Author's Notes: So this is how it goes. (Well I, I would have never known…hehe, Christy. ;D)

A few people have asked me for a M-Rated version of that last chapter. Send me a message or leave a review if you'd like to read it, but know what you're getting yourself into - by rated M, I mean ages sixteen-ish and up. I'll send it to anyone who wants it by tomorrow (I'm not done writing it yet, haha.)

This chapter is kind of…blegh. I never know what to do with the second-to-last chapter. So it's kind of a filler, but hopefully you'll like it.

Next chapter is the final one, guys! Get ready!

Chapter Twenty Three - Awkward

When I woke up, I was crammed over to one side of the bed while Seth was pretty much sprawled all over the place. I pushed him over a little bit and tried to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, the sun was attacking my eyes, so I grudgingly opened them again.

It took about half a second for me to remember what had happened last night, and another second to realize that I didn't have any clothes on. I blushed, which may or may not have been ridiculous considering last night. I looked around the room, searching for my clothes, and saw no trace of them.

Crap.

Trying to keep as much of the sheet on me as possible, I searched around under the bed. Finding nothing, I sat up again and spotted my bra sitting on the floor nearby. Good. Only problem was, it was over by Seth's side of the bed.

I awkwardly tried to stand up and keep the sheet on me without waking up Seth. This was impossible, so I just gave up and poked Seth's shoulder, blushing up a storm.

Seth opened his eyes and looked at me sleepily. "Oh, h-hi," he said through a yawn, smiling.

"Hey," I said.

"What're you blushing about?" he teased.

My cheeks flushed an even deeper red, and I mumbled, biting my lip, "well…er…I, uh…I don't have any clothes on…"

"You have nothing to be ashamed of, Willow. You're beautiful."

I smiled shyly. "Um, oh, thanks. Er…Seth…could you hand me my bra?" Why was I so embarrassed about this?

Seth turned in the direction I was pointing. "Oh, yeah, of course." He picked it up and handed to me. I put it on as discreetly and quickly as possible, trying to take the heat away from my face. It's okay, it's just Seth, I told myself. I mean, you did have sex with him last night - you can't get much more than that. And anyway, he's already seen you…like this. There's no reason to be embarrassed.

The door banged open, and Leah shouted from the hallway, "Okay, lovebirds, get up. It's nearly two in the afternoon and Mom is pretty sure you're both dead."

"Leah!" said Seth, while I started blushing again. "God, get out!"

"What? Oh, I know. It's kinda hard not to." She nodded to Seth's pants, which were sitting on the floor, and I just wanted to die. "Anyway, get dressed. Your lunch is going into hibernation."

Leah left the room, closing the door behind her, while I worked on melting into a puddle like that witch from the Wizard of Oz. Seth shook his head. "Ignore her," he said.

It was impossible to do that, but I tried.

We both got dressed (it took me a good ten minutes to find all of my clothes) and trooped downstairs. Sue joined us while we sat down to eat lunch and prattled on and on about her brother-in-law, who had apparently gotten some huge promotion. I tried my best to not blush or look guilty, but I don't think it worked. I had the feeling that she could look right through me.

I was right.

"So," began Sue after a minute, "Leah told me what happened between you two last night."

I literally dropped my fork, and Seth said, "God." He turned around to face Leah, who was sitting in the living room, while I put a hand over my face and tried to become invisible.

This. Is so. Not. Happening.

"Willow, don't be embarrassed," said Sue. Leah and Seth were arguing, but I was too mortified to listen in. "I'm not mad at you."

"Can I go crawl in a hole and die now?" I moaned.

"Honestly, it's okay," Sue went on. "I completely understand. I mean, you two are both young adults - I can't expect you to keep your hands off of each other."

Ugh.

"Mom, don't," said Seth suddenly. "Please."

"What?" asked Sue. "It's perfectly natural. Nothing to be embarrassed about. Just as long as you don't get pregnant on me, Willow, it's fine."

"So Willow," began Seth loudly, "what do you want to do today? I was thinking we could go down to the beach, because the water's not too cold yet."

"Sounds good to me," I said, grateful for the change of subject.

A couple of embarrassing moments later - during which Sue insisted that sex was okay, as long as I didn't pop out any babies (well, not in so many words, but something like that) - Seth and I walked towards the beach. He kept trying to tone down my level of mortification, but was failing miserably at it - I couldn't stop blushing or cringing.

"It's okay," said Seth again. "Look, I know that you're embarrassed, and you have perfect reason to be, but let's just forget about it, alright? My mom is…like that. She was just messing with you, I promise."

"But still," I replied. "It's - God. I mean, you're a guy so you don't have to bother with this kind of stuff, but 'don't get pregnant' - I mean, honestly, it's just kind of -- I know where she's coming from, but -- God --"

I stuttered myself into silence. By that time, we had gotten to the beach. I waded into the waters while Seth put his shoes on the sand. Suddenly, a pair of arms circled around my waist and something brushed my neck. I screamed and jumped a foot in the air. Seth laughed.

"Scaredy cat," he teased.

"You freaked the hell out of me! I thought you were some psycho trying to attack me or something." I worked on breathing again.

"I'm sorry," said Seth.

"Yeah, you better be." I turned around and smacked his arm lightly. "Or else."

"Or else?"

"Or else I'll…I'll…I don't know. I'll do something bad."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," Seth teased.

"Shut up."

--

Caroline yawned as I walked into the house. She was sitting in her car seat and curled up against a stuffed animal. I sat down next to her and smiled. "Hey," I said.

Heather walked out of the kitchen with a bottle of water in one hand. When she saw me, she jumped a little, startled, and said, "Oh, hi, Willow. When did you get in?"

"Like…two seconds ago."

"Well, how was last night?"

I was about to respond with the true answer, but I decided not to. "It was cool. We watched a lot of James Bond and stuff."

"Sounds pretty nice. What else did you do?"

I blinked at her, confused. Why was she asking this? Did she have some sort of unknown sex radar? Or maybe I was just being paranoid. That was more likely. "Uh, we ate food…? Why?"

"No reason. You just seem different," Heather replied innocently.

Okay, then. I stood up and walked towards the bathroom, but was interrupted when Heather grabbed my shoulder and exclaimed, "Aha!"

"What?"

She brushed my hair away from my neck and smirked. "You've got this little grey mark right here. Looks like a hickey to me."

Author's Notes: …

HAHAHA.

Poor Willow.

But honestly.

HAHAHA IN YOUR FACE, WILLOW.

I couldn't help myself.