I don't own the Ducks, reviews are lovely and thank you to those that do. The flash backs are more then likely going to stop (Not to sure atm) but you now know about the two kisses.

Adam shifted slightly as the sun streamed through his window into his face. As he did, his arm slid over something curved and warm. There was a soft, rhythmical breeze hitting his chest and there was a hand on his chest. Groaning, Adam warily opened his eyes. His back was to the window so the sun didn't hurt his eyes as much as it would have. When he opened them, he found that his arm was around a curved waist, the hand on his chest was female and the breeze was actually breaths, passing through parted lips. Lying, curled up next to him was Esmeralda.

She had one hand against his chest and the other under the pillow. The blankets were pulled to her ribs and her hair fell over her face gently. She looked peaceful and rested. She wiggled in her sleep as she moved closer to Adam.

Adam reached out his hand and brushed Esmeralda's hair out of her face. He cupped her cheek and sighed. He had heard what Charlie asked Maria, 'Essi's the reason Adam doesn't date isn't she? He likes her and doesn't know it'. Adam snorted. The answer was yes, but he did know. How could he not? He had liked Esmeralda since he was about seven. Back then he had mistaken it for dislike and that's why he fought with her, but then, after the dare, he realized he wasn't disgusted with kissing her. He had enjoyed it. He knew but wouldn't say. He would rather like her in silence and never know how she felt about him then tell her and see her face when she told him she didn't feel the same.

Esmeralda tilted her head up in her sleep and Adam started to lower his face to hers but as he was close enough for her to feel his breath on her face, Esmeralda turned her head and buried her face in Adam's pillow, covering her head with her arm that had been against Adam's body. Adam pulled back and looked defeated. Releasing the short breath he had been holding, Adam slid out of the bed, trying not to wake Esmeralda.

Getting up, Adam pulled a pair of jeans out of his wardrobe and pulled them on over his boxer shorts. He snuck out of the room and down the stairs. It was early so none of his family was up. His father had to get up in about twenty minutes, his mother had a day off and Maria and Phoebe slept in late most days. He already had an excuse made up as to why Esmeralda was in his bed and not on the couch. It would be believable because everyone knew he wouldn't make a more on Esmeralda. Maria, Phoebe and maybe his mother knew he cared for her but they knew he wouldn't do anything about it.

He sat in the lounge room, reading a book, until his family got up. His father didn't pay him any attention as he dashed off to work, his mother got up and started to cook with the help of the house keeper and Phoebe came skipping down the stairs. When she saw Adam sitting on the wrecked, make-shrift bed, she stopped.

"Where's Essi?" she questioned.

Adam looked up from the page he was reading and over at his sister. "Oh, I was apparently annoying her when I got up, so she went to sleep in my room. I'll go wake her up." Adam hopped up and marked his page. He then grabbed the blankets that were on the couch for Esmeralda and walked up the stairs. Phoebe followed to see what he was doing. When he got to his door, he opened it and chucked the blanket in, onto the lump in his bed. "Wake up," he demanded.

Esmeralda shifted and groaned. "Banks," she whined, moving the extra blankets off of her. She looked over at him with sleepy eyes as Phoebe shook her head at her brother and walked off. The moment Esmeralda saw him and let her eyes focus, she blushed and dropped back down onto the bed. "Banks, I know you love yourself, but put on a shirt." She had her eyes closed and she was facing the window, not him.

Adam looked down at his bare chest before looking back at the girl in his bed. "It's not like I have a beer gut!"

Esmeralda muttered something Adam thought sounded like, "It would help if you did," before throwing the blankets over her head.

Adam smiled, shook his head and walked over to her. He went around the bed and slowly started to try and prize the blankets out of the girl's grasp. When that failed, Adam snuck his arms under the sheets and found Esmeralda's hips. He started to tickle her, which made her squirm and let go. He reefed the sheets off her and looked down at her form. She was laying there, curled up slightly, with her hair fanning out behind her and on her face and her night shirt ruffled.

Esmeralda peaked at him from under the hand covering her face. "You're mean."

"And you're lazy. Get up, mom's cooking breakfast and it should be ready soon."

"Put on a t-shirt," Esmeralda demanded.

Leaning over, Adam brought his face close to hers and put a friendly hand on her leg. "I'll put a t-shirt on, if you get up."

Esmeralda grumbled before sitting up and sliding off the bed. As she did, her top slid up her legs. Adam looked away politely before walking over to his wardrobe and pulling open the draw at the bottom. As he rummaged through it for a decent shirt he became aware of Esmeralda watching him. Straightening up, Adam turned to look at the girl that was sitting on the end of his bed calmly.

"What?!" he asked.

"You have a lot of muscles in your back." Esmeralda observed. She then looked over his chest and Adam felt himself go self-conscious. Turning, Adam started looking for a shirt again, trying to ignore Esmeralda's eyes on him.

He couldn't, however, ignore her appearing beside him and whispering in his ear, "And a nice six-pack on the front." She spun and left with the grace of a dancer before Adam could even straighten up. He was actually thankful for that, seeing as he was blushing at her observation.

All through breakfast Adam was trying to catch Esmeralda looking at him but he didn't. She was either sneakier then he thought or she wasn't eyeing him off. To say her comment hadn't shaken him up was a lie. She had caught him off guard and he didn't know how to react. Instead of being around her and feeling awkward, Adam called Charlie, Fulton and Portman (Who was at Fulton's) and asked them if they wanted to go skating. They didn't always hang out with all the Ducks and at the moment he just wanted a small group of people, not a large one.

The boys skated and joked as the day went on. But when it started to get late and they were thinking about heading back to their homes, Charlie, Fulton and Portman sucked up their courage. All three of them had wanted to confront Adam about he's feelings but none of them were game enough… till now.

"Banks, you do know that you li…" Portman started.

"That I like McGill?" Adam finished with a knowing smirk. "Yeah, I know."

The three boys were stunned into silence. Charlie was the first to recover. "You know?"

"Charlie." Adam sighed and gave a small smile. "I've known since I was around seven. When David made the dare with me I thought I'll be disguised but… I threw that game," Adam confessed. "I played well enough to win, but poor enough that David was better. At first I didn't know why I did it but then I figured it out."

"So, why haven't you told her?" Fulton scrunched up his face in confusion.

"Because it is better to suffer in silence with questions then live with the answer and a broken heart."

"What the hell?!" Portman exclaimed.

Adam chuckled. "It's something similar to what McGill said. Hers was about something else. 'Better to suffer in silence with pain then speak up and get others hurt'."

"Okay, new question: what did she do to make you want out of the house?" Charlie asked with a cheeky smile.

Adam returned his smile with one of his own. "She threw me off guard."

"How weird is it to be around her as a teenager?" Portman put his hands in his jacket pocket as he looked at Adam.

"Very," Adam confessed. "I normally didn't notice how small her outfits were." This caused the other boys to laugh. "And she's a lot more out spoken then before so she also has bolder comments."

"Hence the throwing off your guard." Portman wiggled his eyebrows at him suggestively.

Adam sighed and threw back his head in exasperation. "She didn't do anything dirty!"

"Well tell us what she did," Fulton demanded.

They weren't going to let Adam out of this easily. "Goodbye, guys," Adam said before going to skate off. He found his way blocked however, by the two Bash Brothers and Charlie Conway. He rolled his eyes and muttered the answer.

"What?!" Charlie cupped his hand around his ear, ethicizing the fact that he didn't hear Adam.

"Never mind," Adam snapped, becoming embarrassed.

"No, come on, tell us. We'll be serious, Adam, you like this girl and I, for one, want to help you out," Portman said truthfully, using his first name for probably the first time.

Adam sighed and rolled his eyes. He could feel his cheeks heating up as they reddened. "I was having a nightmare about McGill wanting to kill herself and she heard on her way back from the bathroom, she woke me and started talking to me. I told her the truth and she laid down and listened and we both fell asleep," Adam started off, not telling the story with one hundred percent detail. He didn't remember last night all that well. "I woke up early like I sometimes do and got up. When Phoebe got up I made the excuse that I woke McGill in the morning and she went into my room to get more sleep. I went and threw the blankets that were on the lounge, on to her and woke her. She told me to put on a shirt since I was just in jeans and as I looked for one she was watching me."

"Okay… ignoring the fact that you two spent the night together, why did this catch you off guard?" Portman asked in confusion.

"I'm getting to that," Adam mumbled just loud enough for his friends to hear. His face felt white hot but he knew it was red. "I asked her why she as watching me and she said 'You have a lot of muscles in your back', then she said something about a six-pack at the front." Adam remembered Esmeralda's actual wording but didn't want to use it. He was already embarrassed enough.

None of his friends laughed. They truly looked like they were mulling over what was said. Next minute, Portman smiled and clapped Adam on the back. "I think she likes you."

"She's just weird!" Adam retorted.

The boys knew that protests would be lost on Adam, so they decided to part ways and go home before it got too late. When at home, Adam refused too look Esmeralda in the eye. He even considered locking his door that night when he went to bed. He didn't though, seeing as Esmeralda only entered his room the night before because she had heard him mumbling in his sleep over the nightmare. He hoped he wouldn't have the nightmares again. He slid under the sheets and put his head on his pillow. When he did, he smelt the fruit Guava, mixed with vanilla, green tea and mango. The scent was not his, it was female. Breathing deeply, Adam drifted off into a thankfully peaceful sleep.

I'm on holidays so I might update a few time in the two weeks. I can't make any promises though. Grrr, my original ending was deleted so I had to try and rewrite it. I don't know if it's the same, but it's close.

…o0Black-Sand0o… P.S. Hope you enjoyed and want to review!