***** The Next Morning *****

Berkley was sitting at the kitchen island eating a bowl of cereal when Dean walked in shirtless, wearing a pair of baggy sweatpants low on his hips so that the elastic band of his underwear showed a little.

She didn't lift her head up to look at him, keeping her eyes locked instead on her bowl of Cheerios. He grabbed the box and poured himself a bowl and then poured some milk into it.

"Did you have any nightmares last night?" he asked, putting the milk back in the fridge.

She had woken up three times, screaming and covered in sweat, but she wasn't ready to talk to him yet so she just stared straight ahead, stone faced and silent.

"Ahhh. You're giving me the old silent treatment huh? VERY mature," he said sarcastically, plopping down onto the bar stool next to her and taking a bite of his cereal.

She kept staring straight ahead and didn't even acknowledge what he just said, taking another bite and chewing it aggressively.

As she chewed she thought about their conversation the night before, getting half way through her bowl of cereal before finally turning to him and saying, "I still can't believe you're the reason Blake hooked up with Skye Evans. The fact that you'd do that to me is really fuckin' shitty Dean," looking directly into his eyes.

Dean let out an exhale and shook his head. "I did it because I knew that guy was a cheater waiting to happen and I wanted to prove it to you before you got in too deep and fell in love."

She scoffed. "Well maybe he wouldn't have been a cheater if you hadn't set him up! You set a trap to tempt him with a woman no straight man would have turned down!" she yelled. "

Dean looked surprised by her outburst. She had never yelled at him like that before, but then again, she had never been this angry with him before.

"And then you PROMISED not to interfere with my relationship with Zander, but instead you just came up with a sneakier way to do it, thinking you wouldn't get caught!" she yelled, shaking her head in judgement. "I can't even tell you how fucking tired I am of having every relationship I try to get into sabotaged by you and my freakin' brother. I'm REALLY fucking sick of it!"

"Well MAYBE if you had better taste in men and quit choosing douchebag assholes, we wouldn't have to get involved!" he shouted back, defensively.

She didn't have a comeback for that because he was right. She always seemed to pick the wrong guys, but obviously she wasn't doing it on purpose.

"Oh, and speaking of douchebags, you didn't give me a chance to finish telling you what I overheard Zander saying to his friend in class before you stormed off last night."

She was surprised there was more.

"What else did he say?" she asked hesitantly, poking around at her cereal to distract herself from the knot forming in her stomach.

"Not only did he say he was doing all the sappy bullshit he had to just to get in your pants, he also said he's not ready to be tied down to one woman and that hot chicks like you are a dime a dozen and you're nothing special."

Hearing that stung and it hurt to hear.

"That guy's not looking for a relationship Berk. He's looking to get laid so he can brag to his friends that he finally bagged the virgin that played hard to get. After he gets what he wants, he's gonna be gone."

She sat there thinking about what he was saying and deep down in her heart, she could feel that he was right. Zander probably didn't want a serious relationship with her, but after she thought about it, she realized she didn't want one with him either.

"Yeah well, I'm not trying to marry the guy Dean. I literally just want to have sex with him," she said with a sigh.

Judging by the look on Dean's face, he didn't like that answer.

"Really? C'mon. I mean, you want THAT guy to be your first?"

"Okay, maybe he is an asshole, but so was your first. Do you remember all the messed up shit Sydney said to me over the years? She was literally the spawn of Satan and that didn't stop you from losing your virginity to her, did it?"

She could tell he was at a loss for words.

"Exactly. You have nothing to say to that because you know I'm right."

She turned back to her cereal and took another bite, looking forward and chewing.

He sat there in silence for a minute before finally saying, "Yeah, you're right," with an exhale, looking down and shaking his head. "Sydney was a total bitch. Looking back now, I know I should have listened to you, but she was really fuckin' hot and at the time I was so desperate to get laid, I was in denial and didn't want to hear it."

"Exactly!" she shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. "So you of all people should understand how I feel right now then."

He rested his elbows on the counter and ran his hands over his face and up through his hair.

"I do, but just because I made the wrong choice doesn't mean you have to too. Can't you learn from my mistake and pick somebody else to lose your virginity to? I mean, literally anybody would be better than that asshole."

She scoffed. "Hey, Zander might be an asshole, but Sydney had him beat by a mile. That girl was a bully that made my life a living hell any chance she could get. I felt like throwing up the day when she decided to brag to the whole cafeteria, right in front of me, about losing her virginity to you and then started describing in detail how big your dick was and how good you were in bed. She was talking about you like you were a piece of meat and not a person. It took all the self control I had not to dive over that table and rip her hair out, but you know what? I didn't. I stayed out of it because I figured it was your life and you were old enough to make your own decisions about who you wanted to be with. Why can't you do the same for me?"

He was silent for a second, thinking it over before finally shaking his head. "Honestly, I don't know," he shrugged, hanging his head and letting out an exhale. "I just can't," he said quietly."

They sat there in awkward silence for a minute, both of them thinking until she finally broke the silence.

"You know, the things you overheard Zander saying about me in class is the exact same kind of shit I've listened to you say about women a million times. So why are you judging him for saying the same shit you do?"

Dean looked over at her. "You're right. I've been an asshole and used women just for sex and bragged about it to my buddies after, but the difference is, I never lied to them about my intentions. I never pretended to be someone I wasn't just to get in their pants. I was always honest right from the start and they knew I didn't want anything serious. THAT'S the difference between me and Zander."

Then he cleared his throat and said, "But even if it was the same, this has nothing to do with me B. This is about you and Zander and the fact that YOU deserve better that that."

"Exactly! This ISN'T about you Dean!" Berkley said loudly. "This has only EVER been about me and Zander, but you tried to make it about you when you tricked me into coming here so I couldn't have sex with him! You should've just told me what you heard him say in class and then stayed out of it like you promised."

"I TRIED to stay out of it!" he said defensively, "but the way Zander was talking about you pissed me off and I couldn't just sit back and do nothing and let him get away with it. I would've kicked his ass right there in front of our entire class, but I didn't because I made you a promise not to scare him away. I panicked and this was the best plan I could come up with off the top of my head."

She sat there thinking about it for a minute before saying, "Look, I know you mean well. The first time you ran a guy off that I liked, I thought, awww it's sweet. Dean cares about me and he's trying to protect me. Then after the millionth time, the cuteness wore off and it started to get really old, really fast. That's why I made you promise to stay out of it this time. I'm just," she sighed. "I'm just really tired of being alone."

He gave her a weak smile and said, "I'm sorry Bee. I don't want you to be alone, but I can't stand to see you with some asshole that isn't good enough for you. None of the guys you pick ever are. I just think you deserve better," Dean said softly, hanging his head.

She looked over at him, studying his face.

That's when she realized he was never gonna change. At this rate she was going to be alone forever because Dean was never going to think any guy was good enough for her.

She looked down before saying quietly, "I can't do this anymore. This has been going on for THREE YEARS Dean. I've ignored it and tried to brush it off because you're my best friend and I know you mean well, but I'm getting really tired of being lonely and frustrated and heartbroken all the time. I can't take it anymore."

"What are saying?" he asked with scrunched eyebrows.

She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. "If the roles were reversed and I had been cockblocking you for THREE years, running off every single woman you ever got close to and wanted to sleep with, what would you have done?" she asked him directly.

He sat there thinking for a minute and let out an exhale, shaking his head. "I don't know. I'd probably be so pissed off I'd be ready to cut you out of my life."

"Exactly!" she shouted, throwing out her hands. "I'm seriously almost to that point. I don't know what else to do!"

He looked over at her with a guilty expression and said, "I'm sorry. I guess I don't know how to stand on the sidelines, knowing you're about to get your heart broken and not do something to stop it."

He paused for a few seconds before adding, "Especially not when you're trying to lose your virginity to a douchebag like Zander. You know you deserve someone better than him," he added quietly.

She looked down at her cereal, poking it around the bowl with her spoon and thinking. "Yeah well. Maybe I do deserve someone better. Maybe he's an asshole that's just using me to get laid and he'll take off afterwards, but at this point, I seriously don't even care anymore," she sighed. "Honestly, the truth is, I'm just using him to get laid too. He's hot and I'm ready to finally experience what it's like being with a man. All of my friends have done it and I'm tired of waiting and wondering."

She looked down at her hands and hesitated for a minute before adding, "Last night before I went to bed I called Zander and told him I decided he could sleep over on Monday after all."

Dean looked stunned, raising his eyebrows with his mouth hanging open slightly. He was lost for words.

She got up and started walking away before turning around in the doorway and saying, "Look, I know you have good intentions and you're just trying to look out for me, but I don't need you to. I'm not going into this blind. I know Zander's an asshole now and that means I'll have my guard up and I won't fall for him and get my heart broken."

Then she turned and walked away, going back upstairs to her room before Dean had a chance to protest and locked the door behind her.

She curled up in bed and passed out almost instantly since she didn't get much sleep the night before because of the nightmares. It was only supposed to be a short nap, so she was shocked when she woke up and looked at her phone and realized she had been sleeping for five hours. She could smell something amazing wafting up from downstairs and her stomach growled, making her realize she was starving.

She got up and got dressed in a pair of high-waisted jeans and a crop top that showed just a sliver of skin and decided to leave her long, brown hair down for once. She didn't bother with any makeup since it was just her and Dean. As she made her way down the stairs, she heard some familiar rock music playing from her favorite band, 'Three Days Grace'. She was glad her and Dean had the same taste in music.

"Is that your famous Italian Grinders I smell?" she asked as she turned at the bottom of the stairs and saw Dean in the kitchen standing over a skillet with steam rising up around him.

"It sure is," he told her.

She walked over to him and as she got closer, the amazing smell got stronger and her mouth watered. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Mmmmm. That smells amazing. Why are you making my favorite food? Are you trying to butter me up or something?" she asked, looking down into the pan.

"Maybe," he smiled.

"Well it's working. Whatever you want, you can have it," she laughed.

"So you won't have sex with Zander?" he laughed.

She laughed and smacked his arm, rolling her eyes. "Ha! Nice try buddy."

"Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying." His smile slowly faded away as he looked down, stirring the food. He finally looked over at her and asked, "Are we cool?"

She thought about that question and she couldn't really give an answer. "I don't know," she  said quietly with a shrug, leaning against the counter and crossing her arms.

"The shit you pulled was really sneaky and underhanded. I just feel like I lost trust in the one person on earth I never thought would lose it."

He put down the spatula and turned to face her, looking down into her eyes before saying, "Hey, I'm really sorry about setting Blake up with Skye and for tricking you into coming here this weekend. You were right. I should've just told you about the trap I was setting for Blake and about what I overheard Zander saying and trusted you enough to make the right decisions."

"Yeah, you should've," she nodded.

"And it kills me that I lost your trust, but I hope you believe me when I say that I did all of it because I thought I was doing what was best for you. I was trying to protect you from getting hurt by them."

He turned away and started stirring the food again, but then she pulled his arm so he would face her again and looked up at him.

"Dean. It's not your responsibility to keep me from ever getting hurt. That's all part of dating. As my best friend, I just want you to be there to pick me up and dust me off when I do and tell me what a dumbass I was. Then I'll learn from my mistakes and pick somebody better the next time."

He took another deep breath in and let it out, running a hand up through his hair.

He gave her a pained smile. "I'll keep trying okay? I promise."

She smiled and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her back and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"Thank you," she said. She lifted her head and looked up at him. "You know I still love you right?"

He smiled and rolled his eyes. "I know," he said with an exhale. "I love you too."

She stepped back and sat down at the bar stool and watched him finish cooking her favorite meal. She knew he made it because he felt bad about what he did.

He made up two plates and sat one down in front of her before sitting down on the bar stool beside her with his own.

She picked up her Italian Grinder and took a bite, closing her eyes and groaning because it was so good. They both sat there eating in silence, enjoying the food too much to talk for a while.

Finally he looked over and asked, "Just answer me this Berk. Are you planning to sleep with Zander on Monday because you really, honestly like the guy or do you know he's a total douchebag but you're just that desperate to lose your virginity?"

"Where have you been dude? I'm so desperate to lose my virginity, I even asked you," she laughed, punching his shoulder playfully before letting out a sigh of frustration with her smile slowly fading away. "Honestly, the truth is, I'm just ready for that next stage of my life. I'm about to be nineteen. I'm in college and I'm a grown woman now and I'm ready to actually feel like one. I'm ready to know what it's like to be with a man. I don't think there's anything wrong with that," she said quietly.

He looked down, thinking in silence for a few seconds before finally lifting his head up and looking over into her eyes. "So if I agree to have sex with you, will you promise not to have sex with him?"