'She bought it. Holy crap.' I couldn't help but think.

'I told you not to worry, didn't I?'

'You honestly thought I'd listen to you?'

I shut the door behind Ella quickly, resisiting the urge to take my frustration with Shane out on it.

'Oh cry me a river.'

'Only if I can drown you in it.'

"Okay," Caitlyn announced, holding up two dvds, one in each hand, "Transfomers or Saw?"

My mind immediately thought, 'Saw.'

'You're kidding, right? Saw? Saw!! Transformers all the way Mitch.'

Ella wrinkled her nose. "Why can't we watch something," her eyes got starry, "romantic?"

'Oh God Ella, stop it," Shane thought.

'What are you babbling about now?' I rolled my eyes.

He ignored me, of course. 'Not again! I'm not watching Titanic again.'

Nate spoke up, whining, "But we watched Titanic last week Ella!"

Ella turned to her boyfriend. "Jason..." she drew out, batting her eyelashes in his direction. She took a hold of his hand in her own, "You love me, don't you?"

Jason gulped, looking helplessly to Nate and Shane. He mouthed the words, "Help me" to each of them. Ella continued to turn on the charm. Finally, he hung his head. "Okay, okay. Guys?"

'Way to be a man.'

I rolled my eyes. 'He loves her.'

'He's whipped," Shane countered.

Aloud, Shane said, "No. Absolutely not. We watched your pick last time!"

Ella's lower lip trembled and we all winced. 'Aww, come on Shane. How bad could it be?'

'You don't know Ella.'

Nate, too, agreed with Shane. "Yeah, we watched your pick last time! I don't want to watch another chick flick! Lets watch something else! Anything else!"

Ella finally unleashed the water works. "You. Guys. Don't. Love. Me!"

We all sighed in unison. "Fine."

"Yay!" she brightened, the tears coming to a screeching halt. She bounced out of the hallway, leading us to what I could only assume to be the living room.

I was the last to follow when the doorbell rang. Caitlyn turned around, "Hey Mitchie, the money is on the side table, you don't mind getting the pizza do you?"

I yelled back, "Nah, one sec." Turning around, I grabbed the money off the table, opening the door to reveal the pizza dude.

Holding two pizzas in his hand, he held them out to me. I handed him two twenties. "Here you go." Vaguely, I wondered, 'How much tip to I give him...'

'Just let him keep it all.'

"What?" I didn't realize I spoke the words out loud.

"I didn't say anything," the guy spoke back.

"Heh, uh, just keep it all." The dude smiled, turning around in glee. Surprising, I never knew that being a pizza guy could bring such joy.

'You're mean.'

'I didn't mean it like that and you know it. You can hear me thinking, stupid.'

'Don't call me stupid.'

'Insufferable bastard.'

'Don't call me that either!'

'Egotistical, selfish, unbelievable asshole? How does that work for you?'

'Are you on your period?'

I froze. 'No.'

'Hmm...well you've got some issues.'

'You're one to talk.'

'I didn't say anything!' he thought, the smartass.

'Insufferable bastard.'

"So...did you have fun?" Shane asked awkwardly, as he drove me home.

His hand was resting on my leg again, thankfully (that sounds too weird to think about), so he couldn't hear what I was thinking, a definite good thing. Sighing, I replied, "I guess. I just want this thing to end. What are we going to do if it doesn't? I can't live with a guy in my head."

It was a while before he spoke. "I don't know what we're supposed to do and I'm not sure if there's a real reason we're supposed to know each other." He glanced at me for a second, then shrugged. "Maybe it's destiny."

I held my breathe. "Screw destiny," I finally replied. "We make our own destiny, Shane. Someone else has it out for us." I thought harder, "Maybe we're meant to be enemies and this is a test."

"Yeah, right. If we're meant to be enemies than why the hell can we hear each other? And you know what else? Why the hell did we share that dream? I mean, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Is that all you can say? 'Why the hell this' and 'Why the hell that'? I don't know. You don't know. Only God knows whether we'll figure it out, but I want to know how to stop it. Let's just face it Shane: We're not friends, we're not even aquaintances. The second that this thing stops, we're going to go in our seperate directions."

Once again, silence reigned and for that moment only, I wished I knew what was going on in his head. "I don't know, but there has to be a reason that this is happening to us. People don't just wake up one day with voices in their heads Mitchie. And we're not crazy."

The car stopped as he pulled into my driveway, but his hand stayed. I looked down, fiddling with my thumbs. "I have an idea, but it might not be a good one. I might be crazy even for thinking about it."

"What?" he said softly.

"I..." I hesitated. "Okay, look," I closed my eyes to keep myself from seeing his reaction, "don't freak out, but what if you stayed here...for the night?" At his silence I continued, "For experimental purposes! There has to be a reason why we can't hear each other when we're touching, maybe if we sleep in close proximity, we won't share our dreams."

"You were right. That doesn't sound like a good idea." Shane rubbed his forehead with his left hand, sighing. Who knew that he could be rational?

I waited for him to continue all the while wishing I hadn't brought it up.

"I'll have to duck out before your parents get up."

I released the breath I was holding. "Oh, well, okay then."

Shane started the car up again. "What are you doing?" I asked, confused.

"I can't just leave it here. That'd be a bit suspicious, Mitchie. I'll just park around the corner." He made it seem so obvious that I didn't have anything witty or sarcastic to say back.

You know, I really hate it when he outsmarts me.

"So, um, goodnight," I said from underneath the covers. 'God, this is so incredibly awkward.'

'Your idea.'

'I forgot that you can still hear me.'

'Kind of hard not-

At that moment, I reached out to take his hand in my own. Aloud, I spoke, "Okay, scoot closer to me. I don't think I can fall asleep with you in my head, it's too hard."

In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but feel as if we were some how betraying Caitlyn. Technically speaking, Shane and I were sleeping together.

I sighed. I just know that whoever was behind the whole damn thing was laughing their ass off at us.

Shane wrapped his arm around my waist, and I stiffened. "Relax, I'm not going to do anything," he spoke quietly. How could I relax though, knowing that he was dating one of the nicest people I've ever met, when he had his arm snaked around my waist? "Goodnight Mitchie."

I sighed. Not much I could do about it by that point. "Night."

Groaning, I opened my eyes. Blinking, I looked around swiftly. Light was pooling in from my window. Someone's arm was wrapped around my waist. I turned to Shane, with his eyes closed and his mouth slightly open, he looked adorable. Unconciously, I reached forward to brush a bit of his hair out of the way of his face.

He moved, opening his eyes slowly. "Caitlyn?" he asked.

I flinched. He thought I was Caitlyn? Better question: Why did I care?

"Err, no, it's Mitchie."

He sat up abruptly, revealing his naked chest. I blushed. (He's ripped girls, in case you were oblivious to that little factoid.) He looked down, smirking. "You think I'm sexy."

My jaw dropped. "I do not think you're sexy!"

"Yes you do, don't deny it."

I rolled my eyes, swatting at his head. The sheet that was covering up my chest slipped and I said, "I do not think you're sexy!"

He didn't reply, instead he was staring at...me? I looked down. I was clad in short shorts and a tight fitted, low cut tank. Yeah, I know, stupid choice of clothing. I blushed though, pulling the sheet up further. Smirking, I turned to Shane, revenge prepared. "You think I'm sexy."

"Uh huh." He paused. "I mean, no I don't."

I laughed. "Whatever. On the bright side, no dreams."

He nodded, letting go of my waist. We were no longer touching.

I paused. We were no longer touching! My eyes widened and I started to scream. Shane looked at me like I was crazy. "What are you yelling for? Your parents are going to kill me!"

The smile on my face embraced the complete happiness that I was feeling. "Shane, we're not touching anymore."

He blinked. I sighed. "We're. Not. Touching. Anymore," I repeated.

His eyes widened and he jumped up. "YES!" he screamed, hands outstretched to the ceiling.

I giggled, but then...my parents barged through the door. "Mitchie-

My mom stopped talking, staring at a half naked Shane and a giggling me. Shit.

Dad's eyes narrowed as he took in Shane's appearance. I bit my lip. Shane started to say, "It's not what it looks like!"

I slapped my head. Crawling out from underneath the covers, I got up, hesitantly putting my hands behind my back. "Mom, look, it really isn't want it looks like."

"Oh really!? That's why some boy," Shane shuddered, "is half naked in your bed screaming 'Yes!'? That's why you're wearing that!" Dad pointed to my clothes as I self-conciously pulled my shorts down a bit lower. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Dad, we didn't do anything! I swear!"

Mom merely shook her head. "Tell me you at least used protection."

I blushed. "Mom, we didn't do anything!"

She put her hand up to stop me. "Mitchie, I will not tolerate a liar in my house. If you are going to have sex, you're going to be safe about it, do you understand me?"

As embarrasing as the ordeal was turning into, I simply couldn't take it anymore, so I muttered, "Yes ma'am."

Dad glared at mom, "That's it!? That's it! My baby girl is having SEX and all you're going to tell her is to make that idiot," he pointed to Shane, "wear a glove? Damn it!" And then he stormed out.

"Mitchie, I just want you to be honest with me. I didn't think that you'd be having sex so early on," she sighed, "but you are seventeen now, and I will leave that part of your life to you. Just promise me that you'll be safe and that you'll talk to me about it?"

"Okay," I meekly answered.

She left the room, giving the two of us one last look. I plopped back down on my bed, burying my face in my hands. "That was the single most embarrasing moment of my life."

Shane was shell-shocked. "Oh my God. I can't believe...and...I think I should go." He pulled his shirt over his head, and began tying his shoes.

As he went to leave, I put my hand on his shoulder, "Hey Shane, even though we were only in each other's heads for a bit," I smirked, "I'm glad it's over."

He laughed, and I was glad. "Yeah, me too."

He left. I smiled. Finally, the world was set right.