"Christine, I told you. I don't feel that way towards you. I love Alyssa and nothing is going to change that. If we can't be just friends, then we need to stay away from each other," Adam blurted out at the blond girl. She knew that she had caused enough static by her little stunt. She really did not listen to Adam until he stalked off from her.

"Look, I am sorry," Christine apologized, but she truly did not mean any word of it. Adam just looked at her, anger in his eyes.

"Fine, but if you pull a stunt like that again, that is it!" Adam fired back. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became about it. He did not want anything interfering with Alyssa, including Christine.

Christine though, just smiled and waved good-bye to him. "You tomorrow honey."

Adam got into the van. He knew that he had some explaining to do just by looking at Jason's tensed up arms.

'Jason, I d---," Adam started, but his older brother cut him off.

"Adam, there is nothing to talk about. I know what I saw," Jason interrupted as he started the van and pulled it out of the parking spot.

"I am not denying that, but..." it was then that Adam noticed that Jason was ignoring him. "You are not even giving me a chance."

But Jason did not say a word or even look his brother's way. The ride home was in total silence. The same silence that tore through Adam's heart when the brothers used to fight a long time ago. It was starting again. It killed him to have his brother so angry with him. When they reached the Kramer home, the boys went their separate ways. Jason went upstairs and began working on his math. Adam stopped by his room's doorway several times, but could never find the nerve to go in. Finally, Jason slammed the door in Adam's face. Mortified by his brother's behavior, Adam went out to the beach to think and gather his thoughts. Whenever Adam was troubled, he always went to the beach. He had already called Alyssa and talked to her about the incident. Alyssa was very upset, but seemed to appreciate that Adam was honest with her about what happened. Adam had sworn to her that Christine cornered him and that he would handle the situation better the next time. They also decided not to go to the theater party and opted to spend time together out at Orchard Lake at their favorite spot. He just wished that Jason would be as understanding as Alyssa. But that was not happening.

Laura noticed the uneasiness in the house when she came home. She saw her younger son leave to go to the beach shortly after hearing a slamming door. She did not know what the problem was, but she knew whose name would be tied to it. Thinking that things would work themselves out, she started making spaghetti for dinner. Wishing that Carl was there; she pondered the past years that she had to pry her boys out of full pledge fistfights because of Christine. She was the only person that she knew of that could make the close brothers fight like cats and dogs. Oh, Carl, why did you have to take that case? You need to be here, she thought. But she knew that when she married him that his job would cause him to unexpectedly have to leave, sometimes not knowing a thing about it except that he was on a case. She hated not knowing what was going on and it made her feel even more isolated, especially when the boys needed both parents. There was nothing like hearing Carl dig into one of his sons when discipline was needed. Usually it was Adam. It all just aggravated her.

The aggravation did not end when both boys were called to the dinner table. Adam tried to start a conversation with his older brother, but Jason just ignored him. Without even touching his plate, Adam stood up, cleaned his area, grabbed his car keys and left. Laura did not know that her younger son left the house until she heard the roar of the engine. She was on her way to try to stop him when the phone rang. Knowing that he would never see her, she opted to answer the phone, hoping it was Carl. But it wasn't. It was the college. One of her grants had came through and she was needed back at the university to have a face to face meeting with the contributor. She did not want to go and pleaded with her partner, but it was the money that they had needed to excavate an area in the Mexican desert. This was a big project or her and the university since it involved pre-historic bones. It was the project of a lifetime and Laura knew that if she missed this meeting, it would be down the tubes. Sadly and reluctantly she agreed to go.

As she got ready, she looked over at her older son. "Jason, I am sure that you are reading into this more than what happened. You need to talk to him. You never gave him a chance."

"But mom, you know that what always happens," Jason started in, but his mother shushed him.

"Things have changed since then. Adam has changed since then. You two share a bond that no one can break, if you let them. Talk to Adam, promise me you will talk to him," Laura pleaded.

"Are you going to be home later?" Jason asked. He knew that sometimes his mother just stayed over in San Diego when it got to be too late. She did not drive well at night.

"I am going to try, but I don't know how long this meeting will take. Please take care of your brother and call me at the usual number," She said, kissing her oldest son gently on the cheek.

"I promise," Jason smiled. It was then when his mother left and he was alone in the house that he realized that he really didn't give Adam a chance to explain things. So he dialed the cell phone number, hoping that Adam still had it in the car. His prayers were answered when he heard Adam's voice on the other end.

"Adam, we need to talk," Jason said, hoping that Adam would not be as stubborn as he was.

"Sure, why don't we meet down by the pier. I am starved," his younger brother's voice boomed. After agreeing to the place, Jason jumped into the van and was on his way.

When Jason first spotted Adam, he was waiting in a booth. Their booth actually. Jason walked over to the usual table by the jukebox. There was a small awkward moment between the two brothers. Then they both smiled at each other.

'Look I am sorry that I never gave you the chance to explain what happened. I just saw you kissing her and I was mad," Jason admitted as he sat down in the booth. Adam was already starting to eat his cheeseburger. "I just want what is best for you and Christine is not it."

"I know that Jason. And I didn't kiss her, SHE kissed ME," Adam clarified. "She just cornered me up against the van and I was stuck. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to be nice about it."

"You can't be nice about it. Do realize what would have happened if Alyssa saw you kissing her!"

"Jason! I was not kissing her. SHE KISSED ME," Adam said with a stern voice. "I have already talked to Alyssa. I wanted to be totally up front with her about it. We have decided that we are not going to go to the theater. I am just going to try to distance myself in a nice way."

"Adam, you can't be nice to her. She likes you. She always has liked you. I never understood why because nothing ever happened between you two. Then she was always so jealous of us," Jason commented, but Adam hung his head. "You too were only in fifth and sixth grade, I don't---." Jason stopped talking noticing Adam's nervousness. He then looked at his brother closely. "What haven't you told me?"

Adam just sighed really loudly. He never bargained on discussing this part of his life with his brother or anyone. It was way too embarrassing.

"You didn't do ANYTHING with her, did you?" Jason asked in a low tone. He was almost horrified at the thought.

"I would not say ANYTHING, but I would not say NOTHING," Adam quipped, trying to avoid using the words.

"What do you mean by that? You either did SOMETHING or NOTHING, which is it?"

Adam was getting uneasier about the conversation.

"Okay, I know that you kissed her one time, but that was for a dare," Jason said, still trying to dig in to his brother for information. "But it was just that time that something happened, right?"

"Okay, but this is to go no further than us," Adam said seriously. Jason nodded in agreement. "We first started kissing each other in fourth grade. Then the summer of fifth grade we started to really like each other. We never said anything, but when we would disappear we were just not playing in the sand."

"WHAT!" Jason literally blurted out, but Adam hushed him. "You mean you did SOMETHING." Jason was almost in disgust. He never thought about his former bachelor brother of having a relationship at all, let alone in the fourth and fifth grades with a girl that caused problems between them.

"NO! I didn't do ANYTHING. It was just simple kissing and a little making out. I was young Jason. She seemed to like it and it was something to do."

"Something to do! Mom and Dad would have killed you both if they had known. God, I can't believe that my younger brother started dating before I did," Jason said in disbelief. He did not have his first girlfriend until Kara and that was in ninth grade. But he was fifteen then. His brother was barely ten! "And here I thought that you was a bachelor all this time. Little innocent Adam. But that was all it was, right? You didn't do something stupid?" He knew how pushy Christine was and she was always well dressed. However, she always dressed in a more mature fashion with Daisy Dukes and bikini tops.

"Good Lord Jason! NO!" Adam replied. He did not get what his brother was saying until then. "You know that I don't go for that stuff before marriage and that was just too yucky. It was a strange situation though."

"What do you mean by that?"

"She wanted to do SOMETHING, but I told her no way. When I think back on things, that is strange because we were really young," Adam reflected.

"Yes, especially since mom did not explain the birds and the bees until we were 12 and 13," Jason said and then looked up at his brother. He realized that there was a time gap there. "How did you even know about that stuff? You were 11 or so."

"Christine educated me. I just played dumb when mom told us. Actually, I wasn't ready to hear it again at 12. It all just disgusts me knowing that Mom and Dad---to get us---," Adam started. Both brothers shuddered at that thought.

"But this explains why she is acting the way she is. She comes on really strong," Jason commented.

"Yeah, things ended when she moved. I think she expects me to just drop Alyssa for her and I am not going to do that."

"You're not?"

"No, you don't understand Jason. When SHE kissed me this afternoon, I did not feel anything. Alyssa is pure fireworks. I am older now. I love Alyssa and Christine is not going to change that," Adam said sipping the last drop from his Pepsi. Jason seemed to be relieved to hear that.

"You know that Christine is not going to stop her advances. You are going to have to do something," Jason said with a serious tone. "Alyssa might be forgiving this time, but maybe not the next."

"I know," Adam said with a sigh. "I am going over to her house and talk to her right now. I want to get it straight with her. Maybe that will help." Adam started to clean the area up. Both brothers made their way to the parking lot. Jason told Adam about their mother's departure and told him to get home as soon as possible.

Adam got into his car and noticed the fuel level. "Jason, how much gas is in the van?"

'Three fourths of a tank. Why?"

"Would you mind taking the car for gas? I would have to go back into town. If I took the van I can cut across and be at her house in fifteen minutes. Sooner I get this over with the better," Adam quipped as the brothers changed vehicles and keys.

"Sure, just be firm and tell her point blank."

"I will. But you had better never tell a soul what I told you. It is totally embarrassing. That is why I never told you to begin with, you are the only person who even knows or will know," Adam quipped back with a red face.

"Hey, we are brothers. There is nothing that you can't tell me in confidence," Jason answered back. He was glad that Adam had finally came clean with him even though it still blew his mind that his brother actually liked Christine at one time. "By the way, how do you know where she lives at now?"

Adam pulled a piece of paper out of his jean pocket. "She slipped it to me today," Adam smirked.

As the blond Kramer boy made his way out to Christine's house, he practiced his speech.