"Oh, it wasn't that bad!" said Lindsey.

"Oh, yes it was!" said Erin. "That was awful! Like, not even a good kind of awful!"

Dave sat, staring at the now-blank screen. "I can't believe I watched that. What was the plot?"

"The bad guys were after the good guy," said Alyson. "I think." She was squished into one corner of the sofa. Next to her was Dave, then Erin, then Aaron, then Alison, then Trey. Max and Lindsey had squashed themselves into a beanbag chair on the floor. It would be a miracle if they could get up again. Rob, Colleen, Beth, and Vinnie were lounging on the loveseat, and Courtney, Christian, Sarah, and Gabe were laying on the floor. Ele, Matt, Keith, and Carly were off conspiring. :)

"No, there wasn't any plot," said Trey. He glanced at Alyson but quickly looked away when their eyes met. Courtney's eyebrows shot up, but she said nothing.

"All right, I say we head down to the beach," announced Christian, eating the last pieces of popcorn. It was amazing that he never gained weight, considering all the food he put away. Alyson and Erin were constantly planning to attack Christian one night and remove his pituitary gland.

"Sounds good to me," said Dave. He slid off of the couch and onto the floor since it would be technically impossible to stand up from being squished so close to other people. He held out his hand to Erin and pulled her up off the couch. Erin turned to Alyson.

"How're we gonna get all that food down to the beach?" she asked.

"We left it in the bags, except for the frozen stuff, so everybody can just take a bag," replied Alyson quietly after a few seconds. She seemed out of it.

"Okay." Erin looked at Alyson thoughtfully and then headed downstairs with Dave, Christian, Courtney, and Gabe to start putting stuff in coolers.

"Let's go!" shouted Max. He tried to get up, but he was stuck in the beanbag. Then Lindsey tried to get up, but she was stuck too. After about five tries and at the laughter of everyone, the two finally stood up.

"I am never sitting in that thing again!" said Lindsey, looking at the chair with wide-eyes. "It'll eat you alive!"

Colleen looked at Lindsey and smiled. "That'd be kinda funny to watch, Linds!"

"Ha, ha," smirked Lindsey. "All right, people, let's move!" She led the procession of people out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen. Alyson hung back to gather up napkins and popcorn bowls and was just about to leave when Trey came in the room.

"I just forgot my sunglasses," mumbled Trey, grabbing them off of the table.

"You needed them to watch the movie?" asked Alyson, raising her eyebrows.

"Screen gets bright sometimes," said Trey. He gave her a half-smile, then turned to go. Changing his mind and deciding to go along with what Erin had told him, he spun around.

"Are you gonna tell me what's bothering you?" he spat out.

Alyson looked him directly in the eye. "Nothing's bothering me."

Trey rolled his eyes and shut the door. "Oh, yeah, Alley, you and I always ignore each other. And this not speaking to each other thing--yeah, that's normal too."

Ignoring the sarcasm, Alyson went to open the door, but Trey leaned against it and wouldn't let her leave.

"Trey, open the door."

Trey shook his head 'no'. "Not until you tell me what's wrong."

"There's nothing wrong!" Alyson exploded.

"I don't believe you!" Trey shouted back. "You've been walking around for the past couple of weeks not looking at me, not talking to me, not even acknowledging my existence! I was starting to think you hate me, but you said you didn't!"

"So what? I'm a liar?" said Alyson.

Trey paused. "No, I am," he replied, quietly. Alyson looked at him, confused. "I know why you're upset," Trey admitted.

Alyson's mouth almost fell open. If he knew the truth . . .

"Erin told me," Trey confirmed.

Alyson closed her eyes, letting that sink in. The whole idea of one of her best friends betraying her didn't appeal to her that much.

"Here's a hint, Al. If you like a guy, don't ignore him and treat him like dirt, especially if he's your best friend."

Alyson sighed. "Well . . . it's . . .I mean . . ."

"I know," said Trey. "Kinda hard to tell your best friend you want to kiss him, right?"

He held back a smile as Alyson turned away, her face a bit more pink than a few minutes before.

"You know what hurts?" Trey continued. "You ignored me like that, never even considering that I might feel the same way."

"Why should I?" asked Alyson, facing him. "Trey, you're the world's biggest flirt! You've never been serious about anyone! Our relationship is confined to late-night movie viewings and wrestling for letters and cans of tomato sauce!"

"That's why we should be together!" said Trey. "We can be totally weird with one another, and neither one of us thinks the other's abnormal!"

"So you want us to be together?"

Trey nodded.

"Then where does that leave us, Trey?" asked Alyson. "What if we break up? I can't afford to--"

"We're not gonna break up, Alley!" interrupted Trey. "Look, I want to be with you, you want to be with me. Why can't we just go with that and see where it takes us?"

"Because, I'm afraid--"

Trey put his finger to Alyson's lips. "Don't be afraid. Everyone around here says we should be together and I completely agree with them." Removing his finger, he replaced it with his lips, pulling Alyson in close.