Living Silver

December 3rd, 10:45 am.

My fourteenth pearl came unexpectedly on Monday during lunch period. I had been sitting in the cafeteria with Karlee and Pax discussing the events of the weekend, where we had taken my cousins out to play hide and seek in the mall, but obviously restricted them to only one store since they were but four years old, and otherwise we would probably be put in mall jail. And during that time when Pax and Karlee were hiding together, they spotted Ruby with Roxanne’s boyfriend, Josh. And it wasn’t like they were doing anything innocent, such as playing Scrabble or getting something to drink; no, they were making out right in the middle of the mall.

But Karlee and Pax—obviously not thinking rationally—didn’t actually have any proof that it happen. So basically, we had nothing to back up the fact that Ruby was lying, cheating scum, and it was their word against hers. It was unclear who Trey was going to believe, because for some crazy reason, he thought they were meant to be but Karlee, Pax and I were also his best friends. None of us knew what was going to happen, but we couldn’t go to him unless we have evidence that she was cheating on him. At the same time though, we knew that keeping it a secret from him was just wrong, so we were torn.

Karlee’s friend, Josie was also sitting at the table with us. I thought she was a little weird, but that was understandable because she thought I was mental, and she was also two years younger than us. The age gap always called for some mixed feelings, but Josie was very nice and could handle herself quite well for someone who had so many family problems and next to no friends. I felt bad for her, but I liked hanging out with her because she was a pretty cool kid, and she wasn’t one of those idiot nines with their pants halfway down their ass, their skinny jeans too tight or their skirts so short it might as well have been a belt. She also didn’t have a crappy attitude to her superiors like half the students did at our school, where they thought mouthing off to their parents or teachers was going to get them some sort of immunity. She was sweet; she just struggled a lot.

Over the course of half a month, lots of things had revealed themselves to me. Trey had mentioned something about Dalton because of a directory project he had, where he had to interview people about their thoughts on relationships. And Dalton was one of the people he interviewed. He had gone into more detail with Pax, but all I knew was that Dalton was using Karlee for something. If that was the case, it put the conversation I overheard in the hall into perspective, but I couldn’t be certain yet. Grade eleven was turning out to be the most dramatic year I had ever experienced.

Another thing I only learned of recently was that during a sleepover at Roxanne’s house, Karlee had been dared to kiss Trey on the mouth. I didn’t know much about it; all I was aware of was that it was complicated. And there was no way for her to back out, because if she did she would have to face “consequences”. I didn’t know what the consequences entailed exactly, but I didn’t really care. Fact was, she had to do it by Friday, which just so happened to be the winter semi-formal dance. The theme was “Fairytale”, which was ironic considering everything that had happened. We were living anything but a fairytale. It was coming a lot more obvious though, that Karlee was realizing her feelings for Trey. I was determined to get her to admit it by Christmas, because we all saw it but she just couldn’t bring herself to say the words “I love my best friend”. Maybe we were alike that way; I refused to let any feelings I had for Pax come to the surface because really, I didn’t know how I felt about him. All I knew was that “just friends” was not the situation.

Another secret I had learned involved Trey, and his feelings for Karlee. In their English class, apparently their teacher had started them off in September by writing an anonymous letter to another person in the class. They wouldn’t find out until the end of the semester but Trey’s secret was that his partner for that was Karlee. She had no idea, and she would frequently tell me about how she wanted to know who he was and how she thought he was very sweet but it was just so hard to keep from telling her that she was writing to Trey. Not even Pax knew, but I only found out when I was in Trey’s room to get some help with biology and I found all of her letters in his desk drawer. He started stuttering and his face got all red, but I just told him I wouldn’t say anything. Of course, I squealed and jumped a little bit and nearly wanted to hug their English teacher for choosing them as partners, but I didn’t. It would have been inappropriate, but I was tempted.

But when we were sitting at the lunch table on Monday at lunch, I felt something poking me right in the arch of my foot. I thought it may have been the two dollars I placed in my shoe earlier so I wouldn’t forget since I needed it for my bus money, but then I realized I had placed it in the other shoe. I bent down and pulled off my shoe, squinting to see inside of it. And right by the heel now was the fourteenth silver pearl. I was confused because, really—how did anyone manage to get that pearl in my shoe without me seeing?



Karlee’s older sister, Christabelle was in the hospital. I had found out through Chris’s boyfriend, Blade when he had called my house, intended to get Nick on the phone but Nick was out with Marcy, and missed the call. I got it instead, got in contact with Pax and Trey, and we hitched a ride with the twins’ mom to meet her at the hospital. I had been woken up around ten-thirty when Blade called though, so the time that it took to get dressed, grab all my winter gear and run down to Pax and Trey’s house only landed us there around eleven.
Trey was the first in the building and by the time Pax and I had shuffled inside, wind-blown and freezing from the wet snow, Trey and Karlee were already in a deep embrace. Pax started to step forward but I put a hand on his arm and bit my lip. Pax looked at me for a minute and I gave a tiny shake of my head. When Karlee closed her eyes, I said “it’s his moment. Let him have it.”

Pax nodded and backed off. We spent a good two hours with Karlee, asking her what had happened and if she was okay. But I fell asleep on Pax’s shoulder pretty quickly and when I woke up, I was back in my own bed. My mom told me that the twins’ mother had driven me back and Pax carried me all the way up to my room. So much for being heavier than I looked if he could manage a trip all that way. Because of problems with her dad, Karlee decided that for a couple of days, she would stay at the twins’ house—I knew Trey wasn’t going to be upset about that.

Over the time span of about three days, things worked themselves out. Fate had played its role, finally! We had only been waiting for it for like, a billion months. Dalton had been using Karlee to get back at Trey, and Ruby . . . well Ruby was just an angsty bitch who needed to get a life. We found out about most of it from Trey’s video tape—truthfully, it was the first time I had ever been thankful he had gotten a huge project dumped on him—and also when Pax received a video from his friends from Dalton’s party, where Ruby had been caught making out with Josh. There was our proof, so Karlee told Trey and everything was good again. Roxanne dumped Josh since he made out with Trey’s now ex-girlfriend, and Karlee dumped Dalton. After he got into a fight with Trey in the middle of their English class, I casually threatened him to stay away from both him and Karlee, or I would rip off his raisins. He didn’t look at me in the halls past that point. Roxanne had also emailed me and asked if we could talk to sort things out. As it turned out, she had gotten over our problems ages ago so really, I was holding onto unnecessary anger. Ironically though, us making up mostly had to do with the fact that we both adored Karlee and Trey as a couple. We were set on getting them together if they didn’t do it by themselves any time soon.

On Wednesday night, we took Karlee out for dinner. The twins were pretty strapped for cash and Karlee was next to broke since I had taken her for a big shopping spree a few days after her birthday. I still had some money left from mine, so I was pretty much paying for everyone but I didn’t mind one bit. We went downtown for some Chinese food and I could tell by the looks that Trey kept giving her that he wanted some time with her only, even though he would never admit it. So when they had both excused themselves for a washroom break, I let Pax know that we were going to disappear after dinner and leave them alone. If Karlee wasn’t going to realize her feelings for him by herself, we were just going to have to give her a little nudge in the right direction. Because we knew that she felt something for him—she had admitted it during the dance setup after all—but she just couldn’t wrap her brain around how strong her feelings really were. We were going to have to step in every now and again.

“So where do you guys want to go now?” Karlee asked when we were done eating and had stepped out into the cold winter night. It was getting annoying how it was only a few weeks now until Christmas, and there still wasn’t even a sign of snow. I just couldn’t get into the good spirit of December if there wasn’t a single snowflake in sight.

Pax and I looked at each other and smiled not-so-secretly.

Trey raised his eyebrows curiously. “What are you two girls giggling about?”

“We actually have to get going now,” I said and grabbed Pax’s arm, beginning to take slow strides backwards. “Pax has to uh . . . yeah, and I also have to . . . well . . .”

“You know, she has . . .” Pax hesitated. “Stuff to do.”

“Exactly,” I nodded.

“Oh, cool. Then we should get going too,” Karlee said. Pax practically leapt on her.

“No!” he yelled, his arms coming out to stop her from taking another step. Unfortunately for him, his hands were hovering right above her breasts and she noticed it, but he was too concentrated on giving his brother time alone with her to pay attention to anything else.

“You best retract your arms,” Karlee said with a frown, “before I do it for you.”

He put his arms down quickly and looked at me, a little panicked. I shook my head from side to side. “You two stay out,” I replied. “Hang out together. We wouldn’t want to ruin your night.”

Trey and Karlee turned to each other, confused.

“Bye!” Pax called, grabbing my wrist and pulling me away. Neither of us could control our laughter when we were a fair distance away. They probably heard us but we didn’t really care anyway. If us leaving them alone didn’t actually turn out to be anything productive, I was going to be pissed.

“Do you think he’ll do anything?” Pax asked me.

“He better,” I said. “And it’s not like she will so if he doesn’t, I’ll hurt him with a spatula.”

“Good luck with that,” Pax chuckled. “The most you’ll do with that is give him a little jump-start. You'd have better luck with a fly swatter."

I snorted. “You wish.”

“What?” he asked, looking over at me with a goofy grin.

“I don’t know.”

He laughed again. “Okay, weirdo.”

I tugged at my dress, pulling up the straps as they slid down my shoulders under my black wool coat and lifting the bottom so it wouldn’t be dragged through the water and the dirt on the sidewalk. I could see Pax watching me with unreadable eyes; was that desire I hinted? It might just have been the need to watch me as I fumbled with my clothes, but to me it really looked like something more.

From downtown, it was going to take a really long time to get home, but even longer in heels. Luckily, they weren’t agonizingly painful but it was still going to be a challenge. After so long, we just gave up trying and hopped on a bus, taking it down to the terminal and then switching to get onto another one to take it home. When we got off, it was an hour and a half later but it did save us a lot of time either way. If we had decided to walk that distance, it would have taken us until around two in the morning until we actually got somewhere near our street. This was ten million times easier and less painful on my feet. When I got to my house, Pax walked me right up to the doorstep.

“You know this wasn’t a date,” I pointed out, smiling ironically. “You didn’t have to come up here with me.”

He shrugged. “It’s polite. I’m being a gentleman. Don’t complain.”

He gave me a little nudge with his hip and I laughed. “All right. Well, I had fun so . . . thank you.”

Pax scoffed. “For what? All I did was tag along. If anyone should be saying thank you, it’s me, seeing as you bought dinner for me.”

“No big deal.” Something cold and wet hit my cheek and I looked up. Small snowflakes fell down to the surface and I nearly screamed from being so happy. Winter was my favourite holiday, despite how it was bitterly cold, always wet, and didn’t always look the nicest. But those times where you couldn’t help but admire it; those were the days and nights that had me staring in awe and loving the season so badly. I looked back at Pax and he tilted his head to the side. Was he leaning in? I hoped not.

“Pax,” I said, putting a hand on his chest just in case. “We aren’t going to go through this again, are we? I thought we agreed we would be friends. This works for us . . . doesn’t it?”

He nodded. “Of course.” But he leaned into me anyway, and planted a light, friendly kiss on my cheek. “Good night, Andy.” Then he turned and walked back down the pathway to the sidewalk, holding his jacket by the collar and letting out a deep breath that I could see through the dark night. I was relieved—for once, I didn’t have to worry about anything going too far with him.

Things were falling perfectly into place, but the deadline for Karlee’s kiss with Trey was still Friday. However, by that afternoon during lunch time, she had let both Roxanne and I know that she had “done the deed” on Thursday night. To say we were ecstatic and nearly jumping with joy would have been an understatement. But my excitement was replaced by anger and confusion when Trey came to the table, sat down with us and acted like absolutely nothing had even happened. I continued to shoot Karlee looks, expecting an explanation but she just shrugged her shoulders and mouthed “I don’t know”.

During American history when our teacher was making us copy yet another crazy and confusing note, Pax slid a folded up piece of paper on top of my own. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, then opened the note and read it over.

What are we going to do about those two? –P.

I grabbed another pencil and wrote back, We can’t do much of anything. It’s not like we can force them to talk about it. It’s none of our business. –A.

Actually . . . –P.

You want to force them to talk about it, don’t you? –A.

Yes, yes I do. –P.

And how are we going to do that? –A.

Well tonight is the semi-formal and you’re on the dance committee with her. Use your head and distract her. –P.

Will you be there? –A.

Maybe. I’ll text you to let you know closer to the time. Just get them both in the same place and make sure they can’t leave until they talk it out. –P.

I sighed and shot him a glare but he just grinned and returned to his note, writing down quickly everything he had missed. I crumpled up the paper and put it in the pocket of my binder, but something small and round was already sticking out of it. I reached in and pulled out another pearl, confused. How was he doing this? That made fifteen now. But I still couldn’t even concentrate on the pearls, or the guy who was giving them to me. I was worried about tonight, about how things would go down between Trey and Karlee.

This was going to be a lot harder than it sounded.



That night during the dance, Pax texted me and told me that he wouldn’t be coming until a little later, so getting Trey and Karlee alone together to discuss the kiss was completely up to me. The minute I saw Trey step into the gym in his nice fancy outfit, I sent him to collect people’s coats and hang them up. And a few moments later, in came Karlee to help me out with the drinks. I took a quick “bathroom break” halfway through the night to tell Trey that I needed him to fetch me some paper towel from the janitor’s closet upstairs, even though I didn’t need it. He wouldn’t know that. And while he was occupied with finding the janitor’s closet, I returned to the drink table.

Karlee said something to me but I couldn’t hear her over the music.

“What?” I asked loudly, tapping my ear to let her know that I needed her to repeat herself, and make it way more vocal.

“I said I’m bored!” she replied with a laugh. “Can’t we switch shifts and do something else?”

I hesitated, looking quickly across the dance floor to see if Pax was anywhere around. He still wasn’t here. Then I looked at the clock; I had sent Trey for the paper towel a good three minutes ago and if I was going to make them talk things out by themselves, I needed to rush.

“We need more napkins,” I lied, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the hall. “Come with me.”

“Yeah,” she began with a sarcastic edge to her voice, “because that sounds like a two person job.” I ignored her and nearly dragged her all the way up the stairs. Finally, we reached the janitor’s closet that I had sent Trey to, seeing as it was the only one in the school that held supplies and not cleaning tools and chemicals, and grabbed the handle. “Where are we going?” Karlee asked me, looking confused. “You know, I seriously doubt that they keep Christmas napkins in the janitor’s closet.” I, again, said nothing and shoved her inside. She stumbled a bit and immediately, I could see her bones tense when Trey turned around to face her.

“Andy, I don’t know if—” The minute their eyes clashed, he dropped the roll of paper towel onto the cold tile floor. “Oh,” he said, surprised.

“What are you doing here?” Karlee insisted, but all Trey could do was open and close his mouth like a blowfish. He didn’t have an answer, so he looked at me over his shoulder for some help. Karlee turned too, but I just grinned at them.

“Talk it out!” I said, slamming the door. I pulled a bobby pin out of my hair, letting my long curls fall down my back. I opened the pin wide and slipped it into the key hole, turning it and locking them inside. I left it in there so I wouldn’t forget, then leaned back against the door and side, nearly sliding all the way down the floor from being so tired. I had ran around all night looking for them, and my mind was exhausted as well from having to think up how I was going to get them alone together, and control it without having one of them run away. I heard the door handle rattle as Karlee tried to get out but didn’t succeed, and I smiled.

“Andy!” I heard someone whisper from down the hall. I looked over and saw Pax rushing toward me, yanking off his tie. “Man, this thing is a pain. I’m sorry I’m late. How did it go?”

“They’re in there right now,” I replied, pointing my thumb over my shoulder. “We should hide in case they find a way out and want to come and murder us.”

“Good idea.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me around a corner where we could still see what was going on if we needed to. I leaned against a wall and crossed my arms, looking at my watch every few minutes to see how long it would take them before they were done. Pax paced back and forth in front of me, his hands always busy with his face or his hair or his hips. I knew he was fidgety but now he was extra antsy since there was a very good possibility Trey would come and kill him for what we did. When Pax walked to an area where the door was visible he suddenly stopped, his arms coming to his sides again.

“Uh oh,” he deadpanned.

“What?” I asked, looking around the corner. The school’s meanest janitor was hustling up slowly to the closet where we had kidnapped and hidden our two best friends. He was muttering something to himself like he always did but he stopped, his hands clenched around the handle of his mop when he spotted us. His eyes narrowed and Pax quickly slipped back around the corner, taking me with him.

The custodian swore under his breath, following it with “dumb kids” and began fidgeting with the door to the closet.

“Oh my God, I’m such an idiot,” I mumbled, rubbing my forehead.

“What?”

“I left my bobby pin in the key hole.”

Pax sneered. “Oh good job, smart one,” he said, flicking me on the forehead. I scowled at him and he, again, peeked his head around the corner. I could hear sobbing—Karlee’s sobbing, more specifically—before her footsteps retreated.

“Karlee!” Trey called out.

“Shit,” Pax swore, his head hitting the wall beside me. I bit my lip when his chest touched mine. I was too worried about getting caught before to notice the position we were in. Now that everything was over, I was a lot more aware of it.

“Uhm Pax . . .” I started to say.

“What? Oh.” He stepped back and brushed off his jacket. “Sorry.”

“It’s all good.”

He sighed and looked back around the corner. I followed him in time to see Trey throw his arms up in the air and walk away, his hands on the back of his head to illustrate just how stressed out he was about whatever had just happened. “I think we made a huge mistake,” Pax said more to himself than to me.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I know our intentions were to improve the situation,” he started with a tiny, disapproving shake of the head, “but if anything, we just made it ten times worse.”



December 25th, 2:43 am.

“Well, we obviously didn’t make anything worse,” I said to Pax, crossing my legs and covering my mouth as I yawned. He took this opportunity to rub his eyes and crack his knuckles. I winced, a little disturbed and he laughed.

“Sorry,” he said. “And no, we didn’t. If it was a bad idea, then they wouldn’t be together right now. Trey would have no idea about her feelings for him.”

“Exactly, so we did a good thing.”

“Yes.”

We suddenly heard a thump against the door and I jumped, spinning around in my chair. Pax stood up cautiously and walked into the entrance, opening the door. David stumbled in, full of Christmas cheer—maybe a little too much. He nearly collapsed onto his younger cousin, who blinked, surprised, and tried to get him back onto his own two feet.

“Hey Pax! Shouldn’t you be asleep?” David asked, hiccupping.

“Shouldn’t you? God, where were you?” Pax returned, putting David down on the wooden bench beside the door. I stood up and came to the doorway, leaning against it and crossing my arms.

“I had a few drinks with some friends. I didn’t expect I would be out this late,” David said, leaning over with his head between his knees. He groaned and scratched the back of his head. “Where do I sleep tonight?”

“Uhm . . . in your bed?” Pax laughed. “But be quiet when you go upstairs. Sarah’s asleep on the couch.”

“Understood.” David stood up on shaky legs and put a finger to his lips, then began giggling childishly. I couldn’t help but smile. He may have been drunk, but man, was he funny. Although, this was nothing new; David was a comic genius. My schoolgirl crush on him from eight years ago may have been why I was so attracted to his cousin. Pax and David were a lot alike in more ways than one. David noticed me then and smiled, taking my hand and placing a sloppy kiss on it. I laughed. “Merry Christmas, Andy!”

“Merry Christmas, Dave,” I replied.

“Take care of Pax here, will you?” he said, ruffling his hair. Pax scowled and fixed it immediately. “He’s a good guy but he’d lose his head if it wasn’t glued on. Plus, he needs someone like you to look out for him.”

I wasn’t entirely sure how that related to anything, but since he was drunk I had to give him a break. “You got it,” I said with a nod. “Sleep well, okay? We’ll see you when you wake up.”

“If I wake up,” he grinned. “I’m going to be in a permanent hangover coma. You’ll want to run away.”

I looked at Pax, but pointed a finger at David. "Is he aware of what he's saying?"

He shook his head. "Not even a little bit."

I turned back to David. “You know, I’m sure I will run. But you should get to bed because you’re making absolutely no sense.”

“You’re always taking care of me.” He gave me a pat on the top of my head. “Good girl.”

“All right, I think that’s enough time with Andy for you,” Pax said, lifting David’s arm and placing it around his shoulder. He looked over at me and mouthed “I’ll be right back” so I gave a nod and sat down on the bottom of the stairs once he had walked up them, dragging the older man with him. When he came back down, it was about ten minutes later and he was shaking his head, obviously not impressed. “I’ll tell you something,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Seeing your cousin in frog boxers is not always the nicest thing, especially when he falls on you wearing nothing but them.”

I smiled. “I wouldn’t have minded it.”

“That’s because you’re in love with him,” he reciprocated, sitting down next to me.

“That is true,” I laughed. Pax sighed and pushed his bangs back.

“So . . .” He took off his black jacket and hung it over the banister, along with his tie. This left him in his white shirt, the first two buttons undone to reveal that beautiful, constantly tanned neck of his. There was something about it, I couldn’t look away unless he caught me doing it and snapped me out of it. That, or if he talked. “What’s going to happen?” he continued, his jaw tightening. He had fantastic bone structure. “You can’t tell me we’re just friends.”

“We’re not.”

“Okay, so you’re on board with that.”

I nodded. “Of course.”

“Then . . ?”

If we were going to get anywhere in our conversation, I knew he needed me to be completely honest with him. I couldn’t deny my feelings for him. Whether I tried to hide them or pretend they weren’t there, they were just pushed to the side but they never went away, and I think he knew that too, but just wouldn’t admit it to my face. I appreciated that he didn’t. I realized then, that all these months with the drama between Trey and Karlee was like looking into a mirror. Karlee and I really were meant to be – we had the same way of handling ourselves; put away feelings that were bound to come to the surface one day or another, whether we denied them or not; and we were both totally and completely smitten with one of the Weston twins.

I sighed. “What is it with your family? You boys are just irresistible.”

Pax smiled. “That’s always nice to hear.”

“I didn’t cry once over Gage when we were done but with you . . .” I put a hand over my eyes, not wanted to look at him when I told him the truth. “That was the first time I ever cried over a boy.” Pax said nothing, so I took this as a hint to continue. “I didn’t know what was going on with us but I knew I wanted to be with you. I just couldn’t bring myself to admit it to you, because I didn’t know how you felt. You were sending me mixed signals. One day, you’d act like friends was as far as we would ever get from that point and then the next thing I know, you’re kissing my face off in a hallway during Karlee’s birthday party.” I shrugged and put my hands in my lap. “I didn’t know what to feel for you, I just knew that it wasn’t as simple as being just your friend. And at Dalton’s party . . . I was unbelievably jealous of Hailey being all over you. I was contemplating going over to her and knocking her teeth right out of her mouth.”

Pax rubbed his hands on his thighs. “You were jealous of Hailey?”

I nodded. “We had just ended the hookup. We agreed that it was a no-strings-attached relationship. I guess it meant more to me than I thought. There’s always been something about you,” I confessed.

He smiled. “Well.” He took my hands and leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “I’m crazy about you. Saying ‘I love you’ is a big step—”

“Oh, please don’t,” I cut in with a laugh. “I refuse to become that kind of couple. We haven’t even asked each other out on a proper date yet.”

He laughed as well. “Just because I can’t say it doesn’t mean I don’t feel it. And I definitely feel it, there’s no doubt in my mind. As long as you know that, I’m happy.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

“Hooking up with you wasn’t just . . . hooking up. At least, not for me. I wanted more with you from the start, but I figured since you had just ended it with Gage and I kind of screwed up our friendship by being with Hailey, there was no way in hell you would go for it. Besides, I’m not exactly your kind of guy.”

“What, you don’t think an attractive, hilarious, incredibly sweet and reliable guy is my type?” I teased. “Who do you think I would rather be with: a complete stranger that asks me out on a date after a month or a guy I’ve been best friends with for years, who I already know cares about me more than any other girl he’s been involved with?”

“Of course I care about you. You’re the most important girl in my life, even more important than . . . my mom.”

I snickered. “I doubt that’s possible. She gave birth to you.”

He shook his head. “You mean so much to me, Andy. And I’m sorry for what I put you through. I was a jerk and I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“I wasn’t the nicest person either.”

“But it’s not like you played with my head. Your attitude towards me didn’t change every five seconds. I’ve never actually liked someone enough to go that far with them and actually give everything to them,” he argued. “I know I can be an insensitive dick sometimes but when the time calls for it, I’ll rise to the occasion. And I didn’t once miss a beat with you. I care about you too much to let that happen.”

“And I know you. You’ve never been with a girl for more than five days max,” I said, nodding. “I have to say, I was impressed and surprised when we lasted even the first week.”

“So was I.” He smiled and sat back, letting go of my hands. “But I screwed up, and it was so obvious too. That night I got drunk . . . I wasn’t so drunk that I couldn’t even keep track of what I was saying, because I did mean what I said. I wanted you Andy, and I still do. You and no one else.”

“I tried so hard to put those feelings for you away,” I said. “Obviously it just won’t work.”

“We all have our slip-ups every now and again, but I just . . .” He shook his head. “What I did can’t even be classified as a slip-up. I made a huge mistake messing with your head like that.”

“It’s okay.” The clock chimed softly, and I looked over. “Oh, goodness. It’s three in the morning. I have to get home before my parents do.” I stood up, brushing off the back of my dress but Pax’s hand wrapped around my wrist and I looked down at him. He got up as well, now level with me but still a lot taller.

“Wait,” he insisted. “Since we’re being this honest with each other, there’s something I need to give you. Just don’t count this as your Christmas present.” Pax reached into the back pocket of his dress pants and pulled out a small black velvet box with a gold rim.

My heart skipped a beat. “Oh God, please tell me you aren’t proposing.”

He nearly lost his breath from laughing so hard, then quieted down when he remembered his sister was only a room away, sleeping soundly. “No, gosh. I’m not insane. Open it.” I took the tiny box, gave him one final curious glance, and looked inside. I could only stare in disbelief, as the sixteenth silver pearl was placed delicately in the center.

“You—”

“Now you have an idea of how long I’ve been thinking of asking you to go out with me,” he said, his face turning a sweet, light red. "Not even a pearl can shine as bright as you."

“Pax . . .” My eyes watered, and his went wide.

“Oh God. Please don’t cry. I don’t handle crying women well,” he begged.

I let out a breathy laugh and wrapped my arms around his neck, still holding the box tightly in my hand. “Go out with me,” I said. “I don’t care if you don’t have experience with relationships, because you certainly know what romance is. And I can’t think of anyone I would rather be with than you.”

He grinned, his hands moving to my hips. “Yeah? So I can hold your hand?”

“Yes,” I smiled.

“And I can kiss you in public?”

“Absolutely.”

“Thank God,” he muttered, and slammed his lips against mine. We just stood there for several long, delicious moments, locked in a tight embrace. I never wanted to go home. I would have taken a thousand groundings from my parents at that point, and it wouldn’t have mattered because I was kissing Pax Weston, and it was fantastic. “So does this mean we’re dating?” he asked when we pulled away for much-needed air.

“Yes,” I said, giving him a light tug on the back of his hair. “Try to keep up.”

“Me?” He scoffed. “You’re the one that needs to keep up.”

“How do I need to keep up?” I questioned.

“I’ve only been nuts about you for five billion years. You’re so oblivious,” he teased.

“Oh, I’m oblivious—”

“Okay, this could go on forever,” he said. “Just tell me you’ll be my girlfriend and I’ll let you go home.”

“I don’t want to go home,” I pouted.

He smiled. “Then tell it to me and kiss me again, because I’ve waited too long for another chance.”

“I’m your girlfriend,” I beamed happily. “I can’t believe you were—”

He grabbed my face in his hands and planted another firm kiss on my lips. It was mind-blowing how he could apply so much pressure and yet, it was gentle. He pulled back, leaving me feeling dizzy and lightheaded.

Pax winked. “So,” he said. “How about that date?”