Author's Notes: Whoa. So it's been months since I last updated. Yep, I seriously got a knack for slow updates. I'm becoming a professional! Haha. I apologize—seriously—for those who got sick of waiting for this chapter to arrive. I'm really, very sorry. It's just that, those few months have been totally hectic. First, summer arrived and I was tackling between my summer activities (hey, I have a life too, you know), and there came Michael Jackson's death—which just about wrecked the whole summer for me. I love Michael Jackson! *sniffles* such a great lost. After he died, my whole inspiration just vanished.

…but then people just kept reviewing and reviewing this story! Look! 47 reviews already! Oh my gosh. This is just too awesome! Thanks for supporting me, guys! Your reviews have totally brought back my love for writing.

This chapter's sort of crappy. Really. I wrote it when I wasn't in the mood, but I really had to do it. This story's still so far away from the ending! More troubles to come, more heartbreaks and blahblahblah still has to come knocking down the doorway! Well, I'll stop rambling. Don't forget to REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Thanks a bunch.


"Love is a one-way street.

You can only fall in love one at a time."


"-Forever Dawn-"

Chapter five: Reactions (Part Two)

By, modernxlove-

Ian's POV –

"She's not an alien, Lori." I said through gritted teeth. I never noticed before, but she's such a hardheaded woman. "To be honest, you're acting more of an alien to me than Wanda is. What happened to you? You were so kind and gentle six years ago."

"Yeah, well tell that to yourself." Lori snapped, releasing my sleeve.

"Okay," I continued, ignoring her bad mood. "If you want to know, Lori, I pick her. I pick Wanda. She's the only girl for me. And I love her like crazy."

"Whatever." She muttered, her eyes swelling up with tears. And even though I love Wanda, I still hated seeing Lori cry. I flinched.

"Will you stop that?" She said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Stop what?"

"Acting like that!" She yelled.

"Like what?" I demanded.

She sat back down in frustration, and the tears just kept trickling down her cheeks. "Stop pretending like you care for me! I already knew from the beginning how madly you were in love with that alien bitch. But you promised, Ian!" She glared at me, hazel eyes filled with morose.

I shook my head. Past is past, and Lori just happened to be part of my old life. Wanda is my present—my future. "Look, if you want honesty, just hear me out."

"No!" She growled, quickly standing up from her seated position. She gritted her teeth, and her brows were furrowed with intense anger. Everyone was staring at us now. "You're a bastard, Ian. You're nothing but a lying two-faced, bastard. Six years ago, you told me you loved me. You promised me you'd never let me go! So why now? Why?" She emphasized the words slowly and clearly.

I sighed. "Things change." I replied. "And you probably don't really love me like you used to either. We can still be friends," I said, with a swell of indignation. "Friends, but nothing more."

She shook her head, and wiped the tears that were falling. "You don't understand anything, Ian." She said defensively, slowly walking away, and then paused yet again. "You don't understand."

I clenched my fist out of habit, feeling a little bit guilty. But I still had my pride; and that, I could not lose. "I'm sorry." That was all I could manage. "But I just don't love you anymore. Picking you first was the wrong choice."

She started laughing—sarcasm evident all over it. "You're really sick, you know?" She said, chuckling like a maniac. "Falling in love with a stupid alien! Who do you think you are, Ian? Elliot from E.T? In case you haven't noticed, this is real life-"

"Ian, you alright?" Someone asked, tugging gently on my sleeve. I knew that voice anywhere. And I knew that I would always respond to it—whether it is I'm awake, asleep or even dead. It was Wanda.

"Why are you here?" I asked, my voice saturated with innocent surprise.

Wanda tilted her head to the side and smiled sweetly. "Well, you've been gone for five minutes and I was worried." She confessed, but then quickly muttered, "Just a little bit, I mean! So don't get the wrong idea, thinking I'm a worry-wart. Which I'm not. Really." She hesitated.

I laughed.

"You two really piss me off." Lori said in a loud voice, just loud enough for the people around us to hear. "Don't say I didn't warn you." And with that, she walked away and disappeared into the dark.

I shrugged and turned my gaze to Wanda, who was now frowning. I cupped her check. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

She sighed. "I'm sorry I interrupted you." She mumbled. "If you wanted to be with her, you could've just said so—"

And I interrupted her at once with a kiss. I swirled my tongue around her mouth, tasting her sweetness, and then I slowly pulled back, embracing her and pulling her slowly to my chest. "I want to be with you, and you only." I said. "Don't worry about Lori. She's stubborn, but I'm sure she'll deal with us."

She turned away, her face flushed with a pink-reddish color. I grinned. "So, shall we go fetch us some water?" I said, pulling back from our hug.

She nodded, awkwardly, running her hands through her blonde hair. "Okay." I entwined my fingers to hers, as we both sauntered towards the kitchen way, to finish the water-bottling collecting task assigned to me.

- Wanda's POV -

"You think that's enough?" I asked Ian, as he finished filling up the tenth bottle.

"I guess so," He said, handling me one. He closed the sink's tap, and turned to me. "You carry one and I'll carry the rest." He picked all nine bottles with one swoop, and I couldn't help but feel amazed. He was so strong and I was just so weak. I felt a pang of guilt for letting him do everything, wherein I, did nothing but do little.

"I think I should carry five." I said. "Or maybe six."

Ian snorted. "No way. You'll end up spilling them all once we get there."

I frowned. "But I want to try. Why does everyone have to stop me whenever I want to do an act of charity?" I insisted. I just felt so useless. Everyday, the feeling gets worst. How can I continue living, if all I do is wash dishes and do laundries, while everyone else gets to do real chores? I needed to be useful, but no one wanted me to try. All I wanted to help, what was wrong with that? Humans are so complicated. I just can't understand their way of thinking at times.

He smiled at me, his blue eyes penetrating in the dim-lit room. "Because I love you, and I don't want you to live like a slave. That's what a man does when he loves another woman." He pointed out, gently.

"Really?" I asked, innocently.

"Yeah." And then he chuckled at my expression. "You're such an adorable baby," He said.

I blinked. "A baby?" I asked, frowning. "But I'm not. I'm already eighteen. That's a legal adult—in a human's lifespan."

He laughed. "Yeah, right. But you're my baby, baby."

"Umm." I said, not really understanding the situation. "Okay." I said brightly, playing along. But from the look of him smirking, I guess he read my mind and figured I didn't get what he meant.

We cleared the kitchen shortly, and walked over to Melanie and the group, who apparently, were still dying of thirst (especially Kyle—even though he already drank four bottles of water).

"About time," Kyle scoffed, reaching his hands out to get a bottle. Ian threw one at him and it hit his nose precisely, with a loud bonk! "Ian! What the fuck was that for, you idiot?" He yelled, cursing under his breath. "Trying to break my nose again?"

Ian snorted. "Don't worry, dear brother." He said, amusingly, as everyone was laughed. "Your nose can't get any uglier."

"You jackass." Kyle muttered, slowly opening his water bottle.

Jared nodded, taking a sip of his own. "Yes, Kyle. Your brother is right. Your nose is definitely already crooked and ugly. In fact, everyone should brace themselves whenever they look at you, Kyle, because your nose is absolutely hideous." He said, matter-of-factly.

Ian burst out with laughter.

"Funny, right?" Jared asked.

Kyle groaned. "You two are such losers."

Melanie chuckled. "Oh shut up, Kyle. And don't ruin the fun."

"I don't think your nose is hideous, Kyle." Sunny muttered a little shyly. "I think you look handsome. Very handsome." She snuggled up to him and offered her water, which he quickly refused.

"I think only Sunny can see Kyle's beauty." Ian mattered, grinning.

"That's because she loves him," I pointed out. True, love is blind. "And when you love someone, you take the good and the bad—just like how I love y-"

"Alright, enough with the love talk!" Melanie interrupted me. I frowned, and she sighed. "Sorry, I'm not in the mood for a lovey-dovey chit-chat right now. But if we talk about sex and pleasure, oh, I'd love that. Who wants to open a topic about that certain suggestion?" She asked.

"What's sex?" I asked, exasperated. I tried to match every word behind the term 'sex' but Pet didn't seem to ever come across that term. I felt oddly buoyant, and a little bit out of place. "Umm, is it that thing you do when you want to get in touch with someone using a cellphone?" I asked.

Melanie cracked up, and everyone roared with laughter. That's 'text'!" She laughed. "Were talking about 'sex'! 'Text' is different from 'sex'!"

I blinked, just a little bit puzzled. "Huh?" I turned to look at Ian, and he his face reddened. "Ian?"

He turned away, almost as if he was blushing. "I'm sorry," I whispered, looking down. If only I had an electronic dictionary or something. That would be very useful…

Melanie hugged me from the bug. "Oh, Wanda! You're so dumb, but I love you anyways."

"Hey!" Ian snapped. "Don't talk like that to her."

Melanie rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Ian. Wanda, 'sex' is when you love someone enough that you want to be intimate with them. It's kind of like kissing and hugging and doing other stuff without clothes on."

…And that's when I remembered. "Oh! I know now!" I said, happy I finally got it. "Ian and I already had this 'sex'." I said, proud. And I smiled sweetly at Ian. "Right, Ian?"

He froze still. "Uhh." Everyone froze.

"What?" Jared, Melanie, Kyle, Nate, Jamie, Trudy and Lily asked altogether.

I nodded. "Well, yeah. Just this morning, I woke up without any clothes on, and so did Ian. And I was asking him if we did it, and he said yes, and I—"

He immediately covered my mouth with his hands, stopping me to a halt. "Okay!" He said, hesitantly. "I think that's enough, Wanda!" He said, focusing desperately on my eager face. "I don't think we need to talk about our… um, relationship with these idiots." And he had a point. I just nodded and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Kyle smirked. "Oh, now that you mention it, Ian," Kyle said at last, a hint of revenge etched on his features. "Last night was such a romantic night for you two, wasn't it?"

"Yeah!" I nodded directly. Ian didn't respond, though I wondered why.

"Umm," He said, his face so desperate to change topics, as he glances self-consciously at his elder brother, and then back at me.

"Don't worry, Ian." Kyle said, laughing lightly. "I won't tell anyone how you came unto Wanda last night, just doing that move with her, touching her there and stuff like that."

Ian looked down, avoiding any gazes from the surprised faces surrounding him. "Don't believe him" He muttered, nervously. "He's lying. You all know Kyle. He's a liar."

"Come to think of it," I began. "I don't remember much from last night… just that when I woke up, I was naked in Ian's arms." I smiled at him and he groaned. Oh. Did I say something wrong? Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut from the beginning. Okay, Wanderer, no more talking about 'sex' ever again!, I mentally scolded myself.

Melanie gasped and slapped Ian on the right side of his cheek. "How dare you?!"

"What did I do?!" Ian demanded, holding his sore check. "I didn't do anything! Jeez!"

Melanie rolled her eyes. "Wanda, don't go out with this man ever again." She ordered seriously. I frowned, my throat feeling sore.

Jared patted her softly on the back. "Now, now, baby." He said. "Don't punish a man just because he wants to have some fun. I mean, look at us. We do it almost every night—"

SMACK!

And he was slapped on the face by an enraged Melanie too; an enraged Melanie who was now blushing and flustered, and self-conscious. She was now acting like Ian—all sweaty and nervous. Was this some kind of heat sickness? Or was this something embarrassing?

Jamie pretended to throw up. "Ewwww.." He shuddered, slowly standing up. "I don't want to talk about this. It's just… gross! You people are disgusting. I'm getting out of here."

"Sorry, guys." Lily said, rising to her knees, as she decided to follow Jamie. "Not really interested in sexual life. Haven't found my special guy yet." She admitted with a laugh.

Melanie then turned to look at me, her brows furrowed. "Wanda, sex is a serious matter. You don't just do it rashly. It's a responsibility! I just hope you did it with condoms." She said, sighing. Sunny and Burns were just looking at each other, their expressions confused, clueless and puzzled, just as I was. "If you have sex, you have to be sure you used condoms. Did you two use condoms?" She asked both Ian and I.

I shook my head slightly. "I'm not really sure."

Melanie shot Ian a frustrated glance. "And what about you?"

Ian just shrugged. "Don't remember."

Melanie groaned yet again. "Do I have to always be the mother around here?!" She asked herself. "Just remember, don't do it ever again, unless you're really sure you're responsible enough to do it. Because I do not want you getting pregnant around here. You understand, Wanda?" She asked me, making sure.

I nodded.

* * *

I was having such a good week; maybe because I knew that essentially everything had gone back to the way it used to be between Ian and me. Or maybe it was just the knowledge of knowing that Ian loved me, my sentence was served and he was mine again. Love was so close it was touchable, taste-able. The butterflies created every time Ian were to move close to me still twisted inside my stomach—it was a wonderful feeling. A feeling that couldn't be expressed in words.

One night, while everyone had finished dinner and decided it was time to have a shut-eyed rest, Ian and I were lying in his bed—fully awake, yet silent, fingers intertwined with each other as we were snuggling close together.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked me quietly.

I snuggled closer to his chest and smiled. "Nothing, really." I responded with a grin.

He gently placed a kiss on top of my forehead, brushing strands of my hair with his fingers. "Do you know what I'm thinking about?" He asked.

I shook my head lightly. "What?"

"I'm thinking about how precious you are to my life—how I can never let you apart from me." He responded.

I closed my eyes, feeling the tingles of the butterflies all around me. I held his hand tighter and kissed his chest. "You're important to me too," I muttered softly. He slowly sat up from our lying position, his hands not leaving mine. He gazed down at me, his beautiful sapphire-blue eyes holding mine. I felt my heart thump with love. I saw a hint of hesitancy flicker from his eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

He didn't answer. Instead, he got up from the bedside, walked towards a small wooden table, opened the drawers and picked out a tiny black-colored box. He made his way back to the bed and sat beside me. This time, I took a good look at the box—the box's surface was smooth with black satin. I looked at him quizzically.

He smiled. "It's for you." He said, placing the box gently ton top of my extended palm. "I found it while I was rummaging through old stuff, and I thought that it was time to give it to you.."

"May I?" I asked, my hands shaking. I think I recalled something about this tiny box from Pet's memories—or at least memories from this host body I was wearing. I seen it so many times; it was just hidden deep inside my thoughts. I think it's going to be a ring, or something. Some kind of ring used to bind two souls together. I felt my heart rate jump and my palms were sweating.

He laughed lightly at my expression. "Well, go on. Open it." He said brusquely.

I brushed my fingers over the box's top, hesitating. "Um, alright." I said, lifting the lid. Nestles into the white satin inside was a tiny silver-colored ring, sparkling in the dim light. My heart was beating, and I felt my eyes swell up. It was a ring—and it was beautiful. It was silver and gold, with a ruby-colored heart embedded at the center.

"It's beautiful." I said, tears dripping down slowly. "I.. thank you, Ian. I-I don't know what to say—"

"You don't have to say anything," He said, smiling, his eyes filled with joy, as he leaned over and kissed me in the lips.


Well, what did you think of it? Was it soo horrible? I know it was and I'm sorry. I just typed everything down without much thought. Please forgive me; the next chapter will be so much better.

Please keep on giving more suggestions and stuff! REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Pretty, pretty, please?

Thanks to my awesome REVIEWERS: iluvIan!, Cherry Tulips, Princess Skye, Nikki Lakes, BlUeEyEdFrEaK13, RussianPwnage6, WakeMyDreaams, ..moon.135, -DisturbiaXx, Kimmie, BlueFireIce, Porsches As Bribes and Casey. Thanks so much!