Notes:

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

--Chapter 2: Chickflicks and Harlequins--

December 18, a little after 7 pm

Mom just went into work. I can tell she still feels nervous about leaving me alone, especially when I have a friend coming over. But anyway, it makes my self-appointed job a whole lot easier. Cassandra is spending the night with me tonight. We are going to formulate a plan of attack! I talked to her today about Uncle Gil and my mom. She has only met him twice, but she totally agreed with me. So we are going to stay up late, and when we are usually watching movies, we are going to be creating plot of our own. Of course, we will go over some movies for inspiration and ideas, but I don't think we will watch And I will be writing everything down in here.

An hour later

Cassandra was here, and we had our popcorn and thinking caps on.

"So...where do we start?"

Cassandra's question was interrupted by the chiming of the doorbell.

Who would be coming here? Everyone knows that Mom is at work...then I caught Cassandra's grin.

"What?"

"That would be Trevor."

My heart skipped a beat in shock.

"Trevor!"

With an annoyingly cheery smile, she nodded.

"Mm hmm. I invited him over to help us."

"Are you crazy! He's a guy! He's not going to want to help us pair up my mother!"

"Oh, I think he would. I called him this afternoon, and asked him."

I felt my mouth drop open.

"He laughed, and said it sounded like fun."

"Fun? FUN! How could you do that to me!"

Her face was completely innocent.

"Do what to you?"

"You know what!"

I made a gesture at myself in general."

"Look at me! I look terrible! And he is downstairs on my doorstep!

She rolled her eyes at me.

"Newsflash, Linds. He's seen you after dance practice when your hair looked like crap, you had no make up, and you were covered in sweat, wearing a leotard and old jeans."

I cringed at the memory.

"Oh, don't remind me."

She shrugged her slim shoulders.

"Just trying to help."

The doorbell rang again, sending me into a panic.

She just laughed and shook her head at me.

"Relax, Linds. I'll go down and let him in. You can get ready then. Although you really do look fine."

"Stall him!"

"Right."

And then she disappeared from my doorway and I heard her footsteps clattering down the stairs. She was still wearing her normal clothes, but I had changed into pajamas earlier because they were more comfortable.

I flew around my room, while brushing my hair, making a note to myself to be more organized as I searched for the jeans I had worn earlier that day. I found the jeans, grabbed a black long-sleeved shirt out of my dresser drawer and changed as fast as I could. Just as I finished getting dressed and throwing my clothes in the dirty-clothes hamper, I heard two pairs of footsteps coming up the stairs. Hurriedly, I glanced once more around my room and stepped outside to meet them.

"Hey, Trev."

"Hey. So what was it we were supposed to be doing?"

I smiled a little sheepishly.

"Setting my Mom up with Uncle Gil. You sure you're up to it?" I added with a teasing grin. "I never pictured you as the matchmaking type."

"You know me; always up for a challenge." His grin matched mine, and I noticed Cassandra rolling her eyes.

"Well, where shall we start?"

"One last warning. We're going to be going through and talking about a lot of sappy chick flicks to find inspiration and ideas."

I loved doing this. Teasing Trevor had to be right up there with gazing into his eyes.

"Are you crazy? After being forced to sit through A Walk to Remember, Crossroads, and A Cinderella Story?" He said, referring to the last movie marathon they had. "I must be a walking dictionary of sappiness."

"Good. Then we'll need you. Now I'll go grab a couple notebooks..."

I stepped back in my room to grab the two notebooks that had been lying on my bed. After grabbing some pens, I popped back out and handed the black one to to Cassandra and we all headed down to the living room where numerous chickflicks awaited.

"Want something to drink, Trev?" I asked when we reached the very Christmas-y decorated living room that sat off the kitchen.

"Water's fine."

"One water, coming right up."

I listened as they chatted, throwing in the occasional comment as I fixed Trevor and myself some water and got got Cassandra her usual Diet Coke.

"Drinks are served."

I said, walking back into the living room where they were both seated on the floor.

I positioned myself between them, handing out the drinks.

"Thanks."

"So, what do we want to go over first?"

Cassandra pulled out her backpack that had been stashed next to the couch.

"I snatched some of my step-mom's Harlequins. We may be able to use them too."

"Romance novels?" Trevor asked, wrinkling his nose. He looked so adorable when he did that, I had to laugh.

I reached over to grab one.

Flipping through the pages, I found what I was looking for.

Putting on an exaggerated voice, I started reading out loud.

"'She gasped as his lips touched her neck, his hands running insistently through her golden hair. They fell backwards onto the bed, her hands running eagerly over his broad, tanned shoulders, loving the sensations of the hard muscles rippling under her fingers. Liquid desire was bubbling through her veins like fire, and Veronica knew that she was way beyond the point of stopping.'"

I halted there, laughing at the expression on Trevor's face. He looked like he couldn't decide if he was interested or disgusted.

"And exactly why is this relevent?" He asked.

"It isn't. I just wanted to see your face."

He rolled his eyes at me.

"I hate to break this up," Cassandra interrupted after she had stopped laughing. "but we have some serious planning to do."

"You're right. My goal is to have them together on or by Christmas. That gives us exactly a week." I agreed, tossing the book aside and glancing at the back cover of the next one.

"So let's do it!" Trevor agreed.

And then we settled down to some serious matchmaking plans.

TBC...