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"You lied to me!"
Those were the first words she heard after Sharon had said hello into the phone later that night. "Kelly! What are you talking about now?"
"The picture! What else would I be talking about?"
"But I just sent that scan five minutes ago!"
"And I just happened to be online when you did that. Sharon, what's holding you back? He's gorgeous!"
"Vin?"
"Damon! Although true, Vin's not at all bad on the eyes, but Damon's hot!"
Sharon burst out laughing at Kelly's bluntness and couldn't stop for the next couple of minutes. It was bad enough that Kelly couldn't even get a word in. Eventually though, she was able to calm down enough to catch her breath. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go off like that. You just certainly have a way with words. Still, I'm confused. What did I lie to you about?"
"Okay, maybe you didn't lie to me," she conceded. "But you deliberately did not tell me how cute Damon really is!" Kelly replied with a soft 'hmph!' "And I just don't see how this can be so amusing to you because I'm serious, Shar. Why haven't you asked him out yet?"
"Hello? It's not proper for a girl to ask a guy out for a date," she found herself replying quickly.
"I didn't say date! What's stopped you from asking someone to hang out with you before? Come on Sharon, you haven't even tried to make any attempt whatsoever. Why not?"
"Because I haven't?"
"True, but wrong answer! Do you really need me to give you my blessing and tell you that it's all right to move on and date a nice, cute, smart guy like Damon?"
"Geez, you don't have to spell it out for me."
"As your best friend, I am entitled to do so whenever you don't listen to me!"
"I'm listening right now!"
"Right… Then hang up on me right now, call Damon, and ask him to go with you to the movies tomorrow night."
"I can't."
"And why not?"
"Because he's having dinner with his family right now," she replied with a quick glance at the clock. "And he has an away game tomorrow night and won't be back in town until late."
"Now you're just making excuses and you know it," Kelly accused.
"Maybe I am and maybe I'm not. I mean, what if he doesn't like me like that?"
Kelly bit back a frustrated scream on her side. "We've been through this time and time again. How will you ever find out if you never even try and ask?" Kelly moaned.
"But I don't want to get hurt again."
"Sharon, not every guy out there is like Patrick," she said sternly. She heard Sharon breathe in sharply and sighed. "You know I'm right."
After a pause, Sharon replied, "Yes, I know that."
"Listen, have you at least talked to Ana or someone yet? Maybe she can help you out."
"No, I haven't talked to anyone about that yet. Maybe later," she answered vaguely.
"You know, it's a good thing I'm coming down to visit you in a couple of weeks. I don't know what's happened to you since you left here but you're not quite the same, seize the moment kind of gal you used to be, which is both a good and bad thing, I think. For one thing, know how to control yourself better since you're able to step back and think about the big picture more. On the other hand, I think that control is making you over-analyze and stop things before they even have a chance to start. We all get hurt, Sharon, and that's a fact of life. It's how we pick ourselves up and move on that's important."
"Gee, thanks for making me sound like a nut case here," Sharon smiled a little.
This time, Kelly didn't bite back her scream. "You haven't listened to a word I just said!"
"On the contrary, I was listening. I just don't want to admit it to myself that you're right and I'm just going crazy over a stupid boy when just a couple of months ago, I'd sworn off guys entirely."
"Hey, one of us has to be going crazy at any given moment. It just happens to be your lucky day today."
"Funny, and I thought I was perfectly sane before I talked to you."
"What can I say? I bring that out in people," Kelly laughed.
"And that makes me wonder why guys ever think of dating you."
"Hey!"
"I'm kidding!" Sharon laughed.
"Yeah right! You know, I bet you would be just be a lot happier if you even just found out if Damon was seeing someone seriously or not. At least that would be one question out of the way and then you can move on from there."
"Mm, we'll see. How about this though? If nothing changes by the time you get down here, I'll give you free reign, within reason, to try your luck on me."
"Are you serious? You'd give me complete freedom?" she asked, not believing she'd heard right.
Sharon laughed. "It just means I have to do something soon to prevent any embarrassing moments from taking place while you're around."
"Somehow, I have the feeling that will happen regardless of my involvement or not," Kelly teased. "Still, I think you're on. I accept your challenge. Question is, will you honor your part and actually try before I get there? I don't want to do all of the work here, you know."
"I promise I'll try my best," came the coy response.
Kelly sighed. "Well, I guess I'll have to take it. That's better than nothing."
"Of course. Now what did you think about the rest of the picture?"
"Other than the fact that Kari ruined it for me by trying and failing at pulling off the mature, serious pose by not smiling when everyone else was?" she laughed. "I swear, she looked so stiff and pouty… I bet she wanted that Homecoming crown for herself to go with that royal, egotistic aura I was getting off of just looking at her."
Sharon laughed. "You pick that and not Riley's eyes being closed?"
"It gives him character, and at least he's smiling. Kari just looks fake."
"Well, I'll be honest and say that her name was on the ballot for Homecoming queen now that you mention it, but Ana won by a landslide. She's just that popular and nice to boot."
"Then you should talk to Ana! If she's even half as nice as you make her sound and as close to Damon as I think you're hinting at, I bet she'd be more than willing to at least talk to you about him, at least give a little bit of his background on the guy. Besides, I have a feeling I'm going to need back up when I'm down there."
"Uh oh… Back up for what?"
"Nothing to worry your pretty little mind over."
"And that doesn't help me one bit, knowing you're already scheming things in your mind."
"You did give me free reign," she reminded Sharon.
"Yes, and don't make me take it back. I did say within reason."
"And would I do anything to embarrass you?" Kelly asked innocently.
"Do you really need me to answer that one?" Sharon laughed back. "Let's see, there was the time when you pasted pictures of certain male pop stars all over my yearbook last year and I had to explain to the teachers what those were about when they gave me strange looks before signing it."
Kelly laughed. "Oh, but that was so much fun! I think that's one of my best works of art, to be honest."
"Oh really? I'm sure you think that way, but I'm telling you that I don't think Mr. Wilder or any of the others will ever think of me quite the same."
"That was partially the idea."
"Remind me later that I have to repay you in kind someday."
"Good luck trying," came the reply, sending both girls laughing.