Disclaimer: See earlier chapters

Hunter stared at the phone. He had been staring at the phone for about ten minutes, now and was getting more and more frustrated at himself for not just picking it up and dialing. He thought that knocking on Tori's door the other week had been one of the hardest things he had done. Clearly world saving had nothing on relationships.

Finally with a grunt, Hunter picked up the phone and dialed. With the phone held to his ear, he began prowling the room. He stopped suddenly when the line was picked up and a familiar voice said, "Hello?"

"Hey."

"Hunter, what's up?"

Hunter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was totally stupid, but he needed someone to talk to and when he ran down the list of the people who he could talk to about this, he realized in the end that he really only wanted to talk to one person.

"Hunter, is everything o.k.?" He had waited too long and a thread of worry colored the tone of the question.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Hunter was quick to reassure, "I just need to talk to someone. . .no, I needed to talk to you."

"So what's up, bro?" Blake's voice came over the line.

"Hey, have you talked to Tori lately?" Hunter asked starting to pace the room again.

"Yeah, well, we were on IM last night," Hunter could hear amusement in Blake's voice, "I think it was a bad idea to give Janine her e-mail address. I didn't know Tori had so much dirt on me. Not to mention what Janine tells her. Dude, you talked to Omino Sensei about getting the academy guest house for Thanksgiving, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's all set up," Hunter reassured his brother, "I think the guys are going to streak up on Thursday evening and hang for the weekend. It's going to be cool to all get together. Kind of weird with Janine, though. I mean she won't know and like Marah and Kapri are going to be able to keep their mouths shut."

"Yeah, and Cy can't come up," Blake said, "So, what's eating you?" There was a long silence. "Hunter? You still there?"

"I think I've fallen in love with Tori," Hunter blurted out suddenly relieved to get it off of his chest. He collapsed onto the sofa in his office and dropped his head into his free hand.

"Oh, wow, Bro," was Blake's less than intelligent response. Hunter could hear someone in the background and Blake answered, "Hunter just told me he's in love with Tori."

"Did you just tell someone I was in love with Tori?" Hunter exploded in disbelief.

"Just Janine," Blake replied with a smile in his voice, "Janine says go for it."

"Janine says?" Hunter asked, "What do you say?"

Blake was quiet for a moment, "Bro, I don't think I can say anything about it. I mean, Tori can make up her mind if she likes you or not. I'm happy with Janine. You want me to like give you permission to date Tori or something?"

"No," Hunter said, "Well, yeah, kind of," he sighed in frustration, "I mean, she was always kind of your girl, you know. Dude, did you know Cam had a thing for her?"

Blake chuckled as he remembered Cam's remarks when Tori had saved him from the Lothor's frog monster. "Yeah, I totally knew."

"And she always had a thing for you. You guys had a thing for each other."

"And now you have a thing for her and she says she's totally over me," Blake replied, "Not to mention, I've got my best girl here."

Hunter rolled his eyes when he heard a feminine giggle. "Yeah, but still. I don't know, I mean, Tori's like the best, you know?"

"Yeah, I know, so maybe, one of the best brothers a guy can have deserves that. So, what are you going to do?" Blake asked, once again amused. Hunter had always been a little socially inept when it came to girls.

"Oh, man, that's another thing. Dude, how do you get one of your best friends to stop thinking of you as just one of your best friends and as a boyfriend? Then, what are the guys going to say? Shane and Dustin and Cam are going to pitch a fit."

"And Cy, don't forget Cy," Blake said cheerfully before complaining, "Ow."

"Hit him again!" Hunter said loudly but only heard Blake laughing on the other end.

"Dude, don't encourage her!"

Hunter smiled. Blake sounded totally happy. Hunter thought back about the years that he spent trying to take care of his younger brother, he and Blake being happy, that is what mattered. He waited for things to calm down on the other end before saying, "So, uh, what do you think I should do?"

"What are you asking me for? Dude, Tori had to tutor me all the way through getting Janine, like I'm going to be any help," Blake said, "Bro, Tori's the one I went to for dating advice. I don't think if I told you what she told me it's going to work. She'd see through that in a second."

"You are not any help," Hunter stated forcefully and stood up to pace again.

"Hunter?" a female voice came over the line causing Hunter to stop his pacing.

"Janine?"

"Hey, hi. Um, don't think I'm butting in or anything, but, you know, since Blake is kind of hopeless with this whole thing," Hunter smothered a grin as heard a protesting noise in the background, "I've been e-mailing Tori lots, like almost every day. She's really cool. I say just tell her. Blake just beat around the bush and never did anything, and he did the same thing with me until Tori told him to do differently. I think she'd appreciate the straightforward approach. If you don't let her know, she'll never even know if she has a choice."

"Yeah, but does she want me as a choice?"

"You'll never know unless you ask. And don't do the subtle crap. Just tell her, 'Hey, I like you, do you want to try this thing.' At least you'll both know where you stand."

"And if I get shot down?"

"At least you tried."

"Bro," Blake said coming over the phone, "Tori's not going to say no."

"How do you know that?" Hunter said scathingly.

"She has good taste in men and she has a thing for Bradleys. Dude, you're a shoe in," Blake sobered, "You know we never even kissed. Don't think she's going to be comparing us or anything."

"I'm so much better than you there is no comparison," Hunter retorted causing Blake to chuckle.

"So go for it," Blake said.

"Love you, Bro."

"Love you, too."

"Love you, too!" Hunter could hear Janine in the back ground.

"Bro, tell her love her, too."

Blake hung up the phone. He gave Janine a sad half smile as she moved to give him a comforting hug. "You o.k.?" she asked.

"You're not upset or anything?" Blake asked.

"Are you?"