I sighed and rubbed my forehead. I was getting tired, so I sat back down on his bed and lay down. While staring at his white ceiling, I asked, "So what happens now?"

"Like I already explained, you need to keep my secret. Your life and mine depend on it," he said with a serious tone.

I lifted my head off the bed to meet his eyes.

"I promise I won't say anything. Your secret is safe with me," I assured him. And even if I did want to tell someone, who would believe me anyway?

My eyes met his as he studied me for a moment. Maybe he was trying to figure out if he could trust me. The problem was that he really didn't have a choice.

"Okay," he said, dragging a hand through his hair.

"You didn't need to go all caveman and drag me from the party to talk to me. You could have just come over to my house and asked to talk."

Even as the words left my mouth I knew I would probably have been too scared to answer the door. I would just have continued to avoid him.

"You were scared of me and the only way that you would've talked to me was if I cornered you," he stated rather smugly.

"It doesn't matter, it leaves me with more explaining to do. My friends are going to be asking why I left the party with you," I told him as I lay back down on his bed and fixed my eyes on the ceiling above me.

I stifled a yawn. I was ready to finish this conversation and go home to climb straight into my bed. Maybe it had something to do with the restless sleep I'd had the night before. While I continued to lie on his bed I studied the ceiling as I waited for his answer.

"I don't know. Just make sure it's something believable," he replied vaguely.

Is he for real? I lifted myself up by my elbows and sent a glare at him.

"I'll just tell them you desperately needed my English notes, so you came all the way to a party to drag me home to fetch them," I said sarcastically. "Aren't you supposed to be good at lying? You've had to lie all your life to keep your secret, so surely coming up with something believable for tonight would be a piece of cake for you."

"Fine," he said, sounding exasperated. "Tell them we hooked up."

At this point I started laughing and I couldn't stop. I was laughing so hard, tears were running down my face. I felt the bed dip and his face hovered above mine.

"What's so funny?" he asked with a deep frown that masked his strong features.

"Me..." I took a deep breath to control my hysterical laughter. "You..." I took another deep breath. "Hooking up." The laughter erupted again.

I continued to giggle as he hovered over me.

When I finally managed to calm myself down, I saw something in his eyes change. I continued to stare at him as he touched a gentle finger to my cheek, causing my breath to catch in my chest. His eyes captivated mine. They were green and glinted, like emeralds.

I couldn't move.

He moved slightly closer until I felt his breath tickle my face. I licked my bottom lip as he trailed his finger down my neck and then finally stopped when his finger trailed to my hip. His hand held my hip firmly. The air locked in my lungs. His lips hovered over mine, and his eyes flickered to my lips and then back to my eyes. I let my eyes flutter softly shut almost on instinct, a reaction to the feelings that he was creating in me. He was going to kiss me, and so I waited.

And I waited.

But the kiss never came. With my eyes still firmly shut, I felt him move away from me and the bed dip as he got off.

"Laugh all you want. We have chemistry," he assured me as I opened my eyes, shocked that he'd pulled away at the last minute, making a fool of me. He shrugged. "People will believe it," he said like he was stating a fact.

"You're an asshole! You did that just to prove a point." I was so angry.

He just stood in front of me with his arms crossed and smiled smugly. I couldn't be in the same room with him anymore without potentially harming him so I pushed myself off the bed and stormed out of his house.

He didn't follow.

He's a conceited douchebag. I stomped a couple of houses down the street until I recognized my house and let myself in the front door. I was seething.

"You home already?" I heard Anne yell from her bedroom upstairs.

"Yeah," I shouted back.

With all the ups and downs of the evening, I was shattered. I quickly got dressed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth. I threw Jared's hoodie into the hamper. I would return it once it'd been washed. Just the thought of him again stirred my anger back to life.

**********

Sundays were the best. I usually spent the day around the house, doing as little as possible. Anne decided to do some gardening while I did my puzzle in the living room on the coffee table.

I was surprised that by the time eleven o'clock came around, I still hadn't had a call from Stacy or Kennedy. Maybe they were still sleeping their hangovers off? I wasn't looking forward to lying to my friends, but I had to. Even though Jared was a douchebag, I still had to protect his secret.

It was only when I sat down and thought about what exactly I was going to tell my friends that I started to question whether people would believe it. He'd proven that we had chemistry, but I doubt anyone would believe that he had chosen me over Felicity. That was just crazy. She was beautiful—the type of girl who had the looks to become a model. It was an ongoing rumor at school that they were together. Nobody would believe he dumped her to hook up with me. How did I expect my friends to believe something I wouldn't?

The doorbell rang. I stood up and groaned as I stretched before I got up to see who it was, but when I peered through the little peephole, I couldn't believe my eyes. What was he doing here? He impatiently rang the doorbell again. I ground my teeth together in frustration as I opened the front door before he could ring it again. I pushed him back and stepped onto the front porch as I closed the front door behind me. I hoped Anne was still working in the back garden so she wouldn't have heard the doorbell.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered angrily at him.

"We need to get our stories straight about last night," he said as he crossed his arms while he matched my glare.

"Ava? Who's at the door?" Anne yelled from within the house. Before I could reply, Anne opened the door and found Jared and I standing on the front porch.

"Hi, Jared," she greeted. Of course she'd know who he was; he lived on the same street.

"Hi, Mrs. Harris," Jared greeted, laying on the charm. Anne smiled at him. And just like that, she was putty in his hands. How did he do that? Maybe that was another power he had forgotten to mention.

"It's lovely to see you," she said.

"I just came over to get some notes from Ava. We're in English together. My mother's been meaning to make an appointment to see you," he replied.

It was so weird watching him interact with my family member when I knew exactly what he was.

"Tell her if it makes it easier I can always come over after hours," she offered.

"I'll tell her," he assured her, giving her a charming smile.

"It was nice to see you, Jared," Anne said back before turning to me. "I'm going to finish the gardening in the back yard."

As Anne turned to go back inside the house, she raised her eyebrow and smiled at me. I would have some explaining to do later...