It Only Takes One Night.

It'd been three days since I'd confided in Kailee about everything. It'd also been three days since I'd last had interaction with anyone at all. After the awkwardness of waking up beside Kailee and having Jaime walk in on us, I'd just locked myself away. I was mad at myself for admitting all of my feelings after carefully locking them up for so long, and I was mad at myself for actually thinking that maybe, just maybe, I'd have a chance with Kailee someday.

See, I'd overheard Jaime and her talking, and his accusations had cut me pretty deeply. It was obvious that he didn't think I was good enough for her, or something. At least that's what it seemed like to me.

Then again, could I blame him? Jaime's always had stability and a good family, and he'd obviously want someone who could give Kailee the same. I was actually surprised that Jaime hadn't quit the band yet - things were getting pretty serious with him and Jess and I thought it was only a matter of time.

I groaned into the pillow and figured I had to get up out of bed eventually. I hadn't even cleared things up with Jaxin, despite having came back to his place. We'd basically just ignored each other and it hurt. And I'd missed two band meetings and had pleaded sick, but I knew it was only a matter of time before the guys kicked the door down and dragged me to Vic's by my hair.

I sighed as my phone rang. Speak of the devils, I figured, answering without bothering to check the caller id.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Tony."

I almost dropped my phone. Why was Kailee calling me? I knew she had my number, she had all of our numbers, but never once had she ever even texted me, let alone called me.

"Hey, Kailee ... what's up?"

She sighed through the phone. "Are you busy? I, uh ... I somehow managed to flood Jaime's bathroom and I can't seem to get in touch with him and I really need some help cleaning it up. I really don't want to bother you but I really need you."

I really need you. Just hearing those words, even in a different context, gave me shivers.

"I'll be there in 10 minutes," I said, glad that I didn't live very far from Jaime. Poor Kails. What a sucky way to start a day.

It was only when I was halfway there that I realized I was going to be alone with her again. I was getting good at spending time alone with her. No wonder Jaime was starting to wonder if I had designs on his sister.I shook my head in disgust. Damn it, why was being friends with someone so complicated these days?

I didn't bother knocking when I got there, and headed right upstairs. Kailee was leaning against the door casing of the bathroom with her eyes closed, and I could tell just by her body language that she was discouraged.

I didn't say anything, and just wrapped my arms around her. She leaned into me, sighing.

"Life sucks," she said miserably.

I had the urge to laugh. I peeked around her and looked into the bathroom, where there was about two inches of water on the floor. But what amused me the most was the fact that everything seemed to be dripping and that the faucet was covered in thick plastic.

"It's just a little bathroom mishap," I said, trying to be comforting. But she just looked at me miserably.

"Jaime's going to be mad at me," she said. "He's already mad at me. He thinks that I'm the reason you're acting weird, and he's probably already just sick of having me around. And he won't ever tell me but he's probably mad at me for getting kicked out of school and having to come live with him and he -"

"Woah, woah, woah," I said, startled by what she'd said. "Okay, look, let's get this cleaned up before it ruins anything, and then we'll talk, okay?"

She nodded, and I hugged her again before letting her go and walking into the bathroom. "So, uh, how did this happen?"

She looked at me miserably. "I don't even know, I was running water to take a bath when suddenly the tap just burst and water went everywhere. I had to run downstairs and cut the water valve in order to get it to stop, but by the time I got that done, there was already water everywhere."

I smiled at her. "Hey, at least you were smart enough to do that. Not all girls would have been."

She grinned at that, at least, looking less like her life had just ended.

"I tried calling a plumber but they told me the earliest they could come is tomorrow so in the meantime I had to do something to fix the problem so the rest of the house could have water and so voila at the plastic on the tap. Since I can't shut it off because it's broken, at least this way no water can come out." She looked frustrated and I couldn't help but want to laugh at her.

"Well, at least you did something. Now, let's get this cleaned up. Time to use all the towels in this house. Good thing Hime-Time likes the extra thick luxurious towels, huh? It'll make our job somewhat easier."

We got the towels out and I stepped into the bathroom. I felt my foot sliding out from under me and there was nothing I could do about it. Before I even had time to react, I was on my back, the warm water soaking through my clothes instantly. I gave a silent prayer of thanks that I'd left my phone and wallet in my car, and simply laid there. The water actually felt good, it was an unusually humid day outside and I'd been dying in my room, with no air conditioning and a broken fan. I was going to have to get off my ass and go get either a new fan or an air conditioner. It was my own fault for feeling sorry for myself, I thought ruefully. I deserved to suffer from heat stroke.

"I got - woah, Tony, are you okay?" Kailee stepped into the bathroom and stood beside me.

"I'm fine," I said. "I just figured that I'd get a head-start on taking my bath, ya know?"

She looked at me with narrowed eyes. In the dim light, her eyes were almost black and they really drew me in.

"Oh really, a bath in your clothes?"

I smirked at her. "I figured you'd want to help undress me."

Her mouth fell open, and for a second I was afraid I'd crossed a line, because she looked like she was going to hit me, but then she just smirked back and kicked her feet up a few times, soaking the only parts of me that had still been dry. I made a sound of surprise and got to my knees just as she tried to dash past me. I hooked one of her legs and made her fall directly into my arms. Her legs were soaked, and she gasped in surprise at the contact of the water. I laughed at her, grabbing a cup and filling it with water, and held it over her head. She pouted at me like a little girl.

"Please don't hurt me," she begged. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

I just grinned, and dumped the water on her head. She shrieked and pushed me backwards, but I pushed her back equally as fast, and we both ended up on the floor in the water, wrestling with each other and trying to pin the other down. I had an advantage because I was bigger than her, but that didn't stop me from wincing when her nails bit into my skin. We slid back and forth on the floor, water going everywhere. My knees and palms were getting sore from the constant struggling to get back onto my knees. Every time I'd manage to get onto my hands and knees, Kailee would push me back down, laughing like a madwoman.

Finally, I managed to pin her down, and sat on her, with her hands pinned to the ground. She struggled under me, kicking her feet, but she couldn't move. We were both soaking wet and breathless by then.

"Truce?"

She didn't answer for a minute, but finally agreed. "Yeah, truce. We really need to get this cleaned up before Jaime gets home."

I got up, and held out my hand to help her up. I thought for a minute that she was going to pull me down, but she didn't. Instead, she surprised me and kissed my cheek, blushing a little.

"You just made my day a lot better, Tone," she said softly. "It's always good to let loose and have a bit of childish fun, isn't it?"

I nodded my agreement, not really knowing what to say.

We cleaned up the water, and managed to get the bathroom looking halfway decent. There was no real damage, which was a plus, and the plumber called while we were cleaning, and told us that he'd had a cancellation and would show up around 4pm, which was another plus.

As I threw the last of the towels into the dryer to dry, I realized that my clothes were uncomfortably sticking to me. Thankfully, Jaime and I were close enough to the same size that I knew that I could borrow some of his clothes without any problem.

Kailee had disappeared, presumably to get changed too, so I wandered into Jaime's room and grabbed a pair of shorts and a keystreet t-shirt. I managed to peel my wet jeans off and put on the shorts, and I'd just pulled my shirt over my head when I heard Kailee's voice.

"Tony - Oh, sorry," she said sheepishly, realizing that I was only half dressed.

"Really, Kailee? You've seen me without a shirt thousands of times," I said, grinning at her. "Don't be afraid to admire my beautiful body."

I reddened a bit when she actually did continue staring at me, walking towards me. She reached a hand out and gently touched my tattoos, causing shivers to run through me. I felt a bit awkward under her scrutinizing gaze, because despite joking around about having a good body, I was actually pretty self conscious.

"I've always loved your tattoos," she said. "I've never really gotten a chance to look at them as close as I'd have liked because it would have been awkward to just be staring at your body when other people are around."

"I'm glad you like them," I said shyly. "They mean a lot to me."

She sat down beside me and leaned into me. "I want a tattoo," she said. "I think you should come with me when I finally get the guts to get one."

"Why me?" I would have assumed she would have wanted Jaime to go with her.

"I don't know," she said. "I like having you around, you make me happy and less stressed. And I just feel that I've burdened Jaime with enough lately."

"You're no burden, Kails, I can promise you that. He talks about you so much! He really admires you, you're his world. And I can promise that he's not mad that you got kicked out of school, he just wishes that you would have said something sooner about having problems. None of us want you to waste your potential - you can be anything you want to be. But YOU have to be the one to want it. Not me, not Jaime, not your parents. You. Once you decide what YOU really want, you'll be happy, I promise."

She smiled at me, but there were tears in her eyes too. "I'm lucky that I have such amazing people in my life," she said softly. And then even softer, "especially you."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, both of us lost in thought.

I made her happy. The idea of being the thing in her life that brought her happiness was mind blowing. I didn't know how or when it'd happened. Maybe it'd been that way, all along. I guessed, looking back, that it always had been. We'd always had a great relationship, and I had often been the one to make her laugh when she'd had a bad day. I grinned, remembering that the first few times we'd come back from tour, she'd hugged me before Jaime and he'd gotten insulted.

Thinking of Jaime made me remember something. "Hey, Kailee, you said that Jaime was blaming my weird attitude on you. What did you mean by that?"

She sighed. "I don't know, really, he just made a passing comment saying that we shouldn't hang out if you're going to act like an ass afterwards. I guess he figured you didn't want to come to band practice cause you were afraid that I'd be there, and you felt too awkward to be around me after the other night."

Jaime thought I was acting like an ass? That hurt.

"I did feel awkward, actually ... but not because of you. Because of Jaime himself. I overheard you guys talking, when he was convinced that something happened between us. I wish we'd just told him that we'd slept together. I get mad because he doesn't trust me, but then I realize that he's right not to trust me because something did happen, not that night, but another time."

"I kind of agree with you, I wish we'd told him. But at the same time I'm glad we didn't because I like my private life being private."

"I'm just worried he's going to find out somehow, and then hate me," I said, finally voicing my fears.

"He'd never hate you, Tone."

I didn't answer, hoping she was right. I looked at her, at the exact same time that she looked at me, and the sparks that flew between us were bright enough to light up an entire night sky. Her eyes were the color of black crystal, and I had to look away because I was becoming hypnotized.

She slid her hand over mine, and leaned forward, her breath tickling my neck.

"You're too hard on yourself, Tone. It's not like you took advantage of some kid who didn't know better. I wanted you then, and I'll be completely honest, I still want you ... something's changed in the last few weeks, between us, and we can't run from it forever."

And looking at her as she stared at me with her beautiful eyes, and listening to her as she said that she wanted me, I didn't want to run.

But I did, anyway.

In the car, on my way back home, I saw her eyes darkening with desire as she looked at me and said she wanted me, and I remembered the way she'd felt in my arms, or as we were wrestling on the wet floor, or how she looked in those wet clothes, and I felt an uncomfortable tightening in my jeans. I could have done it. I could have told her I wanted her, too, and had her, and then maybe I wouldn't be so damn horny and miserable and mad.

But I couldn't do that to Kailee. She wasn't the type to settle for casual sex, and I didn't want a relationship right now.

So where did that leave us?