Chloe sat on her couch and perused though a fashion magazine. After looking at some of the latest creations of those other designers, Chloe concluded, not being one bit modest, that she was superior to them all.

Chloe then heard a knock at the door. She tossed the magazine onto her table and ran to the door. It was Emily.

"Emily. Hi."

"Hi, Chloe. I'm sorry to come here so late and unannounced but I had to get away from that house."

"Oh, Emily, it's no bother, come in."

"Thanks. Chloe, can I, uh, can I spend the night with you?"

"Well, Emily…"

"I mean I hate to ask, I know you are busy and all. And I would have stayed with Elizabeth but she is with Lucky and I didn't want to disturb them…"

"Emily, it's okay."

"You mean I can stay?"

"Why don't you come sit down and tell me what all this is about?"

"Okay." Emily followed Chloe to the couch and they sat down.

"What's going on?" Chloe asked.

"I got in a fight with my parents."

"A fight about what?"

Emily looked at Chloe and gave her a "you know" look.

"Juan?" Chloe ventured.

"Yeah. They just won't get over it, Chloe! They still refuse to see him the way I do! They think he's trouble and he's not! He's nice and sweet to me. Why can't they just see that?"

"I don't know, Emily. You'll just have to give it some time. It'll no doubt take some time for them adjust but they'll eventually come around."

"They've had all summer to 'come around' and they still hate him."

"You know, I think Juan is nice and sweet too. But do you want to know why I think your parents are still having such a hard time seeing that?"

"Why?"

"Because I think your parents love you very much and they are having a hard time dealing with their little girl growing up and dating boys."

"But that's the thing, Chloe. I'm not a little girl anymore."

"Well you and I know that, but it takes parents a little while longer. They are always reluctant to let their children go and live their own lives. I know my mom certainly was. You should have seen her bawling at my high school graduation."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But still, they just won't listen to me. How much longer am I going to have to wait until they will let this thing go and let me see him? Anyway, I just had to get out of the house. And if I have to hear one more time from Grandfather about how he is a teenage deviant I'm going to go crazy. So, do you think I could stay here? Just for one night. I won't be any trouble."

"Alright, you can stay…"

Emily's face lit up.

"…but, under one condition. Do your parents know you are here?"

Emily shook her head no.

"Well then you have to call them and tell them where you are. I don't want them to be worried about you."

"Alright, I'll call them."

"Good."

"Thank you, Chloe." Emily then leaned forward and gave her a hug.

"You're welcome."

"Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"I never told you this, but ever since I moved here to Port Charles, I always thought of you as sort of a big sister. You're just one of the few family members that I feel like I can talk to about anything."

Chloe smiled. "Emily, that's so sweet of you. I feel the same way. You're the little sister I never had."

"Thanks, Chloe. You're the greatest." The two women hugged again.

"Okay, now you go call your parents. I'm sure by now that they have already called the PCPD looking for you!"

"Yeah, they do tend to overreact." Emily laughed.

"I love your little Christmas tree," Emily said, touching the tiny little tree sitting on the table in the living room. "It's cute."

"Thanks. This suite isn't big enough for a large tree so I thought it was best to have this little one. Hey, I got an idea. How do you feel about a movie and some popcorn?"

"That sounds great! What movie?" "Well, the Sound of Music is coming on television in a few minutes."

"I love that movie!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Back in Arizona, me and my mom would watch that every year."

"Oh good, because that is one of my favorites too! You know, I always thought that that one nun in the movie looks a lot like Lila."

"Oh yeah! I know which nun you are talking about! She does!"

"I guess that saying about everyone in the world having a twin is true."

"Yeah, I guess so."

The movie had long since been over, but Chloe and Emily were oblivious to that. That had been talking for the past hour about everything from school to boys to fashion to makeup.

"You know what, Chloe? This is fun. It kinda reminds me of slumber party, although with less people."

"Oh, I could tell you about some slumber parties of mine. They were pretty crazy."

"What did you do? Freeze the bra of the first girl that fell asleep? Spend hours playing truth or dare? Have makeovers at twelve in the morning?"

"Oh, all of the above! I remember my first slumber party. I will never forget that…"

Summer, 1982

Five twelve-year-old girls sat in the middle Chloe's bedroom floor. It was dark, but the room was illuminated from the midnight moonlight seeping through the window and from the flashlights the girls held.

Scarlet, a girl with long blonde hair and big blue eyes looked at Chloe and grinned mischievously. "Chloe, truth or dare?"

"Uh…truth."

Scarlet grinned wider. Chloe immediately regretted choosing truth. All throughout the game, Scarlet had managed to get each girl to confess her deepest, darkest secret, and Chloe wasn't so sure she wanted to do that.

"Okay, Chloe. Have you ever, in the entire time that you have known him, kissed Jax?"

Chloe could feel her palms starting to sweat. She had a feeling that question was going to come up. Why did she pick truth? Why? "Sure," Chloe replied as calmly as she could, hoping that her voice was not shaking. "I've kissed him on the cheek a couple of times."

Scarlet shook her head. "No, no, Chloe. That's not the kind of kiss I'm talking about. I mean a real kiss. One on the lips." Scarlet made a smacking sound with her own lips for effect.

In her mind, Chloe thought back to last summer. She thought of the kiss she and Jax shared under the tent that night, which albeit, only lasted a second, but still, it was a kiss. And they swore to secrecy that they would never tell a soul of that kiss.

"You better not tell anyone." Chloe's voice echoed in her head.

"*You* better not tell anyone." Jax's voice echoed back.

"No, of course not," Chloe lied. "We're just friends."

"She's lying," a red-haired girl named Jamie said.

"Come on, Chloe! You mean to tell me that you two have never kissed? Not even once?" Scarlet persisted.

"We've never kissed. We're just friends. I told you that. End of story."

A girl with brown shoulder-length hair named Blair spoke up. "My sister says that there is no such thing as a girl and a boy being just friends," she declared.

"Well we are just friends!" Chloe said, feeling her defense was shaky. She knew they could see right through her.

"Okay, Chloe," Scarlet said, "let's say that you two haven't kissed, even though I hardly believe that. Have you ever wanted to kiss him? And I mean a kiss on the lips." Scarlet grinned again, determined to get the truth out of her.

"I don't have to answer that," Chloe answered defiantly. "That's two questions. Rules are only one question at a time."

"She's right, you know," a petite girl called Summer said.

Scarlet accepted defeat, but she continued to grin. Scarlet was not one to give up that easily.

When Chloe's turn came around again, she was prepared.

Jamie looked at her and grinned. The girls all knew the perfect question to ask her if she chose truth. "Chloe, truth or dare?"

But Chloe was smart. She was not going to give them the satisfaction. "Dare."

Scarlet's face lit up as if she had just had the most perfect idea for a dare. She nudged Jamie's shoulder and immediately, the girls formed a huddle. And they were laughing.

Oh no, Chloe thought. This was not good. She hoped and prayed that they would not make her bring out her diary.

The girls returned to their spots on the floor. Blair and Summer were trying their best to hold back their laughter.

"Okay, Chloe," Jamie said, with a bit more composure than the giggling girls to the left of her. "For your dare, you have to go over to Jax's house, sneak into his bedroom, and then, you must bring us back…a pair of his underwear!"

And the girls rolled on the floor with laughter. They enjoyed teasing Chloe. This was the most excitement that they had had all night!

"Why?" Chloe asked. Any other dare than that! Well, any dare other than this and the diary thing.

Scarlet flashed that famous grin of hers. "Because, we wanna know if he wears boxers or briefs!" The girls burst into another fit of laughter.

"Well I could tell you that," Chloe said.

"And how would you know that, Chloe?" Scarlet asked.

Oops, me and my big mouth. "Because, his Mom does laundry every Sunday!" And that was the truth.

The girls looked at each other and grinned, not believing a word Chloe was saying.

"Look, there's no way I can do this," Chloe said.

"Well what's the problem, Chloe?" Jamie asked. "You said yourself that Jax wasn't even home, that he was on some fishing trip with his dad and brother. So it's not like you are going to get caught."

"But his mom is still there!"

"So?" Scarlet asked.

"So! It's 1 am! She's no doubt in bed by now."

"Then that's perfect," Scarlet declared. "If she is asleep, you'll less likely get caught."

"You guys…" Chloe protested, desperately not wanting to do this.

"Okay, Chloe," Jamie said calmly. "Since I'm such a nice person, and since this is your party, I won't force you to do this."

Chloe breathed a sigh of relief.

"But," Jamie continued, "If you choose not to take this dare, then you have to perform another dare in its place. You'll have to…hmm…oh I know! You'll have to run around the house two times--butt-naked! No shirt, no shorts, no bra, no nothing!"

And the girls burst into another fit of giggles.

"Okay, I'll do the underwear thing," Chloe quickly said.

"Good choice." Jamie smiled.

Five barefooted girls in pajamas made their way across the street with flashlights in hand.

"Okay, shh!" Chloe cautioned when they reached Jax's house. "We can't wake up his mother."

"How are you going to get into his bedroom?" Summer asked.

"A ladder. I never use the door. Jax always keeps his window unlocked."

The girls exchanged glances. If only they could meet some cute boys who would let them go up to their room with a ladder.

Chloe walked towards the side of the house where Jax's bedroom was. She carefully picked up the ladder that was lying against the house and propped it up. "Now remember, be quiet!" Chloe cautioned her friends again, who had a habit for being noisy.

"We will, now go get those underwear!" Scarlet whispered back.

Chloe climbed the ladder and quietly made her way to the small piece of roof under the window. She opened the window as soundlessly as possible, but it still betrayed her by creaking and squeaking. Chloe glanced down below. Eight eyes were glued to her, watching Chloe's every move.

Jax's bedroom looked so much different at night. It was hard to tell where things were. Chloe learned this quickly when she bumped into Jax's desk, causing several cassette tapes to fall to the floor. "Shh!" Chloe said to the tapes. She hoped that the noise did not wake his mother.

After a few seconds of panic, the house was still quiet. Chloe let out the breath she had been holding in and carefully arranged the tapes the exact way they had been before.

Chloe's tiptoed over to Jax's dresser. She opened the first drawer, but only found shirts. After checking three more drawers, Chloe finally found his underwear in the bottom one. She looked down at the selection of striped and checkered Hanes boxers.

Chloe then had a guilty thought. What in the world would Jax think of her if he knew she was going through his underwear drawer? She knew that Jax would never do such a thing as to go through her underwear drawer, and yet, here she was, going through his most personal clothing items.

"I'm sorry, Jax," Chloe said silently. She then grabbed a pair of navy blue and white-checkered boxers. They seemed like ones Jax would never miss. He'd probably never even know they were gone. She hoped. She then closed the drawer back quietly.

As Chloe made her way back to the window, she heard a noise. A kind of pounding noise. Then she heard it again. Footsteps. Chloe looked at the crack under the door and saw a sliver of yellow light. "Oh no!" Chloe said silently. "His mother is up!" Chloe frantically searched for a hiding place and found one behind the closet door. She crouched down on the floor and waited a few minutes.

Then, to Chloe's relief, she heard the toilet flushing down the hallway and the door to Jax's parents' room closing. "Whew, close one."

After that, Chloe didn't waste anymore time. She tiptoed quickly to the window, underwear in hand, and was out of there in no time.

"What took you so long?" Scarlet demanded when Chloe got back to the ground.

"Well I-"

"Oh never mind that! Let's see the underwear!" Scarlet interrupted, never one for being very patient.

Chloe slowly pulled the boxers out from behind her and the girls squealed.

"Shh!" Chloe reminded them.

"I knew he wore boxers!" Blaire said.

The girls took turns holding Jax's underwear as they walked across the street, Chloe feeling bad about the dare the whole time. Jax would kill her if he knew that she was letting her friends see his underwear! She could just imagine the looks that Scarlet, Jamie, Blair, and Summer would give him when they started school next week.

Chloe stood out on the porch and waved the last of her friends goodbye. "Bye. See you later!"

"Bye, Chloe!" Blair and Summer called back.

After they had all left, Chloe ran upstairs to her room and closed the door. She ran to the bed and pulled out Jax's boxers from under her pillow. She didn't want her mom to find them by chance. It was just something too embarrassing to explain. Chloe took one last look at the navy blue and white-checkered underwear and shoved them into a box in her closet.

Then, Chloe went back to her bed and pulled out her diary from under the mattress. "Nobody will ever read you," she said to the book.

"Chloe!" her mother called from downstairs. "Lunch is ready."

Chloe kissed the diary. "Nobody," she whispered and shoved the book back under the mattress.

It wasn't, however, the diary entries alone that Chloe was afraid of someone reading. It was also something else. On the cover of the diary were doodles of hearts, smiley faces, flowers, and innocent scribblings of a twelve-year-old girl that repeated two words over and over: Chloe Jacks Chloe Jacks Chloe Jacks.

"Oh my god!" Emily laughed. "So you actually took his underwear?"

"Uh huh," Chloe said.

"Do you still have them?" "They're in a box full of my junior high memorabilia!" Chloe laughed.

"Chloe, that's hysterical!"

"I know! Wow, it is late!"

Emily glanced at her watch. "Oh gosh, you're right. It's almost 1:30."

"We should probably get some sleep."

"Yeah," Emily agreed.

As Chloe climbed into bed, she thought about that summer. That was certainly a summer of firsts for Chloe. Her first sleepover, her first leg shaving, her first bra, her first period. Her first crush.

All through seventh grade, Chloe harbored a major crush on her best friend. She couldn't help it. She suddenly had these strange new feelings. Feelings that just came from out of nowhere. Nice feelings. Sometimes, she would look at Jax and think about how cute he was. That sandy blonde hair. Those aquamarine eyes. That adorable little cleft in his chin. Sometimes when she looked at Jax, she'd think that maybe she would like to have him kiss her. And when Scarlet gushed about French kissing with Johnny Daniels (who was in high school!), Chloe thought that maybe, just maybe, she would like to have Jax stick his tongue in her mouth, just to see what it felt like and if it was really as fun as Scarlet made it out to be.

But it was silly. Preposterous! It was absolutely absurd. Jax? Jasper Jacks? He was her best friend! Up until a year ago, they had been kids; playing hide-and-seek, chasing the ice cream truck in nothing but their bathing suits, camping out in the back yard, pretending that the tree house was a fort and that they were really secret spies. And now, something had changed. Something was different. Almost overnight, it wasn't cool anymore to jump into a pile of raked leaves or order a happy meal from McDonald's. They were growing up. And when all of Chloe's friends talked about which boys were cute, Chloe nodded along, agreeing. But in her mind, only one boy was cute enough to be her boyfriend: Jasper Jacks.

But after a year or so, Chloe began to give up on the idea. She still thought Jax was cute; of course, he would always be cute to her. But he just didn't feel the same way. When Chloe tried makeup, Jax would ask, "What's that stuff all over your face?" When she wore a skirt in November, he asked, "Aren't your legs cold?"

Chloe cried at first in secret, writing page after page in her diary about how dumb Jasper Jacks was not to notice her! But then, she felt guilty. It wasn't his fault. Maybe he just thought the idea of dating his best friend was too weird. And yes, if they did ever become boyfriend and girlfriend, it really would complicate their relationship. What if they broke up? What would happen to the friendship? Chloe couldn't bear to lose her best friend. Jax was everything to her. So Chloe wiped her tears and smiled. She would have him as her best friend, and that would be just enough. A silly old crush was not going to get in the way and risk her losing the most important person in her life.

When spring came, Robbie Cox asked Chloe to the school dance. He wasn't so bad looking, and he was actually really nice. So she agreed. And when Jax asked Gabrielle, the new girl in school, to go out with him, she didn't feel one bit jealous.

Chloe sighed, still unable to tell her mind to shut up so she could get some sleep. What Chloe was feeling now could hardly be described as some adolescent crush. She had deep feelings for Jax. Caring feelings. Loving feelings. Intimate feelings. And when she thought about it, she and Jax acted like a couple in every way, well, except for the sex part. And to Chloe, it really wasn't too hard to conceive the idea of spending her life with him.

Chloe then sprang out of her bed and went to her closet. She rummaged through boxes of clothing and shoes until she found what she was looking for.

"Yeah, yeah, I got him to take the deal," Jax said to one of his business associates on the phone. "Okay, great, talk to you later."

As Jax hung up the phone, he heard a knock on the door. He reached over to open it and smiled when he saw it was Chloe.

"Hey," Jax said, still beaming.

"Hey."

"Hey, do you want to go downstairs and have breakfast with me? I was thinking about doing that."

"Oh, I'd love to, Jax, but I already ate and besides, I have somewhere where I have to be."

Jax made a pouty face.

"I'm sorry. Rain check?" Chloe offered.

"Sure. So, what brings you by?"

Chloe scrunched her face up, searching for the right way to say this. Jax loved it when she made that look.

"Okay, this isn't easy to say, but…well…I sorta stole something from you a long time ago. And it wasn't until I got to talking to Emily last night that I thought about it and…" Chloe could tell that Jax was very confused. She started over. "Okay, do you remember that time when we were twelve and you and your dad and brother went on that fishing trip?"

Jax shook his head and grinned. "Not really."

"Well, you did. And you were gone all weekend, and that was the weekend my mother let me have a slumber party. You remember my friends? Scarlet, Blair, Summer, Jamie?"

"Yes, of course, I remember them."

"Well, we ended up playing a game of truth or dare, and the girls dared me to do something. They dared me to sneak into your bedroom," Chloe reached into her purse, "and bring back a pair of your underwear." Chloe handed Jax the navy blue and white boxer shorts.

"My lucky drawers! I was wondering where they had disappeared to! Chloe, how could you take my lucky drawers?!"

"I'm sorry, Jax! Look, I didn't want to do it but it was either that or run around the house naked…"

Jax started laughing uncontrollably.

Chloe looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"Sweetie, I'm just teasing you. I don't remember these old things at all. I must have had ten other pairs that looked exactly like this one."

"You! I'm gonna get you for that!" Chloe made a fist and grabbed Jax, punching him lightly in the stomach. Jax doubled over, feigning pain.

"Well anyway, I was just returning them to you, although I seriously doubt that they fit anymore."

"Yeah, you got that right. I've grown…a lot." Jax snickered.

Chloe rolled her eyes. Typical male. "Jax, I'll see you." Chloe headed for the door.

"Hey, hey, wait a minute, Chloe. I want to ask you something."

"What?"

"So did they really dare you to run around the house naked?"

"Yeah, they were pretty cruel."

Jax nodded his head in disbelief. "What on earth goes on at those slumber parties?"

Chloe laughed. "Trust me, you don't want to know." And with that, Chloe left, leaving Jax with his old navy blue and white boxers and a bemused expression on his face.

To be continued…

Author's note: Just in case you didn't get the inside joke in this chapter, Anna Lee (Lila) really was the nun in the Sound of Music. :-)