Ric and Lucas had been waiting in the Diner for a while now, and had come up with two possibilities as to who this mystery guest might be. They'd put it down to either Cassie, or Henry, Mattie's brother.

"But she may have said 'she'," Ric said as they waited.

"Well I don't know..." Lucas said, giving up. "It's all a little mysterious. I mean, why wouldn't she have just told you?"

Ric shrugged, but then saw Mattie walk in, with her surprise person behind her. Lucas turned around to look what he was staring at.

"Oh, my God," Luke said under his breath, and turned back to look at Ric.

"Bus stop girl," Ric said with a grin.

"Hey," Mattie said, coming over to the two boys. "So, this is my cousin, Nat. She's going to be staying with us over the summer."

Ric and Lucas both looked at each other, then to Nat and Mattie.

"It's nice to meet you," Ric said finally.

"Nice to meet you guys too," Nat said, then turned to Mattie. "Um, where's the bathroom?"

Mattie pointed to the toilets and then sat down next to Ric and opposite Lucas.

"So, um, that's your cousin," Ric said, as though in disbelief.

"Yes it is...Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Well it's just..." Ric paused. "Never mind."

"What?" Mattie asked.

"No. I just never knew you had a cousin, let alone a cousin who looks like that."

"Like what?" Mattie asked.

"Just like...never mind," Ric said again.

Mattie just shook her head.

"So she's staying all summer?" Luke asked.

"Yep," Mattie said, while looking over the menu. "Have you guys ordered?"

"No, we were waiting for you guys," Ric told her.

Ric and Lucas sat silently.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Mattie asked.

"What? Nothing," Ric lied.

"We just. We saw Nat before. When she was at the bus stop. That's all," Lucas explained.

"Okay..." Mattie said, not understanding why this was causing them to act the way they were. "Did you speak to her...?"

"No. Not really. Just said 'hi'," Ric told her, and then paused, as though he had something else to say but wasn't game enough to say it.

Nat arrived back from the bathroom and joined the three of them at the table. She sat next to Lucas and opposite Mattie.

She smiled at Lucas as she sat down, and Mattie and Ric continued to look through the menu.

-

After lunch, Mattie and Nat caught up in Nat's room, while Nat unpacked her suitcase. It had been so long since the two girls had seen each other that they had so much to talk about. They spoke about friends, boyfriends, parents, brothers, sisters, brothers, pets, shopping, celebrities, birthdays, Christmas', New Years', music, Summer Bay gossip. Anything you could think of. Mattie gave Nat the low-down on the people in the town, including Lucas and Ric.

"So, what's going on with you and Ric?" Nat asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I just noticed some funny little vibe between the two of you, are you guys, like, dating or anything?" Nat asked.

Mattie shook her head. "No. We're just friends."

Nat raised her eyebrow. "You like him?"

Mattie sighed.

"Aw! Mattie! Have you told him?" Nat asked, moving closer to her cousin and putting an arm around her.

"No. It's just stupid. It's nothing really. I'll get over it," Mattie said.

"What? Why? Why don't you tell him?!" Nat exclaimed.

"Because. We've been friends for so long. It would just be weird. Like, what if he doesn't feel the same way and then it will be so unbelievably awkward and our friendship will be as good as ruined. Seriously, I've thought this through a lot, and I've come to the conclusion that it is much better this way."

"Why? Coz you're trying to avoid any awkwardness?" Nat asked, not convinced that Mattie was making the right decision. "Mattie, look, I know you don't want to get hurt, and you're probably just trying to protect your heart, but at least if you tell him you get an answer, isn't that better than never knowing?"

"I just...I don't know if I'm ready to tell him just yet."

-

"So, can you believe that?" Ric said to Luke as the two boys arrived back at Lucas' house after lunch with Nat and Mattie.

"I know," Luke agreed. "Who'd have thought?"

"Yeah. But, I guess, what else would you expect from Mattie's cousin?" Ric said.

Luke looked at Ric. "What's going on with you and Mattie?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Ric asked.

"You know what I mean. There's been this funny little vibe between you for a while now."

"What? No. That's not...no," Ric said, unconvincingly.

"Do you like her?" Luke asked with a grin.

"I...ah...it's just..." Ric struggled to find words.

Luke's grinned widened. "You do like her."

Ric gave him a helpless look.

"It's okay man, I'm happy for you. I think you guys would make a really great couple."

"Are you sure?" Ric asked. "Coz I don't want to make things weird. I mean, I doubt it's even gonna go anywhere, but like, if it does I don't want things to be weird."

"Seriously, Ric, Mattie and I were done a long time ago. I'm over it, and I know she is too, so you should go for it," Luke said, encouragingly.

"I was gonna say the same thing to you," Ric said with a grin.

"What are you talking about?" Luke asked, trying to act innocent.

"Oh, gee, I don't know, maybe the fact that all through lunch you had this stupid goofy grin on your face. And when we walked past the bus stop you couldn't stop staring."

Luke looked to the floor and shook head.

"Come on," Ric encouraged.

"What? No way. I couldn't. It's too weird."

"Come on. If I can ask Mattie out, you can ask Nat out," Ric told him.