Ayana's first reaction was simply denial. She looked past Chris to me and started shaking her head, willing me with her eyes to say it isn't so. And all I could do is stare back at her big, beautiful brown eyes and let my own tears flow right along with hers.

Now she's sleeping in my sleeping bag.

Jillian and all the adults are really debating whether they want to go to bed, now that... Well, it's morning.

Chris and I are sitting on the ground, criss-cross applesauce watching the sun peek over the horizon when my mom comes up behind us and taps Chris' good shoulder.

"Chris, honey. Do you feel like everything went ok at the hospital? Was it pretty good service? Or are you worried about how it went and maybe you want to go home early?"

Chris looks over his shoulder and simply says, "Ummm," to acknowledge he had heard the question. But even in the dim light, the way his face twists up clearly tells us all that he just doesn't know what he wants right now.

"It's alright. We'll let you think about it, sweetheart."

He quietly thanks my mom as she walks away.

I let myself smile despite the heaviness of everything that has happened this past few days. Then I whack Chris lightly in the leg and tease, "Yeah, sweetheart. It's ok."

"Oh shut up," he taunts back playfully.

I do just that, the smile still lingering on my face as I turn my attention towards the sun once again.

The peaceful silence is welcoming. I take a deep breath in and close my eyes, ravishing the way I feel right now.

When I open my eyes, Chris is staring at me with wide eyes. As I catch his gaze, he turns away, embarrassed. Then he turns to look at the family behind us and then back at me.

"Hey," he says. "You wanna walk a little ways? I need to talk to you."

"Oh. Yeah, of course," I reply. Then letting he mischief gleam in my eyes, I say, "As long as we tell Mommy and Daddy so Jill doesn't convince them to follow us again."

Chris rolls his eyes but his laugh proves he enjoyed that comment.

I run back to inform The Parents that Chris and I are going to go have a little chat. Jillian is, of course, standing very nearby and she gives me a mischievous smile before I turn to run back to Chris.

I extend my arm and Chris grabs it so I can pull him up.

We start walking. We walk in silence for a while. A comfortable, yet rare thing between the two of us, quite frankly.

Suddenly, after about ten minutes of walking aimlessly, Chris stops and turns to face me.

"So. What's up?" I prompt him, crossing my arms across my chest nervously.

"Odette, what was Jill talking about earlier?" he asks, as if in a rush.

I cock my head. "What do you mean?"

"You know..."

He laughs uncomfortably and starts making a throwing motion with his arm.

"Right before you... Chucked the pillow at her."

"Ohhh," I chuckle. "That. It was nothing. She was just teasing about the same thing she always does. Us as... Ya know..."

"A couple?" he asks, all joking gone from his face.

I hug myself a little tighter and hope he can't read what I'm feeling.

"Yeah," I practically squeak.

"But as we've established, we could never be... Like that," I quickly say as I notice his eyebrows knit together and his eyes try to search me.

His face falls a little- which was the last thing I expected.

"You really... You really don't think we could ever... Be like that?" he asks.

"I- I- Uh-"

I decide to answer his question with a question.

"Do you think we could?"

Chris takes one step closer to me and intertwines my fingers with his. Then he rests his forehead against mind and stares into my eyes like he's trying to search my very soul.

Before I know it, he's gently places his lips against mine. I close my eyes and just let the strange yet beatific sensation take over me. It doesn't last long, and Chris seems afraid of how I'll react when it's over.

The way I do surprises even me.

I liked how that kiss felt... I really, really did but doubt suddenly overtakes me.

I rip away from Chris saying, "No, no, Chris we can't do this!"

"Odette-?"

"I don't want to do this just for it to end in heartache and lose-"

I cut myself short when I realize that what I almost said speaks volumes about how what I've felt for Chris has developed.

"And looooosssing? What?" Chris prompts me gently.

My throat tightens." Losing you," I whisper.

His eyes widen and he looks a little bit ashamed.

"Look, Chris I don't want to lose what we have over... I don't know-"

"Hey, hey," Chris says gently, even letting himself chuckle a little bit. "It's ok, cause ya know what? If we decided that we didn't want more than a friendship than... We'd just stop playing with the idea of marriage and just be friends again."

I smile in an odd way as I groan, "Did you just mention marriage ya little weirdo?"

"Yeah," he laughs. "Isn't that the point of dating?"

I turn so I'm facing him again and smile.

"There are those who would disagree with you. But yeah. I think so."

He smiles and grabs my hand again.

"Besides. What's better than dating your best friend?"

I blow out a laugh.

"Well, for starters, I'm not getting you chocolate for Valentine's Day. I'm getting you weird gag gifts."

That gets him to laugh.

"Look Odette. You don't have to worry. We balance each other out, opposites attract, I mean who knows-?"

"So you're saying we're all the romance cliches?" I tease.

"What? No!" he chuckles. "We'll be far from that, what with your weird Valentines gifts you've supposedly already got planned."

I shrug and smile wide. "True."

"So... Odette? You wanna be my girlfriend?"

I roll my eyes and begin to feel like this smile will crack my cheeks or something.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever that means."

Chris smiles and once again, we close the distance between us and share another kiss under the rising African sun.

Even with the dried blood still on my back and the dirt still in my hair as I stand across from a boy with just one arm, I feel like the luckiest girl alive.

"Oh also," I chuckle softly as we come apart. "Our siblings are never gonna let us hear the end of this."

... AH! Sooooooo that just happened lol. I'm honestly really curious to hear what you all think about Chris and Odette dating! Please let me know in the comments! Love ya lovlies!