"Oh my god. I'm dead. Grayson, she's so mad at me!"

Currently, Grayson is racing through the empty streets, probably going way faster than the speed limit, to get me home to my mother who has been calling me for the past hour. Because of the wonderful day with Grayson, I was a bit distracted and lost track of time. My mom is supposed to have work in thirty minutes from now, it being 8:30 right now. The airport itself is thirty minutes away from my house, so she will most likely be late.

I'm so stupid! I forgot that she asked me to babysit Evie tonight. I usually don't have plans or work on Monday nights, so I brushed it off and assumed that I would be there to care for my sister. I didn't account for this amazing surprise date Grayson had planned.

"Crap!" My elbows rest on my knees as I sit bent over, my face in my hands. I've never messed up this badly before. My mother may very well miss work, and she would get into a lot of trouble with the airline if she misses the flight. I called her as soon as I got her messages, and she was screaming at me through the phone, asking why I haven't been answering her. I apologized, of course, but she just told me in a stern voice to get home before she 'grounds me for life.'

I know that I'm 18 and am technically an adult, but I'm still living at home while going to college, so the rules are 'her house, her rules.' She pays for food and shelter, and I work for spending money and extra school supplies.

"She'll be mad at first, but she'll forgive you," Grayson says, attempting to calm me down. His hand is still holding my slightly sweaty one. My heart is beating a mile a minute as I think about how upset she'll be with me. My mom and I don't fight. Ever. Sure we disagree, but we have always had respect for one another and have never gotten into any serious fights. Ever since my dad, she won't do more than raise her voice at me.

"No, you don't understand. She could lose her job! I had one job. Watch my sister so my mom can work to pay for food on the table. I'm so selfish." A headache formed, and I rubbed at my temples while refusing to let tears fall from my eyes. I could feel the tightness behind my eyes, but I ignored it as I beat myself up more.

"She'll make it on time. They'll delay the flight with this weather. And look, we're almost on your street," he says optimistically.

I looked up, and I only saw gray. The rain was so heavy, that I don't even know how Grayson could see two feet in front of him. The heavy raindrops pelted the car, so instead of tense silence, I heard the pitter-patter of water hitting his car at different angles. Grayson makes a turn and I can barely make out my house as he pulls into my driveway.

With a quick thank you, I exit the car and run through the puddles littered through my front yard. I knock on the front door, hoping my mom will answer before I drown in the storm. I'm a shivering mess by the time she opens the door. She sees my quivering form and opens her mouth before closing it quickly and forming a frown as she ushers me inside.

My mom is already in her work uniform, and she has her car keys in her hand and her purse on her shoulder. When she's angry, she seems to age as her frown lines and light wrinkles are accentuated. And right now, she's furious.

"I was going to ask why you forgot your responsibilities to this family, but I see why now. It's him." She stares in the driveway as she sees Grayson's car parked there. He waited for me to get inside before he pulled out of the driveway.

"Mom, it's not his fault. He was so sweet today, so don't blame him." I jump to his defense, attempting to keep Grayson on my mom's good side. If my mom didn't like him... That would cause many issues.

"You've never once forgotten! And once you meet him, you stop spending time with the family, you forget your job at home. You're distracted. He's not a good influence on you. Look at what you're wearing! His clothes, Thea Brooks!" she screams, taking a step in my direction. My eyes pool with tears at her words. She has to know that this was an accident! I would never purposefully make her late for work or neglect my family!

Before I can even respond, she opens up the velcro on her umbrella and heads for the door. "I'm so incredibly late. I can't have this discussion with you right now. We'll talk about this later."

I jump at the sound of her slamming the door shut. I lock the door behind her and watch through the peephole as she gets in her car angrily and drives away. I'm slightly worried about her driving in this weather. Hopefully her boss assumes she's late because of the storm.

I walk over to the brown couch in the living room and see Evie fast asleep as Finding Nemo plays in the background, the colors of the TV reflecting on her sleeping form. I turn off the TV, scoop her up in my arms, and bring her to her bed. I'm out of breath by the time I make it to her room, which is a sign that I should probably go to the gym. I won't, though.

After tucking Evie into bed, I drag my feet over to my room and plop on my bed. I check my phone and see that Grayson texted me three times, asking for me to call him when I can. I send him a quick text telling him I'm fine, even though I'm not. He tries to pry information out of me, but I simply tell him I'm tired and not in the mood. I feel bad that I'm brushing him off after the magical date we just had, but I just want to be alone to bask in my own misery.

Grayson attempts to call me, but I place my phone on silent and sink into my mattress, hoping that tomorrow my mom can forgive me for my mistake.

----------

Every day this week I got a text from Grayson as he continued to check up on me. It was really kind of him to think of me after the awful fight with my mom, and he continued to reassure me by saying that she would apologize and things would go back to normal.

Well, four days later, I can say that things haven't gone back to normal. My mom hasn't talked to me all week. When she got home from work super early Tuesday morning, she went to sleep before I could see her. She usually left silly notes on the counter for me to read in the morning, but that morning I was greeted by an empty countertop. I brought Evie to school that morning and then went straight to class. When I got home, my mom wasn't there.

The rest of the week progressed similarly, and I barely saw her for more than five minutes. When we did interact, she was very short with me and continued to glare at me, disappointment clear on her face. I chose to give her space. I already apologized, so now I feel it's time for my mom to realize that she overreacted- I'm nice, but I'm not a pushover. I won't keep apologizing for something that was an accident.

I finally reached the end of the week, which has been the longest of my life. After a relaxing morning at home (alone), I left for my ethics class with enough time to stop for coffee on the way. I get to my Ethics class with ten minutes to spare. I scan the rows until I see a head of platinum hair and make my way over there. When I finally sit in my usual seat next to Eli, he drops the book he's reading and gives me a full smile. I attempt to give him a smile back, but it doesn't reach my eyes. Eli frowns.

"You okay?" he asks, leaning forward with his questioning.

"Yeah," I say, attempting to sound normal. Except, it comes out short and pathetic.

"You don't sound okay. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. I just got into a fight with my mom and we haven't been talking. It's upsetting." I rub my face with my hands and put on a forced smile. "It's fine," I reiterate when Eli still looks concerned.

"What's not fine, however," I continue, "Is what happened last week. I don't have your number, so I couldn't apologize but I really wanted to. I shouldn't have invited Cooper without asking you! It was stupid and selfish and probably made you really uncomfortable and I'm sorry," I finish, taking a deep breath after my one-breath long apology.

Eli raises his eyebrows and places a hand over mine that's resting on the arm of the chair between us. "You have nothing to apologize for, Thea. I was the one who left so abruptly."

I nodded, my first real smile of the day making an appearance. "I'm glad you're not upset with me."

He chuckles, then slowly releases his hand from mine as he grabs his notebook from his bag to prepare for the lecture. "But, there is something you can do to make it up to me."

My breath stalled in my throat as I looked Eli in the eyes. There is a spark of something, I'm not sure, in his eyes with the way he's talking to me.

"Um... Sure. What is it?" I ask.

"It's simple. You have to go out with me."

My eyes bulge out of my sockets. I choke on my saliva and begin to cough excessively, the shock of his statement hitting me hard. Go out with him? On a date? What would Grayson think?

Eli pats my back, helping me to gain some oxygen back so I can breath properly. The coughing fit gives me a few extra seconds to think about how to respond. When I finally finish coughing, I grab my leftover coffee and drink some of it to clear my throat.

"You want me to go out with you? Just the two of us?"

I think Eli could see the nervous look on my face, so he quickly amended his request.

"No! Not just the two of us. Elle is making me try out this new 18+ bar. It's 'all the rave' she says. I don't want to go alone. Will you come?" He looks so hopeful and desperate at the same time. His eyes remain on mine the entire time, and he pouts his lip out and bats his lashes quickly. He's giving me the full puppy-dog look, which makes it really hard to say no.

"...I don't know," I hesitated answering fully. "Bars aren't really my scene..." Which is absolutely true. As strange as it sounds, one of my favorite things to do it sit on my window bench and read. I can sit there for hours and flip through pages upon pages, traveling the world and meeting different types of people all from the comfort of my own bedroom. Sure, those places and people are fictional, but I prefer it that way. If a character annoys you, you shut the book and eat some pizza rolls instead.

"Please?" Eli begs. He grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly. "I don't want to go alone with Elle. I would feel way more comfortable if you were there, too."

I look down at our joined hands, then up at Eli. I shake my head slowly, then let out a puff of air. "When exactly were you thinking of going?" I ask.

Eli's face lights up with a huge smile. "Tonight. And it would just be for a few hours. I could pick you up at nine?"

I don't know Eli very well. I know his sister even less. Yet, Eli looks at me like I'm his best friend or something. He so desperately wants me to join him. My gut instinct is to say no. I should say no, stay at home and try to work things out with my mom. She's not working tonight, or so her magnetic calender she hangs on the refrigerator says, so tonight would be the time to get over this stupid fight.

However, isn't this what college is about? Going out to bars, making new friends, and being social on Friday nights? I can't stay at home all of the time.

And with those thoughts warring in my head, I do something that I probably shouldn't do.

I say yes.