Chapter Twelve:
February 15, 2002

Ok, ok, I admit it.

I love Reese.

How can I not love him? I've hurt him so much in the past month with everything that I've done… yet he is always there for me.

Take tonight for example. After I ran out of Jordan's car, I didn't know where to go. I could have gone to my so-called best friend (who rarely notices that I exist anymore), but Miguel would have been too busy thinking about Charity and Christopher to even notice me!

I could have gone to Simone's. She would have helped me, but then I would have had to listen to her say "I told you so!" Not a good time, believe me.

And looking the way I did, home was definitely out of the question.

So that left one person to whom I could turn. Reese.

I was so worried about going there. What if he laughed in my face? Told me to get the hell away from him?

To be perfectly honest, I walked up to his door, and I almost turned back. But I didn't.

Instead, I knocked on his door. He opened it and just looked so relieved to see me. Almost as if he had known what Jordan was going to do to me.

But I didn't have to listen to any "I told you so's" from Reese. No, he just took me into his arms and held me.

It was then that I realized that I loved him more that I had ever loved Miguel.

Of course, as always, I'm too late. Reese doesn't love me anymore. Now, he loves my sister.

And I have no one to blame but myself since it was my own fault for being so damn proud.

Kay stood on the porch outside the Durkee home, her hand poised to knock on the door.

Just knock on the door, Bennett! Where else are you going to go?

Perhaps that was just it. If Reese turned her away, she really had nowhere else to go.

But Reese wouldn't reject her… would he?

There was only one way to find out. Shaking with fear, Kay raised her and cautiously tapped the door.

Coward!! her mind screamed at her. He could never hear that soft of a knock!

But miraculously, the door slowly opened, and Reese's soft gray eyes immediately met her own blue orbs. There was no turning back now.

"K—Kay?" he whispered softly, almost as if he thought that he was imagining her.

Kay paused a moment, just staring into his soft eyes with a solitary tear running down her cheek. He looked so worried… and so glad to see her.

Without a second thought, Kay threw herself into his comforting embrace. Her whole life, she had prided herself on being able to take the hits and keep on going. She had always tried to do everything by herself, without the help of anyone else.

But right now having Reese there with her didn't seem like such a bad thing.

~*~

A few minutes later, her tears had subsided, and Reese had ushered her into his house. Luckily, his parents had decided to take a romantic Valentine's getaway, so she was able to avoid the messy explanations of what had happened. She couldn't tell anyone—she wouldn't! What if they thought that it was her fault too? What if they didn't believe her?

No, it was better just to keep quiet. Jordan surely wouldn't tell anyone—right? So without her telling anyone, no one else would ever know.

"C'mon, Kay," Reese coaxed as he cautiously led her towards the stairs. "Let's get you into a nice, warm bubble bath. My mom has lots of those smelly, soapy things that you can use."

Kay nodded slowly. A bubble bath would be perfect. The refreshing water, the soothing scents… hopefully, it would be enough to make her forget.

~*~

Nearly an hour later, Kay emerged from the master bathroom and searched the bedroom for her dress, but it was nowhere to be found. Panicked, Kay began worrying that perhaps Reese had had an ulterior motive for welcoming her into his home. What if he…

"Kay? You're out of the bath already?" Reese asked as the bedroom door creaked open. "I went to get you some things to wear. I'm afraid that most of my things will be a bit too big, but I found you a pair of sweatpants and an old sweatshirt." Gently, Reese tossed the items onto the bed, careful to avert his eyes from her towel-clad body. "Let me know if there's anything else that you need."

In shock, Kay slowly pulled on Reese's clothes. They were warm and fuzzy. It was obvious that he had just thrown them in the dryer—and probably the washing machine too.

He was such a gentleman. First, he ran a bath for her, with her favorite jasmine scented bath beads. (She still wondered how he knew that that was her favorite fragrance.) Next, he washed some of his own clothes for her to wear after her bath. Then, when he gave her the clothing, he was careful to avert his eyes from her scantily clad body. Most teenage males wouldn't have been so considerate!

Jordan certainly hadn't been.

Instantly, Kay tried to shove his name and memory out of her head. She had had a wonderful, Jordan-free bath, but now he had had to intrude.

Despite the warmth that Reese's sweatshirt gave her, Kay shivered at the thought of what had almost happened that night. And again, she swore not to tell anyone.

No one could know. No one would understand.

And that's the way it would stay.

~*~

Early the next morning, around five a.m., Kay lay wrapped tightly in Reese's protective embrace. After she had come downstairs, he had popped in an old tape that they had watched over and over when they had been younger.

The Princess Bride.

That night, they had traveled together back to a time when knights on shining armor really did exist. Back to a time when the bad guys didn't win.

Back to a time when true love really existed.

There was once a time when Kay had believed in true love, just as there was surely a time in every young girl's life.

But then she grew up, and was forced to face reality.

First she had thought that she and Miguel were soul mates, but then that dream crashed into the ground.

Even Reese, the man who she had thought would follow her around like a lost puppy dog for the rest of her days didn't appear to love her anymore.

She had been at his house for awhile now, and he hadn't done anything that he would typically do.

He hadn't tried to kiss her.

He hadn't told her that he loved her.

Hell, she hadn't even seen him look at her the way he usually did, with love shining in his eyes.

No, it was time to face the facts. After the kiss that she had seen him share with her younger sister that night, everything was crystal clear.

Reese didn't love her anymore. Reese loved her sister now, not her.

She had lost her chance at the greatest man in the world. The man who, even though she had stomped on his heart, was still there to pick her up when she fell.

The man who still did everything in his power to try to make everything ok.

And the fact that she had nothing to blame but her own ignorance and stupidity was what made it the hardest thing to admit.

She had lost Reese to Jessica.

And she had no one to blame but herself.