A/N: Thanks so much for all of the reviews. I really appreciate your feedback. Their childhood is almost over and we will soon be approaching the awkward pre-teen years. Uh oh! :)

February 14, 1983

Nine-year-old Olivia tidied up her room as quickly as she could even though she had just cleaned it the day before. Her Hot Wheels racing track was disassembled even though it had taken her nearly an hour to put it together. Olivia loved her Hot Wheels track, but she knew she couldn't have anything on the ground because she was going to need space to play with Alex and Alex never wanted to play with Hot Wheels. Alex liked playing with Barbies and tea sets, neither or which interested Olivia. She was given a Barbie for Christmas when she was six, but she never took it out of the box. Instead, Olivia loved playing with Hot Wheels, G.I. Joe, and her Tonka trucks. Her personal favorite was the yellow dump truck that she'd take outside so she could transfer rocks from one section of her backyard to another. Most parents would have been worried about her lack of interest in 'girl' toys, but her mom didn't care. What mattered to Serena was that her daughter was able to grow into the young woman she wanted to be and define femininity by her own terms.

When the doorbell rang, Olivia ran as fast as she could to answer it and nearly tripped in the process.

"Alex!" Olivia said excitedly and pulled her in for a hug. "Come in! Come in!"

"Thank you for letting her spend the night," Mr. Cabot told Serena. "We were going to leave her at her grandma's but she insisted on staying with Olivia."

"It's no problem," Serena insisted. "Alex is a pleasure to have over and she keeps Olivia busy."

"Be a good girl," Mr. Cabot told Alex. "I'll pick you up tomorrow after school and I'll call you as soon as the baby is born."

"Okay," Alex said glumly. "Bye, Daddy."

Once Mr. Cabot left, Alex sat on the couch and started moping.

"What's wrong, Alex?" Olivia asked.

"I don't want a new baby in the house," Alex told her. "Mommy is going to have a boy. I don't want a brother. I want a sister. They already have his name picked out. Mommy and Daddy are going to name him Jared and he's going to be the favorite because he's a boy and everyone likes boys more than they like girls. I want to runaway and never go back there."

"Let's runaway together!" Olivia said excitedly.

"Where?" Alex asked. "It's so cold outside and we're not allowed to cross the street unless we're with an adult."

"Hmm," Olivia said and began contemplating a good place for them to runaway to. "How about if we pretend my room is our own house?"

"Okay," Alex responded. Olivia picked up Alex's overnight bag and the two of them walked over to her room. Now that her room was doubling as a house and rendezvous point, she was glad she had decided to give it a thorough cleaning.

"Alex?" Olivia asked as they were cuddling up to each other on her bed.

"What?"

"You're wrong," Olivia began. "Not everyone likes boys more than they like girls. I like playing with boys, but I don't like them as much as I like you."

"I don't like anyone as much as I like you, Olivia," Alex said and gave Olivia a kiss on the cheek.

"Boys are fun to play with, though," Olivia told Alex for lack of anything better to say. Her heart was still racing from that kiss on the cheek.

"No, they aren't," Alex said with a disgusted look on her face. "Boys are so gross! They get dirty and they don't like to play tea party or play with dolls or anything fun."

"I don't like playing those things either," Olivia pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're…different," Alex said hesitantly. "You're so pretty and I like looking at you."

"I like looking at you, too," Olivia told her and a little giggle managed to escape her mouth.

"I think I like you, Olivia."

"I know that," Olivia said matter-of-factly. "If you hated me, we wouldn't be friends."

"No, Olivia. I like like you."

"Oh," Olivia responded and averted her eyes. "I like like you, too, Alex."

"Good."

"What happens now?" Olivia asked nervously.

"I think we're supposed to kiss," Alex informed her. "Like they do in movies."

"Okay," Olivia agreed and quickly sat up. "Except, I have a problem. I don't know how to kiss."

"It's easy!" Alex said and sat up so she could face her. "You just close your eyes and press your lips to mine."

"Should we do it now?" Olivia asked.

"We'll do it on the count of three," Alex instructed her. "One…"

"Two…" Olivia said, her voice starting to shake.

"Three," they said in unison and quickly pressed their lips to each other's. Their kiss lasted less than a second before they pulled away and opened their eyes. Alex and Olivia stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before one of them finally had the nerve to say anything.

"How was it?" Alex asked.

"Okay," Olivia said hesitantly. "It wasn't like in the movies."

"I know," Alex said, disappointed. "But it wasn't gross. Maybe we just aren't ready."

"We can kiss each other again when we're grown ups and married.," Olivia informed her. "What else do married people do?"

"They have sex, silly," Alex said and started giggling.

"Like in that movie we saw on cable when your mommy and daddy thought we were asleep?" Olivia asked. "They were touching each other and they weren't wearing any clothes. That's so yucky!"

"I know!" Alex told her and made a scrunched-up face. "When we're married, we're never going to do that. "

"Never," Olivia agreed. "As long as I live, I never ever want to do anything like that."