“I don’t know. I’m still in shock over what just happened.” She said to him about haven been thrown out of Michael’s apartment during his New Year’s Eve party due to him and Maria fighting.

“It was an interesting party. Well, what little party there was.” He said with a laugh. “Well, it’s eleven-thirty. I don’t think we’ll find another party interesting enough to check out.”

“We could always go home and veg-out in front of the television and watch the New Years Special on MTV or something.”

“Okay. Sounds good to me.”

When they arrived at the Valenti house, Tess noticed that the house was dark and that Jim’s SUV was gone.

“I didn’t know your dad had plans. Did he have to go to work or something?” She asked getting out of Kyle’s car.

“Naw. He never works New Years. Says it’s one of the perks to being Sheriff.” Kyle said opening the door.

Tess immediately walked towards her room while Kyle went towards the kitchen. When he turned on the lights he noticed a note stuck to the refrigerator.

Kyle,

Amy called and invited me to the party at her place. Sounded interesting, so I decided to go since you and Tess would be at Michael’s most of the night. Will be back late. No need to wait up.

Dad

“Well, it looks like we have the house to ourselves. At least until morning.” Kyle yelled towards his former bedroom.

Tess walked out of the bedroom wearing his football jersey an a pair of his boxers.

“He went to Amy’s party, didn’t he?” she asked getting no reply. “Hey, did you hear me?”

“Sorry. It’s still a little weird seeing you in my clothes.” Kyle said to her.

“I thought you gave them to me?”

“I did.” He said adding as he plopped down on the couch and grabbed the remote. “Yeah, he went to Amy DeLuca’s party.”

Tess sat down next to him and took the remote out of his hand and turned the TV off.

“You understand that this means war.” He said as he leaped toward her, tickling.

“No fair, you’re a guy. You have like 30 pounds on me.” Tess said laughing.

“Yeah, but you have your ‘powers’.” He said tickling her even harder.

For a brief instant, the two connected. Kyle saw a lost little girl wanting a real family and Tess saw a scared little boy crying because his mom had just left. In that brief moment, they both realized how alike they were. How much they had in common. All they both had wanted was a family. And they were slowly building that with each other.

Kyle broke the silence. “I thought you wanted to watch this.”

“No. Marilyn Manson bores me.” She said to him. “I thought that we could do something that neither of us does enough.”

“HUH?” Kyle asked shocked.

“Not that. I thought we could talk.”

“Oh. About what?”

“About what’s been going on between us.”

“What do you mean? We’re friends.”

“Kyle, I like you.” Tess said moving closer to him. “Your turn.”

“Okay. I…like…you…too.” Kyle said slowly.

“Now that that is settled. The way that I see it, when two people like each other, it’s only natural…”

She never had the opportunity to finish her thought. Kyle grabbed her and kissed her. The two kissed each other like they had never kissed any other before. The sexual attraction that began between them four months before, when he woke up to her sleeping on the couch, broke free. When they finally broke apart, they were both breathless.

“I’ve never felt anything like that before.” Tess admitted.

“Me, neither.”

“Not even with Liz?”

“What about you and Max?” He said defensively.

“Max is ‘supposed’ to be my destiny. The great love of my life. What a joke. Everything that I thought I felt for him is nothing but memories. Not even my real memories. The memories of who we were, not who we are. I know he loves Liz and will always love her. What about you?”

“I’ve known Liz practically my whole life. She was my first crush and when we started dating, it was like a dream. But, then she got shot and fell for Max. I think you know the rest.”

“Doesn’t it bother you that you two slept together and she still wants Max?”

“Should it? She loves Max. I knew it then, just like I know it now.” He said avoiding looking at her.

“It should bother you. She was your dream girl. And you let go of that dream after one time?” Tess said looking at him. “Kyle, why are you being so evasive?”

That was when the realization hit her. Kyle saw the look pass over her face. He knew that she knew the truth.

“You didn’t have sex with Liz, did you?”

“No.”

“I don’t understand. Max caught you in bed together. Why did you let him believe?”

“Liz came over here that day and asked me for help. She told me she couldn’t go into detail, but it needed to be done. And after she explained what we need to look like we did, I knew it had to be important.”

“And you did it because Liz asked you to? Did she explain what was so epic?”

“Not really. But, I trusted her, so I let it go.”

“Thank you for telling me the truth, Kyle. It means a lot to me that you can trust me enough to know.” She said lightly kissing him on his cheek and added, “Now, I don’t have to wonder if you’ll compare us. We’ll have our own memories.”

“Wow! Is it already two-thirty?” Kyle asked changing the subject and seeing Tess yawn.

“I suppose we should get some sleep. We have that breakfast thingy in the morning.” Tess said. “Something tells me it’s gonna be interesting.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” Kyle said.

“The couch is really uncomfortable, isn’t it?” Tess asked.

“It’s okay.”

“You know there is plenty of room in that big old bed, if you want to share.”

“What are you getting at, Tess?”

“Not what you’re thinking, Buddha Boy. Just sleeping. Tonight. We don’t want to up heave our karmic balance, too soon. Can you handle it?”

“Of course I can. Besides, I miss my bed.”

“We’ll just have to make a visitation schedule, won’t we?!” She said smiling.

Tess grabbed his hand and they walked into Kyle’s old room and climbed into his bed. Kyle fell asleep immediately, holding on to Tess.