“I like to burn things whoa-oa yeah!” She bobbed her head along with the beat of the music as her car trundled along the highway. She was going shopping and boy was she excited.

As a second year university student there were some things she needed. She was the Residence Assistant in her rez building this year, the senior advisor on her floor in charge of planning activities for the first years, and mediating roommate conflicts and she was most definitely excited.

“I like to burn things, whoa-oa yeah!” she shouted, singing out the chorus of the Spades song she was listening to. She glanced in her rear-view mirror, registering the line of cars building behind her. “I like to drive the speed limit, whoa-oa yeah!” she add-libbed. She caught the eye of the driver of the car behind her and stuck her tongue out at him laughing at herself as she did so.

Entering the town she slowed at a stoplight and head-banged erratically to the song whooping and hollering, wondering whether or not she should cut back on the early morning sugar consumption a little bit. The man in the car behind her smiled as he saw her laugh in her rearview.

She turned left. He followed, wondering what he was doing.

Every few seconds she would glance in her rearview and he would get a glimpse of her face. She didn’t seem to realize that he was still behind her, although he figured that there wasn’t much of a reason to notice one car on a packed road.

She glanced into her rearview once again, pondering the man in the car behind her. Was he following her? Would I mind if he was following me? She thought. He’s not that bad looking from what I can see. Oh stop it! He’s not following you! She turned into the parking lot of the shopping centre peeking into her side-mirror to see the red Mustang pulling in behind her. She drove down a line of empty parking spaces, deciding to test her theory…

He smiled as he followed her past a line of empty parking spaces. So she finally caught on, he thought. She pulled into one of the empty spaces and he took the one next to her. He suddenly froze. What the hell am I doing? What do I say to her? She’s going to think I’m crazy. What if she’s really like eighty years old and the light was playing tricks on me? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, ohmygosh, ohmigosh!!!! He was gripping the steering wheel, white-knuckled and frozen when a sharp rap sounded on his window. He jumped, smothering a girlish squeak.

She wasn’t eighty but she did look like she thought he was crazy. He could see a little bit of fear in her dark brown eyes. Her short dark brown hair blew gently around her face in the summer breeze outside, her oversized sunglasses pushed up to keep her long bangs out of her face.

She was gesturing wildly and mouthing what looked to be angry words at him and he couldn’t help but laugh, which made her stomp angrily and cross her arms over her chest. He sucked up every ounce of non-existent courage that he had and stepped out of his car, plastering what he hoped was a disarming smile, and not a grimace of intestinal pain, on his face.

“Hi!”

“Are you sick? Did you escape from an asylum? Do I need to be fearing for my life? Should I call the cops? Do I know you? Do you know me? Should I know you? Where did you come from? Who are you!?”

“Well I can answer some of most of those. I have a little sniffle, that’s from my sister, no I didn’t, no you don’t, no you shouldn’t. You don’t, I don’t, you shouldn’t, I came from my house, and I’m Derrick.”

She just stared at him dumbfounded then started ticking off her fingers, mumbling to herself. “Well ok then. No cops and no asylum, we don’t know one another either, so what the hell were you doing following me!?”

“Um, well…” He could feel a blush creeping up his neck and cursed his uncontrollable condition. “I don’t really know. It was a spur of the moment thing.”

She looked at him for a long moment, taking in his flushed cheeks, his dark hair, his trim body, and not too shabby face. “Spur of the moment thing eh? Well I think I can work with that.” She decided to give him a chance. He seemed innocent enough. “I’m Rachel.” She stuck out her hand and he glanced at it for a moment before shaking it. “Nice to meet you Derrick,” she said smiling and dropping his hand.

After a moment of silence and an awkward shifting of feet she spoke again. “So, what was the next step of your plan Derrick?” she asked.

“Wha? - Oh. I didn’t really have one. I don’t know.”

“Why did you follow me?” she asked. He shrugged in response. “Was it because I stuck my tongue out at you?”

He laughed, “I suppose that’s what started it,” he said.

“Hmm well why else? What were you thinking of when you pulled up beside me here?”

“I was praying fervently that you weren’t an eighty year old woman, or thought that I was crazy.”

She laughed, and he looked up at her smiling. “Well I’m not eighty, I’m twenty, on my way to twenty-one, and I did think you were crazy. I still do.”

“Well it’s a start isn’t it?” he joked.

“Hah, I guess so.” She turned and began to walk away and he snorted softly.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted, he thought.

“Come on!” she shouted over her shoulder as he was turning back to his car.

“What?” Derrick glanced up at her.

“Well you want to get to know me don’t you?” she asked, Derrick shrugged. “So come on!”

“Where are we going?” he asked as he jogged to catch up with her, locking his car automatically as he went.

“Shopping! Duh!” She laughed and began to chatter.

……………….

“Ok, ok. So you have 2 younger sisters, and a step-mother who wants to date you, and an absentee father?”

“Right! And you… have 2 older brothers, one engaged, um… James?”

“Yes and…”

“And the other one a live-at-home-smelly-ingrate. Your mom is a teacher and your dad a professor, and your cat thinks he’s a dog.”

“Whoo! Gold stars for Derrick!” They laughed amicably at one another, slurping their ice creams.

After following along behind Rachel for a short while Derrick had realized that she wasn’t going to stop talking or shopping very soon. He had resigned himself to a long day of pointless store-hopping, but had been treated to something very different.

After his initial fear that Rachel was leading him to the security officer’s office to report him as a stalker was put to rest he loosened up and engaged in a healthy banter with the girl at his side. He realized very quickly that this was to be no ordinary shopping trip as Rachel led him into a shady-looking sex-shoppe.

“Oh no! I am not going in there!” he had said.

“Oh come on! I just need some pleather chaps, it’s for the RA games, pleeease?” she begged. Eventually he had given in and they had laughed themselves silly at the displays inside.

The rest of the day had gone almost the same, although Derrick harboured the small suspicion that Rachel had picked the sex shoppe first to freak him out. They finally left the mall with a very distinct assortment of purchases, sore with laughter and with much more knowledge of the other. Neither of them had wanted to head home quite yet so they had settled for ice cream and a walk in the park.

“So it’s good to know that you actually listened to my ranting,” Rachel laughed.

“Well it was pretty hard not to. You seem to draw all focus to yourself wherever you go. Who am I to fight such a pull?” He smiled at her from the corner of his eye and she laughed loudly.

“I do not! Well… okay, maybe I do. But it’s not my fault that I am such a charismatic person who people are simply drawn to. I just… popped into the world like this!” She sprang randomly into the air, flinging her arms out wide and laughing again.

“So are you excited to be going back to school?” she asked as she stood in front of him walking backwards.

“Well I know you are, but me… well I am a little bit, but I like being around home a little better. That and I’ve transferred schools so I’m new on campus this year.”

“Yeah. Well it’ll be fun! You know me and I’m the coolest person ever so you’re sure to fit in. Just your luck that you decided to stalk me this morning wasn’t it?”

“I suppose it was – oh watch-”

“Oof! Ow… Oh well hello Mr. Garbage can. I was looking for you.” Rachel pouted and shot her balled up napkin into the garbage can. “I think I’ll walk forwards a little bit.”

Derrick laughed and they continued their stroll.

“I don’t feel like I want to go home.” Derrick mumbled as they spotted their cars.

Rachel just continued to hum her little tune, she jumped as Derrick’s mustang honked at her. “Ahh! Whoops! Oh you people and your automaticness!” She shook a fist playfully under Derrick’s nose.

“So I guess I’ll see you around campus? Man I don’t want to go home yet.” He shook his head sighing. “Oh well. It was fun today.” Derrick turned his face up to smile at Rachel.

She leaned forward and quickly placed a soft kiss on his cheek. “I’ll definitely see you around.” She winked then hopped into her car. She drove off honking erratically and her music pumping from the open windows.

…………………

They didn’t see each other for weeks on the campus. Rachel was busy scurrying around to classes and her building; planning events for the first years, settling fights, and preventing drunkenness in her hallways.

Derrick plodded back and forth to his classes, made new friends, and was so focused on studying that he didn’t have time to take a walk around campus to Rachel’s building.

They spotted each other on a very mild day in the beginning of November. The snow still hadn’t deemed the campus fit to fall on, and the sun was shining brightly enough that most people forgot it was the end of fall not the beginning.

Derrick’s friends had finally made him lay off the studying and pulled him along for a walk to the green to play a game of soccer. He was smiling at the antics of the young men around him; shoving one another and making crude, corny jokes at one another’s expense all in good fun. They were passing through the courtyard beside the green when Derrick heard a shout of very distinctive laughter. He smiled and spun his head around looking for the source, and spotted the tall, dark-haired girl sitting on the edge of the fountain. He couldn’t see the source of her laughter and was about to walk over to her when a deep male voice drifted to him.

He watched as the somewhat chubby, dirty-blonde boy picked Rachel up and spun her around, kissing her on the cheek as he placed her down. The smile slipped from his face and a thousand thoughts rushed through his head. Obviously his chance had passed him by. He turned away from the sight, urged on to the green by his buddies as another peal of laughter reached his ears.

“Chris, stop it- STOP!” Rachel laughed hysterically as her brother grinned evilly and went on with his story.

“And I didn’t know it was James, here I was, thinking it was his roomie, John – remember John, yeah? ok – so I thought it was John and I was going to knock on the door-”

“Chris if you say one more word…” She made a threatening gesture at him.

“Oh come on! I can see that you want to hear the rest.” Chris watched his sister’s face as she struggled against the curiosity and the laughter, and then went on. “So I walk up to the door and then… oh man it makes me gag just to think of it… I hear not John, but our dear brother James. And let me tell you Ray, the sounds coming from behind that door were definitely not innocent.”

“AHH!! CHRIS! Ew ew ew ew!” Rachel began to rock back and forth, laughing at her brother’s re-telling of walking in on James and his fiancée. “That is horrendous. I am definitely not going to be able to look at either of them the same way again.”

“You aren’t? You just got the story. I on the other hand, got an ears on witnessing of it. Oh EW!” Chris scrubbed at his ears laughing. “That’ll be a story for their kids. ‘Hey kids, has uncle Chris ever told you about the time he walked in on your mommy and daddy doing the nasty?’ ‘What’s the nasty uncle Chris?’ And this’ll be the part where James throws his coffee mug at me.” Rachel’s brother burst into hysterics again.

Rachel shook her head, giggling herself, to look at the group of guys trudging towards the green. She caught a glimpse of a familiar face, and raised a hand to wave but he turned away, tucking his chin into the collar of his coat. She let her hand drop in defeat. Unsure of why she was feeling upset. The day she had spent with Derrick was one she wasn’t going to soon forget, and she had let herself entertain the thought that maybe, his following her to the mall, and spending the day randomly with her had maybe been the beginning of something. But perhaps she had been mistaken, very much mistaken.

“Come on Ray. Let’s keep walking. I need to keep my brain busy. Tell me about school.”

Chris grabbed her hand, tucking it into his pocket with his own to keep it warm as they followed the path towards the green.

“You get an apartment!?” she screeched as they reached the field! “Well it’s about effing time you sloth!” Rachel jokingly slapped his arm. “That’s exciting. Can I help you decorate?”

Chris’s face blanched at the thought of his little sister defacing his beautiful apartment with her insane styles and she laughed at him.

“Don’t worry about it big brother. I’ll just lend you a hand if you need it.” They both looked over to the group of guys in the middle of the green.

“They look like they need one more player. Mind if I go?” Chris looked sheepishly at Rachel and she smiled nodding.

“Go nuts!” she squealed laughing as he scooped her onto his back and jogged to the group of guys.

He dropped her just outside the group saying, “You can be my cheerleader, oh pessimistic one!” He winked then stepped up to the guys.

The guy who had been with Rachel stepped up beside Derrick, “Hey, you guys wouldn’t happen to need another player would you?” he asked.

It just so happened they did if they wanted to play a good game and not just a kick around. “We’ll take him!” shouted Mike, the captain of the opposing team. Derrick quickly looked over the guy, noting that the guy was solid under his chubby-looking outer shell. He prevented himself from looking over his shoulder at Rachel at the edge of the green.

“I’m Chris,” the guy said. Introductions were made and the game began.

Derrick was having a hard time preventing himself from laughing at Rachel’s cheering antics on the sidelines, and also from getting irrationally angry. Rachel was drawing every guy’s eyes to her, eliciting mumbled comments from the players on both teams. Complimentary comments yes, but perhaps a little too complimentary.

Most of the guys had shucked their sweaters or long-sleeved shirts, because even in the cool fall air, soccer was a hot game.

Chris was a very good soccer player and the only one unaffected both by Rachel’s antics and the comments floating about the field. He didn’t even spare her a glance as she spun clumsy cartwheels and shouted “Look at me Chris! Look at me! Lookitme, lookitme LOOK AT ME!!!” then collapsed laughing at herself. He only chuckled and shot her the bird.

After about twenty-five minutes of non-stop antics she finally fell on her back, making angels in the grass, blissfully silent.

The game finished a tie and the guys ambled off the court laughing and breathless. Chris snuck up on a curled up Rachel, who, when he was only a step away, leapt up at him and hooked her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

“Gotcha!” she cackled as Chris stumbled backwards in his shock.

“Umpf!” he fell on his butt as he lost his footing. “You are getting way to heavy,” he mumbled and Rachel shoved him playfully in the chest. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to him so he could whisper in her ear. “The tall guy in brown has been trying terribly hard not to check you out since we got here, but it appears he has failed as of about fifteen minutes ago.” Chris chuckled falling onto his back in the grass as the playful look dropped off Rachel’s face.

She stood up, straightening her shirt and turned to the group of guys. Derrick wasn’t quick enough to look away and she caught his eyes as he shrugged deeper into his chocolate jacket.

She glared over her shoulder at a closed-eyed Chris and then walked over to Derrick. “Hi,” she said.

He looked down, feeling stupid now that she was talking to him. She probably only remembered him as the crazy guy who followed her one day. “Hey.” He could feel the blush creep up his neck and onto his face again.

“So where have you been hiding? I haven’t seen you around at all.” She was resolutely ignoring the soft cat-calls coming from behind her.

“Oh, well… studying. I’m a little bit of a study-freak,” he mumbled.

“I remember,” she said smiling. “You told me.”

He shrugged, shifting his feet. “I guess I did.”

“So… uh, since I have you here… what are you doing right now?”

“Right now? This very instant?” Derrick looked up at her eyes wide.

“Yeah. Well not this very instant, how about the instants for the rest of the afternoon?”

“Um, nothing really. I’ve been forced to take the day off of studying.”

“Well how about we do something. I’ve similarly been forced to take the day for myself. What do you think?”

“Uh…” Derrick glanced over her shoulder at Chris who had now raised himself to a sitting position. “I don’t think you can,” he said.

“Why would you think that? I’m pretty sure I know I can – Oh, I see. Don’t worry about him. He’s a big boy, aren’t you Chris?”

Chris stomped his foot petulantly as he failed once again at sneaking up on Rachel. “Why? Why am I a big boy?” he looked between the two people in front of him.

“Because I am going to leave you to your own devices for the rest of the afternoon. Is that okay?”

“Rachel you really don’t have to- I’m actually busy, the guys and I were going-”

“We’re going nowhere, and doing nothing!” One of the guys shouted from behind him. A chorus of catcalls followed and Derrick flushed a vibrant rose. “Go for it man!”

Rachel smiled and saluted the boys. “Thanks for your blessing Sean but you better back off!” she said mock-threateningly.

“Yeah, go ahead. I’ll be able to amuse myself for a little bit. You guys wanna go out for a drink?” he asked the group of guys. A heartfelt ‘yeah!’ was the response. “Yeah I’ll be okay Ray.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Be safe, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, and hang a sock on your door or something so I don’t walk in on you doing the nasty too. James is enough.” He shuddered laughing and walked away, joining the guys as they wandered off to a pub.

Rachel threw a handful of grass at him, sputtering as it blew back in her face. Derrick tried to keep the confusion from his face. “So…” she said, spitting out grass. “Where do you want to go? I’m up for anything.

“Uh, maybe we shouldn’t do anything. I’m not really up for it.”

Rachel looked at him dumbfounded for a moment then snapped back in to her normal crazy self. “You aren’t up for it! Come on! We have to do something! At least come with me to hang a sock on my door and put on some kind of loud music in my dorm to freak my brother out. Please! It’ll be fun, remember the sex shoppe? Oh! We can hang the chaps on the door. Chris’ll pee himself!” She collapsed into fits of giggles.

Derrick watched her for a minute, letting her erratic sentences seep into his mind. Brother, Chris, brother… Chris was her brother. He felt like a complete idiot suddenly and blushed all over again, tucking his chin to his chest and shifting on his feet.

“What? Think the chaps are too much? He wouldn’t hunt you down or anything… well maybe he might but- Hey, Derrick! You still there?” She waved hand in front of his face, then ducked her head to get a look at his face. “Why are you blushing again? I didn’t say anything-” She stopped mid-sentence and backed up a few steps.

Derrick shifted a few more times and risked a glance at the now silent Rachel, to find her stifling laugher.

“Did you- You thought- Did you think I was dating Chris!?” When he blushed again as an answer Rachel did collapse onto the green in full blown peals of laughter.

Finally she managed to stop herself and patted the ground beside her. “Take a seat Derrick. We don’t have to go anywhere. Chris got an apartment by the way. He’s not a live-at-home-smelly-ingrate anymore, as of the end of November.”

Derrick sat down beside her and they were silent for a few moments, with Rachel snorting under her breath every once in a while. After a few silent minutes she spoke again.

“So Derrick, why did you follow me that day? You never told me why.”

He shrugged. “You looked… intriguing. You made faces at strangers, and shouted song-lyrics at pedestrians, and head-banged at stop-lights. I guess I could have been wondering what you would do if a stranger followed you to wherever you were going.” After a minute he said, “You looked like you were pretty too.”

She laughed at that. “And did I live up to your expectations?”

He shrugged. “Mostly, except maybe for the excessive talking.” He smiled and she nudged him with her shoulder.

“You adore my excessive talking.”

“I think I do.”

They sat in silence for a little longer.

Rachel’s brain was a mess of frantic thoughts. She had never dated before, she’d had plenty of male friends, but no boyfriends. None of them had seemed right, yet the boy sitting beside her was… exotic. He was so average that he was out of the ordinary and she liked it. He was shy, yet still followed his random instincts sometimes. He was charming, and she didn’t feel awkward with him even though she had really only known him a day. He hadn’t been far from her thoughts over the beginning weeks of school; she had just been too busy to make time for herself. She wondered if maybe she was letting her imagination run away with her again, if she was making up things that were very unlikely to become reality.

Derrick was thinking only of one thing. Rachel’s hair smells very good. But behind that one blatantly clear thought was another. Does she think I’m crazy? And behind that one, another; Does she like me? Oh god I hope she likes me. And another; Would she be talking to me if she didn’t like me? And they went on and on.

At last Rachel turned to the man beside her. Taking in his profile; slightly squared jaw, hair falling in his face, straight nose, a very, very nice profile in her opinion. His arms were wrapped around his knees, big hands with long fingers.

“Do you play piano?” she suddenly asked.

She broke Derrick out of his daze. “Um, yeah. I’ve been taking lessons since I was eleven.” He grinned. “I’m pretty good if I do say so myself. ‘Natural talent’ it’s been called.”

She smiled at him then dove into the waters head first. “So…” she paused for a very long moment. “So do you want to date me or what?”

Derricks mouth dropped open as he gaped at her? He cleared his throat nervously. “Uh- um what?”

Now Rachel sighed. She had asked a very plain question, yet he still seemed confused. “Do you want to date me or not? Because if you don’t, I don’t know why we’re doing this, or why you started this in the first place, and if you do, well, we’ll go from there. But don’t drag this on. I mean, it doesn’t make sense that you would want to keep talking to me if you didn’t want to date me, but maybe you have a girlfriend or maybe you-”

“Yes.”

“Yes what? Yes you have a girlfriend? Well that’s just peachy. Did you follow her to the mall too-?”

“No. Not yes I have a girlfriend. Yes I want to date you.”

“You do?” she fell silent.

“Yes I do. I don’t think I really wanted to date you when I followed you to the mall, but I wanted to see you more after the mall, and after the ice cream, and after the drive home, and after everything. And I think I’ve wanted to date you – seriously and long-term – since about the time I thought you were dating your brother.”

“Ser- um, seriously and long-term?” Rachel managed to choke out.

“Was that the wrong thing to say? I don’t know, short-term? No term at all? Should I even have said anything? Doesn’t it scare girls away when guys get too serious too soon? Oh no…. Well I guess it’s too late now.” He drew in a deep breath. “Yes, seriously and long-term.”

“Well what if it ends up being short-term?”

“Well I guess my plans will be shot. Do you want it to be short-term?”

“Yes- No. No! I don’t want it to be short-term. I- I’ve never really dated anyone before for this exact reason. I’m a long-term, romantic, very imaginative girl. I’m a little high-maintenance sometimes.”

“As I’ve noticed, so how about this: there won’t be any terms for now. We’ll see how it goes? I personally think it’ll go good.”

“That sounds ok. I think, oh the problems have already started. If I’m freaking out about this what else am I going to-”

The rest of her half hazard sentence was cut off by Derrick’s lips on her own and she melted into them. He pulled away after a moment and she sighed.

“I’ve never kissed a boy before,” she said, blushing softly.

“Yes you have,” Derrick said, pulling her closer and relishing in the almost sick feeling in his stomach. “You kissed me in the parking lot the day we met.”

She laughed and relaxed against him, enjoying the awkward yet wonderful feeling of her innards rearranging themselves. “I didn’t mean like that. Ok how about I’ve never kissed a guy on the lips, I’ve never made out with a boy. How about that one?”

“Hm, that one’s a little more precise.” He shyly bent his head towards hers, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of her shampoo.

Rachel lifted her head from the crook of Derrick’s arm and smiled up at him. He opened his eyes and grinned sheepishly, blushing at her. She reached a hand up behind his neck and pulled him down for another kiss. He fell onto his back, pulling her across his chest as he did so. She pulled away and crossed her arms over his chest, resting her chin on them, she smiled at him, just looking at his face and wondered if she was in love, and if she was, how would she know?

Derrick laced his hands together behind his head and watched her as she watched him. She leaned forward once more and kissed him softly, feeling the assortment of animals in her stomach seizure violently. He kissed her back, but did nothing more. He let her deepen the kiss, as her hand trailed across his chest. She tucked a finger under the hem of his shirt and rested her fingertips on the skin above the waist of his pants. He moved his hands out from under his head and ran one through her hair; the other one met hers on his waist and led it higher. The hand that was in her hair was now inching under her shirt. He was gently rubbing her back, as he stroked her face, her hand running up and down his chest.

Suddenly she began to tickle him and he shot upwards. “Stop it- Oh no! Please, Rachel! Stop!” She was laughing hysterically as she scooted away.

“I never would have thought you were so ticklish!” she said, innocent eyed. Derrick glared at her.

“Well I am!” he pouted.

Rachel crawled closer to him and kissed his cheek. “All better!” she joked. She squeaked as Derrick grabbed her around the waist and sat her on his lap. “Ooh you’re strong!” She winked at him suggestively and her laughed, kissing her hard, wiping the smile from her face.

“Oh wow,” she whispered when they came up for air minutes later. “Hm, that was interesting... lets do it again!” she smiled manically against Derrick’s lips.

“So is this going to be a purely sexual relationship? I’m not complaining because if it shuts you up, I’m all for it!” he mumbled into her ear.

“Oh you are insufferable!” She smiled at him then stood up, pulling him with her. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

…………………

They spent the rest of the afternoon joking around and having fun, before finally making it back to Rachel’s building. She eyed her door suggestively, and then looked up at Derrick.

“If you are serious about dating me seriously and long-term you have to be in for the good and the bad. So… are you ready to be in for some of the bad?”

Derrick looked at her in horror. “He’s a pretty big fellow,” he squeaked out.

“Yes, yes he is.”

Derrick swallowed then looked at the girl across from him. He saw the mischievous glint in her eyes, her great lips, her beautiful face, and he saw the amazing spirit and love she had inside of her. He wondered if he was in love and if he was how would he know? He sure was in something, and he didn’t want it to end.

“Ok, let’s do it,” he said grinning. He pulled her into the room behind him.

Chris ambled onto his sister’s floor, hoping she had a good time with that guy, and hoping that she was back so that he could grill her. He grinned evilly at the thought bopping along to the music drifting to him through the hall. Stopping in front of the door he did a double take.

Oh my god! Is that a sock? Is the music coming from this door? He placed his ear against the door. Oh my god it is. It is, it is, it is. AHH!! EW!! What do I do? What- What is that! A squeaking had started on the other side of the door. All the blood drained from Chris’s face. She just met this guy!! EW!! He started to pound on the door.

Inside the room Rachel was smothering her face in a pillow to stifle her laughter as she bounced on her bed. She knocked softly on the wall to let her lookout know that she had gotten the message. She looked at the other end of her bed to where Derrick was jumping and collapsed into laughter again.

She let Chris knock once more, and then motioned to Derrick to stop.

“Just one second!” she called, making herself sound breathless. She got up and turned down the CD player.

“Rachel Murphy you open this door right now! I swear I will break it down!” Chris sounded frantic.

“Chris!” Rachel whined. “There’s a sock on the door for a reason!” she growled! She covered her mouth as she snorted at the strangled noise coming from Chris who then renewed his pounding.

She stumbled to the door, and opened it, struggling to breathe as she caught sight of Chris’s purple face. “Hi brother of mine!” she shouted between gasps for air.

Chris wasn’t thinking logically. He didn’t register that his sister was fully clothed and laughing for about fifteen seconds, after pushing past her and demanding where ‘the little punk’ was.

“Where is her Ray, I’ll kill him. I’ll- whoa, back up. You have clothes on.” He froze as Rachel supported her heaving body with her bookshelf.

After a few minutes of hysterics she managed to speak. “Chris, meet Derrick, Derrick my brother Chris. Derrick stalked me to the mall and then went shopping with me and then we ate ice cream. And now here we are.”

Chris looked between them both obviously confused.

“We spent a lovely afternoon on the green and then on the town, and now here we are…jumping on the bed. Care to join us?”

Again a befuddled look, Chris looked to Derrick for help but he could only shrug.

“Oh by the way,” Rachel added after a moment, “we’re dating.”

Chris’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“As of today.” Derrick added quietly. Knowing that Chris would be stung if he thought Rachel had been keeping such a thing from him.

Chris took a few deep breaths, clenched and unclenched his fists a few times, then finally, the hilarity of the past situation hit him and he laughed long and hard.

After finally being able to breathe again, he looked at his sister, and the boy on her bed, and the dishevelled state of her dorm room and said, “Well as long as you weren’t doing the nasty on the first date… I give you both my blessing to live happily ever after.”

Rachel and Derrick exchanged looks, eyebrows raised. “Should we tell him about the chaps?” Derrick said innocently.

Chris’s eyes bulged as Rachel laughed and threw herself on Derrick, hugging him fiercely. “I think we’ll work out just fine,” she whispered in his ear.

The End