"Ugh, what does he want now?," she moaned. She grabbed the flashlight from her bedside table and shinned it back through Clint's window so he knew that she was awake. Clint climbed out his window onto the roof and quickly climbed down the ladder. Stephanie got outside just in time to see Clint run across the deserted street and climb up the ladder at the side of her house.
"So... what's up?," she asked him sleepily.
"Oh, well, it's too hot to sleep!," he complained. Steph leaned against the brick wall and closed her eyes
"Why are you so tired? It's only, ummm...," he glanced at his watch and pressed the indiglo button so that he could see the time, "its only 12:00 am."
"Well, I had a busy day! And I like to sleep at night." She told him. Steph's eyelids were growing heavier by the second, "you're gonna have to find a way to keep me awake, cause I'm going to fall asleep!"
*~~~~~*
Steph woke up and it was now light outside.
"Oh no!," she said to herself. She glanced to her left and Clint was still sleeping. They were still out on the roof.
"Clint! Get up!" She shook him. He moaned, "Clint, wake up, it's morning!"
This was not the first time they had slept on the roof all night, it had happened many times.
"Clint get up NOW!," she told him sternly. He slowly opened his eyes and quickly covered them because the light outside was so bright. When he was finally able to open his eyes fully, he looked at his watch.
"OH shit, mom's gonna wake me up soon!," they had been caught sleeping on the roof before. It bothered Clint's mom most when they slept outside. She didn't want her "little baby boy" getting sick.
"Bye Steph!," he called as he ran to the edge of the roof.
"Bye!," she called back. She watched Clint run across the road and then she climbed back through her window. She climbed back into her bed and fell asleep instantly.
*~~~~~*
It did not seem long after she fell back asleep that Tara came barging into her room.
"What do you want?" Steph groaned from underneath the covers.
"Where's my Club Monaco sweatshirt?" Tara almost yelled.
"On the floor!" She said pulling her head out from under the covers. She watched her sister dig through the piles of clothes on the floor and take the sweatshirt she was looking for.
"Hey, mom and I are going to the mall, wanna come?" Tara asked. Steph couldn't stand the thought of spending a day at the mall looking for clothes for her sister.
"No, I don't!" She saidpulling the covers back over her head.
A couple minutes after she had closed her eyes, the phone rang. She waited to see if her mom and sister were still home to pick it up, but after the fourth ring she decided to pick up the phone, "hello?"
"Hey Steph!" Clint said.
"Oh, hi Clint!" She said with some enthusiasm.
"Do ya wanna come over and play some Nintendo 64? I just got James Bond, and a snowboarding game." He asked.
"Ya sure!" Steph talked for a few minutes with Clint and then changed out of her P.Js and into some jean shorts and a tank top. She walked over to Clint's house and rang the doorbell. Clint answered the door and they walked into the basement where the Nintendo was. Clint grabbed the green controller and Steph picked up the blue one. They started playing Goldeneye. When Bob walked into the room,Clint had already killed Steph twice. Steph really liked Bob, Clint knew, and Clint sort of liked Tara (she was a little old for him), but theyhad sworn to eachother that they would not tell anyone.
"Can I play?," Bob asked.
"Ya, sure, why not?," Clint said. Bob picked up the red controller while Clint switched it to a three player game. Bob and Steph ganged up on Clint and killed him 5 times. Steph had only died three times and Clint had managed to kill Bob two times. Then they switched and started playing 1080* Snowboarding.
"I'm gonna win this time!" Clint announced while choosing his board.
"Ya right!" Bob laughed.
Clint did win that game. Before they could start playing another game,the phone rang and Clint ran to get it. Bob and Steph were left alone in the basement.
"So... are you going anywhere on vacation this summer?," Bob asked.
"I'm not sure, my parents always plan without me! So I never know til' the last minute," she answered, "how about you, are you going anywhere? Clint hasn't told me if you are."
"Not that I know of!"
They talked for a while longer untill Clint came back from the telephone.
"Come on Steph, lets go to my room," he suggested. Stephanie agreed and followed Clint up to his room.
"Why do you like Bob?," Clint asked, "he's so annoying!"
"He's not annoying, and I don't know why I like him, I just do OK? You better not have told anyone!" Steph said.
"I haven't! Remember, I promised I wouldn't say anything? Now do I look like a guy who would brake a promise?" Clint grinned.
"Ya!" She said and smiled.
"You doing anything tonight? Matt called and we're going to go to a movie tonight. He asked me to invite you. Wanna come?," he asked.
"Umm...ya sure!" she exclaimed.
"Come over at six thirty and mom will drive us over, OK?," he explained.
"Yep!" They talked for about another half hour and then Steph had to leave.
"Bye Steph! See you at6:30!," he said as she walked out the door.
"Bye Clint!," she called back as she shut the front door behind her.
*~~~~~*
At 6:30 Steph left her house and walked across the street to Clint's.When she rang the doorbell Bob opened the door.
"Hi Bob! Is Clint around?," she asked.
"Ummm... ya he is but he's just finishing up his shower," Bob told her, "come in and we can watch TV till he's done."
They sat down in the TV room and Bob flicked on the TV.
"Do you know who's coming?," she asked Bob.
"Ya... Clint, me, Dave, Brian, Ray, Jamie, Matt, Meg and Robin. Oh and Scott said he might come," Bob told her.
"Scott?," she asked in disbeleif. He never did anything any more with his little brothers.
"Ya, he really likes Meg, so he said he'd come along," Bob said.
"Cool!," she exclaimed. Just then Scott walked into the room, "hey Scott!" "Hey Steph, whats up?," he asked sitting on the couch.
"Nothin much," Steph answered. Bob,Steph and Scott continued talking. Bob and Steph were getting friendlier by the minute and were flirting ALOT!
"Hey Clint, took you long enough!," Steph exclaimed when Clint finally walked into the room.
"Well...," Clint started but Bob interupted.
"Let's just go, we're goingto be late!"
*~~~~~*
They met up with Brian, Ray, Jamie, Matt, Meg and Robin at the Famouse Players Theater.
"Hey Steph!," Meg exclaimed when she saw Steph walk in. She said hello to both Meg and Robin who were pretty good friends of hers.
"Hey Scott!," Meg said when she saw him. Meg and Scott were flirting big time the whole time they were there. Robin and Matt were going out so they were flirting and Bob and Steph were flirting. After they had bought their tickets, they went into the theater. They all sat down in the back row. Steph took a seat beside Clint and Bob sat down on the other side of Steph.
Near the end of the movie Clint tapped Steph on the shoulder because he wanted to tell her something.
"Steph!," he whispered not turning his eyes away from the screen.
No response.
"Steph!," he whispered a little louder. She still didn't respond.
"Steph!," he said as he turned to look at her. He gasped in suprise when he saw his best friend and his brother kissing. Shocked, he walked to the other side of the group of people and sat down beside Jamie.
"Whats wrong?," Jamie asked.
"Them!," Clint said and pointed to Steph and his brother, who hadn't even seemd to notice he had left.
"Oh," was all Jamie said and he turned back to the screen. When they got back to Clint's house, Steph hugged Bob and kissed him on the cheek and left. Clint was mad, she didn't even say bye to him, and she was supposed to be his best friend.
*~~~~*
The next morning when Steph called, Clint hoped it was him she wanted to talk to and not Bob. But of course she asked for Bob. He went up to his room not wanting to hear the conversation Bob was having with Steph.
"Why is she ignoring me? Bob wasn't even supposed to come last night!Why did he have to come? He ruined everything!," Clint mumbled to himself, "I wish she would just dump Bob and start talking to me again."
He laid back on his bed and stared at the ceiling/
"Wait! Why should I care? If thats the way she wants it to be, we don't have to be friends. Just because she has a boyfriend doesn't mean she's supposed to ignore me! If she was a REAL friend, she wouldn't treat me like this!,"Clint reassured himself. Over 13 years of being best friends and Clint felt that he didn't even like her as a friend anymore. Clint still hoped that she might come to her senses, and realize that Bob was a loser.
*~~~~~*
Steph called many times that week and never once talked to Clint. She would call, ask for Bob, and if he wasn't there she would say bye quickly and hang up. Clint was really pissed. She had ignored him for at least a week now.
"Thats it! I'm not talking to her anymore!" Clint knew he still wanted her to start talking to him again but she was treating him like shit, and he felt... well, jealous. Bob was getting all her attention, "obviously she doesn't care if I'm her friend or not!"
That night Clint closed his blinds so no light could shine through, he knew it wouldn't anyway. Steph had noticed that lately, Clint had stopped answering the phone and the door. She realized that she missed him. Once Clint had stopped answering the phone and the door, she had stopped calling Bob as regularly. That night, (2 and a 1/2 weeks since Bob and Steph had started going out), Steph couldn't sleep. So she did what she usually did when she couldn't sleep. She climbed out her window flashlight in hand, knowing Clint would never again shine a flashlight through her window, but still hoping he would so she could shine back.
"What have I done?" Steph whispered to herself, "I miss Clint so much!"
She pulled her legs towards her chest and buried her face in her arms, "how come I was to stupid to realize how much I love him? Now he hates me and I've lost him!"
Although she didn't cry aloud, tears streamed down her face. Clint lay awake in bed. He wanted to use his flashlight, which he still had on his bedside table, but he couldn't. She had ignored him for the past 2 weeks, he didn't want to bother her now.
"Why didn't I realize that I love her?," he asked himself aloud.
"I'm so stupid! I let Bob have her, could I be any stupider?"
He got up and peeked out the window and looked at Steph's house. To his suprise, he saw her with her face buried in her arms and it looked as if she was crying. He climbed out his window,quietly and slowly walked across the street,up her ladder and sat down beside her, without her noticing. He put his arm around her. She looked up startled and saw Clint sitting beside her.
"Oh Clint, I'm so sorry, I'm so stupid, you must hate me so much!," she wailed, buring her face in his chest.
"Steph I don't hate you..." he held her chin up and wiped some of the tears off her tearstained face, "I love you!"
"I love you too!" She said and they kissed.
*~~~~*
The next morning when Steph woke up she found herself on the roof leaning on Clint's shoulder and gripping tightly onto his hand. She didn't bother waking Clint, he looked to cute to wake up. So she just satthere beside him untill she fell back asleep. When Clint woke up he noticed he was still on the roof with Steph. He lifted his arm up and checked the time on his watch. It was 10:30am. Just then Stephanie woke up.
"Hey!," she said to him and smiled.
"Morning!," Clint smiled back and hugged her.
"What time is it?," she asked.
"It's already 10:30," he told her. She slowly got up.
"I better go get dressed," he told him.
He got up, "ya me too!"
They hugged again and they kissed.
"Bye!," he said.
"Bye!," Steph said and gave him a quick hug and kiss on the lips. Steph climbed back in through her window and got dressed.