After school on Tuesday, Alexia met Roman outside on the schools front steps. People were still staring at Alexia, but after a full day of it, she had learned to ignore it. Demetri had said he would set the record straight and that nobody would believe the rumor, but he hadn't done a thing to make people believe the truth. For that, Alexia ignored him in first and second block, and brushed him off by their lockers after school. She knew she was being mean, but she couldn't help blaming him a little bit for what was going on. So far it didn't seem like Roman had heard anything about the rumor, or else he was just choosing to ignore it.

"Hey you, how was your day?" Roman was coming down the stone steps looking very happy to see that she was waiting for him.

"Hey, I've had better, but I'm looking forward to a nice big cone of bubble gum ice cream!" They started walking away from the school when he motioned toward the parking lot.

"My car is parked in here."

"I didn't know you even had a car."

"To be honest, you don't really know that much about me, other than the fact that I'm not the best guy to party with." They both laughed.

"Aw, come on, you were great to party with, but next time I think you should just skip the beers. I think we will have a much better time." She gave him a light shove in a playful manner, and she felt her body get hot all over, and her face got extremely flushed.

She saw his whole body tense up when she touched him, and when she looked at his face it was flushed more than hers was.

"This is it." He had stopped in front of a red mustang convertible.

"Is this actually your car? How have I never noticed it until now? This is a hot car, Roman." He opened her door for her and motioned for her to get inside. "Why, thank you," she said with a smile. What a gentleman, she thought to herself when he closed the door very carefully for her. Alexia could see Stacy and Katy whispering with a group of girls not far from the car, and one of them was pointing right at her.

"So, you ready to go?" Roman was in the driver's seat now, putting on his seatbelt.

"Yeah, let's go." As they pulled out of the parking lot, Alexia unrolled her window and flipped Stacy and her friends the bird as they drove by.

"That was lady-like," Roman laughed. "Isn't that the girl whose sink I puked in?"

Alexia liked how Roman could joke about what happened to him at the party. "Yes it is, and she is also the girl who I really don't like at the moment." Alexia didn't want to get into this mood; she wanted to have a good time with Roman. "You know what, I don't want to get into that conversation right now. I'm just going to warn you that by tomorrow people are probably going to think we are sleeping together." She sighed and put her head against the window.

"You know I don't believe those stupid rumors, right?"

"To tell you the truth, I just assumed you hadn't heard them."

"I know you're not that type of girl, Alexia."

"How would you know?" She could feel herself getting into a bad mood and she really didn't want to. She tried to change the subject by saying they were close to the ice cream place but Roman said something at the same time.

"That's one thing that never changed..."

"I'm sorry?"

"What?"

"You said something."

"No, I didn't."

Alexia looked at him peculiarly. "Yes you did, you said something about 'never changing'. What did you say?"

"Alexia, I didn't say anything," Roman replied.

"I swear I heard you say something."

"Honestly, Alexia, you're hearing things." She looked at him suspiciously and he turned to look at her. It was the first time she had been alone with Roman and now his eyes seemed to shine brighter then she had ever seen. They reminded her of the ocean, now that she was really looking at him, and she could almost see the colors moving like water.

"Your eyes calm me. There is something about them that's very... comforting or familiar." They stared at each other for a moment and then he looked away from her as he pulled into the parking lot of the ice cream shop. "Sorry, that was a weird thing to say." Alexia tried to clear her thoughts, but found it hard. There was something bothering her about how familiar the way he looked at her was.

"It's okay. I seem to have that effect on people." He smiled at her before he hopped out of the car.

You have no idea, Alexia thought.

The shop they were going to had been around ever since Alexia could remember, and it never changed. It was a small building with brick walls and a bell that rang when you opened the green front door. Inside, it still had a 50s theme; the owner had never remodeled and everyone in the town liked it that way. The squishy red booths were worn and torn in some places, with cheap patch jobs done where needed. Pictures of famous actors from the 50s and 60s lined the walls of the shop.

Alexia used to come here with her mother every Monday after school, but once Alexia started Junior High School, she didn't want to be seen hanging out with her mother. The owner, Mrs. Riley, always knew right away what Alexia would order. She had gotten the same thing every single time she came in here, which was three scoops of bubble gum ice cream on a waffle cone.

"Hello, Alexia!" Mrs. Riley recognized her right away, even though she hadn't been in here for probably a year. "It's been a long time. How have you been? How's your mother?"

"She's great, Mrs. Riley, working a lot but she seems to be enjoying herself."

"That's great, dear. The usual bubble gum, then?" She was already grabbing the waffle cone that she knew Alexia would be asking for.

"That would be great, thank you. What about you, Roman, what's your flavor?" She did a cute little butt shake and he laughed.

"I'll take the same, thanks." Mrs. Riley smiled at him and grabbed another waffle cone. Roman turned to Alexia. "You must come here a lot if she knows exactly what you're going to order."

"This place has been here for as long as I can remember, and I used to come here every Monday with my mom. I always got the same thing so after a while they caught on that it would ever change."

"You don't really talk about your family too much..."

"There's not much to say about them. My mom is always working, and my Dad lives in California. I don't really have a relationship with either of them anymore..." Thinking about this made her a little upset. She had been close with her mother for a long time, but as she grew up they grew apart.

"What about your parents?"

Roman took his cone from Mrs. Riley and thanked her. He then led Alexia to a booth in the far back corner of the shop. They sat across from each other enjoying their cones for a moment before he answered her. "Not much to say about them. They both died."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, we don't have to talk about this." Alexia felt horrible for asking, and she had no idea how to handle the situation.

"It's fine, it happened a long time ago. A really long time ago, so it doesn't bother me anymore."

"You must have been really young."

He smiled when she said this, which was not the reaction she expected at all. "I guess you could say that." Alexia gave him a confused look. "I have a brother too, you know," he said quickly, trying to draw attention away from his last comment.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, we don't talk though. After our parents died, we grew apart. Even before then we never really got along."

The look on Roman's face told Alexia that he was thinking about his past, about something deep and meaningful. She wasn't sure if she should push the subject too much, as it looked like he was getting slightly sad, but she pressed on and asked, "What's his name?"

When Alexia asked, she could see his body tense up, like he didn't know what to say, which she found very odd.

"Dee. His name is Dee." He forced a smile and looked away from her quickly. She could tell he was getting uncomfortable, so she moved away from the topic of family.

"Who are you living with then?"

"I rent a basement suite from an old couple five minutes out of town."

"How do you do that? Isn't living on your own super expensive?" Alexia had never met anyone her age that lived on their own, as it wasn't a common thing in her town.

"I got quite a big inheritance when my parents passed, since they had worked hard their whole lives. They wanted my brother and I to have a good life when they were gone." Getting off the topic of his family was not working so well.

"When my grandpa died, I inherited his vacation house in Kissamos. It's on Crete... you know, the island just off Greece? It's not officially mine until I turn eighteen, though. Nobody has a clue why he left it to me, but I'm happy he did. Everybody expected him to leave it to my grandma because she is still healthy. Maybe she told him she didn't want it."

"That's very interesting," Roman responded. Alexia didn't think it was that interesting at all, but now Roman was acting a little strange and fidgety. "Have you been there before?" He had quickly regained his composure but was still appeared slightly anxious.

"Uh yeah, I have been there a couple of times. It's beautiful there. The last time I was there I think I was twelve or thirteen. That was right after my Grandpa died, and it was kind of sad being there without him. After he died, my mom and I began to grow apart so we never made any plans to go back together. It gets rented out to different people, and my grandparents had many friends out there who look after it now."

"So, once you turn eighteen are you planning to go back there?" They had both almost finished their ice creams now. Small puddles of melted ice cream had formed on the old table in front of them, dripping from the bottom of their cones.

"Yeah, Ellie, Cheri, and I all turn eighteen in the same month, so we have been saving as much as we can to all go together."

"August is quite a long time away, so you have a lot of time to save."

"Yeah, we're all expecting a big chunk of money from our parents for graduating that we can put towards the trip. Wait a second... how did you know my birthday is in August?" Alexia felt a little freaked out. She knew she had never mentioned it to him, and was pretty sure that nobody he talked to about her would randomly bring up when her birthday was.

Roman was frozen, he had no words. He knew he had made a mistake that could make him lose everything. If he didn't think of something quick, she would get up and leave, walk home and be too weirded out to give him another chance. This kind of thing had happened a few times before.

When he didn't say anything, Alexia looked away from him and focused on the clock over the counter. "You know what, I have to get going. I told my mom I would be home to... clean up my room."

Roman knew she was just making up a lie. He could always tell when she was lying to him, and it hurt so much. "Thanks very much for taking me here, though. It's been too long since I've been to this place."

Roman was trying to shrug off what had just happened. He didn't want her to think he was a stalker freak or anything like that. The truth was that he knew a lot of things about her, more than she could ever imagine. "Yeah, no problem, I can take you home." He was pleading inside that she would at least let him drive her home.

"That would be great, thank you." She didn't want to be rude to him, and honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal to her that he knew what month her birthday was. It's not like he had blurted out the exact date or anything. For some reason, Alexia couldn't help but give him chance after chance. It was like when she was around him she wanted to pick out all the positives and ignore anything else.

Most of the drive back to her house was silent. It was only about a seven-minute drive and neither of them said a word until they were a block away from her home. Alexia was the type that hated awkward silences, so she was relieved when Roman finally said something.

"You seemed a little freaked out when I knew what month your birthday was on." He had spent the last five minutes trying to think of the best way to recover from his blunder. "I didn't mean to freak you out or anything. When we were at the party, I overheard Cheri saying something to Stacy about a trip in August. When you told me, your friends were going with you, I just assumed that was what she was talking about. I'm sorry if I weirded you out." He looked over at her to try to tell what she was thinking. She looked like she was buying it after all, since that very well could have happened.

"Oh well, I wasn't freaked out or anything," she said. He raised a brow at her and she couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, maybe I was a little, but it's fine, I believe you." She wasn't lying; she did believe him. Maybe not because the story made sense but more because she wanted it to be true. She didn't want to think that he was a weirdo who knew too much about her. She wanted him to be a normal guy because she was really starting to like him. "This is my house right up here."

She turned to thank him for taking her out and getting her mind off all the drama at school, and when she did, his face was close to hers and he was looking straight into her eyes. Immediately she was drawn towards him, as if his eyes and her eyes had a string attached that was getting shorter and shorter, pulling them closer together.

"Your eyes are so beautiful, Alexia. I hope you don't mind me saying that." As he spoke she could feel his breath on her face, and it smelled sweet and oddly familiar. She was starting to get that déjà vu feeling again and then his arm was around her neck pulling her in closer, their lips almost touching. They were still looking dead into each other's eyes and she watched as the shades of blue in his eyes began to churn together as Demetri's had before she kissed him. When he spoke next, he was so quiet Alexia barely heard him. "Give in, Alexia, don't fight it."

It happened exactly how it had with Demetri. As soon as the words left Roman's lips, they were kissing. When she had kissed Demetri, it was as if she had no choice and she had to give in to that look in his eyes. She had liked kissing him since it felt good. With Roman, she wanted to give into it; it was her choice to kiss him. Not only did it feel good, it felt right. All at the same time, she felt a sense of familiarity, comfort, and calm. When they finally pulled away from each other, she felt that insane burning all over her body, her face was instantly flushed, and she felt really embarrassed.

"I should go inside." She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car without another word, leaving Roman with the same burning sensation pounding through his body.

The next few days, Alexia tried very hard to ignore both Roman and Demetri, which was hard because they were in most of her classes. After realizing how horrible it must look for her to hook up with two different guys in a matter of four days, she knew she needed some time to make up her mind. It was not like her at all to act this way. Yes, she had always enjoyed having guys' attention, but she had never juggled two at a time. It was as if when these two boys arrived they turned her life upside down and shook it around, disturbing all the perfect pieces.

One of the worst parts was she really did like them both very much. Even though she had been mad at Demetri for the rumor that had been started about them she knew it really wasn't his fault. He was trying extremely hard to shut the rumor down and it seemed to be working a bit. Although the day after she had gone out with Roman, somebody had started a rumor about Alexia and him also going back to his house. Before she had even arrived at school she was prepared for the worst. Cheri had once again not been able to trace it back to anyone, but Alexia had her suspicions. Stacy.

"You know, that girl really is a bitch." Ellie had said after Alexia told her friends she suspected Stacy had started the second rumor. "She is just jealous of you." Her friends were being so supportive to her and she was more than grateful.

"Well, I'm not going to hang out with either of them for a while." They both looked at her so shocked.

"You're giving up?" Cheri had said.

"Not giving up, just taking some time. I mean, if I had acted more like myself I wouldn't be having this problem. When have I ever kissed two guys in less than a week? I don't think I have ever even kissed two different guys in a month! It was just so hard not to..." She had decided not to tell her friends about the way their eyes had taken control of her. If she did, they would probably think she was going crazy.

Over the next week, her friends very gentlymentioned on multiple occasions that the guys might give up on her completelyand move in on some other girl. Alexia had considered this too, but she knewthey would both wait for her. She had no idea how she knew, she just did. Theyhad both dropped many hints that they would like to get together with her, butshe kept making lame excuses. They probably knew she was lying, but at thispoint she had to think about herself and what she was going to do. She couldn't be distracted or swayed by either of them.