whispered, "I really love him."

Elizabeth cackled elatedly. "Holy overload on cuteness, Batman!"

"Ellie," Gordie whispered. "You're missing the movie."

"Sorry!" She grinned at Ren. "Did you tell him?"

"That I love him? Are you crazy?"

"Not really!" she cried defensively.

"Listen," she said, barely audible. "Chris likes me, but he doesn't love me. I'm his girlfriend, and that's all. I have a feeling that he's going to break up with me before too long."

"Are you CRAZY?" she yelled.

"Elizabeth!" Gordie snapped.

"Why would he break up with you?" she demanded, back to being quite again.

"I don't know," she sighed. "I just know that he doesn't care about me as much as I care about him."

"That's bullshit!"

"No, it's really not."

"Bullshit!"

Chris glared over at Elizabeth. "Elizabeth, I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you don't shut the hell up."

"Sorry, you stupid insensitive stupid…head."

"Stop, you're breaking my heart." Lacing his fingers through Ren's, he whispered in her ear, "What are you two talking about that's so important? Elizabeth seems pissed off."

Ren caught herself just looking at him again, unable to look away. He was so differently strong and resplendent, and she knew she'd found the person she would always love, if only just the memory. Anyone else she would date, she would always compare with this boy, and she knew that no one would ever be as good as him. Just looking at him made her feel like crying. "Nothing, Chris," she murmured.