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Part 11

Relax. It didn't happen. Are you aware of just how immature a psychiatrist can make you feel when they have the inclination? Yeah.

I spent a couple of hours under his tender mercies on Sunday, and then the rest of the day replaying my relationship with Denise in my head. Monday came and went as the school grapevine shifted into overdrive spreading the news that Denise had dumped me. Did I get all up in arms about it? Nope. I just confirmed everyone's impolite inquiries. Yes, I was the dumpee.

By the time I had made it home, Jerry had updated his MySpace page to let the world know that I was "free range" once again. I was really beginning to see why celebrities disliked tabloids so much, especially since there were three new pictures of me on the front page. One was a shot of me at lunch with Chloe right after I had stretched out a kink in my back. A good three inches of trim belly was showing on that one. A little caption underneath whined about me still not having a belly ring. The second was a shot from behind when I was bending over the water fountain. Even I had to admit that it was a good shot. Thank goodness I was wearing that stretchy mid-thigh skirt. The last one was me leaning up against the lockers looking forlorn. Maybe I ought to become a model.

Inbox: 43 New Emails

Sigh.

The odd thing about those new emails? They now included pervs from both sexes. I seriously contemplated starting my own MySpace page to post the pics people send me, but it would probably be taken down just as quickly.

After Monday's tutoring I skipped dinner in favor of a single peach. My appetite was crap, which I suppose was a good thing, considering ever since I started the new hormones I'd gained a few pounds… mostly in my butt. Cellulite will not own this girl!

The Blackberry chirped at me from across the room, right when I had found the perfect coziness on the couch. With a disgruntled noise I hoisted myself up and found that I recognized the caller.

"Aren't you supposed to be running around the bases right about now?" I opened.

"Casidhe! Come on down to the game tonight."

"Maarrrk," I whined.

"You've got no excuse." He urged me on. "I'll hit a home run just for you if you come down." After a brief pause with no response from me he added, "Come on, where's your school spirit?"

Checking the grandfather clock I saw the game started in fifteen more minutes. "Fine. I need to get ready though."

"Excellent! See you soon."

With a roll of my eyes I clicked off, dropped the phone by my purse and throw my head back in frustration. "Oh, god."

With another sigh I raced upstairs and sifted through the closet. "What am I supposed to wear to a baseball game?"

Settling on a gold colored skirt with matching cami, I tossed them on the bed and checked my legs for stubble. Good to go! I layered on the makeup a little darker since the game would go into the night. The good thing about going to sporting events is that a girl's hair doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, it's socially acceptable for it to be a little messy. Grabbing the long portions I pin them up on top of my head and top it off with a cute baseball cap I bought off the cheerleaders earlier in the year, because they were earning money to go to competition. See, I have school spirit.

It's kind of hard to miss the field when it's lit up with a bazillion lights. Twilight was just settling in, and as I was driving in I could see the game had already started. From the look of the crowd, or I should say lack of a crowd, I didn't really have to guess at the current school standings. We sucked. Team parents were there and two cheerleaders were trying in vain to whip them up into a frenzy.

Is it possible to whip twenty some odd people into a frenzy? Go team!

The guy at the snack bar was kind enough to sell me a can of Coke for the low low price of three dollars. Holy crap! Screw the greenish looking hot dogs!

A quick scan of the area produced nobody that I was familiar with so I took a seat in on the aluminum bleachers at the front, on the home team's side. I really didn't have a desire for some parent to try to get a look up my skirt for a trip to the top. Blech.

The couple I sat next to gave me a once over like they recognized me from somewhere, but shrugged it off to return their attention to the field. From the look of things, our team had one man on base and the man at the plate was on his third strike.

"Tanner, you're up on deck," I heard from the side. Oh, good timing.

I popped the top to my soda and gave it a good sip before setting to the side. Good thing I did. Mark came out of the dugout with his bat and helmet in either hand. As he was adjusting the helmet on his head I got a good look at him, for the first time, in uniform.

"Damn," I whispered. What is it about the pants guys wear for playing baseball? 'Cause I know for a fact that most guys do not have butts that look that good when they wear jeans.

Mark turned around and picked up a weight to slide over the end of his bat. That's when he looked up and saw me. A grin split his lips. The goo was back and it was making a mess out of my spine. I lifted my hand and gave him a little finger wave while I watched him start his stretching.

"You know Mark?"

Tearing my eyes away from the sole reason I was there, I turned to the lady that was sitting next to me and gave her a distracted, "Uh huh."

She held out her hand. "Susan Tanner, and this is my husband Michael."

I must have been brain fried at this point because it took me a moment to put it all together. "Oh, you're Mark's parents." I took her hand for a brief shake and then met Michael a second later as he reached for his very own. "I'm Casidhe O'Connor."

Susan's eyes blanked for a moment, and then she too added one and one. "You're Mark's Political Science tutor."

"That's me!"

Michael started laughing to himself. "It's all starting to make sense now."

I squinched my eyebrows together, well not together, 'cause that would make me look like I had a unibrow and mine are nice and separated, thin and arched, but you get my drift. "Pardon?"

Susan smacked her husband on the side of the leg and pursed her lips. "Michael, stop it." It didn't really help. He just covered his mouth and snickered silently.

When Susan gave me her attention again she explained. "Mark seemed very happy today when he got home from school. You wouldn't have had anything to do with that, would you?"

My eyes widened and I turned back to see Mark finish his warm up, still looking at me. So I gave him my #4 patented evil eyes. Those are the ones that say, "You got some 'splainin' to do."

He didn't care one bit and just waggled his own brows at me. I looked to the side and smiled with embarrassment. "I became single over the weekend and Mark had indicated a little interest in dating a while back." Susan seemed delighted.

Michael leaned forward a little. "This wouldn't have been about the time that he started dating that Whitmore girl would it?"

Remember the little redhead that Mark took to the Spring Fling? The one that resembled me just a little too much? Cathy Whitmore. My answer was returned with a blush. Thank god the last batter struck out. Mark was up and I could avoid anymore embarrassing talk.

"COME ON MARK! WOOHOO!" I clapped to cheer him on.

He settled himself in the batters box and wiggled his butt a little as he prepared himself. I'm really beginning to see the attraction to competitive sports.

The first pitch was apparently not a good one. He just stood there and shook it off before resetting himself. The second pitch, I saw the muscles in his back clench and his hips swivel followed by the SMACK of bat hitting ball. I jumped up and my hands flew to my mouth while I watched the ball follow the left side of the field, clearing the outer wall.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Casidhe."

"You too," I replied as I shook Susan's hand.

Michael added his two cents. "I hope to see you at the rest of the games. Mark was possessed tonight."

I nodded. "I'll see what I can do about filling up the bleachers. They just need some encouragement."

It really wasn't a tall order. The bleachers weren't all that big. Maybe a dozen more people and we could make some noise.

"Casidhe!" I flinched a little bit, startled by Mark on the other side of the chain link fence separating the bleachers from the field.

"Hey!" I turned to Mark's parents and waved bye then ran up to the fence giving him a big grin. "You did it!"

I'd never seen him so hyped up. "That totally rocked. Thanks for coming."

I shrugged a little. "You did all the work."

He shook his head. "Yeah, but you cheered me on. You really don't know how much that helps. I was so juiced up."

"Tanner!" his coach bellowed.

"Coming Coach!" Before he turned away he grabbed at the fence were my fingers were hooked over a link. "Can you stick around… maybe go for pizza after?"

I gave him a crooked eyebrow.

"Twenty minutes tops and I'll be out here." He looked like he was thinking for a second. "Or better yet, I'll pick you up at your house."

I smirked. "Do I need to change?"

His eyes widened. "Are you kidding? You're gorgeous just like that!"

"I'll be waiting."

Did I go home and wait patiently by the door for my Romeo in cleats to come pick me up? Hell no! I rushed up the stairs and checked my makeup which took me a couple of minutes to refresh and then dashed to the bathroom where I whipped off my skirt and panties. A quick potty break later and I was doing a little masking with some surgical tape. I had no illusions about tonight. Mark was just too excited and with his excitement mine increased. I didn't want anything to spoil… anything. So I tucked and taped securely. Just for optimum coverage I pulled out a panty liner and attached to the crotch of my panties for a very smooth overall look, once applied.

I'd read in Marie Claire that models did this for swimsuit and lingerie pictures so they didn't show any definition down there, if you get my meaning. What works for the goose, works for the Casidhe!

With a sniff under the arms and a squirt of perfume I was good to go!

BRAKES!

I looked down at my Nike's and decided on strappy sandals instead. I still had a nice pedicure and I'm sure Mark would appreciate looking. Dammit! A chip! Where's that polish?

Breathe Casidhe. Just breathe.

Whipping out my Blackberry I sent a text to Chloe: Pizza with Mark, his royal hottiness, tonight. Details later. XD

There. Informed the best friend. Duty is done. Time for some fun.

DING DONG!

I almost tripped over the couch, the coffee table, the area rug, my own feet. Breathe Casidhe!

No matter what I did I couldn't keep the stupid happy grin off my face. Even when I opened the door a little too fast and almost dug it into my foot. Thank god I was wearing my sandals. A trip to the emergency room for a handful of stitches would not be good at this point.

"Hi!" Oh god. His short hair was still wet. His white polo was offset by the deep tan still all glowy from his shower. I looked down and saw he was wearing shorts, for the first time since I had known him. Remember those smooth legs of his?

"I remembered that you wanted to see me in shorts."

Dragging my eyes away I looked back up at him. "The workout stuff you modeled was good enough for me. Are you sure you don't mind?"

He gave me a quick shake of his head. "As long as you're with me, not at all."

Do you think it's possible for me to smile so wide as to show him every one of my teeth? I tried.

Tuesday night pizza wasn't so busy. Oh, by the way, wow! We had to order the twenty inch pizza. Mark, apparently, can pack it away.

"So," I began nonchalantly as I sipped on my mega-Coke. "Your parents seemed amused by Cathy Whitmore."

His tan didn't really help with the blush appearing at his ears. "Uh, yeah. I guess I was a little obvious with that one."

I tried not to torture him that much… just a little. "You do realize that we're coming up on the end of the year."

That confused him a little, so I clarified. "You're graduating. I'm a Sophomore."

Mark's face fell a little. "I just turned eighteen and you'll be sixteen next Monday. It's just two years difference."

My lips twisted playfully to the side. "You know my birthday?"

That relaxed him a little. "It's every boyfriend's job to remember important dates."

Leaning back into the booth I giggled joyfully. "Man, you are a fast mover!"

He edged up to the center of the table. "I know what I want. I know who I want. If it's right, why wait?"

"Mark, you barely know me."

Interlocking his fingers, I watched as he took a slight breath. "Your name is Casidhe, with an I-D-H-E, O'Connor. You already know I know your birthday, which will be your sweet sixteenth. You're addicted to Coke, but nothing else bad for you. Since I see you drink juice and water as well, and you are obviously very fit, I can conclude that you take your health as serious as I do.

"You live by yourself since your Grandfather passed in November leaving you very wealthy, which is great because I know you wouldn't want me for my parents money, like a lot of girls I dated have. You have a fantastic personality and the most beautiful laugh that makes me smile every time I hear it."

By this time my smile was gone and my mouth slightly open, my face was expressionless.

"You don't mind that I have a little quirk about disliking body hair, in fact it seems to turn you on a little, which I really like." He paused to see my lack of reaction and didn't know what to think so he trudged on. "You are incredibly smart. I'm guessing, if you wanted to, that you could graduate with me and go to college right now, but you are going to school because you want to interact socially with people your own age.

"You don't bend to peer pressure or suffer idiots as is evidenced by your protection of Ted Head and your short bout of dating him. Your most recent dating experience was with a girl, Denise. You care about people and not as much as about how you are seen."

I held up my hand before he took another breath. "Stop. Okay, you know a lot about me." I didn't realize it, but my breathing had increased. Sliding my Coke a little closer I took a big sip and swallowed to give me time to think of a response.

Mark knew way too much about me, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be found out by paying attention me and my surroundings. It was obvious he hadn't found out about my life before January or he wouldn't be sitting here.

"Why… no, never mind. You just said…" I think I'm gonna throw up.

Mark cut me off. "Casidhe. I'm eighteen, and I'm going to college next school year. It'll be in town, and I'll be staying at home. We live in the same neighborhood. We'll see each other every day. Plus we have this summer." He eyed me with such a serious expression. "You want to know why I want you to be my girlfriend?"

I was afraid to ask, but nodded in return.

"Because I'm sick of the games." He dropped back in the booth and looked to the side, out into the dining area. "I've dated six girls in two years, ever since I started playing baseball. All of them were exactly the same. They wanted two things, one of which was to be hooked up to the star so they could be popular, and two to hook up with the guy with the most money."

When he turned back to me I could see the heat in his face. It was taking something out of him to admit this.

"My parents have been teaching me the family business. They've also been teaching me to set goals and how to achieve them. I could tell you that I'm not a player, but the only way to prove that to you is for us to date and actually show you that I'm trying to be mature."

I cocked my head to the side and looked at him hard, trying my best to penetrate his mind. "Since you're being straight forward then I will be too."

He nodded. "Cool, go ahead."

It was then that our pizza arrived. Once we arranged ourselves and had a couple of bites I continued.

"I'm a virgin."

Mark choked on a bite that he was halfway through swallowing. After coughing it up and a big swallow of soda I apologized for my timing.

"Sex is what killed my relationship with Denise."

He tired desperately to look nonplused, but I had my doubts.

"I was willing to do almost anything she wanted, but the final act."

Now I totally confused him and that gave me a happy. "Mark, what do you think two girls can do in bed?"

Okay, here was the real test.

"Uh…"

I couldn't take it. I'm just not that mean. So I bailed him out. "Pretty much the exact same thing a guy and a girl do." I ticked off the fingers of my hand. "Petting, hands, fingers, oral, penetration, the whole ball of wax." At his look of disbelief on the 'penetration' portion I added, "We can penetrate each other with fingers, hands, and sex toys."

"Oh!" He ran his hand over his face, kicking himself for being ignorant. Then he jumped in and made a conclusion. "You didn't want to use those."

I shrugged. "It's not that I have anything against the toys… Look, I have issues. Medical issues."

The concern on his face made me feel bad for explaining my problems this way. "It's not bad, health wise, but it makes regular penetration pretty much impossible for me without a lot of pain." Before he could inquire further I waved him off. "This December I'm having an operation to correct the problem, so it won't be an issue by January or February at the latest." After a deep breath and moment for him to settle in I explained myself.

"Why am I telling you all of this really private information? Because I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I won't be able to satisfy you like your other girlfriends…"

"Casidhe, I'm a virgin too."

What do they say about assuming?

"Oh… never mind." Dear lord, the burning of my face.

"Well, now that we've got that out of the way," said Mark with a touch of humor in his voice.

He set one of his feet up against my part of the booth to nudge me. I reached down and grabbed his ankle. "I'm such an asshat."

A warm chuckle trickled down my spine giving me a little courage to look between the fingers covering my face.

"It's okay. I can totally see how most people would conclude…"

"I'm not most people."

"No, you aren't. But you are human."

Running my hand up his smooth calf I squeezed a little. "Forgive me?"

He twisted something off his finger and held it out to me. "Only if you'll be my girlfriend and allow me the chance to show you that all guys, or teenagers for that matter, aren't the same."

I looked down and saw what he was holding. It was his class ring.

WHACK!

"OWWW! What the hell?!"

Chloe looked smug sitting in the passenger seat massaging her hand after hitting me in the shoulder. "That's for not calling me last night and sending me a stupid text message that I didn't notice until this morning."

I rubbed at my arm. "That better not leave a bruise or I'm telling Dave you really do go both ways."

Her eyes narrowed a little and then she threw it off. "Mark Tanner? An actual date with Mark Tanner, and you didn't think it was important enough to call your best friend?"

"I think I might need a sling."

"Oh, you're gonna need a sling in a minute if you don't give me every little tiny detail right now little missy."

I gave her crazy eyes. "When did you become so violent?"

She reached for my arm and I cringed back, giggling all the way. "Okay, okay!" I put the beetle in gear and we took off toward school. "I went to his game last night and we went out for pizza after."

From her expression I could tell she wasn't getting something. "You went to a baseball game? You hate sports."

"Have you ever seen the guys in their uniforms?"

Pondering for about half a second, she twigged. "Ah. So, nice?"

"Very." A little grin returned to my face at the thought of Mark's little wiggle at home plate. "I met his parents last night too."

"Get -- out!"

I nodded. "They're pretty cool, and they already know about me, seeing as Mark tried to substitute Cathy Whitmore for yours truly."

"So, you've moved on."

Shooting her a quick questioning look, I asked. "From what?"

"Denise."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going to wallow in self pity for the rest of the school year. If Denise hasn't realized what she is missing then I'm moving on up."

"To the top, apparently," she finished. "So, when's the second date?"

We pulled into the parking lot and I hunted for a decent space. "I'm going to the game on Thursday and probably something after, but he doesn't want to count that as a date. This weekend we're spending Saturday together."

"I bet he asks you to do the girlfriend thing then."

With a knowing smirk I reached in my blouse and pulled out the chain that was hanging around my neck with a large, and heavy hunk of gold on the end. "Too late."

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I almost wrecked the car. The windows vibrated. Dogs and cats within a three block radius were probably saying to themselves, 'What the hell?' I know my eardrums will never be the same again.

"Let me see! Let me see!"

GAK!

Luckily I just hit the brakes after pulling into the parking space, before she choked me to death. The funeral was beautiful, everyone was there.

"Wait, what are you doing? Are we forgetting a small little item located between your legs?"

I really didn't know how to take that one. Should I defend what tiny insignificant piece of masculinity I have left, or perhaps admit that yes, I was tiny in comparison to the national average. Apparently neither.

"I told Mark that I have a physical problem that will be corrected in December and that sex was out of the question, but it didn't matter because he is a virgin too." With that Chloe got the full view of my tongue when I stuck it out at her."

Needless to say, she was gobsmacked. "Really?"

"That little tidbit of info does not leave the car, Clo."

She gave me 'don't be stupid' face.

A quick triplicate of knocks sounded at my window and I squeaked before spinning around. Mark!

He cleared the door swing as I opened and jumped out into his arms.

"I'm going to be vomiting lots at the sugar overload between you two aren't I?"

I didn't care about Chloe's silly barb when I heard Mark's first words to me today.

"I missed you."

Awww. He must receive many kisses for his sweetness, and they must be given at that moment. I'll have to say one thing above any other. The boy can kiss.

"I see you're wearing my ring."

I gave him a quick twisting of my hips and a pleased, "Uh huh. All yours, nobody else gets me, but you."

He lifted it up a little and looked kind of strangely at the chain. "Pretty sturdy."

I fingered it a little. "It was my gramps. I wanted to make sure the ring didn't go anywhere. It's got to cost a bazillion dollars with the five pounds of gold and a big honking diamond in the middle."

Mark wasn't kidding when he told me he had just turned eighteen. It was on April 1. With me on the 20th of this month we were virtually two years apart and luckily both of us had diamond as our birthstone. Cool huh?

"I still have to go shopping for a birthday present for you. I can't believe you didn't tell me during tutoring."

He bent down and gave me another kiss. "You're the perfect present. I don't want anything else."

Awww! We're never going to make it to school like this. Kisses must be awarded!

Something caught my eye off to the side and I turned to notice Chloe splayed out over the hood of the beetle with her tongue hanging out of one side of the mouth.

"I think we killed my best friend. Maybe if I gave her mouth to mouth…"

Chloe squeaked and jumped off the hood. "Keep those lips to yourself, girl. I just happen to know where they have been."

With one of my hands resting on Mark's chest I replied with strong conviction. "Damn right."

Mark was very attentive throughout the day. When possible, he met me at strategic junctures to give me a hug or a kiss and walk me to class. We had separate lunches, so that was a no go.

Pout.

But I did meet him near the gym after school for a goodbye kiss as he went to baseball practice and Chloe and I went home.

The gossip network was as efficient as always and I'd be surprised if I wasn't back to 'taken' status on Jerry's MySpace page by the time I got home. Surely this 'new-girl' thing would wear off soon. I just don't get what is so special about me and all of the attention I receive.

What I did notice was Denise's reaction to seeing Mark and me together for the first time. Complete and utter shock. I didn't rub it in too much; just a contented smile directed her way. I was still embarrassed at my reaction on Friday night, or I should say my 'overreaction'. She still has power over me with knowledge of my secret, but even that is easing to the wayside. I'd been as truthful as I could with Mark, without giving him graphic descriptions of my situation.

Some might say that I'm leading him on, that I should tell him that I am a boy in transition to a girl, but that's not how I truly see myself. I'm a girl, always have been. Mother Nature just had other thoughts on the matter and set me up for a challenging life. With Chloe's help and that of my doctors, I'm dealing with that challenge and turning those metaphorical lemons into lemonade.

Will I tell him the whole story eventually?

I'm under no illusions about the relationship we were beginning. I have no idea if he is the one who was meant for me. The one thing I do know is that High School, for me at least, is a place where I will meet new people and expand my social education. That means dating, falling in love, and most probably, falling out only to start all over again. Mark was further along the course than I was.

Ideally, he was at the midpoint in his search for Mrs. Right. Being a boy, he had to learn about his hormones and also about how to control them. If he really was a virgin and really was a serious as he was the previous night where he revealed his dislike for game playing, then he was further along than most boys his age.

From what Gramps told me, being a teen is about testing your boundaries: finding what is acceptable and not, experimenting with love and life, and building meaningful relationships with those of like interests. So, I took him at his word.

If, Mark and I were still together by December then I would tell him the complete truth and let the cards fall where they may. In the meantime I would enjoy the time we had together, to a point.

Obviously, I won't let things go too far, but seeing my past record of losing my mind when confronted with my own, now raging hormones artificial as they may be, I would have to be careful about how far I let him take our relationship.

Am I growing up or what?

"Hey babe."

I shook my head in exasperation at Steve when he arrived for his tutoring session. Ever since the fall of Macbeth we had been working on his ten page research paper on a book of his choice. It took me a week to talk him out of Paris Hilton's autobiography accurately entitled 'Huh?' Instead he chose Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Trust me, things could have been worse.

While he pulled his laptop out and set it up I grabbed us both a Coke.

On the way back to the table I stopped for a second to let a gas cramp pass. Yeah, I know you really needed to know about the inner workings of my lower intestines. But hey, you're the one reading , blame yourself.

"So, have you written a thesis statement yet?"

He nodded as he pulled up something. "Hang on a sec. I have to send a quick email. Won't take a minute."

"Cool, take your time. I need to go to the restroom anyway."

He gave me a weird look. "Too much information."

"What? You never need to pee? Wow, you are cool, Steve."

I was in my cotton babydoll, snuggled up with Mr. Puddles the Bear when Mark called.

"You're in bed already?" he asked.

"Uh huh. Just turned out the light and Mr. Puddles the Bear is keeping me company."

I heard a muffled chuckle. "Do I want to know?"

"He's the bear you got me when the psycho hose beast cracked my head on the toilet."

"Ahh, you sleep with him?"

"Every night," I confirmed.

"Really?"

"Uh huh," I said as innocently as I could. "Though I'm going to need more of your cologne. What you put on him is starting to wear off."

Silence stilled the line for a few moments. "You noticed that then?"

That gave me the giggles. "I notice everything you do, Mark. I always did."

I pulled Mr. Puddles closer and inhaled his scent trying my best to imagine Mark laying there with me.

"I can't wait until Saturday."

That brought a smile to my lips. "Me too. I want to get to know everything about you."

"Ask any question you want and I'll answer. I'm an open book."

Oh really. "Okay, what's your favorite color."

"Red."

Smirk. "Favorite book?"

"Hmm, tough one. I'll have to say, Stoker's Dracula."

"Oh, good choice. So you're a romantic."

"Obviously."

Now for some personality defining questions. "Republican or Democrat?"

"Neither, they're both a bunch of self serving liars and hypocrites."

An idealist? Interesting. "Tell me about your most favorite memory from childhood."

"No challenge. Christmas morning when I was thirteen," he began. "After we opened our presents, Dad took me out back and told me the facts of life."

"Really?" I was surprised. "That's usually most people's most embarrassing moment."

I could almost hear him shake his head. "Not with Dad. It was the first time he really told me anything I wanted to know. He said it was best to be totally truthful and to be careful about what I asked, because sometime the truth hurts worse than a lie."

That shot a little guilt through me with my omission the night previous. "That's very true. But sometimes people aren't ready to handle the full unvarnished truth."

He paused the conversation at my statement, being thoughtful I suppose. "That sounded a little ominous."

A nervous tingle ran through my stomach. I really didn't want to reveal anything about my physical problems right at that moment, but he was being truthful to me and I didn't want to screw up our relationship with lies. "It kinda was."

"Casidhe…"

"Mark, remember what your dad told you. Sometimes the truth can hurt worse. Be very careful about what you ask me. I won't lie to you, but I haven't told you the entire truth yet. We just started dating."

"True."

God, please don't make me do this right now. I've had enough upheaval in my life as it is.

"I don't know what to say." He sounded confused with a touch of fear in his voice. "Does this have anything to do with you and Denise?"

Well that was a little bit too close for comfort. "Yes and no. It mostly has to do with what happened when my parents were killed, and my physical and mental state since then." If that wasn't skirting the issue then I don't know what was.

"What does that have…" He stopped and restarted. "How was Denise involved in what happened that long ago? Didn't you two just meet this year?"

"Yeah." I thought about it for a few seconds. "Look, let me tell you a few things. It won't be everything, but it will give you a better mental picture of me."

I waited for his acknowledgement. "Casidhe, is it okay if I come over?"

My eyes widened in the darkness. "Why?"

"Because I can hear your voice and you don't sound… I want to be there for you. Is it okay?"

I looked over at the red glowing time on the clock. "Yeah, it's okay."

"Cool, I'll be right there."
 
 
Author's Note: What? You thought I forgot about this story? Pfft!

Photo Credit: Olga http://mgpg.wordpress.com/2006/09/25/olga-super-red/

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To Be Continued...