There were three long blonde haired girls and one short brunette haired girl, all were staring up at the night sky. Three were mumbling silent prayers for their boyfriends, the other was praying that her friend would be all right.

Sisters held onto each other.

A ring tone of 'So kiss me...' pierced the silence. The smallest of the blonde girls, she was the smallest in the whole group, jumped up and checked the ID on her phone, the girls knew who it was, but she was checking to confirm her beliefs. "It's Dominic." She whispered, looking in the direction of her step-sister, she flipped opened the black and silver Motorola, "hello?" Her soft voice sounded unsure.

The other three girls were sitting up now, watching the facial expressions of the small blonde. As the other words were being said on the other line her face changed, either with the look of worry, or the look of relief.

"I'm so glad to hear that you're all right. Make sure to have the others call when they can, okay?" She said sweetly, though she claimed she wasn't in love with him, her soft alto sounded more relieved than someone who was ''just friends''.

"Okay, I'll talk to you late-" she paused and listened to what Dominic was saying. "No, I don't think we'll be asleep when you guys get here. Remember two of you have a set of sisters that are worried. And that three of you are dating, currently. So, I really just doubt it." She wasn't looking at her friends, nor her sister.

"Yes, I know that, and you know what I've said time and time again. I'm not right for you." She said it softly, her voice was tiny. "Dominic, stop.." she sighed and closed her phone after he hung up on her.

"Well?" The only brunette stood up, she had three inches on the short blonde. The other two blondes, that they are part of a triplet set, had three more inches on the brunette.

"They weren't hit hard. Dom said that Matt got the worst of it, his arm is banged up, and there are some scratches on them, the only thing that didn't survive the accident was the car." She answered, watching all of their faces show expressions of relief.

"Thank God." The brunette said, leaning against her best friend. "I'm afraid that Shane's never going to want to get into a car again." She sighed softly as she knew her boyfriend wasn't good with dealing with bad things. Sometimes she was worried that if she caught a cold that he'd be afraid of that as well.

The brunette's best friend rested a hand on her shoulder. The brunette's twin was the golden eyed blonde's boyfriend of one month. "So, Alice, is his arm just hurt, or is it broke?"

"They are checking it out, now." The short icy blue eyed blonde replied as she ran a hand through her wavy hair.

"Did he say anything on what exactly happened?" This question was from the golden eyed blonde's sister. She was related to the brunette's best friend, but she looked like she ought to have been Alice's sister, because they looked exactly the same except the six inch height difference.

"Well, Dominic said that it all happened really, really fast. They were all driving over, you know the stop light at Main Street. Any ways, he said that he was driving and the idiot in the brown Ford was speeding down East Main and ran the red light." Alice said it like it was normal for her to give the report of car wrecks. She looked at the brunette as she slumped to the ground. She knew that her sister was emotional, she was especially so because she had lost her brother to the divorce, and the thought of losing him permanently almost killed her.

Alice crouched down and smoothed her sister's hair. "Jenna, he is fine. I guarantee that he'll call you two in the next five minutes." Alice was the oldest one in her new family.

Another phone rang, this time the tone was 'I keep on falling in and out of love with you', that was Alice's ''twin's'' phone.

"Shawn!" She pretty much shouted into the phone. Her sister put her hand over the five foot ten inch blue eyed blonde. She used her other hand to tell her sister, with out words, to quiet it down.

Once the hand was removed she was at it again, "Yeah, I know! Alice told us." She paused either to take a break or to let him speak.

"No, BB is worried about him, but Jenna is the one on freak out mode." She looked over her shoulder, watching the step-sisters talk in quiet voices.

"I think you need to make your brother call her. What? No, don't tell me that! I do not care! He's her boyfriend. Shawn. You're his older brother, scare him into it." Cassandra sighed. "Put him on the phone."

She tapped her foot impatiently, she stopped as soon as she realized that she was taking on the qualities of Brittany. "Hi Shane." She saw Jenna's head jerk up, hearing the name. "No, just call her. No, you can't use our phones, you have to use your own..." she stared at the phone. The line was dead. "Damn it, my minutes got used up! Brittany, let me see your phone."

"Not today, sister. I'm waiting for my phone call."

"I'll switch over."

"Uh.. N-O, no."

'Ai Ai Ai, I'm your little butterfly'. The ring tone belonged to Jenna's phone. "Shane?" She asked sniffling.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Hold on a second, Shawn." She looked at her friend's sister. "Cass, it is for you."

"What are you doing on your brother's phone?"

Brittany sat beside Jenna and wrapped her arms around her, both of them were attached to Matthew. "It'll be okay, Jens. Matt is big and strong." She felt that she was correct that he would be just fine.

"I don't want to lose him. He moved away from me for four months, I can't lose my brother. He's my twin!" She whimpered. Burying her head into the shoulder of her best friend's shoulder.

Jenna looked up a moment later when Cassandra held the phone to her. She looked at it. Since it was dark outside and the backlight never worked right, she didn't notice that it was still on. She moved so she could put the phone back into her pocket.

"It's still on. Shane wants to talk."

"Oh, okay." She pressed the phone to her ear, her left one, so that Brittany could listen in if she want to.

"Hey..." she sounded tired.

"Elle est raplapla." Alice said to the other girls.

"L A rahplahplah? What?" Cassandra looked at Alice hard.

"She is wiped out. Pay attention in French class, will you?"

"No, I'm fine, are you okay?" Jenna was soft with her words. Her right hand was covering her ear to block out the noise of her friends. "No, I'm not mad at you." She replied back to his question. "No! I'm just a little tired. And a little worried." Another paused. "No! I want to wait up for you, Shane!" She was getting close to tears, once again. "I'm not crying..." she lied. "Shane, calm down. I love you." She was smiling slightly as she said the last three words, despite her mood, those words always made her smile, because they went into a mock argument about who loved the other more.

"You do not! I love you more." She giggled softly, her head bowed down, though the others couldn't see it, they knew her cheeks were flushed a bright red.

"Gag..." Brittany whispered in Jenna's direction.

"Shut up!" She waved her right hand in Brittany's face. She paused, her hand still in the air. "No, Shane! B was being stupid. I love you too much to tell you to shut up." Another giggled escaped her lips after hearing what Shane said to her.

"Hey Shane..." she paused for a moment, as if she was trying to think of the perfect way of saying her words to him. "I love you too. Please be careful coming home." She always called Brittany's place 'home'. She said her goodbye and hung up her black chocolate. She buried her head against Brittany's shoulder once more, her eyes closed.

"Let's get inside. The grass is bugging me to no end." Alice said, pulling Jenna to her feet, while Cassandra gave her hand to Brittany to help her to her feet.

When they were inside of Brittany and Cassandra's house, the group split up into two groups of best friends. Alice and Cassandra went into the kitchen to get the drinks for all of them. Brittany and Jenna went into the living room that held a big screen HD TV. They were going to pick a movie for them to watch to wait for the boys to get back home, though, the girls weren't sure how that was going to happen.

Alice was getting four identical, clear, blue, plastic cups from the cherry wood cabinet above the sink, when she spoke to her best friend. "Jenna had me worried for a bit."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. But, you know that she is just worried about her brother. After all, he did leave her for a while. Plus her cousin's family died in a car crash when they were eight." Cassandra said as she grabbed two diet Pepsis, a diet mountain dew, and a bottle of water.

"I am aware of all of that. It sucks, yes, but, I guess, I'd think she'd be a little more put together about it." Alice loved her sister to death, she loved her brother too. "I mean, Matt left her willingly. And now he is back. She should probably numb herself from that kind of stuff. I didn't know her as well as I do now, but if I knew them better, then, then I would have killed him. Like if your parents were to get divorced..." She paused to look at her friend to make sure it was okay to continue on.

Cassandra nodded. "It's okay. I doubt it would happen, but go ahead." She said politely, staring intently at her friend as she listened to the blonde female's logic.

"Yeah, any ways." She pushed back her bangs. "If they did and Dominic left you and your sister. I would kill him before you and B would."

"I doubt it would be before we do. And I doubt he'd leave unless he'd stop loving you, and pining for you. You really don't want to know the extent of it." Cassandra laughed. She was remembering what Brittany said to Dominic the day that she and Matthew became a couple. She thought it was hilarious to no end.

"Um... yeah... whatever..." Alice looked away and grabbed her diet mountain dew and popped open the soda. She poured the yellow-green liquid into her glass, the color looked more teal, thanks to her cup.

Cassandra slapped the counter, remembering what she wanted to say. "Speaking of Dominic, let me hear it." She grabbed a diet Pepsi and pulled the tab to open it. She was laughing as she poured the pop over the ice cubes that Brittany liked.

"There's nothing to say." Alice quickly replied. Now twisting open the bottle of water. She needed to avoid eye contact.

"Don't lie to me. I can always ask Dommy. And I doubt that you'd want that."

"No, I really don't want that. But, there really isn't anything to say. He likes me. I like him as a friend, therefore, there is nothing to say about the subject." She explained, still refusing to look at her best friend.

"Why don't you just go out with him? We can be sisters if you two get married."

"Uh... yuck!" Alice wasn't being serious because she was giggling after saying it.

"I'm serious, Ali, you are perfect for Dominic."

"Yep, that's what he wants. A broken girl..." the five foot four blonde mumbled to herself.

wWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWw

Brittany opened the living room door. "Yeah, I know what you mean. It's not fair that they got hurt and that guy didn't. His money is ours, that car was not cheap."

"Oh my God. My brother is hurt and all you worry about is suing the guy, and getting a new car for your brother." Jenna wasn't actually mad at her best friend, but, since she was closest, she lashed out on her.

"I'm worried about him too, trust me." The golden eyed blonde guided the brunette with the pixie hair cut to the white leather couch. It was covered in throws, one of a moon, another was of a husky, and the last one was of abstract patterns. Jenna sat on the arm, her left leg crossed over the right leg, she stared at the wall.

"It's not fair. You know. Phillipe and Mandy, they died. There were two cars, one held Phillipe and them, the other was my family's car. We were coming home from dinner, it was raining that night. Mom and dad were bickering, and Jacob was asleep. My uncle's car was in the lead. They were driving through the intersection, a four way stop. Anyways, this guy, he was driving the other direction and he was on the wrong side of the road, going way too fast. They didn't have a chance to swerve, not that it would have been any better, they would have hit a large tree." Jenna said in a monotone, and she never stopped staring at the wall. She didn't sounded remotely close to her normal self , and she had never told anyone about that night, except the police that asked her what she saw.

"Aw, Jenny!" The golden eyed female wrapped her friend in an embrace, she suspected her friend to collapse into tears, but she never felt that wetness on her shoulder.

Pulling away, "Jenna?"

"I'm fine." She answered, moving away, acting, distant. It almost looked like she wasn't in the same time and place as Brittany.

"It stopped raining once they died." Jenna said quietly, looking at her friend.

"Oh." What was Brittany supposed to say?

"I missed my aunt's birthday a couple days before." Again Jenna spoke gently, distantly.

"Jenna, are you some how blaming yourself?"

"No. It is just something I remember." Jenna said, no longer in a monotone.

At that moment Brittany's phone rang. She had Our Song by Taylor Swift as her ring tone whenever Matthew called.

"Hey!" She answered smiling lightly. "How's your arm?"

"Put him on the speaker." Jenna tugged on Brittany's deep blue, short sleeved hoodie. The blonde complied.

"Say that again, your sister didn't hear it."

"Oh. Hey, Sis."

"Hello, Jake."

"Any ways, the doctor said I'm lucky. My arm was just fractured. I'm sore, but that’s not unusual." Matthew paused. "The others, they talked to the guys, right?"

"Yes, Matt. Shane was the difficult one." Brittany answered.

"Oh? Didn't want to talk to ya, Sis?"

"Go choke on a muscle relaxer." Jenna replied testily.

"Ouch." Brittany said under her breath.

"It's okay. We're all fine, Jens."

"How are you getting home?"

"Your dad said he'd drop us off at your place, he's going to go back to the hospital after words." Matt's voice was soft when mentioning Brittany's father and hospital, because her mother was in there because of cancer.

"I've got to go. We will be at your place in about twenty minutes."

"Okay."

"Love ya, girls."

"Love you too, Matt."

"You're high on a muscle relaxation pill. Jake."

"Jenna!"

"What? He just said that he loved me!"

"Shut up, Jens. Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Talk to you later, Matt."

"Bye." Matthew hung up his phone.

Alice and Cassandra walked into the room holding the blue glasses. "Matthew called?" Alice asked softly, handing Jenna her glass of iced water.

"Yes. Fractured arm. The boys are getting a ride with Xavier." Jenna answered, looking into her step-sister's ice blue eyes.

"Yeah." Brittany took her diet Pepsi and walked to the shelves of DVDs. "Hitman?"

"No!" Jenna stuck her tongue out at her friend. "We just watched that on Thursday."

"Oh, but Jenny, you know BB must watch it once every three days.

"Hey! That's not true. Today is Saturday."

Alice glanced at watch, "actually Cass is right. Friday, Saturday, Sunday." She ticked the days off on her fingers.

Jenna laughed. "How about Distubia? We haven't seen that in a while."

"I think Dom's friend is borrowing it."

"He's letting someone borrow that one?" Alice had gotten that movie for him for his birthday.

"Yeah, she is a huge Shia fan."

Alice looked away and plopped herself down on the leather couch. "Okay."

Brittany looked at the small blonde, it was apparent that she liked him more than she actually let on. "What do you want to watch, Al?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Transformers?" Cassandra picked up the shiny case.

"Ooo, let's! Did you know they--"

"Started filming the second one for the movie. Yes, we've heard this several times now." Brittany finished Jenna's sentence and laughed as she watched her friend sink into the couch, only slightly embarrassed.

"I guess we can watch it. I mean the fanatic will wet her pants if we put it away."

"I will not! Besides, how many times have you whimpered when I don't put in a movie with Zac Effron in it?" Jenna shoved her sister's shoulder softly so she didn't slosh around either one of their drinks. Cassandra laughed, and she heard her sister's melodious laughter ring in her ears. It was hard to believe that these girls weren't sister's by blood.

"Settle down girlies. It's Shia LeBeouf admiring time." Alice tossed a coaster at Jenna to set her cup down on, and she moved to the wood floor, and Brittany took her spot. Jenna's head was on her lap before the first preview on the disk started to play. Cassandra was in the recliner, her legs tucked underneath of herself. Alice had always thought that her friend would be able to fit in before televisions existed, before that even! She had the look and poise of a medieval princess.

Alice's head jerked forward when Jenna's knee connected with her skull. "What the hell?"

"Press play. The remote is next to you."

"Yes your royal highness. Anything else?"

"Watch the movie."

Matthew was in the front seat of the car because the doctors put his arm in a sling. They said that in a couple of weeks, if it wasn't healing correctly, they'd put a cast on. He really hoped that it would result in that. He had worn a cast once before and he didn't like it then, he knew he wouldn't like it any more a few years later.

"You boys are all right," Xavier, Dominic's father asked the car load and they all answered him with different forms of being affirmative. "That's good." The brunette man with golden-ish eyed sounded much older than his thirty-eight years.

The rest of the ride was silent. it was well past twelve in the morning, and the boys were fairly certain the girls that they love were going to be asleep.

When Xavier pulled into the drive-way, he parked the car, but left it on. He turned around to look at his son. "Tell your sisters that I'm staying the night at your grandmother's."

"Okay." The blond male with amber eyes said softly, his hand on the handle. "Talk to you later, then."

Dominic helped Matthew out of the car while Shawn and Shane went up the walk to go into the house. Matthew and Dominic followed them. Once entering they heard the movie playing, so they headed into the direction of the living room. Jenna was watching the movie, while Alice was stretched out on the floor a few feet away from the couch. She was asleep. Brittany and Cassandra trained their eyes on the boys. The boys that had girlfriends went to them. Matthew leaning down to kiss Brittany lightly on the lips. Jenna's cheek was caressed by Shane's smooth hand, she brought his hand to her lips and kissed his palm. Shawn went to Cassandra and she moved so that he could have the seat and he pulled her down on his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Alice had woken up by then and looked around at the pairs. She and Dominic weren't paired up, and she felt that she should feel guilty about it all. She bit her lip and avoiding looking at anyone, especially Dominic.

Getting up, she felt her hand shake, something that happened when she felt bad about things. She stepped around Shane and kept as much distance between herself and the guy that liked her. Loved her even. She did like him, but she was scared to fall in love, or even tell him.

She headed to the kitchen, leaving that room, and walking further until she was at the door to the backyard. She slid it open to enough space to allow her through. From there she went to the swing set that had been there for years. She knew that because of Jenna's old photographs. She sat on a swing, it was extremely low, so her legs were stretched out in front of her. She was staring at the ground until a pair of feet stood there. It wasn't any of the girls' because they all had worn flip-flops. It wasn't Matthew, Shane, or Shawn because they always wore converse. Which meant the black and sapphire blue DCs belongs to one person. "You should be with your sisters." She said softly, watching the feet move to the other swing.

"I'm fairly certain that they are a little busy with their boyfriends." Dominic's soft tenor washed over Alice.

"Oh."

"Why don't you go in and be with your brother and sister?" Dominic looked incredibly stupid sitting on a the swing. He was just too tall, he was no longer a small child.

"They aren't really my brother and sister."

"Sure they are."

"Yeah, through marriage. but, that's not the same thing."

"Is that what is bothering you. You left in a hurry." He said softly. He watched her, and she looked away.

"No. That's not why." She supplied, pushing against the ground. The swing squeaked because of the movement. "I've been around them too long to be bothered by that any more. I know that they are twins, and I can understand the closeness. But, like I said, that's not what is bothering me." She said softly. She heard the swing that Dominic squeak when he moved off of it. He disappeared behind her. His hands covered hers. He looked down at her as she looked up at him.

"What is bothering you, then?"

"You."

Dominic looked puzzled. He moved one hand, it went down to her face and took a strand of silky blonde hair. It slipped away from his fingers as a small gust of wind blew through. "Why am I bothering you?" He asked, his amber eyes boring into hers. "I've never done a thing to you."

"You've never done anything. My past did. You wouldn't understand. Brittany, she'd understand, you, you've never dealt with it." She answered, her gaze was gone from his She looked at the house. "My mom's boyfriend. He did things to me when I was younger. Actually until recently. Jens' mom was an old friend of my dad's and they hooked up after Jenna's mom and dad separated." She answered the questions that were unspoken, but were probably flooding the male's mind.

Dominic's hand that was still covering hers tightened and he hurt her because she made a noise telling him that she was hurt. He released her hand and walked away from the swing, pacing in front of her now. He was aware that she was trying not to watch him.

"Are you mad?"

"Yes..."

"Because I never told you that?"

"No."

"Talk to me then. I don't like you being like this..." Alice's soft alto pleaded with him when she was afraid to look at him.

He sighed and walked up, standing in front of her, then crouching down so that they could see each other, eye to eye. His hand rested on her cheek making her look at him. "What do you want me to say, Alice? You are right. I never had to deal with this first hand. And I hardly have experience that Matt has." He said softly. He saw tears in her eyes.

"I know. I know all of that." She sounded strained, she as trying her best not to cry. She hadn't cried over that in over three years, she didn't want to break that now.

"Alice..." he said with a drained tone. He really didn't have much experience. He moved his hand from her cheek, when the contact was broken Alice's tears fell. He wrapped his arms around her. "What do you want me to do?"

"Quit telling me that you love me. You don't. You know nothing about me. You can't love me." She said through her tears.

Dominic pulled back, he shook his head. "I want to know you better though. And I'd rather not have to learn through eavesdropping on my sisters."

Alice looked at him oddly, she was still crying. "What?"

"Desperate situations require desperate measures."

"Yeah, but, what? Why are you eavesdropping on them? Did you do that when I spent the night?"

He looked embarrassed, "once or twice..." he looked away. "every time..." he said under his breath.

She pushed back, moving away from his embrace, standing up. "You're sick. You should be ashamed." She wiped at her eyes, she started to walk inside the house.

Cassandra was in the kitchen pouring out the drinks. "Everyone's spending the night, tonight." She said, she hadn't looked at her friend, but when she did. "You've been crying, why?"

"Nothing..." Alice sat down at the counter. Her bangs covering her face. "You'll want to share your room with Shawn, right? Can I have the guest room near your room?"

"Yeah, sure." Cassandra sat down on the stool next to her friend. Her hand was on her back. "You told him, didn't you?"

"Yeah..."

"And?"

"He wanted to know what to do. And I told him flat out. Stop saying that he loved me. He didn't know anything about me. And so he admitted that he eavesdropped on you and Brittany every time I've been over. And so, here I am." Alice's head went to the counter top with a small thump. "The worse thing about this all, was that I thought about saying something about how I feel. I mean, I know you're not an idiot, even Matt was picking up on the whole ''just friends'' was just an excuse. It's bad when he picks up on it."

Cassandra chuckled a little. "It's okay, sweetie." She rubbed her friend's back. "Go on up to bed. Brittany and Matthew went up already, so don't be scared. I am fairly sure that Jenny is taking a shower up there, too."

"Okay. Night Cass."

"G'night." Alice left the kitchen and Dominic came in. "You've totally fucked that up. Brilliant. Let's admit that I've heard basically every conversation you've had with my sisters. Oh, you're brilliant." Cassandra, though she was younger, she took the role of authority all the time.

"I am dumber than dirt..." Dominic said, going to the cabinet to get a glass. He filled it up with water from the tap. "I tried to console her. I don't suppose that it was a bipolar thing and she was happy when she came in here."

"Yeah, Dommy. Ali was freaking ecstatic. She was whistling and skipping all around me."

"Yeah, I didn't think so. How does Matt do it? It's not like he had any more experience than me. Hell, he should still have less than I do!"

"It's who they want to have be of solace. She may want you, but, she didn't need you. It's been well over three years, and I know you know. You know, BB came to me more than you. That was because we are both of the same gender. If Matthew had been here, then I wouldn't even have the time of day." Cassandra got up, she was always up and down, down and up. She sighed, she was getting ready to leave. "She's in the guest room next to my room. Just in case you feel like you should be up any later."

"Okay. Night, Cass."

"G'night, Dommy. Behave, will you?"

"What am I going to do?"

"God only knows when it comes to you."

"Shut up, and don't do anything that will scare Alice in the middle of the night. Like your snoring..." she didn't, but he had to think of something.

"You're pushing it buddy. You've got yourself on the wrong side of the wrong girl. Don't tempt the fates by pissing off a triplet sister."

"I'm scared..."

Cassandra didn't even bother replying because she went back into the living room. She waited for the twin boys to ''pack it up''. Shane was going to share a room with Jenna, which, would have sounded bad, weren't it for the fact that Jenna would probably kill him if he tried to do something.

Dominic sighed and stared at the digital clock attached to the white oven. "Dumbass..." he said to himself.

mMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMmMm

Alice had doze off, but, she woke up, her chest rising and falling. She had had the nightmare that she thought were gone forever. At the same time Brittany was sitting up in her own room. but, she had someone to comfort her. Matthew wrapped his arms around her and soothed. He whispered sweet words in her ears. Gave her sweet kisses. It was the first time he had witnessed her having a bad dream, and when she told him what it was about, he said sweeter words, told her that he'd never let her get hurt again, never leave her and would always make sure that she was the happiest that she could be.

Of course, Alice knew none of this, but, she did know that she needed to get a drink of water. She grabbed the white robe she had left over and tied it around her thin waist. Her bare feet padded lightly against the hard wood floor as she traveled to the down stairs. She hit the light switch that would light up the sink. She didn't bother looking around her. She reached up and took a small glass. She turned on the tap, letting it run until it was cool enough.

She looked at the counter, just for the hell of it. And there was Dominic. He had fallen asleep right there. She turned off the water and put the glass onto the counter. "Dom," she shook his shoulder lightly. "Wake up."

"Mmhmm... she likes Jasmine..." he mumbled, not waking up. That had caused the short blonde freeze. It was she who liked Jasmines.

"Dominic, it's like four." She turned around to read the clock. It was three minutes away from the time she said, but that was close enough for her.

"...dumbass, that's not her favorite color..." he still mumbled on. Was he dreaming about her? She felt her cheeks flush at the thought. "...lilac..."

"Okay, enough of this! Dominic!" She shook him harder

"What the hell?! Why are you in here?!"

"Uh... you're sleeping in the kitchen..." she replied testily, her arms crossed over her chest. She didn't know what was going on with his dream, but just because he got two things right about her didn't mean he was off the hook with admitting that he eavesdropped on her.

"Oh. Sorry. Why are you up so early?" He asked softly. His voice was groggy sounding, not that he could be blamed.

"That is none of your business." She replied. She went back to where he cup was and turned the water back on. The water had to chill for a moment longer before she ran the glass under it to fill it a third of the way.

"Oh. I suppose you're right. And I guess I am not getting to have that right any time soon."

"You got that correct." She drank some of her water, looking up at the ceiling.

"I should go on up to bed. Be sure to get into bed, too."

"Sure."

"Okay, that's enough with that. It's not that big of a crime."

"Like hell! If you wanted to know things about me you could have ask me. That would have been a lot better. I respect your privacy, and you ought to respect mine. Damn it, Dom. My mom's ex didn't care about that. All he cared about was touching me. Pleasuring himself." She blinked back the tears that began to form in the corner of her eyes.

"Why are you brining him up? You're crying again..."

"Because! I woke up because he was in my dream!"

"Calm down... er... no. Sorry." He bowed his head, sighing. "That was a bad thing to say. I'm just going to go now..." he turned away, he heard her start actually crying. He just stood there for a minute before he continued on up to his room.

He tugged off his shirt and threw it at his computer chair. He'd put it into the laundry in the morning. He didn't really feel like doing it now. He sighed, laying down on his bed, on his side. Again, he used the word that he used to describe himself earlier in the day. "Dumbass..."

He closed his eyes, trying to will himself back into sleep. He was almost there when he heard his door open. He thought it was probably one of his sisters. It would be like them to wake up, some how knowing that he had rubbed poor little Alice the wrong way yet again. He heard the door shut, so he figured that who ever opened the door was just checking in on him. So, that could have meant his dad lied and came home early.

He jumped when there was extra weight put on his bed. "Who the hell?"

"It's me, Dom." Only one person had an alto voice that was that soft. And also that same person was the only one that called him 'Dom'.

"What are you doing, Alice?"

"I don't know, that's just it."

"Well, that is not true. You have to know at least one reason why you don't want to sleep in the guest room. Is my sister doing something? I can go tell them to knock it off."

"No. It's not that. She is being well behaved."

Dominic bit his lip not to laugh. It was pretty bad when his sister's best friend would say that. "Okay. Well, what is it, then?"

"I--" she paused, he could see her outline, she was staring in the direction of his door. "I just want to sleep, but, I know I won't be able to with out someone being there. It's because of that dream."

"Oh. Well, I'll move to a chair. You can have the--"

"No. I wa... err... need you next to me, otherwise I won't be able to sleep. Please, Dom. I can't go to anyone else..." that wasn't entirely the reason why she picked him, but it is a reason. But it wasn't the main reason.

"Oh, okay. Thanks for regarding me so highly."

Alice didn't answered, and she didn't move. She was just looking at the door.

"Get some sleep..." he felt her move off the bed. "I meant in here. I'm sorry, I'll quit--"

"I was taking my robe off. I'm not sleeping with that thing on." She replied, her voice was somewhere near his computer desk. She was back on his bed in a moment, and she was curled up in a small ball. She closed her eyes. She was wearing a white satin spaghetti strap with matching shorts. Her skin was cool despite the fact that she head been wearing the robe.

Dominic was on his other side, looking at the outline of the girl that laid beside him.

"Stop looking at me. It's just a little creepy." Alice said.

"How did you know?"

"I can just tell. Now quit it."

"You're just trying to push me away, aren't you?"

"I shouldn't have to. Who in their right mind would want me?" She asked just before she turned onto her own side, looking into the darkness where he was.

"Who in their right mind wouldn't want you?"

"I'm going to ignore that..."

"What?"

"How wrong that sounds. And I can think of exactly why people shouldn't want me."

"Alice..." he wanted to reach out, touch her cheek. Kiss her...

"What?"

"Should Matt not want Brittany because she is the same way as you?"

"No, because he wanted her before it all happened. He was just a pathetic shy boy before Jason came along."

"What if I told you, I had wanted you before you moved in with your mom?"

"You were nine."

"So?"

"I'm going to sleep, now."

"I did like you."

"Good night, Dom..."

"Can I kiss you?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"No. Good Night." Alice pulled the blanket over her head, as if it was to protect her from his lips that she wanted to touch her. But, she was afraid. He could turn away for so many reasons.

Dominic knew he wasn't going to get any more sleep, and by God, he was one of those spiteful people. No sleep for him, well, let's hope you aren't in the same room. "What's your favorite song?"

"What? Why does that matter now?"

"You said I should ask you."

"I don't know. I like a lot of songs. I guess my favorite is Sharada by Skyesweetnam." She was still under the cover. Her voice was muffled, but he could hear her perfectly.

"Okay. What's your favorite color?"

"You already know that. You were talking in your sleep."

"I was?" Dominic's face flushed. "Okay. Welp. Who is your favorite person?"

"That would be none of your business."

That made Dominic smile. Why would she tell him that if her favorite person had been someone like her sister, or one his sisters. But, it could have meant him. He stopped smiling, he realized that she shouldn't jump to conclusions. "Tell me. I won't laugh." he said softly.

"I just want to sleep. If I had known that you'd do this to me. I would have been better off sleeping in the same bed as Matt and Brittany. But, if you must know, that would be Zac Effron."

"I meant real person."

"He is very much real."

"Okay. Someone you know personally."

"I could know him personally. I did leave for a number of years."

"Will you take that blanket off your head? And I still want an answer."

"Fine..." she pulled the blanket down. "And my favorite person is still none of your business. Now, quit talking. I want to sleep."

"Let me kiss you, then."

"Are you dense?"

"You're still here."

Alice had nothing to that. She was still there, and she did want him to kiss her. She could just imagine that his lips are as sweet as his voice and she could imagine that he would be a good kisser. "Will you quit talking if I allow you to kiss me?"

"I can't guarantee that I'll stop talking."

"Then I can't allow you to have that kiss."

"Hey. Fine. Please?"

Alice leaned closer, she reached her hand out to find his cheek, his hands grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to that her chest was against his. She tilted her head up, and he tilted his down. One of his hands left her body and cupped her chin. "Are you sure?"

"I want to get some sleep. If this will shut you up, then, yes." She said softly. She felt his hand leave her chin, and his other arm pulled away. "What now?"

"You don't need to do anything."

Alice frowned and stared at him. She was looking forward to that kiss, now it was ruined. She sighed softly, she was going to have to this on her own, so she grabbed his cheeks, pulling his head down for her and she pressed her lips against his. It was a little rough, but, she was soon sent to a happy blissful world, because he kissed her back, and his arms were around her waist.

He pulled away. "What was that for?"

"Because you were being a sourpuss..." she smiled when he kissed her forehead. "Hey now. You never asked for another kiss." She said, trying her best to sound serious, but it didn't work out.

"Okay. may I have another kiss?"

"I don't know. May I get some more sleep before the sun rises?"

"We'll have to see." He smiled, kissing her lightly, deepening the kiss slowly. She allowed his tongue to enter her mouth, he continued to kiss her until he heard a small moan. He pulled away.

"Dominic..."

"Hmm?"

"I-- you don't have to stop saying... you know..."

"I love you?"

"Yeah. You don't have to stop that."

He smiled and hugged her tightly. His hand was on her cheek, his thumb moving back and forth. "I do love you."

"I love you too." Alice replied, her head against his chest. She could hear his heart speed up when she said it. "Do you forgive me?" She asked a moment later.

"For what?"

"For everything I've put you through, most especially today."

"It's fine. I wasn't exactly the best either." He heard her laugh a little to that.

vVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVv

Cassandra went into the guest room, she blinked, but she smiled realizing that her best friend was probably in someone else's room, so she went to her sister's room and knocked on the door.

"What do you want."

"Can I see your camera?"

"Uh... I suppose. What happened to yours?"

"I left it in Dominic's room the other night. Don't even ask me why."

"Okay." Brittany shut her door and went to grab her blood red camera off her desk.

"Here. Though, I don't know why you don't just get it from Dominic's room."

"Come with me if you want to figure it out." Cassandra smiled slyly. She turned on the camera and snapped a shot of the floor to make sure that it didn't make a noise when she took the picture she wanted. She deleted the picture and turned off the flash and went to Dominic's room.

"We live with him, why do we need--"

"Shush, We are about to enter and you are about to see..." Cassandra opened the door and pointed at the couple in the bed. Brittany's mouth formed an ''o'' shape. And Cassandra stalked closer and press the zoom until she had a good picture and took the shot.

The sisters left the room and laughed when they shut the door 'It's cute." Brittany said.

"It's about time." Cassandra said. Turning off the camera. "I'll put this on the computer and you'll get a copy of it, later." She smiled and the sisters parted ways. One to tend to her injured boyfriend, the other to tend to more malicious deeds.

Alice stretched and curled up closer to Dominic's body. her head rested on his chest. She listened to his heart beat as he continued to sleep. "Morning, Alice..." he was tired sounding after waking up.

Again she stretched, smiling sweetly. "Mmh... morning, Dom." He ran his fingers in her hair.

"Did you sleep well?"

"It was alright. You took all of the blanket, so I had to pretty much sleep on top of you."

"Who said I was asleep when I did that?"

Alice did a mock gasped and playfully slapped his chest. "You jerk!"

"But you love me..." he replied before he tilted her head up and kissed her lightly.

A knock on the door. "Wake up, Dominic. We want food." It was Shawn, who had seen Cassandra printing off the picture of the sleeping pair. "If I don't hear bed springs moving I'm going to barge in there. Indecent or no. I want food..." Dominic put his fingers to his lips for Alice and she nodded. Neither of them were quite ready to have everyone seeing them coming out of the same bedroom.

"Okay, I'm getting up. You are such an annoying pig."

"Well, you know what? You're an annoying cook that makes delectable food." Shawn's comeback was kind of sad but entirely funny. Alice bit down on Dominic's black blanket so that she didn't laugh.

Laughing, "go down stairs."

"Okay, well, I'm going to wake up, Ali." Shawn emphasized her name.

"Uh... that shouldn't be done. She was up late because she was feeling sick. I'll go check in on her. You go tend to your girlfriend before she thinks you've come and molested me." Dominic laughed and they heard Shawn laugh too. See, he is bisexual like his twin and his twin's girlfriend's twin. Basically to say, Dominic was the only straight guy in the bunch.

"Whatever. Hurry up. I want food..."

Dominic pulled out clean clothes and glanced at Alice. "You wanna leave?"

"Probably would want to. I'm good not seeing that." She slid off the bed and walked to his computer desk grabbing her robe.

"Alice..."

"Hmm?"

"Love you..."

"Love you too, Dominic." She smiled and pulled opened his door. "Um... Dom... I think they know." She held up the picture that was taped on the door. They laughed.