Cait woke up curled in Howie's arms. Looking up at his face, she saw he was already awake and smiling at her.
"Morning." He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"Morning." She smiled as their lips met in a gentle kiss.
"We should probably get up, it's already 10:00 and the guys will be wondering where we are. We're supposed to have breakfast together this morning."
"I forgot about that. I better go back to my room and shower."
"Okay. I'll come get you in about half an hour." They climbed out of bed and with a hug and kiss, Cait left for her own room.

Cait climbed out of the shower and dried herself off. Quickly she dressed in new white jeans and a baby blue sweater. She applied a little eye shadow, mascara and lip gloss and left her long strawberry blonde hair loose, hanging to her waist. Just as she was spraying on some of her favourite perfume, Howie knocked on the door. Cait walked over and opened it to find Howie, dressed in grey slacks and a light grey long-sleeved shirt with darker grey stripes.
"Wow! You look...beautiful." Howie stammered, his eyes wide. Cait blushed.
"You look great, too." Her cheeks pink, she took his outstretched hand. Wordlessly, he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. Gently she ran her hand down his cheek as they moved closer. Softly their lips touched, the kiss quickly becoming deeper. Forgetting all but each other, they lost all sense of time.
"Well, what do we have here?" AJ's voice broke through their fogged senses. Howie turned and glared at him.
"Piss off AJ."
"Sorry D. You guys coming for breakfast or not?"
"Yeah. Just give us a minute."
"A minute, huh? Whatever man." AJ grinned. "Don't take forever. The other guys are already waiting for us." He walked away, hand in hand with Anna, who looked back at Cait and smiled.
"He's right. As much as I'd like to stay right here all day, the guys are waiting." Howie said, in obvious disappointment.
"Yeah." Cait smiled. "But before we go..." She wrapped her arms around his neck and standing on tip-toe, pressed her lips to his again.

"Big news, guys." AJ grinned as he and Anna sat down at the table, where Nick, Brian and Kevin were already seated.
"What's going on?" Nick asked.
"D and Cait."
"What about Howie and Cait?" Brian looked at him, silently warning him not to play games.
"We just caught them kissing in the hallway outside Cait's room." AJ grinned again.
"Well, it's about time." Kevin remarked.
"What do you mean?" Nick looked confused.
"Howie almost kissed her, like, three weeks ago, and he was talking to me about it. He wasn't sure what to do."
"So, it's taken them three weeks to finally realize they want to be more than friends?" Brian shook his head.
"Yeah."
"I thought they were acting kind of funny. That explains it." Nick laughed. "About time Howie got a girl."
"There were sparks between them right away." Anna observed. "I saw it the night we all met. They couldn't take their eyes off each other. And Cait talked to me after Howie almost kissed her three weeks ago. She was worried about what might happen to their friendship if something happened between them."
"You knew about this and you didn't tell me?" AJ asked her.
"Cait made me promise not to."
"Why?"
"Like I said, she was kinda scared. She didn't want to lose their friendship and also...Cait's never...uh...she's well...let's just say she's totally innocent. She's never even been kissed. Until now, that is."
"Cait had never been kissed?" Nick asked incredulously. "That's hard to believe. 'Cause she's...heck...she's gorgeous."
"She's not one to rush into anything. No matter how trivial." Anna explained.
"Neither's Howie. I think they're perfect for each other." Kevin smiled thoughtfully.
"Well, they've got chemistry, that's for sure!" AJ joked.
"AJ! Knock it off. You're such a goof sometimes." Brian admonished.
"Besides here they come." Kevin cut in.

Chapter 7

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