Teddy had been right; the overwhelming heat was the biggest issue, and when the filming had ended, all I could think about was getting out of the kimono and into a cold shower. The film crew had followed the boys all the way back to their rooms, so we'd called out good night to each other, and I'd slid my door shut and begun the process of unwinding my obi and carefully removing every layer of my kimono. All of the various hangers had been put on hooks in my room and I hung everything up as quickly as I could before stepping into a completely cold shower; I think the elapsed time between sliding the door shut and getting under the nozzle was less than seven minutes. Considering how much clothing I had to remove, that had to be some kind of record.

I stepped out feeling mildly refreshed. It was still humid, and I doubted my hair would be dry by morning, but at least I wasn't sweating under all those layers any more. I brushed my hair and put on my sheerest, gauziest pjs, pure cotton, shorts and tank top, what else?

As I was pulling the shirt over my head, I got a text from Teddy. "Pls come and meet me by the bridge IMMEDIATELY. LIKE RIGHT NOW."

"Gimme a mo to get dressed."

"NO, RT NOW, PLSPLSPLS!"

"Are you drunk? Gimme a sec!"

"DONT GOT A SEC, MUST BE RT NOW!!!"

"Dude, I'd be dressed already if you'd stop arguing!"

"COME NOW OR I WILL DIE AND DO YOU WANT THAT ON YOUR HEAD????!!"

Jesus. I grabbed the first thing I touched to cover up, which unfortunately was a sweater, and put it on as I slipped on my flip-flops at the steps and ran to the path that led to the little bridge. It was farther away than I thought, but there was a quarter moon rising, and just enough light so I could see my footing and not trip over the stones on the path.

He turned and watched me approach, hands in the pockets of his ripped up cutoffs. He was wearing a tank top from President Obama's 2012 campaign.

"So I see you gave yourself enough time to get some clothes on," I commented.

He looked down at himself. "Oh, yeah? What do you mean?" He asked.

"'Come now or I'll die'?" I asked. "What the hell?"

"I wanted you to come right away, is all," he explained.

"What the hell are you wearing?" He asked suddenly. "Is that a sweater?"

"Yes, it's a sweater," I said impatiently.

"Why?" He asked. "It must be, like 30 degrees Celsius out here."

I hit his chest in frustration.

"Oi! What the fuck?"

"I know it's hot, you ass!" I said in exasperation. "I had just gotten out of the shower when you texted me. I'm in my pajamas! That's why I wanted to get dressed! I can't just wander around outside in my pjs, no matter how dark it is. But you made it sound like it was some kind of emergency, so I grabbed whatever I could find to cover up so I wouldn't look indecent, and I came." This last part sounded like a near hiss, I was so frustrated. And I was hot. The humidity must have still been in the nineties. And I was wearing a sweater. Jesus.

He turned to look out over the pond, and I could see his smile. "Oh. Sorry. Would you like to go back and change? I'll wait."

I just stared at him, and he wisely covered his areas from possible attack. "Okay, I guess not."

Out in the pond, a koi jumped, probably at a low flying night bug. If you could forget the heat and humidity, it was actually a very lovely spot. And somehow, miraculously, there were no mosquitos. I turned to lean on the railing and look out over the water, enjoying the reflection of the moon and the sound of the rustling of the bamboo. He hooked his arm companionably through mine, and we stood in silence for a minute.

"You through being pissed off at me?" he asked, nudging me.

I sighed. "I guess," I said, nudging him back. "Why waste time being angry when there's all this to enjoy? I mean, I've been to Japan so many times, but this is the first time I've ever seen anything this beautiful."

He pulled his arm out from mine. "I understand about decency and that, but seriously, it's too fucking hot to wear a sweater. I can't stand to touch it. We haven't seen one single person since we've been out here, honestly. I mean, are you worried about me? I've seen you with no clothes on, remember?"

"You said you didn't look," I said accusingly.

"Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I?" He said with a smile. "Seriously, I didn't, honest, not really," he said as I turned to him. "But there's not that much light tonight anyway, and it's not like I'm trying to sneak a peek or anything. Please, take it off, be comfortable," he implored. "I'm sweating just looking at you." He bent down to look into my eyes. "Please?"

What the fuck. I took it off and laid it on the railing. The relief was immediate. "And you'll tell me if you see someone coming?"

"On my life." He crossed his heart. "I can hardly see you, honestly. Don't worry." He put his arm around my shoulder. "You look like a white blob with arms and legs."

I felt the very slight stirrings of a breeze and immediately shrugged his arm off me and lifted my hair to cool off my neck.

Ahh. I piled my hair on top of my head and turned this way and that for maximum effect. The breeze died all too quickly, but Teddy bent down and began blowing on the back of my neck, which didn't have quite the same effect. Holy moly. I closed my eyes and leaned into it as far as I dared.

"Better?" He asked.

"Mmmhmm," I answered. I let my hair down and leaned on the railing again.

"Let's walk a little bit, okay?" He suggested, holding out his hand. We continued down the path, following it as it curved through the bamboo and around the far side of the pond. I pointed out the fireflies across the water, dancing like fairies in the bamboo stand, and we stood for a moment, mesmerized by their reflection on the pond.

"We're lucky," I whispered. "We wouldn't be able to see them nearly this well if the moon were any brighter." He squeezed my hand in response.

Something occurred to me as we walked. "Teddy?"

"Mmm?"

"Why did you want me to come out here in the first place? You just wanted some company?" I smiled, and he saw me, because he smiled back. "I mean, that's fine, this is lovely, but it sounded so urgent..."

"No, no, I had a reason..." he trailed off.

"Yes?"

"I don't know. I'm kind of losing my nerve..."

"What? Teddy..."

"No, no, it's not that, I swear!" He stopped and turned to face me. "I swear it's not, though if I tell you what it is, I'm afraid that's what you'll think. That's why I'm reconsidering the whole thing."

I was wild with curiosity. "Now you have to tell me. I'm dying over here."

"Okay. But I swear I'm not trying to get into your knickers, I swear it, okay? Believe me?" He looked at me. "Swear you believe me, Birdie."

"I swear I believe you're not trying to get into my knickers," I said with a smile. "Now go."

He took a deep breath. "Okay." We walked over to the railing, which surrounded the pond, and he leaned his elbows against it. I stopped for a moment, pulled the hair tie off my wrist and quickly pulled my hair into a loose bun.

"Too hot to have it hanging down my back," I explained. He nodded and stroked my hair absently as he turned back to face the water. His hand moved to play with the little curls that immediately started to form at my neck, as usual, driving me to distraction with this action.

Suddenly he caught his breath and pointed. I looked up and saw lights streaking across the sky. "Shooting stars," he breathed.

We watched until the trails had disappeared, caught up in the magic.

"So?" I prompted.

"So? So. You know how we've become great friends. I mean really great friends." I nodded. "I've never had a friend like you. Not even the lads. I mean, I'm so close to them. We pretty much grew up together. We've even been in the same room sometimes when we, you know, with girls—" He stopped. "I mean, we've shared experiences together that most guys don't, but, never mind, that's not what I wanted to talk about. Oh fuck, this isn't going how I wanted it to go at all...Let me start over.

"You and I are really great friends. I've never had such a close friend who was a girl. I didn't know I could. To me, girls were great as people to hang out with, sure, fun to be around, great to take out on dates, to fool around with, nice for sex, but not really for anything else. I'm not saying I only saw them as sex objects; I'm not, honestly. I have lots of friends who are girls. But never anyone like you. Never anyone I wanted to be with when I was hurting. Or when I was really lonely. For the first time ever, I wanted one person's company over anyone's, and it was yours. A girl's. And it happened so fast. I've only known you for what, like, three weeks? And it didn't even take that long. I was feeling this way on like the third or fourth day.

"So my point, which I'm making very badly, is that we're very good friends. And I assume you feel the same way." I nodded again. At this point, he seemed to be talking to himself, no speech seemed to be required of me. "So, as your friend, as your good friend, there are certain things I want to go well for you, to go right for you.

"I love you, Birdie, so much, as much as I love any of the guys, maybe more. I already can't imagine my life without you." He sighed, and his thumb went under the strap of my tank top as his fingers continued to play with my hair.

"So you've never kissed anyone before. And that's sort of marvelous. And sort of scary, too. Knowing you, you've probably built it up in your mind to be some sort of horrible obstacle you have to overcome. And you might find yourself kissing some random drunken jerk at a party or something someday soon, just to get it over with. And I don't want that to happen. I want it to be nice. With someone nice. Who likes you. Who loves you."

"You want me to kiss Matty?" I asked innocently.

He stared at me. "No, you little idiot, I want you to kiss me!" He saw me smiling in the dark and took a few steps away, shaking his head. He walked back toward me and gently put his large hands around my neck like he was going to choke me, finally smiling and letting me go. He turned back toward the pond and said, in a quiet voice, "I want it to be with me." He took a deep breath, let it out quickly, and turned to face me.

"There you have it." He smiled. "What do you think? Good idea? Or am I barking?"