Allie- Lol...:P You stoled me spaghettios? ::gasps of horror and shock:: ::giggles:: You cheated! You weren't supposed to know at the beginning! Heh. But that's okay. I'm glad you're happy. ::pouts:: You're right...Disney doesn't know how to share. :( It's so sad. I'll try to stay awake. ::giggles:: Fire...::glazed over look::...::snaps out of it::...::also gets distracted at the mention of Charlie's butt::...hmm...::snaps out of it again:: Lol. Yes, Julie was good to stay with Charlie. ::grins:: I'm glad you like Charlie's wit. I try. Lol. Tee hee...::smiles:: Yes, I have a head-on-head fetish. Lol. That sounds weird... I love RP references...hee hee...::beams:: I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks for the long review! ::grins:: I know you won't be able to read this until you're back from Destin, though...oh well. It'll be a welcome back gift/surprise. Lol. Hope you're having fun.

Rachel- ::grins and blushes:: Thanks so much. I haven't written many semi- romantic scenes, so I was hoping it didn't come off corny. As always, you flatter me. Thanks so much; I always love your reviews, hun.

Sarah- ::beams:: I'm so glad you liked it.

Banksiesbabe99- ::grins:: Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Heh...I remember that song...hehehe...Anyway, thanks bunches for reveiwing, as always! Man, you've been with me a long time...You might be my oldest reveiwer! Lol. That's so cool.

Brnnttebabe12- Lol. I'm so glad you liked. I figured the C/J kiss would help the happiness and satisfy the crowds...lol. Thanks for reviewing.

Adriana- ::giggles:: I'm so happy to hear it made a good impression. Heh...sadly enough, I forget Jesse sometimes...Heck, I forget Charlie's mom sometimes...:P Such a long time ago...lol. ::cracks up:: I wouldn't put it past myself to bring in another trauma and take it another 70. But I won't...this time...lol. I'm so glad you still enjoy my story. I know what you mean, though; even I haven't been reading loads of fanfiction lately do to the monds of junk that oftens litters the fandom, with the exception of a few who know how to write proper English and spell stuff right. Lol. But again, I'm SO glad to hear you still like it. ::beams::

Katie- Heehee. I'm glad to hear it. ::beams:: I'm glad you like their arguing. Lol. Aww, thanks Katie! Your forgiveness is appreciated. Lol. My life is complete.

Tiff- Thanksies! I'm glad you like the Charlie/Julie stuff. ::grins::

MDSWitter26- Aww, thanks. Heh...yeah...Charlie's had 6 chapters worth of angst; the least I can do is give him some lovin'. Lol. Thanks again. Much love.

French Chipmunk- Tee hee. ::innocent smile:: Lol. I'm glad you're happy now. I could never permanently torture him...lol...

DodgerMcClure.aka.Drama-Queen- ::laughs:: Yep. He's getting closer. Thanks bunches.

Preciousbabyblue- Aren't they adorable? Lol. Thanks for the review.

Disclaimer- MOO! ::bites::

-Chapter 67-

Silence returned to fill the air between Charlie and Julie.

Quirking a half-smile at Julie, Charlie leaned against the brick wall of his house.

She returned the smile and lay her head in the crevice of his neck and shoulder, her back half on his arm and half on the wall.

"You planning on going downstairs?" she asked, closing her eyes as a hint of a breeze swept by.

"Not a chance," he said, shutting his eyes lazily as well.

She twisted and looked up at him. "Why not?"

The boy let out a sigh and looked down at her, his mouth pulled into a grimace. "Just because things are worked out with you doesn't mean things with everyone else are magically better."

"Then...apologize," she said with a shrug.

Charlie sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his mouth slanted into a frown. "Easier said than done."

"What makes you say that?" she questioned.

Charlie shifted away slightly and drew his legs to his chest, crossing his arms on top of them. Waiting a moment before speaking, he took to watching the sky. "What if they can't forgive me?"

Julie turned a puzzled look towards him. He was dead serious.

"Charlie, they're your friends. They'll forgive you; it isn't like they'll bluntly tell you 'no, you aren't forgiven' or anything. It'll be fine," she tried to reassure him.

He didn't seem convinced.

"I wouldn't fully expect them to, either. I might have yesterday or even earlier today...but I guess what I'm worried about is them saying it's okay when inside them may never let it go," he said, releasing some built up tension once deciding she was okay to tell.

"They wouldn't do that, Charlie. You're their leader and their friend," she said soothingly, lacing her fingers through his.

"Was."

She frowned at him as he got a distant look on his face.

"Charlie, that isn't true. You still are, and they will forgive you."

Charlie shook his head slowly. "No, I think I probably forfeited any rights to sympathy and encouragement a while ago, so there's no need to bother. Besides, it isn't like I can blame them. I don't personally like me much at the moment either."

Julie squeezed his hand comfortingly and moved his head to face her.

"Charlie..." she said. "Why do you think they won't forgive you? You have a bad summer, so what? The worst thing you did to them was ignoring and maybe a few not-so-pleasant arguments. It'll be okay. They'll forgive you."

He gave her a skeptical look.

"Don't worry about it. Just apologize, and it'll be okay," she said. "It'll be fine."

He nodded and let out a breath, swallowing the dryness in his throat. "I guess."

Julie returned the nod and placed her head back where it had been.

"But not now," he insisted.

"Not now," she said. "Not now."

= = =

"Hey, where'd Julie go?" Connie asked, walking away from her parents to stand by Guy, Fulton, Portman, Russ, and Adam.

"Beats me," Adam said, relieved that his own parents weren't there. They had some fancy party to be at, and he still wasn't sure how he got out of it.

Fulton stood leaning against the wall of the house, standing amidst his fellow Ducks. They were all lounging in the backyard while Gordon closed the grill for the night. Bugs buzzed in their faces and a sense of stickiness seemed to swarm them all. The temperature was rather uncomfortable, but no one wanted to go inside. The closest thing they had gotten to fireworks was some kid setting off a store-bought one in the street behind them.

Which was kind of NOT ALLOWED, but it amused them for a while.

Connie slapped a bug on her bare shoulder and frowned, her mouth twisting in disgust. "Ew..." she said, wiping the dead bug off her skin and looking like she was going to hurl.

"That's what you get for wearing a tank top, Connie," Averman said, motioning to his tee shirt.

"Shut up, Averman," she growled, though her voice held no real venom. She scooted closer to Guy and took a chip. "It's hot out here."

"Thank you, Einstein," Russ said lightly, earning a mild glare from Connie. "I wasn't aware."

"Yeah, that tends to happen in the summer," Goldberg said before taking a gulp of his drink.

"Ha ha," Connie said with half-smile.

Guy wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek.

Connie smiled, laying her head on his chest.

"Careful, Guy, you might get bug guts and insect repellant all over you!" Russ chortled, causing Goldberg and Averman to crack up; naturally, the rest let out a laugh or smiled.

Connie tried to frown, but couldn't suppress a smile through it. She couldn't stay mad at them long; it was all in good fun.

"Hey Fulton, you okay?" Portman asked, recovering from laughter.

Fulton snapped to attention and looked at his friend. He had been spacing. "Huh?"

"I asked if you were okay; you kind of missed a joke," the burly 'enforcer' said to his fellow Bash Brother.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine," Fulton replied with a shrug.

"You know, Julie needs to get her butt back here; you guys are getting on my nerves," Connie said, thought amusement shone through her voice. "Where is my fellow female?"

"Hey, didn't you already ask that?" Dwayne asked, blinking with a mild confusion.

Just as Connie was replying with a 'yeah,' Fulton piped in.

"She's upstairs," he answered as if it had been the first time the question had been asked.

Connie nodded. "Oh...well why didn't you say that before?" she asked, but then continued asking before he could reply. "And why would she be upstairs?"

"Talking to Charlie," he replied simply, though he sounded somewhat reluctant.

"Oh," Connie said. "Right. Why?" she asked. They could feel the air get uncomfortable; Adam shifted where he had been standing and pretended to be interested in a bug hopping on the ground, just BEGGING to be stepped on...

"She had hopes of working things out. She's been up there awhile, so I have no clue how it went." Fulton shrugged and looked up at where the second floor was located.

Connie nodded and unlaced Guy's arm from around her shoulders. "I think I'm going to go see how it's going up there," she said.

Fulton nodded. "I'll come too. It's been bugging me. We'll be back down soon; if not, send a search party," he joked, and the rest of the Ducks nodded.

Guy patted Connie's arm as they went inside to see what was up with Julie's long disappearance.

Fulton and Connie arrived at the top of the stairs to see Charlie's door creaked open. They exchanged a look and crept over, pushing it completely open.

The room was empty.

Why was the room empty?

"Jules? Charlie?" Connie said, her eyes darting around with slight worry. "Fulton, where'd they go?" A slight panic was in her voice.

"I don't know," he said, checking each corner several times just in case the materialized out of nowhere. "Should we check the rest of the floor?"

"Come on, the floor isn't that big!" she said, glancing back out the bedroom door into the hall; there were only three other doors: a bathroom, a hall closet, and a guestroom.

Just as they were about to go downstairs, Fulton took Connie's arm and turned her back around.

"What do you think you're doing? We need to tell Co-" she started before he took her chin and pointed her face directly at the window, motioning at the open window. "Oh."

Fulton and Connie walked over and peeked out the window to see the two teens-in-question sitting on the roof.

Remarkably close, too.

"Guys?" Connie said blatantly, causing to Fulton to sigh and shake his head.

Julie and Charlie visibly jumped, heads whipping around in confusion.

"What the heck was that?" Charlie said, looking ruffled and confused.

"Guys? Over here? At the window!" Connie said, leaning out the window more and waving her arm at them.

They turned to see Connie and Fulton hanging out of the house looking at them.

"Is this just Invade Charlie's Space Day or something?" he asked as he and Julie subtly recovered.

"Well, the window was open, and Julie's out here," Connie said, joining them on the roof easily and walking over. Fulton gave the ground a flittered and unsure glance before gulping and following.

"I also had time to recover from the shock. This, now this is a bit much. THREE people intruding my space at one time? It's a lot to ask." He crossed his arms loosely and shrugged, raising his eyebrows slightly.

Fulton blinked at the change in attitude.

Wasn't he supposed to hate them at the moment?

When he gave Julie a questioning glance, she replied with a shrug.

"So...what are you guys doing up here?" Connie asked, plopping unceremoniously next to Charlie as Fulton shakily sat next to her.

"Talking...and...sitting," Julie answered as Charlie nodded in confirmation.

"Fun. That's pretty much what we've been doing downstairs too. How exciting, huh?" Connie said, seeming to break the tension in the air. The way she became comfortable with them seemed to make them all at ease.

"Sounds very exciting," Charlie said, nodding and starting to feel a little better. He had never really been that mad at Connie anyway.

"I thought so too. Wow...nice view, I must admit," she said, looking out at the same scenery Charlie and Julie had been staring at for the past hour.

He nodded and went back to staring out at the other houses...as if he hadn't been doing that for an extended amount of time.

The four teens sat in silence, Connie lightly tapping her foot on the shingles of the roof. She had been surprised when Charlie had actually responded. He really wasn't that bad when you were in small, non- threatening groups.

Well, except for Adam...

And Fulton...

And Coach...

And there was that one time he snapped at Julie...

But that isn't the point!

"Feeling better?" Connie asked Charlie, cocking her head slightly with raised eyebrows. Julie gave the brunette girl a 'shut up before you ruin it!' look and Fulton just kind of slowly turned to face her with a look of mild disbelief.

Charlie, however, shrugged. "Sure, why not? 'Better' is subjective, anyway."

She nodded. "Good to hear."

It seemed like a silent truce passed as they sat in the quiet. If they listened closely they could likely hear the voices in the backyard, but none of them did.

Fulton tried to mask his confusion and surprise. He had expected things to be a little more...well...different. He hadn't ACTUALLY expected Julie to be able to talk to him.

Well, he hadn't expected a positive outcome to the said talking.

Sure, he knew if anyone could do it, it would be Julie; but still...Charlie didn't seem upset at all. Not even a trace of anger or anything. They had been calmly sitting there as if it was the most normal and natural thing in the entire world.

What ever happened to 'I hate you, go away'?

Not that he was complaining; it was just a bit of a shock to the system. Almost as sudden as the attitude seemed to come, it was gone again.

Fulton didn't want to say anything, though...He would probably end up jinxing it. He didn't quite have the same luck as Connie.

"We gonna sit up here all night?" Connie asked, folding her arms behind her head.

"Probably. Got anything better in mind?" Charlie asked as he and Julie shifted slightly to turn to Connie.

"We could go downstairs?" Connie said, almost in a question though her voice didn't hesitate.

Charlie shook his head. "No thanks. I think I'll go ahead and pass that one up."

Connie frowned slightly but raised her eyebrows in question. "Why?"

"He's being antisocial; trust me, I tried," Julie whispered.

Charlie turned a quirked eyebrow to her. "I heard that, you know. I'm not deaf."

She gave him a smile. "I'm sure you're not. But that doesn't make it any less true."

"Gee, thanks for the sympathy."

"Anytime."

"Good to know there's such support," he said, a slanted smile on his face.

"I know, I know. It shocks me too," she replied, grinning.

Fulton and Connie exchanged confused glances.

Did they miss something?