13. New, Shiny.
The two girls finally managed to extricate themselves from Brooke's bed, knowing that their parents would be home soon. They agreed that they would have to tell the 'rentals' about them eventually, but neither wanted to rush it. On the one hand, it would likely be a scene, with raised voices and attempts to break apart what was building between them – what had been building, they admitted, for years. On the other hand, they wanted to hold onto what was happening, feeling it was too precious to be shared – at least for now.
When Mike and Jane came home, they greeted them warmly (perhaps with more enthusiasm than usual), hugging their hellos and fawning over their baby sister. The rest of the day passed without incident, the girls excusing themselves early, ending up in Sam's room, sitting on Sam's bed, talking, holding hands, and smiling constantly, reviewing old stories, laughing at how much trouble to two had caused each other by refusing to recognize what was really going on between them. They talked again about what they would do when, inevitably, everyone found out about them. Finally, before, Brooke reluctantly returned to her own room, they'd agreed to at least tell Lily and Carmen, the least likely to cause them any problems. Brooke kissed Sam goodnight on her forehead. Sam kissed Brooke's hand. Each said "I love you," and then went to bed, though neither would sleep very much that night.