IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!

Tadaaa!

I'm back, bitches!

And listen, I know it was a really long time, but I was working really hard to edit everything all nicely for you so that you can re-read the beginning and not cringe at every sentence. I hope.

So If you haven't already gone back and re-read the previous chapters, I Really Really suggest that you do because I changed some stuff and added some scenes, including Kim's dad's little 'spanish inquisition'.

So if you've already done all that, by all means, start reading!

"Hello sir, hi Kim," He smirked. "Please, come in."

I'm not sure how long I just stared at him, baffled, before my dad gently pushed me inside the large house.

A tux. He was wearing a fucking tux, and it was the hottest fucking thing that I had ever seen. Sorry, Alex from Target.

"Hello, Jack. It's nice to see you again." My dad shook my friend's hand, and I eyed him warily. Things had been a little bit awkward between my dad and Jack for the past few weeks, considering I had slept in his bed and all, but I guess my dad had finally gotten over it. Jack did save me that night, after all. Even if it wasn't in the way that my dad thought.

"Likewise, sir. Please, let me take your coats. My parents are in the kitchen, to your right. Mom's making lasagna."

He directed that last comment at me, knowing that it was my favorite.

Damnit. His mom did make a mean lasagna...No, Kim, focus!

"Why thank you. Isabelle, do you want to hand the young man your coat?"

Izzy happily gave Jack her little yellow trench coat, revealing her adorable pink poofy dress that made her look like a Teenie ballerina.

Jack smiled at her as she handed it over, doing a little bow as he stooped down to her level. "Right this way, my lady," he announced with a terrible english accent, gesturing to the kitchen with a grand sweep of his arm.

My sister let out a small giggle and did a cute little curtsy, before taking dad's hand and following him to the kitchen, leaving me alone with my infuriating best friend.

Once I was sure we were finally alone, I marched straight over to him and smacked him right in the back of his head.

"Ow!" He cried out. "What was that for?" He asked, rubbing his head. As if he didn't know.

"Jack!" I whisper-shouted, "do you have any idea how bad you screwed up tonight? This whole evening could go horribly wrong at any moment, and then I'll be grounded for the rest of my life!" God, I needed a gulp of air.

It seemed my little moment of panic had served only to amuse Jack, if the wide grin on his face was of any indication.

"What is so funny?!" I demanded, frustrated beyone belief at his relaxed demeanor. Did he have any idea of the hell his screw-up was about to put me through?

"Kim, Kim, just relax, okay? I've got it all under control, okay?" He placed his hands on my shoulders, looking at me with a faintly amused expression, but there was also a hint of soft reassurence in his eyes which caused me to calm down slightly.

"Listen, Kimmy, they know everything. My parents know all about the karate."

My eyes widened at that, my heart beginning to race once again and panic overflowing my system. It hardly even crossed my mind that he had once again called me by his favorite petname. Jack noticed my sudden, mini panic attack and hurriedly went back to speaking.

"No, no, don't worry they're not going to tell your dad. They understand completely what you're going through, and even though they're not overly fond of the deceit, I told them how much this means to you and they respect that. So don't worry," he smiled. "Your secret's safe with us. You don't need to stress about it."

I had to admit, I was kinda stunned at that. Didn't adults have this weird parent code to tell each other everything about their kids? Hell, I once ignored my mom for a month after she got my friend Freddie grounded after telling his mom that she had seen him with me at McDonalds on a friday night when she knew he had a curfew.

So it was safe to say that I was a little shocked.

"Oh my…Jack, why did you let me worry like that?!" I exclaimed, hitting him on the arm. It didn't seem to hurt him though, as all he did was laugh.

"Because," he shrugged, smile still on his face. "You're cute when you get all worked up."

Any anger that I was feeling immediately melted away at those stupid words, making space for some foreign feeling that up until Jack, I had never really experienced. Not with Spencer, Kyle or any of my other previous boyfriends. It was actually hella scary.

I looked down at my feet and attempted to hide my blush, not at all enjoying the smug look on his face.

"C'mon," he said, taking my arm. "Let's go join the others. I know my mom can't wait to see you."

"So Kim, darling, I hope you're not too angry with Jack for not telling you about tonight, I know that it must've been quite a surprise. But if it makes you feel any better, Jack has been rushing around all afternoon making sure everything is perfect. He even put on his tux! And spent a whole hour in the bathroom getting ready. He eve-"

"Okay mom, I think that's enough now." The imploring tone in his voice was hilarious, and I had to stuff my face with more lasagna to stop myself from laughing out loud.

I was so going to tease him about that later.

"Oh pish," mrs. Brewer waved her hand dismissively at her son. "I'm just doing what mothers do best-embarrassing my child. But it seems Kim got the point, so you're spared," She shot me a mischievous wink. "For now."

My friend groaned and buried his head in his hands. "This is going to be such a fun night."

Luckily for Jack, the rest of the meal had gone down pretty smoothly; his mom hadn't mentioned any more revealing information concerning him, instead choosing to converse with the two fathers, discussing the company and dad's role in everything. By the few snippets of conversation I had heard, the general idea was that Mark was impressed with the work that my dad had provided during the past six weeks, and was thinking of maybe offering a small promotion.

I couldn't contain my smile when I had heard those words, and I had covertly sent my dad a double thumbs up from where I was sitting on the other end of the table. I was so proud of him.

So while the grown-ups were discussing grown-up matters, Jack and I had somehow ended up in the middle of a rather heated thumb-war tournament.

"You are so going to lose, Kimberly. And when you do, I have just the dare for you." Of course he did. Leave it to Jack to to turn everything into a game of 'let's see what I can get Kim to do this time?'.

After several attempts at trapping his thumb and evading his own, he eventually wore me down and won two out of the three rounds, making him the victor.

The second he managed to pin my thumb down under his own, that smug grin surfaced of his face and his facial expression suddenly became much more mischievous. When he started to wiggle his eyebrows in a rather suggestive manner, I knew that I was yet again about to get roped into something insanely stupid.

"So," he leaned his head down to my level, whispering in my ear. "Are you ready?"

I shivered as I felt his warm breath against my face. I was trying so hard to control myself, to not do something incredibly stupid that might ruin the amazing friendship we had, like turning my head and planting a kiss right on that luscious mouth of his, but it was proving much harder than I had anticipated.

Gulping, I nodded. "Go on then, just maybe don't make it illegal this time? I'm still jumpy every time I hear police sirens."

He laughed, probably recalling the latest of our many escapades. "Don't worry Kimmy, I promise no policemen will be showing up at your doorstep in the foreseeable future. At least not because of me. Who knows what sort of messed up stuff you get into on your own time."

I shook my head, trying to hide the small smile on my face. Damnit, why did he have to have a sense of humour?

"Now, I dare you to…come up to my room after dinner. I've got something I want to show you."

Oh my. Did he really just say that? Was he trying to kill me?

Oh god. I think I'm starting to hyperventilate. Breathe, Kim, breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

"Jack, you know I was already going to come up to your room. I always do."

Wow. I actually managed to sound relatively normal.

"So what have you got up there that's so important that you actually had to ask me?"

I didn't realize just how dangerous my question was until I saw the devious glint appear in his eyes, warning me.

"Let's just say it's something we've both wanted for a long time now..."

I nearly choked on my pasta. Oh god. He was really talking about this at dinner with our parents?

He leane in even closer and got all up in my face.

"I've got the new 'CarJack' game : 'CarJack Strike Back'."

Oookay, not exactly what I had been expecting, but possibly just as good.

"Oh my god, Jack!" I whisper/shouted. "But...but that game's not supposed to be out until Hallowen!"

He shrugged casually, making his luscious hair bounce sligtly. "What can I say? I have connections."

And that he did. Having an über rich dad meant that Jack always had the latest in everything. Not that he usually abused his dad's money of ourse, opting for the more laid-back lifestyle, but when it came to vieo games and technology, he would have been a fool not to make an eception.

And the best part about it all?

He was friends with me. Which meant that I had full access to all of his stuff when I came over. Sweet.

"So I notice that you're no longer a stuttering mess. Care to explain why that is?"

Not particularly, no.

Taking my silence for exactly what it was; humiliation, he took a sip of water and leaned back in his chair, shooting me a sideways glance.

"Don't worry, Kimmy-bear. We'll have plenty of time for that other stuff after we're done hijacking random cars."

Sometime after Jack's mother had cleared the table-alone, to her insistence-she had asked me if I could help her out in the kitchen with the chocolate pudding. Naturally, upon hearing those two magic words, I was out of my seat in a flash.

"So, Kate, what can I do to help? Maybe I should have the first taste, you know, to make sure it's not poisoned or anything…" I gave her an innocent look, whilst also gravitating slightly towards the large dessert.

"Hmm, nice try, Kim. But I'm not sure if I should be flattered, or offended that you doubt my baking skills. The only dangerous thing about this pudding is the amount of chocolate I put in it."

I shrugged. "Still, doesn't seem like a bad way to go." Kate laughed at that, shaking her head softly. "Oh, Kim…"

Suddenly, her expression turned serious and she looked at me with her soft, motherly eyes, staring right into my own. "Kim…How do you feel about my son? And I don't want any 'he's my best friend' nonsense. As a mother, I need to know."

Wow. I was not expecting that.

The softness in her eyes never left, but I could tell, if only by the tone in her voice, that I would not be leaving the kitchen without providing an answer.

"Well I, um…well that is to say…Oh I don't know," I all but whined, frustrated. How did I feel about Jack? I knew I had a crush on him, that was blatantly obvious to everyone including Jack, but I also knew that I had feelings for him, possibly very strong feelings. I just wasn't exactly sure what they meant.

Whenever I was around him, I never felt alone, I never doubted myself. He never gave me a reason to; he always made me smile, laugh, hit him silly from frustration...but he also provoked this wild horde of wasps to spring to life in my stomach every time he looked at me with that smirk, or winked in my direction. When he hugged me, I felt…whole, and when he called me Kimmy, even though I pretended to hate it, I secretly felt like the most special girl in the world.

I knew it wasn't love, it couldn't possibly be…but then what was it?

"Don't worry, Kim. I know that all of this must be confusing, and I'm sure that my question is hard to answer, but it's important to me. I love my son more that anything in the world, and I only want him to be happy."

Ignoring her slightly enigmatic words, I tried to find a way to express just how I felt about Jack, but it almost seemed impossible.

But deep down I knew that I had to do this, to get it off my chest. Not only for mrs. Brewer, but also for myself. So I attempted to explain :

"Well, I guess it's kinda like…I feel sort of…this is going to sound silly, but I almost feel connected to him sometimes, you know? Like…when I'm feeling sad, even if I have the biggest smile on my face he'll just…know, and try to cheer me up. And when I get too close to him, it's like the whole world stops spinning and he...becomes the air I breathe, only he exists." I felt slightly embarrassed about talking to Jack's mother about my attraction to him, but I figured she asked for it.

"Everything's just so confusing…" Before I had the chance to drive myself mad from thinkingtoo much, Jack's mom came right towards me and engulfed me in one ofher warm hugs, making me feel so at home.

"Kim, I'm so sorry you feel like that," she said, still holding me in her embrace. "But if I can say one thing, it's that it will get better. You'll see, it always does."

I hoped she was right.

"Oh my god this game is amazing!"

We were fifteen minutes in and we had already hijacked six cars, two helicopters and killed four people in horrific, pixelated ways.

"I know right," Jack agreed from beside me, focusing intently on the screen.

"Just one more shot...and BAM! Another one bites the dust."

I laughed at his reference and pressed a few buttons, commanding my avatar to go steal the nice red ferrari left unattended against the sidewalk.

"What do you think they're talking about down there? It's already been a while, and my curiosity is getting the better of me."

I really was anxious to ask my dad when we got home. I wanted so badly to know if he'd gotten the promotion. He certainly deserved it.

"Hey," he paused the game and turned around to face me. "I'm sure everything's going great downstairs. My dad says that your father is very dedicated to what he does and shows a lot of potential. This promotion is like a sure thing."

I nodded my head and smiled at him, reassured by his words. "Okay, okay, I'm good now. No more worrying. Now un-pause the damn game so we can get back to killing people. Especially the grannies."

...

"Jack?"

"Mmmhmm?"

I smiled as I felt his chest reverberate beneathe my cheek.

"Why do you think the sky is blue?"

He chuckled at my question, making my head bounce up and down. We were lying on his huge bed, just resting after that tiring videogame, waiting for our folks to quit yapping about business, and somehow I had ended up snuggled against his chest, our legs intertwined as he played with my hair.

I never wanted to move.

"I have absolutely no idea, Kim. Why the strange question?"

"Well," I started absentmindedly tracing little patterns onto his shirt-clad chest with my fingers, and I hid a small smile when I felt his heart accelerate slightly.

"I was just thinking about water, and the sea, and how my dad once told me that the sea is blue because it's a reflection of the sky. So I started to wonder why the sky is blue. I-" I didn't get to finish my sentence when a huge wave of fatigue settled over me, causing me to let slip a huge yawn.

"Tired, Kimmy-bear?"

I scowled, lightly thumping my fist against his chest. "Don't call me that. I don't-" yawn "-like it."

"Yes you do. I know that you secretly love it." And that I did, but I wan't about to confirm it, hell no. That would only make him cocky. And a cocky Jack was bad news for me. Besides, I was too sleepy to even get out a full sentence.

"Lies," was all I managed to get out before my eyes drooped shut, and the last thing I remembered before drifting to sleep was the soothing feeling of his strong hand stroking my cheek, and the warm kiss he had placed upon my head.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!

So, was it acceptable? Adequate? Meh?

I need to know, people!

So Anyway, I can't remember if I've already posted this, but I've also started a new -non Kickin'it- story on this great website called 'Wattpad' , so if you like this story, you'll probably like my other one, too.

If you wanna check it out, just go to wattpad and search 'In Your Dreams' by cheekycheetacub, the same username I have on here. I'd probably rate it T for lots of strong language and stupidity.

Moving on, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

-CCC