A/N: Hey!! I'm back! Hehe. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a really long time, I've just been swamped with work and getting used to my new school, etc. Anyways, if anyone can tell me how to fix the problem on Ch. 9 I'd really appreciate it. I don't know what happened to the format, and I don't know how to fix it.

Here goes.

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Chapter 10: Steps: Up or Down?

Liz stepped into the Craft house. She looked around the already familiar mansion-like house. She had been here numerous times, but never to do something like this.  The blonde had avoided coming here for about the last month, because the house held too many memories. She slowly walked over to the stair case, in complete silence. She ran her hand over the deep wood railing soaking in how much she loved this house. With every speck of will she had in her body, she made her way up the stairs.

Upstairs, Anthony was still in his room with rock music blaring at the top of his stereo speakers. Anthony hoped the music would drown out the sound of the voices in his head. It wasn't working too well. He got up to leave, with no clue where to go.

Meanwhile, Liz had finished walking up the stairs and was hesitating whether she should open the door to his room or not. *No, I shouldn't. It was a bad idea to come here. It was all a big mistake.* She reached over to touch the door handle anyway. She was about to open the wooden door, but it was opened from the inside first.

"Liz?" asked Anthony totally bewildered. "What are you doing here??"

Lizzie was shocked too, but she just said, "I needed to talk to you."

Regaining his rage, Anthony spat, "No, I'm through talking. I don't need you to come and scream at me anymore. I-"

"Just shut up for a second." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she reached over with courage that she didn't know she had and forcefully kissed Anthony. Needless to say, Anthony was totally taken aback, but he had needed this for a long time and eagerly kissed her back. Liz managed to push him back onto his bed, where her hands began roaming his chiseled body, while continuing to kiss him. Anthony, being a guy, easily went along with this. But at some point, he pulled away and said, "Liz, Lizzie stop. It's not right."

Liz looked a mixture of hurt and ashamed. She sat up on the bed and said, "Yeah, I guess I went too far. I'm sorry. I just wanted you to realize that I really do love you; it was just too hard after what happened. "

"That's the whole point," explained Anthony as he put on a shirt. "You can't love me, and I can't love you because we clearly don't know each other well enough."

"Yes we do!" protested Liz.

"You obviously don't know me very much. If you did, you'd know that I would never cheat on you, and much less with a skank like Claire."

Outside, rain began to fall and it began to get really cold. "I know I was wrong, but I made a mistake. I just couldn't deal with you replacing me with Claire some day." Liz wrapped her arms around herself to keep herself warm.

"And why the hell would I do that? That's what you don't get. I don't, never have, and never will like Claire. I told you that and you still didn't believe me. Maybe all of this was a mistake. Maybe we were just acting out of lust or something. We didn't know each other enough to start dating so quickly."

Liz looked out the window at the backyard. The place they met, were they had their first kiss, and where she really felt a connection with him. And now, it would the place where it all would end. "Yeah, you're right. But just so you know, I lied that day at the park. I really did trust you a lot and I felt like I had known you all my life. You had become one of my best friends." She almost whispered the last part.

Anthony looked down at the floor. "Where was all this a month ago?" he whispered. Then he spoke up, "Then maybe that's what we should be for a while: friends."

"And," Lizzie continued, "I just want you to know that I was tired of pretending I didn't love you. Because I really do, and maybe I will for a long time. But if you want to be friends for now, I'll be friends. Still, that won't erase my feelings." Liz walked up to him and hugged his 6 foot frame.

"I loved you too, but I think we need to for a while," he whispered back.

By now it was pouring outside. Lighting tore across the sky, with thunder following it. Liz had always disliked driving in the rain, and she was terrified of thunderstorms.

The two were still hugging when the phone rang. Anthony reached over and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey. It's Ethan."

"No shit, Sherlock." Anthony joked.

"Whatever, it's just so you know that I'm gonna stay over at Miranda's house, cause I really don't feel like driving in this weather, so you've got the house to yourself."

"Oh, ok. Later," he said as he hung up the phone and put it back in its cradle.

Liz was sitting on the bed holding her legs in her arms. She was formed into a little ball. She trembled every time thunder was heard. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Um, I should-should g-go," she said, as she stood up.

"No, you shouldn't be driving in this weather. At least stay until the storm ends. Here," he said tossing a sweatshirt, "have this. You look like you're freezing." Coincidently, he had handed her the sweatshirt that he gave her the day they met.

"Thanks." She smiled. "I'll just call my parents to let them know I'm staying here for a while." She called from her cell phone and told her mom that she'd stay here until the storm passed. Oddly enough, her mom insisted that she should stay the night because she didn't want her driving around at night with wet streets.

"Are you sure, mom?"

"Yeah sweetie. See you tomorrow. Bye." Jo hung up the phone.

*That was weird.*

Anthony had gone downstairs to get some things in case the power went out. When he came back, he said, "Is it ok for you to stay?"

"Yeah, it's fine." Liz decided not to tell him what her mom had said, just in case something weird happened during the night. Liz shrieked when the power went out, a few seconds later.

"Calm down. It's ok. I brought some flashlights."

Liz was trembling uncontrollably. She just sat down on the floor and stayed there shivering. Anthony hugged her, trying to comfort her. "Hey, calm down. Nothing is gonna happen." Liz buried her head in his chest, looking as scared as a little girl. "It's getting late, you shouldn't drive alone in this weather. I can drive you home later if you want."

"Sure, ok." She started to calm down, and let go of Anthony. She sat on the bed and wiped her eyes with her hands. She set up the flashlight so it'd be like a lantern, which lit up half of the room. Anthony came over and sat down on the bed next to her.

"So, what do you want to do?" he asked. There was an awkward silence.

"I don't know. We could talk or something."

"Um, ok. What do you wanna talk about?" he asked.

Liz thought for a second. Then she said, "I don't know. What have you been up to for the last month?"

From there the conversation led to every subject possible. They spent hours talking, and by the time the power came back on they were too tired to do anything else. It was about 3:00 am. Liz had been laying with her head on Anthony's legs and she had fallen asleep. He moved her slowly and placed the covers over her. He was too tired to move, and he collapsed next to her.

A/N: To say that this chapter wasn't full of useless B.S. would be a lie. I'm sorry, I just felt like writing this. Review please!