"Brownie mix tastes better than the actual brownies," Ethan said, looking into the oven.

Finals were over. It was a week until Christmas. Right now, Ethan was over at my apartment and we were making mint chocolate chip brownies.

"But you can't bring brownie mix to a building party," I pointed.

"Sure you can. Everyone can put it in cups and drink it," Ethan said. I laughed.

"Ew, that is too much chocolate," I said.  "Hand me the bowl of gumdrops," I said. He pushed over the bowl. We were sitting on my kitchen floor with bowls of different candies and frosting on the ground. While we waited for the brownies to bake, we were decorating gingerbread men that we would take to the Children's Hospital. It was something we did every year, just to give back a little.

"Remember when we were kids and we did that lemonade stand?" Ethan asked me. I smiled.

"And we made like twenty dollars," I reminisced.

"And then we donated it to charity and our parents loved us," Ethan finished. I gave him a sympathetic smile. The first few weeks after his mother died, he found it hard to cope with the fact that he was essentially an orphan now. Although he was legally an adult and was able to live on his own, he still didn't have any parents. I tried my best not to make him feel like he was missing out on something. My dad made sure to treat him like a son, which wasn't any different than how he used to treat him before; Ethan was always like part of the family.

"Is Austin coming to Christmas dinner?" Ethan asked after a moment. I shook my head. "Nuh-uh? I would have expected him to seeing as it's your first Christmas together and all that," Ethan said.

"Yeah, I thought so to, but when I asked him, he said he wanted me to go over to his house for dinner. And I'm like, well I can't skip out on Christmas dinner with my family; it's tradition, you know. And then he said that Christmas dinner at his place was tradition to and that it was for most families," I explained.

"Why don't you guys just do it together?" he asked, making frosting buttons on one of the cookies.

"I suggested that, but he said that his relatives and stuff were coming over, so that would be way too many people," I answered. Ethan nodded, understanding.

"So now what?" he questioned. I shrugged.

"Now, we're just doing the separate dinners. He said he wants me to come over for lunch, though," I said.

"How do you feel about that?" he asked, looking at me with his blue-green eyes. I sighed.

"I don't know. You know how much I like spending the day with Dad and Kay and you. There's no arguing with him, though," I replied.  We fell into silence, making shapes with frosting and putting candy on the cookies.

"You two doing all right?" he asked me after a few moments. I looked down at the gingerbread girl I made.

"Sometimes I feel like he's absolutely perfect for me. But then other times, I feel like I have no idea who he is. We've taken to arguing a lot these days," I said.

"Yeah, you told me. I'm sure it'll blow over," he assured me. I gave him a smile.

"I think we've made enough cookies," I said, looking at the five trays of cookies.

"Yeah, I think so, too. But there's still so much candy left over. I told you not to buy so much," he said, looking the bowls.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to eat it," I said, popping a gumdrop in my mouth.

"Fatty," he said, throwing an M&M at me. I laughed and threw a limegreen gumdrop at him. He caught in his mouth.

"OOOOH!!!" we both cried at the same time.

"Throw one at me now," I said, opening my mouth. He started laughing. "What?" I asked. His chest was shaking with laughter. "What?!" I repeated, beginning to laugh myself.

"Nothing, it's just your facial expression was hilarious just now," he said.

"Oh, shut up!" I exclaimed, jumping at him and pinning him to the floor. His eyes widened, a cocky smile still on his face.

"Oh, please. You think you can beat me?" he asked, flipping me over so he was on top of me now.

"Yeah! I do!" I replied, struggling against his hold on my wrists. He cocked an eyebrow, smirking. And then his facial expression changed. I realized that our faces were inches away from each other. I saw his eyes glance down at my lips and I realized that I was looking at his, too. He began to lean down a little and when our faces were just centimeters from each other, we heard the door open.

"Hey, Avery, I wanted to talk to you about--" we heard someone say, coming inside. Ethan and I both looked up to see Austin, who narrowed his eyes seeing the position we were both in. We both scrambled to our feet, blushing wildly.

"Austin! What are you doing here? I asked, panic starting to flood me. Ethan had the decency to look down, his eyebrows narrowed.

"I wanted to come over to discuss Christmas plans. What's going on here?" Austin asked, looking between Ethan and I.

"We were...ummm..." I began.

"We were wrestling," Ethan finished, shifting his gaze up to meet Austin's eyes, trying to play it cool.

"That's not what it looked like," Austin said, glancing at me.

"But that's what it was. He was threatening me. I started it," I said, trying to keep Ethan out of trouble. Austin still didn't look convinced.

"Ummm...I think...I have to go run some errands. I'll be...back later to bring the cookies to the hospital," Ethan said, stepping to the side of Austin. He grabbed his jacket and walked out, sending me a furtive glance.

"I don't like how much time you've been spending with him," Austin said after he left. I sighed and walked to the kitchen to pick up the bowls of candy.

"He's my best friend, Austin. And he's still trying to get over his mom's death," I explained for what seemed like the millionth time.

"But still, there's no need to be so touchy-feely with him," he said.

"We've always been like that," I argued.

"Yeah, when you were kids. Now you guys are older. You need boundaries," he said. I stood up straight and turned to him.

"Look, I can tolerate anything else, but when someone tells me how to treat my best friend, it pisses me off. So drop it," I said. He raised his eyebrows, surprised by my sudden anger.

"Whatever, are you still coming over for lunch on Christmas day or have your plans changed again?" he asked. His tone was really annoying.

"There wasn't ever any other plan, Austin. I was always coming over for lunch," I answered.

"Ok, then I have to go do some more shopping for presents. Do you want to come with me?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I'm baking brownies," I said, pointing at the oven. He glanced at it and then sighed.

"All right, I'll see you later then," he said. I walked him to the door and began closing it when he walked out. He pushed it back open and took my face in his hands and kissed me. "I'm sorry for being a jerk," he said after pulling away. I took his hands off of my face and kissed his cheek.

"Go," I said. He nodded and then left. I closed the door behind him and shook my head. This relationship was getting way too complicated.

                                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thank you so much, Ethan and Avery. The kids love your gingerbread men," Patty, a nurse at the Children's Hospital said.

"Oh, it's no big deal," I replied.

"And bringing all this extra candy and those paper gingerbread houses is such a great idea. The kids will have so much fun," she added.

"The houses idea was all Ethan," I told her, reaching up and placing an arm around his shoulder. He grinned toothily.

"Well come and sit. Look who's here, kids!" Patty said, leading us to the children that were playing with toys on a brightly colored carpet.

"Yayy!!!" the kids cried happily. Some of the old ones that had been at the hospital for a while ran up to us, giving us both hugs.

"Hi Avery!" Jane, a little girl diagnosed with leukemia exclaimed.

"Hi Jane! What's going on?" I asked her, poking her stomach playfully.

"Guess what I asked Santa for for Christmas?" she asked.

"What?" I asked.

"To celebrate Christmas at my house!" she squeaked. Ethan and I exchanged a sad glance. We both knew that the hospital wouldn't allow that.

"I'm sure Santa will come up with something!" Ethan said, tickling her. She giggled and then bounced off.

"Is she your girlfriend?" a little boy that I didn't recognize asked Ethan. Ethan cleared his throat.

"Uhh, no. We're just...we're just friends," Ethan replied.

"They always say that," Max, an eleven year old boy said. We smiled at him.

"That's because it's always true," I told him.

"Can you sing us a song, Ethan?" Kelly, a five year old girl asked Ethan, tugging on his sleeve. Ethan smiled at her and kissed her cheek.

"Of course, I can. But you have to ask Avery to play the guitar," Ethan said.

"Avery! Please, please, please play the guitar!" Kelly begged me. I smiled at her.

"Hmm, well I guess since you said the magic word I'll play it," I said. She clapped her hands giddily and then took Ethan's hand and led him to the little stools in the corner. He sat awkwardly on it with his long legs. I sat down next to him, picking up the old acoustic guitar. I began plucking at the strings.

"There are no words to paint a picture of you, girl. Your eyes, those curves; it's like your from some other world. You walk my way, oh God it's so frustrating. So why do I disappear when you come near? It makes me feel so small. Why do I blow my lines most every time, like I got no chance at all?" Ethan sang. The kids swayed back and forth, listening intently. "If I could be your Superman, I'd fly you to the stars and back again; 'cause every time you touch my hand, I can feel my powers running through your veins. But I can only write this song and tell you that I'm not that strong. 'Cause I'm no Superman. I hope you like me as I am," he continued, looking at me. His lips curved into a little half smile and I couldn't help but smile back at him. He kept singing and I kept playing guitar until we finished the song.

"'Cause I'm no Superman, I hope you like me as I am. La dum da da dum da diii," he finished. The kids burst into applause.

"Yayy!!!" some of them cheered.

"You're so good!" some others cried.

"Do another one!" others asked.

"You want another one?" Ethan asked them. They all nodded their heads vigorously. "They want another one," he told me.

"Well, let's give them another one, then!" I exclaimed.

"I hung up the phone tonight, something happened for the first time, deep inside, it was a rush, what a rush. 'Cause the possibility that you would ever feel the same way about me was just too much, just too much. Why do I keep running from the truth? All I ever think about is you. You've got me hypnotized, so mesmerized and I've just got to know. Do you ever think, when you're all alone, all that we could be? Where this thing could go? 'Cause I've tried and tried to walk away, but I know this crush ain't going away," he sang. I smiled at the song. It was so old and so adorable. I looked back up to see Ethan looking at me again and I smiled at him as he sang seemingly to me.

"Were you singing that song to Avery?" Max asked after he finished.

"Ummmm..." Ethan replied.

"He was singing it to you guys," I told them.

"We love you, Ethan!" some of the little girls squealed. He laughed.

"All right, kiddos. We've got to jet, but we'll be sure to stop in again soon," Ethan said.

"Awww!" the kids cried in unison, disappointed that we were already leaving. We waved goodbye to the kids and greeted Patty and then left.

"I feel so bad for them," Ethan said.

"There's nothing we can do but make the little time they have left here as amazing as it can be," I told him.

"I know," Ethan said, glancing back at the hospital. I linked my arm in his and he kissed the side of my head. "I want Jane to go to her house for Christmas this year," he told me. I nodded.

"I do, too. But how will we convince the doctors to let her go?" I asked.

"We'll figure it out," he replied.

______________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Thanks to 123smileforthecamera for showing me the song that Ethan sings. It's called Superman by Joe Brooks. Check it out. The other one is Crush by David Archuleta.

Anywhoo, comment and vote. Thanks. =)

XOXO