A/N: I know, I know. I suck. I suck more than sucking. I can't even think of a good enough adjective to describe how much I suck, and I'm a writer! I'm trying! Please, bear with me here!

But mostly, enjoy the chapter!

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 3 Quotes of the Day:

 1: "AHHHH!!!! i Can't believe you uploaded! seriously, i saw this, screamed, made my dad run in my room yelling, "WHAT HAPPENED!!", I knew Westley did it! mmmhhmmm. i'm a smart cookie (you know the Pillsbury frozen ones with reindeer, during December? ya those) I find it sad that she has to live as Serena, but that's life. ho hum. when's the next upload?

~Ruby The Crazy Purple Banana Monkey"- Ruby_theCrazy

[Hah! Your poor dad :D]

2: "HAHA!

Love always triumphs over evil, remember that ladies." -JustGrace

[It's an actual quote! One that I think I'll take to heart.]

3: "AHHHHH!!!! I saw that u uploaded and I was excited! Anywayz I love shays atitude and everytime she had one I would say it out loud and my sister was like What. The. Freak. Are. You. Doing? And I'll be like "Uhhh. Nutin" (likeon mad tv those girls Lena and...idk I forgot her name) and then she walks away slowly..... Ooooo.... And at the good parts my kitten would be attacking my finger and I'll be like "OMFG, MIDNIGHT!! QUIT ATTACKING MY FREAKING FINGER, YOU CAT. CAN'T YOU SEE IM TRYING TO READ THIS THING?????" and then she still attacks it... I love her but she gets annoying. Like my sister. And my mom. And my dad. And my best friends. Well hopefully get it.. Alot of ppl annoy me..............AHHH. Upload soon because your bed's life depends on it...lol...Ok. Seriously. Upload.....well I gtg....."Midnight? Midnight, where did you go? I'm sorry I yelled at you. Please. Love me...." :D" -Don'tForgetToCatchMe

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They Say Love Hides Behind Every Corner. I Must Be Walking in Circles

Chapter 24

It was the first time I’d gotten a real good look at Forrest in a while. I had always looked away quickly, never daring to stare him right in the eye. I knew that my walls would come falling down the second I did, and that was the part that scared me.

But it was too late to worry about that. I knew that because of that, this little encounter between us would surely end just like old times, with me stealing something of his, as I had before.

His lips upturned into a grateful, appreciative smile. I couldn’t help but smile back, although mine was much more tentative. I was scared if I showed too much emotion, it would come back and bite me in the butt later on.

All around us, people were going berserk over Westley’s confession, despite the fact that the judge was erratically banging on his gavel, growing more and more impatient by the second, shouting, “Order in the court! Order in the court! Quit biting him, Miss!”

But I was barely aware of them. Even with the chaos surrounding us, it felt as if time had stopped, and it was just the two of us standing there. The feeling was surreal. I felt like the world was trapped in slow motion, and we were the only ones who were still living in reality. Or maybe this was all a dream. I wouldn’t have been surprised. I had had dreams of this very moment before, believe it or not. Okay, fine, it was very easy to believe.

“I… I did, didn’t I?” I finally managed to choke out those four little words, or five, if you counted my foolish stutter. I didn’t get why I was suddenly nervous around him. I had never been nervous around him. But I suppose I understood why. I was scared. I was scared that I would act on my feelings. That was something that I had done a good job of avoiding thus far, and the thought that all of those efforts would be futile frightened me.

His smile grew into a wide grin. He seemed to have ignored my question, or statement, actually. “Oh, my God. You did it, Shay. You actually did it. You saved me. You saved me!”

His disbelief was beginning to annoy me. Honestly, was it really that hard to believe that I had been clever and cunning enough to have managed to solve the case mostly single-handedly? My eyes narrowed in response. “Yeah, I did. Why is that so hard to believe, anyways?” I couldn’t help it; how could anyone expect me to refrain from asking it? I may not have been as impulsive in words, but there were some things I just couldn’t resist.

He chuckled, the sound like music to my ears. I realized I had been seriously Forrest-deprived. I missed this easy aloofness, when he laughed at me for something stupid or weird that I did. I was tired of fighting him; I was tired of fighting what I felt for him, as well. “Relax,” he commanded, smile still intact. “I was just saying.”

“Mmm-hmm.” I wasn’t convinced.

He laughed at me once more before turning serious. This sudden change in emotion did surprise me, I’ll admit. “Shay,” he began suddenly. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I’m such an idiot. You must think I’m the biggest jerk on this planet.”

His apology shocked me. It was something that I had dreamed of for so long: the moment when he realized his mistake. I hadn’t expected it to come, though. My mind had always been a bit crazy, and I figured that this was just yet another dream that would never come true. Yet, here we stood, all of the things that had remained unspoken for so long now being thrown out for us to pick up the pieces.

“Granted, I had some different words in mind, other than ‘idiot’ and ‘jerk’, but yeah,” I agreed, crossing my arms over my chest defensively.

He gave me a small smile, encouraged by my response. I suppose it was better than what I could have done, such as throw an angry sissy fit. He went on speaking when he saw I had nothing more to add to my response. “I guess I just couldn’t see past what everyone else saw: the beautiful blonde girl that was obviously nothing like Shay. I didn’t realize that I knew better, what I knew, until it was too late.”

“Which was?” I pressed impatiently. I was determined to make him crack, to make him practically beg, now that I knew his life wasn’t in danger and I could safely do this without the slightest hint of remorse.

“That it doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside,” he declared, coming even closer to me than he already was, to the point where our bodies were nearly touching, and I could feel the heat radiating from him. I was sure he could feel my nervousness, hear the rapid beating of my heart, caused by our sudden close proximity. “What matters is that you’re still the same crazy weirdo I fell in love with.”

I had to laugh at that, although traitor tears were clouding my vision. I couldn’t believe it. Had he just admitted that he loved me? But he had said it in past tense. Did that mean he didn’t feel the same way anymore?

“The same crazy weirdo I’m still in love with,” he continued softly, looking me straight in the eye.

The traitor tears went loose at that moment. It was just too much to even try to hold them in. he loved me! He still loved me! Apparently, he loved me all along, too! I doubted I could achieve this high with even the strongest of drugs. Nothing could compare to this moment.

“Shay, don’t cry,” he whispered, eyes soothing.

“I’m such a weirdo!” I cried, wiping at the tears. “I don’t even know why I’m crying.”

He laughed quietly and without hesitation, he reached out, arms enveloped around me, holding me tight to him. I put my arms around him, holding him tightly. I never wanted to let go, and I was hyperaware of the fact that the space between us was practically nonexistent, except for our faces.

“Well, well, well, isn’t this nice?” a deep yet somehow feminine voice asked suddenly.

I groaned internally. It was Westley.

There were two policemen behind him. I assumed they were the ones that were in charge of (semi) safely escorting Westley back to the prison area, and then later on to the Indiana State Prison, or whatever it was that it was called. They were trying to drag Westley away, but he was determined. He kept on resisting. “This is ridiculous. As soon as you know you’re safe from jail, you go running into Blondie here’s arms. Are you supposed to comfort this douche, Blondie?”

“I have a name, you know,” I remarked bitterly, still holding Forrest tightly to me. Westley scared me, I’ll admit. If he was cold-blooded enough to kill me once, he wouldn’t think twice about doing it again. He was already going to jail, most likely for life. What was one more murder on his records? “That is, unless you want me to start calling you Homo all the time.”

He scowled at me, his handsome features bunching up in a very unattractive manner. “Shut up, Blondie. I wasn’t talking to you; I was talking to the douche.”

“You’re a retard,” I retorted, shaking my head at him. “You asked me a direct question, remember?”

“Let’s go, Mr. Harrigan,” one of the policemen told Westley, trying to drag him away again.

“You should call him Mr. Homo,” I interjected, smiling innocently.

Forrest snorted in amusement.

“And you, you frigging douche!” Westley exclaimed, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at Forrest. It was more creepy than attractive on him, a guy, or so I thought, of course. Maybe he switched bodies, too. “You never loved Shay. And you took her away from me! You stole her from me! Here you are, cuddling with Blondie here, right after Shay’s trial! You make me sick!”

I couldn’t help but be a bit relieved, though. Westley had not heard Forrest call me Shay. We would have to be more careful from now on.

The policemen dragged Westley away, finally; he was still screaming and kicking convulsively, but they seemed to have him fairly under control.

“He was right about one thing, you know,” Forrest remarked as we watched Westley disappear out the door.

Forrest’s arms were still around me, I realized happily. This nearly retarded me from replying. “He was?” I asked incredulously. Was I hearing correctly?

Forrest nodded matter-of-factly. “Yep. He was right about this. This is nice.”

My look of confusion faded into a joyous one. He thought this was nice! Granted, I would have liked a more sentimental adjective, but we take what we can get, right? “You’re right,” I agreed. “It is.”

Instinctively, I leaned forward, breaking the tiny amount of space there had been between us and pressing my lips softly to his. An electric current shot through my body, and at that moment, I knew. I was fooling no one but myself in sustaining the lie that I felt nothing for Forrest. You couldn’t hide chemistry like this; I was in love with him.

At first, Forrest seemed extremely surprised, but then, to my delight, he eagerly corresponded to my kiss, turning the soft, tentative kiss into a hard and passionate kiss.

I don’t know how long we stood there kissing, refusing to take a breath. The only reason we broke apart at all was because Jasmine and Maddie came up to us and told us to get a room.

For the first time in so long, I was truly happy. The feeling was amazing.

“Okay, you lovebirds, as much as we would like to leave you here to make out some more, Shay has a hell of a lot of explaining to do, so we’re taking her,” Jasmine declared, grabbing me by the arm. “Oh, right, Serena has a lot of explaining to do, like that. I have no idea what we’re supposed to call her now.”

I shrugged. “As long as there are no people around, you can call me Shay. But if there are witnesses, I’m Serena.”

“Hmm. Not if we solve this next puzzle in the big grand scheme of things!” Maddie exclaimed, eyes mischievous. I sort of knew what she was talking about, but it was hard to be sure. I assumed she didn’t want Forrest to know about the plan yet. Maybe it was better that way. I didn’t want to get his hopes up in vain, after all.

“What is she talking about?” Forrest whispered to me, in a way that only I was supposed to hear, but I would be willing to bet some good money that Maddie was listening intently and heard every word.

“No idea,” I whispered back, shrugging my shoulders.

I was such a liar.

“I can’t believe it!” Maddie exclaimed after we had left the courtroom. Forrest still had to go get some of his stuff from the jail he was at and fill out some release forms or whatever. Maddie and Jasmine took this opportunity to drag me away. “You guys are finally together!”

“Not officially,” I reminded her. “He hasn’t asked me to officially be his girlfriend.”

"But you guys kissed!” Maddie insisted.

“Yeah, but you guys are forgetting something important,” Jasmine pointed out solemnly.

“What?” Maddie and I chorused, confused as to what on earth she could be talking about.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m talking about Finn! Shay’s boyfriend, Finn!”

Aw, crap, I had forgotten about him. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but I didn’t want to be with him, either.

Of course, with my luck, Finn was running up to me at that exact moment. Maddie and Jasmine gave me meaningful looks before walking away.

What was I going to do? I didn’t want to break his heart; he was completely in love with Serena. But I wasn’t Serena. And that was the problem.

Aw, man. Why couldn’t my biggest problems still be what I was going to steal from Forrest next?