"He totally likes you," Bella gushed. "I mean, it's so obvious. He's kissed you twice."

"Yeah, but he still hasn't acknowledged it," Mia pointed out, leaning back in the leather chair and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Then you should acknowledge it!" Tori said.

"I know but I'm too shy! I just... it's hard to explain. Plus, he should have to acknowledge it! That shouldn't be my job when he's the one who kissed me!" Mia exclaimed, waving her hands through the air.

"Wait, didn't you say that you kissed each other before?" Bella asked.

"Okay, one time he kissed me. The other time he half kissed me!" Mia defended.

"So one time you half kissed him," Bella argued.

"That means that I have way less so it's on him!"

"Girl, if you don't wanna confront him, then don't, but you seriously cannot whine about him not confronting you."

"I agree with Bella," Tori said from the backseat. "You have got to either confront him or stop complaining."

"Or I could just not."

Before Bella or Tori could answer, as they surely would have, Mia's phone started to ring.

"Hello!?" she answered, relieved for an escape from that horrible conversation.

"Hey, Mia," she heard Charlie answer from the other line.

"Oh, hey. So, what's up?" she asked, confronting his reasoning.

"I can't just call my best friend when I want to?" he asked jokingly. Mia could hear the slight chuckle in his voice and almost sighed out loud, loving the sound.

"Why, of course, you can. Because there's obviously no reason other than that for why you would possibly call me."

"I know, right!? I mean, it's not like I need anything. Psh. Noooo," he joked.

"Okay, but seriously, what is it?" she asked.

Charlie sighed jokingly. "I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out after school on Monday," he asked, his perfect voice carrying through the phone.

"Of course. I'd totally be up for that. How about Starbucks at 3:30?"

"Sounds good. See you then."

"Was that Blake?" Bella asked.

"No, it was Charlie," Mia responded.

"Wait, I thought you loved Blake, not Charlie," Bella pointed out.

"What gave you the idea that I like Charlie?" Mia wondered, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You were literally twirling your hair when on the phone and I'm pretty sure that I actually heard you giggle. It's weird," Tori told them.

"I was not! And I don't like him! I'm 100% Blake."

"Well, that's good. I'm team Blake too. I just, I get this bad feeling about Charlie," Bella murmured.

"You do realize that that's only because you are insane when it comes to my love life," Mia argued.

"Psh, I am not insane! I'm just... fun?" she said although it definitely seemed more like a question.

"Fun, really Bella? You chose fun?" Tori wondered, obviously in the same amount of confusion as Mia.

"Leave me alone," she muttered although a bright smile was shown on her face. Mia was about to say something else but they arrived at the mall.

"I haven't been to the mall in so long," Bella complained.

"Same!" Tori agreed.

"I've never been to the mall." The other two gaped at her. "Oh hush! For one, you already know this, Tori, and for two, it's not that crazy! I was basically a hermit before I moved here."

"Well, that's true," Tori agreed. Mia rolled her eyes as she laughed. The three girls got out of the car before walking to the mall.

"So... what are we getting again?" Mia asked.

"Anything and everything. Plus, you need to look snazzy for Blake," Bella joked.

"Did you really just say snazzy?" Mia wondered.

"I did," Bella told her, unashamed.

"Okay then. So, anyway, where should we go first?" Mia wondered as she looked around at the endless maze of stores.

"We should go to Kohl's!" Tori suggested, surprisingly hyped.

"Okay," Mia agreed, not knowing anything about shopping or being in a mall or even hanging out with friends.

Three hours later and Mia was exhausted. She never really knew how tiring it was to go shopping and was starting to wonder why they loved it so much. She'd always just gone to goodwill which was fun and not nearly as exhausting. Going to a mall was completely different though. There were so many different stores that you had to run around too and it was just exhausting. By the end of their trip, Mia felt like she was about to pass out. "I'm so glad to be home," Mia mumbled, jumping onto her bed. "I'm so exhausted."

"Me too," Tori grumbled, lying on the floor. Why she was in Mia's room and not her own, nobody knows.

"Well, I hope you aren't too exhausted for a late birthday present?" Mia heard a familiar voice call out.

Mia grumbled a response, her face still in her pillow and not caring at all about whoever it was. "Who are you?" Mia asked.

"Blake," he responded.

"Oh," was her only response as she rolled over. "You said something about a birthday."

"Yeah. I got you something."

"You already got me something?" Mia said, confused.

"And now I'm getting you something else. Hey, Tori, do you think that Mia and I could have some privacy."

"Okay, one, Ewww, and two, aww," she mumbled into her hands before standing up slowly and walking out of the room.

Slowly and with great difficulty, Mia sat up. "What did you get me?" she asked hesitantly, hoping it wasn't anything too big.

Without saying a word, Blake took his hand from behind his bag and into Mia's line of sight and boy was it huge! "You have to come and get it."

"Blake! Come on! I just got back from running around a huge mall with my insane sister and my crazy best friend. I'm freaking exhausted. Just gimme!"

"Nuh-uh uh! You have to come over here," he persisted, still standing so far away.

"Just come over here. Please." Mia gave him her best pouty face in hopes that he would give in.

"You really think that that would work on me?" he asked with a small laugh.

"Well, I was hoping," Mia admitted, sighing. "Look, I'm not getting up so you can either come over her or leave the present on my desk for later when I'm not aching everywhere."

It was silent for a moment and Mia closed her eyes again. She was almost asleep when she heard footsteps and a loud sigh. "Fine," Blake gave in, sitting down on Mia's bed and handing her the bag.

Mia sat up slowly, careful so as not to activate any of her many cramps. She opened the bag quickly, her hands moving rapidly as she took out the tissue paper. And there was a lot of tissue paper.

"Gosh! How much tissue paper is in this!?" she asked, searching for the bottom of the bag. When she got there, she felt her breath get caught in her throat. "You didn't," she breathed, barely able to speak in her denial.

"Oh, but I did," he argued. When she looked up at him, she wasn't surprised to see a huge grin on his face.

"Blake, this is perfect. How did you even find this?" Mia asked, starting to get her voice back.

"Well, you know when I was searching your room for that email from your evil mom? I found it when I was looking for your computer. Is it good?" he asked hesitantly.

Mia nodded quickly before rushing over to him and wrapping him in a tight hug, ignoring all of her cramps. "It's perfect," she whispered into his neck.

She let go eventually before looking down at her gift. There, in her hands was the suit. Her suit. The one she made. It had everything she could have ever wanted. It had the mask and the shoes and the big jacket and it was just perfect.

"Blake, thank you so much," she said again.

"It was no problem. It was really my dad. I mean, I just showed my dad your picture and he got it made," he admitted a small blush on his cheeks.

"I don't believe that. This was you. Thank you so much, Blake." Taking a leap of courage that she didn't know she had, she sat up and turned to him before pressing her lips against his.

I guess I'm the one who's gonna have to do the confronting, she thought. It's worth it though.

The kiss was perfect. It was sweet and she loved the feel of his lips against hers as he pulled them closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Ahhhh! My eyes! My poor eyes!" Tori yelled from the doorway. Mia pulled away, her breathing heavy as she looked into Blake's eyes.

Annoyed, she looked over at Tori who was covering her eyes with her small hands. "Is it over?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes, Tori. It's over," Mia grumbled, not happy about that fact at all.

Tori sighed before uncovering her eyes and looking at us. "Dad says dinner is ready. He wants to know if Blake wants to stay over for dinner," she told us. Mia could see a small smirk on her lips and rolled her eyes, knowing that she would have quite the conversation later.

"Sure, I'm totally up for that. And my dad's gone for the night. Working late tonight," he explained.

"Okay, bye now," Mia said, obviously kicking Tori out. Tori grumbled an annoyed response before walking out of the room again.

"Okay, we need to talk. That's our third kiss and we've yet to acknowledge any of them," she told him.

Blake sighed before nodding. "Okay, but we should go and have dinner now."

Mia sat in art, her hand moving across the painting effortlessly. She wasn't great or anything but she always loved art.

Too soon, the bell rang. Mia begrudgingly packed up her stuff, leaving her painting to dry.

"We should talk after school," Blake suggested.

Mia winced, knowing that she already had plans with Charlie. "Why don't we hang out at like six. I have some plans first," she admitted.

"But what about training?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed as they always were when he was confused.

"I'm gonna have to skip," she told him skeptically. "But we can totally hang out at like 6:00 or something," she said, hoping that would be enough for him.

"Okay," he grumbled, a small frown on his face. "Who are you hanging out with," he asked. It seemed to be an afterthought.

"Ughhh," she responded, not quite knowing what to say. "Charlie?" she replied eventually.

"Charlie? You're ditching me for Charlie?" he asked, disgust clear in his voice.

"Okay, for one, I'm not ditching you. I had plans with him first. And second, Charlie really isn't that bad! Just give him a chance!" she grumbled, her anger seeping through.

"Whatever. I'll see you at six."

"See you," she responded, walking out of the room.

She was about to get into her car when she spotted Charlie. He was standing at the bus station on his phone. He must not have had a car or something. "Hey, Charlie!" she yelled, catching his attention. He looked up and smiled when he saw her. "Want a ride?" she asked.

"Sure," he called back, already walking towards her.

"Awesome," she giggled.

"Awesome," he agreed.

Mia and Charlie talked the whole way there. They had no loss of conversation topics.

"We're here," Mia pointed out as she parked in one of the only open spots in the cramped parking lot.

"Great," he responded, a smile on his gorgeous face.

The two friends hopped out of the car, walking towards the building. When they got in, they spotted an open seat which surprised Mia. She sat down next to Charlie.

"What do you want," Charlie asked.

"I'll just get a chocolate cookie crumble frappe," she responded, a never-ending smile on her face.

"Okay," he agreed, standing up and walking towards the register line.

A few minutes later, he came back with the orders. "Hey, Mia." She looked up at him. "I have a question," he told her hesitantly.

"Yes?" she asked, her curiosity blooming like a flower.

"Will... will you be my girlfriend?" he asked.

"Yes," she responded, no hesitance in her voice as she looked into his perfect eyes. Why would she say no to someone so perfect?