Phil Fans, Here's the conclusion to "Kissing Practice." Hope you like it. Thanks again for reading and all of your great reviews!

Chapter 6

Eight o'clock in Pickford might as well have been midnight. The streets were deserted and television screens flickered inside nearly every living room. Keely walked slowly toward her house wondering what exactly she was. Am I his girlfriend? She thought. He was just about to kiss me. She smiled. She'd never seen Phil with a more serious expression. He had placed his hand on her knee. And then Pim came along and ruined it. But for some reason, Keely didn't mind. In fact, she kind of enjoyed prolonging the moment. Her heart was jumpy and her head full of Phil. She couldn't wipe the smile from her lips if she'd wanted to.

Phil emerged from the hedge between the Diffys' and Hackett's yard drenched in sweat and covered in leaves. Chasing after Pim, he had stumbled in the dark and fallen. He hadn't run that much since back in 2121 when he had been chased by aliens on his way to the tram stop one morning before school. On the porch, he saw a blond girl sitting on the steps, and, thinking it was Keely, he called out to her. "So, where were we, Keels? I'm sorry to, you know, ruin our, uh, um, first kiss, it's just… you know… I can't stand it when Pim…" Then he heard cackling he knew could only come from one source: Pim.

"First kiss? So that's what you were up to when I interrupted? Oh that's rich! Way to go, Diffy. Now she's gone. You left her here to chase after me?" Pim said, rolling off the steps and into the grass, shaking with laughter. "You have so much to learn, Big Brother."

"She's gone?" Phil asked, ignoring his sister. He took off down the driveway. As he rounded the corner, moments later, he saw a figure walking down the center of the road, illuminated buy a streetlamp. He stood still, watching her. At first he thought she was dancing, but as he continued to look at her, it was as though she were listening to music. Her head bobbed in some kind of rhythm she alone could hear. Phil grinned as he gazed at her. Her ponytail was falling out and stray hair floated all around her head. She had taken off her shoes and carried them now at her side, her fingers loosely hooked through the straps.

Phil started walking again, as quietly as possible, sneaking up behind her. When he was just inches from Keely's back, Phil quickly reached around her and covered her eyes with his hands.

Keely stopped walking and gasped. "Phil?" she whispered. His hands were warm and damp. She could feel his chest against her back, and she could hear him breathing heavily, like he'd been running. She dropped the shoes and grabbed his hands with hers and pulled them off of her eyes.

"How'd you know?" he whispered back. She spun around to look at him. Phil grinned his lopsided grin at her. "Are you mad?" he asked. Keely looked at his face. His cheeks were flushed with pink and his hair was wet and sticking in thick strands to his forehead.

"Don't be silly," she said, smiling back at him. "If she were my little sister, I would have gone after her, too."

"It's just that we were about to, you know," Phil said.

"I know, Phil," she said, smiling. Then Keely reached up and pulled a leaf from Phil's hair. She held the leaf in between their faces. "When I was little, my mom told me that if you catch a leaf as it's falling from a tree to the ground, you get to make a wish," she said.

"I never head that," Phil said. He pulled another leaf from his hair. "What do you get if they fall out of your hair?" he said.

Keely laughed. "I don't know. Wish something and we'll see if it works," she said.

Phil shut his eyes and wished. Let everything go right tonight, he thought. "Okay, done," he said and he threw the leaf in the air. It pinwheeled to the pavement.

"Walk me home?" Keely asked him, picking up her shoes again and taking his hand.

" 'Course," Phil said. He squeezed her hand in his.

Keely looked over at Phil as they walked. "Phil, I really like this. It feels good," she said.

Phil smiled. "Yeah," he said, "It does."

"And I don't really know what to say except…" she hesitated.

"Yeah?" Phil asked her.

"Except that I love you, Phil," she said. "There, I said it."

At that second, Phil's heart nearly burst with happiness. "Me, too," Phil said. He cleared his throat. "Um, I mean, that I love you, too, Keel."

Keely beamed. A wave of warmth moved over her body. This was the happiest she had ever been in her life. But suddenly she thought of something that saddened her nearly to tears. "What happens if you have to go, Phil?" she asked.

"I don't know, Keel," Phil said. "Our love is all we have." He stopped walking at turned and looked at her.

"I'm sorry to get so serious like that," Keely said. "I just can't help it."

"I know," said Phil. "It's a weird situation. But I think we should just try and make this as normal as we can. Pretend that I'm not from the future. Put it out of our minds."

Keely smiled. "Okay," she said. Then she looked down at her feet. " Ugh. I think I need to put my shoes back on. The rocks are killing my feet. I can't decide what's worse, the sandles or the pavement."

Phil's face brightened. "Piggy back?" he said.

Keely grinned. "I haven't had a piggy back ride since I was like five!" she said. She stood behind Phil, threw her arms around his neck, and hopped up. Phil caught her legs under her knees and boasted her up. "I'm so heavy, huh?"

Phil shook his head. "Light as a feather," he said. "So where to? The night is still young."

Keely leaned her head close to Phil's ear. "The swings at the park," she whispered, not able to shake herself from the trance Phil put her under. She kept her face close to the nape of his neck, breathing in the warmth that radiated off of him.

"Watch out Keel, I'm, uh, not the cleanest man in the world right now," he said.

"I like the way you smell," Keely said into his ear. "All woodsy. Kind of like freshly-mowed grass," she said. "It's really not so bad."

"Well in that case," Phil said. They were at the park now. "You won't mind this!" And Phil released his hands from Keely's legs and she slid down off of his back into the grass, pulling Phil down with her. They landed in a heap, with Keely sprawled out on her back. Laughing hysterically, and Phil on top of her.

"I didn't exactly mean forme to fall," he said, trying to catch his breath from laughing. "Although, it's not so bad down here." Phil rolled off of Keely onto his side, and propped himself up on his elbow. Keely crossed her arms behind her head and stared up at the sky.

"I can't wait until summer," Keely said.

Phil picked a wildflower with his free hand and dangled it over Keely's cheek, "How come?" he asked.

"That tickles!" she said. Phil tucked the flower into her hair. "I can't wait til summer so we can spend every day together," she said, gazing into his eyes.

Phil eased closer to her, until their bodies touched. He moved one arm into the grass on the other side of Keely and leaned his torso over her until his face was directly above hers. "Me neither," he said. Then he closed his eyes and kissed her gently. What felt like a ball of heat moved through Phil, from the tips of his toes into his throat. He wanted to kiss her forever.

Keely wrapped her arms around Phil's neck and pulled him closer. She felt the ground beneath her vanish. Every sound in the park disappeared. All she felt were Phil's lips on hers.

Finally, Phil lifted his head to look at her. He couldn't control his smile. He lay on his back next to Keely, and scooted his arm beneath her shoulders, pulling herclose to him.

"Hey Phil," Keely whispered. "You want me to answer your question from earlier?"

"Question? What question?" Phil asked.

"From before? You asked me if you were a good kisser," she said.

"Oh, right," Phil said. "That question. Well, sure then. Answer away."

"Incredible," Keely said.

Phil squeezed Keely's shoulder. "You too," he said.

And then they watched the sky, counting shooting stars. But Phil didn't wish on any—his wish had already come true.

The End.