Kyra flipped over on her back with a deep sigh. She'd been tossing and turning for what felt like the last five hours. She was sweaty and restless and although she tried to blame all of it on the mugginess in her room, she knew that that wasn't the real reason.

He'd tried to kiss her. And she'd almost kissed him. She wished she had. She was glad she hadn't.

They always did this. They'd be apart for a while and then they'd fall back into their old routine. Nothing ever came out of it other than one of them stepping back and saying that it wasn't the right time. Would there ever be a right time?

She heard her cell phone vibrate on her nightstand. Again. She'd already ignored her land line ringing twice and the subsequent messages he'd left on her answering machine. Her cell phone had been vibrating every hour or so but she hadn't answered it or looked at what she assumed were repeated text messages.

He always did this. He hammered away at her until she'd finally relent, she always did, and then he'd seem to get scared and he'd pull back.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

When her phone buzzed again she gave up and reached for it. She flipped it open to see that she had 2 missed calls and seven waiting text messages.

A bit much dontcha think?

She rolled her eyes and went through the texts. All of them contained basically the same pleading requests for her to call, text or meet him except for the last one which was a short, clipped message telling her something had come up and he had to leave town.

There it was. He was already retreating and she couldn't help but feel a little sad. He hadn't even waited for her to relent this time.

Why had she been so stubborn? These last few days had been some of the best in years. She'd felt happy and relaxed and...loved.

She sighed and dropped her phone onto the bed before she stood up. It was time to face the day without him once again.

***

JC dropped onto his parent's couch with a huff. He'd just spent the last two hours trying to get over the argument he'd had with Bobbie and he'd just needed to get out of the house.

He just got so frustrated with her and the way she acted. He didn't understand how she'd seemingly changed these last few months.

He'd been attracted to her from the moment he'd met her; she'd seemed relatively smart and she had a great smile. They'd hit it off and things had been really good for the first few weeks, but then it seemed like she had started to slowly change.

Not with him at first, but he'd noticed that when she was around the other guys she was always trying too hard. It was sort of obvious and he'd tried to let her know that she only had to be herself around everyone.

Then she'd really taken that to heart and had become someone else. At first it was little things; a pair of shoes here, a dress there. Then he'd found out that she'd somehow gotten her hands on a duplicate of his credit card and had used it. He'd been super pissed but she'd talked--among other things--him down and he'd let her keep it for her to use once in awhile. She was his girlfriend wasn't she? He couldn't spend all of his time with her so if she wanted to get a few things here and there, no biggie.

Except it had become biggies. A car, an apartment, designer clothes. Every time his credit card bill came in there would be a fight.

Then she'd started getting bitchy with the other guys, the staff and just about anyone who came into contact with her.

They'd fight constantly and break up only to get back together when he was craving, well...to be plain, when he was horny. She may have been a lot of things, but bad in bed wasn't one of them.

"So...everything okay?" his mother asked quietly, taking him out of his thoughts as she handed him a cup of steaming coffee and took a seat next to him on the couch.

He accepted the cup and shifted so that she could get comfortable with her blanket and her own coffee.

"Yeah, I guess. I think she got the message this time." He took a sip of the scalding coffee and winced. "That's hot."

His mother smiled. "Most people blow on it first."

He chuckled and shrugged. "Anyway, she shouldn't be coming around anymore. I'm sorry about all that."

And he'd have to have his phone number changed. And possibly his locks. At both houses.

His mother shrugged indicating that it didn't matter to her. "She said you weren't in Miami when I called?"

JC nodded as he blew on his coffee and took another sip. "I was with Ky actually. In Boston."

She nodded and smiled again. "How is she? I'm guessing the two of you made up?"

JC paused mid sip and then shook his head with a chuckle. "You knew we weren't talking?"

Karen shrugged again and sipped her own of coffee. "It was pretty obvious."

"And you never said anything or asked about it?"

She shook her head. "It really wasn't any of my business. I just figured you'd let it out eventually or she'd mention something at some point."

"Do you guys still talk often? I didn't realise she'd kept in contact."

"We used to talk more often before the house got sold since we had a lot of stuff to discuss regarding that. I don't know if you knew then, but your father and I were executors of Laura's will since Kyra was still a minor."

JC nodded. "Yeah, I remember Dad mentioning something at some point back then."

Karen nodded and continued. "Once we were done with all that we didn't speak as often. A few emails here and there to let us know she was doing okay. And then a few months ago she sent us a copy of her book with a little letter thanking us for everything we did to make her dreams become possible."

JC smiled and looked as his mother nodded over to the mantle where a few books were stacked and he noticed the familiar spine of Kyra's novel. He noticed that his Mom suddenly had a little smirk on her lips.

"What?" he asked, setting his cup on the end table near him.

She laughed softly. "Have you read her book?"

He nodded and scratched his cheek as they reddened slightly. It was uncomfortable for him to think about his Mom reading the love scenes that he'd teased Kyra about before. "Um, yeah. Have you?"

She smiled and nodded but kept a sort of knowing look in her eye that puzzled him. "What?" he repeated, prompting her to explain, "Were you embarrassed by the...sexy parts?" He laughed unable to keep from admitting how ridiculous that sounded.

Karen laughed with him, pushed some hair behind her ear as she blushed too. "Well, um, the scenes were written very well...but it's..um...slightly disturbing when you realise she's writing about sleeping with your son."

JC stopped dead and narrowed his eyes. ‘What?" he spat out with an incredulous look on his face.

His Mom laughed nervously again, her cheeks very red now. She hesitated for a moment before she added, "I thought you said you read the book?"

JC's face didn't change and he shook his head. "I did but-"

Karen interrupted him, as if trying to fix something she shouldn't have said. "I mean, we always knew that you and Kyra were..."

JC stood up quickly and brought his hands up defensively, as if to shield himself from what she was saying. "What the hell, Mom? I don't even know what to say right now."

Karen laughed softly again and reached for his arm. "Sit, Josh. I'm not trying to embarrass you. I mean, we were happy you were. Laura and I always had sort of a little bet on when it would happen-"

"What?!" JC stepped back and covered his face with his hands, sliding them up and through his hair. "This is so...this is so awkward Mom, I don't-"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel like that. I was just...I was just suprised when I read the book. I thought for sure then that there would be a possibility for the two of you, it was so obvious. And then when she came by with her fiance to pick up the last of the estate papers-"

"Her what?" JC asked, his eyes now trained fully on Karen while his fists clenched unconsciously.

"What's going on in here?" Asked Tyler's familiar voice as he walked into the sitting room with one of his thick textbooks. He looked between Karen and JC and raised a brow.

"We were just talking about Kyra," Karen said without letting anything out of the bag.

"And how she and Josh used to sleep together and we all knew it? Or about how she wrote a book about him?"

The smirk on Tyler's face was enough for JC to deck him but all he could think about was, What the hell is going on here?