Kai woke up the next morning like she was rising from the grave, and, she figured, so did Ben.

Neither of them had ever been much of a morning person, especially when it's the morning after they stayed up late making out in a pond.

The time was 6:02 am, according to the digital clock on the dresser.

Kai slept in the basement-level guest bedroom of Ben's house; she was greeted at the foot of the bed by her neatly folded clothing, which Sandra had put in the dryer while Kai was sleeping.

It then occurred to her that, so far, each encounter she had with Ben - the flooded-out reservation, the Excalibur chamber, and the pond from the previous night - involved water, which made her chuckle as she walked into the adjacent bathroom to shower.

Meanwhile, Ben was upstairs, brushing his teeth.

He usually skipped brushing his teeth, but he needed any excuse he could to avoid picturing Kai taking a shower.

Plus, he had to clean the pond water out of his teeth, which made him feel even dirtier than he would openly admit.

The problem wasn't that Ben might mentally pictures girls taking a shower in his house; his dad had already given him "the talk."

The problem was that Ben might mentally picture Kai taking a shower in his house, and this was for many reasons.

As if by magic, the doorbell distracted him from any potential perversion.

"I'll get it," Ben shouted to someone.

He washed his toothbrush and then promptly hurried to answer the front door.

He didn't care who it was, as long as they could get him to think about something else.

The door opened, and the man behind it greeted, "Hey, Tennyson."

Ben groaned, "Hey, Kevin."

So much for helping him to not think about Kai; all Kevin's gonna do is tease Ben about her.

"What are you doing here?" asked Ben.

"I can't drop by and check in on a fellow Plumber?" Kevin replied defensively.

"Not unless you have some ulterior motive."

"As a matter of fact," he confessed, "I do. A little birdie told me to ask you where the hell you went last night."

Even the Vreedle Brothers could tell that Gwen was the "little birdie" in question.

Ben played along, "Did this little birdie need me for anything?"

"Not really. Just some help fighting Trumbipulor."

"Oh, sorry about that. Did you get him?"

"We did. But still, where were you last night?"

"I...uh, went swimming with a friend."

"I can tell," Kevin raised an eyebrow and nodded slightly.

His gesture was directed towards the girl standing behind Ben; Kai was fully-clothed (thank God) but her hair was still wet from the shower.

"Hey, Kevin," she greeted, ignoring Ben as he mentally cursed her poorly-timed presence. "You needed something?"

"No, I was just leaving."

Kevin might've stayed to further torment Ben, but he already had his fun tormenting Ben over Julie.

He made certain that the door would close behind him on his way out.

On the door's other side was the sound of silence, which bordered on awkward for a few moments before she finally decided to break through.

"You know, pretending not to be in a relationship didn't work out for him either."

Kai used Kevin and Gwen's relationship as a frame of reference for whatever relationship she might have with Ben.

It probably wasn't the most reliable frame of reference, but surprisingly, it was still more stable than Ben's relationship with Julie.

"I'm not trying to pretend," he insisted. "I'm just cautious."

"I beg to differ," she countered, "You're claiming not to pretend about a relationship that you're pretending doesn't exist. If you oughta be cautious about anything, here's a good place to start: why would it bother you so much if someone thought you wanted a relationship when you didn't?"

He tried to respond, but he couldn't think of a good enough answer.

Kai did have a point, he admitted to himself.

Ben pondered over the question for 2 minutes before he could address Kai's growing impatience.

"You're right," he relented. "I'm sorry."

"That's it?" she seemed taken aback. "No half-assed attempt at explaining yourself?"

"No. That's your thing, not mine."

Ben was expecting Kai to mentally kick herself, or start acting apologetic.

"Good boy," she teasingly rubbed his hair.

To his surprise, Kai turned the tables back on him.

He couldn't help but laugh about it.

For a moment, Ben confidently presumed that he was one step ahead of Kai.

But she had figured out how to keep him in his place.

He wasn't even close behind...