About thirty five minutes later, the doorbell at Brianna's house rang. Her and Kaylei both raced to the doorway, rushing to see who could open the door first.

"I win!" Kaylei called out triumphantly when she got the door open. Benji, Joel and their friends Ryan, Steve and Paul looked at the girls questioningly. "We were trying to see who could open the door first, and as I said before, I won!" Kaylei explained, throwing her arms victoriously in the air and letting them casually fall around Benji's neck. She kissed him quickly then invited everyone in.

"Julie, Amy and her sister Natalie are coming over too. They should be here in a few." Brianna informed everyone of some of her friends' whereabouts as they got comfortable on either the sofas or floor of the family room. Brianna offered her guests drinks and snacks, but no one was in the mood for food, so they settled on soda. (*A/N: Nope, no alcohol! I thought about it, but these peeps just aren't drunken bastards like that!)

Random conversation was going on between the seven teenagers, when Steve suddenly spoke up. "I have to piss." he announced.

"Thanks for sharing .... I think?" Paul replied with a puzzled look on his face. Everyone laughed at the bluntness of Steve and what said in response.

"We do have a lavatory." Brianna said.

"What the hell is a lavatory?!" Steve asked, confused.

"You cant use big words with Steve. He's dumb and wont understand them." Ryan informed.

"I see," Brianna nodded, "lavatory is a fancy word for bathroom. Would you like me to show you where it is, so you don't have an accident on my floor?"

"Please do, cuz that would be gross if he just peed on your floor." Benji said.

Brianna got up and showed him where the restroom was, and was just about to sit back down by Joel, where Steve had gotten up, when there was a knock at the door. She went and answered it, offering Julie, Amy and Natalie, her new guests, some refreshments. She retrieved the pop cans from the fridge and popped a piece of gum from a package that Jeremy had left on the counter into her mouth, returning to the family room, and handing the drinks to her friends and taking the seat next to Joel on the sofa. Steve came back and whined a little about how he wanted his seat back, and then finally settled on the floor.

Small talk began again among the small party, when Amy turned to Brianna. "Anna," she began, "I forgot to tell you this when I got here, but Brandon's car is parked in front of Patty's house."

"Oh really?" Brianna pondered. She decided to take care of that the next day, because she wasn't going to let something like that ruin her almost perfect night with Joel, who seemed to be in a much better mood than in previous days.

She continued enjoying her evening for another twenty minutes or so, talking to Joel. While talking, Brianna noticed that he still had some marker on the side of his face from earlier that day, and she couldn't help but laugh a little.

"What?" he asked, realizing that Brianna was laughing at him.

She pointed to the spot. "There's a pink smudge on your face right there."

"Are you serious?" Joel asked with a worried look on his face. "Pink?" Brianna nodded. "I'm gonna kill Benji!"

"No you wont. He's your brother and you would never do that."

"So?"

Brianna laughed at him. "But Sarah did it, remember?"

"You actually believed Benji when he said that?!"

"No." Brianna shook her head.

"I'm gonna go wash this marker off my face. But not for another few minutes, cuz Steve was in the bathroom for a long time, and its probably contaminated in there now."

"C'mere," Brianna said, pulling Joel off the couch. She led him into her parents bathroom where she handed him a small bottle. "Use this. It'll help get that off your face." she told him, looking at him through the reflection in the mirror and poking the spot where the marker was.

Joel read the bottle. "Exfoliating Face Wash?! I am not using this; it'll make me smell like a chick!" he said, placing the bottle back on the counter.

"You're not going to smell like a girl!" she said, picking up the bottle and pouring some of the liquid into Joel's palm. "Use it. It works."

"Fine." Joel said, "as long as it gets this pink off. Pink is not my color. I'm not a colorful person." he joked.

"Oh shut up. If anyone is an uncolorful person, it's your brother."

"Brother shmuther." Joel finished washing his face with the exfoliating face wash and turned to Brianna. "Is it gone?" he asked.

Brianna nodded. "Yeah."

"Cool." Joel smiled. He watched as Brianna tidied up the bathroom counter. "Thanks." he said softly.

"For what?" she asked, turning to face him. Joel was silent for a minute, not exactly sure why he was thanking her, but knew there was a reason. He was quick to change the subject. "I want some gum!" he whined, seeing Brianna chewing the gum.

Brianna was confused by what just happened. "Last piece, sorry."

"Can I have it?"

"No! That's gross!"

"Fine." he pouted.

"If you want it, your gonna have to get it. And not with your hands. And now I bet you don't want it. So ha!" she said, walking towards the door to head back to the family room.

Joel caught her hand just before she left. She spun around and looked at him. He smiled a little and leaned in, touching his lips to Brianna's. The caught her off guard, and she was a little hesitant to return the kiss, but did so anyway. After a few seconds, she pulled away.

"I'll be right back." she said with a small grin in her face. She turned and walked away, knowing now exactly how she felt about Joel and what she was going to do about it.

*A/N: Ooh, this was an exciting chapter for me to write! Actually, it really wasn't. I wrote it at eleven o'clock at night, so I was tired, but this is so far one of my fave chapters in this story! Well, now I must go because American Idol is on and I just love Simon!! :D*