I'm sorry it took a little longer but here is the next chapter. And thanks to the people who have reviewed this so far, I really appreciate it!

A few weeks after the dance things had basically gone back to normal. Joe's play was coming up soon—next week, in fact. To make sure he would pass Calculus and still get to be in the play, I had been tutoring him as much as possible.

We were seated at the dining table in my house, poring over our books for an important test the next day.

A few minutes later, Joe looked up at me from his book with utter exhaustion.

"This sucks. And we've been studying forever! Can't we just take a break and go watch a movie in your room or something?"

"Joe, it's only been an hour! Come on, you've been doing really good so far. Just keep studying."

He let out an exasperated sigh and dropped his forehead on the table. "Please, Katy. I just need a break…"

I smiled at him sympathetically. "Alright, how about 30 minutes longer and then we can go watch Spiderman or something."

"Yes! Thank you!" he exclaimed, grabbing my face and kissing me on the cheek dramatically.

Spiderman was currently our favorite movie of all time. Joe and I saw it together at the theater at least three times and ever since it came out on dvd, we had watched it a countless number of times. We both loved superheroes and other cool action characters, with Spiderman being Joe's overall favorite. I even found the perfect shirt for his birthday last month—it was dark pink in color and had an action shot of Spidey with the word "FTANNG!" spelled out above him. I was pretty sure that was the only shirt Joe had worn ever since. He was even wearing it now, in fact.

"Mhmm… now, back to logarithms. Concentrate!" I said, shoving his head back into the book.

30 minutes later, Joe and I were upstairs sitting on my bedroom floor at the foot of my bed, ready to start the movie.

"Ahh, Spiderman again…we definitely haven't seen this enough" I said sarcastically, leaning my head back against the bed frame and closing my eyes.

"Kit-Kat, seriously, you shouldn't talk about the Spidey like that. And this movie's a classic" Joe said seriously, although in his voice I could hear the trace of a smile. "Let's just watch and enjoy. Besides, anything's better than math."

With that, Joe hit the play button on the remote and leaned back beside me, stretching out his left arm and draping it around my shoulder. This was nothing out of the ordinary for Joe; it was really just a simple act of friendship. And although I wasn't as comfortable with physical affection from others, I didn't ever mind when Joe did it. His touch was so genuine and comforting that I often found myself longing for one of his bone-crushing bear hugs whenever I was feeling down.

This time, however, something was different. As Joe casually slid his arm across my shoulders, his fingers unintentionally grazed across my neck, sending a sharp and electrifying chill down my spine. I almost jumped in alarm, but didn't want Joe to think something was wrong. I immediately brushed off the feeling as an automatic reaction due to his cool fingers, and forced my focus back on the movie instead.

But it wasn't working.

As hard as I tried, I couldn't bring myself to notice even a phrase of dialogue in the movie. Joe's arm was way too distracting. It was a feeling I would never be able to describe, but I swore my skin was literally buzzing where our flesh came in contact. The strange tingling sensation slowly continued to spread, from my shoulders and slowly down through my arms, chest, even down to my toes. Like slow boiling water, my body was bubbling up inside and causing my skin to heat up rapidly.

And I had no idea how to react.

I just sat there, dumbfounded, my mind attempting to make sense of what my body was doing.

After about ten minutes of being silently frozen in utter shock, I couldn't handle it anymore. My flesh continued to boil, and I knew I would probably start sweating soon if I didn't get away from Joe, and quickly.

"Um, I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be right back" I said, shrugging off his arm carefully and hurrying over to the bathroom just a few feet away, not waiting for his response.

I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, my mind racing uncontrollably. I squeezed my eyes shut and reopened them, hoping that whatever was happening was just a dream, but to no avail.

I slowly walked over to the mirror and peered back at my reflection. My cheeks were flushed and my forehead was lightly glistening with sweat.

What is going on with me? I thought to myself. I knew what had happened at the dance was surely a mistake, but now, I had no idea what to think. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before.

I tried looking deeper into my own eyes, hoping that I would find some sort of explanation buried way down inside. Nothing.

I finally looked away and closed my eyes once more, knowing I had to formulate some kind of plan to keep Joe from touching me again. I didn't exactly want him to leave, but I had to figure out what was going on with myself.

I gathered up my courage, opened the bathroom door, and slowly walked out into my room to reveal a squeamish-looking Joe.

"Are you okay?" I could see the mild concern in his eyes. "You were kinda in there awhile. I thought you might've flushed yourself down the toilet or something." He chuckled slightly at his own joke, but quickly stopped as he saw my serious expression.

I looked around the room for a moment, mind still formulating a plan, and then smiled at him sheepishly. "I'm sorry, but I actually don't think I feel so good. I think I might have a fever or something, it's like it just came on."

I tried to be as convincing as possible, and thankfully, it worked.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Joe stood up and walked over to me, placing his hand tenderly on my forehead.

My skin once again impulsively reacted to his touch; I could feel my face growing warmer by the second.

"You actually do feel kind of warm" Joe said sympathetically. "Come on, I'll stop the movie while you get yourself in bed. I'll just get my stuff from the dining room and head home to study on my own, that way you can get some rest."

With that, Joe pulled back the covers and ushered me into bed, tucking the sheets tightly up to my chin.

I protested at first, feeling like a little child, but he wouldn't have any of it.

"There" he said, with one final tuck. "Now you can just sweat the fever out. I'll be here in the morning to pick you up for school, but if you're still sick just call me and you can stay home. Now you'd better not get out of this bed until you feel better, okay?"

I nodded obediently. "Yes, sir."

"Alright then." Joe leaned down and kissed me lightly on the forehead. "Love ya, Kit-Kat. Feel better soon."

With that he stood up, walked back over to turn off the television, and then left the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

When I was sure he was gone, I finally let out a sigh of relief.

Thank God. Crisis averted!

I leaned back into my pillow and eventually fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of heat waves and slow boiling water.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Please review if you would like!