-16-

Anthony shut the door to one of the guest rooms and turned to me. "Come on, now. Spill."

"Spill what?" I asked. "Why did you drag me in here?"

"Because," he said, as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world, "we need to discuss your little crush. Duh."

"No we don't."

"Uh, yeah we do. I'm the love therapist."

"Why do you need to know about it?"

"Because I have been in exactly four relationships before, and I go on dates with random people at least once a month. I know what I'm doing."

"When are you gonna get married, Anthony?"

"Oh, I don't know. When I actually find somebody worth marrying would be good. Don't change the subject."

I rolled my eyes.

"Now, don't be afraid of telling me anything. I'm only here to help you achieve what you're after."

"I'm not after her, Anthony."

"Sure you are. Now tell me, how do you feel when you're around her?"

"Eh, happy? Sometimes nervous, and quite frequently, I feel embarrassed."

Anthony slowly shook his head. "You got it bad."

"What?"

"What did you guys do after you left from the movies yesterday?"

"Well, first I couldn't find her, and I went to the basement and started playing with Barbies-"

Anthony snickered. "You were playing with Barbies?"

"Ugh! One of them was planking on the corner of the table and I couldn't help it!"

Anthony chuckled before saying, "Continue."

"Um, well, Stacey walked down and started watching me."

"Keep going."

I paused. "That's it."

Anthony stared at me. He looked just like me, only his jaw was bigger. Aside from his bigger build, we could be twins.

"That's it?" he asked.

I nodded.

"You sat there and played with Barbies for two hours while she watched you?"

"No?"

"You must've talked or something!"

"Okay, okay. I don't want you to freak out."

"Never!"

"She was upset, so I held her hand."

Anthony's eyes widened and be began squealing like a fangirl. "Eep! What was she upset about?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"She didn't tell me."

"Ah. Well, I'd say you're on track to being in a good relationship. But, my suggestion is that you make a move soon."

"What kind of move?"

"You've already held her hand-"

"Yeah, well, she's held mine before."

"Oh! That information is crucial! She likes you too!"

My gaze dropped. "Uh, I'm sure she doesn't."

"Girls are confusing, man, but she's waiting for you to make a move."

"Anthony, I don't even know if I like her."

"You do. Trust me."

I looked back up at him and raised my eyebrows.

"Come on, man," Anthony said. "She totally likes you and she must be feeling anxious because you're not doing anything about it."

I stood up. "Well, thanks for your...help, but I think I'll be going now."

I left the room and Anthony called out: "Make a move! Therapist's orders!"

I scowled as I walked up the stairs.

While I was up there, I couldn't bring myself to find Stacey. I couldn't shake the thought that she might like me. Every time I tried to think about making a move, I started to shiver even though it wasn't cold.

I played with Anna and Baxter Jane for the majority of the day, until Stacey came in with another Netflix DVD with the next season of Sherlock.

That kept me busy for a few hours, but the whole time I was conscious about Stacey sitting right next to me.

»»»»»«««««

Stacey was sitting in the grass by a medium sized tree when I approached her. I remembered what Anthony said about how I was always around her and felt my face flush.

"Dude," Stacey said, "are you sunburnt on your face or something?"

I crossed my arms. "Maybe."

She raised her eyebrows and motioned for me to sit next to her.

"No," I said, feeling saucy.

"Oh yeah? Do I need to make you sit down?"

"Could be."

She raised her eyebrows even higher, and it actually looked pretty creepy.

Before she could do anything else, I walked to the other side of the tree and got down on my stomach with my face in the grass.

"You're so weird," I heard Stacey say, her voice laced with humor.

"Hmm," I mumbled.

I turned my face slightly so I could see what Stacey was doing. I could see her as she lay down on her own stomach and rolled over, putting her face a little too close to mine.

"Do you wish you had sat down now?" she asked with a smirk.

I meant to say, "Never!" but it came out more like, "Uhh...nerrr...."

Stacey chuckled, and her breath swept over my face. Luckily it didn't smell like anything.

I rolled away from her but she only rolled closer. So, I kept rolling as fast as I could to get away from her. I rolled until I was too tired to roll anymore. When I stopped, I was on the other side of the yard, closer to the tents.

And Stacey was right there.

"How to you roll so fast?" I panted.

"You're the dude here; you should be faster than me."

"Clearly I'm not!"

I stayed for a minute to catch my breath before rolling away again with renewed energy.

"Looks like someone got their second wind," Stacey commented somewhere behind me.

I grunted when I abruptly rolled into a tent pole. "Stacey! Stop! There's a-"

Too late; she rolled right into my side and shoved me farther into the tent pole.

"Dude!" I pleaded. "I think it's cutting me!"

Stacey stood up so fast it took me a minute to know what the heck was even happening. "Really?!"

"No, of course not." I stood up as well.

Stacey punched my arm. She opened her mouth to speak when her text alert sounded. "What...?" She pulled out her phone to read it.

"Is it Elliot? If it is, I'm perfectly capable of drop-kicking-"

"No," she said, her voice drained of all amusement it carried before. "Don't worry about it."

Then she turned and left. I looked after her with my eyebrows trying to hook together and form a unibrow of some sort.

What was I supposed to do? There was no way to help her if she didn't tell me what was going on.

And I only had a week to find out.

__________________________

Hiya! Finals are finally over! (Lol pun) I'm now free from all the stress Mark Hayes' arrangement of Mary Did You Know has caused me, and I can quit playing the piano for four hours every day.

^no joke. That's what I've been doing for three weeks.

SoooooOooooOoo, let me know what you think of the chapter! VOTE! And comment, si te gusta.

Um, so, what do you guys want for Christmas? I literally asked my mom for little metal pieces I can make into stuff with my tiny pliers.

Farewell for how, my friends. Happy holidays.

~H-dog