A/N Mm, I think Cat's going to come out a little different than usual...

"Where's my five bucks?" Trina orders me to answer.

"Uh..." I hadn't thought that far. "I owe you?"

"I'm just going to have to turn around this car so you can get your money and then you can do whatever with your friend."

I raise an eyebrow. "Trina, you do realize that is a huge waste of gas, and you're stuck in this car for longer than just one round trip?"

"That is true," Trina admits. "Okay. You owe me, and I'm not driving you to school on Monday until you pay me."

I unbuckle my seatbelt and reach for the door handle. "That's fair. Thanks, sis. I'll see if Cat's mom can give me a ride home?"

"Terrific. Now get out of my car."

I do so and tentatively walk up to Cat's door. The house is pretty big, but not enormous, so I'm not so intimidated. I can't find the doorbell anywhere, so I settle for knocking.

The door opens almost immediately. "Hi, Tori!" The bubbly girl pulls me into a hug before I can do anything about it. Not that I disapprove.

"Ah! Cat! Lungs!"

She loosens her encirclement around me only slightly. "Oh, sorry." Then she squeezes again for effect. "I'm so glad you actually came."

"What? I said I would, didn't I?"

Cat pulls away and pouts. "That's not always how it goes, you know. Some people are mean."

"And by some people...?"

"Middle school. You wouldn't know them." Her face blanches. "It was not a fun school."

"I see." I don't know what else to say.

The silence is a little awkward. "Bake?"

"Sure?" I follow her to her kitchen. "Where're your parents?"

She moves to the refrigerator to get some eggs. "Out. They have date night once a month. So's my brother. But I don't think his date is as nice..."

"I'm not so sure what you mean by that."

"He's very adventurous. Today he and his girlfriend are going to go skydiving naked. Or was it cow-tipping...?"

I take the eggs from her and weigh them in my hands while she gets the rest of the supplies. "There's cows around here?"

"I don't know; don't ask me!" she says, more defensively than necessary.

After she finishes getting the supplies together, I break the silence. "So, what are we making?"

"Brownies. Are you allergic to nuts?"

"No."

"Good. I probably would have put in nuts either way, though. Peanuts are really, really good."

"I'd have to agree," I say, suppressing a smile.

We make the brownie batter and end up splattering the kitchen with chocolatey goo after an electric mixer malfunction. I laugh as I grab a hunk of paper towels to clean it all up.

She's staring at one wall and asks me in a grave tone, "Do you think it would still taste good if I lick it off the walls?"

I warn, "Cat... You do realize that the batter has eggs. And your walls probably aren't very clean."

Nodding thoughtfully, she seems to seriously consider acting on her idea. I swat her shoulder and she has this sad puppy expression on her face as she turns away from the wall. No way am I letting her get some sort of chocolate egg wall disease.

We pour the batter messily into the tray and shove the whole damn thing in the oven. Cat sets a timer and drags me to the couch in the den. Before I can sit down, she sticks out her index finger and swabs it on my cheek before putting it in her mouth. "You had some chocolate on your face," she says, sending me this look that I could swear is sultry.

"So, what are we watching?" I ask upon sitting down.

She pulls a DVD case out of nowhere. "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist."

"I've actually never seen that. Is it good?"

There's a sweet and currently-bouncing Cat in front of me. "Oh, yes! It's so cute. Now lemme put this in..." She pops opens the case and drops the DVD. Looking slightly embarrassed, she goes to put the movie in the player before joining me on the couch.

She's ridiculously close next to me. Her hand is on my knee, and I could swear she was leaning her head into my neck. It's getting to me. "Mm, Cat...?" I say.

Without moving from her position (it must be comfortable), she murmurs, "Hm?"

"You're kind of, you know, on me. D-do you do this with all of your friends?"

"Nope."

I'm not sure what answer I was expecting from her. "Okay."

"You're shoulder's warm," she says, as if that helps.

I can't think of anything to say to that, so I just try to watch the movie. This gets progressively more difficult as she shifts her position. Often. By the time Nick and Norah are in Jessie, Cat's head is on my lap.

"Is my lap warm too?" I ask before I can stop myself.

"Very," she says, offering a lopsided smile.

My body can't just enjoy the moment in peace, and it has decided to shudder lightly. "Sorry."

"Mm, it's okay," Cat replies, not even watching the movie anymore. Her hand reaches up and takes a lock of hair. "You have such pretty hair, Tori."

"Um, thanks," I say, trying not to move too much.

I grow continually more uncomfortable as Cat continues to switch to more and more strange positions. Eventually, she's on my lap again... sitting on me.

"Are you wearing a different lipgloss than normal, Tori?"

"No..."

"Oh. Well, maybe it's 'cause we've never been this close."

"Yeah." Is she teasing me?

I'm trying to stare straight ahead without looking at her pale pink lips. Apparently, she's got the same idea (or is trying to lure me into a trap), since she suddenly leans in and presses her lips on mine. My eyes widen and she does not pull away until I do.

Cat reaches out a hand to play with my hair again. "I liked that."

I'm about to say something, but then the timer goes off. She hops jubilantly off of my lap and runs to the kitchen shouting about brownies. I grab the remote and pause the movie (although I have no idea what's going on anymore) before following her.

"Did you just kiss me?" I ask dumbly.

"I touched my lips to your lips. I think that's a kiss. It- it was my first..." She trails off and shoves on some oven mitts.

"Really?"

She looks a little flustered as she opens the oven door. "If you don't want it to be a kiss, it doesn't have to be."

I knit my eyebrows together and lean on her counter. "No, I do want it to be. I've had this crush on you for the past few weeks and I thought it was never ever going to happen."

After setting the brownie tray down on the stove top, Cat looks at me with renewed hope. "I thought you could never like me because of Beck. Or Andre. Or Robbie. Or even Jade. Like, whenever I thought about it, I was the least likely person to have a chance."

"I think I had a crush on Beck for a week, but Andre's just a friend. Jade's... No. No no no. Same with Robbie. No."

I think she's about to blow up with joy or something. "That's the greatest news I've heard in... in forever! Kiss me again!"

"Not with those oven mitts," I say, pointing at the charred and dirty mitts on her hands.