"I'm all for the wet t-shirt look," Amber grins, jumping off the low wall and crossing the lawn on suntanned legs, stretching all the way from her ankles to her bum. She plays her fingers through her long golden-blond hair and sways her hips in the way I used to find mesmerizing. Now, I only find it mildly annoying.

"Hi, how are you?" I smile, moving to another flowerbed further away from that wall. I've watered the flowerbeds in the backyard and the huge area between our house and the Dysons' wall and am progressing towards the front garden.

No, I'm not running away; I'm gardening... like a gardener. A good one... with a hosepipe and everything! Besides, it's not working; she's following me.

"Much better now that I'm here," she says, shoving her hands into the back pockets of her seriously short pink denim shorts and thrusting her chest out. I have to step into a bed, crowding myself with plants and holding the hose up like a shield to keep her at a distance. "What have you been up to?"

I don't think she notices because I'm being very suave about it, not squealing like a frightened puppy even once. Impressive!

"Dating Kira," I state firmly.

"Dating Kira?"

"Yes, all over the place."

She's laughing now, which just makes me mad, so I step out of the soggy mud I'm creating to wipe my bare feet on the lawn and drag the hose to a new section.

"You actually did it!" she scoffs, folding her arms, propping up her boobs that already seemed propped up enough; anymore propping and they'll pop right out of the white t-shirt she's wearing over a pink bikini top. "Come on, Ethan, you and I both know it's not real. It can't be. You're just used to her, and finishing school is scary, and-"

"Your grandmother is calling," I tell her, turning my back and heading to the flower beds further to the front of the garden. She's not calling, but we've had this stupid conversation before, and the only thing that became very clear from it was that Amber doesn't get me at all. Not even slightly.

The irrigation system kicks in twice a week, and the lawn is flourishing, but the flowers and other more sensitive plants need a little help in between. I'm glad I remembered today, or my dad would be out here after working all day to save them from dying.

I wish I watered them yesterday.

"Come on, Ethe," Amber says, not taking the hint that I'm done talking to her despite the fact that I'm watering the flowers with the kind of concentration doctors use when they're operating on people.

It's a very good hint!

I cringe when she runs her fingertips over my back. "You can't still be mad at me for what happened. We were friends long before we had fun in the lighthouse. We can be friends again."

"Fun," I mutter. She's right, though; we were friends, and up until we became something other than friends, we got along pretty well. For five minutes, I even thought I was falling in love with her, which was great since Kicks wasn't looking at me as if I might be the love of her life too. I thought she never would. Then Amber went after Jet.

I no longer think I was ever in love with her; I think I was just freaking out and catching a cold.

"Come on!" Amber complains, grabbing my arm, and I have to turn and face her, or she'll trample the flowers. "So, we had a misunderstanding about Leopold, and we had some really awkward moments at the lighthouse. We did some things you weren't ready for. It was nothing; get over it already. Stop beating yourself up about it and being mad at me. You didn't violate me. It's not like it was my first time... or my last-"

"Well, it was mine!"

"Congratulations," she huffs, giving me an irritated look.

"You don't get it," I growl, turning to walk to another set of plants.

"Then help me get it."

"I'm not mad at you; I'm mad at me," I tell her. "I wanted my first time to be with Kira. I wanted everytime to be with her and only her. I messed up, not you."

"That is seriously old-fashioned," she snorts, crossing her arms again.

"I don't care. It's what I want."

"Well, then you can just pretend it didn't happen," she shrugs. "After all, it wasn't all that memorable, was it?"

I turn around to glare at her. How can she be so don't care about sharing something seriously intimate that is supposed to be special with just anybody.

"Oh, Ethe, you really are adorable," she smiles, flicking her hair over her shoulder and peering up at me from under her long lashes with sparkling hazel eyes. "This baby crush you have on Kira is really amusing, but it won't last."

"Why not?"

"Because it's unrealistic and cliché! Nobody marries the girl they think they fell in love with when they were children," she laughs.

"My parents met and fell in love in high school."

"Yes, but they're old."

Even I know that statement didn't make any sense.

"Ethe," she says, stepping closer and reaching up to run her long nails over my cheek, making me shiver involuntarily. "Stop punishing me and being stubborn. You and I can have loads of fun. I promise next time it will be so much better. You'll see."

I've turned into a friggin' marble statue, standing frozen while she rises onto her toes and, laying a hand on my chest, touches her lips to my jaw. "Seriously, you make me soooo hot; I can just-"

She jumps back with a scream when I lift the hosepipe between us and trigger the nozzle, hitting her with a spray strong enough to cause her to stagger away from me.

"Stop it!" she yells at me, but there's no way I'm stopping. I'm giving her a decent wash now, and I'll keep on doing it until she runs back to the wall and dives over it or something. I want to wash her away and every hurtful word she said about Kira and me.

"You said you were hot. I'm just helping."

"Stop, please!" she begs, and I think she's far away enough now that not even her nails can reach me, so I release the trigger, making the water stop. I'm not playing this time, and I think she can tell because she doesn't try to come near me again. She's just standing there gasping, water running in rivulets done her legs and her dripping wet t-shirt clinging transparently to her curves, which was not my intention.

"Oh, my soul!" I hear an angry voice behind me, and the smirk on Amber's face and the overly sexy pose she's striking tell me who it is even before my heart is willing to recognise it. "Do you need to be tied up in the backyard wearing a collar and a leash to keep you from straying?"

Startled, I turn to face Kira. She is completely misinterpreting this situation! Dammit, this is not good!

"No, Kicks, I swear, I wasn't doing anything," I assure her, starting to panic. How do I fix this?! Things have been going so well. I should just open the water and wash Amber right over the wall and into her grandmother's yard.

"Oh, I know, Bunny," Kira says with the sweetest smile and now I'm really scared. What is she up to? Well, I'm not complaining about whatever it is because she wraps her warm arms around one of mine and rests her head against my bicep in a very loving way.

Did she just call me Bunny?

I don't know if I should laugh or cry with relief. I suppose giving her a bright smile is probably the best thing I can do right now. I nearly fall over laughing when she speaks again, her words washing my heart with warmth.

"I was talking to Amber. Perhaps your grandmother could build a cage to keep you from straying into other people's territory and getting all touchy-feely with my boyfriend."

"What?" Amber was trying to wring some of the moisture from her hair, but she drops the mass of long strands and looks away from Kira, who is still clinging to my arm, to glare at me instead. "You really did it!"

Like I said, she doesn't get me. What about our conversation, and the way I told her made her think that I wasn't being serious?

"Yeah, I wasn't kidding," I tell her, my hand spasming around the hose pipe when I see how she looks at Kira. It's the same way she always looks at her. Like Kicks is just some lowly bug that crawled in to annoy her. Most of our fights have always been about the way she looks at Kira, speaks to her and puts her down. I hate it.

I don't know why she's giving her such a contemptuous once-over - jealousy, I guess - because Kira looks seriously cute in her old official Egret's Rest Turtle Sanctuary t-shirt, mid-thigh length cut-off jeans and sneakers. It's her work clothes and in most of my fondest memories, she's wearing it. Her hair is wild right now, probably because she'd untied her braids and just let it do whatever it wanted.

So sexy!

Glancing at Amber, I see her eyes widening and her lips tightening while she grinds her teeth, and I know what it is that is hitting her so hard. My necklace is resting happily around Kira's neck, perfectly at home. I don't think Amber realised I'm not wearing my usual one. If she did, she probably thought I'd had it modified a bit. Seeing my necklace around Kira's neck is the biggest confirmation of the fact that we're together. She knows how much that necklace means to me and has tried to steal it many times.

"Nice to see you again, Kira," she says, giving Kicks a bored look, but by her narrowed eyes, I can tell that she does not think seeing Kira is nice at all, and as soon as she comes to her senses after the shock of seeing the necklace, she is going to be mean to my girlfriend... as usual. I'm adjusting my fingers on the hose nozzle to be ready, just in case.

"Same here," Kira says, and she's not convincing anybody either, except that she is being so friggin' cute about it, tilting her head and pouting her lips. "I'm thrilled beyond belief," she says emotionlessly.

I laugh, enjoying the irritated look on Amber's face. Kira runs her eyes over the other girl's wet hair and clothes, squinting at the hosepipe I'm keeping firmly in place, ready for defensive action, and when she gives me a brilliant smile, I know that she finally understands what happened here.

I can tell that Amber is ready to launch her battleships, and there's no way I'm letting her take potshots at Kira.

"See you later, Amber," I say firmly and start to wind the hosepipe between my hand and elbow to make it easier to carry to its storage place. I'm a little sad the action causes Kira to let my arm go, but I've watered all the plants that needed watering - some of them a little too much - and I'm not sticking around for the attack of the dripping goddess of strife running her eyes from me to Kira and back, scheming.

"I'm also seeing someone," she finally launches her first torpedo, but it's a total miss because that is great news. "Marshall Gibbs. You might know him?"

Oh! I almost laugh. She's really trying hard here. She knows I cannot stand that guy. I know she's only saying it to get a rise out of me. The guy has the personality of dead plankton! The only rise I'm feeling is the return of my toasted sandwich because the whole encounter has left a sour feeling in the pit of my stomach. I need something sweet and fresh to get rid of it.

I need Kira.

"Congrats," I sigh, giving Amber a nod as I turn to leave. "Wanna go grab some ice cream, Kicks?"

Oh! Yeah! Some salted caramel ice cream with Kira sauce. No, that's weird, right? Kira with salted caramel sauce sounds better. I don't want my girlfriend to be liquified.

"Remember what I told you, Ethe," Amber says, reminding me that she's still here and that the ice cream I'm licking from Kira's lips exists only in my imagination. Bummer!

"You say a lot of things," I sigh, glancing over my shoulder. I use my free arm to pull Kira into my side, and we leave Amber fuming in the front yard while we head to the narrow walkway between Kira's house and mine. I'll only stop walking when we reach the garden hose wheel mounted to the wall under my window.

"Bunny?" I chuckle, teasing Kicks.

"I was trying to be authentic!" she huffs, throwing my arm from her shoulders. I don't know why she thought that would be effective because I just put it back again, stopping her from running away.

"Authentic?" I laugh. "Then you should call me something like 'hot stuff' or 'sexy babes' or-"

"Ugh!" she scoffs, but she's not trying to escape anymore. "You are so full of yourself."

Laughing, I hug her a little tighter.

"I was too harsh, wasn't I?" she mutters, and I can tell that she's starting to feel guilty about being a little bitchy to Amber, the girl who has always been very bitchy towards her. "I should go apologise to her."

"Nah, you gave her a bit of her own medicine," I assure her. The last thing she needs to do is apologise to Amber for telling her to leave her boyfriend alone in a less-than-friendly manner. Besides, I really enjoyed that. She called me her boyfriend, and she said it to Amber, of all people. "Let it stew; maybe she'll learn something." Amber can do with some serious self-reflection about how she treats people.

I reluctantly release Kira from my protective arm when we arrive at the hose wheel since I need both my hands to wrangle the pipe and turn the storage wheel's handle to wind the garden hose into place.

"I've changed my mind," I grin when Kira holds a part of the pipe so I can carefully feed it onto the wheel. "I like Bunny."

"Shut up," she huffs.

"I'll call you Snuggles."

"Stop it," she says, enunciating each word very precisely in that cute schoolteacher way she only ever uses to speak to me when I'm being annoying. I've never heard her speak to anybody else that way.

"And then together, we can be Snuggle Bunny."

"Seriously, Ethy, I'm going to kick your ass," she laughs.

"Oh, Snuggles, that is not the threat you think it is; I'm kinda looking forward to that n-" I dodge with a startled yelp when she plucks off one of her sneakers and throws it at my groin. "Right, I forgot what you mean by kicking my ass," I laugh.

Kira needs to start thinking about our future kids! She always says she wants an army of children; if she keeps on injuring my vital instruments, that is not going to be possible. I don't generally like it when she says that, though. It always makes me think of babies in camouflage gear, carrying rifles. I don't want our babies to be soldiers and fight in any wars. Not if I can help it.

Our kids are going to be children for as long as they can. They're going to play at the waterfall and throw each other with sand on the beach or, even better, with water balloons. Yeah, I'll build them some shelters and they can have... okay... yeah... sure... a war... a water balloon war. I also want an army of kids now.

Kira quietly helps me with the stubborn hosepipe, and glancing at her a few times, I see her biting her lip. She is not over the incident with Amber, and I don't blame her for feeling flustered and uncertain about it. It must've been really strange for her. She usually just goes into hiding whenever Amber shows up to play Ivy against my trellis.

"So, what did she tell you?" Kira finally asks the question that I guess was running around in her mind, driving her nuts. I don't know what to say. I know I should be honest, but this is really uncomfortable, and I don't know how she will take it. I don't want her to agree with Amber and all our progress to be wiped out.

Still, I cannot lie to her or not tell her.

"She doesn't think this is real," I shrug. "You and me."

"Well," Kira mumbles, dodging my eyes and I know she's thinking about the car thing and the deal. Now is not the right time to get into all of that. She's not ready yet, and I'll be damned if I'll let a confused girl with way too many issues destroy what I've worked hard for all week.

I love Kira and will not let Amber sow doubts in her mind, especially not when I'm so close to reaching my goal. Getting Kira to admit she loves me... if she even does... I'm almost convinced that she does. I just need a little more time for her to become comfortable with the idea of the two of us together and in love.

"Seriously, Kicks," I tell her, laying my hand on her head, slowly sliding it down her crazy, wavy hair to find her soft cheek. "I am dying for some ice cream. Wanna have some?"

My heart skips a beat when Kira sags with relief, her smile turning her face into radiant beauty. I don't think she was ready for that conversation, either.

"Yes, let's go! You know, I never say no to ice cream." That's true!

When I'm done settling her sneaker back onto her foot, we rush to our homes to change into clean clothes, and upon entering the house, I run into my sister on her way out. She looks a little bit deranged. Pretty, since she's about to meet up with Simon, but still really scary.

"What's up?"

"Did I just see Amber Bitchson climb over the wall from our yard into theirs?" she hisses through her teeth, and now I get the anger and the storming-to-the-door situation I ran into. "Did she do something to you?"

"Hey, I can take her; she's a lot smaller than me," I chuckle, pulling Delia along with me when I cross the kitchen to get to the stairs. I really don't want her to go to the Dysons and try to murder Amber today.

"That's not funny, I don't want you taking her anywhere," she growls, but she doesn't free her wrist from my hand and docily climbs the stairs with me.

"Ethan, I'm serious," she says when we enter my room, and I pull off my wet shirt while she sits on the corner of my bed, looking up at me with eyes so blue, I cannot ignore the fact that she is really worried about me.

"She was being... Amber," I admit, with a shrug, shoving my fists into my sides. "She did the usual. You know? Tried to seduce me slightly, mocked me and said that... she said I'm just dating Kira because I'm scared and that it's not real and won't last." I finish in a rush of words, turning my back on Deli to find a fresh shirt and a pair of jeans in my closet.

"Bullshit!" Delia offers her expert opinion, and rising from the bed, she grabs my arm to stop me from entering the bathroom to take a shower. "Ethe, what you and Kicks have is more real than any relationship I've ever seen, including mine with Simon."

"Seriously? Your relationship with Sy isn't really?" That's surprising; it looks pretty darn real to me!

"Oh, it is! It is very real; yours is just... realer."

"Realer?" I laugh. "I'm pretty sure that's not a w-"

"Ethan, your love for Kiki is real and what she feels for you is real too, she just hasn't classified it as true love yet... but she will! Trust me!"

I shrug. She might be right. I wish I could be as sure as she is. Sometimes I am, but then doubt just yanks out my heart and spits in my lungs.

"That's another thing," she says, letting go of my arm and crossing to the window, looking like a Viking warrior about to set out for battle... in a pretty dress that reaches about mid-thigh and ripples when she walks. Still, the expression on her face is scarily determined. I would quake in my boots if I were the enemy running into her on the battlefield.

"Trust," she says and the word fits perfectly into the theme of warrior maidens going out to battle.

"Yeah!" I exclaim, waving my fist in the air and Delia turns to look at me, tilting her head, her brows drawing together in confusion, and now I'm not so sure we were actually talking about Vikings. "Or... not yeah?"

"You and Kira - despite all your squabbles - have always had this unbreakable, amazing trust between you. That is so important in a relationship, Ethan, and you guys have it in spades. It's rare, and it's special."

She's not wrong. I trust Kira to hit me with her book when I irritate her while she's reading, and she trusts me to do that irritating to urn the clobbering. Also, she knew I wasn't doing anything wrong with Amber in the garden because I said I would never cheat on her.

"She saved me from Amber," I grin, and I can see that Delia is really pleased. "She charged over and grabbed me, calling me her boyfriend."

"That was very brave of her!" Delia laughs happily.

"Are you going somewhere," she asks when she sees which clothes I'm holding in my hands. It's a decent shirt and jeans, not the kind of stuff I wear just hanging around at home or when I plan on being stupid with my friends.

"I'm taking Kicks to town for some ice cream."

"Oh!" Delia squeals, looking way too happy about the news.

"Sure, I'll bring you back some if-"

"You're going on a DATE!" she exclaims, rushing over to give me a hug.

"No, we're just getting-"

"It's a date, Ethan," she assures me, backing towards my bedroom door. "She saved you from Bitch-Barbie, and she is going on a date with you! Make it count."

"Yeah," I chuckle, liking the idea, though she'd just heaped a load of pressure on my shoulders. "I guess it is pretty big."

I'm going on a date with Kira Croft! Yeah, Baby!

♂♀