"Well, this is our stop." Jack says while turning the car off.

"How cool is it that you live next door to me?" I ask while taking off my seatbelt.

"I'd say it's very cool. Not every girl gets to live next to this," he says, while gesturing to himself, "You should consider yourself very lucky."

I roll my eyes before saying, "Wow. How do you keep that ego of yours in check?"

Jack chuckles while getting out of the car and coming around to open my door for me.

"Such a gentleman," I say while taking his outstretched hand and getting out of the car myself.

He winks at me while replying, "You know it."

I blush slightly at his comment, but luckily it's dark out and he was getting our things out of the backseat, so he didn't catch it.

Jack and I have been friends for a really long time, and somewhere along the way that turned into something more. Well… For me, at least. I don't know about Jack. I really like Jack, and I want us to be even more than what we are today, but I just don't know if he feels the same way as I do. I fell in love with my bestfriend, but he doesn't know it yet.

I was broken out of my thoughts when Jack gave me the keys to unlock the doors, while he carried in our bags.

After going up to the house and opening the door for Jack, I immediately went straight into the kitchen. I was STARVING!

Jack's POV

Locking the door behind me, I set our bags down in the living room.

Today with Kim was really great. I had so much fun during our paintball game. Kim was a way better shot than I had anticipated, but I still beat her. She probably wouldn't agree with that statement, though.

I love her stubbornness, and fierce, competitive attitude. That, along with the caring, loving side that not many people get to witness, is the reason that I fell in love with my bestfriend.

I haven't told her this yet, though. If she didn't feel the same way, then things between us wouldn't be the same. I have to tell her soon, but I just haven't worked up the courage yet. Of all the things that I can handle in life, when it comes to Kim Crawford, things are so much different.

My thoughts are broken when my stomach growls. I head to the kitchen to see that Kim had the very same idea as me, as she is already there rummaging around inside the fridge.

I grin evilly. She has her back turned to me and is so focused that she never even hears me sneak up behind her.

Kim's POV

I'm currently looking through the fridge for something that looks appetizing. I haven't eaten since lunch today, and after both practice, and paintball with Jack, my stomach is making its annoyance known.

As I'm still focused at the current task at hand, two strong, warm arms snake themselves around my waist. Immediately, I jump and let out a very girly yelp, while turning around to come face first with Jack's chest.

"That was NOT funny. At. All." I say while Jack lays his head on my shoulder as an attempt to control the laughter emanating from him.

I can't help it when a small smile graces my lips, though.

"Yes. It. Was." Jack manages to get out through all of the chuckles that are leaving his mouth.

"Okay. Maybe it was slightly funny, but I'm very mad at you right now." I say while trying to escape Jack's arms, which are still around me.

This only causes Jack's grip to tighten around me, making escape virtually impossible now. His laughter has sobered up now, but he still has a grin playing at his lips.

He raises his head from my shoulder, his grin changing to a smirk, while cockily replying, "No, you're not."

I meet his eyes with a glare while saying, "Yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"Really?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.

I start to nod, but immediately stop when giggles start to erupt from me, as Jack has started tickling me.

Jack momentarily stops, only to ask, "Are you sure that you're mad at me?"

I motion for him to lean down. As he does, I hurriedly whisper "Yes" and barely manage to slip out of his hold and run out of the kitchen and toward the stairs.

I hear Jack shout, "You probably shouldn't have done that, Crawford!" and hear his footsteps coming out of the kitchen, before I bolt up the stairs.

I shoot to my room and close the door behind me. Probably not best choice, but I don't have time to change places now, as I can hear his footsteps on the stairs.

I look around for a spot to hide and immediately run to my closet and close the door behind me. This is such a typical hiding spot, and I'm sure that Jack will find me no problem, but oh well. It was the first place that popped into popped into my head and I can't leave now.

I huddle in the farthest corner of the closet and try to be as quiet as possible. I can hear movement outside of my bedroom door. Crap. He knows my thinking patterns WAY too well.

I hear the door creak open, and see light pour in from under the door as he flicks the light switch on.

"Kimmy," he says, "just make it easier on yourself and come out now."

'Yeah right,' I think. Easier? He's still going to tickle me until I almost pee myself either way. Might as well make him work for it.

"Fine. Suit yourself." I hear him say as I now see his shadow outside of the door.

I crouch and ready myself as he slowly opens the door. As soon as he opens it all of the way, I spring out on him.

He staggers back just a few steps, but catches me with virtually no problem at all. Curse him and his quick reflexes.

"Now Kimmy, you didn't really think that would work did you?"

With the most innocent face that I could manage, I gently lift my hands in the air, while shrugging my shoulders and saying, "I had to try."

That earns me a chuckle before he lifts me up and onto the bed, tickling my sides the whole time.

"J-J-JACK!" I manage to say through the nonstop giggles that are leaving my body, "Q-Quit!"

"Are you still mad?"

"Yes."

"Then, no."

I laugh a little before finally saying, "Fine! I'm n-not mad!"

Jack FINALLY stops and says, "I knew it. See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

I'm still breathing hard when I finally realize the position that we're in. I'm flat on my back, my head resting on the pillows at the head of my bed. Jack is on top of me, with only his elbows keeping him propped up above me.

Though we've both realized the position that we're in by now, neither of us have moved. It's like we're frozen there, held in one another's gaze.

After a few moments, Jack starts leaning down toward me and I feel myself start to lean up towards him. Slowly, his lips make their way towards mine and, after what feels like an eternity, our lips finally meet. The kiss is literally like nothing that I have ever experienced before. It's like a fire is spreading throughout my entire body; Starting at my mouth and traveling all the way down to my toes.

Sooner than we both would have liked, the kiss was broken, so that we could catch our breath. Jack rested his forehead against mine as we both began to regain our breath.

Once we had our breathing under control, Jack pulled back slightly to look me in the eyes.

"So Kim," Jack began in a whisper, "I don't know if you could tell or not, but I kind of like you, like a LOT, and maybe I misread that, but I'm thinking that you might like me too."

I giggle before replying, with a smirk, "Well, you would be wrong, Jack Brewer, I do not like you…I love you."

I watch as Jack's face goes from slightly panicked, to relieved, to his normal, cocky demeanor.

"You love me, huh?" Jack asks.

I nod, my gaze never leaving his.

"Well, that's good," Jack starts with a genuine smile, before huskily replying, "Because I just so happen to love you too."

With that, he leans in to kiss me again.

Even though I didn't deem it possible, this kiss seems even better than the last one.

Slowly, we pulled away again. Jack rests his forehead against mine once again.

"So Kimberly Crawford-" WHACK!

"OW! What was that for?" Jack asks while rubbing his arm.

"You know what. You just said my whole name."

"You can't forget about that for like a second? I was in the middle of asking you something very important." Jack whines with a fake pout.

"Nope. You knew better than to use my name." I reply back with a playful smirk.

Jack chuckled lightly. He caressed my face with his hand before continuing, "Well, before I was very rudely interrupted, I was going to ask you this." He held my face with both hands and locked our eyes together before saying, "Kim Crawford, will you do me the great honor of becoming my girlfriend?"

I put my hands over his and smiled while replying, "I would love to."

With that, his lips descended over mine once again.

We continued our make-out session until we were, very loudly I tell you, interrupted by the grumbling of both of our stomachs.

We reluctantly pulled away while laughing.

"I think that they might be trying to tell us something." Jack laughed while we both slowly sat up.

"Yeah," I laugh, "We should probably go and feed them, or else nobody will be happy."

With that, we both got up and went downstairs to the kitchen.

We raided the pantry of most of its contents and then brought our horde into the living room to watch a movie while we ate.

"What do you want to watch?" I ask Jack while looking through the various movies that we had.

"Umm… How about Finding Nemo?" Jack suggests while grabbing a handful of popcorn.

"Seriously?" I ask while giving him a questioning look.

"What?" he defends, "I like that movie. What's wrong with Nemo?"

I laugh at his expression before saying, "Okay, Nemo it is."

I put the movie in and, once pushing play, come back and sit down on the couch next to Jack.

Immediately, we both started in on the food in front of us while watching Nemo go and touch "the butt."

After eating to our heart's content, we both just continued to watch the movie until Jack broke the silence.

"So Kimmy," Jack starts out, but stops once he sees my expression, "What?"

"Kimmy? Really, Jack?" I ask while crossing my arms.

"Well, you know… Since I am your boyfriend now, I should be allowed to call you Kimmy."

"Really now? What makes you think that I would be okay with that?" I ask while crossing my arms, with a playful smirk on my lips, as he leans towards me.

He slides an arm behind my back and pulls me closer, while the other hand comes up to brush some stray hair out of my face.

"Well," he starts, "I happen to really like calling you that."

"Uh huh," I say with a raised eyebrow, "Is there anything else that you really like doing?"

He grins while bringing his face closer to mine and saying, "In fact, there is."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"This." He whispers before connecting his lips with mine.

I slide my hands up his neck and into his hair, while his tighten around my back, pulling me closer to him.

Just as we were about to deepen the kiss even further, we hear car doors slam from outside, and instantly jump apart.

As I hear the locks turning and the door opening, I turn to Jack and say, "Yeah, you can." He looks confused for a moment before grinning widely. After that, my parents come into the living room.

"Hey Kim… and Jack," My mom says.

"Hi Mom, Hey Dad," I say.

"Hello Lucy, Hi Chuck," Jack greets.

"Hi Kim, Hi Jack," Dad replies.

Both of them go and crash onto the loveseat.

"So, I'm guessing that the dinner was a success?" I say, taking in their exhausted expressions.

"Ha." They both say without any humor at all.

"That was one of the most soul-sucking events that I have ever witnessed," Dad deadpans.

"Witnessed, and was sadly a participant of," Mom adds.

A loud sigh came from them as Jack and I struggle not to burst out in laughter.

"Well, I think that after the night that we've had, a good night's rest is most definitely in order," Dad says while they both slowly make their way up and toward the stairs.

"Yeah, you guys have school tomorrow, so don't stay up too late. Jack, are you staying the night?" Mom asked.

"Uh, yeah. If that's okay with you." Jack answered.

"Yeah, of course," Dad said from the stairs, "You're here enough that our guest room has now unofficially been deemed as Jack's room."

"Mhmmm," Mom said sleepily while following Dad up the stairs, "You're practically part of the family."

"Goodnight!" Jack and I call to them.

"Night!" We hear in reply.

"Jack's room, huh?" Jack asks with eyebrows raised.

I laugh and reply, "Yeah, when mom was doing laundry, she had me take a shirt of yours to 'Jack's Room' last week. So, yeah, you have your own room here, and we've been doing your laundry."

"Well, why would I ever want to leave?" Jack laughs, "Speaking of laundry, though, you also have clothes at my house."

"Oh right, I do. Hmmm. I guess we're already a part of each other's family."

"Yeah, and we haven't even told them that we're dating yet," Jack adds.

"Well, in our defense, it just happened today." I say, leaning in towards Jack.

"True," Jack agrees, meeting my lips halfway with his.

I pull away slightly, much to Jack's dismay. He tries to pull me back, but I resist.

"Kimmy…" Jack whines.

I grin at both the use of this new nickname and also the fact that I already have this effect on him.

"Don't you have to tell your mom that your staying over here?" I ask.

"Ugh. Yeah," He complains while sitting back and pulling out his phone.

I laugh lightly and shake my head at his behavior.

I sink back into the cushions of the couch and let out a yawn, while Jack talks to his mom on his phone. My earlier fatigue catching up with me, I can feel my eyelids drooping. Soon enough, they're closed all together, and I drift off into sleep.

Jack's POV

After getting off of the phone with my mom, I turn to see Kim fast asleep beside me.

I laugh quietly to myself. I guess her earlier exhaustion finally caught up with her.

I pull a blanket over her sleeping form. I'll let her rest here while I clean up our mess, then I'll take her to her room.

Standing up, I start to clean up our earlier "dinner" mess and turn off the TV that's still showing the Finding Nemo main menu page.

After all of our mess has been cleaned up, I turned back to Kim, still lying fast asleep on the couch. I remove her blanket, making her whimper for a moment, before gathering her up in my arms and heading towards the stairs.

Upon reaching her room, I nudge the door open and gently lay Kim down on her bed. I plant a gentle kiss on her forehead while whispering, "Goodnight Kimmy."

As I start to retreat back towards the door, I feel a warm hand on mine. I look back as I hear a small, soft voice whisper, "Jack."

"Yeah?"

"Will you stay with me?"

I look down into the beautiful brown orbs that are looking up at me, and know that there is no way I could ever refuse.

"Yeah. Just give me a second, okay?"

"Okay." She whispers while releasing my arm.

I go over to the guest room, or my room, now, I guess, and quickly change into a pair of pajama bottoms before going back into Kim's room.

Closing the door behind me, I walk over to her bed and climb in beside her. To which she responds by immediately snuggling into my side. I smile and pull the cover over us both before wrapping my arms around the sleeping beauty cuddled into my chest.

"Jack?" I hear her mumble against my shirt.

"Yes, Kimmy?" I murmur into her hair.

I feel her smile before saying, "I love you."

I stroke her hair while whispering back, "I love you, too."

I can feel her breathing even out as she falls back to sleep once again.

I stay there, stroking her hair, while thinking back upon the day's events. From lunch today, to our paintball game, and then to the moment that she officially became mine, and still cannot believe that this actually happened. Kim Crawford is officially my beautiful girlfriend.

With that thought still on my mind, I drift off into a peaceful slumber with the girl that I love sleeping soundly in my arms.