Notes: None. Amazing, huh:)

--Chapter 8: ...Okay, not so little.--

December 24, 5:45 p.m.

"But Mom, you have to go!"

This was really not good.

We had just got home, and I was feeling pretty darn good for convincing her to meet Uncle Gil at Emma's tonight. Unfortunately, she remembered to check the messages, and there was one from her friend Jean, reminding her of the baby shower tonight.

Tonight. At seven o'clock, when she was supposed to be getting ready for her "friendly" dinner with Uncle Gil.

"Why do you want me to go to this dinner so much?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Oops. I guess in the heat of things, I had forgotten to be subtle.

"No reson. I just don't want you to disappoint Uncle Gil. I know he was looking forward to this." Okay, so I was stretching the truth just a little. But he did really want her to come, and my whole plan was at stake here. Cassandra, Trevor, and I had not come up with another back up plan. And it was Christmas Eve! There was no way to think up another one to get them together tomorrow, which was my goal.

"Really?" She looked almost surprised.

"Yes. You know he has feelings too."

She blushed, picking up on the way I had said it. Of course I didn't let on that I knew my words had a double meaning. That would ruin the whole effect.

"Well..." I could see she was weakening.

"You could swing by and give her a hug, drop off your present, and come back here. That would leave you with about an hour to get ready."

She considered it for a few seconds as I mentally crossed my fingers.

'Come on, come on.' I mentally urged. 'I put way too much effort into this for you to ruin it now.'

"I guess that would work."

Although I managed to curb an excited squeal, I couldn't quite manage to keep the smile off my face.

"Okay, well. Now that that's decided, I have some stuff to do on the computer."

I headed up to my room, and as soon as I shut the door, I did a little happy dance.

The plan was working! They had just needed a little...or not so little, shove in the right direction.

5 hours later

Trevor and I peeked in through the window, watching as Uncle Gil and Mom had a quiet conversation across the restsaurant. Half of the view was blocked by a plant, so he was standing right behind me.

I mean, so close that I was having a hard time concentrating on Mom and what we were doing.

It was cold out, and I rubbed my hands together, blowing on them.

"Cold?" Trevor's voice sounded next to my ear.

"A little, but I'm fine."

Just as I spoke, Mom and Uncle Gil got up from the table.

"No!" I exclaimed in a worried whisper. "They can't be leaving yet."

I turned away from the window, trying to think.

"Um, Linds? I don't think they are." Trevor stepped away from the window, gesturing inside.

"Huh?" I walked back over to my previous position to check it out.

The scene I saw made me smile.

They were doing a slow dance in the center of the small dance floor. Unfortunately, it still looked like two friends dancing.

Then she stepped in a little closer and laid her head on his shoulder. That was definitely not a "just friends" move. I saw Uncle Gil give a little start at the action, and Mom drew back.

Inwardly, I was yelling "No, no, no!", but I couldn't say a thing out loud. I just waited in suspence, praying that it would go the way I wanted it to. I know it sounds weird; that's the kind of thing you do at a movie or TV show, but I had worked hard to get these two together. Sure, it was slightly odd that it was my mother that I was setting up, but she was more than my mother. She was my friend. As was Uncle Gil.

Which was why when I watched his head slowly descend toward hers, I let out a small screech.

"Eee!"

Unable to control my joy, I spun around and threw my arms around Trevor's neck. Then I realized what I had done, and drew back, embarassed.

I felt the heat rush up my neck and face, and hoped that Trevor would think that it was just the cold.

"Um, sorry about that. I got a little carried away."

He smiled at me.

"No problem. You have a reason to be excited. Looks like your plan worked."

I felt a matching grin slowly creep onto my face.

"You're right. It did, didn't it?" I paused. "Of course, I did have some very good help."

He nodded.

"You bet you did. Without us, you couldn't have done this."

I faked a puzzled expression.

"Isn't that supposed to be my line?"

"Whatever."

I laughed a little, then turned back to the window again. I was so happy. My - our - plan had worked!

We just stood like that for several more seconds, watching the couples inside dance. Although we were mainly just focused on one.

"Hey Lindsey?"

I still had a huge smile on my face from watching Mom and Uncle Gil when I turned around to answer him.

When I did turn around, I was a lot closer to him than I had thought. We were only inches apart, and when I looked up to meet his eyes, I felt that familiar sensation that I was drowning in them.

I got those darn butterflies in my stomach and everything.

"Yeah?" My voice sounded slightly odd, even to me, and I self-consciously cleared my throat.

"You want to go out on Saturday night? Just the two of us?"

Oh. My. God. Did he really mean that the way it sounded?

"Why? Can't Cassandra come?"

He grinned, somewhat nervously.

"Actually, I wasn't going to ask her."

My heart skipped a beat, then began thumping madly.

"As in on a date?"

If possible, he was even more nervous now. And I was growing more excited by the second. I felt the corners of my mouth began to lift.

"If that's okay with you."

My beginnings of a grin then morphed into a full-fledged smile.

"Absolutely."

I watched, grinning like a fool as his mouth fell open in shock.

"Are you serious?"

I nodded.

His face still looked slightly stunned, but he also looked very, very happy.

All of the sudden, he leaned down and pressed a kiss on my mouth.

Then I was the one that was stunned.

He then drew back, an embarassed expression on his face.

"Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away."

"That sure seems to be happening a lot tonight." I teased. "Not that I have a problem with it, of course."

"In fact..." I continued, absolutely loving the feeling that came with knowing that Trevor felt the same way as I did, "...I really liked it."

"Funny. Me too."

He stepped in one step closer...

"Well, then I guess we should do it more often?"

...and another...

"Fine with me."

...and finally he was standing just inches away again. He was just leaning in for a kiss when two people walked aroun the corner, making us spring apart.

And those two people happened to be Mom and Uncle Gil.

Mom stopped in her tracks as she took in the scene before her. Having already figured out, as I had figured she would, that I was behind this, she wasn't surprised to see me there. But rather, to find me and Trevor about to kiss. Well, I couldn't blame her. In fact, I was still a little in shock myself.

A good kind of shock, though.

"Lindsey?" She asked in a questioning voice.

"Hey, Mom." I waved a little nervously and turned to the man standing by her side. "Hi, Uncle Gil. You remember Trevor."

"Yes, of course." He said with a polite nod that was returned by Trevor.

I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face, even when I tried, though. I guess that's what happens when you get kissed by the guy you have secretly liked for almost two years.

Although I noticed I wasn't the only one smiling.

I looked around during the ensuing seconds of silence and noticed that every one of us had a goofy grin on his or her face. Even Uncle Gil.

We were a very smiley group tonight.

I guess we all had reason to, though. And I had thought two years was tough. Mom and Uncle Gil had been waiting for over fifteen! Man, I would be thirty in fifteen years! It was a good thing Trevor and I got things worked out before then.

"So, do you guys have something to tell me? And Trev, of course." I added.

"Your mother and I are...well, how do you say it? Going out."

Mom cast a loving smile at Uncle Gil before turning back to me.

"What he's trying to say is that we're now officially a couple."

I swear, she looked radiant when she said that. As if she wouldn't be happier if she won the lottery.

But then her attention was focused on me again.

"So what about you two? Do you have anything to tell me?" She asked, her inquisitive expression marred by the fact that a knowing smile kept creeping back.

"Well...um, we're kind of...Trev?" I didn't really just want to announce that we had kissed, so I let him take that one.

He took my hand, and I got that warm feeling in my stomach again.

"We're also a couple now...that is if it's alright with you, of course."

She threw me a glance as if to say "I was right!" and then answered Trevor.

"Definitely. I'm sure you'll make her very happy."

I made a face, rolling my eyes at her at the same time.

"Geez, Mom. You make it sound like we're getting married."

'Although you were definitely right about the happy part.' I mentally added, squeezing the hand that still held mine.

She made the face right back at me, and I had to stifle a laugh.

"No I don't. Now I think it's about time you got home. Gil and I were just about to head that way."

"Sure you were." I teased.

"Lindsey." She pulled the 'Mom' tone, and I knew there would be no arguing. Oh, well. At least it was fun while it lasted.

We exchanged goodbyes, and walked towards Trevor's car, while Mom and Uncle Gil headed in the direction of their limo.

Trevor and I talked about as much as we usually did during the twenty minute ride back home. It was really good to know that even now that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, we were still just as good of friends as ever.

Surprisingly, we arrived before Mom and Uncle Gil, and Trevor walked me to the doorstep.

I finally got to drown in those green eyes like I had always wanted to as he stood there, staring down at me.

"I had fun tonight. Although I don't think I'll make a carreer out of this matchmaking stuff."

I returned his grin. "Me neither."

He stepped in to cup my chin softly in his hand. The soft touch of his lips on mine made warmth radiate throughout my entire body.

He stepped back

"Goodnight, Lindsey."

And then he drove away in his car, leaving me floating inside the house on a cloud.

I heard the limo pull up around thirty seconds later, but I didn't really pay much attention. I went upstairs to change into my pajamas, then descended back down the stairs to wait for my mom.

After almost five minutes of waiting, the door opened, and I watched as my slightly disheveled mother stepped through the door.

Honestly, I did NOT want to think about my mother doing those kinds of things, no matter how close I was to her, but I still couldn't help but grin because she looked exactly the same way I had felt after Trevor kissed me.

"Hi, Mom."

I could tell that I startled her.

"Oh. Hi, Linds. I thought you'd be in bed."

"Nope. Don't feel like sleeping." Okay, so that wasn't really why I was down there, but it was the truth.

"Me neither." She paused. "Want to watch a movie?"

That did sound like fun. And I really wasn't ready to sleep. I had far too much to think about.

"Sure. I'll make popcorn."

I headed to the kitchen, and she to the living room.

Five minutes later, we were lounging on the couch, eating popcorn, watching Miracle on 34th Street. A Christmas movie where two friends fall in love. Couldn't go wrong there.

Of course, I don't really think that either of us were paying much attention. We were much too preoccupied with thoughts of our night.

This was definitely going to go down in history as one of the best days of my entire life.

So far, anyway.

After all, I'm only fifteen.

THE END

(Epilogue to come.)