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**June 9 2002**

“Ugh, you guys, I hate Angel food cake.” Charline whined, crossing her arms and pouting.

“Shut up and drink your Hot Chocolate.” Sophie ordered.

It was a month later, and Joce’s 14th birthday. Brian and Kevin were gone for the rest of the vacation to visit their wives, and A.J. and Howie were vacationing in Hawaii for the time being. As far as the girls – they were still at Nick’s parent’s house.

“Can I please have a spoon?” Charline asked. The girls, Aaron, Nick and the rest of their family were in the dining room celebrating Joce’s birthday. As usual, Charline was being picky about the food.

Jane Carter walked into the kitchen. “All the spoons are in the wash, Charline.” She stated, rummaging through the cutlery drawer until she pulled out a huge serving spoon. “You can use this if you want.”

Charline nodded. “I’ll use that.”

“Ugh, Charline, you’re so rude.” Sophie shook her head, scolding her younger sister.

Bob Carter chuckled. “Yeah, you rude dude.”

“Hey, have you been reading ‘Jim’s Lame Jokes’?” Joce laughed, and Steph giggled.

Charline finished her Hot Chocolate and walked into the front room. Once there, she flopped down on a couch. Aaron looked at her strangely, and then went to sit beside her.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“I have a tummy ache.” She pouted, turning over onto her stomach.

“Maybe it’s that time of the month!” Steph called from the dining room, and that caused everyone to laugh.

“No.” Charline said. “That was last week.” After sticking out her tongue at her friends, she turned to Aaron. “Let’s go down to the beach.”

“Okay.” Aaron agreed, taking her hand.

“Nick, let’s go upstairs.” Steph said, after Charline and Aaron were out the door.

“Alright.” He replied, following her.

Once they were in Nick’s bedroom Steph fell onto his bed. “Guess what?”

“What?” He asked, sitting down beside her.

“Charline and Aaron are in love!” She smiled.

Nick sighed. “Oh, really? How do you know?” He asked innocently.

“Charline told us that she loves him.” She replied, looking at Nick as if he were stupid. “She also told us that she heard Aaron telling you that he loves her.”

Nick smiled. “Yeah, he did tell me that.”

Steph continued on with her story. “Charline also told me specifically not to tell Ni-” She clapped a hand over her mouth, after realizing what she had just done. “Forget everything I just told you, ok?”

Nick rolled his eyes and lied down beside her. “Remember when I first told you I loved you?” He asked, and Steph laughed at the memory.

“Yes. We were on the boat, having a picnic. Except, a bunch of birds came and started eating the bread.”

Nick shook his head, remembering that day. What was intended to be romantic turned out to be a disaster. He hoped Aaron and Charline had more luck.

**Meanwhile**

Aaron sat down in the sand and pulled Charline into his lap. Their one-month anniversary was tomorrow, and in the past thirty days they had spent a countless amount of time on the sand in each other’s arms. Neither of them would speak, the saying was true – silence is golden.

“I faked my stomach ache.” Charline said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Why’d you do that?” Aaron asked.

Charline smiled. “I needed a better excuse not to eat the cake.”

Aaron rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help but smile at her silliness. “Oh.”

There was a moment of silence before Charline broke it.

“Aaron, sing to me again.” She said.

“Ok.” He replied, wrapping his arms around her waist. “You, you wrote the book on love, and I wanna read every word so I know everything about you. Oh, you, you wrote the book on love, and girl I just can’t get enough.” He sang.

Charline smirked. “You can’t rip off your brother’s songs!” She accused.

“Well did you want me to start rapping? Well, I guess the best way for me to begin is, the other day I was hanging with some friends, going around the room talking about our favorite noise, I said I had a brother in the Backstreet Boys!” He kidded.

“You’re such a bum head fart face squirtle wirtle.” She laughed, and rested her head on his shoulder. “I love you.” She whispered.

Aaron blinked, he was surprised, to say the least. He thought he was going to be the first to say it. Charline must have had this all planned out.

“I love you too.” He replied, quietly. They softly kissed and once again sat in silence.

**Two Hours Later**

“Where are Charline and Aaron?” Steph asked, digging through the fridge.

“I think they’re still on the beach.” Sophie replied, glancing at the clock. “It’s midnight already? Good thing Kevin’s not here.” She mumbled.

“No kidding.” Joce said. “Steph, did you find anything good?”

“No…hang on.” Steph closed the fridge and started rummaging through the pantry. “We could make this.” She suggested, holding up a box of Jell-o instant pudding mix.

“Okay!” Joce agreed, Sophie shook her head.

“No way, you guys can’t even make crackers and cheese.”

“Neither can you.” Steph shot back. In response, Sophie stuck her tongue out at her.

Nick opened the pantry and pulled out an instant package of oriental noodles. “I’ll make this for you guys.” He offered, and then looked out the back window. “Someone should go get them.”

Joce quickly shook her head. “No way. I don’t want to interrupt them and… whatever… they’re… doing…”

Steph nodded in agreement. “I don’t want to go down there either.”

“Maybe it would be better if Kevin was here.” Sophie muttered, but Nick overheard her and shook his head as if she was crazy.

“Are you nuts? They wouldn’t even be allowed in the living room alone! Let alone, the beach at midnight.” Nick told them, and Steph nodded. Sophie sighed.

“I’ll go get them. Char isn’t stupid.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Joce agreed. “As long as you’re the one going to get them.” She quickly added.

“I mean, if she was gonna do it with him, it would be in her bedroom. Not in the sand.” Sophie stated before walking out the backdoor and down the steps to the beach.

Before she started searching for them, she took a second to admire the waves crashing up on the shore. It was high tide, and would have been a perfect day for swimming.

There was a patch of boulder/rocks over at the end of the beach, jetting out, into the water. Sophie suspected that where Charline and Aaron were hiding, since they were nowhere to be found.

“Charline!” Sophie called as she walked around the coastline. No answer.

Once she got up to the rocks, she climbed up onto one, and a huge wave came crashing over her, laving her completely drenched.

Shaking off the shock of the cold water, she noticed Charline and Aaron, sitting in the middle of the bunch of rocks. Waves were crashing everyone around them, but not on them. It was picture perfect, them sitting there, peacefully, in the midst of chaos. They didn’t seem to realize that Sophie was standing there, watching them. In fact, they were oblivious to everything.

“Char!” Sophie yelled over sound of the waves.

Startled, Charline and Aaron snapped their heads around. “Don’t do that!” Aaron exclaimed.

“Get lost Sophie!” Charline whined.

“No, Charline.” Sophie said sternly. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Um… ten thirty?” Aaron guessed.

“Wrong. It’s midnight.” Sophie corrected him.

“Oh, we must have lost track of time.” Charline replied, while she and Aaron turned around to once again face the water.

“Ugh, Charline, jeez.” Sophie sighed, exasperated. “You guys had everyone worried sick!!”

“Okay, no.” Steph said, matter of factly, coming over the rocks. “What happened to you?” She laughed, putting her hand over her mouth.

“A wave splashed me.” She explained, giggling, then she turned serious again. “Yes, everyone was worried!!”

“No, I just came down here to see what was taking so long. I was worried a wave would eat you, and apparently I was right.”

Sophie rolled her eyes and Charline’s shoulders started to shake, showing that she was laughing.

A cold breeze blew by and Steph rubbed her bare arms in an attempt to warm them up. “Come on guys, let’s go back inside.” Then she spoke a bit louder. “Come on, Char.”

Sophie and Steph started on their way back up to the house, and soon after, Charline and Aaron followed. Yet another night come to an end.