"No," she said, pushing the plate away pointedly, and crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't want to eat cafeteria food. It's gross."

Taylor winced. "You're pouting. Uh-oh. I should have begged your dad to let me out of this. You're in a bad mood..."

Ashley gave him a dirty glare and a swift kick to his shin below the table. "No, dork. I just don't want to go off to France yet."

Taylor stopped yelping in pain as she said that. "Why not?"

"My mother is going through chemo and radiation again, and I'm not even going to be here," she moaned.

"You consider that a bad thing? As I recall, your mom was a bitch the last time she went through all that. No offense or anything. You should be glad to be out of the house," Taylor said, nodding solemnly.

"Chloe got off the hook, too," Ashley snickered. "She gets to stay with Jenni instead of my folks."

"Lucky dog," he commented.

Ashley glanced at her watch. "Let's go. We've got 10 minutes to get to the gate."

"10?!" Taylor squeaked. He sighed mournfully and grabbed her tote bag for her. They both tossed their trash and hurried out into the crowded airport terminal. By the time they'd made it to the gate, they were already calling for coach passengers.

Ashley elbowed her way to the front of the line, barely noticing that Taylor had grabbed the tail of her t-shirt in order to keep up with her. She handed her ticket to the man taking tickets, and turned to Taylor. "So, this is it."

"A whole year," he said, mostly to himself.

"Only 9 months," she reminded him, trying to make him lighten up. He didn't perk up any. "I've got to go, okay? Will you give me my bag, please?"

Dolefully, he handed her her bag. "What will I do without you?" he asked.

"Hang out with your girlfriends," Ashley said with a grin. Taylor kind of shrugged then looked at her. Ashley felt some strange feeling pass through her, and her heart began to pound. She watched with a sense of duality as Taylor's face came closer to hers. His eyes dropped to her mouth and then closed. She found herself following his motions, and with as much shock realized his mouth had overtaken hers in a soft kiss.

He pulled away after a second, and whispered huskily, "Bye, Ashley." Then he spun her around and pushed her up the ramp.

She snapped out of her daze at the top of the ramp and then turned back to him. "Bye, Taylor!"

He gave her a sad smile, waved, and then hurried away. Ashley turned, too, and went into the plane. She found her seat and flopped down in it, still trying to sort through what had just happened.

"Oh! Oh!" Martha exclaimed, wiping a tear off of her thickly-rouged cheek. Ashley flashed her a weak smile.

"I've been waiting for that kiss all along," Martha said, giggling at her childish reaction to Ashley's little tale.

"Well, I've been dying to tell you about it," Ashley said. "But you insisted upon starting at the beginning..."

"Oh, hush," Martha said grinning. "Sooooo... When did he pop the big question?"

"You're getting waaaaay ahead of yourself," Ashley said. "First, I've got to tell you how this whole chaotic situation came about. In all actuality it began the moment after I got on that plane..."

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