Paris stood staring at me full-on, her hands on her hips, she looked pissed but what really got to me was her eyes... her eyes that glistened with tears I knew she would be too proud to shed. I threw myself on the mercy of the court.

"I can't. You should hate me, Paris. You have every reason, every cause. What I did to you... it's inexcusable."

She frowns at me. I guess she was expecting me to defend myself and when I chose not to I threw her off a bit. 

"Damn, right it is," she tells me and turns away to lean on the counter. "I thought we were friends?" she said in a sad whisper.

Now it was my turn to be confused. "Paris, we are friends."

"Then why would just blow out of there? Why wouldn't you come to talk to me yourself? Why would you send Adam of all people to talk to me instead? I know it wasn't a date. I know I'm not your girlfriend or anything but it hurt, Finn. That you cared that little about me, that you felt that I didn't even deserve an explanation."

"I know I should have..." Then something she said sunk into my brain. "Wait! Didn't Adam explain to you why I left the way that I did?"

Paris throws her hands in the air in exasperation. "He told me you had to leave. It was an emergency, involving Brynn."

I stood there astounded. "That's it?! That's all he said?!"

Paris gave me an aggravated shrug of her shoulders and just stared at me.

"I'm going to kill him!" I kick the oven and if you've ever kicked a steel object you know you immediately regret the decision about the second after you do it. "Son of a...Mmm!" I yell, damn that hurts.

Paris's expression immediately changes to concern, "Are you okay?"

When our eyes meet however, she turns away and crosses her arms over her chest before adding, "Not that I care."

"Of course, not," I mutter, and swear under my breath, my foot is still hurting.

Paris peeks back over at me and said, "Of course, you're not okay or of course, I don't care?"

I shrug, rubbing my foot against the back of my leg. "Both, I guess."

"Damn it! You know I do too care!" she yells at me and I can't help but grin at her.

"Don't you dare grin at me, Finn Nash! You really hurt my feelings."

"I know," I said hanging my head in shame, "I know and I'm sorry Paris. I expected Adam to tell you a whole lot more than he did."

Paris relents just a little, "Is your foot okay?"

"I'll live," I tell her.

"You're an idiot," she informs me.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Adam is an incredible dancer, " she says with a mischievous grin.

Once again I'm stunned by something she said involving Adam. "Are you messing with me?"

"No," Paris says with a shake of her head, "He's awesome. So as far as a dance partner to leave behind you didn't do half bad."

"It really wasn't my intention to leave him behind. To leave at all really," I inform her.

"Then why did you?" She asks leaning her back against the counter. "Was it Brynn's grandmother? Is she okay?"

"Her grandmother is still in the hospital but no. Adam had called me when I went to the restroom. He told me that Brynn had called him to say goodbye and that he feared that she was thinking of killing herself."

"WHAT?!" Paris exploded.

Guess it was my turn to surprise her. "That's why there was no time to explain. He drove to the prom to give me his car to go search for her. She wasn't answering his calls and he thought if I did manage to find her, I would be the best to talk her off of the ledge, so to speak."

"Oh my God!" Paris still looked stunned. "Well what happened?!" she demanded to know.

"I did find her. She had no intention of killing herself but she was trying to run away."

"Runaway? Why?" Paris wanted to know.

I let out a long sigh. This was still painful for me to say. I hated saying it out loud because it somehow made it all the more real for me, and I didn't want it to be real. Still... "Brynn's been diagnosed with cancer, same cancer that killed her mom. She didn't want to put anyone through what she had been through so planned to run off and just deal with it on her own."

Paris just stared at me like this was a lot of information to absorb all at once and she was still in the process of trying to soak it all in. All I got out of her after several minutes had passed was, "Wow!"

"Yeah," I said rubbing the back of my neck, trying to relieve the sudden tension there.

Paris' face contorted with intense concentration. "She's going to make it."

It took me a second to realize that she said it like a statement, not a question and I smiled. So like Paris. If she wills it, it must be so.

"I pray your right."

She grins at me. "Don't you know by now I'm always right?"

I laugh. "I really should, shouldn't I?"

Her hands were back on her hips. "Yes, you really should."

"I am really sorry, Paris. I never wanted to hurt you."

Her smile falters a bit. "I hurt myself, Finn. You're not responsible for my feelings."

I tilt my head and look at her. "I know just agreed you're always right but not on this. I know how you feel about me, Paris."

Her cheeks immediately flush with color. "You do?"

"Yes," I tell her. "And I'm flattered but I don't want to continue to hurt you. You know where my heart lies. I value our friendship but I don't know if it right to continue it?"

Paris' eyes widen in alarm. "What do you mean? You don't want to be my friend anymore?"

Those eyes glistened over again. What the hell... "Of course, I want to be your friend. I worried about losing your friendship all week, but I'm worried that being in your life... knowing how you feel... will only cause more harm. I hate thinking I've caused you pain, somehow."

She's shaking her head vehemently, no. "No, please don't. It's a stupid crush is all. I knew about you and Brynn from the very beginning. I've been your biggest cheerleader all this time. You've always been honest with me about her. I just ..." She looked away struggling it seemed to find her next words.

"Just what?" I prod.

"I just wish I had someone care about me the way you do her. The way you talk about her Finn, it was like reading an awesome romance story and I couldn't help falling for the main character, even while I'm rooting the entire time for his relationship with someone else to have it's happily ever after."

"Well, I am rather dashing," I tease and I'm immediately rewarded with her cocky grin.

"Yeah, but you're still an idiot."

"That, too. So... where does that leave us?"

"I don't want to lose your friendship," Paris stated bluntly.

"I don't want to lose yours either," I tell her.

She smiles at me. "Then it's settled. We are friends and we will remain friends for the duration, however long, we are in each other's lives." She jutted out her hand to shake on it.

"Is this legally binding?" I ask with a chuckle before taking her hand in mine.

She flushes again. "Yeah, something like that. You can expect me to hold you to it."

I grasp her hand firmly and shake it. "Deal," I tell her.

I get my first genuine smile of the night. "Deal," she echoed. "Okay, now that all that drama is over. We really need to get to work."

I give her a mock salute that makes her laugh. "What's up first, boss?" And just like that, we were back to our old ways and rhythm of how we always were with one another and it felt good.

As the night progressed, I kept thinking about Paris and her saying that Adam was a good dancer. So, he stayed... but he not only stayed. He participated. My curiosity began to get the better of me.

On break, I had to ask. "So, Adam?"

Paris doesn't even stop moving about as she pulls a pizza from the oven. "What about him?"

"You danced?"

"Yes."

I couldn't help but take note of how suddenly the flow of information became stunted.

"And he's good?"

"Very." She pushes past me to get more pizza boxes.

I lean against the conveyor belt oven wondering and since I was only getting one-word answers decided to ask a more telling question.

"Slow dancer?" I ask with one eyebrow raised and she glances at me briefly only to frown, cut up a pizza on the board and throw it in the box.

"Yes."

I can feel the grin spread across my lips. "You didn't happen to dance with him to say... I don't know... Lady in Red."

Her headshots up, her cheeks glow red and she glares at me.

"What if I did? It doesn't mean anything?"

"Of course, it doesn't," I say reassuringly. "It's the kiss at the end of the night that counts."

Paris' hand still over the pizza that she was about to cut, she looks flabbergasted. "He... he told you about that?" A moment's pause..."I can't believe he told you about that!!!" She starts to violently cut the pizza into eighths.

I am literally biting my tongue thinking ... Holy shit! I was just teasing. Adam kissed Paris!!! And had to back up when she waved the cutter at me.

"What did he tell you?!" She actually growls before she mumbles, "It was a mistake. I didn't mean to it to happen. I just got caught up in the moment, you know? He said he wouldn't tell anyone... that... THAT... LIAR!"

Oh man, she kissed him! No wonder Adam flushed when I asked if something happened but now I realized I may be accidentally getting him into trouble. Not that he didn't deserve it after not informing Paris why I left that night but I just couldn't do it.

"Calm down, Paris. He didn't tell me, I guessed."

"Yeah, right!" Paris said as her lips pressed into a think lined smirk that begged the question, Do I look like an idiot to you?

"No really. I had seen Adam, to return his car to him. I asked how everything went. He ... blushed a little and I wondered if something happened but when I asked him he wouldn't tell me a thing. We're not exactly friends, you know?"

"Yes, I got that impression," Paris informs me and I immediately wonder what he may have said.

"So you kissed him?" I ask sheepishly.

"You don't really take him as the type to kiss me do you?"

Paris had me there. "No, definitely not. So...?" I push.

"Nuh-uh... my lips are sealed," Paris stated shoving the next pizza in a box.

"I guess they would be if you got them pressed against Adam's," I taunt.

She holds up the pizza cutter in a menacing way, "I will cut you!" she warns and I laugh.

"Augh! It's too humiliating," she said, dropping her weapon and covering her face with her hands. "I can't. Don't make me tell."

I really wanted to know but I just couldn't bring myself to force her to divulge the information.

"Well, for what it's worth. I think you made quite an impression on him."

She peeks at me through her fingers. "Really?"

I smile, take the slips and the pizzas that needed to be delivered. "Really," I tell her.

Paris lowers her hands but still looks nervous. "You don't think...?"

"Only one way to find out?" I tell her and she smiles.