" If you don't get up, i'm shoving sand in your mouth."

This was new for me, standing over Nick's body, his limps sprawled out around him. He groaned, his distaste in waking up proving very obvious. I shifted to the left so sunlight would hit his face. He groaned and rolled onto his right side, curling closing to himself.

Usually, he was an early riser, getting me up with the smell of pancakes and old rock tunes. A frown etched it's way into my face. I didn't like waking him up, especially at ten in the morning when he normally would have been up two or three hours ago, " What's your problem Arson? Get your lazy ass up."

His eyebrows drew together, and his mouth was set in a hard line. I sighed, and sat on his hip, " Fine, i'll just wait here then."

He let out a growl, and rolled, shoving me off himself, and sitting up. I dusted sand off my thighs, then stood and brushed it off my butt, before shooting Nick the death glare, " what the hell?"

" What the hell? i'm trying to sleep Angel." He shot back, his tone a bit husky and cold.

" Do you know what time it is?" I fired, not amused. My arms crossed over my chest, and to be honest, i'm a little sorry to admit my hip swished out just slightly. I was going into major bitch mode.

" i'm guessing you'll tell me." He rolled his eyes.

I barked, " ten in the morning, and i'm waking you up."

He gave me a stone glare, anger burning so deep in his eyes that I loosened my hard front and my bottom lip slacked out just faintly. His voice was low and a bit shakey as he spoke, " Well forgive me Angel. I didn't fucking realize I was suppose to wake up every morning at god knows when to get your sorry ass up." He stood, " I won't forget next time."

I stared at him like he was a completely different person, while he packed everything up and shoved it in the trunk of the car. Thowing me an energy bar, he muttered, " Get in."

I slid into the passenger side, numbly nibbling at the energy bar while we buckled up and he started the mustang. Pulling onto the rode he was scary silent as we drove. I didn't know where the shift came from, why he was on such a thin wire all the sudden. I clenched my teeth, unsure what to say or how to get the words out of my mouth.

Finally, I said, " what's wrong?"

He sighed, and shook his head, " It's nothing Angel."

" tell me." I insisted, my voice sounding a lot softer than I would have liked.

" I just... didn't sleep well." He focused on the road, his brows drawing together faintly.

I looked out the window again, watching the sea of sand roll by. I still didn't know what to say. Or how to aproach him while he was acting like this. Normally, it didn't matter what I said to him. He was fine, a rainbow stone wall build for sarcastic comments, batman, and old rock.

Right now, he wasn't a rainbow. It fact, he had been careless about the way he positioned his beanie. Normally, the symbol would be in the front, not off the the side, like it currently was, " stop the car."

He shot me a funny look, " why?"

" Because I said so."

" well, I guess if that's the best reason i'm getting." He hit the brakes, gently, and slowed us, moving to the side of the road. I got out, and motioned for him to follow suit. After a moment of hesitation, he did. Standing their in a black t-shirt, grey jeans, and his boots, he had height on me. I had to reach up, but this had to be done.

I shifted his beanie, while he watched me wide eyed, " what are you doing?"

" The batman symbol..." I started, mid fix, " It's not centered. You prefer it centered." Something about his features changed. They softened faintly, and the hint of a smile touched the right side of his face. He reached up, took my hands, and moved them back to me, before taking his beanie, and putting it on perfectly straight.

I nodded, " yeah, like that."

" You noticed." He said, more to himself, than to me.

I laced my brows together, " um, yeah I noticed. You start to get a nerosis for things like that, after a while."

" I guess I just can't believe I missed it." There it was, his tone. I could hear it at the edges of his voice.

I nodded, " hey, it happens to the best of us, no worries."

" Did you just call me the best."

" ew, god no."

He chuckled, " I think you just did."

" no."

" oh yeah."

I shook my head, but couldn't surpress my smile. We continued to banter back and forth until we got in the car, then it was back to silence. I sighed. A new question presented itself to me, but I wasn't sure how he would act if I asked it. I suppose there no other way to find out.

" Arson?"

" yeah."

" Did you have a bad dream?"

" what?" He asked, his brows lacing together, confusing adorning his features.

" Did you.." It really sounded stupid, didn't it, " have a nightmare."

The wind whipped right through us, blowing back my hair a little above gently, and ruffling his shirt just faintly. I was amazed his beanie stayed on.

After awhile of silence, and Nick's blank expression, he nodded, " yeah. I did."

" what was it about."

He smiled, and shook his head, " don't worry about it, Angel. really."

" I'm serious Nick."

" Arson."

" Fine, Arson. whatever. tell me."

" It's fine." He insisted, a bit of strain in his voice. But I needed to know now.

" Nicholas, what the bloody hell is your middle name, Arson you wi-" But he cut be off.

" Dean."

" what?" I asked, my brows lacing together in confusing.

He looked at my through the review mirror, " my middle name, it's Dean." He said it so nonchalantly.

I nodded, " okay." Then continued, " Nicholas Dean Arson, you will tell me what you dreamt about." I insisted, kind of baffled by the new info on his name. I had been substituting it for so long, and now I knew. It was Dean. Nicholas Dean Arson. It didn't quite flow the right way, yet the way it sounded with sort of old. The Dean had a rockish sound to it, it fit him.

" why Angel? why do you want to know?"

His question caught me off guard. Why did I want to know? What could I have possibly gotten out of him telling me what his dream was about. Finally, I shrugged, " I don't know. I guess, you're acting different. And I realize you're going to have different moods and all, but I guess I just want to know what's bothering you. Work it out, maybe.... Nevermi-"

But he cut me off again, looking at me through the review once more, " my parents."

I looked over at him, and he looked back at the road. he continued with his story, " I was only fifteen when they passed away, so for a while I had to go stay with my grandparents. It was pretty great, actually. I just missed them. A lot. The doctors figured out how they died, they told us, and after they told us, I had nightmares about seeing it happen to them. The look on their faces."

I stayed quiet, waiting for him to finish. All the while, I couldn't think of something you could say back to that. He sighed, " Last night, I kept thinking about them. When I fell asleep, that's all I could see. What their reactions were.... to be honest, I don't think they thought about what would happen to me when the passed. I think they only cared about how scared they were to lose their own lives, not about how it would affect others."

" Nick."

" Arson."

" Your name's Nick."

A smile played on his lips, " I told you that forever ago." He said, softer toned.

" There's times where you don't use your pet names for people, no matter how awesome or horrible they are." I said, then continued, " Your parents, I never met them. obviously. But they left you with this huge amount of money, and i'm sure there was some sort of note with it all." he nodded, and I continued, " When they passed, how they passed, There's no way they didn't think of you. How, when they died, they couldn't be there for you anymore. I'm sure they were equally as worried about where you'd go and how'd you act, just as they were about their lives. I really don't want you to think otherwise."

" You have a really weird way with words, Carter." He said, my actual name sounding foreign on his tongue.

I swallowed hard, " Angel."

" come again?"

" You can't say my name, it sounds horrible when you say it."

He laughed, " fine. You have a way with words, Angel."

I smiled, happy to see his lopsided smile on his face, no matter how much it made me want to punch him in the face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" we're in the city!" I yelled, the buildings around me tall and wonderful, the pom trees lining the road sending shivers down my spine. It wouldn't be long before I'd see my grandmother, and it wouldnt' be long till I was home.

there was a pang in my stomach, something besides the hunger that was making it do cartwheels. I didn't know what it was, but for the time being, I ignored it. The food though, the need for it, that I couldn't ignore, " hey, Arson, I'm starving."

" Mickey D's sound good?" He teased.

" go fuck yourself with a loaded pistol." I shot back, and he full out laughed. His laugh was so full, so rich, It was almost amazing. And really annoying.

" How bout we find a movie theatre, and get fat off popcorn and candy while we're there." He offered, knowing full and well that I haven't seen a movie in lord knows how long, and knowing that I couldn't resist.

I groaned, " take me to the theater!"

He chuckled again, and did exactly as I asked.

Once we arrived, I took a deep breath, practically eating the air it smelled so good. Nick followed in behind me. Walking up to the counter, the lady behind it smiled when she saw us, " what can I get you tickets for."

" Let's be Cops." Nick and I said in unison. We hadn't even discussed a movie before hand. I was almost proud of him.

Nick bout our tickets, thanking the lady and giving her a money winning smile, before following me. I rolled my eyes in disgust. The next lady was dishing up popcorn for a couple in front of us. A large, and the two grabbed it, smiled at each other, and practically skipped off. i looked at Nick, and shook my head. He only laughed.

The lady said, " how may I help you?"

Nick sighed, and looked at all the choices. While he searched, the lady said, " Wow, you two are really cute together. today, we're having a special where all couples get all their food items free."

free.

That was the word of my people. But that also meant i'd have to be a fake couple with Nick for our time in the theatre. On second thought, my word can wait, " oh we're not-"

Nick beat me to the punch. Wrapping an arm around my waist, he said, " that would be great, thanks." He looked at me with what I hoped was fake adoration in his eyes, before looking back at the lady working, " you have no idea how lucky I am."

I smiled wickedly, " oh yeah, he really scored with this one."

The girl looked between us, before letting us pick whatever we want. and all of it was free. Needless to say, we killed the candy, and caught ourselves each a large popcorn. We could barely carry our bounty as we walked into the movie theatre. Nick looked around, before motioning up top, " I prefer the seats in the back."

" why?"

" because. You'll understand when you're up there."

So we took all our crap, and hiked up the stairs. After falling into my seat, I set all my candy down, and my water bottle, and composed my popcorn situation. Nick looked a lot more collected when pulling this stunt, where I looked like a fish flapping on the pavement. Lost and out of place. After a while of trying to sort everything out, Nick had to help me.

Then I looked at the screen.

It was pretty amazing, really. The higher elevation didn't change the size of the movie or anything, it just broadened the experienced. There was something about sitting up there was made the whole thing worthwhile, " this is awesome."

" I know, right."

The movie started, and we went to work on getting fat. I had it set in my mind that I would eat more, given Nick's history or smaller serving sizes, but when the movie was over, I saw he had finished his pull popcorn, and the majority of his candy, while I had only gotten through half of both items. I was amazed, " you never stop, do you?"

" being awesome? no. never."

I snickered, and shook my head. We collected our candy for the road, then through the popcorn away. the girl behind the counter waved at us on our way out, and Nick didn't even hesitate to wave back. I rolled my eyes.

Once to the mustang, I shoved all my candy in the back, and climbed into the passenger seat. Nick followed suit, and started the car, " where to now, Angel?"

" Can we go on a walk?"

He nodded, " of course."

using the gps on his phone, he found the nearest park.

It was beautiful really, a large stretch of green grass, trees upon trees, a small river, right in the middle of the city. I was impressed. We parked the car, then headed down one of the paths. It was one of those woodchip ones, that wound between a length of trees.

I don't know how long were were walking before Nick asked, " do you still hate me?"

With ease, I answered, " oh yeah."

Nick was quiet for a minute, then said, " okay." There was something about his tone, the way the word died out at the end.

" What's wrong?"

" nothing." He said, his original tone back, like he hadn't been close to dissapointed a minute ago. I sighed, " I mean, You annoy me, a lot. But, I don't... hate hate you. I just don't like you."

He smiled, and shook his head, " you try to hard."

" And you don't try hard enough."

He threw his hands up, " we're perfect for each other!"

i Burst out into laughter, " No sir, Not happening."

We fell into a fit of laughter, but there was still some awkwardness behind his tone, still something off about the way he held himself so tense. He sighed, and said, " let's head back, go find a hotel."

I nodded, and followed him down the path to the car. He would no the way, I had lost myself many many steps ago, at the start of the path. He unlocked the car, and I hopped in, " on the road again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We decided on a nice little restaurant. It wasn't anything fancy, but it wasn't all that bad, either. It was actually kind of nice.

" there's a pretty intense party going on down in the game room." The woman explained as we bought our room, " it's an open event, if you'd like to go."

I could see it in Nick's eyes. So I kicked him in the chin.

He shot me a dirty look, before saying, " I'll have to keep that in mind." With a sigh, I followed him to our room, lugging our bags behind us. Once we got to the third floor, we navigated the halls to look for room.

214.

Check.

" Arson. why didn't you get us seperate rooms."

" i'm trying to save money, Angel." Then he added, " i know I don't have to, but it's always fun to act like a grown up."

" you're cute."

" you really think so?"

" no."

He shrugged, " oh, you're loss."

I flopped down on my bed, as he said, " i think we should go to that party downstairs."

I sighed, " really?"

" really."

" Only if we can go to the pool tomorrow night."

" We're staying two nights now."

" I kind of want to stay a day in the big city. Grandma won't mind. She knows I love it here."

He smiled, " alright, sounds good."

the he offered me a hand to pull me off the bed. He was insane. Never the less, I let him help me up, and I let him lead the way to the elevator, because I had already gotten lost in the maze of hallways.

Once we were on the ground floor, we took a while to find the gameroom. It was actually a fairly decent size, with a group of people sitting in the center on the wooden floor. The whole group let out a series of " hey!" s, and made spots for us to sit down. Nick went to sit with a guy around our age, and I sat between a girl who didn't look a day over 15, and a girl who didn't look human, she was so beautiful. I hated her immediately.

One of the boys with ash blonde hair said, " we were just gonna start spin the bottle, you came in at the right time."

Nick chuckled, and shook his head. I only became a bit excited. It had been awhile since I was at a good party, and a game or two wouldn't hurt. Plus, it was just kissing. I just had to pray it wouldn't land on Nick.

The ash blonde went first. The bottle spun, and landed on the lady besides me. The girl met up with Ash in the middle, and the amount of tongue that went into their kiss was a little excessive. So maybe a little more than kissing, but I could manage. The Ash blonde sat back and said, " oh yeah, names Cody. Pretty new baby here can go next."

Him calling me baby was enough to make me want to gut him. I had to play nice, though. Spinning the bottle, I couldn't help but notice Nick watch it intently. It slowed, landing on a rather handsome lad with chocolate brown hair and caramel colored eyes. He smiled, a straight smile, no crookedness, and said, " Uh, My names Gavin. I guess i should tell you before we."

I snickered, " yeah. I'm Carter."

He met my gaze straight on, " nice to meet you."

He leaned forewards, and I followed suite. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see the tenseness in Nick's shoulders. I could also see the girl sitting to his right lean over to massage it out.

Gavin's lips meant mine, soft and gentle. His nose brushed my cheek faintly, as we parted our lips and they met again. He leaned back, and I could feel the shadow of his smile against my mouth. His breath was cool and his gently fanned across my face, smelling minty, " I guess that's one way to get to know a person."

" if that's your thing, than yeah." I replied, sitting back in unison with him. Gavin was nice. I liked Gavin.

Gavin got to spin, then the girl he landed on got to spin. That girl's bottle landed on Nick. Nick raised a brow at the girl before leaning closer to her, cupping a hand on her cheek, and pressing his lips agianst hers. My mind reeled at the thought of the guy I'd been sharing a bed with for at least four days was now kissing a complete stranger. If you really think about it, that's a weird thought.

They parted, and it was Nick's turn to spin. the bottle went rotating, and slowed. and slowed. and slowed.

and it was getting dangerously close to me.

Except it stopped on the beautiful, god of a woman next to me. Nick met her gaze, and I could see the attraction to her beauty. I would have rather it landed on me.

Nick was sitting with his arms looped around his knees loosely. He was going to move, but the woman beat him to it, crawling across the floor in what I wished wasn't as seductive as it was. I could see his breath momentarily hitch.

She put her hands on his knees, and straddled herself onto his thighs. There was a few whistles from the group, as she put her hands on either side of his face, her long tanned fingers running into his hair. His arms looped around her waist.

Her hair was held back by a ponytail, but I had wished it wasn't. I didn't want to see them kiss. I didn't want to see her kiss him. I didn't want to see him kiss her.