Willa, still crying, looked down at Philby's still body. She ran a gentle hand through his hair, pushing it back. She was worried. What if the kiss didn't work? Or, what if it did work but Philby as freaked out by Willa kissing him, freaked out in a bad way?

It doesn't matter Willa told herself. All that mattered was that he was safe. Willa took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. She took his head into her hands and leaned down.

"Come back to me" she whispered, and laid her lips against his.

Philby could tell that he wasn't awake, yet he also wasn't asleep. It was weird. He couldn't hear or see. Something had happened to him, but he wasn't sure what. It was like he was swimming through blackness, with no sense of direction. But then, he felt something. Someone was kissing him. Whoever they were, their lips were gentle. Philby noticed more of his senses coming back. He could hear cars, feel air. He felt it more and more until he knew he was fully awake.

The lips separated from his. Philby couldn't help but smiling. He blinked his eyes open, becoming more aware of his surroundings. Light flooded in through his eyelids. He heard someone crying. Was that…..Willa?

His eyes opened fully, revealing Willa's face directly over his own. There were tears filling her eyes.

"You're okay!" she exclaimed, crying even harder now. Before he could say anything he found himself being locked into a tight hug by Willa. Philby was surprised, but in a good way. He couldn't help it. Slowly, he sat up and reached his arms around Willa, squeezing her tighter than she was squeezing him.

After a few moments, they separated. Willa was still crying. Philby reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I thought you were dead" Willa said. Philby's heart broke as he looked up at her face \, realizing how much stress she had been through.

"I would have been if it weren't for you" he said. Next to them, Charlene and Maybeck were sharing a hug.

"Your kiss" Philby continued. "You saved my life" Willa looked down.

"You're probably freaked out about that aren't you?" she said, disappointment in her voice. Philby was about to answer her, but she cut him off.

"I'm sorry" she said. "I had to. If you had seen what you looked like….I couldn't bear it Dell" Philby smiled. Normally, he didn't like being called by his first name, but from Willa, he loved it.

"Please don't be mad. I don't want it to ruin our friendship you have to understand…"

Philby put a finger to her lips, stopping her midsentence. He lifted her chin up and gazed into her eyes smiling.

"How could I be mad" he said. "When the girl that I've had a crush on since we met in the seventh grade, just kissed me?" Tears came to Willa's eyes again. Philby leaned in to kiss her, but she pushed him back.

"Why me?" she said. "Out of all the beautiful girls out there…why me?"

Philby looked up at this girl, this girl that he adored so much. When they had just started their freshman year, she had asked him what he thought at the time to be a similar question. The answer he chose to give her now, the words he only had the courage to think back then, were truer than any fact he had ever given the keepers.

"Why you?" he said back to her. "Because you're smart, because you're funny, because you're pretty, a Willa kind of pretty. Why anyone but you?" Again Willa cried. Before Philby knew it, her lips were on his again and this time he could kiss her back.

To most, it wouldn't seem like a great kiss. In the backseat of a van driven by their 15 year old friend, both of them a mess having just battled Disney characters in the caves of Aruba. But it was with Willa and to him that made it the most perfect kiss he could have ever asked for.

When they separated, Willa began to laugh with joy and Philby couldn't help but do the same. He sat up next to her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. He rapped his arm around her and they stayed like that all the way back to the cruise ship.

.