I didn't know what to say at the dinner table that night.

But mum could tell there was something different about me.

~x~

Joy kept swiping through the thoughts that Riley was thinking, seeing image after image of Bradley.

Wonderful images of him smiling, and laughing, and the little spark in his eyes.

"Joy..."

The yellow emotion froze up almost instantly as Love approached her and stopped her from skimming so quickly through the memories and thoughts.

"Let her simmer in a thought for a second..." He told her, smiling softly but then Anxiety stepped up and added.

"Yes! But also, LET'S BE PREPARED!"

"Yeah!" Everyone else chimed in agreement and just seemed infatuated with the image of that young teenage boy.

~x~

I sighed heavily, thinking of him. I could do nothing else but think of Bradley and just how perfect he was... he was AMAZING.

"Riley?"

I tensed up at my mother's voice.

~x~

"WHAT DOES SHE WANT?!" Disgust yelled in dire need to get back to Riley's daydreaming. It was however Embarrassment that slammed down a button this time.

~x~

"What?!" I squeaked, my cheeks blasting red and Mum only looked at me inquisitively.

"What are you thinking about...?" She asked me slowly with a smirk on her mouth. She then nodded to Dad and his eyes flashed open just then, like he had been busy in his own head.

"Something wrong?" He asked Mum and she grinned, nudging me gently on my upper arm as she asked.

"Is there something wrong... Riley...?"

My heart was pounding now.

~x~

"Whatever you do!" Disgust demanded then for all the emotions to hear, "Don't tell her a boy is coming over tonight!"

~x~

I gulped.

"Well, Riley..?" Mum asked in that motherly way like she already knew my answer.

"I'm having a friend come over TONIGHT!"

Mum's eyes glanced back at Dad and he only smiled coyly, asking me the next question.

"And is this friend of the opposite gender?"

~x~

"They know!" Disgust screamed, Sadness rolling around on the floor in despair and Anxiety trying to find a way out of this awkward conversation.

Finally Love pressed a big button that made the whole emotion room start flashing red to stop everyone in their actions. He then looked back through Riley's eyes and slid his finger down a long lever.

~x~

"Yeah... he is..." I said calmly as the thought of Bradley soothed my inner soul. I watched as Mum smiled at Dad and he smiled back, "I actually..." I began to say nervously, but I wasn't afraid anymore to say it now, "I really like him..."

~x~

The Island of Love lit up in a deep warm glow.

A maroon emotion ball with shining yellow slid out and joined the many other emotion memories for that day.

Love looked to his side, seeing Joy standing right next to him. The two touching the control pad together.

~x~

"Well, if you like him, he must be a lucky fella," Mum said gently with a wink to me and my cheeks hurt with how much they were burning up right now.

"I hope he is..." I said shyly then and quickly got up, picking up my plate and leaving in an embarrassed haste, "Oh!" I added fast as I rushed past my two parents again, "He'll be here in twenty minutes!"

My dad spat out the drink in his mouth the second I announced this. I saw Mum give him a quick warning look and he cleaned up his face from the drink, saying quickly.

"Well, I would LOVE to meet him!"

~x~

"He's joking right?" Disgust asked everyone then, trembling in horror at these words, "He's only joking? YEAH?"

~x~

"NOT FUNNY, DAD!" I screamed and ran up the stairs to my room, only hearing my mum's laughter as she chuckled at my dad's LAME sense of humour.

As I entered my room I quickly began putting away all my stuff and pulling my desk a bit forward. I grabbed another seat and placed it right next to my own. My heart was leaping and galloping like some sort of show horse and I ended up just sitting at the desk, my fingers twiddling against each other as our school books were ready now and the only thing missing was the boy.

Him.

Bradley...

From Australia...

~x~

Joy sighed heavily now as a picture of Bradly with a six-pack filled the whole screen of the control room. Love hearts floated all around his perfect face, as Love had butterflies fly softly around him and again another gold and maroon ball was created as the happy loving thought joined the others.

The other emotions just watched the two silently...

For the first time, there was more than just one positive emotion feeling.

Love was so new... but so very needed for the present now, and also the hidden scary future.

Even Anxiety for a moment relished in the calm he brought with his appearance in the room.

~x~

I snapped out of my thoughts that second when I heard a knock on the door downstairs and I literally jumped to my feet about to make a mad dash to it-

But my mum bet me to it.

"Hello," She said warmly, gazing at Bradley and he gave a soft half-wave with his hand.

"Hey... I'm here to see-"

"-Riley?" Mum said with that same smirk again, "I know,"

"Cool..." He continued to say, sounding a bit nervous now as his cheeks went a little pink in embarrassment, "Is she here?"

"I'M HERE!" I yelped, rushing down the stairs now and meeting him right at the door, "Do you have your homework on you?"

"Yep," He said and lifted up his bag, showing it was full of books.

"Yep..." I said back shyly with a grin growing up one side of my face and I grabbed his hand, pulling him after me as we rushed upstairs.

~x~

"WHAT ARE WE DOING?!" Disgust yelled in horror, "We barely even know the boy and already we're forcing him to hold OUR hand?!"

"Well," Love continued smoothly trying to calm Disgust down as he massaged her shoulders gently, "Why don't you look at him to see if he dislikes it?"

Everyone then looked at Bradley and all they saw was a giddy smiling boy.

"Case close," Love cheered and Disgust gave a big sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank goodness!" She said, fanning herself quickly as a new emotion memory ball rolled out that was green and maroon, "It's still happening, everyone!" She cheered in relief and excitement, "It's still ON!"

~x~

"Your mum seems really cool,"

I snorted a laugh when Bradley said this, letting go of his hand now as I realized I was still holding it.

"My mum can't be cool!" I said with a big laugh and a roll of my eyes, "She's my mum!"

"Okay, okay," He only chuckled back and we got to my room where he dropped his bag to the ground and sat at the seat next to mine at my desk, "Feels like we're back at school,"

I pulled a worried smile.

~x~

"Nooo!" Disgust cried now and Enui nodded her head as well.

"We don't want to remind him of school... boring, repetitive school..." The purple emotion said in lazy spite, "We want him to have a good time here..." Suddenly Joy got an idea and pushed a lightbulb into the control pad, where it lit up almost immediately as Riley took it instantly.

~x~

"Well..." I said with a nervous grin, "We can work on my bed?"

"Wha-?"

"I MEAN, HOMEWORK. NO SITTING AT A DESK!"

"Oh right!" Bradley said, his cheeks powdering red as he got up and sat at the side of the bed. I copied it almost instantly.

We both pulled open our books and leant them on our own knees respectively.

~x~

"What are we learning again?" Joy asked all giddily, and Love began pressing buttons... ones that had TALK written above them, and the different dials that would make it speed up into different types of conversation.

The first being 'Small talk'.

"Small talk?" Joy uttered confused and Love only laughed.

"Yes... easy non-threatening conversation."

"If you say so..." Joy replied back in disillusionment.

~x~

"So," I said, gulping nervously as my throat suddenly felt dry, "You're from Oz?"

"The Wizard of Oz," Bradley joked back, chuckling and I went pink in embarrassment.

"No!" I yelped, "I meant Australia!"

"I know, I know," He only laughed, looking at me with his beautiful warm eyes, "I just get 'Oz' a lot,"

I nodded my head fast, my heart beating like I was running a hundred miles a second.

"Do you..." I then built myself up to say, "Miss it...?"

"Honestly?" Bradley said, sounding sad now as his eyes only gazed down to the ground, his demeanour slumping a bit, "I do, kinda..."

"I understand,"

~x~

"Whoa! WHOA!" Joy yelped, as Love was beginning to pull the talk dial to a setting called deep conversation, "What are you doing!?"

"Just watch, Joy," Love told her back and they all looked through Riley's eyes.

~x~

"I lived in Minnesota before I came here to this big city... and I was homesick HARD."

"Really...?" Bradley asked, his eyes gazing into mine now and I smiled at him weakly, nodding my head as I continued.

"Yeah... I almost tried to run back there,"

"Yeah..." Bradley agreed, and only gave a sad huff of a laugh as he continued, "But I'd have to swim if I wanted to get back to the place down under," I looked at him confused for a minute and he quickly continued.

"I mean Australia,"

"Oh! I know!" I lied fast.

~ x~

Fear quickly pressed a button in panic, but everyone stopped him as Love only pointed at the screen to them to see Bradley's reaction.

~x~

The way he was looking at me then... no one had ever looked at me that way before.

His eyes were lidded and his pupils huge.

What I didn't know was that I was giving him back the exact same loving look.

He then slowly began to lean over towards me, and I leant towards him. The the moment before our lips were to touch there was a sudden knock on my door and we both literally snapped out of it that second – Me actually slipping off my bed altogether as I fell on my bum to the ground.

It was my DAD and I hated him so much that second.

~x~

"DAD!" Anger raged, as everyone else went wild in shock at how this moment had been ruined BY HIM!

"He didn't know we were about to kiss!" Joy said fast, trying to defend Dad but everyone else only shook their heads, going HUMPTH!

Except for Sadness who only cried, "This was our MOMENT and he destroyed it!"

~x~

"Dad!" I yelped at him, trying to quickly get back onto the bed and I could only see my dad grinning at me cheekily.

"Sorry, Mum just wanted me to check on you two."

"We're trying to DO our HOMEWORK," I said with my teeth clenched as I strained these words out.

"Great," Dad only said with a thumbs up, "I'll go tell the boss..."

I gave him a grating smile and he slipped the door closed, leaving us to be.

I quickly looked back at Bradley who was still looking at me longingly and I said the words as fast as I could. "I'm so so sorry about-"

My words stopped the second he cupped my cheek and kissed me hard on my lips.

~x~

"Plot twist!" Disgust yelped with glee and delight.

"He's kissing us?!" Joy said, in total disbelief of her own, "And we're KISSING HIM?!"

Love only smiled wide and pressed down a button.

~x~

The two of us broke apart just then, my face flushed but so was Bradley's.

"You kiss really well..." I drawled out helplessly with a bumbling smile on my wet lips.

"I Do?" He chuckled back and I nodded my head, still deliriously, "That was... my first time," I jumped back then, and put my hand behind my back as I laughed.

"Mine too, lol..."

"Should we..." Bradley then asked me, a nervous smile on his lips again, "Get back to work... or... get ' back' to 'work'?"

I laughed at this and pulled him suddenly close as I KISSED him again.

He laughed before smooching me back.

~x~

"This is BEYOND perfect!" Envy only laughed like a chaotic emotion in pure gratification.

"It is! It IS!" Joy only sang in delight as Riley closed her eyes and let the kissing commence.

"What do we do now?" Anger asked everyone, as the brain had gone quiet from the embracing.

"We wait," Is all Love replied with, and new emotion memories began to slip into the columns of the control room.

~x~

I think I more than like him...

~x~

Everyone grew silent as this thought scrolled across the black screen.

~x~

I think I really REALLY like him!

~x~

" Aww!" Everyone cooed.

~x~

Bradley slowly pulled away from me and nudged his eyes over to our school books.

"I think..." He said all giddily, taking his touch off me and indicating the work we should be doing, "Work first, kiss later?"

I opened my eyes up slowly, grinning at this as I said with my heart slowly calming down.

"That's cool with me,"

"Cool," He only replied with a wink and I giggled.

~x~

"And now, we wait," Was all Love had to say. Everyone looked at him confused before Anxiety asked.

"FOR WHAT?!"

"Time to take us from here to our wedding day."

All the female emotions squeed at this prospect but Joy yelled out quickly.

"Everyone! That IS miles away!"

"That is simply why," Love continued with a soft smile on his face, "We wait."

Joy was still confused but was thinking she finally kinda understood what he was talking about.

"So..." She said to the group of emotions, "Will we get out the popcorn?"

"Yay!" They all responded.

~x~

This day was going great... everything was going great...

But how little I was prepared for this new stage in life...

There soon may no longer be only a ME.

Maybe one day... me and Bradley... we could be a WE.

I smiled goofily at him as I thought this, and he only smiled sultrily back at me.

My heart jumped, but I calmed it down quickly, lingering on his gaze before we got back to work.

Before afterwards... getting back to our own 'work'.