"Roger Loski, I am going to murder you!" Those words ought to be easily identifiable.

Roger immediately stood up and held his hands up in surrender. "Wait a minute, Darla! Wait!"

She stomped up to him. What she did next was completely uncalled for. She grabbed poor Roger by the scruff of the neck and POW! Right in the face. Well, three POWS. "And that's what you get for doing that!"

Roger collapsed to the ground, passing out. Then Darla turned to us. "Hey, guys. What's up?"

My mouth was still open. "What's up?! You walk in here and beat up one of my best friends unconscious, and then you say 'what's up?' What's the matter with you?"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean? Nothing's the matter with me!"

Lilia crossed her arms. "Then how do you explain what you just did?"

Roger's hand appeared on the side of the table as he gripped onto it to stand up. He groaned and sat up in the booth. Whoa. Those were some pretty nasty bruises. Even Larry couldn't always manage to give me those.

"That's…that's what I was…trying…to tell…you guys," he struggled. "Coming down on the street," he wheezed, "I bumped into Darla as she was coming out of a drift store. And well…going at that speed…you can imagine what happened."

I nodded. "Yeah. Crash, right?"

He nodded. "And all the things she'd bought…well, they…fell."

"Fell? Just fell?! The new vase that my sister had put on hold six months ago broke into a thousand pieces!" Darla yelled. "And that wasn't even the worst of it."

"Then what was?" Lilia asked.

"My new skateboard! It had a nice soft leather coating and aerodynamic edges with friction-resistant tires. But then came Humpy Dumpty and the skateboard went flying into the street and got crushed by an eighteen-wheeler."

I hissed. "Yikes. That doesn't sound so good."

"Good? There went $35 of my own money! Just flew and…" she made a raspberry sound and a gesture with her hand that signified something running over something else.

Roger groaned and sighed still rubbing his face. "Hey, I said it was sorry!"

Darla threw daggers at him. Her dark black eyes were flaming with rage. You could tell. Believe me, you can really tell. "That's not going to get my skateboard back together! Sorry isn't enough!" She turned her back on him and stomped out of the restaurant.

Roger sighed and looked down at his lap. "Well," he said in a sad voice. "I guess that ruins any chances of Darla and me getting together."

"Oh, come on, Roger. Just because of a little incident?" I said, trying to soothe him. I mean, I'd never been rejected in that way, so there was no possible way of showing empathy. But I could show sympathy.

Those are two different things.

Roger smiled and shrugged. "Well, to tell you truth, I'm scared of her."

Lilia scoffed. "Scared? Come on, Roger! Just because she's always acting tough and never dresses-up or puts on lipstick or dances, that doesn't mean you can't have a nice relationship."

"Easy for you to say. You're very feminine and Spiny's charming and you're perfect for each other, like jigsaw puzzle pieces."

The waiter came over to our booth. "May I take these out of your way?" he said, pointing to our empty ice cream sundae plates. "Oh, sure," I said. He stared grabbing the plates. Roger said, "Could you get me a Blue-Plate special to go?"

"Of course," the waiter responded.

"Where you going?" Lilia asked.

Roger sighed, sounding rather depressed. "Just…to go home." He slowly trudged himself out of there.

Let me tell you, seeing Roger walk out of there really broke my heart. I mean Roger was a very kind, sensitive, courteous, and caring guy with a good sense of humor. And as for looks, well, he wasn't that ugly. I happen to know that he had his share of admirers.

But Darla wasn't exactly your ideal girl to date. I mean she and I go way back, but as friends only. You could say that we were like brother and sister. However, I could go as far as to say that we were like brother and brother. For obvious reasons, of course.

And let me tell you, Darla is not exactly the world's best dinner companion or movie partner. I mean if I had to decide between her and Kylie…well, I wouldn't go that far. Well, anyways, I saw Roger walking out of Arnold's.

I turned to Lilia and said, "You know something, baby?"

"No, what, sweetie?"

"I feel really sorry for Roger."

She sighed and put her head on my shoulder. "Yeah, so do I. I mean, you can tell that he's just so in love with that girl."

"You think she feels the same about him?"

"No…I don't think so. And especially not after today."

I shrugged. "Well, we can't do anything about it. I mean, just forcing people together never works. Especially when it's obvious that they're so incompatible."

She stared at me. "You never liked matchmaking, did you?"

I shook my head. "I HATE matchmaking. It never works, it ends in either heartbreak or embarrassment or both, and all you do is just waste time and energy."

She smiled. "I guess so." Then her cheeks turned pink in that cute way that only she knows how. Her dimples started showing. "I mean, we didn't need a matchmaker to get us together, right?"

I smiled back at her and felt my face and my body getting warm. "No, we didn't. We did it all by ourselves." I put my arm around her and pulled her closer to me. She snuggled up next to me, lying her head down on my shoulder. I felt her whole body relax and the feeling of her exhaling as she sighed into my neck.

I laughed. "Come on, Juliet. I need to get you home before your dad starts sending out the National Guard to look for us."

I paid for our sundaes and tipped the waiter as we headed out the door. Outside Arnold's I gently held on to Lilia's hand and we started walking back to our street. "Can I ask you something, Romeo?"

I laughed. "Sure. What is it?"

"Were you serious about what you said earlier?"

My eyes darted from side to side. "About what?"

We crossed the intersection from Scepter Rd onto Terrace Ave. Here, the scenery changes from small business and restaurants to suburbs. You know, homes, parks, schools. All that stuff.

"What did I say about what?"

"You know? About teaching me water polo and all that?"

Oh…uh, that. I got a little nervous and I felt my face burning. And it wasn't because of the scorching heat. I scratched the back of my head and neck with my hand. "Well…um…i-if you wouldn't mind…"

She stopped and smiled warmly at me. Then she put arms around my neck and pulled my lips into her soft, warm, pink ones. I felt sparks flying and a thousand butterflies fluttered in my stomach.

She pulled away and I stared deeply into those endless light brown irises. She looked me with an expression I'd never seen before. An expression I couldn't really read. "Does that answer your question?"

I was still in some shock. I mean, she'd never kissed me that way before. And I still was deciding what she was trying to tell me through her eyes. "I don't know," I said in an almost-whisper. "Was that a 'goodbye' kiss or a 'yes' kiss?"

She grinned. "It was a yes. I'm going to be alone in my house today. My brothers are on a field trip far and my parents won't be back till after midnight. And my sister is having a slumber party at a friend's house. I'll be waiting right after sunset."

She then kissed me passionately and ran off to her house.

Dumbfounded, shocked, and just…wow. "Hey, was that an invitation to an evening of love or was it a death sentence?" I said to myself out loud, now standing in front of the palace.

"Well, I think either way, you're dead," said a voice behind me. I whirled around to face whichever fool said his last words.