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Chapter 18:

Tala walked in and kicked his shoes off. Upon entering the living room he noticed Kai on the couch with an ice pack on his face. The scowl on his face was more evident than normal.

"Hey." he said "What's eating you?"

He watched his scowl deepen before he removed the ice pack. He saw the huge mark on his face. As he raised an eyebrow a smirk suddenly appeared on Kai's face. That expression was one he hadn't seen since High School. It was the face when something had happened between him and a girl and it had gone his way…..

"What'd you do?" he asked

He kicked himself a little for the way it came out sounding. Already he was annoyed she was considering going on a date with that Ozuma guy. Wait, why was he feeling so jealous? The sound of Kai's voice broke into his thoughts because of a particular word he had heard.

"Huh? What was that?"

The smirk on Kai's face was now almost that of a smile. At that moment Ana was coming downstairs. She looked from him to Kai and then stuck her nose in the air and walked by without a word. The blush of embarassment on her face was more than evident. Her hair was wet from having had a shower within the past hour or so. After a moment everything clicked together.

"You didn't knock did you?" he asked

"That's what I just said. I walked in on her in the bathroom. She had just gotten out of the shower and was drying off. I entered the bathroom and in shock she dropped her towel. I saw her fully nude. You sir have quite a well shaped woman living under your roof. If you haven't made a move yet I suggest you do it soon." Kai informed him.

"Wha..Huh? Do you hear yourself right now?" Tala spluttered.

Kai leaned forward removing the ice pack from his face. The smirk on his face widened almost to the point that he was borderline smiling at him.

"You're creeping me out." the redhead rolled his eyes and headed for the stairs.

"Julia." Kai said.

Tala stopped and looked back at him. He couldn't help the annoyance on his face.

"What's your problem?" Ana cut in. "How dare you mention that worthless whores name in this house!"

She had grabbed the front of Kai's shirt and yanked him up off the couch. Both of them were surprised by her sudden super strength.

"Ana." Tala started approaching her slowly.

"I keep telling myself I only have to deal with you for one more day, but if you keep picking on him I'm gonna knock you for a loop even harder than I did earlier."

He watched her yelling at Kai and threatening him within an inch of his life. His friend was back to his old self and with that smug look on his face. Clearly there was a challenge in there and it was silently being accepted.

"Actually I'm thinking about taking some more time off from work. This vacation has been relaxing. I was considering adding on another two weeks." he smirked

"No. You gotta go." she demanded.

"By the way. I'm guessing you're a size B cup aren't you?"

Her face turned red at his statement and she pushed him away while trying to hide herself from him. Usually she didn't behave this childish. It was strange he couldn't understand why she was behaving like this.

"What are you gonna do about Friday?" he asked without thinking.

She and Kai turned to look at him. Kai looked as if he had achieved something by the question Tala had just asked. Why did he feel like he was back in High School again? This was weird. When he had first started liking Julia his best friend had behaved like this as well. He didn't think he had feelings like that going on inside. His fear of Bryan finding out about him sleeping next to her to help her sleep better was what had kept him awake for about a couple weeks. Things between him and her were just normal to him anyways. He didn't feel any different around her. Why was Kai behaving like this anyway?

"Bryan says no, but Ian is trying to help me out. He thinks I should go for it and that things will be fine so long as we stay in public. I'm supposed to meet him at the library after dinner so Bryan doesn't catch on and get angry at the both of us."

"So you like this guy?" his curiosity was peaked and Kai being in the room was forgotten.

"Well…." she began looking up at the ceiling in thought. "I don't know. I just thought it would be fun to go. I've never been on a date before."

"You have a kid." Kai deadpanned. "How can you have a kid and never have gone on a date?"

She pursed her lips in annoyance and stormed out of the room. Kai really knew how to woo women, but one thing he was better at was pissing them off.

"You suck." Tala told him. "Why are you picking on her?"

"It didn't make any sense. Sounded like a natural question to ask. Why are you so sensitive?"

"I'm not being sensitive."

"Hn. Whatever." Kai said getting up and heading upstairs. "I think you should go out with her. What happens if she goes out on that date and likes the guy? I'll tell you what. She moves out and in with him and then you never see her again. Would you be alright with her living with someone else?"

Tala stood there thinking about it. He hadn't thought about how things would be if she no longer lived with them. The way that everyones schedules were the house would be quiet and lonely. The thought of her not being there hadn't crossed his mind.

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She lay there staring up the starry sky on the back porch. Issac was asleep and the whereabouts for everyone else was unknown. The question Kai had asked her still ran through her mind. She was embarrassed. Never had she gone out on a date before. There were a lot of firsts she had yet to experience. She may have already had two of the most important firsts in a woman's life, but there were several others that she really wanted to do too.

He had never wanted to take her out, because he was worried about his father finding out about them fooling around. She had been bought and paid for to be his friend and clean the house. His father was a rich and powerful man who wouldn't tolerate his son fooling around with a maid. She had loved him truly and honestly. He had been wonderful and sweet for awhile. Once the drugs became involved though he had changed. The people he had begun to hang out with, his attitude, and the way he handled her. She just hadn't felt a need to be with anyone once she had gotten out of there. The events of the day that led to her running away had made her want to keep her legs closed and never get in a relationship again. She sighed heavily.

"What's with the long face?"

"Hey Bryan." she replied not looking up. "I was just thinking about things is all."

She heard him huff.

"Look I know I get over protective and stuff but you don't hardly know the guy and I don't want anything to happen in case he's a bad guy." he explained.

"I don't think I wanna go anyways." she said without thinking. " I don't think I'm ready."

"You've said this for awhile now." he informed her. "I don't know what it is you're afraid of, but not all guys are like the last one you were with. I know you don't like to talk about it, but I think you should go out with someone you know very well not a stranger."

"Are you gonna make fun of me like Kai did?" she grumbled.

"No." he frowned "I didn't even know about it."

"I would appreciate it if you guys didn't try to hook me up"

"I won't. I kinda figured you and Tala had a thing going on anyways." he admitted.

"What?!" she snapped sitting up.

He took a step back from her in surprise of her outburst.

"Ok welp I'm going inside." he quickly disappeared back in the house.

His words ran through her head over and over. Her and Tala? No way. Though as she held up the T-shirt of his that she'd stolen it made her wonder. The way he was with Issac was cute too. She had really liked it when he had slept next to her helping out the nightmares. Stupid Kai though had messed that up by spending the night. Sighing she put his shirt on and climbed into bed. The smell of snow and winter helping her fall asleep.

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"Kai did you take my favorite shirt?" Tala asked digging through his dresser.

"No." Kai frowned. "Why the hell would I want to take your clothes?"

"Well its been missing ever since you started staying here."