Chapter Five

Justin stopped smiling the second Allie's own grin faded. He didn't know what to say or what she was thinking, so he just kept walking. Their house was on the edge of the housing development, and just beyond the road were the trees and land that hadn't been attacked by ground-hungry developers. The moon behind the trees looked like a scene from a horror movie, and he knew Allie felt it too, because she shivered.

"I would give you my coat, just like in movies, but I didn't bring one," Justin smiled over at her again, hoping that she wouldn't look away.

No, this time she held his gaze and said, "I'm perfectly fine, thank you."

He blinked. "Always independent, aren't you?"

Allie shrugged.

"I was hoping I'd get to take a walk with the Allie I'd spent most of the day with," Justin said bluntly. He didn't know what had gotten into him, turning into this serious, honest guy.

Allie didn't know what had gotten into Justin, turning into this serious, honest guy. Ever since he'd moved to her town and into her life years ago, he'd always been the funny, far from serious clown that entertained everybody around him. Now he was holding her hand and looking at her with… was that a tender expression?

"I didn't know to expect this from you, sorry, Justin," Allie said with another shrug. It seemed that all she'd done tonight was shrug.

He laughed. "Neither did I."

"You know," Allie said, half-changing the subject. "Jeff isn't as trustworthy as you think. He may be a nice guy, but he doesn't do well keeping secrets."

Justin looked over at her, smile gone and replaced with a frown. "Exactly which secret did he tell you?"

Allie grinned and kept her chin level. "The one that included me."

Now he was the deer in headlights. He stopped. "Oh."

Suddenly sorry for making him embarrassed, she added, "And I'm sure he's told you my secret… the one that I didn't even know he knew. One that I now know I was way too obvious about."

Justin caught on to which secret she was hinting at. "The one in which you are in high school and have a serious crush on me?"

Allie laughed. "Oh, yes, that one."

He caught her gaze. "Is it true anymore?"

She immediately wanted to look away, but couldn't. His eyes were suddenly as captivating as they'd been in high school. In high school, Allie, you were a lot smarter than to look him in the eye. This time she wouldn't be able to get free of his stare.

He took her other hand as if prompting her, and she knew she had to answer. "I really don't know whether it's still true or not. It wasn't for a long while… through the last part of high school and the first two years of college. I'm not so sure about my resolve now," The ends of her mouth turned up slightly, "which I am sure you have planned. A moonlight walk, holding my hand? Of course you knew no girl could stick to her resolve with you being so… unlike yourself. Serious. Nice."

"It's unlike me to be nice?" Justin asked.

"You're always so sarcastic. Sometimes I don't know how to take it."

"The way you respond to me says otherwise."

"That is because after we went whitewater rafting that year, and you caught me when I tried to get out of the boat, I vowed I would never let you so horribly get the best of me like that ever again."

Justin laughed at the memory. "I can't believe you thought I was serious."

Allie glared back at him. "I didn't think you were serious. I was going to turn around to splash you, but at the last moment thought better of it because I knew it would start a war, and ended up falling out."

"And with that crush of yours, my catching you didn't help much, did it?"

Allie shook her head with a sad smile. "Nope. Only afterward when I played it over and over in my head did I realize you all thought that I thought you were serious."

Justin chose that moment to bring her into a hug, something she least expected. He'd never seemed the hugging type, as hardhearted and sarcastic as he was. She guessed this was her night to find out that he was a whole lot different than she'd thought before.

He drew back, and Allie suddenly knew what was going to happen. His face was so close to hers… his lips were inches away from hers, and he was slowly closing that distance. Her eyelids didn't obey her and slid shut, and she could feel his breath on her cheek.

A car came around the curve, finding them with its bright headlights on the edge of the curb, causing Allie to scream and Justin to jump back. Reality rushed back into their circumstance, and just as he was about to close the distance again, she let go of his hand and started rushing back to his house and her car. Only when she was halfway there did she realize how cold and empty her hand now seemed.