Awkward did not begin to cover the feeling in the hot springs after that little outburst. Frank looked at Johnny and the wall, which was a collapsible wooden wall, several times. He dared not say anything because, quite frankly (no pun intended), it was simply too awkward. Frank thought about what to do, then he got an idea and grinned mischievously. He stood up and walked towards the dividing wall. Johnny looked at him curiously, and Frank asked, "Flannery, where exactly are you?"

"As far from you guys as possible."

"Good," Frank replied, then promptly kicked the wall down, getting rid of the division between guys and girls. Johnny and Flannery both stood up and shouted, "FRANK!"

Frank chuckled. "Did I do that?"

Johnny gave him a look. "Why did you do that?!"

"Because this was too awkward!"

Flannery exclaimed, "I might not have had anything on!" Thankfully she had a fiery-red bikini on.

Frank shrugged. "Not my problem."

Johnny looked at Flannery. "Want me to kick him out?"

She nodded vigorously, and Johnny picked up Frank and threw him out of the room, his stuff following soon after. Johnny looked at the door and sighed, and Flannery asked, "Can you help me put the wall up, please?"

He looked at her. "Why? I like how you look."

She looked over her decent bust and slender figure, blushing. "I don't look that great…"

Johnny nodded. "You do to me."

She blushed more and started to sputter. "J-Just help me w-with this wall, would you?"

He shrugged. "Fine." He helped her put the wall back up, and the last thing he saw was her incredibly red face. They both relaxed and sighed contentedly. "Johnny."

"Yeah?"

"Is this really the best way to fix this?"

"I'm just giving you space. You said that you didn't want to talk to me because the problem was relating to me."

"Good point…can we go over to your house and talk?"

Johnny was stunned. His crush pretty much invited herself over to his house! He started to smile hugely and said, "Sure, that should be okay. Now?"

"Yeah, if you can."

"Alright, let's go!"

They both quickly dried off, dressed, and left, passing Frank as they did so, who was grinning widely. "That'll work…"

They walked into Johnny's house, and his mom called out, "Johnny? That you?"

"Of course, Mom. Who else would it be?"

"Frank."

"Good point. No, just me and a friend."

"Frank?"

Flannery replied, "No, Mrs. Grilim."

Johnny's mother came into the entryway and grinned. "Flannery! Hello! Didn't expect you…sorry, we would have cleaned up more-"

Flannery chuckled. "No, it's fine. This was impromptu. Just treat me like a normal person as opposed to the Gym Leader." She turned to Johnny. "Can we hang in your room?"

Johnny and his mother said at the same time, "No."

Flannery looked at both of them. "Why not?"

Mrs. Grilim looked at Flannery. "I know you're a perfectly nice girl, but bad things happen when a boy and a girl are alone in a room together with no supervision. Absolutely positively no!"

Johnny pointed at his mom. "There you go."

Flannery nodded. "I understand. So…where can we hang, then?"

Mrs. Grillim pointed. "Living room. Comfortable couch, television, gaming systems, should be everything you need. If you need anything else, I'll be upstairs." She went up, and Johnny and Flannery went into the living room. Flannery gave a low whistle. "Nice TV…"

Johnny shrugged. "It's not much."

She looked at the game systems. "Xbox One? PS4?! Damn, these are nice systems! What should we play first?"

Johnny gestured at the cabinet. "There's what we got."

Flannery rushed over to the cabinet with glee and looked through the game, picking up an Xbox One game. "Giantdrop!"

Johnny chuckled. "Shooter?"

She nodded. "It's so fun! And I can kick your ass!"

Johnny smirked. "We'll see about that!"

Fifteen minutes later, they were tied. They had both won two games, so the next one would win. Johnny looked at Flannery and asked, "Wanna make this more interesting?"

She gave him a questioning look, and he said, "Since whoever wins this wins the match, how about the loser does whatever the winner demands?"

She thought about it, then nodded. "Alright. How long?"

"Hm…does a week sound good?"

She shook her head. "Too long for me…how about for the rest of the day?"

Johnny nodded. "Sounds good. Let's go!"

They started the game, and about five or so minutes later, Flannery was griping and Johnny was grinning. He had won, but only barely. He turned to Flannery and said, "Well, this oughta be fun."

She glared at him. "You got lucky!"

He shrugged. "I don't deny that. But I still won, which means you gotta do what I want for the rest of the day."

She sighed. "As much as it pisses me off, you're right. I'll honor this bet. What would you have me do first?"

Johnny thought for a moment, then spoke. "I'll say this now: If I ask you to do something uncomfortable, you are free to reject it."

She gave him an odd look. "You're…giving me permission?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I don't wanna overstep boundaries or anything. Something like this could ruin our friendship if something bad happens."

She looked away and muttered, "You want more than friendship, though…"

He blinked. "What makes you say that?"

She looked into his green eyes. "I've seen how you look at me…right through me sometimes. I've seen the smiles, the grimaces, all that. I know you have a crush on me, Johnny. I've known since you figured it out, pretty much."

He blinked again and turned away. "You…you knew?"

She nodded, and he asked, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because they're your feelings. You're the one who has to tell me."

"But I didn't."

She shrugged. "My bad. So what do you want me to do first?"

"Hm? Oh yeah…the bet…" He looked at her. "Answer me something, truthfully."

She got more comfortable on his couch. "Sure, shoot."

"Do you like me, too?"

She blinked. "Like you like me?"

He nodded, and she thought a moment. "Well…"