A/N: Hey guys! I realize how long it's been since I last updated. I'm sorry, I really am. And I do realize how frustrating it is. I meant to upload this chapter a week before the last one. In fact, I actually already had it done at the same time as the last one was posted. I probably shouldn't have confessed that to you . . . I can see the tomatoes flying towards my face now! Just kidding (:
But I really do feel guilty. I should have had this up a week after the last one. And now it's been months! Shame on me.
So enjoy! Review! Rate? Haha wait, that's only on YouTube. :P

- Tweedlebugqueen

Jealousy

Chapter Three: Almosts, Bumps, and Thoughts

The rest of the day passed in silence. Gray acted as if we hadn't even been near enough to each other to hold hands, let alone nearly kiss. I wondered if he was embarassed, or if he had even really wanted to. Perhaps he had just gone on an impulse, and nearly kissed me out of the feeling of the moment. I hoped that wasn't the case.

At four o clock I reminded Gray that it was time for me to close the library. I didn't need to remind Doctor Trent, he was always downstairs and out the door on the dot. I hardly ever had to ask him to leave anymore.

So when Doctor Trent didn't come down the stairs on time I got a little anxious. I didn't want to disturb him if he was immersed in a good field journal of my father's composition, but I couldn't let him break the rules either.

At five to four I decided it was time to remind him to put the books back by author, and not by title.

When I was up the stairs I could have sworn I heard someone sniffle. I peered around the row of books carefully to see what was the matter. Doctor Trent was sitting in the most comfortable lazy chair available upstairs, his nose in a very emotional book.

Now I really didn't want to interrupt him. He was obviously upset by what he was reading, how could I ask him to leave without feeling uncomfortable? I shifted my weight from one hip to the other, accidentally hitting the bookshelf next to me. A book fell off of the shelf above me.

"Ouch!" I groaned as it hit me on the head.

In a moment I felt someone's cool fingers on my forehead. "Are you alright?"

I looked up at Doctor Trent, "Yes, it's just a bump." I managed.

He was still feeling where the book had hit me, "That was an encyclopedia, you know. It was one of the more heavier ones too. It must have hit you hard."

"Ouch." I said again.

"Would you like me to look at that for you?" he asked softly.

"No, there's really no need. I think it will be fine." I gushed.

He looked at me and removed his hands, "If you're sure. . . ." he trailed off.

"Yes, I'm quite sure."

"Well, you should take some aspirin. Do you have any?" He bent over and picked up the encyclopedia that had hit me.

"Yes, I have some in the medicine cabinet at home, thank you."

I knew I was being rude, or as rude as someone like me could be. I had been uncomfortable enough even thinking about asking him to leave, and now he was feeling my forehead and asking me if I needed a prognosis or a diagnosis or something like that.

He returned the book to it's shelf, "Well, only take a few of them, don't overdose."

For once in my life I had to suppress the urge to roll my eyes. Did he take me for an idiot? Of course I was't stupid. Who had just written a novel? I had.

"Okay, thank you so much."

"Don't mention it." he said.

We stood there for a few moments, "Well, it's probably four by now, I need to close up." I reminded him.

"Oh, I'm sorry." he said, "I guess I just got so immersed in this book. . . . "

I saw the book he was trying to hide behind his back.

"You can check that out you know." I said.

He shuffled his feet, "Yeah, okay."

I reached for the book, and he handed it over reluctantly. He seemed embarassed by the title, but I wouldn't breathe a word of it to anyone. Especially if he didn't want me to. I wouldn't even do that if he wasn't embarassed about it.

"I guess I could check it out for you right now before I close up." I said.

"Thank you very much." he replied.

He was nice enough, I thought to myself, I just wish that I could have said goodbye to Gray. . . .

"You know, this is actually a very good book." I mused, handing it back to him once I was finished checking it out for him.

He smiled, "I'm nearly to the end of it."

"I could tell." I mumbled.

I hadn't realized that he had heard me until I saw his ears turn red. "It is a very emotional book." I added.

"Yes, I have been enjoying it." he said.

I handed it to him, "Well that's due by the thirtieth."

"Thank you," he said, and he exited the library.

Things with Gray didn't get any better, as I had hoped they would. It seemed like that day in the library hadn't even happened to him. He didn't even mention another thing about my novel. He was, however, talking non-stop about our upcoming birthdays.

"Do you want to have a double party?" he asked me a week before his birthday.

"I dunno Gray, you're birthday is a really big deal and all . . . "

"So is yours! You're turning seventeen!"

"Ugh, don't say that!" I groaned, pushing his head away playfully. "I'm old."

"Are you making fun of me, woman?" he asked me.

"No."

He looked at me skeptically.

"Okay, maybe a little." I admitted.

Gray had really changed me. It didn't seem like it when you saw me, I was a very shy person. I had always been that way. But for once in my life I was able to be myself and open with someone else without my shyness getting in the way. It made me feel different. I didn't know how to explain it, but I was happy about it. I had a friend, a best friend. Someone who knew my darkest of all secrets, even if there weren't that many, and I was positive that I knew his. I only had one secret from Gray, and that secret was obviously under lock and key in my heart.

"So it's decided then," he said, "A double party. This is going to be awesome!" he dragged the last word out so that it was nearly four syllables, which made me laugh.

I didn't remember having agreed to anything, but I figured I could just let him have his way. Just this one time though.

"It's probably a good thing too, since barely anyone would just come to one of our parties," he commented lightly. "We aren't exactly the socialites of the town." he added with a stage whisper.

"Really? I consider myself quite outgoing and flocked by all of the townsmen." I joked, which earned a laugh from Gray.

I smiled in triumph.

So we planned our double party. I didn't know that many people in town, and I didn't really care whether or not I had a party. If you had seen the look on Gray's face, as I had, you wouldn't have been able to refuse him either. He was overjoyed at the prospect of having a party. He had never had one before.

It only took a few days to plan it, and then we had the invitations drawn up. We were going to have the party a week after Gray's birthday, which would be just over a week before mine. The party would be halfway between the two birthdays, perfect timing. It would be a perfect day.

My mother was making the food, and the cake. I didn't care what she served, but she begged Gray to tell her his favorite foods (she already knew mine) and then agreed that she would serve baked corn, fried rice, hot milk, cocoa, and various sweets, most of them having chocolate in them of some variety.

Neither Gray nor I knew that many people in town, and we didn't want a big commotion about our party. It didn't matter though, the party became a magnet for gossip, as predicted by my father.

Manna had spread the word around Mineral Town before the invitations had even been sent out. Apparently, my dear mother had told her, and she had only stopped to tell Duke before spreading it around to everyone else.

I was too shy to tell anyone who came to my door that the party was by exclusive invitation only, and that it was for the youth of the town, mine and Gray's friends. Therefore, all the town thought that they were coming to the party. It was stressing me out to think of all the extra work that Gray and I would have to put into the event.

But my father saved me, he was so upset with Manna for not being able to keep her big mouth shut that he went to her himself and told her to uninvite the rest of the town. He told her and Duke that the party was by exclusive invitation only, and that they weren't invited and neither were the rest of the villagers that hardly knew. He had returned home red faced and irritable, shutting himself in his and my mother's bedroom for the rest of the night.

Gray was amused with the amount of drama resulting from our party, and the fact that I was so stressed out about it made him laugh even harder, I didn't understand it.

So when we finally sent out the invitations we were relieved. Hopefully the drama would be over for now, neither one of us was very outgoing and neither one of us wanted to be in the spotlight for any given amount of time.

We had invited Cliff, who was Gray's shy roomate, Ann, who helped run her father's Inn, Rick and Popuri, who were Lillia's children (she was good friends with my mother before an illness kept her at home nearly all the time), Doctor Trent, Elli, who was his trainee nurse, and Harris, who was my good friend and the mayor's son. I thought that was quite enough people for a party, and I was very glad that no one else would be coming.

Gray was even more excited than he had been when he had first suggested the party. Apparently, he was most looking forward to meeting new people. I had thought that he knew Harris, Trent, and Elli, but apparently not. I was rather excited too, I wanted to know Gray's friends better. Maybe we could spend more time together than we even did now, if that were even possible.

I didn't know Cliff that well, all I knew was that he was what my mother called a 'church bum' which basically meant that he was nearly broke, had no job, and practically lived with Pastor Carter at the church down the road.

Ann was a nice girl, though she was a little outspoken. She and her father, Doug, ran the Inn for the incoming traveller's or those who (like Gray or Cliff) just simply didn't have the money to pay for their own place to live. I supposed that she was a sweet girl, and she talked to me at most of the town festivals that I decided to go to, but she was a little noisy (and a bit of a spaz.)

Rick and Popuri were Lillia and Rod's children. Lillia had fallen ill a while back, and when her husband Rod found out that there was only one cure, he left to find it. No one had seen him since. It was quite the talk of the town when it happened, and the family seemed to think that one day he was coming back. I had no opinion on the matter, but no one else in town thought that Rod would ever come back. I hoped for his children that he did, it was cruel of him to abandon him like he had. Who even knew whether or not he had started a new family of his own? Who knew if he had any intentions of coming back?

Rick and Popuri were really generous and all around good people though, you never would have known that they had a wayward father. The upset feelings that I just knew were lying underneath their composed faces rarely ever showed themselves. Sometimes I would catch Rick staring off into the distance, or Popuri seeming a little down every once and a while. Other than that, they were really good at dealing with all the gossip circulating around them.

Everyone in town knew that Elli was madly in love with Doctor Trent, but he was oblivious to it. She was the grandaughter to one of the oldest citizens in town, Ellen, for who she was named after. Elli had a little brother named Stu who stayed with his grandmother as well. I didn't know what had happened to their parents, but I had a suspicion that they had died in an accident a few years ago, leaving their children in the care of their grandmother.

Doctor Trent had lived here his whole life, and his father had been the doctor for Mineral Town before him. His grandfather had been the town doctor too, and his father before that. Lately he had been coming into the library more often than he had before. He didn't just come on wednesdays anymore, but had taken to coming on weekends as well. I didn't understand why he came so much more often, but at least he was nice, and said hi to me on his way in and goodbye on his way out.

I hated to admit it, but I really was excited for the party. More than I would have cared to admit.

A/N: So what did you guys think? Good or bad? Too long, too short? It was a little over 2,200 words long. So I think that it was okay!
So how about I make a deal with you? How about I upload the next chapter in a few minutes to make up for the months of waiting time? Deal? Or no deal?
Oh great, now I'm starting to sound like Howie Mandell.
Anyways, I hope that it was enjoyable for you. I hope it flows with the story. It should, I wrote it at the same time as everything else. More to come in the next chapter. Maybe we'll even be introduced to Claire . . . ?
You'll only see if you read the next chapter.
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Hours to write, seconds to review.
You guys are awesome!

- Tweedlebugqueen