The next morning, I woke up with the view of Jailynn, Jackie's youngest daughter, staring at me with her big, brown eyes.

I sat up, slightly startled and the three year old ran out of the living room.

Tossing the covers off me, I got up from the couch to go to the bathroom. The events of last night were still fresh in my mind as I sluggishly went through my morning routine.

Jerrell and I kissed. No. Jerrell and I had a full on make-out session on his back porch. It was a bad decision. In the light of day, I realized that now. But last night, it seemed like the only sensible thing to do.

The way he looked at me reminded me of when I was thirteen and we dated. He had this way of making me feel wanted and special. I hadn't felt that feeling in forever and I just had to dive into it. Suck up every last bit of it before it was gone again.

It was a new day and I had what I could only describe as a regret hangover. Complete with a throbbing headache.

"One sip." Nikki was standing outside of the bathroom when I came out. Her hands were planted on her hips, making her look like a disappointed mother.

I pushed past her, going into her room where my overnight bag was. I needed to shower and brush my teeth. I just needed to get every inch of last night off of me.

"You had one sip of alcohol and you throw yourself at Jerrell? Jerrell. Out of all the guys at that party. I was supposed to be the drunken idiot last night." Nikki said, once she closed the door behind her. "I couldn't even get with Daddy Smurf because you was acting a fool."

"Sorry," I mumbled. "Where's my phone?" I asked, patting myself down.

I was still in last night's clothes because as soon as I got back to Nikki's I wanted to sleep and forget any of this ever happened.

"Behind you," she said, pointing to her dresser. "And someone has been blowing it up."

When I picked up my phone there were five messages waiting for me. Three were from Jerrell (when did I even give him my number?), and two were from Miles. A weird feeling filled my gut as I stared down at the notifications. My past and present weren't supposed to exist in the same realm. Yet, there they were. Two boys who represented vastly different parts of my life coming together in my text messages.

I didn't want to talk about last night. I didn't want to talk at all, so I didn't. Nikki looked dumbfounded as I left the room without saying a thing to her. In the privacy of the bathroom, I turned on the shower and waited for it to heat up.

The warm water seemed to wash away what happened last night layer by layer. But no amount of water or soap could reach the deepest layer. The layer I kept buried inside. The layer that kept threatening to reveal itself.

It almost revealed itself last night. All those old memories coming up almost uprooted the other stuff. The bad stuff.

I needed more soap.

"Hey, Mom," I said once she answered the phone. "What are you doing?"

There was some shuffling in the background before she spoke. "Just, uh, resting my shoulder."

"Liar."

She simply laughed at that. "Did you have fun with at the party?"

I knew she was eventually going to ask that, but it still caught me off guard. Were her mom-senses tingling last night? Did she know that her daughter mad out with a boy she hadn't spoken to in years?

"I was with Nikki," I reminded her. "She doesn't allow me to not have fun."

That wasn't exactly an answer, but I hoped it would be enough. My cousin slit her eyes at me, but, thankfully, didn't call me out on my own lie.

"Good, I'm happy you're going out and having fun." I could here the smile on her face. "Oh, and your friend stopped by!"

Friend? What friend? "Who?"

"Miles." I choked on air, causing Nikki to give me a funny look. "What did he want?"

"He dropped of a costume," she informed. "He was nice young man. Cute, too."

"Mom!" I groaned.

"What? He was."

"When are you coming to pick me up?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

She let out a frustrated sigh. "The car is still not ready to be picked up," she replied.

The repair shop told us the car would be ready last Friday. The back of the car was pretty messed up, but the repair seemed a little longer than necessary.

"You'll have to get Linda to drop you off," she said.

Now it was my turn to let out a sigh. "Jackie has the car and she's not getting back until late tonight."

"You can take the Greyhound," Mom suggested. "Do you have money?"

I got up from the couch I'd been glued to all day and went to find my purse in Nikki's room. I pulled out my wallet to check how much I had. "Yeah," I told her. "I'll look up bus schedules." With that, I hung up the phone, stuffing it back into my pocket.

"Was that your mom?" Aunt Linda asked, dropping off a basket of unfolded laundry for Nikki.

"Yeah," I said. "She can't pick me up tonight, so I'm going to take the bus."

"I'll look up the schedule for you," she said as she turned to leave. Over her shoulder she added, "Tell Nikki she better fold that up and not just stuff it in her drawers."

Once she was gone, I started to get my stuff together so I'd be ready to leave when the time came. As I started repacking my bag, my phone buzzed with a text. I thought it might be Mom, only it wasn't.

Definitely wasn't expecting it to be him.

How much did my mom tell him? I wanted to ask, but I also didn't feel like typing out that much. Being away from home made me so lazy.

I waited for him to reply, but instead my phone rang. It was him.

"Why are you calling?"

"I had to hear you voice," he said. I ignored the flutter in my chest. "Had to make sure it was actually you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, sitting on Nikki's bed and absentmindedly folding one of her shirts from the laundry.

"Just surprised you have enough friends for a group costume."

"So, you called to insult me?"

He laughed. "No, of course not. But now I'm rethinking the costumes. Do peanut butter and jelly top The Cheetah Girls?"

"You might have to go without the jelly because I'm currently stranded at my Aunt's."

"Do you need a ride?" Miles offered.

"What? No. I'm, like, two hours away," I told him.

It would be crazy to ask him to drive all the way down there and back.

"That's not a problem," he said. "I need to get out of the house anyway."

It was tempting to say yes, but after last night I didn't trust myself around the male species. However, it would be way better to drive with him than on a bus where I'd get stuck next to some chatty old lady. I didn't know which would be the better option.

As I tried to weigh my options, Miles started to make a ticking noise like clock.

"Really?" I said, dryly.

"Really," he laughed. "It's a simple yes or no questions."

"Are you sure it won't be a bother?"

"Not at all," he replied. "Text me the address."

We hung up and I texted him the address, just as Nikki came into the room.

"4:15," she said.

"What?"

She shrugged, pulling open her drawer and stuffing her clean laundry into it. "I don't know. That's what Mom said to tell you."

"Oh, the bus," I remembered. "I'm actually getting a ride with a friend."

She fake gasped at this. "You have friends?"

My eyes rolled at her. "I'm telling Auntie you didn't fold up your clothes."

"Snitch!" A pair of rolled up sock hit me in the back of the head as I walked out of her room.

The sun had begun to set as Nikki and I sat outside on the porch. She was filling me in on her short lived moment with Papa Smurf. Apparently, she'd been waiting for him to text her all day. I told her that she should just text him, but she laughed at the idea.

"Which one of your friends is picking you up?" she asked, taking a sip of her Pepsi.

"Miles."

Her eyes widened in shock. "That sounds like a boy's name."

"That's because it is," I chuckled.

"Yeah, but does your mama know?" she questions. "Hell, does my mama know? She won't let you leave if she finds out you'll be in the car with a boy."

She had a point. Aunt Linda was very protective of us when it came to boys. Mom knew I was getting a ride from Miles, though. She was perfectly fine with it.

"Is that him?"

I looked up to see Miles' car pulling into the driveway. Nikki was up and at his window before he even came to a complete stop. I still needed to go inside to get my bag and say bye to Aunt Linda, but I didn't want to leave Nikki alone with Miles. She had no filter. Who knew what she'd say to him.

"Oh my gosh, Lo, you was right. His eyes are pretty," she shouted to me.

I had no problem stepping inside for a while. If only to hide my embarrassment. I was going to get her back for that.

After grabbing my bag and listening to Aunt Linda's long-winded goodbye, I was finally in the passenger seat of Miles' car.

"You said I had pretty eyes?" he asked, pulling out onto the main street.

"How about some music?" I said, reaching over, grabbing the aux cord and hooking it up to my phone.

Still Into You by Paramore began to play and Miles shot me a weird look.

"What?"

"Nothing," he laughed. "I just didn't think you were into emo music."

"Paramore is not emo music," I defended.

"I'm pretty sure it's what all the emo's were listening to back in middle school," he retorted. Then he grabbed my hand. "Plus the chipped black nails. Are you a secret emo, Mermaid?"

I scoffed, taking my hand out of his. "Just drive."

"That wasn't a no," he said. "You are, aren't you?"

Letting out a defeated sigh, I said, "There was a brief moment in seventh grade."

"Please tell me that you have pictures," he said, unable to hold back his laughter.

I laughed too, remembering those days of cutting thumb holes into all of my sweaters and adding studs to everything. God, I hoped there were no pictures.

"Fine, don't tell me. I'll just ask Nikki," he said, his laughter dying down. "She's cool."

My own laughter came to a stop as I eyed him. "You have my cousin's number?"

"Yeah," he replied, nonchalantly.

"First, you're talking to my mom and now you're exchanging numbers with my cousin?"

"I'm a social guy," he shrugged. "But, the only reason I talked to your mom was because you left your half of the costume in my car."

Right, the bet.

"Did you get your money yet?" I asked.

"Not until there's proof," he said. "So, I need you to come to a party with me on Halloween."

I didn't think I could handle another party this week. For the rest of the year, actually.

"No," I told him. "Besides, Halloween is on a weekday. I'm not allowed to party on school nights."

"That's fine," he said. "This party is for kids. It'll be over by seven."

That was not what I was expecting. The first time I saw him he was mixing drinks for everyone. He seemed like the kind of guy to party hard. Definitely not someone who would spend their night with a bunch of little kids.

He glanced over at me as he slowed down for a stop sign. "Why do you look so surprised?"

"Because I am," I answered, truthfully. "You don't strike me as the kid-friendly type."

He turned onto the freeway, which was slow with traffic. The two hour drive was about to turn into three.

"Kids love me," he said, as we got stuck behind a semi-truck. "Some even say they want to be just like me when they grow up."

"Oh, so it's for an ego boost?"

"Exactly," he said, jokingly. "Actually, I do it because my sister used to volunteer at the elementary school all the time."

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"Yeah, I do," he told me. "Rose."

My eyes flickered down to the red rose on his wrist. Between the tattoo and what I saw at Cameron's house there was only one explanation. Rose was gone.

"What happened to her?" The words slipped out my mouth without warning. I didn't want to intrude, but it was too late.

His hands tightened around the steering wheel. I mentally kicked myself for asking such a personal question.

"She died a few years ago," he said, relaxing a little.

An uncomfortable silence fell over us. For a moment, all that could be heard was a Fall Out Boy song. I felt like I should've said something, I just didn't know what. The typical I'm sorry for your loss wasn't an option. Personally, I hated when people said that to me.

"My dad died," I blurted out. It was something I never said out loud to anyone.

It felt weird having it out there now. Like saying it made it a valid fact and not just something I had nightmares about.

He glanced over at me. I thought I'd get the look of pity from him, but instead he remained neutral.

"It sucks," he said, looking back at the road.

"Yeah," I agreed. "It does."