I was wanting to update this much sooner, but I've been caught up in year 12-ness and all my spare non-school/work/homework time has been going into friends and television shows! Seriously, between Home & Away/Revenge/Packed to the Rafters/Mr & Mrs Murder, you don't really have a legion of free time!

Anyway, I despise shout-outs, completely, but there is just one incredible and totally understated author on this website. She doesn't receive nearly as many reviews or readers as she should and it's such a shame (I must admit, I'm a slacker). However, aussiebabe290 (check my favourite authors for a link)writes the most incredible FanFictions for so many amazing Aussie shows. If you're into Packed to the Rafters/Blue Water High/Home And Away/Pitch Perfect then CHECK HER PAGE OUT! There's just a never-ending stream of amazing storylines and talent from that girl and the stories have made me laugh out loud, break my heart and cry for the characters.

As-per-usual thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of my splendid reviewers and their opinions on the last chapter!

Chapter 23 – A Kiss Is Just A Kiss

Zane's POV

Breakfast had been quiet so far this morning… I'm sure that it had been seconds before the holocaust broke out too.

Rikki kept her head down as she barreled cereal into her mouth from her seat at the end of the table - her position that was only possibly coinciding with being nearest to the exit; the door. I know that Rikki had caught Tam and I lip-locked last night and had simply walked off, but I hadn't had a chance to explain the full story to Tam yet… The fact that her sister had seen us and that she wasn't the only Chadwick daughter that I had been involved with.

I mentally sympathized for Will who was sitting next to me as I observed his position… He was sitting closest to Rikki and in reachable range of being kicked, bitten or hit by the volatile blond.

Passed myself was Tam, who was thankfully at the opposite end of the table from Rikki considering that for the most part, Rikki's intense glare would probably have been enough to radiate off her and melt her younger sister. It also meant that Tam was sitting at an awkward angle away from me, making it easier to 'miss' or ignore her winks or whatever other flirtatious looks she was coming up with on the spot and sending my way.

Despite the most ideallic sitting positions, tension was thick in the air.

All four of us knew it, but not one of us wanted to question it. Bizarrely, it was easier sitting there in the silence and not knowing, just wondering what exactly everyone else was thinking and even more so how much and what everyone else knew.

So, instead of facing the answers of those questions, an awkward, silent mealtime was born.

During the few moments that Rikki stole her view away from the temptation of watching her breakfast cereal diminishing in size with each mouthful she consumed, I noticed that she would take it in turns shooting dirty looks to the other three occupants of the table, including myself.

Will, the poor fella, didn't quite know what was going on, but now was not the time that I was going to fill in the blanks for him. Instead, he just sat there suffering from the uncomfortable meal, in his own world of oblivion as to why exactly it was so awkward and tense.

"So, have I missed something? Have you guys taken speechless oaths for the Forty Hour Famine?" Will piped up suddenly and within his two sentences, my sympathy for my mate disintegrated at the breaking of the ice that I knew would have been a hell of a lot easier staying in one piece.

"Dunno. You tell me... Finally decided to do something about Allie, have you?" I replied with an unnecessary personal turnaround for Will, but I knew that my comment would have been as equally effective as it was harsh. The comment caught Rikki's attention, henceforth raising her head in interest for a rare occasion. In contrast, Tam looked up and shot Will an opposing puzzled look of confusion.

At least my short string of words worked to shut him up in my attempt to stitch the ice back together, but what sort of idiot am I to think that a piece of figurative string in the conversation would have stopped it from breaking apart again.

"Hold on, who's Allie?" Tam questioned as her furrowed brow gradually began to fade into normality once again. "I thought your girlfriend was A-"she started to say, listing off and cutting short a few female 'A' names as she tried to answer her own question.

"Amy, girlfriend. Allie, daughter" Will replied with a firm look that didn't give away much as he enunciated the difference between the girls in relation to Tam's question. It really looked like he was about to shut up again and leave the silence to return to it's initial state, before I realized that my ploy of quieting my friend down had worked all too well when he got up with his near-empty bowl, returning it to the kitchen before walking out of the room without another word.

My plan failed even more miserably as I had lost my lifeline of support from the room and all the while Tam, kept on asking the questions. "What's up with him?"

At this rate, if Tam kept her casual discussions up that could potentially lead into yonder and if Rikki's fuming look didn't soften at all I realized that I was going to need to at least start attempting to prepare myself for acceptance of my fate; knowing that there was a good chance that I could end up castrated by the end of the morning.

"He's got himself into a bit of a mess, it's a long story…" I tried to reason to Tam, without explaining the full story that I didn't even know how comfortable Will would be with me sharing.

All of a sudden, the unexpected happened. Rikki spoke, contributing to the conversation... Albeit with a comment that was really, really unneeded. "Yeah he sure has worked himself into a real knot, hasn't he? I guess being a tool is catching up with him so soon.

"I wouldn't call him a tool. A lot of time went by between Bella and Amy" I replied as I joined the trend that Rikki had started. The trend of our shared friend really having very little bearing on what we were actually saying to each other.

"No amount of time would make it less uncomfortable for Bella having her ex and her friend together even more so being rubbed right in front of her face ALL. THE. TIME."

I gave her a puzzled look, half-questioning whether she was really having a go at me in the discrete way that I was attempting to defend myself through our coded talk. "Hold on, how would you know whether she's seen them together or not since they've been dating? The Goldie's a pretty big place."

"Well isn't it funny how people can find out things when other people don't realize they can see."

Okay, I was definitely right the first time. Our argument had everything to do with ourselves and absolutely nothing to really with do with Bella, Will, Amy or whoever else we had mistakenly pulled into our argument.

"Maybe other people should mind their business and stop meddling in other people's lives when it doesn't concern them."

Rikki stood up definitively blasting both myself and Tam, giving her younger sister who had somewhat tuned out of the conversation that she had interpreted naïvely as Rikki and I really discussing Will's troubles. "WELL IT'S A LITTLE BIT HARD FOR ME TO MIND MY OWN BUSINESS WHEN THE PAIR OF YOU WERE SLOBBERING AND MAKING OUT ALL OVER THE LOUNGE!"

I looked between the girls. If steam coming out of ears was a literal metaphor, then Rikki would have resembled a boiling kettle, while Tam on the other hand looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"You, you saw that?" Tam questioned softly with humiliation that was written all over her from shade of red that she was transforming into.

"Well you guys didn't seem to care who saw you yesterday…"

I rolled my eyes, directed at one of the sister's, more so than the other. "A kiss is just a kiss, Rikki. It was just a bit of fun, get over it!"

I had missed the slight change of Tam's expression as I turned to realize that her already embarrassedly flushed face had sunk a little more before she confirmed my statement. "Yeah of course."

"See?" I questioned hypothetically, pointing my hand in the direction of the younger girl who had been the last to speak.

"Yeah, Rikki. Sorry" Tam said feebly and unconfidently, a side that we had rarely seen from the cocky teenager, who strangely would only ever flit into that mood at certain points around her sister. "Anyway, I should go have a shower while it's free…"

After speaking, Tam didn't linger any longer than she had needed to before scurrying off upstairs and leaving a fuming Rikki and myself together in the lounge room. We both stayed there silently, not moving, not talking after Tam left the room. Finally, after what felt like it was nearing 12 months, Rikki moved as she peered around the corner, allowing her visual access passed the doorway arch with a clear view all the way over to the stairs where she remained her watch for a minute before she returned to looking at me.

"What the hell were you thinking, Zane?! Are you crazy?"

"Yes, Rikki. I'm a crazed, serial killing kisser… I managed to escape from my straitjacket, then I walked all the way back to the house. The knife is under my bed."

She rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her petite waist, her little tolerance for me evidently beginning to wear thin. "Shut up… I'm the one with the Certificate in Sarcasm here. Seriously though, what did you think that you were doing kissing Tam?"

"I don't know, but then again, I don't want to justify myself for kissing your sister, to you. This is just getting kind of awkward."

"You should of thought of that before now. She's underage, Zane! Who knows how volatile or sane Tam is… She's a complete stranger, to all of us! Including you! Do you have any idea what extent of trouble you would be in if she's a loony and makes up some story about you? Crying wolf about harassment, or rape even?! That, with your other good behavior bond and your criminal record, well you might as well be Carl Williams… Who knows, you might never get out like he didn't either..."

Well… If Rikki had been hoping to knock a little bit of sense into me, she sure had been using some darn effective measures of doing so. I had to hand it to her. But just because I could see her point, that never meant that I was going to just yield to her suggestions without a fight and an attempt of self-justification. That was not the way we rolled…

"Don't you think you're jumping the gun a bit? Who's to say Tam's a psycho? She has not made one move that would even make me think twice about her being a mental nut job. I mean I know that being your sister, anything's possible, but…"

There was the loud cracking noise of a slap that filled the room, like that of the painful slap of skin falling into water, hard. The sound was the first sense that I recognized before seconds later the sting set in. I knew I deserved her slap on the arm, I was almost expecting it, but that hard?

"All I know is that she fancies you… I can tell. And she seemed disappointed when you just waved the kiss off like it was nothing just before. And a woman scorned, is well, anything."

I shrugged it off. "I'll have a talk to her, but a kiss is just a kiss from where I'm standing."

"Try telling her that. The only thing that I'm warning you of is not to get too close to her, Zane. We don't know her and we have no reason to trust her, her actions or intent yet. Just be wary."

With that, Rikki left the room, walking out without another word to me.

Later that day, Will and I were outside on the pool lounges for the pool that we didn't own, sitting there doing nothing. No eating and no drinking, -surprisingly enough- no talking, no anything. We were highly representative of two guys with way too much time on our hands.

"I seriously have stuff I could be doing right now" Will mumbled, regrettably bursting our little silence-bubble for the second time today all the while making the even more criminal move of bringing consciences, which I was trying to ignore, into it.

However, just because you know something or feel guilty about something, doesn't mean you are inclined to do anything about it, as Will obviously proved by his failure to move a single muscle.

"Shut up… Get rid of your inner do-gooder, or leave me alone. It's a guilt-free zone out here. Choice is yours."

There was a few minutes of silence and I found myself getting a little too relaxed as my eyes pushed for closure while I assumed the fact that Will had chosen to remain in my company. Although enjoyable, I could just feel a little sense of something about the silence not being quite right and I pushed against the temptation of closed-eye relaxation to glance over at my mate who looked as tense as a businessman fighting against the risk of the bear stock market. "Fine, Will. Talk if it'll get it off your chest."

"Talking's going to do about as much good as just sitting here will do. So unless you want to find a job for the least employable guy on the Gold Coast or be a better boyfriend who actually makes some effort with my girlfriend, let me know, otherwise lets shut up about me."

I laughed off his comment before making my reply to him. "Yeah… how about no? I have enough of my own stuff to deal with."

"Swap with you?"

"Go for it. Have fun dealing with two Chadwick girls."

There was yet another brief silence before I turned to look at Will again, whose expression evolved from puzzlement to realization within the span of time that I was watching him.

"What have you done this time, Zane?" Will sighed. "Has this got anything to do with the Ice Age over breakfast?"

"Well, that is quite likely..."

He smirked to himself as he shook his head. "Come on... Out with it. I feel like I'm the only one not in the know. What happened?"

"Well, the concise version is that Rikki saw Tam and I kissing, Rikki isn't happy and doesn't trust me to trust her and is basically cranky about the whole thing in general. That's why she pulled you into the conversation at breakfast the way that she did. Sorry about that anyway, mate. I think what she was referring to sort of went over you and Tam's heads for different reasons."

You know how I mentioned that Will and I were drink-less at the present time, well I think that is a good thing. I genuinely believe that my blond companion would have either choked on, or spat a mouthful of drink out judging by the look on his face as his jaw hit the ground of the patio.

"What?!" he questioned with the shock written all over his gob smacked face. "You and Tam? Are you for real?! Where the hell did that come from?! No wonder Rikki lost the plot this morning!"

"That's the thing. I don't think there even is a Tam and I. Like we just kissed; end of story."

"Unless you were both intoxicated, there's never really an end of story that easily I don't think. Like, does Tam see it that way?"

I shrugged. So much for the whole silence and forgetting about everything thing… "I haven't got a clue. By the sounds of what she was saying, she didn't really care. She's just a kid… Rikki thought that she liked me, but I don't think so. Mind you, I don't think Tam even knows what Tam was thinking, let alone what inspired the kiss in either of us."

"What about you? Before or after the kiss, did you feel anything for Tam?"

Shaking my head, I shrugged my shoulders not caring all that much. "Nah… She's a cool girl and everything, but there's nothing there. She's way too young."

Will nodded in acknowledgement and although a silence followed our discussion, my mind was far from being sound. Next, it was me who didn't know where the inspiration for my words and the action which followed it to blurt everything out while on the topic was coming from.

"But do you know what, Will? I'm pretty certain that this just about defies all sanity and sense, me even telling you this does" I said, stopping midsentence, realizing just how stupid it, not to mention the fact that I was telling about it Will was. Unluckily enough for me though, I must have caught Will's attention just enough to perk his interest and now I knew he was going to be like a dog with a bone until I concluded my thoughts to him verbally.

"You can't stop there Zane! What were you saying? Keep going..." he encouraged.

I sighed and figured that if I was going to tell anyone, it was going to be him. Besides, I knew just how relentless and stubborn Will was in scenarios like this and it would either be tell him of my own will and accordance or alternatively I could wait while he prepared my shallow grave until I told him. However, as I imagined the worst of my friend's forceful actions of torturously prodding me to tell him, I had not heard the telltale sign of someone else joining us outside…

A fact that I was only to discover after the cat was well and truly out of the bag.

"If anything, I think I still have feelings for Rikki, or whether its just memories that are just making it feel like something's still ignited there, or I don't know…"

The reaction that I was expecting to presented with as I looked over to my friend was Will's. Not Tam's. Swinging my head around to behind our chairs, I saw the shock that was written and translated all over Tam's face and expression.

"Wait, what? You were with Rikki?"

And there we have it boys and girls, another chapter in this particular story. There was a few comments about the sequel which I mentioned in my last A/N, but although I'm getting plans for it sorted and I'm starting to get really excited it about it, the sequel is still a fair way off and the final chapter of Far From Perfection is planned to be at around chapter 40. Our H2O friends still have a lot let in their first far from perfect journies. Nonetheless, planning the sequel is still in the works!

Anyway, I'm sure there's probably a few of you that are a bit weirded out by the whole Rikki & Zane AND Tam & Zane thing, but in all honesty, I think it's more normal than not. I know that with myself and my sister we've had a few little crushes on the same guys/celeb or we can understand where the other one is coming from with the appeal of guys. I've heard the same thing with lots of my friends with sisters too. So surely sisters must be genetically wired with attractions to certain guys or features! Well Rikki & Tam are anyway. Not so sure about men...

Still love knowing your opinions on all things Far From Perfection or related information! So be little darlings and please leave me a review.

Cheerio! I'm off to the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang play. Front row seats to the adaption of my favourite childhood movie AND a San Churro date? Yes please.

Next chapter: Amongst being eaten alive by guilt, Cleo gets a surprise that might just help her with getting through until Lewis wakes up.