She was sitting on the edge of the deck, her formal dress spread out behind her, the offensive high heels beside her. She was swinging her feet back and forth, and looking up at the night sky. He sat down tentatively beside her.

"Well, Mr. Richardson, while you seem to have mastered my spontaneity, my impulsiveness is still quite a match for anyone. Act first, think later; my words to live by. Although in this case, it seems to extend to Speak first, think later. There aren't too many people who have witnessed that kind of rant and lived to tell about it," she said softly, feeling sheepish and apologetic. And awkward.

She hated awkward. Especially with him. For all the time they had spent together, for all the hard moments that had passed in her life recently that he'd been there to witness, there'd never been any moment of awkwardness between them. Not even the first time she had been brave enough to call him after she had left him, alone in bed, the morning after the night they'd spent together.

The morning. The lovely little time when reality had reared it's ugly head. She had forced herself to put all of the nagging little questions and guilt trips aside, when she did what was considered her talent: running away from her sorrows. Mourning in private was a much prettier thing for her, she had not wanted the burden of other people's sadness to add to the immeasurable weight of grief she had to carry.

But after the ache had grown to a bearable throbbing, they had reappeared. Why had it been Kevin? Why had she allowed that to happen? Had she wanted it all along? How had he interpreted the whole situation?

She had buried any thought of that moment in order to keep the ease of their friendship alive. She depended on him for so much. She could survive without Nick. Their friendship had changed a lot. So slowly, that she didn't even notice that it had changed. But her relationship with Kevin hadn't changed. It had grown. And now, in one moment of unthinking ranting, she had created that awkwardness she now felt. She wanted to scream with the unfairness of it all.

"Brianna, if I make you feel like you don't mean anything to me…What I mean is that…You do, you know. A lot in fact," Kevin said slowly.

"I do what?"

"Mean something to me."

"Oh. Okay."

Silence followed. Brianna shifted her gaze from the sky above her, to the grass below her. Kevin fidgeted with his keys. Suddenly taking a deep breath, he turned and in one swift movement, he grabbed Brianna's shoulders, and maneuvered them both until they were sitting across from each other on the deck, cross-legged.

"Shit, Brie, there's only one way to say it, and since you don't want to be very forthcoming in this manner, I guess I'm the one that's going to have to do it. Why did you leave?" he asked.

"You don't want to be around me when I get like that, trust me, Kevin. I figured it would be better for the both of us if I just took off and handled that mess by myself. Between my mother, and the argument with Nick, and…well, I just couldn't put you through having to deal with an emotional wreck," she explained.

"You didn't give the option. I would have been there, you know."

"That's what makes it so bad!" she cried out. Jumping up, turning away, Kevin was engulfed momentarily by the swishing of her skirt. He jumped up after her.

"Made what so bad?" he asked patiently, placing his hands on her arms, his chin on her shoulder. She was painfully aware of him; his breath warm on her neck, the feel of his arms around her. She closed her eyes and sighed. It was time to stop running from it.

"Using you the way I did. Using your body, your friendship, your trust. I was hurting, and I used you to make myself feel better. And the next morning, when I woke up, and you were there, and for a moment I could almost forget." Her voice was low, almost a whisper.

"But it all came back. And I felt worse. Because I had used you. And I couldn't take losing everything in the world that was important to me. So I ran away, as fast as I could."

"But you were wrong, Brianna," he said, his voice soft on her skin. She turned to look him in the eyes.

"Explain."

"You didn't use me. I gave myself to you, Brie. Because you were hurting. Because I wanted you to forget, even for a moment. And because I was watching you die before my eyes, and I would do anything to keep the woman I love from feeling that kind of pain ever again. So I did the only thing I thought could help her," he said, leaning his forehead against hers. Her vision had gone blurry, when had she started to cry?

"You lied," she cried softly. She pulled him closer, her hands on the sides of his face, her thumbs stroking his cheek. "You said you didn't know what was between us. Why can't we stop lying to each other?"

"Because we're lying to ourselves," he answered. Their faces so close, it was difficult to breath. Every second seemed to last forever, one heartbeat a lifetime. Standing at the edge, waiting for the breathless tumble of the truth that could make both of them whole, words seemed to fail them.

"I don't want to lie anymore," she said, her lips a millimeter away from his.

"Me neither."

"I don't want to be alone anymore," she cried softly, tears starting to well in her eyes.

"You're not alone, Brianna…You haven't been, all this time. We've just been too blind to notice. I've been there for you, and I always will be."

"Don't say that! Don't say that unless you mean it," she sniffed, turning her face away from his, and looking down.

"Hey, look at me. I don't know how, or why it happened, Brie, but for some godforsaken reason, I fell hopelessly in love with you. And now that my eyes are open to it, you're never going to get rid of me," he smiled, wiping a stray tear away with his thumb.

"So, I'm stuck with you, Mr. Boring and Serious?"

"You can't get rid of me by insulting me. I don't give in that easily."

"I wanted to tear apart that girl you showed up with at the reception. I wanted to just tear her head of her body, and then do the same to you. I didn't know why I felt like that, I couldn't think that maybe…"

"Maybe?"

"Oh, shut up and kiss me, so I can tell you I'm in love with you."

"Okay." With that one word, the millimeter that separated them was closed, as he pressed his lips to hers. A feeling of elation filled Brianna, as she pulled him closer, losing herself in the feeling that being in his arms gave her.

And the rest is history.