Date sent:        Sun, 27 Jul 1997 04:54:57 -0400 (EDT)
From:             DeepBlue21@aol.com

Summer of '79 (1/3)
By Deepblue21

TITLE: Summer of '79
AUTHOR: DeepBlue21
E-MAIL: Deepblue21@aol.com
DISTRIBUTION: Just keep my name and e-mail on it *
SPOILER: None
RATING: PG-13 (A couple of bad words, nothing terrible)
CONTENT: Mulder/Scully Romance
CLASSIFICATION: Story, Romance, Angst
SUMMARY: Mulder is 18 and Scully is 15. A chance meeting takes place on Martha's 
Vineyard where the Scully family is vacationing and Fox is visiting his father before 
going off to college. They have an innocent summer romance, but fate pulls them apart 
(for now.)
DISCLAIMER: They're not mine. Chris Carter and 1013 Productions own them. 
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you to Kiry for proofreading this for me. This is my very very 
first post and very first attempt at fan fiction (Wait! Read it anyway, it still might be 
good.) It was just a little idea I had stewing around in my brain while reading all the other 
fab fanfic out there. The idea of Fox and Scully meeting before they were introduced as 
FBI partners was very intriguing to me. I also wanted to write them as teenagers. So if 
they don't sound like Mulder and Scully, it's because in this little story, they're still 
teenagers. I'm sure you all talked differently when you were teenagers. Okay, last point, 
I'm thinking about writing a sequel but first I have to see if this one is good enough to 
merit a sequel. So please send feedback and tell me what you think. Constructive 
criticism and comments would be great, but please no flames.  
DEDICATION: This is for all the extremely talented, eloquent fanfic writers whose 
stories I have read this year. Some of the stories that you have created have moved me so 
much. You continue to impress me.

Summer of '79
  
	It was getting very late in the afternoon and the Scully kids were getting antsy. 
They had been in the hot, sticky car sitting side by side to each other for three hours and 
they were more than ready to go back to the beachhouse. They had seen enough of 
Martha's Vineyard for one day. 
	"Stay on your side, twerp!" Billy yelled to Charlie. His little brother's arm had 
strayed near Billy's portion of the backseat.
	"I am! You stay on your side!" Charlie yelled back foolishly to his much bigger 
and stronger brother.
	Billy responded by shoving Charlie and consequently his two sisters as well. He 
couldn't believe he was on another family vacation. He was in college, for God's sake. 
But his father had insisted that he come along, saying he was still a part of the family. 
God, he hated small cars. Why couldn't their parents have rented a van instead? Four 
people could not fit in the backseat no matter how small his sisters were. There was no 
leg room, no breathing room, no nothing. And despite the windows being open, the feel 
of sweaty, sticky arms and legs cramped together was grossing everyone out. 
	"Mom, when are we getting back to the house?" Missy whined petulantly as she 
shoved her brother back to Billy. 
	Charlie protested very loudly at the harsh pushing. He felt like a ping-pong. Why 
was he always stuck sitting in the middle, he thought grumpily. His sister Dana was just 
as small as he was, but she had won the coin toss and had gotten the enviable window 
seat.
	Missy surrendered the shoving game by letting Charlie rest on her side. Poor 
Charlie. Always getting pushed around since he was the baby. But she getting annoyed at 
her younger and oh so immature siblings. Even though Billy was older, he was still a boy 
and capable of being just as unnerving as the other children.
	"If you kids don't keep quiet and leave your mother alone..." warned their father, 
who was in the driver's seat. He didn't need to finish the sentence. The children silenced 
right away. The sternness in their father's voice was enough to keep them quiet.
	He sighed and looked to his wife and smiled, taking her hand into his while 
keeping the other on the wheel. They were both tired. They had foolishly thought that a 
picnic dinner and a drive around the island would be relaxing. Unfortunately, they forgot 
to account that they had four stubborn children cooped up in a very limited space. Putting 
them all in one car for more than an hour was just begging for trouble.
	 Captain William Scully looked out to the beach as he drove and relaxed for a 
moment, reveling in the few seconds of quiet that had fallen in the car. In a minute or 
two, the children would forget his warning and go back to their bickering. He had to 
relish the precious seconds of sanity that he had won. The view was beautiful. He was 
glad that Maggie had suggested going to Martha's Vineyard for this year's vacation. 
Maggie had a friend who had offered her summer house for them to use, which sounded 
wonderful to William. He preferred staying in a house than some cramped motel room. 
And the island, while popular, still wasn't as crowded as all the other family summer 
vacation places like Florida or Cape Cod. And it was just as pretty as any other beach 
spot.
	William glanced up at his rearview mirror to check on his four children. They had 
been unusually quiet for five minutes now. Billy and Charlie were playing a silent game 
of tic tac toe, both very engrossed and very intent on beating the other. Missy had fallen 
asleep and was resting on Dana's shoulder. And Dana. She had been virtually silent 
during the entire car ride.
	"Starbuck?" William asked with concern in his voice. 
	Dana looked up in surprise, as if startled out of a long daydream, "Yes, Daddy?"
	"Are you all right?" He asked. "Are you feeling carsick? We'll be at the house in 
five minutes."
	Dana smiled and shook her head. "I'm fine, Daddy."
	William smiled back at his youngest daughter, who, although he would never 
admit this to anyone, even himself, was his favorite. Although he loved all his children 
dearly, he had always had a special affection for his little Starbuck since the day she was 
born. 
	Each of his children was wonderfully unique and special. Billy was a natural 
leader, like most first children; responsible, bossy, and dependable. At eighteen, Billy 
was a freshman at Annapolis and intended to follow in his father's footsteps. Missy was 
more of a free spirit and had always been closer to her mother, even more so now that she 
was almost eighteen and becoming more of a woman every day. Little Charlie, well, 
while he tried hard to be as adventurous and active as Billy, was still rather frail and 
delicate like his mother was when William had first met her. Maybe it was because he 
tried so hard to compensate for being the youngest. He was still growing and trying to 
find his identity in the family. 
	But his little Starbuck, his Dana, was the perfect blend of him and his wife, he 
thought. William's realism and Maggie's romantic sensitivity had both settled into Dana, 
and instead of these two wildly different traits colliding with each other, they seemed to 
complement Dana, making her a whole person who could relate to all her siblings and 
everyone else around her. She had been such a tomboy when she was little, insisting on 
wearing overalls and sneakers to school instead of Missy's hand-me-down dresses. And 
even when she did soften her tomboy image, when she became a teenager and started 
growing her hair long, she still maintained the characteristics that William had always 
associated with himself; stubborn, gutsy, and so independent.
 	As silence once again fell upon the car, Captain Scully allowed himself to enjoy 
the peace, contented to the fact that all his loved ones were in the car with him, safe, 
protected, and happy. This was his favorite moment during the annual Scully family 
vacations, it made the rest of the noisy, bickering time almost worth it. Almost. 
	Dana went back to looking out the window. She was absolutely in awe of the 
beauty of the island. When Dana had first heard that they were going to Martha's 
Vineyard for vacation, she had howled in protest along with the rest of her siblings. 
Martha's Vineyard? What the hell is there to do there?
	But that's the point, Dana finally realized. There was nothing really to do there 
per se, except relax, think, and recollect. It was nice. At fifteen years old, at an age where 
all teenagers craved excitement and action all the time, Dana began to prefer the 
occasional quiet time. Sometimes she felt like an old woman that way, like God was 
prematurely aging her spirit, but she liked it. And there was something very mysterious 
and alluring about the island, she knew this the instant she had gotten off the boat. As if 
there was something here she had to find. She was determined to discover what was so 
special about this place.
	When the Scullys finally returned to the beachhouse, the children eagerly tumbled 
out of the car and ran inside, eager to make use of the spacious house. William and 
Maggie stayed behind and quietly unpacked the picnic basket and beach chairs from the 
car to put into the garage.
	Charlie begged Billy to help him set up the telescope he had recently found. 
Charlie had been skulking around the garage and had discovered an old telescope and 
had been eager to set it up and look at the stars. Billy reluctantly agreed to help him out 
and soon the two brothers were busy piecing the old telescope in the front yard.  
	Missy disappeared into the bedroom. Dana suspected she was going to call Jason. 
Jason was Missy's boyfriend of two years. They wanted to get married after they both 
graduated from high school. But Dana had a feeling that that wasn't going to happen. 
Jason was going to school out West in California and Missy was planning to stay on the 
East Coast. 
	Dana remembered how she had tried to bring this up to Missy, how she and Jason 
couldn't possibly stay together now if they were going to different schools. But Missy 
would hear none of it, especially if it was coming from her baby sister.
	"Jason and I have already talked about this and we both are going to make the 
long distance thing work. We'll have summers together and we can call each other and I 
can come visit him and he'll visit me."
	"But that's just dating, Missy, you guys are talking about marriage. You can't 
have a marriage with someone over the phone. It won't work."
	"What would you know about it?" Missy was getting annoyed. "Have you ever 
been in love before? Don't tell me to give up someone who is wonderful like Jason just 
because he's going to be somewhere else for a little while. He'll be in my heart. That's 
all that matters."
	Dana had thought she was going to throw up when she had heard that last line. 
Missy could be so melodramatic sometimes.
	Dana became restless as she watched her family settle into the house for the 
evening. It was still light out and Dana had hoped that her brothers might be up to 
exploring the beach, which was only a block away. But Billy and Charlie were engrossed 
in the telescope and didn't want to leave. So Dana decided to leave for the beach alone 
for a swim.
	"I'll be back at ten o'clock," Dana announced in the doorway of the kitchen 
where her parents were sitting and drinking iced tea. 
	They looked up at their daughter. She was clutching her towel and wearing the 
Annapolis sweatshirt that Billy had given to her for Christmas. The sweatshirt was huge, 
it went all the way down to her knees.  
	William checked his watch. "It's a little late to be going out, don't you think?"
	"It's six o'clock, Daddy." Dana tried to keep the sarcasm out of her tone.
	Dana's mother frowned. "I don't know if you should be going out alone."
	Dana rolled her eyes impatiently. "I'm only going for a swim and I'll stay right in 
front of the lifeguard."
	"All right, but I'll have Billy or Missy meet you there at ten in front of the 
lifeguard stand," William relented. "I don't want you walking home alone."
	Dana smiled wanly and  turned to leave. She hated being treated like a baby. She 
may only have been fifteen years old but she knew how to walk one block to the beach 
and how to walk back. It wasn't that complicated. But she knew better than to argue 
about it. Unlike Missy, Dana didn't see the point in arguing about everything. It seemed 
like a waste of time and hurt feelings.
	
	The moment Dana plunged into the water all the stress and fatigue from the 
tretuous car ride disappeared. Dana swam a few strokes and enjoyed the feel of the ice 
cold water massaging her tired muscles. She tipped her head back so all her red hair was 
now drenched. It felt so good.
	The sun setting, turning the sky into a swirl of orange colors. Dana loved this time 
of day the most. It seemed so magical and peaceful, with the moon taking over the duties 
of the sun to watch over the people. Dana floated on her back awhile, lazily flapping her 
arms through the waves and staring up in the burnt sky.   
	After reveling in the sea water for several minutes, Dana looked around the beach 
to survey the people around her. Since it was probably dinner time for most families, 
there was hardly anyone there. She saw the lifeguard standing by her post, yawning and 
checking her watch every few minutes. 
	She saw an old couple holding hands and taking pictures of each other and the 
seagulls. She could tell they were tourists. Their clothes still looked very new, he was 
wearing a flowered beach shirt and shorts while she wore a simple sundress. She looked 
at them for a while, since there really was nothing else to look at. She wondered how 
long they had been married. What their story was, how they met, and how they had 
stayed together for so long. Maybe they could give Missy some advice. As Dana was 
watching their amateur photo shoot, she realized that while they had been taking pictures 
of each other, there was no one else there that could take a picture of them together. 
	But just as Dana had thought this, a young man had walked up behind them. From 
what she could tell, he had offered to take their picture together. Dana watched curiously 
as the couple huddled together smiling goofily as the boy shot the picture. The couple 
then shook the young man's hand and walked away.
	Now Dana's attention was focused on the boy. He was now sitting in the sand and 
he had a little paper brown bag with him. She realized he was feeding the seagulls with 
breadcrumbs. Although he was standing far away, she could make out that he was 
probably out of high school, maybe in college. Since he was only wearing swimming 
trunks, she could also tell that he was very nicely built. Not too skinny and not too 
overbuff either. Dana couldn't stand that bulging biceps look. It looked gross to her.
	The guy suddenly looked up and caught Dana staring at him.
	Dana quickly turned in embarrassment. Since she was still in the water, she dove 
back in, hoping the cold water would keep her from blushing. She hated blushing. Since 
she was a redhead with fair skin, her blushes always had an embarrassing shade of deep 
red so she looked like a tomato.
	After swimming for about ten minutes, Dana emerged from the water, secretly 
hoping the boy had left to save her from any awkwardness. 
	To her horror, he was still there. And he was sitting somewhere differently too. 
He had apparently moved while she was swimming and was now sitting on her towel.
	Dana stood in the shallow end of the water for a while, contemplating on what to 
do next. She had a better view of him now and her suspicions were confirmed. He was 
gorgeous. He had short dark brown hair and a finely structured face, not like most of the 
boys in her high school who still had baby fat on their cheeks. 
	Dana could feel the nerves creeping inside her. She had never really talked to a 
boy, especially an older boy, alone before. She had always flirted with boys when she 
was with her other girl friends. It was so easy in a group, they would all just giggle and 
toss their hair at the boys. Safety in numbers. She wished for a second that Missy was 
there with her so she could do all the talking. Missy would know what to do.
	She finally realized how stupid she was being just standing there and finally 
walked confidently to her towel and the boy. As she came closer, she noticed he still had 
his sack of breadcrumbs. He threw some breadcrumbs at her feet as she approached him.
	"I thought you might be hungry," The boy said, grinning up at her and squinting. 
The sun was in his eye. 
	He has hazel eyes, Dana immediately told herself, adding that to the growing list 
of observations she was already making on this boy.
	"I already ate." was Dana's reply.
	"Too bad." The boy smiled even bigger. He had a nice smile.
	"Would you have taken me to dinner if I said I was?" Dana surprised herself with 
this teasing question. 
	"I guess we'll never know now."
	Dana smiled shyly and looked down. She stood there for a while, shivering. He 
was sitting on her towel just looking at her. She began to shift her weight from one foot 
to the other. She wanted her towel back, not only because it was getting cold, but she 
wanted to cover up her body as well. At fifteen, Dana felt insecure about her gawky, 
adolescent body especially compared to Missy's. While Missy was taller and more 
shapely, Dana was still short and hopelessly undeveloped. And it didn't help matters that 
she was wearing her swim team tank suit. She cursed herself realizing that she should 
have worn her bikini. He must think I'm such a baby, Dana thought.
	"Could I have my towel please?" Dana finally asked impatiently, her voice 
bordering on harshness. She cringed, she didn't mean to sound so bossy. 
	"Oh," The boy jumped up and picked up the towel sheepishly. "Sorry."
	Well that was slick, he thought, wanting to kick himself. He had been so 
mesmerized by the redhead girl coming out of the water that he had forgotten how cold 
she must be getting. 
	Dana accepted the towel from him and wrapped herself in it, not taking her eyes 
off of him. Normally, Dana had problems looking at cute guys in the eye, half-afraid that 
they could tell from her eyes that she thought they were cute. But with this boy, it was 
somehow different. She didn't feel uncomfortable looking at him at all and she had 
barely said two words to him in her entire life.
	Fox was getting entranced by the stranger's beautiful blue eyes. Even though she 
was a lot shorter and probably younger than him, she held his steady gaze, never 
swerving or diverting her eyes like most girls did when he stared at them. It impressed 
him and frightened him at the same time.
	He had to say something. He couldn't just stare at her forever.
	"From around here?" He immediately regretted the words as soon as they 
foolishly spilled from his mouth. God, he sounded like such a geek, using such a cheesy 
pick-up line. There was no way this girl was going to take him seriously now. She would 
probably just roll her eyes in disgust and walk away.
	To his surprise and relief, she didn't. 
	"No, my family and I are here on vacation." Dana paused, wondering if it was 
now her turn to ask a question. He looked at her expectantly. It was her turn. Damn it. 
Why was talking to boys so hard for her?	
	"How about you?" She finally managed to say. She said this very slowly, trying to 
control her voice so he couldn't hear the excitement and girlishness in it.
	"Kind of," Fox replied, gesturing toward one of the beachhouses that lined the 
shore. "My dad lives out here... my parents, they're divorced and I'm just visiting for a 
couple of weeks before I go away to school."
	Dana nodded. She silently wondered to herself if when he said "school," he meant 
high school or college. Her best friend Jessica would just die when she found out she had 
been talking to a college guy.
	"Where are you going to school?" Dana asked as she began to dry her hair with 
her towel.
	"Oxford," Fox replied sheepishly, still getting used to the idea himself. "It's in 
England-"
	"I know where Oxford is," Dana assured him with a teasing tone in her voice. She 
smiled to herself in surprise, she couldn't believe it, she was flirting with a college boy! 
She reminded herself to calm down, take steady breaths, and most of all, act older.
	"Sorry, I didn't mean-"
	"No, that's okay," Dana interrupted him quickly, "I know you didn't mean 
anything by it. Most people don't know where it is anyway, I guess. Unless you took 
geography or something like that in school...." Dana wanted to stuff something in her 
mouth, anything, to keep her from talking. She didn't know what she was saying. Words 
were just gushing out of her mouth trying desperately to impress this handsome stranger, 
but they were failing miserably.
	Fox nodded and looked out at the water. The sun was setting, tinting the sky with 
orange popsicle colors and the water golden with its reflection.
	Dana took a step to stand next to him and take in the view. "Nice view here." 	
	Fox could feel her wet hair on his arm and glanced at her. He took a quick breath. 
It sure was. The golden reflection from the sunset was shining on her small face, 
illuminating her already fiery hair and bright blue eyes.
	"Oh, this isn't even the best place to look at it," Fox said wistfully, as he 
reluctantly took his gaze off the girl to look back at the ocean. "It's much prettier out on 
the rocks over there." He pointed to the cluster of giant rocks that was located far along 
down the beach.
	Fox hesitated for a second, mustering up all his courage to ask her the question.
	"If you want to, I could take you there, I mean, if you have nothing else to do."
	Dana looked up at him, surprised but pleased.  
	"Sure," Dana replied, smiling shyly, "I'd like that."
	Fox smiled back and they both began to walk along the shore, letting the cool 
water tickle their bare feet and each taking turns to slyly steal glances at each other.
	
	"So where are you from?" Fox finally asked as they began to settle down on the 
edge of the rocks. They both leaned against a big rock so they could get a better view of 
the ocean and the sunset. They had walked to the cove in silence, quietly enjoying the 
beautiful view. Fox was happy for the long, silent walk, giving him more time to think of 
witty and intelligent things to say to this beautiful girl so she would be impressed by him, 
or at least amused. He wished he wasn't so awkward around girls. He was almost in 
college, for God's sakes, and his tongue still was in knots whenever he looked at a pretty 
girl.
	"Maryland," Dana replied, as she put her towel under her to soften her seat. The 
rocks, while smooth, still had a little bit of a jagged edge. She almost offered to share her 
towel with the boy, but he seemed content sitting where he was. 
	"I've been to Maryland," Fox said, pleased that he found a subject the two could 
connect with.
	"Really?" Dana almost squealed. Calm down, she almost yelled at herself. 
"Really," her voice was calmer, deeper. "Which part?"
	"Well, I don't know if it's really considered Maryland. My dad used to work in 
Washington D.C. and he once took me and my sister with him to see the White House." 
Fox smiled as he remembered that pleasant memory, during happier times, the very few 
his family has had.
	They were sitting very close now. She didn't know how it happened, but she was 
secretly glad. Their shoulders were almost touching.
	"What did he work as?" Dana asked eagerly, curious for information. She had 
always been fascinated with the government and Washington D.C. itself, a place filled 
with history and fantastic events. A city where world events took place and historic 
decisions were made every day.
	Fox shrugged. "I don't know, I never really asked."
	The look he got from the girl made him feel dumb. He realized how stupid it 
really was, a son not knowing what his father did for a living?
	He tried to explain. "It's just, I was so young when he did work there, and after he 
left, well, we don't talk that much anyway ever since he and my mom got divorced."
	Dana shifted so she could get a better look at him. He was staring out at the sea. 
But she could still see the hurt in his eyes and she was instantly sorry that she had asked 
him something that obviously was still a source of so much pain.
	"I'm sorry," She said hesitantly. "Has your vacation with him been good at all?"
	He shrugged again and turned to meet her questioning gaze. "It's been all right," 
He admitted, "It's been the same for years now, I come out here for two weeks and he 
does his thing, and I do mine. It's funny, he has this huge house, yet it still can't seem to 
fit the two of us in it together. That's why I come out here." He held his sack of crumbs 
up. "Birds are better company."
	"What about your sister?" Dana asked. She had remembered he had mentioned a 
sister.
	Fox's eyes darkened and he looked away. "She's not with us anymore. She.she 
disappeared about six years ago."
	"Oh." Dana was instantly sorry she had said that. She felt so stupid. And while 
she was desperately curious to know what had happened to his sister (dead? kidnapped?), 
she wasn't going to pry.
	"I'm sorry," She whispered, meaning it.
	He looked back at her, smiling sadly. "She would have been fourteen this year. 
She would be going to high school. I could have given her advice about that kind of stuff. 
I wanted to protect her. I want to, still."
	`I'm sure you would have, I'm sure you were- are a great  brother to her."
	"..I miss her." It felt right, somehow, to tell her that.
	Dana's heart almost broke as she listened to this boy, this boy who missed his 
sister so much and was generous enough to tell her about his pain.
	"I bet she misses you too."
	They sat there in silence for what seemed to be an hour. After a while, she slipped 
her hand into his, offering her warmth to comfort him. He took it silently. His cold hand 
was soon warmed by hers. He wondered how she stayed so warm when the weather was 
so cold. It felt good. Comfortable.
	"So, do you and your father ever, like, talk about stuff? Things going on in your 
life?" It seemed strange to Dana not to talk to your own father. She couldn't imagine not 
confiding in her father. Every night after he came home from work, she would pounce 
upon him, eager to tell him of her day's events and listening to him telling of his.
	Fox shook his head. "Not really, nothing more than formalities. Like `Hi, how are 
you, fine, that's good, well see ya later.'"
	"Like you two were strangers just meeting."
	"Right," Fox agreed. "Two strangers who are just making small talk."
	Dana smiled. "Did you notice we haven't done that?"
	"Yeah," Fox realized, returning her sunny gaze. "I guess we kind of skipped over 
the small talk, didn't we?"
	Dana blushed hotly, but was pleased at his acknowledgment. So she wasn't the 
only one who noticed.
	Fox sighed, as he picked up some sand in his fingers. He watched it trickle down 
back onto the rocks. "I don't even know why we even bother with these summer visits, it 
doesn't seem like he even wants me here."
	"Don't say that," Dana lightly admonished him. "I'm sure these visits mean a lot 
to him but he just can't bring himself to say it."
	"You don't know my father." There was a twinge of bitterness in his tone.
	"Well no, I don't. But I'm starting to get to know you, and I can't imagine anyone 
not liking your company."
	Fox grinned. "Tell me about your family." He wanted to change the subject to 
something better.
	Although Dana was usually a little wary about opening up to strangers, she settled 
very nicely into conversation with the handsome stranger. She told him about her 
closeknit family, her adoration for her father, her slight jealousy over her older and 
prettier sister, and her wistful plans for the future. 

	"My brother Billy goes to Annapolis. He's going to be in the Navy like my dad."
	"Do you want to join the Navy too?"
	"Nah. I don't think the navy's my thing."  
	"What do you think is your thing?"
	"Who knows? I'm still trying to find out."

	"Billy and Charlie are always competing with each other and with me. We're 
always getting into little fights and games to see who's best. We were all convinced that 
we were the best."
	"What, like in wrestling and stuff?"
	"Sure. Wrestling, racing, all kinds of sports."
"Do you ever win?"
	"Of course. I always win."
	"My sister and I used to play games together too. But more like board games and 
stuff."
	"Did you ever let her win?"
	"Of course. I always did"

	"My older sister looks like my mom. They're both beautiful. I look more like my 
dad and although I love him, he doesn't exactly have pretty features."
	"I think your features are pretty beautiful, actually."
	"You do, huh?"
	"Yeah."
	"You don't get off this island much, do you?" 

	"So what are you going to study at Oxford?"
	"I haven't really decided yet. I'm thinking about maybe sociology or psychology."
	"Picking people's brains?"
	"Well, yeah, figuratively."
	"Why not literally? Haven't you ever been curious as to what a human brain looks 
like on the inside?"
	"Not really."

	"Do you think there's.you know, intelligent life, out there?"
	"Out where?"
	"Out..there."
	"Do you mean outer space? Like in aliens, or something?"
	"Forget it."
	"No. I don't know, my younger brother thinks so. Maybe. Yeah. Anything's 
possible. Who are we to determine what's out there and what's not?"
	"That's true."

The more he heard from this girl, the more impressed he became with her obvious 
intelligence and unique sense of humor. They got each other's jokes, like they were in 
perfect sync. He felt like he could say anything to her and she wouldn't look at him as if 
he was crazy or something. Every story and every anecdote she told him about her family 
and friends, he placed in his memory like a special treasure, hoping he would remember 
them always. He didn't want to forget anything this girl had confided to him. 
Now while Fox had gone out with his fair share of girls in high school, he had 
never had any real girl friends. Girls who he could just talk to about anything. And 
although he had met this girl only an hour before, he felt that he had found a real girl 
friend. 
Not that he wanted her just to be a friend. He couldn't deny to himself how 
attractive he found this girl. Her soft shoulder-length red hair was now resting on his 
shoulder. In the course of their conversation, they had snuggled up to each other rather 
unconsciously. Or maybe it was consciously. The night air was getting a little cold and 
the girl had graciously offered to share her towel with him. But since the towel was a 
little small, they rested it on their legs and were now sitting shoulder to shoulder.
Dana snuck a quick glance at her new friend. He was staring at her, but it looked 
like he wasn't exactly listening to what she was saying. 
"I'm sorry," Dana said, embarrassed. 
Fox was startled out of his daydreams.
"What?"
"I've been babbling for way too long, I'm sure you're not that interested in-"
"No," Fox said quickly. "I'm sorry, it's just." He laughed and looked down, 
embarrassed.
Dana hesitantly reached up to touch his cheek so he would face her. "What?"
Fox caught his breath. Her face was so close to his right now. Her eyes were 
searching his, like she knew if she tried hard enough, she could read his thoughts. 
A strand of red hair had fallen over one of her blue eyes. Fox took his hand and 
lightly brushed it back into the rest of her hair. His fingers then trailed along her jaw and 
then rested on her lips.
Dana's heartbeat was so loud she was half scared that he could hear it. Please 
God, she prayed to herself, please let him kiss me. This would be her first real kiss She 
didn't count that slobby peck she got from Cole Ryan last summer at Jenny's birthday 
party as a real kiss because he and the experience were just too gross to even think about. 
She wanted this kiss, her first real kiss, to be perfect. 
He leaned forward, his hazel eyes transfixed on hers to make sure she was 
allowing it. She returned his gaze, unflinching. He tilted his head to his right as she tilted 
her own to avoid the nose jam.
Dana's eyes slowly closed, Missy had told her to never keep her eyes open for 
this.
His lips grazed hers hesitantly, testing the unfamiliar territory with caution.
Dana slipped her hand under his chin to pull him closer to her and deepened the 
kiss. They both parted after a few seconds and just stared at each other.
Fox smiled at her and leaned forward again for more. He tilted his head to the left 
to kiss her again from another angle. Finding that he could kiss her more comfortably 
with their heads tilted to the right, he switched again, allowing the sweet kisses to 
become longer and deeper.
They eventually stopped to catch their breaths. Dana leaned her forehead against 
his to rest for a second. Fox smiled at her complete trust in him. He reached up and 
kissed her on her warm forehead and caressed her cheek.
Dana felt like she was in heaven. Her "first kiss" was more than she had ever 
dreamed of. She felt his fingers trail into her hair and she happily nuzzled her head into 
his shoulder so he could have better access. They cuddled like that for a while.
Fox looked up to the sky and smiled. He thanked the Lord who he had thought he 
didn't believe in anymore. Someone up there must like him. The girl felt so perfect 
nestled in his arms that he never wanted to move, ever. And he didn't feel cold anymore.

[End of part 1/3]