What can he say?

I stood there, frozen and wide-eyed like a complete idiot after hearing Simon's statement. I had though for a while about how this conversation would go, and came pretty close to having it before we left home to come here, but that was different. I was the one bringing it up, not the other way around, and now that Simon had dumped this on me out of nowhere, I was in no way prepared for it.

"Look... Simon, I..." I tried to say, turning towards him and trying to read his thoughts, coming up somewhere in the range of neutral and silently wishing **** upon me. Safe to say I'm not very good at reading people, regardless of gender.

"Hold up," he said as he held out a hand and took a deep breath. "Just... let me get something off my chest first."

Turning to face him, I tried to prepare myself for everything from yelling to tears to a right hook. At least the grass would cushion my fall...

"She told me how you... how you tried to tell me before and she... um... stopped you, so I know that you wanted to tell me. I respect the fact that you tried to but gave her the opportunity to tell me herself, because you were right. It was her place to tell me, not yours."

He put his hands on his hips and looked down at the ground, searching for the right thing to say. "A lot... a lot of things make sense now. With Stephanie, I mean. 'Cause I get it. You two... you two shared something special, and that's a hard thing to look past, especially when you're still trying to be friends."

His hand came up and clasped on my shoulder. "That being said, I can't... I can't imagine how rough this has been on you, seeing us together. Yet despite all of that you sucked it up, held it down, let me in and treated me like a friend."

He looked up at me, his jaw clamped shut as his eyes shimmered slightly, catching me off-guard. "I have friends that I've known since preschool, Ian, but none of them have ever been as good to me as you have. I guess... I guess I'm just trying to say I'm sorry for making your life difficult, as well as thank you... for being the best friend I ever had."

I took a deep breath and swallowed down my emotions because that's what 80's action movies taught me was the appropriate response to these kinds of things. Despite this, I went through the ringer anyway. All of my anger and guilt seemed to wash away at that moment because while it was one thing to talk about my feelings last night with Talia, for Simon to have recognized them and acknowledge them unprompted hit me right in the chest. It was all out there now, and better yet it was accepted. This didn't necessarily change my feelings for her, but the pressure of keeping it a secret had finally been released.

"Thanks, Simon," I managed to finally say. "That... that really means a lot to me" Since the ball got rolling, I kept going, "I... I'm not going to lie to you, I still have some... I guess unresolved feelings when it comes to Stephanie, but I'm working on it. I don't want anything to come between us, man."

We both smiled and nodded, not saying anything for a few moments.

"Guess we gotta hug it out now, huh?" I chuckled.

He snorted as he tried to contain his laughter. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess we do."

We shared a firm yet brief embrace, the weight of the situation finally past us.

"We'll figure this out," he assured me, to which I nodded in reply.

From the porch, Elizabeth shouted, "Now kiss!"

We both looked up to see all of the girls watching us, laughing over her comment.

"You kiss!" I shot back.

Neither of us were ready for what happened next. Without missing a beat, Elizabeth turned to Stephanie and pulled her in for a deep kiss, catching her bestie off-guard, along with everyone else. Whether it was simply the heat of the moment or an opportunity that presented itself, Rachel tapped Corrine on the shoulder and kissed her right on the mouth. Corrine seemed surprised at first but chuckled and went along with it. Sensing what was happening, Amy opened her mouth to say something before Talia straddled her and kissed her deeply, running her fingers through Amy's fiery tresses as she froze beneath her.

I went from an emotional moment to rock-hard in record time as Simon and I simply stared, desperately needing to adjust the crotch of my jeans.

The girls broke their kisses, all of them giggling with the exception of Amy, who still looked stunned as Talia stepped off of her.

"First time kissing a girl is wild, right?" Talia giggled as Amy blushed and took a swig of her beer.

They all turned to face us as Elizabeth shouted, "Now it's your turn!"

Simon and I turned to look at each other, pale-faced.

I held out my hand for him to shake and said, "Well, it's been real, Simon. I hear Arizona's nice this time of year."

He laughed before shaking my hand and replied, "Guess it's Washington for me then. Nice knowing you."

With that said we both finished what was left of our beers and ran into the woods in different directions.

"Hey! Get back here, you bitches!!!" Stephanie shouted with a laugh as I heard them all scramble down from the porch.

"It's a man-hunt, girls!" Amy shouted. "To the winner go the spoils!"