One night, Jax and Chloe decided to have dinner at the PC Grille. Chloe sat at the table and perused through the menu as she waited for Jax to come back from his business call.

"Chloe?" a voice suddenly said.

Chloe recognized that voice. She glanced up from her menu to see Brenda standing over her.

"What do you want?" Chloe said calmly.

Brenda took a seat at the table. "Look, Chloe, I know we're not the best of friends, but I want you to know that I feel really bad about hurting Jax."

"Well good," Chloe said sternly. "You should feel bad about it. What you did was really awful. Leading him on like that while you were still in love with Sonny! You know, you shouldn't play with people's hearts like that. It's really cruel."

"Look, I know what I did was wrong. Okay? I admit it. I made a mistake. But I really hate the way I hurt him. Jax is such a sweet guy and he did make me happy. But I don't want him to hate me. I want us to at least be friends. Chloe, he listens to you. Can you talk to him? I just want us to make peace and get over this, that's all."

"You know what, Brenda, if you didn't want to lose Jax as a friend, then you should have thought about that before you treated him the way you did! I've known Jax ever since we were kids. I know him far better than you ever will, and if you think Jax is going to just forget how you hurt him, than I am sorry but you are terribly mistaken!"

"Chloe, all I'm asking is for you to at least talk to him!" Brenda snapped. "I want us to make peace; I'm tired of this awkwardness between us."

Chloe just gave Brenda an angry look. She couldn't believe she had the audacity to ask her to talk to Jax and to think that they could at least be friends. Chloe saw how hurt Jax had been when she left him, and she was not about to put him through that pain again.

"Okay, that's fine, Chloe! That's just fine! I knew it would be a mistake to try to talk to you!" Brenda stood up. "You know what, Chloe? I never really liked you."

"Well that's okay, Brenda. I never really liked you either."

Brenda started to walk away, but then she turned back around. "Oh, and one more thing. You know why I never really liked you? And maybe this is the reason things didn't work out for me and Jax. I always hated playing second best with you!"

"What are talking about?" Chloe rolled her eyes.

Brenda laughed. "Oh please, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You never liked me because you just wanted Jax for yourself!"

"What?"

"Yeah! And you kept trying to steal him away! And it never failed, you know? Every single time I would plan something romantic for Jax and I, you would always find some way to ruin it! Dragging him to that stupid lake or going to the movies together! I think you spent more time with Jax than I did!"

Because you were always out with Sonny Chloe wanted to say.

"But I always had to settle for being second best, didn't I? Sitting at home while you and Jax were out having the time of your lives!"

Chloe was getting angry now. Brenda just kept trying to provoke her, and it was working. She got up to her feet. "Brenda, you know good and well that we always invited you! You were the one who always decided not to go!"

"Well why would I want to go? Jax would just ignore me anyway!"

"So Jax isn't allowed to spend time with his friends?"

"That's not what I said…"

"This is all because I'm female, isn't it? This is why you are so angry. If I was one of Jax's male friends, you would have had no problem with it, but since I'm female, you just assumed that I was trying to take him away from you!"

"Don't try to make this seem like my fault!"

"But it is your fault!"

Brenda's jaw clenched. "You are such a bitch, Chloe."

Chloe kept a straight face. She reached over for her water on the table, and without even thinking of what she was doing, she poured the water over Brenda's head.

"Oh! What is your problem?" Brenda shrieked. She gave Chloe a vicious look.

"She's standing right in front of me," Chloe said calmly.

"You know, I could get you kicked out of the restaurant for doing that." Brenda wrung out her sopping wet hair.

"Not when your family owns the hotel," Chloe whispered triumphantly.

"Ugh!" Brenda muttered and walked away.

Chloe sat back down and buried her face into her hands. She couldn't believe she had let things go that far.

"Whoa, what was that all about?" Jax asked her as he returned to the table.

"You saw that?"

"I think the whole restaurant saw that, Chloe."

"Oh god! I'm so embarrassed! She just, ooo! She just made me so angry! She wants for you two to be friends again, and well, I smart-mouthed her and that's when things got ugly."

"Aw, thanks for sticking up for me," Jax chuckled.

A man passed by their table. "Rrrreow!" he hissed like a cat to Chloe and made his hand look like a claw.

"Oh great, I'm getting cat calls."

Jax laughed hysterically.

"Can we go? I can't eat with all of these people staring at me!"

"Sure. We'll eat at Luke's."

"You know, I guess I should be thankful this isn't one of those outdoorsy restaurants with a big fountain out front," Chloe said as they left the restaurant.

"Why?"

"Because I'm afraid if there was, I might have pulled a Heather Locklear!"

Jax laughed and put his arm around her. "Now that, I would love to see!"

"You would!" Chloe mocked.

Chloe, holding a brown paper bag, knocked on Jax's door. "Hey," she said when he opened it.

"Hey. What's in the bag?"

"I'm going to make you dinner." Chloe walked into the penthouse and headed to the kitchen.

"You're going to make me dinner?" Jax smiled.

Of course, Chloe thought. That's the way to your heart, through your stomach, right? "Yes, I am. I figured that we could use a break from dining out. And plus, I don't want any more Brenda run-ins."

Jax laughed as he thought about the scene from last night. "Well great! I love it when people cook for me! What are we having?"

"Hungarian goulash. It's really just like pasta only the sauce is a bit different."

"My mouth is watering already," Jax said.

Chloe immediately went to work in the kitchen, and Jax watched her with amazement. This was nice, having someone make him a homemade meal. The last time he had gotten this was at his mother's Christmas party.

"Oh, I don't have any pots," Jax suddenly remembered.

"I know you don't. I brought my own." Chloe pulled out a pot from her paper bag.

"Smart," Jax said.

The phone then rang, and Jax went to go get it. As he headed back to the kitchen after his phone call, he stopped in the doorway. He watched Chloe unnoticed for a while. She was so cute. She had the radio playing and was singing along to Aaliyah, TLC, Mya, or one of those hip-hop girls, he couldn't really tell the difference between them, that drove Jax absolutely crazy. It was however an improvement from the Debbie Gibson she played 24/7 in high school. But it was okay. No matter how much her music annoyed him, a part of him liked it, because, well, it was Chloe's music. And she really was cute the way she would dance and sing to it.

"What?" Chloe asked, seeing Jax grinning at her.

"Nothing," Jax said. "I was just thinking that you need to come cook for me more often."

Chloe laughed. "I think that can be arranged."

Jax sat down at the table and watched her some more. "You know what this reminds me of?"

"What?"

"College. Do you remember how some nights we would cook dinner, well you would cook and I would watch, but you would cook dinner in the dormitory kitchen for us?"

"Oh yeah, I remember that. I think that me and three other girls were the only people that actually used that kitchen! You remember that night we were pulling an all-nighter studying for that psychology exam, and we ordered that pizza?"

"Yes! That large pizza that we ate all of!"

"I can't believe we finished off the whole thing between us. I felt so sick!"

"Well we were really hungry."

"Okay, if it's totally gross, you don't have to eat it." Chloe placed a plate of food in front of Jax.

"It looks great, Chloe."

Chloe took her seat at the table and waited for the verdict.

Jax took a forkful of the goulash into his mouth. "Mmm, oh yeah…"

"Good?" Chloe asked.

Jax nodded his head. "Oh yeah. Chloe, this is really good."

"Really?" Chloe smiled.

"Really! Chloe, you're really going to have to make dinner for me more often!"

Chloe smiled. Success.

After a while, Chloe began to tell Jax all about some movie she saw with Alexis the other day. Some chick flick. Some movie that Jax was never going to see and had no desire to see. He felt it was safe to let his mind wander.

Something was different about Chloe tonight, but what? New hairstyle? No, that wasn't it. Her clothes looked the same. Jewelry? No, that wasn't it either. What was it?

And then, Jax realized what it was. There wasn't anything different about Chloe at all; he was the one who had changed. He saw Chloe in a different light. She was glowing. Positively radiating with beauty. Of course, Jax always thought Chloe was beautiful, but tonight, it was all he could think about. And then, Jax remembered the first time he had felt this way about Chloe.

1984

Jax didn't realize how much he had missed Chloe until he found himself practically running across the street to her house one summer night. Jax and his family had spent the last two months in Australia, visiting old family friends and relatives. He hadn't seen Chloe for two whole months! Of course, he sent her postcards and his mother allowed him to call her every weekend, but it just wasn't the same. He wanted to see her.

Sure, Australia had been fun. It was beautiful there. He had many wonderful childhood memories of Australia, and being there had been very nostalgic for him. But as much as he missed Australia, it didn't compare to missing his best friend.

Jax darted up the porch steps. He nearly stepped on Misty, Chloe's cat. Misty meowed and scurried away under a bush. Once on the porch, he took a few moments to catch his breath before knocking on the door.

Chloe's mom opened the door. She smiled in surprise when she saw who was there. "Jax! What a surprise! Come in, come in!"

"Hi, Mom," Jax said, grinning.

Valerie laughed and gave him a hug. "It is so good to see you! I didn't think you were coming back until Saturday!"

"Well we decided to come back two days early."

"You look so much taller!"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, I'm sure you must be tired of hearing that, huh? I bet that was all your aunts and uncles could talk about."

"Yeah, pretty much," Jax chuckled.

"How was Australia?"

"It was great. I missed it, but not as much as I missed being here."

"Chloe has missed you terribly. She's been so bored without you around."

Jax laughed. "Is Chloe here?"

"Actually, Jax, she's not. She went to the skating rink with Summer."

"Oh."

"But she just left not more than twenty minutes ago. Why don't you go surprise her there? She'll be thrilled to see you are back."

Jax's face lit up. "Okay! I think I will."

"Alright, well you have fun," Valerie said. "And welcome home."

"Thanks. See you later."

"Bye, Jax."

Jax ran back home to let his parents know where he was going, and then he ran as fast as he could to the skating rink. It was only a half a mile away. He remembered how he and Chloe would always ride their bikes there when they were kids.

Finally, Jax got there. Once again, he had to catch his breath. Jax decided that he was out of shape and that maybe he should take up running.

Jax glanced around for a familiar blonde haired girl, but she was nowhere to be found. She wasn't at the snack bar. He didn't see her by the water fountain. Skating! She would be out on the floor of course! So Jax leaned against the partition that separated the skating floor and looked for her.

At first, he wasn't sure if it was her or not, but when she came into closer viewing range, he could tell that it was. Yes, it was definitely Chloe, but something was different about her. She was still wearing her usual clothes, shorts and a white tank top. Her hair was still as long and pretty, down with the sides pulled back in a barrette. But there was something obviously different about her. Quite obvious. She wasn't the skinny, lanky teenage girl he had left behind when he went off to Australia. She was a woman now, with curves and everything.

Jax couldn't believe how much Chloe had changed in the span of two months. Or was he just noticing it now? Maybe being away for so long made him see her differently? Well, whatever it was, he didn't care; he just thought she was simply beautiful! He hadn't felt this way about a girl since Gabrielle. Come to think of it, the way he was suddenly feeling about Chloe was much more than he had ever felt with Gabrielle, or any girl for that matter. He wondered if Chloe was going out with anyone currently. He knew she and Robbie had broken up a couple of months ago.

Jax smiled as he saw Summer point to him and Chloe glanced over in his direction.

"Hey, isn't that Jax?" Summer nudged Chloe in the elbow and pointed across the room.

"What?! Where?" Chloe asked excitedly.

"Right there!" Summer pointed again.

Chloe looked over by the snack bar, and sure enough, Jax was there, leaning against the partition, smiling at her.

"Oh my god it is him!"

"Well go say hey to him, girl!" Summer cheered and skated away, waving at Jax as she passed him.

"Jax!" Chloe called out as she skated over to him as fast as she could. She carefully made her way off the skating floor and over to where Jax was standing. "Jax! I'm so happy to see you!" She threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug.

Jax squeezed her back, tight, burying his face into her golden tresses, which smelled of honeysuckles.

Jax reluctantly let go of her when Chloe pulled back from the hug. He reached for her hands and held her at arm's length. "Wow, Chloe! I hardly recognized you! Are you taller?"

Chloe laughed loudly. "Jax! You doofus! Of course I'm taller; I'm on roller skates!"

"Oh, yeah, of course," Jax said bashfully.

"If anyone has gotten taller, it's you! My god, what did they do to you in Australia? Feed you growth hormones or something?"

Jax laughed. "Come on, let's go get a table. I have a sudden craving for some fries."

Jax and Chloe selected a booth and a waitress came over to get their order: French fries and two cokes.

"So what are you doing here?! I thought you weren't coming back until Saturday."

"Well we came back early. And when I went over to your house to see you, your mom said you were here so I thought I would come surprise you."

Chloe smiled. "I'm glad you did." Chloe couldn't get over how deep Jax's voice sounded now.

The waitress came over with their drinks and fries.

"Thank you," Chloe said.

Jax didn't say anything. He just smiled at Chloe as she took a sip from her soda.

Chloe looked up and caught Jax's gaze. "What?" she asked, a smile teasing her lips.

Jax smiled. "Oh, nothing. It's just, wow, Chloe, I can't believe how different you look! Different in a good way," Jax quickly added.

"Well, I guess I have grown a little over the summer," Chloe said coyly.

"Yes, I can see that," Jax said, grinning.

Chloe threw him a suspicious look. "And what's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, getting defensive.

Jax leaned in and grinned, like he was about to start laughing. "You got boobs now, Chloe." Jax laughed.

Chloe jaw dropped. "I'm gonna pound you for saying that!" Chloe made a fist and held it over the table, trying to put on a mean act, which she could never do because she was just too sweet. She really just wanted to laugh with him. She knew what he was saying was true.

"I was just teasing! I was just teasing!" Jax said in his defense, still laughing.

"I'll have you know, Jasper Jacks, that I have had these boobs all my life. You just haven't noticed them until now," Chloe said haughtily.

"Yes, I certainly notice them now!" Jax snickered again.

"You know what, Jax? Two can play at this game. So, got a dick yet?" Chloe leaned back in the seat, happy that she had for once come up with a clever comeback.

When Chloe asked this, Jax suddenly realized that he had better put an immediate stop to his thoughts of Chloe's new look, or otherwise, she was going to get an answer to her question. A very noticeable answer.

"Okay, I see where this is going," Jax said. "Let's end the puberty talk, shall we?"

"Yes, lets! So, tell me all about Australia!"

Jax told Chloe all about his trip and how much fun he had, to which Chloe was completely envious of. He had had so much fun, and all she did was hang out at the mall.

"You're taking me next time, Jax! I have always wanted to go there!"

"Sure, I'll take you one day."

"So, can you believe that we are going to start high school next week?"

"I know, it's really weird. I don't feel like I'm in high school."

"That's exactly how I feel. I feel like I'm still in junior high. I mean, gosh, think about it. PC High! That's like, four more years and then we're through with school! Well, then there's college of course, but still, we'll be through with it!"

"Hey, you guys, I hope you didn't forget about me!" Summer said, skating over to them and sliding into the booth on Chloe's side, stealing one of her fries in the process. "Welcome home, Jax!"

"Hey, Summer."

"How was Australia?"

"It was great, but I'm really glad to be home now."

"So, are you two going to sit here and chit chat all night or are you going to skate? The purpose of the 'all night skate' is that you--skate!"

"Hey, yeah, Jax! Did you bring your skates?" Chloe asked.

"Nah, I'm not going to skate tonight."

"Aww! Come on, Jax! It'll be fun! Please!" Chloe begged.

Jax found himself about to give in. How could he say no to those pretty brown eyes? "Well, okay, I guess so."

"Yes!" Chloe cheered and took Jax's hand. "Now let's go rent you some skates!"

Jax quickly threw some bills on the table and had to almost run to keep up with Chloe.

The three of them skated for two hours, with Jax in the middle and his arm intertwined with a girl on each side. Jax felt like the luckiest guy at the rink, even though he was not dating either one of these girls. But he certainly wanted to date one of them.

"Hey, Chloe," Summer said, skating over to the bench that Jax and Chloe were resting at. "My mom's here, so I gotta go. Did you still want a ride home or are you going to stay here longer?"

"I'm going to stay here longer. I'll leave with Jax."

"Alright then. Well have fun. See you two in school on Monday."

"Bye, Summer," Jax and Chloe said.

And now, Jax had Chloe all to himself. They skated for another hour or so. They even skated when it was "couples only." Chloe was happy about that, because she hated being booted off the floor so that the "couples" could skate to themselves for a little while. And Jax was happy about that because, well, for ten minutes, he could pretend that Chloe was his girlfriend.

Over against the wall, some girls from Jax and Chloe's school watched the couples skating.

"Oh my god! Is that Jax!?" one of them asked, her jaw dropping.

The other girl gasped. "It is! I hardly recognized him!"

"Yeah, that's gotta be him, because Chloe is with him," another girl said.

"Gosh he so is hot! I didn't think it was possible for him to get even more good looking!"

"Hey, what's the deal between those two? Are they like, dating?"

"Yeah, I think so, unfortunately. Chloe is sooooooo lucky."

All throughout freshman year, Jax had an enormous crush on Chloe. He loved her. He loved everything about her. He loved the way she walked, the way she talked. He loved her hair. He loved her cute little laugh. The way she smiled.

He loved everything about her.

And it wasn't Chloe's sudden blossoming into womanhood that made Jax suddenly feel this way about her, well, maybe just a tiny part, but Jax just couldn't imagine what life without Chloe by his side would be like.

And even though the thought of suddenly crushing on his best friend seemed odd, for some reason, Jax didn't feel it was strange at all. In fact, he thought it was perfectly natural. After all, he knew her better probably than anyone else. She was the first girl he had ever kissed. They were even engaged…well, sorta. Okay, so they were ten years old, but that had to count for something, right?

But as much as Jax loved Chloe, he could never tell her how he felt. That just wasn't an option. Jax wasn't usually the type of person who had a fear of rejection. He could go up to any girl he saw in the hallway and ask her out with no problem. But Chloe, now, she was different. She was his best friend. And if by some chance that she would turn him down if he asked her out, well, he just couldn't take that chance. Things would be too awkward then.

But he so wanted to ask her out. It was all he could think about. In English class, he sat behind her and played with her hair. Chloe would turn around, telling him to cut it out, because she thought he was just trying to annoy her. But the truth was, he loved the feel of her hair. He loved the way her blonde locks would curl around his finger. It was so soft and silky. So long and pretty. But the best part about it was the way it smelled. Jax was always looking for an excuse to hug her. He always wanted just one more whiff of her honeysuckle-flavored hair.

On Valentine's Day, the Honor Society had its annual carnation sale. It had always been tradition for Jax and Chloe to buy each other a flower. But this year, Jax decided to buy her more. Twelve dozen red roses. Delivered to the office at 12:45 that afternoon at school. No note, just roses. Roses from a secret admirer.

Jax watched Chloe with a smile as she and a few other students were called to the office to pick up flowers.

"Jax!" Chloe said when she got back to class. "Look! Look at what someone sent me!"

"Who are they from?"

"I don't know! There wasn't a note. Jax, I have a secret admirer! Someone likes me, Jax! Oh, I can't believe someone sent me a dozen red roses! I wonder how they knew they were my favorite. Oh, someone likes me!" Chloe squealed again.

Jax just smiled. But Chloe was wrong about one thing. Her secret admirer didn't just like her, he loved her.

Chloe never did find out who her secret admirer was. She racked her brain for weeks trying to figure out who it was, and when she didn't come up with an answer, she gave it up.

Jax knew of course that he was not the only one who admired Chloe. He sat by and watched as all of the other guys fought for a chance to be Chloe's boyfriend. Sure, he still dated other girls, but no one could compare to his Chloe. Jax wondered if he would ever get the courage to ask Chloe out.

"Jax? Are you listening to me?"

"Huh? Oh, of course. You were telling me about that movie."

"Jax, I stopped talking about the movie five minutes ago!" Chloe laughed. "What were you thinking about?"

"Ah, well, I was thinking about roller skating."

"Roller skating?"

"Yeah. I don't know why, I just started thinking about it. Remember how we used to always go to the skating rink when we were kids?"

Chloe smiled. "Yeah. Hey! We should go!"

Jax cocked an eyebrow. "Chloe, we're not kids anymore."

"No, no, no, I'm not saying we should go roller skating. We should go ice-skating at the pond! We haven't done that in years."

Jax chuckled. "Okay, we'll do that tomorrow."

"Yeah," Chloe smiled.

To be continued…