CHAPTER ELEVEN – The Confrontation

Just as I pulled on my pink tank top, Becca, Vanessa, Karen and Jenny barged into the room, already in their pajamas.

"Hey!" I practically shrieked. "Can I get some privacy, please?"

"C'mon Char," Karen replied, rolling her eyes. "It's not like you have anything we haven't seen before." I smirked and playfully threw a pillow at her face. She grabbed one off Becca's bed and raised it in the air. But before she could do anything, Vanessa stopped her.

"Uh-uh. No pillow fights. At least not yet. We have business to discuss," she said, eyeing Karen knowingly. Karen grinned and dropped the pillow.

"Yeah!" Jenny agreed, jumping up to sit on my bed. "Only, it's the business of loooove." All four of them were looking at me expectedly, with goofy grins on all their faces. I stood there, utterly confused. With an exasperated look on her face, Karen finally said,

"You know... You and Byron! You can't deny that nothing's going on!" I stifled a laugh. Ahhh... so they were here for The Confrontation.

I couldn't blame them. It wasn't like Byron and I were trying to hide anything after our little trip to the bay side – and why would we? We were all friends anyway.

Byron and I spent the rest of the day hand-holding and just having fun as "us," now that we both finally got our real feelings out about each other. We didn't actually spell it out to everyone, but I think they got the point.

I think all that my friends needed was an explanation, so I gave it to them. We all huddled on my bed and I told them everything from the Ice- Cream Palace incident to the Almost Kiss earlier that day. Their response was the expected girly squeals and random "Awww.. that's so sweet!"

"Mmm... Char and Byron," Jenny said dreamily, after I told them everything. "You know what? I saw this coming." Karen scoffed,

"No you didn't! You always say that." It was Jenny's turn to smack Karen with a pillow.

Laughing, I quickly stepped out of the room, without anyone noticing, before I could get involved in yet another one of the BSC's infamous pillow fights. I made my way downstairs to the kitchen, for a glass of water and maybe a late-night snack.

When I got there, I saw Byron in his pajamas, sitting on one of the kitchen stools around the counter and eating ice-cream out of the carton. The day's newspaper was sprawled out in front of him.

"Hey," I greeted, glad to see him there. He looked up and smiled, motioning me to sit next to him. I took a spoon from one of the drawers and grabbed a seat.

"Escaping the masses?" he asked, handing over the tub of Rocky Road ice- cream. He stretched out his arm and rested it on the back of my stool.

"Mmm-hmm," I replied, swallowing a spoonful. "What? Did the guys ambush you, too?" He laughed.

"Yeah. They're all a bunch of girls, those guys." I chuckled at the thought of Adam and Craig squealing like my friends had.

I then realized that this was practically the only other time that day when we were alone together. We sat there for who knows how long, just talking and laughing. It was really nice – comfortable and easy. There was no pretence around him. I took comfort in the fact that he liked me for who I was.

When I glanced up at the clock on the microwave for the first time, I was surprised that it actually read 2:48a.m.

"Wow. It's almost three in the morning...," I said, trailing off.

"Wow. Time just flies, huh? We should head off to bed." He folded up the newspaper while I got up and threw the now empty carton of ice-cream in the trash. I was at the sink, rinsing off our spoons when Byron came over and wrapped his arms around my waist. I began to get a tingling sensation, all the way down my body, at his touch.

"Do you know how happy you make me?" he quietly whispered in my ear.

"Yeah," I replied softly, looking at him through our reflection in the facing window. "Because it's exactly the same way you make me feel." He smiled and kissed my cheek. He then took my hand in his and led me up the stairs.

We whispered good-night in the darkness and I couldn't help but smile as I tucked myself in under my blankets. I was absolutely crazy about this guy.