A/N: Sorry it's been so long, guys, but with school and everything, all the end-of-year stuff, I haven't had time to get this typed. A lot has been going on - I went to Senior Ball just nearly 2 weeks ago! May 12...it was so much fun! And I turned 17 - today! So I'm updating, and you all know reviews are the best present I could get...hint, hint. Oh, yeah, I got the éclair recipe up, too; it's on my Myspace blog. The links on my profile page, so anyone interested, check it out! There is absolutely no substance in this chapter, its just a little fluff for you guys!

Disclaimer: I forgot this last chapter, didn't I? I don't own anything except Kelsie (actually, I AM Kelsie, not really, but she's based off me), her aunt and cousins, Melissa, the bakery, whatever. Okay, enjoy!

Riley picked up the remaining items and put them all back in the drawers he'd gotten them out of. He wandered around the big kitchen for a minute before heading back to the counter where Kelsie was now glazing the filled éclairs. He stood behind her, resting his chin on her shoulder and wrapping one arm around her waist. "Those look good," he murmured, indicating the finished pastries.

"Yes, they do look nice, don't they?" she agreed, before whirling around to face him. "HEY!" protested Kelsie loudly. Riley had stuck his finger in the whipped cream again. "I thought I told you not to–"

He silenced her by poking her in the nose, leaving a dab of whipped cream there. The corners of Kelsie's mouth twitched as she tried desperately to maintain a stern expression; a very difficult endeavor, considering the stupid grin Riley had plastered on his face. He looked very pleased with himself.

Kelsie rubbed the cream off her nose and wiped it on Riley's cheek. He leaned forward and placed his hands on the edge of the countertop on either side of her, trapping her between him and the counter. He was still grinning stupidly; he looked so adorable, she couldn't even pretend to be mad at him. She picked up one of the finished éclairs and held it up to him. "Here," she offered.

Rather than dropping his hands and taking the pastry from her, Riley just leaned forward and took a bite while she still held it. And he nearly died.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," he sighed happily, and his eyes just about rolled back into his head. He closed his eyes in pleasure.

Kelsie tilted her head to one side and watched, amused. An old quote she remembered hearing once in high school came instantly to mind: "The best way to a man's heart is through his stomach." If all guys reacted to good cooking with even half the enthusiasm Riley was showing right now, no lawyer in the world would ever be able to disprove that statement. She started to giggle.

Just then, Riley finished swallowing and his eyes snapped open. Kelsie abruptly stopped giggling as his deep sapphire-blue eyes bored into her bright emerald-green ones. Neither blinked for what seemed like hours; they just stayed where they were, staring into each others eyes.

'Just do it!' screamed a voice inside Riley's head. 'Just kiss her!' He wanted to. He really did. But, this was insane! He'd known this girl for what, two and a half hours? Yes, that was right, he clearly remembered noticing the clock had read 8:55 just a few minutes ago. He'd noticed the time when Kelsie turned off the timer, and he remembered she'd come sat down by him about a half-hour into the party, which started–

'CUT IT OUT!' the voice shouted at him. 'It doesn't matter what time she came to the party, so stop thinking about it and just kiss her! NOW, before you lose the moment!'

Heart racing and completely ignoring the fact that he was obeying a strange voice in his head, Riley leaned forward slightly, inching his face closer to Kelsie's. They were so close, he could see every detail of Kelsie's face in sharp focus: the freckles on her nose, her amazingly green eyes, the tear running down her cheek...Hold it! Was she crying?

He immediately pulled back and he could feel his face heating up. "Um, are you alright? What's wrong?" he asked, seriously concerned. Kelsie let her head fall forward onto Riley's chest. He was horrified to see her shoulders were shaking. "Are you – um – I shouldn't've – er, I'm sorry," he mumbled lamely. He wasn't sure if he should put his arms around her, so he settled on patting the top of her head awkwardly.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Kelsie insisted, but her head was still buried in Riley's chest, and his shirt muffled her voice. She pulled back and looked up at him. "No sorries, okay, listen to me!" She put her hands on his shoulders and gave him a little shake. "No, don't look at the floor – look at me. I am not crying, and you have absolutely nothing to be sorry about, okay?"

Riley finally lifted his head and looked into Kelsie's face as she'd asked. He noticed that although her eyes and cheeks were wet, her nose wasn't red and here eyes were not puffy. "You certainly fooled me. Are you sure you aren't into acting? And if that wasn't crying, what on earth was it?"

"Well, um, this may sound stupid, but we were kind of having a moment there, with the whole locked-eyes thing, you know? And I didn't want to ruin it or miss anything or worse yet, lose the kinda-sorta staring contest or whatever, so I kind of forgot for a minute that my eyes water really bad when I keep them open. And after that I was just kind of laughing at my own stupidity. Oh, yeah, my eyes water whenever I yawn, to, so if I ever say 'I'm just tired' if it looks like I've been crying, that's why." Kelsie winced inwardly at her uncanny ability to start babbling in situations like this. She was getting way off subject.

"Any way," she continued, getting back to the point, "we're cool, so chill." Cool and chill in the same sentence? she berated herself silently. She hadn't caught the pun until after she'd already said it. Oops.

"Um, great. Yeah, we're cool. Okay," Riley agreed, and took a deep breath. "So, now what?"

"I don't know. Oh, wait, yes I do! What time is it?"

"Just a little after nine," he told her.

"Are you okay with going back to the Historyfest? I told Melissa I'd meet back up with her at 9:30 to watch the fireworks." Noticing Riley's expression, Kelsie added, "The fireworks are going to be outside, dummy. You won't have to smell any old documents."

His eyes brightened. "Oh, yeah! Okay, let's go."

"Hang on a second." Kelsie crossed her arms and frowned at Riley over the counter. Why is he in such a hurry? she thought to herself. "We can't leave yet. I need to finish the last few of these and then I need to clean up in here before we can go anywhere."

Riley had made it halfway across the room when Kelsie's voice stopped him. He turned around, looking thoughtful. "Okay, how does this sound: I'll go get my computer put away and back in the car while you finish the last of those," he indicated the pastries she was nearly done with, "and then I can help you clean up in here."

Kelsie could not believe what she was hearing. "Wait a minute; you're actually volunteering to help me clean in the kitchen? Are you serious?"

"Um…yeah?" Is there something wrong with that? Riley thought. "I mean, I don't really know where most of this goes or what to do, but I could always help you wash the dishes or wipe off the counter, I guess. Why?"

She shrugged. "Most guys I know would do absolutely anything to get out of cleaning the kitchen. I'm just surprised that you're willing to help."

"Yeah, well, I'm cool like that," Riley boasted. He stood up a little straighter in an attempt to look "cool." He failed miserably. He even tried walking out of the kitchen backwards, slammed SMACK! right into the refrigerator.

"Oh, that was smooth. Yeah, cool like what, exactly?"

Riley's face went a deep shade of crimson and he attempted to ignore Kelsie's sarcastic comment. "Shut up," he muttered. "I'll be back in a minute."

And he was. Kelsie finished glazing the éclairs and put them in a box to bring with them. She had just filled up the big, industrial-sized sink with hot, soapy water (there weren't enough dishes to bother with the dishwasher), when Riley came back inside. Wordlessly, he took the dishrag from her and started washing the handful of dishes Kelsie had used. Working together, they got the kitchen cleaned up in no time.

"Right. Okay." Kelsie finished drying her hands on a dishtowel and hung it over the handle on the oven door. "So, now we can go – and you can carry those." She thrust the bakery box at Riley. "I figure we can share them with our friends while we watch the fireworks." She stopped and flipped the "OPEN" sign on the door over to read "CLOSED."

"NO!" Riley blurted. He clutched the box of éclairs possessively. "What if I don't want to share?" he asked slyly as they walked, side-by-side, out of the bakery.

"Maybe you just don't want any at all," Kelsie taunted, locking the door. "Just because you're holding the box doesn't mean they're all yours."

He stuck his tongue out at her, but didn't say anything. He held the door open for her when they reached his Ferrari, and set the box down carefully in the space between the two seats before getting into the driver's side and starting the ignition. Glancing sideways at Kelsie, Riley laid his arm across the back of her seat, basically resting it over her shoulders. He still said nothing, and turned his full attention to the road.

Kelsie felt Riley put his arm around her. She turned to smile at him, but he was being very focused on his driving; so she settled back into her seat, mulling over everything that had happened the past three hours – particularly the last half-hour. Wow. She couldn't believe how comfortable she was around Riley; normally she was so self-conscious. But, around him, she felt safe, protected. But why? This was all happening so fast, and she was becoming very confused.

She was also confused about the whole non-kiss-thing or whatever it was that had happened between them. Not because Riley had almost kissed her – oddly enough, that part didn't surprise her at all – but because of how badly she had wanted him to. She had wanted him to kiss her. Why? None of this made any sense.

That's not true, though, she realized. It didn't make any sense now, when she was thinking about it and analyzing it to death. But when it was happening, in the moment, all of it was perfectly logical. In fact, the more she thought about things and tried to figure them out, the more unclear everything became. So Kelsie decided she was going to stop thinking, and just feel.

They reached the Archives and got out of the car. As they made their way back up to the building, Kelsie moved a little closer to Riley and slipped her hand in his.

A/N: Okay, now, all the other times I've posted, I've had at least the next chapter written. I'd just needed to type it and post it. Not so, now, I'm still stuck in chapter 8. It is not working the way I want it to, and I'm about ready to give up on it. The only think keeping me from doing that is the thought of all you people who read my story. So, if you don't want me to give up writing in despair, you better review to help me get through this. It may be a while before I update again, but hopefully with summer I'll have more free time to write. So, bear with me, please!

Oh, and does anyone know a good name I could give an Archives security guard for the next chapter? The only name I can think of is Gunther, and that just doesn't fit for me. So, the suggestion box is open, and whoever suggests the name I end up using gets points! And cookies! So press the little purple button and...REVIEW!