Stephanie rolled her head to the side and was rudely awakened by a pounding alarm clock. Why would an alarm clock pound? She didn't remember buying a pounding alarm clock. She had her cow alarm clock that mooed, but not a pounding alarm clock. She opened her eyes and groggily took in her surroundings. Looking to her right she encountered some green pajama pants and the hint of gray boxers. She looked to her left and saw Chris sleeping.
She realized she had fallen asleep on Chris's stomach. She yawned and moved so that she was laying side by side with him. It was still dark out so she fell back asleep. Somewhere in the course of the evening, Chris had rolled onto his side and had slung his arm around her from behind. She didn't notice until she woke up hours later to find she couldn't move.
"Snooks, get your arm off of me," Stephanie mumbled sleepily.
"My arm isn't on you," he mumbled back.
"If it's not your arm, what the hell is it?"
"Ok, its my arm, but I don't want to move it, I'm tired, let me sleep for God's sakes," Chris whined.
"But your arm is on me!"
"It's not doing anything!"
"Its like five centimeters away from my boob!"
"Hey, it goes where it wants to," he said lifting his head to glance at the clock before groaning and hitting the pillow with his head, "Its 5:30 in the morning, let me sleep!"
"Get off of me."
"This isn't your bed," he told her.
"This isn't your house," she countered.
"You dragged me to your parent's thing!"
"So!"
"So let me sleep or I'm going to knock you off the bed."
"You do it, and I'll get the fucking hose."
"Just go to sleep or you're going to be ugly," he told her, already falling asleep.
"Fine," she said, feeling the fatigue coming over her again, "Sleep does sound good."
The machine beeped and she could hear it because the house was so silent. She got up tiredly and threw Chris's arm back over to his side of the bed. Yawning and stretching, she got out of bed and cracked her neck. Pulling the covers back over onto Chris, she headed downstairs to put on a pot of coffee, knowing that if she was going to function normally today that she needed the coffee badly.
The machine beeped again and she pushed the button, "Steph, it's Randy, too early to call?"
"God yes," she mumbled to herself, though a quick look to the clock told her that it was past 10:00.
"Oh well, I guess you're still asleep, so I'll call you later."
The next message came on, "Stephanie, this is your mother, I was informed that you and Chris left the party early and--"
"Stupid mother," Stephanie said, pushing the button, "That's just the way I want to start the day, with my mother bitching me out."
"Were we busted?"
Stephanie looked over to Chris, and rolled her eyes, "I swear, I think she has spies on me at all times. That way it's easier than just surveillance, she just has her spies report back to her and they're probably the best spies in the world, and I bet that they used to work for the government or something."
"Great, then I bet she has some on me too, that's just what I need, some guy taking pictures while I'm trying to go to the bathroom."
"I'm sure that they let you do that in peace," Stephanie said as she picked up the phone.
"Who're you calling?" he asked as he came over to kiss her cheek good morning. She leaned into it as she dialed the phone.
"Randy."
"Love...young love," Chris sang, deepening his voice so he sounded like a crooner.
"Randy, hey," Stephanie said chirpily into the phone, "Yeah, you did call too early you silly boy."
"Oh, I love you, you crazy boy, you are the dreamiest, most neat-o guy I've ever met. Let's go steady and I can wear your letterman's jacket and your fraternity pin, and I'll be the envy of all the girls on the cheerleading squad," Chris said, raising his voice to sound like a girl.
Stephanie gave him a dirty look, "Sorry Randy, I didn't hear you over an obnoxious noise coming from my best friend."
"I said I missed you," Randy told her.
"I miss you too," Stephanie said softly, leaning on the counter as Chris set a cup of coffee, two sugars, beside her. She took it and sipped at it, moaning silently as the warm liquid slid down her throat. "Caffeine is my god."
Randy laughed on the other end, "First cup of coffee?"
"Yes, and boy did I need it!"
"What happened last night?"
"Well, my parents were abducted by robots and then they wanted a ransom, but I wouldn't pay the ransom, so I was challenged to a duel with Shane, and so I got into a fencing outfit, the one that looks like a beekeeper's suit or something, and then we fenced and I won, so I didn't pay and my parents were pulverized by specialized lasers from the robots and then I cheered and everyone lifted me onto their shoulders so that they could have a parade for me."
"Wow, that sounds like it was some time, I wish I could've been there."
"Or we skipped out on the party and then came home and gorged ourselves on cookies and whipped cream."
"Oh, you know that's total bullshit," Randy said, "That is such a fake story. Don't lie about the robots."
"Damn, you caught me," Stephanie giggled, "So what are you doing today?"
"Well, I was hoping that you would let me into your house, but seeing as how I can't get you to shut up for two seconds, I haven't gotten to tell you I'm at your front door."
Stephanie squealed and dropped the phone. Chris winced at the sound and watched as she ran out of the room at top speed. He followed her nonchalantly into the foyer where she threw open the door to a smiling Randy. She threw her arms around him and he hugged her tightly, letting his face settle against her hair.
"You came! I can't believe you came! This is like a ten on the scale of good surprises. Now normally, not the biggest fan of them, but this one is so good, I'm willing to overlook it. It's like you found the loophole in the contract of me, you know, no surprises unless they're really good!"
"I had to come see you, I missed you," he said, whispering into her hair.
"I missed you too! But then I had Chris around, so it wasn't like I missed you all that much. He has his ways of distracting me when I want to be distracted...wow, that sounded so unintentionally sexual. I'm not having sex with him or anything...now you probably think I'm having sex with him."
"She's not having sex with me," Chris interjected, as Stephanie pulled away to wrap her arms around Randy's waist, "Although if I were having sex with her, I doubt that I would tell her boyfriend I was, but given the fact, I could probably beat you up, I might tell you, but suffice to say that I'm not sleeping with her."
"You guys talk a lot," Randy said, looking between the two of them. "How do the two of you even keep up with each other?"
"We have this system of talking," Stephanie said, "It's called, 'the other shuts up when one is talking.' It works for us."
"Yeah, it's like a plan, you know, that way, we can each say what we want to say without being interrupted. Although she loves to interrupt, but I just go with the flow because she's my best friend and she had a mean slap. Keep that in mind for future reference. I've been on the receiving end numerous times. I've come this close to reporting her to the authorities and having them take her away. She's dangerous."
"Oh be quiet Snooks, you know nothing about me," Stephanie said with a frown.
"I know everything about you," Chris said, "So Randy, if you ever need to know something about Stephanie, just ask me, I mean, I know what kind of pajamas she wore in the seventh grade. I should've majored in Stephanie in college, and then I could've gotten my doctorate, and then I could go around the country speaking exclusively about Stephanie."
"Yeah, I am quite the subject. There are so many facets to me that I'm like a puzzle box...ooh, or like those kid's toy, the box with the shapes and then they have the shapes and they put them in the slot to fill it up, and that's like me, I'm many shapes that come together."
"Stephanie likes weird analogies," Chris said, "Enjoy." He drank his coffee as he walked back into the kitchen, leaving Stephanie and Randy alone. Randy took the opportunity to properly say hello to her, pressing his lips against hers. Stephanie ran her hands along his cheeks, sighing happily as he pulled away.
"My mom called this morning and she's probably mad at me because Chris and I left last night, but I just couldn't stay there any longer. Some guy hit on me!"
"What!"
"Chris and I took care of him. We pantsed him and then ran away giggling into the night, but not before we turned on all the faucets in the bathroom, AND spiked the punch."
"Wow, rebels," Randy said, reassured that Chris was there and had taken care of his girlfriend.
"Yeah, WITH a cause, and that cause is to make my parents as miserable as possible. Because they made me miserable when I was younger, so it's my turn now. The ball is in my court," she said, with a hint of evil laughter, "Did you want some coffee or something?"
"No, I've been up a while," he said, "I had some on the plane."
"So what do you want to do?"
"I was hoping to take you out for lunch and then maybe we could go to a movie or something."
"Sounds like a date."
"I would consider it one yeah, we can do whatever you want to do though."
"Ever been paddle-boating?" she asked excitedly.
"I can't say that I have," he said with a short smile.
"You think it's stupid huh?" she asked, a little hurt.
"No, I just, I don't know if I'm the paddle-boating type," Randy said.
"Did someone say paddle-boating?" Chris said, sticking his head into the foyer, "I thought I heard the magic word."
"You did!" Stephanie answered, clapping her hands together happily, "I was thinking that it would be fun."
"Randy, if you don't want to go, I will so go, you and I have to duel it out," Chris said, narrowing his eyes at Stephanie.
"Oh yeah, like you didn't get your ass whooped last time," Stephanie said
"No way! We designated the bush as the finish line and you did NOT win!"
"I did to!"
"Fine, rematch!" Chris shouted defiantly.
"Oh, you are on!" Stephanie said, glaring at him.
"I feel like I've walked into a war zone," Randy said, looking between the two of them, "What's going on?"
"We race paddleboats," Stephanie explained, "It's fun, we each get our own and we try to paddle as fast as we can to a designated spot and then I always win."
"If you win, it's cause I let you."
"Well, this seems like something you two do, so how about I just take you to lunch Steph, and you and Chris can do this paddle-boating thing."
"You sure, it's fun."
"I'm not sure it's my kind of fun," Randy said gently, kissing her cheek.
"Suit yourself, down Snooks, you here me, down."
"Over my over-turned boat!"
Stephanie went upstairs to change into a pair of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. She ran back down the stairs trying to pull her hair into a ponytail. Randy was waiting on the stairs for her, dressed in his khaki pants and a nice button-down shirt. They looked totally different, but it fit for them.
"Snooks, I'm going, better get those leg muscles working," Stephanie called out into the living room.
"You better get your pouting face on, because that's what you're going to be doing once you lose Stephers!"
"Not a chance," she told him, blowing him a kiss before she left with Randy. This did not go unnoticed by him, but he didn't acknowledge it. Him and Stephanie were good and he trusted Chris. Besides, they never showed anything resembling attraction for one another.
Stephanie showed them a casual outdoor restaurant where they had a couple of sandwiches. Stephanie kept talking about the night before and how boring it had been, except for her guardian angel, Chris. Randy hated getting jealous of anything or anyone, but he really wished he could've been there with her last night.
"Steph?"
"Hmm?" she asked, a mouthful of club sandwich muffling her answer.
"When are we going to tell your parents about us?"
She swallowed, "You actually WANT to tell them?"
"Well, my parents know," he shrugged, "They don't care."
"You've met my parents right?"
"Yeah, but come on, we've been going out almost a month and I'm kind of sick and tired of the hiding."
"But Randy...my parents, they will massacre you and then stick your decapitated head on a stick and proudly display it on their front yard," Stephanie said, not a hint of joking in her voice.
"I can handle it."
"Ok, if you want...we can set something up," Stephanie nodded. They ate the rest of their meal in silence before Randy drove them back to Stephanie's house. She got out quietly, and went inside. She hadn't spoken for thirty minutes, which was a new record for her, beating out her previous record of three minutes, and that was only when Chris had made her be quiet so he could hear something.
"Snooks, I'm back," Stephanie called out, breaking her temporary vow of silence. He came into the foyer in a pair of long basketball shorts and a tank top that showed off his biceps. He smiled at them as he walked closer.
"You ready?" he asked Stephanie.
"Uh huh."
Before she knew it they were in line for the paddleboats. She was distracted and only looked up when they said that they only had one left. Chris sighed and looked at her, seeing what her opinion was. She shrugged and climbed into the boat before Chris followed her. They paddled silently for a little while around the large lake.
"Randy wants to tell my parents about us."
"So the Dreamboat wants to quit hiding," Chris said.
"I don't want to throw him to the wolves."
"It was bound to happen sometime. I mean, what if you married him, would you not tell them then? I know you dislike them Stephers, but they would eventually find out when you started having kids and stuff, so you might as well get it over with now before you find yourself having to explain why you need the day off to go to your kid's college graduation."
"They'll butcher him. Then they'll cook him and make me eat him and it will all be very Shakespeare like. Look at what they did to you!"
"I only have the one scar," Chris laughed, then sensing Stephanie's nervousness, he stopped paddling altogether and looked over at her. She was staring straight ahead and he moved her head to look at him. "Don't worry about it. Your parents are nothing. They mean nothing and anything they say is nothing."
"You're right, I just, they hurt you."
"They just called me a loser and low-brow."
"But that was mean."
"I can live with name calling."
"I'm sorry they were like that Snooks. If only you didn't want to be my friend..."
"Who said I did, if memory serves me right, and my memory is so wonderful. You forced me to be your friend, forced Stephers, forced like you would force a nail into a piece of wood."
"But you wanted to be my friend."
"Yeah, I wanted to be your friend."
She smiled at him, and felt very calm now. He had the uncanny ability to make her feel so at ease and she thanked him forever for it. She smiled lopsidedly at him and he leaned forward. Her smile turned to a serious face as he leaned closer and then he kissed her cheek before pulling away.
"Don't worry about it Stephers, he'll do just fine."
She realized she had fallen asleep on Chris's stomach. She yawned and moved so that she was laying side by side with him. It was still dark out so she fell back asleep. Somewhere in the course of the evening, Chris had rolled onto his side and had slung his arm around her from behind. She didn't notice until she woke up hours later to find she couldn't move.
"Snooks, get your arm off of me," Stephanie mumbled sleepily.
"My arm isn't on you," he mumbled back.
"If it's not your arm, what the hell is it?"
"Ok, its my arm, but I don't want to move it, I'm tired, let me sleep for God's sakes," Chris whined.
"But your arm is on me!"
"It's not doing anything!"
"Its like five centimeters away from my boob!"
"Hey, it goes where it wants to," he said lifting his head to glance at the clock before groaning and hitting the pillow with his head, "Its 5:30 in the morning, let me sleep!"
"Get off of me."
"This isn't your bed," he told her.
"This isn't your house," she countered.
"You dragged me to your parent's thing!"
"So!"
"So let me sleep or I'm going to knock you off the bed."
"You do it, and I'll get the fucking hose."
"Just go to sleep or you're going to be ugly," he told her, already falling asleep.
"Fine," she said, feeling the fatigue coming over her again, "Sleep does sound good."
The machine beeped and she could hear it because the house was so silent. She got up tiredly and threw Chris's arm back over to his side of the bed. Yawning and stretching, she got out of bed and cracked her neck. Pulling the covers back over onto Chris, she headed downstairs to put on a pot of coffee, knowing that if she was going to function normally today that she needed the coffee badly.
The machine beeped again and she pushed the button, "Steph, it's Randy, too early to call?"
"God yes," she mumbled to herself, though a quick look to the clock told her that it was past 10:00.
"Oh well, I guess you're still asleep, so I'll call you later."
The next message came on, "Stephanie, this is your mother, I was informed that you and Chris left the party early and--"
"Stupid mother," Stephanie said, pushing the button, "That's just the way I want to start the day, with my mother bitching me out."
"Were we busted?"
Stephanie looked over to Chris, and rolled her eyes, "I swear, I think she has spies on me at all times. That way it's easier than just surveillance, she just has her spies report back to her and they're probably the best spies in the world, and I bet that they used to work for the government or something."
"Great, then I bet she has some on me too, that's just what I need, some guy taking pictures while I'm trying to go to the bathroom."
"I'm sure that they let you do that in peace," Stephanie said as she picked up the phone.
"Who're you calling?" he asked as he came over to kiss her cheek good morning. She leaned into it as she dialed the phone.
"Randy."
"Love...young love," Chris sang, deepening his voice so he sounded like a crooner.
"Randy, hey," Stephanie said chirpily into the phone, "Yeah, you did call too early you silly boy."
"Oh, I love you, you crazy boy, you are the dreamiest, most neat-o guy I've ever met. Let's go steady and I can wear your letterman's jacket and your fraternity pin, and I'll be the envy of all the girls on the cheerleading squad," Chris said, raising his voice to sound like a girl.
Stephanie gave him a dirty look, "Sorry Randy, I didn't hear you over an obnoxious noise coming from my best friend."
"I said I missed you," Randy told her.
"I miss you too," Stephanie said softly, leaning on the counter as Chris set a cup of coffee, two sugars, beside her. She took it and sipped at it, moaning silently as the warm liquid slid down her throat. "Caffeine is my god."
Randy laughed on the other end, "First cup of coffee?"
"Yes, and boy did I need it!"
"What happened last night?"
"Well, my parents were abducted by robots and then they wanted a ransom, but I wouldn't pay the ransom, so I was challenged to a duel with Shane, and so I got into a fencing outfit, the one that looks like a beekeeper's suit or something, and then we fenced and I won, so I didn't pay and my parents were pulverized by specialized lasers from the robots and then I cheered and everyone lifted me onto their shoulders so that they could have a parade for me."
"Wow, that sounds like it was some time, I wish I could've been there."
"Or we skipped out on the party and then came home and gorged ourselves on cookies and whipped cream."
"Oh, you know that's total bullshit," Randy said, "That is such a fake story. Don't lie about the robots."
"Damn, you caught me," Stephanie giggled, "So what are you doing today?"
"Well, I was hoping that you would let me into your house, but seeing as how I can't get you to shut up for two seconds, I haven't gotten to tell you I'm at your front door."
Stephanie squealed and dropped the phone. Chris winced at the sound and watched as she ran out of the room at top speed. He followed her nonchalantly into the foyer where she threw open the door to a smiling Randy. She threw her arms around him and he hugged her tightly, letting his face settle against her hair.
"You came! I can't believe you came! This is like a ten on the scale of good surprises. Now normally, not the biggest fan of them, but this one is so good, I'm willing to overlook it. It's like you found the loophole in the contract of me, you know, no surprises unless they're really good!"
"I had to come see you, I missed you," he said, whispering into her hair.
"I missed you too! But then I had Chris around, so it wasn't like I missed you all that much. He has his ways of distracting me when I want to be distracted...wow, that sounded so unintentionally sexual. I'm not having sex with him or anything...now you probably think I'm having sex with him."
"She's not having sex with me," Chris interjected, as Stephanie pulled away to wrap her arms around Randy's waist, "Although if I were having sex with her, I doubt that I would tell her boyfriend I was, but given the fact, I could probably beat you up, I might tell you, but suffice to say that I'm not sleeping with her."
"You guys talk a lot," Randy said, looking between the two of them. "How do the two of you even keep up with each other?"
"We have this system of talking," Stephanie said, "It's called, 'the other shuts up when one is talking.' It works for us."
"Yeah, it's like a plan, you know, that way, we can each say what we want to say without being interrupted. Although she loves to interrupt, but I just go with the flow because she's my best friend and she had a mean slap. Keep that in mind for future reference. I've been on the receiving end numerous times. I've come this close to reporting her to the authorities and having them take her away. She's dangerous."
"Oh be quiet Snooks, you know nothing about me," Stephanie said with a frown.
"I know everything about you," Chris said, "So Randy, if you ever need to know something about Stephanie, just ask me, I mean, I know what kind of pajamas she wore in the seventh grade. I should've majored in Stephanie in college, and then I could've gotten my doctorate, and then I could go around the country speaking exclusively about Stephanie."
"Yeah, I am quite the subject. There are so many facets to me that I'm like a puzzle box...ooh, or like those kid's toy, the box with the shapes and then they have the shapes and they put them in the slot to fill it up, and that's like me, I'm many shapes that come together."
"Stephanie likes weird analogies," Chris said, "Enjoy." He drank his coffee as he walked back into the kitchen, leaving Stephanie and Randy alone. Randy took the opportunity to properly say hello to her, pressing his lips against hers. Stephanie ran her hands along his cheeks, sighing happily as he pulled away.
"My mom called this morning and she's probably mad at me because Chris and I left last night, but I just couldn't stay there any longer. Some guy hit on me!"
"What!"
"Chris and I took care of him. We pantsed him and then ran away giggling into the night, but not before we turned on all the faucets in the bathroom, AND spiked the punch."
"Wow, rebels," Randy said, reassured that Chris was there and had taken care of his girlfriend.
"Yeah, WITH a cause, and that cause is to make my parents as miserable as possible. Because they made me miserable when I was younger, so it's my turn now. The ball is in my court," she said, with a hint of evil laughter, "Did you want some coffee or something?"
"No, I've been up a while," he said, "I had some on the plane."
"So what do you want to do?"
"I was hoping to take you out for lunch and then maybe we could go to a movie or something."
"Sounds like a date."
"I would consider it one yeah, we can do whatever you want to do though."
"Ever been paddle-boating?" she asked excitedly.
"I can't say that I have," he said with a short smile.
"You think it's stupid huh?" she asked, a little hurt.
"No, I just, I don't know if I'm the paddle-boating type," Randy said.
"Did someone say paddle-boating?" Chris said, sticking his head into the foyer, "I thought I heard the magic word."
"You did!" Stephanie answered, clapping her hands together happily, "I was thinking that it would be fun."
"Randy, if you don't want to go, I will so go, you and I have to duel it out," Chris said, narrowing his eyes at Stephanie.
"Oh yeah, like you didn't get your ass whooped last time," Stephanie said
"No way! We designated the bush as the finish line and you did NOT win!"
"I did to!"
"Fine, rematch!" Chris shouted defiantly.
"Oh, you are on!" Stephanie said, glaring at him.
"I feel like I've walked into a war zone," Randy said, looking between the two of them, "What's going on?"
"We race paddleboats," Stephanie explained, "It's fun, we each get our own and we try to paddle as fast as we can to a designated spot and then I always win."
"If you win, it's cause I let you."
"Well, this seems like something you two do, so how about I just take you to lunch Steph, and you and Chris can do this paddle-boating thing."
"You sure, it's fun."
"I'm not sure it's my kind of fun," Randy said gently, kissing her cheek.
"Suit yourself, down Snooks, you here me, down."
"Over my over-turned boat!"
Stephanie went upstairs to change into a pair of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. She ran back down the stairs trying to pull her hair into a ponytail. Randy was waiting on the stairs for her, dressed in his khaki pants and a nice button-down shirt. They looked totally different, but it fit for them.
"Snooks, I'm going, better get those leg muscles working," Stephanie called out into the living room.
"You better get your pouting face on, because that's what you're going to be doing once you lose Stephers!"
"Not a chance," she told him, blowing him a kiss before she left with Randy. This did not go unnoticed by him, but he didn't acknowledge it. Him and Stephanie were good and he trusted Chris. Besides, they never showed anything resembling attraction for one another.
Stephanie showed them a casual outdoor restaurant where they had a couple of sandwiches. Stephanie kept talking about the night before and how boring it had been, except for her guardian angel, Chris. Randy hated getting jealous of anything or anyone, but he really wished he could've been there with her last night.
"Steph?"
"Hmm?" she asked, a mouthful of club sandwich muffling her answer.
"When are we going to tell your parents about us?"
She swallowed, "You actually WANT to tell them?"
"Well, my parents know," he shrugged, "They don't care."
"You've met my parents right?"
"Yeah, but come on, we've been going out almost a month and I'm kind of sick and tired of the hiding."
"But Randy...my parents, they will massacre you and then stick your decapitated head on a stick and proudly display it on their front yard," Stephanie said, not a hint of joking in her voice.
"I can handle it."
"Ok, if you want...we can set something up," Stephanie nodded. They ate the rest of their meal in silence before Randy drove them back to Stephanie's house. She got out quietly, and went inside. She hadn't spoken for thirty minutes, which was a new record for her, beating out her previous record of three minutes, and that was only when Chris had made her be quiet so he could hear something.
"Snooks, I'm back," Stephanie called out, breaking her temporary vow of silence. He came into the foyer in a pair of long basketball shorts and a tank top that showed off his biceps. He smiled at them as he walked closer.
"You ready?" he asked Stephanie.
"Uh huh."
Before she knew it they were in line for the paddleboats. She was distracted and only looked up when they said that they only had one left. Chris sighed and looked at her, seeing what her opinion was. She shrugged and climbed into the boat before Chris followed her. They paddled silently for a little while around the large lake.
"Randy wants to tell my parents about us."
"So the Dreamboat wants to quit hiding," Chris said.
"I don't want to throw him to the wolves."
"It was bound to happen sometime. I mean, what if you married him, would you not tell them then? I know you dislike them Stephers, but they would eventually find out when you started having kids and stuff, so you might as well get it over with now before you find yourself having to explain why you need the day off to go to your kid's college graduation."
"They'll butcher him. Then they'll cook him and make me eat him and it will all be very Shakespeare like. Look at what they did to you!"
"I only have the one scar," Chris laughed, then sensing Stephanie's nervousness, he stopped paddling altogether and looked over at her. She was staring straight ahead and he moved her head to look at him. "Don't worry about it. Your parents are nothing. They mean nothing and anything they say is nothing."
"You're right, I just, they hurt you."
"They just called me a loser and low-brow."
"But that was mean."
"I can live with name calling."
"I'm sorry they were like that Snooks. If only you didn't want to be my friend..."
"Who said I did, if memory serves me right, and my memory is so wonderful. You forced me to be your friend, forced Stephers, forced like you would force a nail into a piece of wood."
"But you wanted to be my friend."
"Yeah, I wanted to be your friend."
She smiled at him, and felt very calm now. He had the uncanny ability to make her feel so at ease and she thanked him forever for it. She smiled lopsidedly at him and he leaned forward. Her smile turned to a serious face as he leaned closer and then he kissed her cheek before pulling away.
"Don't worry about it Stephers, he'll do just fine."