#thoushallnotfall

Ace Merrill, local gang leader and world-class jerk, was currently pinning your little brother to the ground.

“Aw, how sweet--is big sister here to rescue you?” Ace taunts your brother as he holds a lit cigarette up to his face.

“Beat it y/n; this is none of your business.” Richie, your older brother, says as you approach.

“Of course it's my business when your friend is threatening our little brother!" You snap. "Now get off him Ace! I'm not kidding around here." You warn, looking down at the blonde. He smirks.

"Oh yeah?” He says, standing up to look you in the eyes. “You gonna do something about it sweetheart?" You stare him down as Chris, now free, jumps up and goes to stand by his friend Gordie. Ace smirks as you glare at him, and you roll your eyes as you turn to your brother, checking him over for any injuries.

"You okay?" You ask, hand going up to push back the wisps of hair on his forehead as you look over his face for any cuts or burns. He quickly pushes your hand away.

"I'm fine y/n, stop fussing." Chris says, though there isn’t much fight in it. You sigh as you look down at him, looking far more mature and world-weary than any 12 year old should. Your concern for you brother ebbed, it was quickly replaced with a tide of anger. You put your hands on your hips as you turn to Ace and Ritchie.

“Uh oh Eyeball--I think she’s mad at us.” Ace jokes as Ritchie laughs. You scowl.

“What’s wrong with the two of you, huh? Do you get off on picking on a couple kids that can’t fight back or what?” You ask as you scowl at them.

“Listen Y/N, my friend here was only politely askin’ Chris to take back an insult he so rudely threw Ace's way. That’s all.” Richie replied, smirking as he places his arm on Ace’s shoulder.

“You know you should really teach that brother of yours some manners y/n.” Ace adds with a smirk.

“That’s bullshit!” Chris says behind you, and you turned to look at him. “I called him an asshole because he stole Gordie’s hat!” You turn back around and see the hat in question, now sitting on top of Ritchie’s curly head. “Gordie’s brother gave him that hat! They can't have it!” Chris adds, and your frown deepens. Everyone knew what happened to Dennis Lachance; that hat probably meant a lot to his little brother.

“Eyeball, did you see me steal anything?” Ace asks Richie with a smirk.

“No way Ace--the kid gave it to you.” Ritchie responds.

“That’s a lie!” Gordie yells as he stares daggers at Ace.

“This is ridiculous; just give the hat back Ritchie.” You say as you move to take the hat off your bother’s head. Ace snatches it before you have the chance.

“Now hold on a minute,” Ace says as he holds the hat up just above your reach. “The kid gave me this hat--it’s mine, fair and square.”

“Stop fooling around and just give me the hat Ace.” You say as you jump up to snatch it from his hand. He moves it away from you at the last second as he smiles. He leans forward, invading your space.

“What’ll you give me for it?” He asks, looking you over with his icy blue eyes. You glare back at him.

“You know damn well I don’t have anything to give you.” You say, annoyed beyond the point of caring about manners.

“Oh--hardly ladylike of you y/n, cursing at me like that.” Ace replies sarcastically.

“Shut up and just tell me what you want.” You shoot back. He laughs.

“Feisty as always I see.” He smiles. “I like that.” He holds the hat out to you. “Go out with me tonight and you can have it.” The two of you stare each other down, while Ritchie looks over at his friend in surprise.

“Hey come on Ace--that’s gross man, she’s my sister!" Ritchie says, looking horrified at the idea.

“Don’t do it y/n--who knows what he’ll do to you.” Chris pleads behind you. You and Ace ignore them as you glare at him and he stares back with a crooked grin on his face.

“Fine.” You agree.

“Y/N!” Chris exclaims in shock. Ace's smile widens with satisfaction.

“But you give Gordie his hat back now.” You add.

“If I give the kid the hat now, how will I know you’ll hold up your end of the deal?” Ace asks.

“Unlike some people, I’m not a liar.” You say. He stares back at you, before laughing.

“Alright, deal.” He says, offering you the hat which you quickly grab from his hand. “I’ll pick you up at 8.” He says as he turns to walk away; Ritchie looking between you and Ace before he runs off to join his friend.

You glare at their retreating backs until they turn the corner. You turn to Chris and Gordie, both of them looking at you mournfully. You smile at them, offering the hat to Gordie.

“Here, I think this is yours.” He looks down as he takes the hat from you.

“You didn’t have to do that.” He says as he hugs the hat close to his chest.

“You know usually, when someone does something nice for you, you thank them.” You say, smiling as you lightly ruffle his hair.

“R-right. Sorry--I mean, thank you.” He says, putting the hat back on his head with a small smile.

“What were you thinking y/n?” Chris cuts in, clearly upset. “You know what that asshole could do to you?” He asks, looking at you with concern. You just smile back.

“You don’t have to try and protect me Chris--I’m the big sister, remember?” You remind him. “Listen, don’t worry about Ace; I can handle him.”

“But--!” He tries to argue.

“That’s enough now.” You cut him off. “I’m a Chambers--we’re made of tougher stuff, right?” He sighs, looking at the ground.

“Yeah.” He agrees, before lifting his head. “Just promise me you’ll be careful.” You laugh.

“I promise.” You say. “Now, it looks like you two have somewhere to be.” You say, eyeing their sleeping bags. “Go have fun, and don’t worry so much.”

You watch them leave as Chris waves back at you. You return the wave, watching them until they were out of sight. The boys no longer visible, you let out a long sigh.

You pinched the bridge of your nose, wondering just exactly what you’d gotten yourself into, before turning on your heels and heading for home.

It was all well and good to say you that you’d be fine--it was another thing entirely to actually back that up. You'd know Ace for a long time, and while you didn't think he would do anything to you, there was always that lingering chance you were wrong.

--

That evening you lie to your parents and say you’re going with a friend to the movies, before leaving to wait a little ways down the road. You didn’t even want to think about what your dad would do if he found out you were going out with a boy--especially one like Ace.

While you're thinking about the potential consequences of getting caught in a lie while also being out with a boy, the boy in question pulls up next to you on the street. Surprisingly, he's on time.

“So excited you couldn’t even wait inside, huh y/n?” He asks with a smile. You roll your eyes.

“Cute.” You reply sarcastically as you get in the passengers seat. “You know my dad; he would kill us both if he saw me leaving with you.”

“He could try.” Ace jokes, though you had a feeling it was said more genuinely than he let on.

“Let’s just go before anyone sees us.” You reply.

“Yes ma’am.” He says, driving off into the night.

--

Neither of you say much on your way to the diner. Your thoughts drifted between how much trouble you’d be in if Ace didn't get you back at a decent time, and thoughts of Ace himself. You’d know him for a long time--before he was Ace. Back then he was just John; the troubled kid from school your brother palled around with.

You were younger than Chris is now when you'd first met him. You were shy as a child, and you didn't understand why people treated you differently. Now you know of course--everyone knew the Chambers were a bad family. So there's no way your deadbeat dad could raise anything but deadbeat kids. The three of you were bad seeds going nowhere fast. As far as Castle Rock was concerned, you were all no good.

Since good mothers didn't like their kids hanging around with anyone from the Chambers family, you never did have many friends growing up. Instead, you followed Ritchie around like a duckling; despite his constant complaints about it.

And that's how you met Ace. He and your brother constantly picked on you or would leave you behind when they ran off to play, but you didn't care. You would take anything over being alone. And sometimes, in those rare moments when you and Ace were left alone together, you saw a different side of him. When he wasn't trying to act out for his friends, when he wasn't showing off or acting tough. He was almost vulnerable then, a bit unsure of himself, and more than anything you remember how sometimes, he could even be kind.

The moments were always so few and far between that every time it surprised you; that he could be nice to someone, and that the someone was always you. You wondered sometimes if anyone else had ever seen that side of him, or if those fleeting moments of sweetness were reserved just for you.

Now more than ever you wondered if that side of him was still buried somewhere inside him, or if he'd let it die along with his name--strangled down deep in the darkness of his heart.

--

You pull into the diner, the lights from it's neon sign washing the parking lot in a soft, red glow. Ace parks his convertible and a carhop quickly comes out to take your orders before hurrying back inside. Ace pulls out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the top pocket of his shirt as you turn to him.

"Okay, what's your game?" You ask point blank.

"What do you mean?" He asks back, pulling a cigarette from the pack and placing it lightly between his lips before putting the pack away. He lights it, quickly snapping the lighter shut as he takes a long drag.

"I mean, what are you trying to accomplish from all this?" You throw your arms out to vaguely gesturing around you. "Because if you think you'll be getting anything from me tonight you've got another thing coming." Ace throws his head back as he laughs, the cigarette glowing faintly between his fingers.

"I'm serious--I know you Ace Merrill, and I know when you're going with a girl you're only after one thing." You say as you look over at his profile. He takes another puff from his cigarette, slowly blowing out a cloud of smoke. He smiles at you as he ashes over the side of the car.

"Well damn, it sounds like you got me all figured out sweetheart." He says, smirking as he turns his head to look at you. "And yet you still agreed to come out with me tonight, so what do you know about that?" You scowl.

"I was coerced and you know it! Like I'd willingly agree to go out with you." You huff, crossing your arms as you slide down in your seat.

"Ouch--that's not a very nice thing to say y/n." He says sarcastically, still smiling.

"As if you have any room to talk." You snap back. "You're a jerk to everyone you meet."

"Funny, I don't recall ever being a jerk to you." He responds. You open your mouth to argue, then stop.

When was the last time he'd actually been mean to you? Had he ever, really? Sure, there was his general abrasive attitude and his sarcastic jokes--but had he ever, genuinely said something meant to hurt you?

"See, you can't think of anything. Admit it, I have always been good to you." He says, a triumph grin on his face.

"Good might be an exaggeration--and anyway that hardly matters. You not being a total jerk to one person doesn't change the fact that you're a bully to everyone else." You counter, sitting up as you speak. "I mean, just look at how you were treating my brother today!"

"Listen, the kid's gotta learn sometime how harsh life is; I'm doing him a favor teaching him how the world works." He says, flicking the butt of his cigarette out into the parking lot.

"A favor?" You repeat. "All you're doing is making life harder for a good kid who already has it hard enough." You slump back down as you sigh, looking down at the dashboard. "Trust me, he doesn't need a lesson about how hard life can be." You say more to yourself than to him.

Ace eyes you from the driver's seat, but before he can say anything the food arrives and the moment passes.

You eat your burgers and fries, talking about nothing in particular. Ace is his usual, rough self, but you grow a little more comfortable as you talk. Mostly you bicker back and forth, the whole conversation one small argument after another. Still, it wasn't an uncomfortable atmosphere to be in.

You talked to Ace less now than you did as kids, but you fell back into step like you still spent everyday together. His usual goading and pestering, and in return your typical annoyed response. Maybe you seemed like you weren't enjoying the conversation, but in truth you didn't mind. If anything, as much as you would hate to admit it, you almost missed talking to him like this. Not worrying about his gang or your brother or whatever anyone else thought about it.

Just two old friends talking like they'd never lost touch in the first place--though you'd sooner swallow your own tongue than say any of that to his face.

--

After you finished eating Ace told you he wanted to take you somewhere. You were a little worried about the time--or where in God's name he was planning on taking you--but it's not like you really had a say in the matter. Ace pulled out of the diner and headed out of town without a word of input from you. He soon turned on a country road that started to go up, and before you knew it you were parked on a cliff side out in the wilderness. From your spot above the world, you could see the lights of Castle Rock surrounded by a blanket of darkness.

You scowl over at Ace.

"Are you serious? I told you--"

"Just shut up and get out of the car, would ya?" He says, jumping out the side of the convertible. He moves around and grabs a small metal cooler from the floorboards behind the driver's seat. You watch him suspiciously as he heads to the front of the car, getting up to sit on the hood.

"You coming or what?" He asks, looking back at you as he sets the cooler down.

"Fine--but you better not try anything funny." You warn, getting out of the car. You hop up on top of the hood, cautiously sliding up to the back. You pull your knees up and wrapping your skirt around your legs, hugging them to your chest.

"Relax already. If I was gonna try something I would've done it in the car." He tells you as he opens the ice chest to grab a beer. He pulls out a Swiss Army knife and opens it up, using the bottle opener to pop the top off the bottle. He offers it to you, and--after a moment of contemplation--you slowly take it. He quickly works on getting himself one as you take a sip.

He takes a swig of his beer as he looked out over the scenery in front of you. It was a nice view. The two of you sat for awhile, just silently enjoying the scenery while you drank.

"Nice view, huh?" He says absently after a long while.

"Yeah, it is."

"Reminds me just how small this town really is." He takes another drink from his beer as he talks. "Can you picture being somewhere like New York City? You could go all the way up in the tallest skyscraper they got and look out, and you would still never see the end of it. Can you imagine living somewhere that big? Where no one knows you?" He asks.

"No, I can't." You answer honestly.

"There's trains that can take you further and faster than any car, boats that can take you around the world, and now they got planes that can fly you through the sky." He takes another drink. "All that, and I'm still gonna die in this shit town." He says, looking out over the lights of Castle Rock with contempt. You look over at him, staring quietly at his handsome face. You knew what he meant, how he felt. You felt it too.

"You don't have to. You could leave, go someplace else. Somewhere new." You say. He laughs through his nose.

"Yeah, go where?" He asks.

"Anywhere." You reply. He smiles, though there's no humor in it.

"Let's be real y/n; some people just weren't meant to leave." He finishes his beer as he smirks. "We both know the only way I'm getting out is behind six feet of concrete or laying six feet under--whichever comes first." He throws his bottle hard, and it disappears over the side of the rocks down into the trees.

You had never heard him be so introspective before. Then again, you felt similar. You were sure a lot of kids from Castle Rock did, but none of you talked about it so openly like this.

"Things don't have to be that way." You say quietly. "You could change--try to be better." He laughs.

"Yeah, sure. I'll get right on that." He replies sarcastically.

"You could!" You say with more force. "I have!" You say, turning away. "I mean, I'm trying." You say, sighing. You take a long, full drink of your beer, tossing the bottle out into the darkness.

"You think I want to be stuck here forever? Just to end up like my mom? Married to some piece of shit who beats me when he's angry, and he's always angry." You start to tear up, but you keep going; your eyes looking down at you knees. "Too afraid to leave, too afraid to stop him from taking it out on our kids. Always afraid, always hurting--miserable until the day I die. And then I still won't escape because they'll bury me in the dirt of this town where I'll be trapped forever, and a tombstone will be all that's left of me. The only reminder that I lived and died here--and for what?"

There were tears running down your face, which you quickly whipped away with the back of your sleeve. You looked back over at him, his face was a mask, hiding any hint of emotion.

"I refuse to let this place swallow me whole. I don't care what they say about my family--I'm going to be better. I'll get out of here even if it kills me, and then no one will tell me I'm no good ever again." You say with more resolve. He looks over at you for a long, quite moment, then cracks a smile.

"Listen, you point me to the assholes telling you that, and we'll just see how good they are at name-calling when they've got broken jaws." He jokes. You can't help but laugh in spite of yourself.

"You see? That's the kind of thing that's gonna get you in trouble." You reply, smiling over at him. He shrugs.

"What can I say? A tiger can't change his stripes."

"Tigers are still just cats you know. Yeah, they're big, but they're only fierce when they need to be. And just like house cats, they can also be sweet." He laughed at that.

"Yeah, just imagine me--sweet."

"You could be, if you tried." You say, smiling at him.

"Oh really? But I thought I was a jerk? Or was it a bully?." He says as he smiles over at you. You playfully punch his arm as he laughs.

"You are a jerk and a bully." You reply. "But I also know you can be nice if you really wanna be."

"Oh yeah? That's something you know, huh?" He says, leaning in a little. "And who exactly do I got to be nice to?"

"Well, you could try being nice to me." You answer.

"So, how exactly would you like me to be nice to you?" He asks, looking at you with a playful smirk.

"You could start by laying off my little brother and his friends." You say sweetly. He throws his head back as he laughs.

"Oh is that all?" He asks, looking back down at you. "And what exactly do I get if I do?"

"You're not supposed to expect a reward for being nice." You tell him. "But," You pause as you lean a little closer. "If you're nice to me, maybe I'll be nice to you." He smiles, his eyes glancing down to your lips.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be, huh?" He asks.

"Mhmm." You smile.

"You drive a hard bargain sweetheart, but," He leans forward. "You got yourself a deal."

You smile and close your eyes as you feel his lips meet yours. His hand moves up to cup your cheek as he deepens the kiss. Your heart was pounding like a drum in your chest and for a few, sweet moments, everything else disappeared. It was just you and Ace--no Castle Rock, no worries about the future, just the two of you together. Strange how a kiss with the right person can make you see stars, when all you saw before was the darkness.

You pull back and look at him.

"I mean it about the kids though--we're over if I find out after all this that you've still been giving them a hard time." You say. He rolls his eyes.

"Yeah I get it, I promise--now quit harping and come here." He said, pulling you to his chest as he leaned down to kiss you again.

You really weren’t sure what to make of this whole situation. 

One day, your life is totally normal--dull, even--which you were completely fine with, by the way. Then, for reasons you couldn't even begin to guess, four incredibly attractive--but also maybe kind of dangerous--boys all suddenly wanted your attention, and were also apparently into you. 

All four of them. At the same time. 

As if that weren’t already strange enough, the more you thought about it, the more you thought you might actually be into them too. 

They certainly weren’t the type of guys you were typically into--not that you had a lot of experience with guys in general, usually letting your friends take the lead in that department while you stayed on the sidelines. You couldn’t say you ever saw yourself ending up with a punk; let alone four of them at once, and you were having a hard time figuring out exactly how this whole situation was supposed to work.

You had tried to avoid the boys while you attempted to sort your feelings out. It hadn’t been too hard; for whatever reason, the boys didn’t seem to hang out on the boardwalk during the day, so as long as you didn’t stray out at night you were pretty much guaranteed to not run into them. Whenever the girls wanted to go out you’d just make up some excuse and stay home, letting them venture out on their own while you stayed safely away from the boardwalk and the four boys who had you in such a sorry state.

Truthfully, part of you was still a little upset about their game; you knew they hadn’t really meant anything by it, but it still hurt to know they were playing games with you when you thought it was something else. More than anything though, you were just confused--confused about your own feelings, and confused about what they really wanted from you. Despite the stupid game and how embarrassing the whole night had been, you had enjoyed your time with the the boys. Is that what it would be like to date them? All of them? Would they just, what, share you? David seem to suggest that’s what they all wanted, but would they all really be okay with that? 

Would you be?

You really didn't know--or maybe you did and you just weren't sure you were ready to accept the answer just yet. Either way, the one thing you were sure of was you were definitely not ready to see the boys again. You didn’t have any sort of answer for them right now, and you weren’t really up for them teasing you mercilessly while you were trying to sort your feelings out.

You hadn't spent much time with them really, but while there was still a lot you didn't know about them they seemed pretty easy to figure out in some regards. They clearly enjoyed getting a rise out of you, and they obviously didn't like taking no for an answer; and they also seemed pretty good at getting people to do what they wanted one way or another. They didn't use that to any sort of nefarious ends the last time you saw them, but is that really the sort of people you wanted to be spending your time with? You logical self and your emotional self were at odds with each other as you went back and forth, arguing in circles, and it was getting you nowhere.

---

One night, a little over a week after your date with the boys, you got a phone call from Heather. She and the girls were out on the boardwalk and some creep had stolen her bag--and her keys--so she needed you to come pick them up.

Great.

Of course you agreed to go get them. You're not the type to just leave your friends hanging, and you knew they have no one else they could rely on. Still, you had done so well to avoid the boardwalk at night; of course it'd end up being the girls and their partying that would end up dragging you back. You prayed you wouldn't run into the boys as you climbed into your car, the headlights illuminating your quiet, dimly lit suburban street.

You parked and made your way towards the bar Heather said she and the girls were at, but only made it half way before you heard your name being shouted loudly at you from across the street. You glance over and see Julie waving at you, all smiles as she and the others sat on a picnic table. Standing around them, you see--

Oh come on, really?

"Hey babe, long time no see!" Paul says, smiling up at you from his seat next to Julie.

"Yeah, it has been awhile." Marko grins at you from his spot by Stacy. "It was...y/n, right?” He asks, pretending to have to think about it. “We met the other night didn’t we? But then you just ran off." Your face grew hot, knowing full well he was teasing you, but that you couldn’t say anything or your friends would know about your ‘date’ with the boys.

You had decided that it was, for the time being, better to not tell the girls about it. Marko smirked devilishly, having already guessed as much; apparently he was planning to use that fact to mess with you.

“Oh right, you guys only met y/n for a few minutes the other night, huh?” Tiffany asks, leaning against the table by Dwayne.

“Our meeting was short, but sweet.” Dwayne replies, glancing over at you with a small smile on his face. Your cheeks burn as you look down at the ground, avoiding his gaze. Tiffany lightly smacks his shoulder as she giggles.

“Well aren’t you charming! Careful what you say to her--keep that up and she’ll be a bashful mess all night.” Tiffany jokes.

“You don’t say.” David replies, eyeing you as he smirked knowingly. You really didn’t like where this was going.

“Um, this is great and everything--glad you all made up, or um, whatever’s happening here--but um, I just came to pick up the girls; I didn’t come to hang out, or anything. So if you ladies don’t mind, I’d like to get back to what I was doing before I dropped everything to come rescue you, okay?” You ask them, trying to get the girls to leave.

“What’s your rush kitten? You don’t wanna play with us?” David asks, smiling smugly at you as he leans back against the picnic table. You scowl.

“No thanks, I don’t really like games.” You reply flatly. This clearly surprises them--obviously being so out-of-character for you--but the meaning wasn’t lost. They all glance at each other before looking back at you, their playful looks washed away. 

You normally won’t be that direct, but you were still a little upset with them, and now you were confused about what they were doing hanging out with your friends. They didn’t seem to hanging all over the girls or ogling them like last time, but you weren’t going to be happy if they were leading the girls on just to get to you because you’d been avoiding them. Then again, maybe you’d been the one they’d been leading on--that would make more sense--but they really did seem to only be interested in you.

“Oh come on, don’t be so grumpy y/n!” Heather says, coming up to hug you around your shoulders. “I’m sorry I called you, but like I told you some jackass stole my purse and we really didn’t have anyway to get home!” She let you go and placed her hands firmly on our shoulders, and you couldn’t help but notice her supposedly stolen purse was slung around her arm. “But listen, because that’s when things got totally gnarly! I went to call you on the payphone, but while I was gone Tiff totally saw the creep and started yelling and then he just bolted! Can you believe it? Anyway, long story short the boys heard Tiffany screaming bloody murder and they totally got my bag back!” She exclaimed, smiling at you as she shook your shoulders excitedly. You thought she may have had a few too many celebratory drinks. You glance over at the boys, who all smirk back at you, clearly proud of themselves.

“So you helped them out? What, just out of the goodness of your hearts?” You ask, squinting your eyes at them suspiciously. The boys didn’t seem like villains or anything, but they didn’t really give off ‘Good Samaritan’ vibes either. 

“You bet babe--we’re practically boy scouts.” Paul says, smiling at you with a hint of mischief in his baby blue eyes.

“Uh huh.” You reply, unconvinced.

“You don’t have to sound so suspicious y/n--but, I mean, if you wanted to repay us for our heroic deeds...” Marko trailed off, moving his eyes slowly up and down the length of your body. You felt your face flush and you quickly turn away.

“So what I’m getting from all of this is that you have your keys now and you don’t need a ride home anymore--Great. Perfect. Fantastic.” You say hastily, flustered from Marko’s flirting. “If that’s the case then I’m just gonna go--”

"Leaving so soon, kitten?" David asks. "It seems like such a waste, after all, you did come all this way--why not stay awhile?" He smirked, raising an eyebrow at you.

"It's really not that far." You mumble. "And anyway, I only came to get the girls--if they don't need me then I've got no reason to stay."

"No reason?" Dwayne repeated, and you hesitate as you look away. Okay, so maybe not no reason; but it's not like you were planning on spending the night out with them--if anything you were avoiding it. You weren't really ready to have an impromptu hangout with them, not to mention your friends--who had no idea what was going on--all while you were still trying to sort your feelings out.

The girls were looking back and forth between you and Dwayne--any more of this and they really were going to realize something was up.

"Well, if you can't stay we understand." Dwayne continues.

"Aw, don't tell her that Dwayne!" Paul whines, pouting as he looks over at his friend.

"Enough Paul--if she has to leave then she has to leave." David says, smiling wickedly. He walks over to you, sliding his hand around your waist. "Come on kitten, I'll walk you to your car."

"Oh no, that's really not--" You start to protest, your hands up as you try to step away. David pulls you back to his side with a firm grip.

"Now now kitten; your friend was just robbed--and she was in a group. What kind of man would I be if I let a lady walk back to her car alone when the streets are clearly so unsafe?" David insists, smirking down at you with a crooked smile. You hear the other boys snicker as the two of you walk away, and you can't help but feel that, somehow, this whole thing was somehow staged--and it had all gone according to plan.

You walk back to your car with David's arm still latched firmly around your waist. You glance up at him and see him smiling to himself.

"So, you plannin' on avoiding us forever?" David asks. You freeze.

"I, um--I, I don't-"

"Come on kitten, don't play dumb. Your friends told us you've been making up excuses every time they ask you if you want to go out--you're afraid you'll run into us, right?" He says, looking down at you with his usual smug smirk.

"No, well I mean, I--can't a girl be busy?" You reply defensively. "And what were you doing hanging out with my friends anyway? I didn't think it was customary for the Good Samaritan to stay and flirt when he was done with his good deed." David laughs.

"Aw, what's wrong kitten? Jealous?" You blush.

"N-no!" You reply with a little more force than you intended. "I just...I just don't want you leading them on if you're not serious--that's all."

"Hmm." He hums. "Well not to worry kitten, our motives were pure--this time. We heard they were waiting for their friend to pick them up, and we figured it was our best shot to see you again--since you seem so intent on avoiding us."

"Oh." You looked down at your feet, feeling a little guilty. "So, um...so you weren't...you weren't trying to um..." David laughs as your face flushed scarlet.

"No y/n, we weren't trying to pick them up." He rests a gloved finger below your chin and tilts your head up so you’re looking into his icy blue eyes. "But if you're really that worried about us flirting with other girls--then just go out with us so we can flirt with you instead."

"Um, but, I...I don't-" You stammer, blushing as you try to look anywhere but his eyes. He had you like a rabbit in a trap and he knew it.

"What's wrong kitten--do you not like us?" He asks, a smile still spread across his face.

"I wouldn't say that..." You reply, knowing your playing right into his hand.

"Then what's the problem?" He asks. You look back at him, your indecision plain on your face. He sighed. "Look, I get this whole thing is lot for a good girl like you, but we're serious--we like you, alright? So why don't you just try spending some time with us, and see what you think? I promise we'll be on our best behavior." David played with a strand of your hair as he grinned down at you.

"Like you've ever behaved a day in your life." You mumbled under your breath as you looked away.

"You say something, sweetheart?"  He asks, still smiling.

“Oh nothing!” You answer quickly. 

“Good--then that means you agree to come out with us tomorrow night.” He replies with a satisfied smirk.

“Wait, no I didn’t--” You try to interject.

“Nope, too late kitten, you already agreed.” He cuts you off, his arm moving back around your waist as he guides you forward.

“But I didn’t--”

“Hey! There you guys are! We were starting to think the two of you had gotten lost.” You look up at the voice calling out to you and see Paul, along with Marko and Dwayne, leaning against the hood of your car. You look behind you, then back at the boys.

“But wait...when...I mean, how did they...?” You stammer, looking at the boys, then back up at David.

“So, what’s the scoop? Are we on for tomorrow or what?” Marko asks, looking over at David.

“Of course we are; like there was ever any doubt.” He replies, leading you forward as he ignores your obvious confusion.

“Hell yeah!” Paul exclaims as he pumps his fist, before he and Marko high-five; Dwayne shaking his head as we watches the two blondes.

“I hope he didn’t bully you into agreeing y/n.” Dwayne says as he gives you a sympathetic smile. You blush and look down at your feet.

“Oh um, no it’s fine.” You reply. Was it fine? You never actually agreed to hang out with them tomorrow, but when Dwayne looked at you like that you found it hard to argue.

“This is awesome! We’re gonna have so much fun babe!” Paul says, practically bouncing with joy. 

“Yeah, just wait until you see what we’ve got planned.” Marko adds, sliding up next to Paul looking positively devilish as he stares over at you with a grin on his handsome face.

“Hey! No games like last time, okay? I mean it.” You say with as much authority as you can muster. David just laughs.

“Is that what you sound like when you’re trying to act tough? You really need to work on that, kitten.” David says, putting more emphasis on his nickname for you than usual. You pout, and he and the other boys laugh in response. “Alright, don’t get sore with me: No games, we promise.”

“Fine.” You huff, still pouting. The boys laugh again as the three boys move to stand by David, and you blush as you move towards your car, embarrassed and annoyed.

Jerks.

You looked at yourself in the mirror, giving yourself another once-over. Everything seemed good--or, as good as it was going to get, anyway. You shook your head, trying to clear out all the negative thoughts.

No, you did look good! Tiffany was always telling you your biggest problem was just you lacked confidence--and when it came to confidence she was the queen--so you were trying to work on being more positive.

Still, it was hard to be confident when you were so nervous. You sighed, looking over at the clock. It was already nearly 9 O'clock; when were they planning on showing up? It's not like they had said any specific time--maybe they just didn't know where you lived? They dropped you off down the street last time; it could be they were waiting there for you? Or maybe they just changed their minds all together and they found something better to do...

With that thought you hear the unmistakable sound of engines and run to the window. Poking your head out, you see the lights of four familiar bikes pull up at the edge of your cul-de-sac, their riders looking up at your window as they waved for you to come down. You wave back, signaling for them to wait, moving silently out of your room and down the stairs. Thankfully, your mother was in the bath, and your father had fallen asleep in front of the TV; so as long as you were quiet you could sneak out undetected.

You had never snuck out before, truthfully you had never had reason to up until now. But you didn't want to lie and tell them you were going out with the girls, only to have that backfire if one of the girls called you--or worse, if you stayed out too late and your parents tried to call one of the girls' houses, only to find out you lied and snuck out to meet someone they didn't know. Better to only get in trouble for one thing rather than two...if you got caught, of course.

You gently closed the front door, locking it behind you before quickly turning and running down the driveway toward the boys. They smirk as you run up to them, a little out of breath after fleeing your house.

"Hey kitten, nice night for a run, huh?" David teased. You blush.

"S-shut up! It's not my fault you parked so far away!" You defended.

"Oh sorry, did you want your folks to see us picking you up?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. You pouted, looking away; you knew he was right, but you were still annoyed.

"Damn babe, you're looking good tonight." Paul says, completely ignoring your conversation as he leans over the handlebars of his bike to stare at you. You blush, holding up a hand to hide a shy, satisfied grin.

"Oh, um thank you Paul." You reply.

"Yeah y/n, you look super cute." Marko agrees, looking you up and down with a wide smirk spread across his face. "Almost good enough to eat." He and Paul laugh at what was apparently a very funny joke. While you watch them, confused about what was so funny, Dwayne gets off his bike and strolls over to them, giving each of them a firm smack to the back of the head.

"Hey!" Paul exclaims.

"Dwayne!" Marko yells. He looks at them for a few seconds as they both clutch the backs of their heads, before turning and making his way over to you.

"I'm sorry about them y/n; they mean well, they just can't help themselves sometimes." Dwayne says. You weren't really sure why he was apologizing, but you figured it was better just to let it go and move on rather than ask questions--the boys were just weird like that sometimes.

"Um, it's fine." You say, smiling up at him. He smiles back and you feel your heart flutter.

"Why don't you ride with me? I promise I'll get you there safely." He asks.

"Aw, no fair Dwayne; I wanted her to ride with me!" Paul says.

"Yeah, why do you get to have all the fun?" Marko grumbles.

"Oh, yeah sure." You reply, ignoring the two blondes whining. You hadn't really thought about the fact that'd you'd be riding on one of the bikes with them. That didn't seem safe at all; but then again, of the four Dwayne did seem like he'd probably be the safest driver. "But um, where's 'there?'"

"You'll see kitten--it's a surprise." David replies, his usual smirk plastered across his face. Great, that was comforting.

You follow Dwayne and sit on the seat behind him, trying not to think about how firm his back was or how much you were blushing as you tightly wrap your arms around his waist. You saw David speed off into the night, followed quickly by Paul and Marko; their taillights leaving red streaks in the night.

"Hang on tight." Dwayne said as the bike roared to life.

The next thing you know you feel the bike kick forward and you're gripping onto Dwayne for dear life. You feel the rush of wind running through your hair and hear the boys laughing, but your eyes are shut tight and you see nothing but black. Your heart is pounding so hard in your chest you know Dwayne must be able to feel it against his back as you hold onto him for dear life.

Out of the suburbs, the boys speed up; howling and laughing louder as they go. You didn't think it was possible, but you find yourself clinging to Dwayne tighter as you feel the bike go faster down into the sand. You hear the boys call your name, but you still refuse to open your eyes.

'Y/N you're safe, I promise. You can open your eyes, it's okay.' Dwayne said softly. You felt the fear begin to fade, and slowly began to open you eyes. You were on the beach now, the scenery flying by in a flash, and the boys were around you looking back at you with grins on their faces. Once they saw you open your eyes, they began to cheer and yell into the night, and you smile as you felt a small sense of pride well up inside you.

Eventually, they park in what looks like the middle of nowhere; Dwayne helps you off the bike as Paul and Marko playfully push and swat at each other, clearly riled up from the ride. David leads the group as the five of you make your way towards the sea and what looks like the mouth of a cave; with trash strewn all around and a large, foreboding sign signaling ‘Danger’ hanging overhead.

"Please tell me we're not going in there?" You plead as you eye the mouth of the cave warily, knowing full well that's exactly where you were heading.

"Aw, what’s wrong y/n? Yah scared?” Paul teases, coming up to walk beside you. “Don’t worry; I’ll protect you. Just stay nice and close.” He said, pulling you in tight. You blush and push against his side.

“Paul! Let go!” You say, trying to wiggle free of his hold. “I’m not scared! I just, um, well, I-I just don’t see what’s so interesting about a waterlogged old cave--that’s all.” You lied. Of course you were scared; the cave was creepy, and all the reasons you could imagine for why they had brought you out there were anything but pleasant: Nothing good happened in caves.

“You’ll see.” Marko said, smirking as he came up on your other side. 

The boys lead you down into the cave, Paul and Marko each taking one of your hands so you don’t trip. Making it inside before you, Dwayne went around setting fire to the contents of a few metal drums that were dotted around the cave. They acted like crude braziers, lighting the large room and allowing you to get a better look at the place. 

It certainly wasn’t what you were expecting to find inside some random cave in the middle of nowhere. There was stuff everywhere: At first glance it all looked like junk, but the more you looked the more you thought everything in the cave had been meticulously collected--probably over several years given how much there was. There looked to be some sort of structure almost merged inside the cave’s walls, like the husk of a building that had long since died, and now only the bones remained.

“What is all this?” You ask, looking around in awe.

“You like it?” David stared down at you and smiled. “It’s our place.” You stopped gawking at the room and turned to face him.

“Your place?” You repeated. “So what, you guys, like, live here?”

“Damn right!” Marko said proudly as he fell back on the couch. “Pretty sweet, huh? No parents, no responsibilities: we do what we want, when we want.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” You reply half-heartedly. It sounded nice enough--though you weren’t sure about living in a cave, even if it was cooler than you were expecting--but how did they survive like that? How did they have money for food? Clothes? And everything else in here? It was all well and good to say you did what you wanted whenever, but how could they be sustaining that kind of a lifestyle?

“We’re not selling drugs or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Dwayne clarified, smiling as he walked over to you. You shake your head.

“Oh no, I wasn’t thinking that!” You absolutely were thinking that.

“It’s alright, don’t worry.” Dwayne smiled down at you. “Anyway; it’s true we don’t have steady jobs, but we do alright.” He replies. He moved past you to sit in one of the chairs by the couch, where Paul had already taken a seat beside Marko and was now gesturing for you to come join them.

You hesitantly walk over, gingerly sitting at the edge of the couch by Paul. He immediately throws an arm around the back of the couch behind you, smiling from ear to ear, and you feel your face flush as you look away.

"So what do you think?" David asks, the last to take a seat as he slumps down in an old wheelchair facing you and the others.

"About what?" You ask.

"Now that you see how we live, do you think you could see yourself dating four degenerate punks living against the grain of society?" David asked, gesturing grandly out at the cave. He was clearly being sarcastic, but the question was real enough.

It's not like you hadn't been thinking about it. Finding out they all lived in some communal cave situation was strange, sure--but honestly not really that surprising given who you were dealing with. You had already begun to suspect they were runaways or something--Santa Carla was a popular stop for runaways, or so you’d heard--so finding out they didn't have homes wasn't all that shocking really. Still, it was just one more thing to add to your list entitled 'Is this really a good idea, y/n?'

"Well, I mean..." You hesitate, embarrassed. "You living in a cave isn't a deal breaker--if that's what you're asking."

"I wasn't." David replies flatly, then sighs. "But a guess it's a start."

"Come on babe--how long are you gonna keep us hanging?" Paul asks, looking over at you with big, blue, puppy-dog eyes. Why was he so pretty?

"Yeah y/n, I thought you liked us?" Marko chimed in. He rested his chin on Paul's shoulder so he was facing you, and there was a sad, over-exaggerated look on his angelic face. It should be criminal to be allowed to have a face like that when you knew he was anything but an angel.

"I told you two not to pressure her." Dwayne scolded the two boys as they continued to stare at you.

“It’s alright Dwayne; I know you guys have been pretty patient waiting for me to make up my mind about things.” You reply.

“Yeah we have! You know, normally we would’ve just gotten bored and moved on by now--that’s how much we’re into you!” Paul said, smiling proudly.

“Oh yeah, because that’s really going to help our case, Paul.” Marko rolled his eyes sarcastically at his friend as he leaned back on the couch.

“What? I’m just say’n we’re serious about her, that’s all!” Paul replied defensively.

“It’s okay Paul; I knew what you meant.” You told him with a small smile. If anyone else had said something like that of course you would be worried, but you were getting pretty used to the boys and their personalities by now, and you knew Paul had meant it as a compliment. 

“See? I knew you’d understand y/n!” Paul said, beaming over at you with a smile that made your heart melt. Of course, you knew the boys probably had a lot of experience with girls before you--that was hardly news. But they seemed serious enough about you now, and you could hardly think about starting a relationship with them if you weren’t willing to put your trust in them. “You’re the best babe!” 

Paul suddenly jumps forward and wraps his arms around your waist, engulfing you in a tight embrace.

“P-Paul?” You barely manage to squeak out his name as your face grew hot. You can hear Marko laughing as you begin to wiggle and push against Paul’s chest. “L-let go please!”

“Mm, I would babe--but you smell so good.” He replies, nuzzling into the curve of your neck. You have to hold in a scream of surprise at the sudden action, all while feeling you might melt into the couch you’re so embarrassed. Why was he suddenly, well, whatever--and right in front of the others! Did it really not bother him that they were there?

Was this what it was going to be like all the time with them?

“Paul, enough.” David called sternly. Paul lifted his head.

“Aw, come on--it’s not like I’m gonna-”

“Enough.” David repeated forcefully. Paul winced, and reluctantly let you go.

“Sorry babe--guess I got a little carried away.” Paul apologized, looking at you sheepishly.

“It’s fine Paul, just--just maybe try and control yourself a little next time, okay?” You reply, sighing as you feel your heart beating a mile a minute. 

These boys were going to be the death of you.

---

You spend most of the night hanging out in the cave with the boys with no more major incidences, and finally it was time for you to head home. David tells Dwayne to take you back alone while he had a ‘talk’ with the blondes. 

Oof, that didn’t sound good.

Dwayne takes you home, thankfully going slower than on your ride to the cave. He pulls up at the end of your cul-de-sac, killing the engine and turning the headlights off so you have a few minutes to talk.

“Thanks for the ride.” You say, looking over at him as he stays seated on his bike.

“No problem.” He replies, smiling softly at you. You smile back, blushing lightly as you look down at the ground. A comfortable silence spreads out between you as you enjoy the night air. It would be morning soon; when was the last time you stayed out this late?

“I know I gave those two a hard time for rushing you earlier,” Dwayne finally says, breaking the silence. “But if you did decide to give us a chance, I bet you’d be glad you did.” You looked over at him, his dark hair shining in the moonlight, and you felt your heart race. 

Something about Dwayne just made you want to trust him. Maybe it was just him, or maybe it was just that, in comparison to the other three, he was obviously just the most trustworthy of the bunch. Either way, when Dwayne said something, you found yourself naturally inclined to agree, regardless of what it was. You were grateful it was Dwayne that seemed to have this mysterious power and not one of the terror twin blondes--god knows what disasters that would cause. 

In this particular case however, while Dwayne’s influence certainly had it’s effect on you, you’d finally made up your mind about the whole thing earlier that night.

“Yeah, I think I will.” You reply, a shy smile on your face. “Give you a chance, I mean.” 

If Paul had been here he’d probably be jumping for joy. Marko would probably say something sarcastic that would double as an innuendo, and David would probably be trying to act all cool to hid the fact the he was actually happy. But Dwayne just looked at you with a warm, content smile. 

“I’m happy to hear that; I know the other guys will be too.” He replied, clearly pleased with your answer. He looked up at the sky. “It’ll be morning soon, I should go.” He looked back over at you. “Will we see you tomorrow?”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, sure.” You reply. He nodded, starting the engine of his bike and turning the headlights back on. You stood by, watching him as he prepared to leave. You were a little sad to see him go, even though you obviously knew he had to leave. He looked back over at you, and you saw a look quickly pass across his face. 

Suddenly, he reaches out and pulls you in, and before you realize what’s happening his lips are pressed gently to yours. You gasp before you feel yourself stop breathing all together; your heart sprinting as your mind muddles along trying to figure out what in the world is going on. 

And, just as quickly as it started, it’s over; leaving you no time to process what had just happened before Dwayne pulls away smiling. 

What were you doing here?

That’s what you kept asking yourself as you hovered in your hiding spot across from the carousel. It was almost time for the boys to show, and you felt like your heart was going to leap out of your throat. Were you going to throw up? Maybe. Oh, this was a bad idea.

You’d changed your mind about it a hundred times that day. When you went to bed you were for sure going. Then, when you got up you’d come to your senses. At breakfast you thought maybe you should live while you were young; then made it to lunch and thought maybe you should actually try to live to see 25. You went in circles all day, making yourself sick with indecision, but you couldn’t bring yourself to make a choice.

You called up the girls, each one telling you roughly the same thing; the guys had seemed so promising, but as soon as they’d all gone out, the spark fizzled and the girls decided to ditch for greener pastures. The girls had each been vague about that last part, and you suspected that they may have been the ones that got ditched, but you decided to save their pride and not ask about it.

This at least told you they’d gotten out unscathed. The boys didn’t seem like they were really bad people, or so you told yourself. You thought back to your own encounters with them last night and a blush rose across your cheeks; at least you didn’t think you needed to worry about the sparkle fizzling anytime soon. So with that you finally decided, for real this time, to go.

So here you were–sort of–standing a safe distance away from your designated meeting spot. Technically it wasn’t time to meet yet, you told yourself, so it’s fine that you weren’t their yet. You were just mentally preparing yourself. That’s it; getting yourself in the right head space.

Totally.

You weren’t having second thoughts about meeting a group of handsome, scary, punk boys you’d met yesterday. Without your friends. Alone. For what? To hang out? Or was this like, a date? But with which one? Or was it, like, all of them? Oh god, you really were going to hurl.

What were you doing here?

You had to get out of there. You turn to leave, nerves causing to to shake like a leaf, when a familiar voice pulls you from your thoughts.

“The carousel’s the other way.” You stop dead, caught like a dear in headlights. David smirks. “You weren’t thinking of bailing on us, were you kitten?”

“N-no! Well, I mean, I, um–I’m suddenly not feeling so great so I was just going to-” You start to back away, but before you get far he slides his arm firmly over your shoulders.

“Now y/n, there’s no reason to be nervous; we’re gonna have a swell time together.” He mocked, before leaning in to whisper in your in your ear. “I promise.” You shiver at his sudden closeness, blushing as you push him off you. He laughs. “Besides, the boys have really been looking forward to seeing you again; you don’t want to disappoint them, do you?”

David apparently wasn’t planning on actually giving you a choice. He wrapped his arm back around your shoulder and steered you through the street toward the carousel.

“Hey!” You exclaimed as he pushes you forward. He just shrugs.

“You snooze you lose babe. You basically made your choice by showing up here anyway, right?”

You don’t get the chance to respond before you’re standing in front of three eager looking faces.

“Look what I found trying to run away.” David says with a wolfish grin, pushing you toward the other boys like a lamb to slaughter.

“Wait, were you really gonna bail on us y/n?” Paul ask, looking genuinely hurt. You actually felt kind of guilty seeing his big blue puppy eyes staring at you like that.

“Well, I…” You trail off, not wanting to offend them.

“It’s okay y/n, you were just nervous, right? Don’t worry about it; no harm done.” Dwayne says, giving you a reassuring smile. You smile back, glad to have someone on your side.

“Speak for yourself Dwayne! That really cuts me to my core!” Marko said. “And here I was planning to go easy on you.“ He says, clutching his chest like he’s been wounded. Wait, easy on you? What did that mean? What was he going to do now??

"Alright you jerks enough; are we gonna get this night started or what?” David interjects. The boys all smile mischievously, and for what wouldn’t be the last time tonight you wondered if this had been a good idea.

“What are we going to do?” You ask hesitantly, a little afraid of the answer.

“Whatever we want to kitten.” David replies with a smug look, and with that you’re off.

The boys drag you to all corners to the boardwalk for their fun. You had caught a glimpse of their different personalities yesterday, but spending more time with them tonight they really started to shine through.

Your first stop was the record store. They were all hanging out with you, but for some reason once you got to the store Paul takes the lead and the other three fade into the background.

“So babe, what kind of music are you into?” He asks, browsing the records as the two of you walk through the aisles. His arm brushing against yours in the small space making you blush.

“Oh you know, I like a variety of things.” You say vaguely. He laughs.

“Is that your way of telling me you like pop music? Because if all you listen to is Whitney Houston and Debbie Gibson we may not be able to be friends anymore.”

“Sure, I like some pop; but I like other stuff too! Like I said; variety.” You reply, rolling your eyes and giggling behind your hand as he gags at your confession.

“Okay, so what’s your favorite album right now?” He asks. You look around the aisles until you spot it. You walk over and pick it up, handing it to him. Your fingers brush as he takes it from you, and he winks at you, making you blush.

“Fleetwood Mac, Tango in the Night. Not bad–not great, but it’s not that Rick Astly trash they won’t stop playing on the radio either, so you get a pass this time.” You smile, glad you got his approval. “Do you have a favorite song?”

“Um.” You blush. You didn’t really want to tell him your favorite song was the romantic one; it would seem like you were flirting, right? He stared at you for a second, and you finally answered. “Everywhere.” He looked down at you, and a playful smirk spread across his lips.

“Oh? I don’t think I’ve heard it before.” What? They played it constantly on the radio, and the video is on MTV all the time!

“It’s a pretty popular song.” You said absently, not wanting to seem rude. He smirks.

“Really? Well how does it go? Maybe if I hear it I’ll remember.”

Crap.

You looked up at him and his eyebrows wiggled, letting you know he knew exactly what he was doing. Your face went bright red. He knew the stupid song and he was just playing with you to try and embarrass you.

“You don’t have to sing it; just say some of the lyrics. Just the chorus would work.” Your face grew hotter remembering the one line chorus of the song.

You loved it from the first time you heard it for it’s earnest, heartfelt simplicity. Now you wished it wasn’t so straightforward, so obvious, so blunt; it was just so stinking embarrassing!

“What’s wrong babe? Your face is getting pretty red. You’re not embarrassed are you?” Paul asked, his finger coming up to brush against your cheek. In the back of the store you could hear the faint chuckle of the other boys as they watched the two of you from a distance. “It’s just a song, right? You can say one line, can’t you?” He said, leaning his face closer to yours. “I’m waiting, babe.“

He stared at you, apparently not having any intentions of letting up until you gave in. You sigh, defeated. You look up at him, blushing furiously.

"I-I wanna be with you everywhere.” You finally manage to repeat the lyric to him, more embarrassed than you ever thought you possibly could be about something so simple.

Paul breaks into a brightest smile you’d ever seen, and you couldn’t help but admire him despite your current state. Even if he was a jerk for embarrassing you on purpose, there was no denying your heart did somersaults when he smiled like that.

You were definitely blushing worse now, between the build up, having to say the mushy lyrics while looking him right in his beautiful baby blue eyes, and that smile; you were were about 5 degrees from boiling over your face was so hot.

“Oh yeah, now that you say that I think I have heard that one before.”

“Uh-huh.” Is all you can manage to say.

“I guess it’s alright.” He smiles, then suddenly leans over and throws his arm around your shoulder. “Oh I know! Why don’t we make it our song?” He suggests with another brilliant smile. He leans in to whisper in your ear. “We can keep it as our little secret.”

You couldn’t handle any more of this boy. You throw your hands up to hide your blushing face, sure that any second now you would melt into the floor.

Lucky for you, before Paul can make any more comments you were saved as the other boys make their way over to the two of you.

“Time to move on.” David tells Paul.

“Aw, what? Already?” Paul pouts.

“Places to be Paul; we all want to have fun tonight.” Marko said, slinging his arm around his friend’s shoulder, causing Paul to hunch over.

“We should go.” Dwayne said, walking up to you. You looked at Paul and Marko, who, to the owner’s dismay, were now engaged in a wrestling match in the middle of the store. Dwayne nodded towards the door, indicating he didn’t plan to wait for them, and you shrugged and headed out, David following at a distance behind you.

When you leave the store, Dwayne holds out his hand. You look down at it, then up at him.

“Don’t want to get separated.” He said with a good-natured smile. The boardwalk was pretty crowded. You blushed, smiling as you accepted it; surprised at first by how cold his hand was, but you guessed your hand was probably pretty hot because of all the blushing you were doing. Oh god, what if your hand was sweating? Was it? Oh, now you were nervous again.

Your small hand was dwarfed in comparison to his as he led you through the crowd. He pulled you along gently as he weaved seamlessly between the groups of tourists and locals, all out enjoying what the night had to offer. Eventually, you stopped in front of a dairy bar.

“Ice-cream?” He asks, and you nodded eagerly, hoping it would cool you down a bit. You reached your free hand over to grab your bag, but Dwayne stops you.

“It’s alright, I got it.” He smiles, and your heart skips a beat. “What kind do you want?”

“Vanilla” You reply with a shaky smile. Why were you so nervous? It’s just ice-cream. He laughs lightly before making his way over to the counter, leaving you to stew in your own thoughts for a moment.

Dwayne wasn’t anything like the other boys; he was quiet and nice–and he didn’t tease you just to try and get a rise out of you like the other three did. You thought spending time with him without the others around might be a nice break from being constantly embarrassed, but he’s so gentle and sweet without even trying–and of course he’s also gorgeous (and shirtless)–it’s making you feel more nervous then ever!

Dwayne comes back carrying two ice-cream cones: one chocolate, one vanilla. He hands you the vanilla cone and you offer a shy thank you as you gingerly accept it; your fingers brushing his as you take it from his hand.

“Why don’t we head down to the beach to eat these? It’s kind of crowded up here.” He suggests.

“O-okay.” You reply, and he takes your hand in his and leads you off the boardwalk and onto the beach.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.

You take deep breaths to try to keep your heart from bursting through your chest. You were sure your ice-cream would melt from being in remote proximity to your burning face you were blushing so hard.

You ate your ice-cream together in silence as you walked and stared out at the ocean, still hand in hand. Was this a date? This totally felt like a date. Dwayne bought you ice-cream, he was holding your hand–even though you were past the crowds–you were walking on the beach together. Alone. At night. Oh. My. God.

Dwayne finished his ice-cream and looked down and you, a small chuckle escaping his lips.

“You’ve got some ice-cream on your face.” He said. “Here, let me.” Before you can react, he reaches down and his thumb gently wipes against your lips. He brings his hand up to his mouth and licks the ice-cream off his thumb, and you think you might actually pass out.

“Y/N, are you cold? You’re shaking.” He asks, concerned. Oh, that was not because you were cold.

Dwayne shrugged off his jacket and placed it gently over your shoulders. It was a sweet gesture really, except that now he was completely topless. You were sure you were gonna pop a blood vessel in your brain somewhere from blushing this much. You looked anywhere other then at him.

“T-thank you, Dwayne, really, but, um, aren’t you cold?” You ask, almost begging him to say yes and put his jacket back on.

“Not at all.” He said with a smile. No, of course not. I guess if you’re going to walk around shirtless all the time you have to have a pretty high tolerance for the cold.

“I guess we should head back, huh?” He says after a few quiet moments, looking a little disappointed. You nodded gratefully, though you admit part of you was enjoying your little date; no matter how embarrassing it all was.

He takes your hand again, despite having no reason to on the empty beach. Your blush flares up again, having only just calmed down in the silent few minutes between you. You walk back hand in hand, his jacket still wrapped around your shoulders like a cape and him very much still shirtless.

When you make it back to the boardwalk you spot the other guys leaning on the railing staring out at you, like they knew where you were the whole time. You let go of Dwayne’s hand and start to head their way, when you trip on something you can’t see in the sand. You stumble forward, and Dwayne moves forward to catch you.

“Hey, you okay?” He asks, looking down at you with a warm smile. You look up, realizing he’s caught you in his chest, arms wrapped around your back protectively.

Oh no, you are definitely not okay.

It’s a good thing he’s holding you, because your knees are very weak right now.

“Cheap shot, Dwayne.” You hear Paul mumble as he walks up to the two of you.

“Will you please put some clothes on?” Marko groans as he follows Paul. David just laughs. You practically leap out of Dwayne’s arms.

“I–its not–we weren’t–”

“We know kitten; we saw you nearly faceplant.” David teases.

“I don’t know about faceplant…” You mumble, under your breath.

“What was that, kitten?” David smirks, clearly amused.

“Nothing!” You said pleasantly.

“Okay, okay ha ha ha very funny.” Marko says, clearly impatient. He runs over to you, grabbing Dwayne’s jacket and throwing it back in the taller boy’s face.

“Oh what, is it your turn now?” You ask him. Marko looks at you, surprised.

“Whatever do you mean?” He asks innocently.

“You guys are like, passing me around, right? Taking turns spending time alone with me?” You ask him. An amused smirk dances across his lips.

“Is that what we’re doing?”

“Is it not?”

“I mean, it sounds like you’ve got it all figured out sweetheart.” He rubs up against your side like a cat as he slides his arm around your shoulder. “Guess you caught us.”

He was enjoying this way too much for that to be true.

“Since the cat’s out of the bag, I guess we don’t need to make an excuse to split.” He said, steering you toward the boardwalk. “We’ll see you later boys; try not to miss us too much while we’re gone.” Marko adds, throwing his free hand up to wave at his friends as you walked away. “Don’t think too much about all the things I’ll be doing with y/n now that I have her all to myself.”

“Stop it Marko.” You plead, pushing his side lightly as you blush. You’re sure he said that just to rile up the other boys, but it was still embarrassing for you. He laughs.

“Oh baby, I’m just getting started.” He assures you with a mischievous smile. He was so handsome when he smiled like that, but you knew it meant nothing but trouble for you.

A sense of nervous dread crept into your stomach. Of all the boys, Marko seemed to be the least predictable. Paul was flirty, but sweet. Dwayne was quiet and kind. David was…well, he was the boss. He liked to mess with you; they all did really–except maybe Dwayne–but the way David toyed with you was different then the others. He liked to be in control.

Marko though; he was a wildcard. He was flirty, sure–but not to Paul’s level. You thought Marko just liked to play with you more than the others. Chaotic maybe?

While you were mulling it over, Marko leans down and kisses you square on the cheek. You gasp, throwing your hand up to cover the spot he’d just kissed.

“M-M-M-Marko?” You sputter. He laughs.

“You weren’t paying attention to me.” He states matter-of-factly.

“So you just kiss me?” You squeak, your face flushed.

“Aw, are you disappointed I didn’t kiss you for real? It’s okay; I can do it again if you want.” He said, looking down at your lips. You whimper at the suggestion.

“S-stop teasing me.”

“Then stop spacing out, or next time I really will kiss you for real.” He said, giving your forehead a quick flick. He smiles as you rub your forehead. “Now come on.” He drags you along down the boardwalk.

You make it to the free concert and Marko moves his arm down from your shoulders so he can grab your hand and lead you through the packed crowds of onlookers. Even in a crowd this size the sudden contact was enough to bring the slightest rosy blush to your cheeks; not that anyone could see it in the dark, crowded concert area. Earlier in the night that would’ve been enough to illicit much more of a reaction from you; maybe you were getting used to all the attention they were giving you.

You stopped in the back of the crowd, watching the greased up sax player as he sang and played his saxophone on stage. He was really going for it, and the crowd was loving it. Marko smiled, watching the crowd of onlookers as they intruded closer into your space.

“Kind of hard to see, huh?” He shouts over the crowd. You shrug.

“Yeah, but that’s okay. I mean there’s not a lot we can do about it.” You yell back. He shoots you a devilish grin and ducks down, disappearing in the crowds of people. You look around, concerned he’s going to get trampled, when suddenly you feel something behind you lifting you into the air.

You screech, doing what little you can to steady yourself as Marko burst up from below to hoist you up onto his shoulders.

“M-Marko!” You yell, your hands resting on his shoulders as you try to keep from falling forward. His hands are around your thighs, your exposed thighs, as you had decided to wear a skirt that night.

He laughs, clearly having the time of his life.

“What. You can see better now, can’t you?” He asks, feigning ignorance. He turns his head to look up at you and smiles like the sun, and you think your heart might melt.

Looking down at him, it only then occurs to you that his head is literally between your legs. You literally almost fall off of him in the ensuing panic. Your face as red as a tomato, you plead with him to put you down.

“Marko I can see just fine from the ground! Come on, people are starting to stare!” You beg, watching as some people in a group near by eyed you curiously.

"Let’m look babe.” He replied. One of his hands leaves its place at the base of your thigh to slowly start inching it’s way up.

“MARKO!” You wiggle your legs, your hands moving from his shoulders to his head of golden curls as you tried in vain to put some kind of space between you and the boy.

Despite your utter and complete humiliation, you couldn’t help but notice that Marko seemed to have no trouble at all holding you up. Even with you moving around he didn’t falter once while holding all your weight on his shoulders; he was a lot stronger than he looked. The thought made your heart flutter, and you tried to push it out of your mind and focus your attention back on getting down.

You look across the crowd, desperate for a way to get out of the situation, when you spot the boys across the concert area.

“Oh, oh, I see the guys! That means your time’s up right? You can put me down now!” You said, maybe a little too excited. Marko scoffs.

“Don’t sound too happy about it sweetheart.” He pouts. “I’m not putting you down until you say please.” You roll your eyes and smile in spite of yourself. He’s such a child.

“Marko please put me down.” You begged him. He smirked, clearly pleased with himself.

“Well, since you asked nicely…” The next thing you now, he nearly tosses you in the air, and when you come back down he catches you, this time carrying you piggy back style. Your arms instantly wrap around his neck to keep from falling off of him.

“Marko, what are you doing?” You ask, exasperated.

“Well you know, I just liked touching your thighs so much I figured I’d get a little more time in before I hand you off to David.” He said, demonstrating his point by tightening his grip around your legs. You squeak, and bury your blushing face into the hair at the crook of his neck.

“You’re the worst.” You mumble, your voice muffled. He laughs, you feel it rumble through his chest.

“You know it.” He confirms.

He takes you back to the other boys, no shame in the fact that he’s carrying you when he has zero reason to be doing so.

“So, looks like you survived your time with Marko.” David observes.

“Barely.” You pout as Marko sets you down, still blushing. The boys all laugh.

“Well, we saved the best for last kitten.” David says, walking over to you. He tilts your head up so your looking into his eyes. “You ready?” Honestly you weren’t sure that you were, but you nod, and just like that David slides his hand around your hip and leads you away from the others.

“So y/n, how’s your night been so far, hmm? Have you been enjoying yourself?” He asks, his grip on your hip firm as he guides you through the boardwalk.

“Y-yeah, it’s been fun.” You say. You realize your heart is racing. The others have to tease you to make you this nervous, but something about David just naturally just puts you on edge, and he knows it. He smiles.

“I’m glad; they were all really looking forward to showing you a good time.” He looks down at you, leaning in a little closer. “I hope they didn’t tease you too much–a good girl like you who’s so easy to tease; sometimes it’s hard to stop once we get started, ya know?”

He moves you over so you're standing in an ally, away from the view of the crowd.

“It’s just so fun to watch you squirm.” He continues, pinning you back against the wall. You were getting serious déjà vu from yesterday, only you didn’t think he was going to just disappear this time.

The boys all had their own ways of teasing you, with David is was very direct. Dominant. Maybe that’s why he didn’t really have to do much at all to set you on edge the way he did. He leaned over you, smirking like the cat that got the cream. You wished you could sink into the wall, the way his icy blue eyes watched you was making your heart race.

“Nervous?” He teases. Your gut instinct was to say no; lie, act tough. Then, you realized that’s probably exactly what he wants you to do. Say you’re not nervous, so then he could take it further.

“Y-yes.” You admit after a moment’s hesitation. He smiles.

“And here I expected you to lie about it; you are a good girl, aren’t you?” He said, bringing one hand up to rub against your cheek, making you shiver. “You know kitten, we don’t have to meet back up with the boys tonight.” His hand slid from your cheek to your jaw, and his eyes drifted to stare at your lips. “We could spend the whole night together–just the two of us”

The whole night?? What was he saying? Oh stop it you knew exactly what he was saying! Why were these boys hell-bent on teasing you into an early grave?

“U-um, n-n-no thank you.” You stutter. He laughs–a full, deep sound–clearly not expecting that response.

“Damn y/n, not even gonna to sugar coat it huh? Give a guy some false hope?” He stops laughing, his hands back on either side of your head as he slips back into his cool persona and looks into you eyes. “Well my door’s always open–when you change your mind.” The when in that sentence wasn’t lost on you.

“You know, I am still pretty surprised a girl like you agreed to come out with us tonight.” He observed. You blushed, looking away.

“I mean you told me to, so…”

“Still, you didn’t have to come…unless you wanted to?” You stayed silent. He leaned in just a little bit closer. “Now why would a nice girl like you want to hang out with four punks like us?” You squirm under his intense gaze. He has you right were he wants you and he knows it.

“Is it because you like us?”

Silence.

“Or maybe,” he leans in his lips dangerously close to your neck, “because you like us?” He teased, you turned you head so you weren’t looking at him and he laughs. “So I’m right? But which one? Or is it,” He moves to whisper in your ear. “All of us?”

“Stop it.” You finally say, you heart hammering in your chest. You were embarrassed when the boys teased you, but you couldn’t really say you hated it. It was a lot to handle at times, but a part of you did enjoy the attention. This was step too far though; now David was just being mean.

David smiled. He took your chin in his hand, turning your face so you were looking into his eyes.

“It’s okay kitten; we like you too.” And with that he releases you from spot against the wall. “Come on.” He says, holding out his hand. You pout, still mad about his teasing. He raises an eyebrow, and you take that as a sign you better not push your luck.

You follow him back to the boys, thinking about what he said. You guess you kind of already knew they were maybe sort of interested in you. Then again, it’s one thing to think you know, it’s another to actually be told. You blush just thinking about it. What did that even mean anyway? There’s four of them! How did that even work? After tonight you didn’t even know if you could handle dating one of them!

Oh god, did you just think about dating them?

Your head was spinning by the time you got back to the others, who were leaning against some motorcycles.

“She’s alive!” Marko cheers.

“Was that in doubt?” David asks, annoyed.

“With you? Always.” Paul laughs, high-fiving Marko. David glares at them.

“So? Who won?” Marko cuts in before David has the chance to scold them.

“Won? Won what?” You ask.

“Obviously me.” Paul says proudly, grinning like a fool.

“Dream on man; you weren’t even in the running! I’m the clear winner here.” Marko replies.

“What are you talking about?” You ask again.

“I think I did pretty well.” Dwayne cuts in.

“You guys are all chumps compared to me.” David argues.

“What is going on?” You ask, exasperated. The boys look at you, and David smirks.

“Us arguing about it will get us no where; we all think we won. Clearly, the best judge is right here. Let’s let the lady to decide.”

The boys crowd around you.

“Y/N, when you hung out with us tonight, who embarrassed you the most?” Paul asked, looking more serious then you’d ever seen him.

“Excuse me?” You ask, not fully understanding the question.

“When we each spend time with you, who was it that made you feel the most embarrassed between the four of us?” Marko asked.

You looked at the serious expressions on each of their faces, the gears in your head turning as you thought about the events of the night, and suddenly it all clicked.

“You mean to tell me this whole night was just a big contest between the four of you to see which one of you could embarrass me the most?” You shout.

“Okay well when you say it like that…” Paul says, scratching the back of his head.

“Even you Dwayne?” You ask. He looks away, a bit ashamed. David snickers to the side, clearly having no remorse about his part in all this.

“Listen maybe that sounds bad when you say it like that, but you has fun didn’t you?” Marko points out.

That is true. It was a fun night, despite the excessive amounts of embarrassment. “I mean, you wouldn’t have even known that’s what we were doing if we hadn’t told you, right? So we’ll all agree to not do this again, and you can just go ahead and tell us who won, okay?”

“No.” You reply flatly.

“No?” David asks.

“You guys are jerks and you don’t deserve to know. Besides, you’re all barely tolerable as it is; if I told you who won, they’d only get that much worse to be around.” You say, crossing your arms defiantly.

“Well, look who’s getting mouthy all of a sudden.” David says, grinning in spite of his words. “I guess I’ll let it slide this time–since we did give you a pretty hard time tonight–but don’t get used to it.”

Paul and Marko both whine about not finding out who the winner is–both claiming they’d have clearly been victorious–while Dwayne apologizes for deceiving you, but assures you it was all done in good fun, and he never intended to upset you.

The boys take you home, dropping you off far enough away so as not to appear conspicuous. When you get off David’s bike he grabs your hand, pulling you back to him.

"Keep going." You and your brothers groan in unison as your mom flips through the radio stations. She laughs light-heartedly, flipping to the next station. You sit in the back with Michael, your socked feet pushed against your brother's outer thigh with your back to the door and your sketchbook in your lap. Nanook sitting squeezed in the floorboard in front of you.

"Ugh, what's that smell?" Your little brother Sam asks, disgusted. Your mom takes in a deep breath.

"Ah! That's the ocean air." She replies.

"Smells like someone died." Sam shoots back.

"Oh, honey--look guys I know the last year hasn't been easy but I think you're really gonna like living in Santa Carla."

Michael looks at the Santa Carla sign as you pass, graffiti on the back declaring it the "Murder Capitol of the World." He shoots you a pointed look over your sketchbook, and you raise an eyebrow, communicating silently with each other as you often did. It wasn't an exact science, but being twins you were usually pretty good at picking up on what the other was thinking.

The basic tone of his look was a sarcastic, definitely not something to be worried about, right?

You response was a simple, at least it won't be boring.

---

You screech as Sam sneaks up behind you and blows an air-horn he’d just found in one of the boxes. You snatch it out of his hands as he laughs hysterically at you.

You had all made it to your grandpa's house in one piece and managed to unpack. Your grandpa was a weird dude, but you weighed it out and living in his weird pet cemetery shake on the outskirts of the Murder Capitol of the World together with your family was still marginally better than being homeless, so you accepted it and moved on.

“Ugh, you little dweeb! I bought this so you could annoy Michael, not me!” You snap. 

“Sorry sis, I don’t play favorites.” He replies, reaching to grab the air-horn back from you. You hold it away from his grasp.

“Oh no, you just lost your air-horn privileges buddy.” You say, rolling your eyes and laughing while you walk away to hide the device as he sticks out his tongue at you.

Your little brother was having a harder time adjusting to your new life, so you were all trying to baby him a little. Michael agreed to take him to the boardwalk that night to have some fun. You'd normally have gone with them; the three of you had always been close and your brothers had never excluded you because you were a girl, and in turn you always tried to include Sam even though he was a few years younger than you and Mike. Tonight however, your mom was looking a little lonely, so you decided to take one for the team and head into town with her.

You walk around the boardwalk with your mother as she talks about this and that. Mostly you just listen, even if you're not really listening. You knew she just needed to talk--get it all out after everything that had happened after the last year--and it's not like the boys were the best listeners. You would rather be out having fun, but you loved your family, and if having a night out with your mom every once in awhile kept her happy you would bite the bullet and be the one to go out with her.

Still, she made sure she was listening to you too.

"But how are you doing, sweetie? I know you don't like to show it when you're having a hard time." She asks.

"Mom, I'm fine." You say, rolling your eyes. She's right though; even if you weren't it's not like you'd tell her. The only one that might have any clue would be Michael, and you could even hide your feelings from him when you tried hard enough. Your mom sighs.

"Well alright; but you can talk to me if you need to, you know? I'm hoping this can be a new start for us. You might even meet someone nice here!" She half-jokes. You laugh.

"What if I don't want someone nice?" You joke back.

"Oh y/n, do you even know what you want?"

"Not really." You admit. "Guess that's why I'm always alone."

You weren't just talking about love anymore. It's why your family was important to you; you'd always had a hard time connecting to other people. Now, you just pushed them away automatically out of fear of getting hurt.

"Oh sweetheart, it'll happen for you; you just have to give these things time. You have your whole life to find the person that's right for you." She says, smoothing your hair away from your face. You smile at her.

"Yeah, sure mom." You say just to appease her. You hear crying, and the two of you spot a little boy standing alone.

"Oh, I better see if I can find his mother; I'll be right back sweetie." Your mom says, squeezing your hand before she heads off to talk to the boy.

You pull the headphones up from around your neck as you watch her walk the boy into a video store. You started the mixtape in your walkman as you saw a group of leather-clad boys walking through the store. Maybe your mom would only take a minute and you wouldn't be listening for long, but then again with the way the video store owner was eyeing her maybe not.

The boy's mom rushes into the store, and after a minute they walk out, the boy holding a sucker in his hand. That should've been the end of it, but as you suspected, the video store guy started up a conversation with your mom, only stopping briefly to say something to the punk boys as they exited the shop. You watched them as they walked towards you, looking down as they got closer. You expected them to walk past, but you were soon staring at four sets of boots crowding around you.

"Whatcha listenin to babe?" A voice asks, having lifted one side of your headphones to gain access to your ear.

"Probably a little too deep for your tastes, glamrock." You reply, stepping away from him as you take off your headphones.

"This one's got a mouth on her." The bleach blonde says, giving you a smirk.

"A mouth and legs." The glamrocker grins, admiring you lips before sliding his eyes down your body to admire your bare legs, exposed by your jean shorts.

"And ears." You say rolling your eyes at him. He doesn't seem to care. "She also has eyes: and she can see the four of you are nothing but trouble. So why don't you use your legs and walk away now, because I've got nothing else to say to you."

"Oh, I like her; she seems like a good time." That was the curly-haired blonde. He had a devilish grin as he looked you over. "Sure you don't want to have some fun with us babe?"

"Pass. Besides, I'm busy." You reply flatly.

"You don't look busy." That was the big brunette. He was watching you with a curious smile.

"Yeah well, looks can be deceiving." You shoot back.

"Oh sweetheart, we know." The bleach blonde replies. The boys all give each other knowing grins, and you feel you're the only one not in on the joke.

"Sorry about that y/n, Max and I got to talking and honey, it's so great, he offered me a job and--oh, who are your friends?" Your mom briskly walks back over to you.

"They're no one mom--just leaving, actually." You say, going up to link arms with your mom. The boys look at you, your mom, the video store, then each other, and sinister smiles spread across their faces before they finally look back down at you. A silent conversation had just occurred between the four of them; you weren't sure what was said, but you know something had just been communicated.

"Oh sure, we'll let you get back to your night ladies." The bleach blonde said, suddenly willing to cooperate now that your mom was there. He looked back over at you, his icy blue eyes burning like fire through you. "We'll see you later, y/n." He made sure to emphasize your name, before the four of them walked off, getting on some stripped down bikes and riding off into the night.

---

When you get home you head straight to your room and pull out your sketchbook. You turn on some music and immediately start sketching the four boys you'd met earlier that night. They're rough sketches, but you feel a need to capture their faces on paper.

Sure the boys were handsome--there was no denying that--but there was more to it. Their was a fierceness in their eyes that was almost primal, and you wanted to try and see if you could catch even a fraction of that fire in a sketch.

As you sketched, you thought about your brief encounter with the boys. You had pushed them away like you did everyone else, and you knew you hadn't been wrong about them being trouble, but some small part of you wondered if you had maybe made a mistake. Maybe you shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss them; your mom had said this was a chance for you all to have a fresh start, maybe you should try to be more open to new possibilities. At least those boys weren't afraid to be different, like so many other people were. You liked that about them.

Still, you would need to be cautious around them--if you ever saw them again.

When Michael and Sam finally got home, you headed to Michael's room. You plopped down on Michael's bed, legs falling unceremoniously into his lap with a thud.

"Ugh, could you not?" He groans, pushing your legs off as you laugh.

"Aw, what's wrong bro? Rough night?" You ask. He just sighs. Oh boy. "Okay, tell me about it."

He tells you all about the concert, about the girl he saw, then how she rode off with a group of teen bikers.

"Wait, were their four of them?" You ask.

"Uh, yeah?"

"What'd they look like?"

"I don't know y/n; they were punks." He says, annoyed. "The guy she rode off with--he had bleached hair, and a black leather jacket."

You jump up and sprint to your room, rushing back and throwing yourself onto the bed. You open your sketchbook and hand it to Micheal.

"Was it these guys?" You ask, showing him the sketches you'd done of the boys you'd met earlier. He looked down at the drawings then back at you, confusion spread across his face.

"Yeah." He replies. "Y/N, why are there drawings of these guys in your sketchbook?"

"Because I met them tonight too--when I was out with Mom." You answer. "So what are the odds of us both meeting the same gang of bikers on our first night here in a town this big?"

"Slim." He replies, looking back down at your sketchbook. Then, his brows scrunch together. "Why'd you draw them?" You blush, snatching the sketchbook from his hands.

"Well why not? I can draw whoever I want." You say defensively.

"Sounds pretty creepy " He jokes, smirking at you.

"Says the stalker who followed around a hot girl he didn't know all night." You reply, picking up a pillow and hitting him in the face with it. You jump up and run away laughing before he has the chance to retaliate.

---

As you lay in bed that night your head was swimming in thoughts. Moving to Santa Carla was your opportunity to start over and be someone new, to live a new life, and maybe meeting those boys tonight was a sign. You decided if you saw them again you would give them a chance, see if they were just trying to play with you like you'd thought, or if it really could lead to something more interesting.