This Time Is Ours.

A blood curdling scream emitted from my mouth, and the plate I was holding clanged loudly in sink.

Moments later my best friend, Paris, scrambled into the kitchen with a crazed look in her eyes. Her curly hair was more tousled than usual, and in her hands was an umbrella.

"Get it! Get it, get it, get it!" I shrieked at her as I clambered up onto the counter top.

"Get what, Maggie?! Where?!" Paris shouted bewildered as she held the umbrella close, ready to fight off whatever intruder was in her house.

"Right there!" I randomly motioned, my head still in a tizzy from seeing the monstrous creature.

"I don't see what you're talking about!" She said exasperated, walking over to me.

"No! Don't come any closer! It'll eat youuuu!" I wailed at her pointing to her foot.

That's when she saw it. In all of it's hairy 10-legged glory. The dreaded Sun Spider.

For the second time in the last 60 seconds, another blood curdling scream erupted into the silence of the house, and before I knew it, Paris was up on the counter next me.

"Holy cow! Oh gosh, Maggie what do we do? It's blocking our only way out!" Paris cried.

"I don't know! I don't know!" I howled back at her, the both of us clutching onto the other for dear life.

"Oh I hope this works." Paris muttered.

"What?" I asked as I looked down at her, but she was on the phone with someone.

"I'm calling Kennedy," She said to me. "Kennedy! Kenny, Kenny, Kenny! Help us!" She screeched into the phone.

"Paris! Paris, look!" I squealed, pointing at the beast that was now trying to climb up onto the counter to kill us.

"Oh my God!" She shouted shutting her phone & throwing it at the creature.

Okay so we may be over exaggerating, but seriously. Have you seen one of those things before? Let me tell you, they look like the devil's pet.

We both let out another shriek as it successfully got onto one of the cabinets at the bottom. Another second later we heard the front door bang open and thundering foot steps rushing into the house.

"Paris?!" We heard Kennedy shout alarmed.

"We're in the kitchen!" She shouted.

Our knights in beat up Vans with baseball bats had come to our rescue looking frazzled & panicked. I recognized them as Paris' neighbor Kennedy and his friend Garrett. Paris forced me to go to a few of their band practices claiming she "Needed a wing woman". She has a thing for Kenny. And okay, I'll admit it; I have a teensy tiny crush on Garrett. But look at him! He's adorable! With his copper colored hair, and his adorable pouty lips, and big blue eyes like the ocean. Okay, maybe it's not that tiny of a crush...

The two of them spun around frantically looking around for an intruder, just as Paris had when she first heard me shout. "Where is he?!" Garrett yelled.

"There!" Paris & I both shouted and pointed to the spider that was slowly crawling its way up the cabinets to reach us.

The boys both took an involuntary step back and let out shouts of surprise. "Holy shit! What the FUCK is that?!" Kennedy said. "Garrett, you get it!"

"Fuck that! That thing is huge!" Garrett retorted.

"That's what she said." Paris snickered.

I smacked her. "Will someone just get it please?!"

Kennedy and Garrett both glared at each other trying to make the other crack under the pressure. But then Garrett gasped, "Dude!" He pointed at Kennedy, "This is your chance!"

Kennedy looked puzzled, but after a moment his face turned into one of understanding. He turned to us with a fierce determination on his face. Grabbing a plastic cup and a piece of paper from the counter, Kennedy came striding towards the beast which was nearly at the top of the counter.

By this time Paris & I had stood up and were now on our tiptoes. "Kenny, be careful!" Paris whispered fearfully to him.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me. I'm just trying to save you girls." Kennedy replied in a hushed voice as he tried to capture the beast.

"Kenny! You don't have to do this! Save yourself!" Paris whispered dramatically to him.

"Paris, shut up! He's getting distracted by you, and the spider will take that time to attack him into an early grave!" I exclaimed wildly. She looked up at me startled, fear evident in her eyes.

Garrett rolled his eyes. "Paris calm down, don't listen to Maggie. Kennedy is going to be fine, spiders don't faze him." She opened her mouth to speak, but he continued. "And if he happens to get attacked I'm sure we can get to the hospital in time."

Paris' eyebrows scrunched together and pulled up to meet in the middle. The expression was heartbreaking.

"You guys-" Kenny started.

"That's not very reassuring Garrett!" I scolded him.

"What?!" He cried incredulously. "You were the one that said he was going to die early!"

"Only if Paris kept distracting him!" I huffed, exasperated.

"Got it!" Kennedy popped up animatedly, a triumphant smirk adorning his features. He placed the cup containing the monster on the counter and held is arms open for Paris.

"Kenny! You did it!" Paris gasped, and jumped into his arms.

Garrett & I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. "Maggie, no! Don't jump off the four foot counter! It's much too far from the ground, I'll catch you!" He exclaimed over-dramatically, rushing forward with his arms held out.

"Oh Garrett, my hero!" I cried with mock dreamy adoration. Falling into his arms gracefully, he set me down on the ground and we both looked amusedly at Kennedy & Paris, who had scowls on their faces.

"You guys are just jealous cause you don't have what me and Kenny have!" Paris said indignantly.

I nudged her, "Uh, Paris? What DO you and Kennedy have?" I looked over at Kenny who was tinged pink.

"Yeah, Paris. What, um. What do we have?" He asked her quietly.

"O-oh, you know." Paris stuttered. "You know?"

Kennedy's brows furrowed in confusion. "No?"

Garrett let out an exasperated sigh. "Paris, Kenny likes you." He looked over at me expectantly and I gave him a bewildered look.

"Oh!" I squeaked. "Kennedy, Paris thinks you're a fine white chocolate man." I said.

Paris gasped, "Maggie! You said you'd never tell anyone I said that!"

"Garrett, man. Not cool." Kennedy said, shaking his head. "And what about you?!" He cried, pointing at Garrett.

"What about me?" Garrett retorted. Paris and Kennedy got devious looks on their faces, and both shouted out at the same time:

"Maggie likes you!"

"Garrett likes you!"

Silence. Very awkward silence. All you could hear was the clock ticking, and the Sun Spider trying to get out of its prison.

"We're just going to go over there. You know - deal with our own..." Kennedy searched for the right word. "Issues?" He grabbed Paris by the hand and pulled her out of the room.

"Noo," She moaned, "I want to see what happens!"

I chanced a look at Garrett, and he was looking at his shoes. I reached out and touched his arm gently to get his attention. He looked over at me and gave me a shy smile. "Is that um... Is that true?" I asked tentatively, with a small smile.

Garrett let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah Maggie. I mean - I always thought you knew, you know?" He looked into my eyes before looking down at the floor again. "Is it true? What Paris said, I mean." He asked, looking up through is lashes.

"Well, I do think you're pretty neat." I said playfully, biting my lip and nudging him.

His face dropped. "You just think I'm neat?"

"Garrett, I think you're breathtaking," I stepped closer to him, "I think you're wonderful," I grabbed his hands in mine, "And I also think you're the handsomest guy I've ever laid eyes on."

"Shucks, Maggie. I thought the guy was supposed to say all that?" He smirked at me.

"Eh, well I figured I would take over that role since you decided not to save me from that spider back there." I smiled cheekily.

Garrett smiled lightly at me, but then the seriousness set in as he gazed into my eyes. "Maggie..." He breathed as he lifted his hand and stroked the side of my face with the back of his hand.

I leaned into his touch and closed my eyes. "I like you." I whispered. Opening my eyes, I saw Garrett's smiling face.

He pushed everything off the counter, and lifted me up, making me level with him, our eyes automatically closing and our lips brushed together, softly moving in sync with each others. The kiss was like velvet, and everything felt perfect in that moment. He stood between my legs with one of his hands on my hip, while the other gently cupped my neck, while both of my hands were pressed against his chest.

When we pulled away, we were grinning like the weenies we were - but something caught my eye. I let out another shriek and Garrett let out a startled shout at my scream. "What's wrong?!"

"You pushed the spider's cup over! Oh my GOSH! Garrett!" I panicked, jumping off the counter where the spider currently was. "Get it!"

"No! Kenny can get it again!" He said hurriedly, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the living room.

"Paris! Paris, Garrett knocked over the... Oh, Jesus my eyes!" I cried, shielding my eyes.

Kennedy and Paris decided to have a wild make out session. I guess that means they sorted out their issues?

"Get a room you guys, seriously." Garrett said disgust laced in his voice.

"We had one, but you guys interrupted." Kennedy groaned when he pulled away from sucking my best friends face off.

"Yeah, thanks guys." Paris said, flipping us off.

"Great, now there are two angry beasts in the house." Garrett muttered in my ear.