Wow. Chapter seven already. Sheesh. I did not think I'd make it this far with a fanfic so THANK YOU EVERYBODY for their encouragement and wonderful patience. And from now on, I promise not to put a timespan on when a chapter or sneak peek will be out. I'm terrible at up-holding them; as I'm sure ya'll figured out.

This is a smaller than usual chapter, but I hope you all really like it xD

Ellen.

CHAPTER SEVEN

GRANTPOV

You can do it, Newman. You can do it!

Ah. Who the hell was I trying to kid?

I couldn't ask out Bex Baxter.

She's... Well, to put it bluntly, she's Bex Baxter. And not once has Bex Baxter ever said yes to a guy before to be her boyfriend. Because, let's face it, I didn't want Bex to be a one night stand. People weren't kidding when they said that I had been crushing on her for years.

Six years to be exact.

And each time I had the courage to even think of asking her out- I chickened out.

But now I couldn't.

Because Cammie had called upon an old 'favour' (I honestly couldn't remember this one- but I wasn't about to turn down yet another opportunity to get one step closer to asking Bex out) and said that I had to ask her out and I should have done so already because it was morally right.

I didn't understand and I'm not going to pretend that I do.

But I was going to ask out Bex Baxter. And I wanted it to be done right. Too often do I hear Cam and her friends talk about those damn romantic movies and books where the love interest did something totally unrealistic- and unintentionally raising the stakes for us normal guys who just wanted to have the girl by their girl.

Stupid Edward Cullen and damn spy boys from those unpronounceable books.

Damn them all.

But at the end of the day, what did it matter? I would only get one step closer to actually asking her. The furthest I've ever gone is actually saying 'hi' to her. The words had jammed in my throat, my palms had gotten sweaty, and that way she looked at me... it could have made me crumble to my knees. Of course, Bex did that to everybody, so I didn't feel like such a wuss when I chickened out and got saved by the bell.

"I'm going to do it," I told Zach as my body sunk into my couch. The TV was playing a James Bond action movie (my guess was that Cameron hadn't taken the DVD out when she watched it last night) and he shoved a handful of BBQ chips in his mouth. I could hear the crunching noise despite the fact that his mouth was closed.

I reached over and grabbed my own handful, shoving it into my mouth as well.

"What are you doing?" he said, his eyes never straying from the TV as one of the Bond Girls did a dramatic, and extremely hot, entrance.

"Asking Bex out." I swallowed my last chip.

Zach nodded his head. "Uh-huh."

The doubt was clear even to me.

"No, seriously," I said. "I'm going to ask out Bex. For real this time."

"Do you remember what you said last time you told me you were going to ask her out?"

I scolded. "Don–"

He smiled a smile that I shouldn't event think was a smile. It was vicious and more of a not-quite-there-smirk.

"Exactly," he said. "What makes you think it's really going to happen this time?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because, this time, it is different." I reached over and put my hand in the bag to grab some more chips to find that there weren't any. I frowned and wiggled my hand in the bag, my fingers poking out, making weird shapes on the outside.

Zach sighed, and crumbled the bag over my hand as I jerked my hand out of the bag.

"Douche," I muttered.

He smirked and retorted with, "wuss."

I snatched at the bag and crumpled it into a ball and tossed it into the bin on the far side of the room. It missed.

Zach frowned at me. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Nah. I'm just playing with ya."

He had a puzzled frown on his face. "You just missed your goal."

"That's too bad. Hey, can we rewind? I think we missed the part where the chick walks out of the water."

Zach rolled his eyes, but rewound it anyway. "Grant. Are you really going to do it?"

"Do what?"

He lunged to hit me over the head with the pillow he tucked at his side. I slipped off the couch and kicked at his chin. He threw the pillow at me and I caught it at my chest.

"Ask Baxter out," he growled. "You're really going to go there? Again?"

I groaned and leaned back, letting my head hit the floor to stare up at the ceiling. "I've got nothing to lose. Why not?"

"And Cam? How does she feel about you wanting to date her best friend?"

I propped myself up on my elbows. "She knows. She's always known. And whatda you care for her feelings, anyway?" I lied back down and waited for Zach's cocky answer of some sort. I waited. But it never came.

I sat up straight. "You swore," I growled.

Zach rolled his eyes and stretched, lying down on the couch. "I know. And I'm keepin' it."

I stared at him for a while. How could I be sure? How could I be absolutely sure that him and Cam didn't fall. They were playing Romeo and Juliet; how could I be sure that his acting doesn't affect her in the way that she falls for him? How could I be sure that he wasn't affecting her in the way that she did something totally stupid? She had already done the worse at Gallagher.

Can you get worse once you've hit rock bottom? Can you only go up? Or can you dig deeper past that supposed-to-be-concrete foundation?

How long can you really go?

"Dude, you 'right?"

I glowered at him. "Keep it, Goode. Or else I'll be hittin' you harder than I hit Gregory last year."

Zach rolled his eyes but I knew he remembered how I accidentally-on-purpose broke that kids nose and maybe a few other features of his face.

"Just watch the movie, Newman."

BREAK

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Zach asked for the tenth time that morning.

I glowered at him as we walked across the parking lot. "If you keep asking me that I'll back out."

"Maybe that's for the best." He frowned and hurried on to clarify. "Not to say asking her would be bad. But last time... Yeah, I'm sure you remember last time."

Last time I had asked her out it hadn't been done so smoothly. We were in the cafeteria and I had stood up on one of the tables and asked her out in front of the entire school. Everything had been going great until I slid forward and knocked her yogurt and plate of food onto her favourite pair of jeans and new shirt.

Yeah, I remembered what happened last time, I thought, wincing.

I shook my head. "No. This time I'm going to do it, and it'll be done right. I've always asked her out in front of a crowd where something will go wrong. This time it's going to be in private where nobody can see her reject me."

"Where are Baxter and Cameron anyway?"

Bex and Cam had ridden to school together today so I could go over my plan with Zachary. I had asked her to lead Bex over to our usual spot on the concrete wall so I could ask to talk to her in private and then use my man-charm to ask her out.

Bzzzz Bzzzzz

I flipped open my phone. Cam had texted me.

By the bleachers. Too crowded.

I loved my cousin. I punched Zach in the arm, who was staring around, and got him to follow me as I made my way to the bleachers. I spotted the two girls lying stomach down on the grass laughing as they stared over a camera.

"It was so bad—" Cameron was saying before she looked up and stopped. "Hey guys. What's up?"

I pushed my hands into the pockets of my jeans and stared at Bex. Her hair was down and messy today—perfect.

"Can I, ah, talk to you, Bex— for a moment—please?"

Bex nodded her head and glanced at Cam. She shrugged and turned the camera back around to her, smiling at some photos on the sleek pink camera.

"Cool," I said.

Cool? Ah, hell!

I walked off about a hundred metres or so with Bex following behind me. I turned around to face her, ready to say the words, but they were jammed in my throat. I couldn't say them. My palms were sweaty and my heart beat went into overdrive. I was used to being nervous—I was nervous every time I stepped on to that field and felt the pressure of the school relying on me to win. I felt it.

But it was never like this.

She looked gorgeous today.

But, then again, she looked gorgeous every day.

"Bex, hi," I said.

Bex shifted the weight of her feet. "Hey Grant."

How could she be so damn calm and cool and amazing and gorgeous?

I took a deep breath and blurted the words out. "I like your hair."

Damnit! Wrong words!

Bex frowned but a small blush crept up her throat and on to her cheeks. "Thanks Grant. I like your jeans."

"Cam picked them out for me."

SAY IT NEWMAN! SAY IT!

"And I like your personality. And I like you. Which, by now, you should already know." She nodded her head but I continued. "And I know I suck at asking you out. I've failed again and again. But I really like you."

Now the words are coming.

"And I've been meaning to do this for a while. I've just never really known the right way how to. So, I'm doing it now. And I'm being serious. I really, really like you. I've liked you for ages—and I still do."

I took a deep breath and didn't look at her as I spoke. "So, will you be my girlfriend?"

Does anybody else feel like going 'awwwww' at his little speech? I know it's not very Grant like, but like I told a reviewerer, I don't want Grant to be seen as just a guy with Greek God looks. He can be sweet and caring—and sometimes overlyprotective and clumsy—and have his Edward Cullen moments, too. Without wanting to suck somebody's blood, that is.

So, what do you think Bex said? xD Like the cliffy? I'm sorry. But I just HAD to. Couldn't pass up the opportunity!

R&R