Oh my god, I'm so sorry it's taken me like a year to update, its just lack of inspiration, stuff happened, computer got wiped clean… but I found the disk id saved my work on, and I felt randomly inspired to continue, so here it is. Once again, I'm SO SO SORRY for making you guys wait, it's not the best chapter ever, but at least I'm writing again, right?

Once again, comments, reviews, death-threats etc all appreciated…

Chapter 12: Heat of a different kind…

Whoa. The only thing going through my mind was holy shit you kissed warren you kissed warren you kissed warren oh my god you kissed warren as I shakily stepped away from him.

"Warren…"

Looking at him, I saw that he seemed almost surprised at himself, as if he didn't quite comprehend what had just happened. I realised I was breathing hard, and I was shaking. My heart was like a gymnast on ecstasy and my legs felt weak.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," Warren said bluntly, not meeting my eyes.

"Um…" I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. "What does it mean?" I asked a few seconds later. "Are we just going to pretend it never happened?"

"Do you want to?"

I shrugged walking away from him, wondering slowly towards the little wooden pier,

giving myself a few moments to consider. I knew Warren didn't like me, so what the hell would the kiss mean to our relationship? Even though I couldn't have him, I still really valued him as a friend. I didn't want that to get fucked up.

"I guess so…" I stepped onto the pier, and I knew Warren was following.

"So… are you going to tell Layla?"

"I don't know." I stopped, having reached the edge of the pier. The creaking I felt through my feet told me that Warren was right behind me, and I turned to him.

"She'll kill me if she finds out," Warren said, smiling slightly. "She warned me against-"

"I know," I interrupted him. "I was round the corner and I heard."

We stood on the pier silently for almost a minute. After some hesitation, Warren spoke. "Rain… I'm… I'm sorry."

I nodded. "I know."

He stepped towards me but I didn't want him to come any closer, so I stepped back. My mind was still on the kiss and anything he did would just make it worse. When I moved way I saw an expression of hurt flicker across his face. I was on the edge of the pier now, I couldn't move away from him anymore.

"Do you like me Rain?" he asked suddenly, gently placing his hand on my shoulder, and my stomach dropped. Here I was faced with the question I had been avoiding mentally for a while. He held my gaze, searchingly looking into my eyes. My heart once again began doing a series of back flips that penny the cheerleader would be envious of. I knew the answer. I also know if I said it out loud, it would change things for us irreversibly. What I didn't know was whether that change would be good.

"Do you?" his hand slipped slowly off of my shoulder, his fingers trailing down my back before they came to rest on my waist. His other hand came to join it and I was so glad he was holding me up because I really was ready to fall backwards.

"Warren, I don't think…" the words came out of my mouth but I couldn't remember what the rest of the sentence was supposed to be because his eyes were making me forget…

"No, Rain," he interrupted my softly. "Just answer the question" his hands on my hips were firmer now, and he was gently pulling me towards him. I didn't exactly resist.

"Warren…" his name was all I managed this time as he pressed me against him,

"Answer me…"

I tilted my head up and answered by softly pressing my lips against his. I felt his body stiffen in surprise for a second, before he began to kiss me back, the towel draped over his shoulders falling away. His fingers tugged at the towel which I had wrapped around myself like a short strapless dressed, and soon that slid to the ground as well. His kisses moved to my neck, and the warmth of his torso against the exposed parts of my stomach was enough to make me draw breath sharply. By this point my mind had completely switched off and all I knew was that I never wanted him to stop…

"Rain? Warren?"

The sound of Layla's voice made us turn so sharply we both lost our balance and toppled off the edge of the pier. The water around us sizzled for a moment, letting off a puff of steam which quickly dissipated. Although the water wasn't cold, it felt icy compared to how Warren's skin felt against mine a second ago…

I looked up at Layla who was stepping onto the pier, coming towards us. Oh shit, did she see us? Is she going to tell the others? I glanced at Warren, who was looking up at Layla, his expression betraying nothing except possibly slight annoyance at falling into the water.

"You scared the crap out of us Layla," Warren told her as she reached the edge of the pier, where she sat down, swinging her legs over the edge and into the water.

"Sorry," she said smiling. "But what were you guys doing on the edge of the pier anyway?"

"Nothing much," I said nonchalantly, grabbing the edge of the pier and pulling myself towards it.

"Nothing?" she raised her eyebrow. "Guys, there are burn marks in the wood," she gestured behind her. Looking past where she was sitting, I saw that the wooden planks were indeed scorched in two places close together. Where my feet had been and where Warren's feet had been.

"Warren started it," I began, hoping he would catch onto what I was trying to do.

"You threw the first fireball," he retorted, and when I glanced at him, he gave me an almost invisible nod. He knew what cover-up we were going to tell her.

"You asked for it," I replied, smiling slightly.

Layla rolled her eyes. "You guys were fighting? In a forest? Are you stupid?"

"We have good aim," I said defensively.

"Well, I do anyway," Warren added.

You must have gotten pretty into it," Layla said, frowning as she turned to study the scorched planks behind her. "Otherwise you wouldn't have gotten so hot…"

"What?" Warren and I asked simultaneously, managing to keep any emotion out of our voice.

"The water around you boiled when you fell in," she told us. "Your body temperature must have gone way up."

"Oh, right," was my reply. As my mind wandered to the events just prior to Layla's interruption, I shook my head. I needed to keep those thoughts away.

"So what woke you up?" I asked Layla, who shrugged. "Will elbowed my in the head," she laughed. "So I got up, and I thought I saw you two on the pier… were you two planning to go into the water? Because you're towels…" she gestured behind her, to where both of our towels lay in a heap where they had fallen. My stomach muscles tightened as I tried desperately to come up with a good reason for them. Layla was hardly going to believe the excuse I got warm, was she?

"Erm... well, I was trying to beat him with my towel," I began, hoping she hadn't noticed my hesitation, "but it's kind of light, so it didn't do much damage."

Layla seemed satisfied. I turned to warren to see if he appreciated my save (which was pretty good, even if I do say so myself) but he was floating on his back a distance away, totally oblivious to how our asses nearly got busted.

"Layla?" Will's voice came from behind the bonfire. He stepped around and it and soon came into view as he approached us. "You ok?" he nodded at us both, and then gracelessly plonked himself on the pier next to Layla.

"What are all these burns on the wood?" he asked interestedly, stretching his arms above his head.

"Rain and Warren got a bit carried away," Layla told him, and his head snapped round, a look of disbelief on his face.

"You mean you guys had-"

"Not like that!" Layla and I said in unison, and Will nodded, although he still looked unconvinced. I splashed him as hard as I could.

"You've got such a dirty mind!"

He shrugged defensively. "I'm a guy, what do you expect?!?!"

Layla laughed and draped her arm around him lovingly. He responded by planting a few little kisses on her shoulder, and she blushed slightly.

"We should probably go," he said, checking his watch. "It's almost 11, and they normally come and check that everyone's turned their lights out."

"Let's wake the others," Layla stood up, her wet feet leaving faint footprints on the wood as she walked off the pier.

I pulled myself out of the water, picking my towel off of the ground. It was extremely warm. Almost hot. Wrapping it around me I leant down to pick Warren's towel up as well; it was warmer than mine. I turned to hand it to him and took a step back because he was right behind me. I handed him the towel silently and he received it with a mischievous grin. I couldn't help but grin back.

Turning to follow Layla and the others, I was almost surprised at how I was handling this. I did feel confused by what had happened, and I didn't know what was going to happen next, but for some reason I wasn't having a total spaz attack about it. Warren was right, this wasn't a game. But sometimes, certain things can be made simpler f you treat it like one…

Please review… I know it wasn't worth the wait, but I hope you guys liked it anyway lol