A/N: In this chapter, there are two songs mentioned. A song by Smash Mouth and one by a group called Greenwheel. They were the first to sing the song "Breathe," even though you may have heard it performed by Melissa Etheridge. Their version came out a year or two before her cover of it. OH, and thanks once again to XxXCocoaPuffXxX for the great review. It really gives me inspiration to write. I hope you continue to like it!

Chapter 4

Chuckie saw a car sitting in the driveway to his house, and he pulled up slowly to see who it was. Not long after he pulled up, he noticed that it was Marina sitting in the car. Chuckie quickly pulled in beside the car, turned the truck off, and hopped out.

Marina was all ready out and standing besides Chuckie's dark blue truck. "Hey," she said to him in her coarse voice.

Chuckie blushed, but it was hard to tell in the dark. "Hey," he replied.

Marina put her hands in her front pockets, and her hair fell over her eyes. The loose lock of brunette hair drove Chuckie crazy, and he reached over and brushed the hair out of the view of Marina's beautiful eyes. She smiled at him, and he felt his mouth go dry.

"I thought you weren't going to come see me until tomorrow," he said to her.

Marina shifted her shoulders. "I didn't want to wait that long," she admitted.

Chuckie smiled but had a nagging feeling something was awry. "Is there any reason why you just took a shine to me this year. We've been at the same high school for four years, and you've never noticed me before."

Marina looked at him with no grin on her face. Her face was serious as she said, "I hadn't noticed how much you cared," she said. "I finally opened my eyes, forgot all the losers who know nothing about me, and saw you."

Chuckie sighed and looked at his shoes, but Marina lifted his head with her right hand. "I've seen the way you look at me during the classes we share," she told him. "There's something there, and I want to feel as good as those looks make me feel."

Chuckie wanted to know what it felt like to have Marina's attention after four years of longing for it. So without thinking, Chuckie leaned over and kissed Marina hard. She fell back against his truck and wrapped her arms around Chuckie's neck.

Kimi and Phil arrived at the jam-packed arcade and took a deep breath. Phil grabbed her hand and dragged her through the crowd towards the back rooms. "Do you have your license handy," he yelled over the crowd just so Kimi could hear him two feet away.

"Yea, why," she yelled back.

"You'll need it!"

The crowd thinned out next to a door with two men guarding the backrooms. Phil went to the left, and Kimi went to the right. "ID's please, you have to be at least seventeen to enter," both said in unison.

Phil pulled out his wallet and showed the man, and Kimi pulled her ID out of her pocket. She always carried it with her since she didn't like to leave it in her purse--which was in her backpack in Phil's truck. The man scanned the ID then let Kimi pass, and she found Phil was waiting for her. She caught up with him, and they headed for the air hockey board.

"Yo, Deville!" A voice shouted.

Phil turned and saw Kris Smith, a regular at the arcade and a senior from a rival school. "What do you want, Kris?" Phil asked.

"Last time you were here, we swore we'd battle it out on the stage." Kris said.

"Not today, Kris." Phil replied gesturing for Kimi to follow him.

Kris got in the way. "Just because you have a little girlfriend with you doesn't mean you can go back on the deal. I beat you, and you have to cut that mop you call hair."

Phil began to walk away, and Kris smirked. "If you forfeit, I'll shave your head here." Kris warned.

Phil stopped and turned to glare at Kris. He glanced to Kimi, who stepped out of the way. Phil strolled up to Kris and stared him in the eyes. "All right, name your song." Phil said.

Kris grinned. "You're going down, Deville," he stated then strutted towards the karaoke stage.

Kris was a "pretty boy" and a "prep." He wore polo shirts with khakis, and thought he was better than people like Phil, who dressed in the "punk" manner. He got up on stage with his fake blonde hair and preppy clothes. His little clique cheered for him, and the others just waited to hear him sing.

Kris started singing "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" by Smash Mouth. Phil sighed and rolled his eyes at the song; it had been played out, but the clique of Kris's friends seemed not to notice. Phil glanced to Kimi and saw her scrunch up her face. He laughed and looked back over at Kris. To Phil, it took the song forever to end.

Kris stepped off the stage with a smirk on his face. "Beat that," he whispered harshly.

"Gladly." Phil said under his breath.

Phil took the stage, and everyone's eyes were on him. All he cared about was that Kimi's eyes were locked on him and had a smile on her face. That gave him more of a reason to show Kris up. He grasped the microphone in his right hand and waited for the music to start. An acoustic guitar played, and Phil began to sing Greenwheel's "Breathe."

Phil's voice was coarse and sexy as he sang, "I played the fool today, and I can see us vanishing into the crowd. Longing for home again. Well home, is a feeling I've buried in you."

Kimi felt faint as she listened to Phil's voice; she'd never heard him sing before, but she was loving it. Kimi's journal was going to hear about a lot more things she felt and wanted to do with Phil later. His sparkling, pale blue eyes locked onto her and wouldn't leave. Kimi could feel her face growing hot, and she glanced down at her feet for a moment. Her body temperature was rising and made her jacket a nuisance.

Phil paced around the stage and sang to the audience, who were smiling. They liked him, and even Kris's bunch were smiling. Of course, they quit whenever Kris would turn around, but they still smiled.

The song ended, and Phil descended the stage. A vote was taken, and Phil won the contest by a landslide. Kris started cursing to the whole crowd and claimed that Phil had cheated, but no one paid attention to him. Phil didn't even noticed that Kris stormed out of the arcade.

"You did good." Kimi told him, smiling.

Phil smiled back. "Thanks."

There was a vibe of attraction that Kimi was giving off, and Phil really wanted to see how strong that vibe was. But, he was a gentleman and kept his lustful actions bottled up inside. 'Damn,' he thought, 'Being polite will kill me if Kimi stays this close to me.' Kimi was close, but she wanted to be close to Phil after the feelings his singing had stirred up inside her.

Phil's truck reached the Finster driveway, and Kimi kept turning the rag doll that had been a prize in the machines that have a claw and give a person thirty seconds to get the prizes. Phil had showed her how good he was at getting the prizes; he'd gotten the prize with ten seconds to spare, and it had impressed Kimi. He'd given her the prize just to flirt with her, but he didn't have any use for the toy. Although, Lil had kept most all of the prizes he'd gotten out of those kind of machines. But, it was more important to Phil to win Kimi over.

Before either of them could speak, Kimi saw Marina's car was still in the driveway. But what bothered her most was the sight of Chuckie making out with Marina against his truck. Kimi watched, horrified, as her brother's mouth searched Marina's mouth. Kimi opened her mouth to speak, but there were no words to express her anger.

Phil saw Chuckie lip-locked with Marina, and he touched Kimi's arm. "Hey, do you want me to take you somewhere else?"

Kimi shook her head and opened the door to Phil's truck. She stepped out and gave Phil one last look, which expressed everything that she couldn't say. Phil didn't fight her departure, and he watched Kimi shut the door and run past her brother and his girlfriend. Phil leaned back against his seat and let an aggravated sigh. "Thanks, Chuck, you screwed up all I worked for tonight," he said quietly.

Chuckie heard Kimi exit Phil's truck, and he pulled away from Marina. He watched his sister run into the house without even a glance towards him. He was a little relieved at that, but it disturbed him also. He knew Kimi had saw some of what had been going on, and he felt embarrassed.

"I'd better go." Marina said quietly.

Chuckie turned back to face Marina; his shaggy hair flopped about his face. He put his glasses back on and said, "You don't have to."

Marina squinted her eyes what looked in a painful manner before she glanced over to the front door where Kimi had just been. "Yea, I do."

Marina brushed her hand against Chuckie's unshaven chin, and smiled at him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." Chuckie agreed, and Marina headed for her car.

"Goodnight!" Chuckie called to her.

Marina opened her car door and looked over at Chuckie. "Goodnight," she answered before getting into her car.

Chuckie watched Marina's car come to life and back out of the driveway. Marina waved to him before she pulled out into the street. He let out a sigh as the taillights of Marina's red car disappeared.