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Gemma eyed the selection of candies and popcorn that the theater had to offer. "Well, we just ate so I'm not really in the mood for any popcorn. But some peanut M&M's would be nice to snack on." She bought a bag of the treats and then they proceeded to their seats in the theater. They were surprised to find that they were the first ones in the room, despite the fact that the movie was starting in less than five minutes. The movie started and Gemma was occupied for a while, but she went back to thinking about Josh again. How was it that her mind always wandered back to him? Eager to find something else to distract herself, she reached for Leo's hand and held onto it, squeezing it gently. Hopefully he would understand and wouldn't be caught off guard by the gesture. 

 

Nate found some Doritos and pretzels in the pantry and poured two glasses of Mountain Dew, which he knew was Bella's favorite. He went back over over to the living room and sat the snacks down on the coffee table. "Sorry we have such a wide selection, I don't know if you'll be able to choose between all of your options," he joked, letting out a laugh. He knew that she enjoyed his laugh, she'd made comments about it before. He sat down beside her on the couch and noticed that she was all curled up. He sighed and pulled her onto his lap, pleasantly surprised that she didn't object. "What's on your mind? Do you want to talk about it, or do I need to tell you one of my ridiculous stories to get your mind off of it all?" He played with a piece of her hair as they sat in silence.

Gemma chewed at her lip as she looked over into Leo's eyes. She was definitely in a pickle. Here she was, spending the day with her absolute best friend in the world, the boy that knew how to make her question every decision that she's ever made only because he meant well. On the other hand, while she was with him, she was still thinking about her controlling boyfriend that she wasn't really sure she had feelings for. She had a tough decision to make. Would she take the 'easier' route and stick with Josh to avoid the potential for a bad falling-out? Or would she drop everything and run into Leo's arms, who would do anything for her in a heartbeat? She squeezed Leo's hand as she thought. They watched the action-packed movie and munched on snacks until the credits rolled. She looked over at Leo and said, "I want to do it tonight. You're right, this can't wait any longer."

 

Nate gently trailed his fingers up and down Bella's arm. "I know, not everyone is who they say they are," he told her, partly realizing that the same was true about himself. He had never came right out and told her that he loved her, but he secretly hoped that she realized this, somewhere deep down. "You've done absolutely nothing wrong, sweetheart. Do you know what I think he's mad about?" he asked her, watching as she nodded, "I think he's starting to realize that you deserve so much better than him. He's mad that he can't give you what you deserve and he has no clue what to do about it. I'm not taking his side whatsoever, but I'm almost positive that he's a bit upset about all of this, too. I think it's time that you two sit down and have a discussion about your priorities in your relationship. Maybe you're just on the wrong page."

Gemma nodded. "Yes, I think that would be best. I need anyone on my side that I can get," she told him. The arcade would have to wait for another day. "Let's get going," she said before they left the theater and got into his car. Within minutes, they were parking outside of Josh's home. She figured that he would be coming home from school any minute now; they had a football game that night, so he wouldn't be staying after school for practice. Right on cue, Josh came cruising down the road and parked in his driveway. Before he could get out, Gemma and Leo climbed out of his Mustang and approached his car. "Josh, we need to talk," she spat, "right now. Do you want to get interrogated in your car or would you like to be in the comfort of your own home first?"

 

Nate pursed his lips. "Then you need to make it short and sweet, cut right to the chase," he advised her, "and if you really want to give him a taste of his own medicine, I recommend dumping him over a text message. I heard that works wonders for relationships." Obviously, he was joking, but part of him hoped she took his advice seriously. "If you want to do this in person, I'll tag along. I don't want him to get anywhere near you, especially since he's probably pumped full of steroids for practice today." He watched as Bella furrowed her brow. "Kidding, sweetheart. I just want you to know that in this relationship, I'm always on your side, no matter how close Ben and I were in the past. Right now, my eyes are on you, you, you."

Gemma watched as Josh got out of his car and trudged inside, holding the door open for the two of them. She slammed the door shut behind them all and wasted no time confronting him. "Josh, I'm sick and tired of being treated like a piece of property," she argued, nearly shouting at him. "I can't believe you have the nerve to treat me such a way, after all of the things that I do for you. I put up with your rude attitude when you're pissed off from losing a football game. I deal with all of your snarky comments when we're around your friends because you don't want to seem like the guy that actually has feelings." She crossed her arms over her chest, interrupting him when he started to snap back at her. "No, no, you let me do the talking. That's exactly my problem. If you had the decency to let me talk every once in a blue moon, you'd actually noticed how much I hate the way that you treat me. Please, tell me your excuse for why you think I deserve this."

 

Nate nodded. "Do you want to invite him over here? Don't tell him I'm here, I can go in the back room or something. If things start to go downhill, you can just call out and I'll be here in a flash." He hoped that his suggestion would help to put her at ease. When she brought up her first boyfriend, he nodded once again. "Yes, I remember, sweetheart. I brought you three or four gallons of ice cream to eat but you forgot to put them in the freezer and they all melted. And after that was Jesse - ah, Jesse. He was a nice boy, but he didn't know how to pursue a woman like you. I remember you practically had to pull his teeth to get him to go out on an actual date with you once you agreed to be his girlfriend." He shook his head, chuckling lightly. "But you made it through them all. And I'm confident you can move past Ben, too."

Gemma listened to Josh as he stuttered to find his words. "You just let me, Gem," was the only excuse that he could come up with. She smirked and had to stifle a laugh. "That's the best you can come up with, Josh?" she hissed. "You know what? Have fun trying to find another bumbling idiot that's stupid enough to fall in love with you like I did. I'm not done with you yet. I'm not stopping until all of your little friends, all of your little hookers, know what you've done to me. You know what they say about revenge." With that, she grabbed Leo by the arm and stormed out of Leo's house, not stopping to take in a breath until they were in the comfort of his car. She looked over at him with a wide smile on her face. "That felt great."

 

Nate sighed heavily, running his hands through his hair. He reached over and grabbed Bella's cell phone off of the coffee table and handing it to her. "Send him a text or call him now and ask if he'll come over. If he acts suspicious or doesn't agree right away, tell him you have a surprise that he won't be able to resist." He smirked, realizing how close they potentially were to disposing of Ben for good. When she brought up the fact that Nate was always the one to help her get through her relationship troubles, a glimmer of hope flashed in the back of his mind. Was she hinting that she wanted to be with him, or was he just taking all of this the wrong way. He decided to be bold and asked her, "Sweetheart, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Gemma let out a content sigh as they drove. "That sounds like a great idea, actually," she agreed, "I'm willing to whoop your butt at air hockey any day. I also think we should add a quick game of billiards into the mix, I'm feeling especially interested in using geometry to whoop your butt." She showed him a cheeky grin and settled back into her seat. He was right; she was finally free to be her own person, make her own decisions without someone looming over her. She furrowed her brow as she sat in deep thought before she finally turned to face him, adjusting her seat belt so that it wasn't pressing up against her neck. She reached over and grabbed his hand in hers as it sat on the center console. "Leo, I want more than to be happy," she confessed, "I want to be happy with you."

 

Nate took in a few deep breaths as he waited for Bella to send a text to Ben. "Now the waiting game begins," he told her, checking the time on his phone. His interest turned back to her when she finally answered his question. He reached out and cupped her cheek with the palm of his hand. He flashed her a soft, delicate smile and gently grazed her jaw with his thumb. "You don't have to be embarrassed," he said, hoping to get her to open up a bit more, "I feel the exact same way, Bel. I wasn't ever too sure about how to bring it up, but now that we're working on getting Ben out of the picture for good, I think that it's best if we're completely honest with each other. I have had feelings for you for a long, long time, and I'm starting to learn that they're mutual. It doesn't get much better than that."

We need to mix this up a little bit, I think, it's getting kind of stagnant. Any ideas?

---

Gemma bit her lip as he pulled the car over. For a second, she was afraid that steam was going to start to blow out of his ears or, heaven forbid, he would reach across the car and attack her. Her heart rate increased as she wondered what he had to say. She hoped that she hadn't crossed the line; they'd never really discussed taking their relationship further, but it wasn't exactly a subject that had come up before and was banished from all conversation. She listened to him speak and she found herself grinning. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear!" she exclaimed, thrusting her hands up into the air with a sense of gratefulness. "I'm willing to take the next step with you," she said, looking into his eyes, "I don't think we should wait. Who knows how long we have before Josh tries to come after us again. If we're going to be together, we need to decide - fast."

 

Nate's eyes widened a bit at what Bella said, but he tried not to act too surprised. After all, this meant that his feelings were mutual, which was exactly what he wanted all along. When she tried to hide her blush, he let out a gentle laugh and reached down to brush some of her hair out of her face and tuck it behind her ear. He put a finger under her chin and lifted her head up to look him in the eyes. "You're more than enough for me," he admitted, a smile on his lips, "I feel the same way about you. I was afraid that if I tried to get you to go out with me, you'd be scared to death that we would ruin our friendship and you wouldn't go for it." He let out a breath, a deep sigh of relief. "And it doesn't matter what the other girls have to say. If you're happy and I'm happy, that's all that matters. Your friends wouldn't be the ones in a relationship with me, why does their opinion matter?"

Okay. I have a few other little things in mind that I'll keep a secret.

---

Gemma's face lit up when he asked her the question she'd been waiting for. "Of course!" she practically screamed, unbuckling her seat belt and all but throwing herself at him. "Thank you, for everything," she said, her voice mostly projected into his shoulder. "I'm glad you feel the same way." She held him in an embrace for a few moments before she drew back and shimmied back over into her seat. "Come on, let's get going. We can finish this sappy talk later, I want to make you cry like a little girl at the arcade." She grinned wickedly and put her seat belt back on, unable to contain the warm feeling spreading throughout her body. It was as if the events of the day had pumped her veins full of electricity, she was wired and ready to go.

 

Nate shook his head profusely. "You're always going to be good enough, never forget that," he advised her. "They only say nasty things because they're so jealous of you, I'm 100% sure of it. They wouldn't say those things if they didn't desire to be the smallest bit like you. I think once they see us together, if we get together, they're going to be so amazed that they won't dare to talk about you again." He rose from the couch and brought her with him. He wiped at her tears with his finger tips and said, "Come on, let's go somewhere. Being all cooped up here isn't going to improve your mood any. Do you want to go to the malt shop downtown and get some milkshakes? My treat."