Kevin raised his arms above his head, one hand holding the game controller. "Victory!" he shouted.

Joey made a face at him. "I'll get you next round, don't worry." But Joey knew he wouldn't—he was pretty much hopeless at video games.

"Sure you will," Kevin agreed sarcastically. "Hey, let's get more popcorn."

The boys walked into the kitchen. The way Kevin's house was set up, the kitchen and living room shared the same space, and the two areas were only separated by a small sofa. Kevin's sister, Kat, who was younger than the two boys by exactly eleven months, sat on this sofa, watching the television opposite. Though Kat was nearly a year younger than her brother, they were in the same year and hung around with the same people—like Joey. Kat's stomach flipped when he entered the room, his curly dark hair hiding what Kat knew were his brilliant blue eyes. She continued to watch the TV, however, preferring to act as though nothing unusual—though by now, it was actually usual for Kat to have these feelings—were happening.

On the other side of her sofa, Joey was watching the back of Kat's honey-colored head with interest. As Kevin put a bag of microwavable popcorn in, Joey bit his lip, wondering how long it was going to take him to just ask Kat out already. He remembered the first day of kindergarten as if it were yesterday.

"Hi. I'm Joey."

"I'm Katharene," the little blonde girl said. "My cousin told me not to talk to boys. She says they're icky."

Joey frowned. "I'm not icky."

Katharene smiled. "No. You're not."

And that was when he realized that girls weren't icky, either. Through the years, he'd gotten closer to Kevin and farther from Kat, simply because she hung out with her girlfriends most of the time. Sometimes, though, when Joey was over, they'd talk to each other for ages. Joey was sure they could talk about anything—he'd never remembered an awkward silence between them.

"Hey, Kitty-Kat," Joey said, hopping over the sofa to sit next to her.

Kat smiled. "Hey, Joey. How's it going?"

"Hmm. Not so good, now you mention it. Kevin keeps beating me at video games," Joey explained.

"Aw, poor baby. Ditch him, man. He'll give up on you."

Joey laughed. "He does seem to have a problem with patience," he agreed.

"Watch TV with me instead," she suggested. "Kev will get tired of waiting for you, and then he'll either join us in here or go to bed. Preferably the latter."

"Man, Kat. Big words," he shook his head in mock disgust.

"Latter is not a big word," Kat reminded him. "It's an obscure word."

"As is that," Joey mumbled.

They laughed before lapsing into a comfortable silence, the television playing some channel's original movie. Kat felt Joey move closer so that their knees bumped against each other. She glanced at him, but he seemed fully mesmerized by whatever was happening on the screen.

Kevin watched this display with intrigue. Was Joey finally going to do it? It wasn't like Joey had told Kevin about his interest in Kat; Kevin found both of them fairly obvious. He was actually surprised that nothing had happened between them yet, when it was clear they'd both liked each other since they were like, five. It was just one of those things, Kevin supposed. Those inexplicable attractions between people. Kevin had never seen anything like Kat and Joey together. It was like there were no walls between them, like they just knew everything the other was thinking. If something needed to be said, it was, and if nothing needed to be said, there was no awkward search for the words. They were always either talking or radiating a strange but comfortable feeling, like nothing said between them could ever be wrong. Kevin rolled his eyes as the microwave beeped. He really should leave them alone… but what fun would that be? So he sat himself at the kitchen table, unnoticed by his sister and best friend still seated on the sofa in front of him.

Kat, meanwhile, could barely keep her eyes open. She'd had a long day at school, and she was damn tired. But she didn't want to miss any of Joey sitting next to her. Joey was watching Kat out of the corner of his eye. She looked like she was about to fall asleep at any moment, and he figured if she did, he could move his shoulder under her head. When she awoke, she'd think it had just fallen there, and Joey would get to have her touching him for however long she was asleep. Just as this thought hit him, so did the top of Kat's head. It fell onto his shoulder of its own accord. Joey smiled down at her as he felt her breathing get slower, more even.

Kat wasn't asleep. But she knew Joey thought she was. So it didn't surprise her when he turned off the TV. What did surprise her, though, was that he kissed the top of her head lightly. "You asleep, Kitty-Kat?" She said nothing. She waited to see what he would do next. Joey sighed. "I'm so sorry, Kat," he whispered. "I'm a coward." What was he talking about? "I can't even tell you when you're sleeping. How am I supposed to say it to your face?" Kat shifted her head on his shoulder, nuzzling his neck momentarily. She felt Joey swallow. "I love you, Kitty-Kat," he murmured. Her breath caught in her throat. Was she dreaming? She blinked a couple of times and sat up.

Joey looked startled. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty," he said, regaining his composure. "You were totally out. I turned the movie off, 'cause I didn't want to wake you, and…" he trailed off.

Kat nodded. "Thanks. Uh, Joey?"

"Yeah?"

"I've… um… sort of wanted to tell you this for a while. But I couldn't."

"What are you talking about, Kat?"

"I love you," she whispered.

Joey looked at her in shock. There was no way this was happening. "Honestly?"

"No, I'm just pretending. Yes, honestly," she laughed nervously.

"I love you too," he said. And he pressed his lips to hers.

Kevin sat at the kitchen table, eating popcorn and watching the show of his little sister and his best friend. He sighed, murmuring, "I always knew those two would end up together." Kevin finished the last of the popcorn before thinking to himself that for someone so bad at video games, Joey seemed to be pretty good with his hands. Kevin smirked. Joey had finally found a game he could win.