Chapter 16- Our first kiss went a little like this...

"Your sister seems great," I said, as I watched Isabel playing by herself on the climbing frame, while all the other kids around were playing on the roundabout. We were sitting on the swings in the park, with a view of the rest of the children's area so we could keep an eye on Isabel too. I put the last spoon of ice cream in my mouth and set it down next to the other ice cream I had ordered that was now in its fully melted form. Any thoughts of Timmy and Andy waiting at home for their ice cream long forgotten.

"Yeah, she's great. She's actually taken the move pretty always used to hang out weekends in New York, so I guess I wanted to keep something constant in her life and that's why I told you I was busy today," Romeo said.

"Oh! I totally get it! No need to explain. Actually I feel pretty ridiculous for acting the way I did," I said embarrassed. Thankfully the topic was forgotten when Isabel ran up to us.

"Did you see me? I went right to the top!" she said bursting from excitement.

"Good job Iz! Hey, why don't you go play with those kids, they go to your school right?" Romeo asked her. Isabel turned and looked at the group at the roundabout.

"Umm, that's ok, I'm going to go try the fireman's pole, can you come and help me Ro?"

Romeo looked at her a second, then said, "ok," and followed her over to the pole. I managed to hear a slight sigh before he left.

I watched them for a few minutes as he helped her get onto the top , then he showed her how to hold onto the pole properly, teaching her to wrap her arms and legs around securely before letting go. He played with her a few more minutes, taking her over to the slide, then came back and sat down on the swing beside me again.

"So, what was the sigh about?" I asked him curiously.

"Like I said, she's having a tough time adjusting, she pretty much grew up in the city and she doesn't remember ever living here, and she found it hard to leave all her friends behind, and she seems to be finding it hard to make new ones. I actually think they may be being mean to her because of who our family is, which is funny, because as soon as people find out who my parents are, they're dying to my friend" he said chuckling at the end to lighten up the topic.

"I'm sure she'll be ok," I said, "give it time, you just moved back."

"That's what my parents said too, but I just don't like seeing her unhappy."

"That's sweet," I said smiling. I was seeing him in a different light to the one I had seen him in before. Out here with his sister he wasn't the arrogant guy, that acted like he knew everything, which was confusing because I kept getting glimpses of a nice person, like at the bike track and now with his sister. At least I knew that the sweet guy was in there somewhere.

"What is?" he asked, watching me, his gaze locked onto mine.

"Your relationship with your sister. You can tell she adores you," I said genuinely.

"Yeah, we got close once we moved to New York. Mom and Dad were working a lot, building up the empire, which left me and Iz with a lot of time to bond. And then the move was so sudden, since we got back, I guess we've just I'm all she's had for a while,"

"So how come the move was sudden? How come you came back" I said without thinking. I suddenly realized I probably sounded as if though I was prying, "Sorry! You don't have to answer that!"

"No, it's ok." He said, not bothered by my question. After a few seconds he began to speak again.

"The move to New York was never supposed to be permanent. My Mom and Dad already had a lot of money in their families and when they got married they created their own business, it was doing well, but they thought New York would be a good place to expand. Once we moved, they started spending more and more time at work, and less time with us. Eventually I started acting out and doing things I'm not too proud of" I mentally started coming up with things that he could have done but I didn't think it was the right time to ask.

"And Iz wasn't paying attention in school. I think it finally hit them that we weren't a family anymore when one day, my parents had just picked me up from the police station, and we had just gotten home, and Izzie was upset about something and she was crying. My Mom held out her arms to pick her up but Izzie ran straight past her and into the arms of the Nanny."

"Then what?" I asked, completely hooked onto the story, as if it were one of those soaps my Grandmother watched.

"Well the next morning, our parents announced we were moving back here. They both grew up here and missed it a lot and they thought it was the place where we could be a family again. The company was built up enough for them to control the business from here, and we'd moved by the end of the week. We're still not perfect but we're working on it, and we're nearly as close as we used to be."

After he finished we sat in a few minutes of silence. Him not knowing what I made of his story and me still trying to absorb how he had just told me something so personal. After a few minutes I spoke.

"You're lucky," I decided.

"Why?" he asked confused.

"Your parents care that you weren't a family anymore. Mine would start caring the day we didn't look like a family in public anymore." I said truthfully.

"I'm sure your parents care, Lee," he said.

"It's nice of you to say so, but I know that's not true, and I've come to accept it. We used to be close, I remember we used to live in this tiny little house by the mall, and my parents were working double shifts, but it didn't matter because we were happy. Then one day my Dad's small business grew slightly bigger and bigger, and before long we'd moved into our house. My mom quit her job, and we were happy for a while, but the money wasn't enough, and the company wasn't enough. They wanted more, and soon that was all that mattered. My parents weren't in love anymore, My Dad started working more than he was ever at home, and my Mom got caught up in society and the country club, and our social standing. Me and my cousin were practically raised by the staff, and like your sister, we started going to them before my parents, but the difference is they didn't notice, or they did and they didn't care. So with me and my cousin, we're all each other has."

The whole time I was telling him about my parents, telling him things I'd never told anybody before, I had kept my eyes on the ground, embarrassed.

"Why did you tell me all of that?" I heard him ask me.

"Why did you ask me about what happened to your family in New York?"I asked feeling embarrassed that I had just laid out my dysfunctional family next to his repaired one.

He lifted my chin, so I had nowhere to look except straight into his eyes.

"I don't know," he said in an almost whisper, moving slowly close to me.

"Me either, " I said , even softer than he had, but I was sure he was close enough that he's heard.

He moved his face even closer to mine, so our noses were almost touching, his eyes never leaving mine once. He closed his eyes and I felt his lips touch mine and pull away so softly that I almost thought I'd imagined it.

He opened his eyes again, relaying the silent message through them asking me if this was ok. He took my lack of action as a yes and leant in again, and captured my lips once more, not pulling away this time, but just as gentle and light, and this time I slowly kissed him back.

"Ewww, that's gross!"

A/N: it would be really nice to get some more reviews for you guys; I know you're out there!