"Um, Tess, uh you, you're, you're beautiful." Kyle looked nervous. What were they in the storage room for? Tess had an idea, but it couldn't possibly be...

What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to say? Tess didn't want to screw this up. She never had a guy tell her she was beautiful. Well, not one she cared about, anyway. She never cared about any guy before. Never had a reason to get close to a guy. She always had the promise of Max, who she loved in a past life, and loved her, and he was her destiny, and they'll fall in love, and it'd be perfect.

Only he loved someone else. So it wasn't exactly perfect.

And it wasn't she didn't have feelings of her own. It wasn't fair, that she was the one having to worry about destiny. Then again, she had to cut Max a break- she had more time to adjust. More time to remember.

And why was she even thinking all this now? When Kyle was telling her she was beautiful. Of course, he was probably just saying that.

"Kyle, please don't say that." Please don't lie to me. Please don't let this screw up our friendship. Please let this happen. Please.

"...And the thing is, you're not just some girl, I care about you."

Oh. Tess tried not to collapse, and tried to still heart, and not to smile like a total geek. "Kyle, I don't... I just..." I don't know what to do. I don't know how to act. I just like you so much. I'm just so afraid. I just want you to hug me. I want to kiss you. I want to...

"I think of you as family." Oh. Tess kept herself from saying that. Oh. Oh. Family. Of course. Is my heart still beating? It can't break, not over something like this. Come on. Kyle's a human, he's not my destiny or anything, he doesn't matter...

"As a sister." Of course he matters. You tried to kiss me, Kyle, remember? Would you kiss your sister? When did things change? When? What did I do wrong? I thought... I thought...

"I dont' think it could be a romantic thing." Of course. Of course. A "romantic thing" could never happen between Tess Harding and Kyle Valenti. Tess has destiny. Tess is a frickin' alien, a damn martian, and damn it, Kyle, you say you're my favorite martian, and you were my favorite human, you still are, and you mean so much to me, and why don't I mean the same to you?

Tess doesn't say all this, of course. This is very important. Because Tess Harding is cool, calm, and collected. She is in control of her feelings, if not completly her future. So she smiles and says, "I understand. You know I'm disappointed, but I understand."

She wonders how embaressing it would be to ask Max to heal her heart.