This Heart Still Feels

"You're fucking kidding me!" Brie's jaw dropped, "Tree is pregnant?"

You nodded, "Yep. She sure is," It was the next afternoon, and though you thought you shouldn't be spreading the news of Teresa's baby, it was hard to keep a thing like this from one of your best friends. You finally had let the news pour out and Brie was more than excited,

"Oh my god!" she squealed, "I can't believe what I'm hearing. Teresa's pregnant,"

"Yeah, I know," you sighed, "Our little girl is all grown up,"

"It seems like only yesterday that we were all in high school, dreaming of the day we would be doing all of this,"

You gave her a look of confusion, "Doing all of what?"

"Dating our celebrity fantasies," Brie said as-a-matter-of-factly, "I mean I never would of thought that I would be dating Rupert Grint for real, let alone getting saved by him and his ice cream truck,"

You laughed, "Well it's important not to think like that," you said, "They're normal people, just like you and I,"

"But still," Brie continued, "Who would have thought that things would end up like this?"

You smiled, "I guess your right. Not only are we dating them, some of us are getting married and pregnant off of them,"

"Only Teresa would be the first," Brie giggled,

"That was her plan," your smile faded, "Though she seemed really upset when I talked to her,"

Brie sat up, "She was?"

You nodded, "She was all worried about not being a good mother and what Oliver would say, and a bunch of stuff like that,"

"Oh," Brie moaned sadly, "Poor Tree,"

"Yeah," you agreed, "I told that she had nothing to worry about. She would be a great mum, and whatever they decide to do I'm sure it will be for the good of the baby. I mean, it's not like Oliver's going to ask her to have an abortion,"

"I hope not," Brie said in agreement, "Just the thought of that gives me the creeps,"

You shuddered, "Yeah, I know,"

Brie changed the subject, "So what do you think they're going to name it?"

You shrugged, "I don't know. I guess it all depends on the gender of the baby,"

"I think Rose is a good name," Brie suggested,

"I don't know," you said in disagreement, "Knowing Teresa, she would probably name it Sandra if it was a girl,"

"Sandra!" Brie exclaimed, "That is such an ugly name," (no offense to anyonw who is named Sandra. i apologize)

You rolled your eyes, "Whatever. We'll wait for Teresa to decide. And who knows? It might turn out to be a boy,"

"That's true," Brie sighed, "Time sure slips on by, doesn't it,"

"Yeah," You said staring out the window at the sunset,

"You know, I've heard giving birth is like going through death," Brie told you, "When you're holding that baby you've created, your whole life flashes before your eyes,"

"Yeah," you said softly,

"Deana!"

you snapped your head around

"Are you even paying attention?"

"Um...Yeah," you stammered, "Sorry, I was kind of dozing off." You looked back out the window, "You know what? I think I'm gonna go for a little drive," you went to your room to pack your purse, "You'll be alright here, won't you?"

"Yeah, sure," Brie said suspiciously as you stuffed your bathing suit in your bag, "I guess so,"

"Great," you popped back out of the bedroom, "I should be back in a couple of hours. Don't wait up for me,"

"Okay, have fun," Brie called as you rushed out the front door.

...

You stood out on the beach, watching as most of the people already there packed up their beach towels and umbrellas and chased their kids back to their cars. You smiled, these were the kind of things you liked to see. Your feet skimmed across the soft sand as you got closer and closer to the waters. You could finally feel the sweet salt water push over your small feet, slightly burrying them in the sand beneath you. You looked over to see a young couple, looked to be a little older than you, snuggled comfortably in each others arms on a beach towel, watching the sunset. At that moment you wished that it was you and Dan that was sharing that peaceful moment.

And speaking of him, that very second you turned the other direction and saw him walking up to you. You could feel your heart flutter with excitement, but something about this made it different from the rest. This was a flutter that had a sort of...nervousness to it. You didn't know whhat to feel nervous for, but the feeling still stuck there,

"Hey, Dan," you smiled before he kissed you, "What are you doing here?"

"Brie told me I might find you here," he answered, then he smiled, "I wanted to see you,"

"Any particular reason?" you questioned flirtingly

He shook his head, "Isn't being with you a good enough reason?"

"Yes it is," you leaned forward and kissed him again,

He grinned, "So what brings you here?"

"I don't know." you answered, "It was really warm today, and I passed by the beach and decided to chill here for awhile,"

"And you just happened to have your bathing suit with you," he said, gesturing to the black and green bikini that stood visibly through your T-shirt,

You blushed, "Okay, I did make plans to come here,"

"I thought so,"

"Well can you blame me?" you said, "Where I came from and the way I lived, I wasn't able to go to these kinds of places. It was cold a lot of the time, and when it was warm, there wasn't a beach or forest to go hide in,"

"Why would you need to hide?"

You shrugged, "Different reasons. But mostly it was just to enjoy the view,"

"Now that's a better reason," Dan grinned, "I wouldn't want to think that you were avoiding me again,"

"I'm over that," you smiled, knowing that those words had more meaning to it then Dan probably knew, "Never again will I do that,"

"Are you sure?"

"I've learned my lesson," you said seriously,

Dan smiled and kissed you sweetly, "That's good,"

At that instant you both looked out to the ocean and stared at the sunset. Dan sighed, "It sure is a beautiful sight,"

"I guess that's why I'm such a nature freak," you chuckled, "The way I see it, the most natural things in life tend to be the most beautiful," You turned your head to face Dan, "Just like you,"

Dan turned his face to you and smiled, "You are too kind," he wrapped an arm around your waist, "but I could never compare to your beauty,"

"Hey, Dan," you smiled. You opened your mouth and all of a sudden your every thought you had rambled around in your mind like you were a complete idiot. Dan waited for you to say something, until you shoved him hard on the shoulder and start running away "You're it!"

He laughed and took off after you. The two of you charged back and forth to eachother, tagging one and then running away from the other person. People stared at you like you were crazy, but you didn't care, and neither did Dan. You both were old enough to act however the fuck you wanted, and right now you felt like acting like you were a couple of laughing seven year olds, just running around and goofing off. Finally after non-stop running, you haulted and stood there to catch your breath. Dan came running back to you.

"Are you alright?" he asked with concern

You nodded with one more deep breath, "I'm just not that used to running," You stood up straight, "But I'm okay now,"

He smiled. He took your hands softly and raised them so that he could kiss them ever so softly. You could feel yourself flush as you felt his soft lips press against the top of your hand. Dan raised his head with a smile and kissed your lips, this time with much more love than before. And this one seemed to last forever, too. All you felt was like time had simply stopped and that you were the only two alive and moving, but made barely any movement anyway,

You pulled away after awhile, and gazed into his perfect blue eyes. "Dan," you whispered

Dan leaned in so that he could hear you better, "What is it?"

You raised yourself on your toes so that your mouth was by his ear. You touched his shoulders softly and whispered, "I love you,"

You took a step back, with your hands still on his shoulder. His face was half hidden, but you could still see Dan's reaction. It looked like someting that was sort of shocked and happy at the same time. As the sunlight twinkled on his face, you saw something sparkle in his eye. Was that a tear?

As soon as that thought came to mind, he touched your cheek with his free hand and softly stroked it, "I love you, too," Dan said almost too quiet to hear, and kissed your lips like never before.