The few remaining days of spring break seemed to last forever. There was tension between both Joel and Benji, which was extremely awkward, considering they lived in the same house together. Kaylei did her best to try and move on - she participated in group gatherings - as long as she was promised that Benji and/or Joel wouldn't be there. Even though she looked as though she was happy and enjoying herself on the outside, her true feelings were a completely different story.

Today was Sunday, the first day home for Brianna. Her flight had gotten in late the previous night, so she had slept in until nearly noon. She hadn't planned on doing anything that day, except maybe call Joel to see if she could patch things up before school resumed the next day. After crawling out of bed and making herself some eggs for breakfast and participating in some small talk with her family, she grabbed the cordless phone and walked down the hall to her own room, shutting and locking the door behind her. She dialed the number to Joel's house and waited patiently for someone to answer.

Finally, Benji picked up the phone. "Hey Anna." he said immediately.

"Oh, hey Benj. What's up?"

"Nothing. I need to talk to you." he stated.

"Alright, go for it."

"In person. Can we meet somewhere? Please?" Benji almost pleaded, his voice sounding troubled.

"Now?" Brianna questioned.

"Well, yeah."

"Dude. I just got up!"

"So?" Benji muttered as if it was no big thing.

"Give me twenty minutes to take a shower, alright? And then I'll grab my mom's car before my brother takes it and we'll go hang out somewhere."

"Okay, sounds good. See ya in a few."

"Right. Bye." Brianna hung up the phone. What could be so damn important that Benji felt the need to talk to her right now?

In almost thirty minutes, Brianna showered, dressed, waltzed into the kitchen, poured herself some apple juice, gulped it down quickly, set the cup back on the counter and snatched the keys just as she saw Jeremy reaching for them.

"Anna! I get the car first today!" Jeremy called behind her.

"Sorry Jer. I'll be back in about an hour, then you can have it!" she smirked and rushed out the door, starting the car up and speeding away before Jeremy had a chance to reach her.

In about ten minutes, she reached the twins' house. She was about to take the key out of the ignition when she saw Benji already walking down the front steps and towards the car. She leaned over and unlocked the passenger door just as Benji opened it and sat down.

"Hey." Brianna greeted him.

"Hi." Benji replied unenthusiastically.

"So, uh, what did you have in mind? Where did you want to go?" she asked, unsure of where to head to next.

"Let's go to ...." Benji paused for a moment to think, "McDonald's."

"Mc-fucking-Donald's? What is it with you and that damn restaurant?! Why?"

"Because. I'm hungry." he implied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Your always hungry. Wait. So, I came over here to take your sorry ass to McDonald's?" Brianna said, unhappy with this fact.

"No. I'll explain to you when we get there. Now can we please go before fuck head in there comes out?"

"Fuck head?" Brianna asked confused.

"Joel."

"Oh dear. This can't be good." Brianna said, driving off towards the nearest McDonald's.

They shortly arrived at the fast food restaurant and ordered their food. Benji had insisted on eating before he talked, so Brianna sat, eating the only thing she ordered - a McFlurry - and watched in disgust as Benji practically inhaled his entire meal like some kid who hasn't eaten in years.

Finally! ... he finished. "Alright," Brianna began, "now why did you feel the need for me to take you to lunch so badly? And please don't tell me it's because you had no other way of getting here. I'll kick your ass."

"No." Benji took a drink from his soda and set it back down on the table. "Have you talked to Kaylei lately?"

Brianna shook her head. "Not since I've been back. I called her a few days ago from Arizona, but she seemed like she was in a hurry to get off the phone."

Benji sighed. "Then you don't know what happened, do you?"

"No. Why? What happened?" Brianna asked, growing concerned.

"Alright, I'll start from the beginning then."

"You do that."

"Okay, this happened a few days ago. But I had just gotten home from Billy's, 'cause we were jamming. He was showing me some stuff on the guitar. He's a cool kid. But anyway ... so I just walked in the door and I set my keys on the table and took off for my room 'cause, ya know, my room is the first place I go when get home. Well, I get to my door and it was slightly open, so I took it upon myself - since it is my room - to push the door open all the way. And, I don't know why she was in there in the first place, but Kaylei was sitting on my bed," Benji paused and sighed once again, as if it pained him to say what he was about to. He continued, "and her and Joel were making out."

Benji looked to see Brianna's reaction and saw almost every emotion he thought possible flow through her, from the tears he saw in her eyes to anger to hurt to confusion to sadness then to just plain pissed off. "Are you fucking kidding me?" she finally said. "My best friend was making out with my boyfriend?"

"Yeah," Benji confirmed, "my girlfriend was making out with my brother. Or vice versa, whatever. Maybe he was making out with her; I don't know, and I don't give a shit. It pissed me off. I have no idea who instigated it, but yeah. They were."

"What did you do?"

"I told Joel to get out of my room. He kept trying to apologize, but I didn't listen to him and I haven't really talked to him since. And then Lei started crying and she told me that she didn't know what he was doing. And then, after I locked her out of my room, I was leaning against the door, and she must have too because I heard her whisper 'I love you Benji'."

Brianna was quiet for a few minutes, taking in all the new information she was just fed. "You said Joel kept trying to apologize and that Lei said she didn't know what he was doing, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay well, I know Kaylei pretty well, if I do say so myself, and I know she wouldn't lie to you about that. Especially if she said she loves you. She loves you! Wow. I didn't even know that. Now, I've never known Lei while she's been in love, but I sure as hell know that that's not a phrase she just throws around."

"So what are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is ... I know you this isn't what you want to hear, because he's your brother and all, and it's hard to think he could do something like that to you and, I don't even want to think about it, because he's my boyfriend and I would like to think he wouldn't ever do anything like this, but ... I think it was Joel who kissed her first. She was shocked and confused and didn't know what else to do, so her first instinct was to kiss him back." Brianna suggested, trying to rationalize the situation.

"So are you saying your not blaming her for anything?"

"No. Fuck no! I could be wrong, it could be the other way around, but if I know Lei at all, I don't think it would be the other way around. And I know Joel was pissed at me before I left, so maybe he was trying to get back at me."

"But ... why with Kaylei?"

"I don't know Benj, I couldn't tell you. But have you talked to either of them to get their sides of the story?"

Benji shook his head and mumbled an almost inaudible "no."

"Maybe you should."

After a few moments, Benji nodded his head, agreeing with what Brianna had just said. "Alright."

"Okay. I'll take you home now and you can go talk to Joel. And be civilized about it. Don't yell in his face and start accusing him of everything now because remember, it could be Kaylei's fault - not his." Benji nodded. "And then let me know tomorrow how it goes." Brianna concluded.

"You should be a therapist." Benji said, trying to lighten the moment.

Brianna laughed. "No I shouldn't. I just want to know what the hell really happened. Honestly, I'll probably drop you off, go home and sulk and cry in my pajama's because my boyfriend cheated on me while I was gone!" she explained as they walked back out to the car, laughing at the pathetic attempt to cheer herself up.

Benji could see that all the news she had been given that day upset her and that she was holding back tears. Just before they both climbed into the car, Benji gave Brianna a friendly, reassuring hug. "Don't worry Anna," he said softly, "everything's gonna be alright."

*A/N: Whoo! That was a lot of dialogue!! Heh heh heh ... I just HAD to make Benji say that at the end!! I was listening to Waldorf Worldwide as I was finishing this chapter, and it just seemed to fit! So ... wah lah. Another chapter for you kiddies to read and review!! Thank ya kindly!!*