I nearly choked and Shane panicked up before giving me his water bottle. Without thinking of the salivary on the mouth of the bottle, I chugged a whole lot of water and gave it back to him. I didn't realize that we were parked on the side of the road.

There you go, I just made fun of myself and he was probably more than suspicious of my reaction. I tried to cover it up by clearing my throat and ended up coughing again. My throat was sore from excessive coughing and I felt Shane's large hand behind my back bringing goosebumps into my body.

I tried to muster up the words through coughing. My face was probably red by then. "I'm...fine." And another cough. Shane chuckled nervously and shook his head, while he kept rubbing his hands upwards and downward my back. When I finally ahold of myself together, I gestured him to continue driving and gave him an assuring smile signalling I was okay.

Halfway down the town, Shane broke the ice by asking me the same question. "So, you are a fan of him or a hater? Despite that reaction, I was not sure if it was a hatred or obsession."

He looked at me with the corner of his eyes and smiled. I tried not to look too affected by the question. "Yeah, I am a fan of him." Until I got to know he was the one who killed my father.

"Great," he grinned happily, bouncing a little in his seat. I gave him a weird look and he chuckled, "I bought an extra ticket for my sister to go with her boyfriend to the concert, but they broke up last week and she threw the tickets on my face saying, 'Find a girlfriend and go to the concert'," he mimicked and I could feel my heartbeat rising instantly. "I was hoping you could come with me? Like I don't have any friends who are girls that loved concerts like his."

He looked at me with puppy dog eyes and I gulped down. "No."

"But—"

"I, um, I start school next week." I tried to decline with a solid reason, but he seemed to find his way back in.

He smiled, "Don't worry, it's on a Saturday."

Shit.

"I—"

"He interrupted. "You can? Okay, that great. I'll pick you up at five next week Saturday. Be ready, Hazel. And your stop is here, ma'am," he gestured in front of Hemmings' front yard. I gulped down a big pile of stress down my throat. I had to go unnoticed and there was only one way.

I snapped my head towards Shane and said, "On one condition."

"Can you tie your shoe? 'Cause I don't want you to be falling for anybody else."

That pickup line startled me before I gave him a nervous laugh. He seemed to be careless about anything and had his eyes fixed on mine. It was so intimidating, but I still got my words out of my mouth.

"We will wear disguises to the concert."

"What—"

I interrupted. "What was that? Am I hearing you thinking twice about calling me?"

He stared, fully amused by me. "You are something."

I gave him a smile and walked out of the car with tons of stress being added back on my shoulders. What if he noticed me?

—

Oh no.

8th of March, 2017.