"You have reached your destination," Siri states proudly as I look up at a large white house.

"Thank you, friend," I slur and kiss my phone screen. I shove my phone into my jean jacket and start to make my way up the walkway.

I have to admit that it crossed my mind to make this a very dramatic scene from one of those Shakespeare plays. The thought of finding a dim lighted room and reaching down for a few pebbles to throw longingly at that certain window was pretty intriguing about now.

But I wasn't that drunk.

The cool air seems to have sobered me up some and now I am starting to feel uncertain about seeing Nate. Would he find me annoying for showing up at-- 1:09-- in the morning? Probably. And I'm sure his parents will enjoy that as well. Oh goodness, what I am doing here?

Before I can turn around and walk a few more houses down to sneak back up to my own bedroom and crash on my incredibly soft bed, my hand is already knocking on the door. There were no lights on in the house from what I can see. In fact, the whole place gave off an eery vibe with the vacant windows and indian summer crickets singing their lonely song.

I am about to give up and finally head home, when the door swings open. I cringe at the thought of a very annoyed Mr and Mrs Haynes wagging their finger at me but I am pleasantly surprised when a sleepy, sweatpant wearing Nathaniel is revealed behind the heavy oak door. Along with a yellow lab.

I stay silent, just staring at the tall boy in front of me. My hazy brain can't comprehend that I am standing here at this sinister hour at the Haynes house with Nate looking like I bothered him from a Friday of late night video game bingeing. But something else is off that I can't quite put my finger on.

"Hello?" His voice is gruff but weary, as if he knew he shouldn't have opened the door. His dog stays silent, judging me from his stance beside him.

"Hey." That is it. That is the smart respond I came up with. Hey.

"Kelly?"

The fact that he knows my voice now makes my stomach erupt with butterflies. That's when I notice what is off; his glasses. He's not wearing them. Nothing is eclipsing his beautiful eyes from me and I thank my lucky stars something good has come out of this night.

When I don't answer, Nate opens the door wider. "Is everything okay? Are you hurt? What's wrong?"

My smile grows.

"No, no, Nate, I am fine. And you are fine too." Oh Lord. Yup, that just came out.

"Um, Kelly, are you drunk?"

"Yes. Very." A childlike giggle escapes from the back of my throat. I cover my mouth to make the sound stop.

"D-Do you want to come inside? It's freezing out here."

I am surprised by this. I know this is what I was hoping for, hanging out with Nate even if it was just for a few minutes, but I am still caught off guard. It was kind of just a fantasy that I came up with on my walk over here.

"Your parents wouldn't mind you sneaking a girl in after midnight?" I bite down on my bottom lip, the thought intriguing me.

"I'm sure they would but they're not home. My dad went with my mom to Wilmington for a weekend getaway."

"You rebel."

"It's something new I'm trying out." There. He did it again. He was cracking jokes like Fluffy. I like it.

My smile is becoming creepy, I can feel it stretch on my face. I bite my lip again trying to think of something clever. Nate and me bantering back and forth is something that was still new to me. It kept me on my toes. The smart kid kept my brain gears turning.

"It looks nice on you."

He still stands in the doorway, his eyes shadowed from the night. The moon is just bright enough to expose his pale skin of the top of his cheeks. A shiver racks through me.

Nate has a way of sensing things. It still catches me off guard no matter how many times he does it but I think it is something that I will never get over. "D-did you walk here from your boyfriend's house?"

I am starting to adore that stutter.

"He's not my boyfriend." Those words slip out before my brain can tell them not to.

Nate's eyebrows lift and his head cocks to the side. "He's not?"

I rock up on my toes and back down, really thinking about how to answer this. Danny is my boyfriend in technicality, but he didn't have my heart. I took that back the second this boy in front of me popped into my life. Whether it was on good terms or bad.

But then again, this could just be the tequila talking.

Ever since Nate and I got paired up in bio, he was all I thought about. I was in a constant state of worry that the large and small facts of the universe that brought us together would blow up in my face and it would be Nate's turn to walk away. I am now constantly thinking of ways to be around him, to talk to him, to listen to whatever is playing through those headphones of his. I am officially going insane.

I ignore his question and sneak underneath his arm of which he is balancing himself on the door frame with. I brush against the fabric of his shirt to let him know I am heading inside and away from this conversation. His dog backs up just as off put.

"How was getting food with your friend--what was her name? Mandy?" I find myself talking--I do that when I'm nervous. I talk to fill in empty space, my mother says. She was one to believe that women are meant to be seen and not heard. It's ludicrous and one of the main reason why her and I do not spent much time together.

"Molly." The tips of Nate's mouth tilt up in a knowing way. He knew I know Molly's name. And the alcohol in my system likes that he knows and I couldn't care if he did.

"Right, right." I rub my hands over my arms to try and dull the sting from the night air.

I walk into the home more to look around. The rooms are large and clean, much like my own, but there is something more homey about them. While my walls of my home were white and bare, except for the random paintings painted by random uprising artist, the Haynes' were covered with family photos.

I stay quiet while observing the frames filled with smiles and memories. Nate leans against the closest wall, eyes casted down and hands fidgeting nervously with his fingers.

"Your place is nice," I comment politely, again not liking the silence. Nate hums at his spot against the wall. "I especially think this picture here is nice."

"Which picture would that be?" He lifts from his spot and walks his way to the arm of the couch. His movements are slow but not as cautious as they are when he is at school. His home is familiar.

He then sits down on the couch and crosses his arms over his chest. Maybe he is sleep deprived or even sleep walking but Nate is acting rather calm considering I am now in his house looking at his stuff. Knowing the little bit that I do of him, I was expecting a more stuttering, fidgety, bouncing off the walls with anxiety, Nathaniel.

I turn my gaze back to the photo. "A younger you is standing by a telescope smiling like he won the lottery," I laugh while looking at the photo. "There's another boy standing off to the side pulling on the sides of his mouth to make a face."

Nate smiles almost sadly and nods his head. "That would be my brother, Christopher. He is usually the clown when a photo is being taken. It makes my mom so mad because she's always wanting a normal picture and Chris never allows it. No matter what age."

"I didn't know you had siblings," I murmur aloud.

"Christopher is a senior at the University of Asheville and my little sister is in the sixth grade."

"A sister?" I state surprised. This is news to me. "I always wanted a little sister."

"You can have her."

I look back at him on the couch and smile because I know he's joking. I can tell he is a great big brother. Sure enough, there's a school picture of a girl with brunette hair along with large bangs and missing teeth. She and Nate look a lot alike in bone structure.

"Where is she tonight?" Oh, God. Is she upstairs asleep?

"She's staying with my grandparents while my parents are away."

"You didn't go with her?" I am asking a lot of questions but I can't get my mouth to stop. He is actually talking for once in full sentences.

"My parents tried but it's kinda embarrassing when you're almost eighteen and you can't even be trusted to stay home alone."

"Is it hard?" I ask before I can shut my mouth.

"Is what hard?" Nate calmly asks.

"Navigating around, doing it alone--doing it in general."

Nate shakes his head, a sheepish smile on his lips. "In general yes but not here. I know this house like the back of my hand. I could find everything even if I wasn't blind and I had my eyes closed. Not to mention my mother is extremely OCD and is a big believer in schedules so life runs pretty smoothly when things are in the same place every day. But my sister likes to pull pranks by moving my stuff so I wouldn't say it's easy every day."

I giggle because that's a very little sister thing to do. "What's her name?"

"Charlotte."

"That's a pretty name." I always wished my name sounded prettier. Like Nathaniel's did. I loved that name. Nathaniel.

I look back at the photo of him and his brother. Nate's eyes were so focused on the camera that it looks like he is looking and smiling right at me. That is the first thing that I notice.

I look back at the boy sitting a few feet behind me looking at nothing, his eyes unfocused.

The second thing I notice, I voice out loud. "You were always so tall."

"People used to think that I was the oldest and my big brother was the youngest. It used to make him so mad." Nate continues to look off to the side near a marbled fireplace which is unlit and dark. "I'm still taller than him."

"Do you miss him?" I ask then make a face at myself. "I mean, because he's away at college and stuff?"

"He comes home every other weekend and he calls. I think my mom misses him the most but yes. It's quieter when he's not around. Less sports talk." Nate grins as if reminiscing on something.

"Football?" I ask because I can relate to football. I really didn't like the sport too much even though I am the captain of my cheerleading squad. I find it slow paced but entertaining enough to pass the time.

"Baseball."

"Awe," I mused like this was eye opening to me. I know nothing of baseball. But that seemed okay because a hunch told me that Nate doesn't really care for sports in the first place. I walk back over to him and sit beside him on the couch. "Nothing beats a good ol' knuckle ball."

"How drunk are you, Kelly?" Nate asks. There is laughter in his voice and it doesn't go unmissed. An unattractive snort blows through my nose.

"I'm not that drunk. The cool air walking here sobered me up immensely." I hiccup and slouch into the couch more.

"W-walked?" Nate's voice cracks and his head snaps in my direction. "You walked here? In the middle of the night? All by yourself?"

"Calm down, Daddy. Would you rather I drove?" My lips snap shut and my face heats up immediately at my choice of words. Oh my God, the horror. But instead of melting into the cherrywood floor and dying, I laugh. I laugh in a very unattractive way where you don't open your mouth to let it ring clear, no, air blew past my lips and whistled like a heard of elephants.

Nate's face turns tomato red. I mutter a sorry but I don't mean it. I enjoy embarrassing Nate in as many innocent ways as possible because the blush that covered his cheeks is enough to make me want to pat his head and tell him he's a good boy.

Wow, I am drunk.

"Nate, do you happen to have some water I could drink?"

Nate nods but instead of letting him get up and navigate to the kitchen, I place a hand on his forearm and lightly push him back down to the couch. "Just tell me where and I will get it myself. I didn't come here to bother you."

Nate clears his throat. "Second cabinet on the top. Tall glasses are on the bottom shelf and short glasses are on the top. Thought I would tell you that incase you were feelings like a lot of water or just a couple swigs..."

I grin down at the nearly shaking boy. "Thanks for the options."

I walk to the kitchen which is big and just as homey as the living room with childhood pictures on the fridge and fruit in bowls. My mother never allows fruit to be outside of the refrigerator because of fruit flies. And she didn't like clutter laying around unless it was hers which keeps me pretty secluded to my bedroom which is fine with me.

"Second cabinet, right?" I ask from the other room. I don't want to make it look like I am snooping by physically looking through all the drawers and cupboards because, let's face it, I am a proper everyday Nancy Drew.

"Yes," he answers almost too quietly that I wouldn't have heard him if I didn't pause and tell my head to stop pounding.

I get my water and drink half of it before I go back to where Nate is sitting in the next room. It is starting to dawn on me that I shouldn't be here bothering Nate. I am trying too freaking hard to win this kid over and I don't know why.

I didn't fight for any boy's attention. I never had to do so. When a boy said they were going to call, they always called that night. When a boy said he would pick me up at Friday night for a date, they followed through with it. They never said, see you later or maybe some other time.

When I reach Nate again, he has his headphones in his ears. I watch him for a second as he reclined back and closed his eyes. I take another drink from my tall glass before I sit down beside him.

"What do you listen to when those things are glued to your ears?" I take out one of his earbuds. Nate's hand catches my wrist and I freeze. Every nerve in my body goes into panic mode from the warmth of Nate's hand clasped near mine. My breath catches in my throat and I am positive that Nate can hear my heart beating inside of my chest.

Nate freezes too and I can feel his pulse pounding on the inside of my wrist as his fingers loosen. It is like all the sound has been sucked out of the room as my eyes lock with his. I have never been this close to him before. Gold flecks swim on the surface of his brown eyes. It reminds me of the sun reflecting off of the tops of the tree when the sun was setting in late October.

"S-sorry. You just c-caught me off guard there."

"Don't be. I'm sorry. I forget sometimes..." I take this time to place the earbud in my ear but he stops me again.

"This is weird for me." Nate's cheeks turn pink again. I have to ball my hand into a fist as to not reach out and brush the back of my hand against his soft skin.

"Oh, come on, Nate. Don't be shy. It's just some music."

"Still, it's strange."

"Strange that I'm here or strange that I'm interested in your taste of music?" I'm not sure how I will feel if he mentions the first point.

"Both," he admits, his cheeks blotching red.

I bump him with my shoulder. "We're friends, okay? Get over it. And for the music, there's a good chance that I know it. I'm kind of a musical genius."

"There's more to music than Bieber and One Direction."

I gasp. "Bite your tongue!"

Nate chuckles and when he does so a proud smile stretches across my face. This time he allows me to take one of his headphones.

I have to keep my head close to his considering he is still listening to the music as well. He smells good. Not like how most boys smell, with the strong ice smelling cologne, but Nate smells like clean soap from a shower. It is refreshing. My mind wanders to Danny who had drenched himself with cologne tonight but it still didn't cover the hard liquor on his breath as he kissed my neck.

"Can you turn it up a little, please?" I push the thought away and close my eyes like I had seen him do multiple times when I was watching him at school.

Nate turns the volume up a few notches and the song fills my mind. I do know this song!

"Oh. My. Stars. You like Ryan Cabrera?"

"Yeah." Nate's tone is off. He is embarrassed. "I like his sound."

"I love him!" I haven't heard his old music in a long time but now that I am hearing one, all the lyrics pop up in my head. It was one of those occurrences where you hear a song and it reminds you of your childhood. "I used to have--or maybe I still do somewhere--all of his albums when I was younger. I like his sound too. It's really laid back and raw. You have good taste."

I start to sing along to the song, dancing on the couch cushion next to him as we sat. The redness hasn't left his face for the last five minutes and it is starting to settle around his ears after my compliment. But he is smiling more prominate than before.

I take out my earbud and reach over to take Nate's out too. He jerks to attention and turns his head my way.

"Do I make you nervous, Nathaniel?'

He nods his head hesitantly and I watch as his adam's apple bobs as he swallows.

The fact that I make him nervous should bother me but it only makes me feel more giddy for some reason. My mind is in overdrive from my closeness to him.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" The words roll off my tongue and my eyes fall right to his which darts out to wet his lips nervously.

"N-no."

I definitely caught him off guard.

Not even Molly? The green monster's questions in the back of my head.

"Do you want to kiss anyone?"

Nate goes silent and something tells me he wants to bolt. But surprisingly, he nods his head in a jerk of a movement.

The world seems to stop.

"Who?"

"W-what?"

I roll my eyes at him. "Who do you want to kiss?"

"Kelly..." he groans, shifting away from me on the couch. I grab onto his arm and keep him down.

"Come on, Nate. You can tell me." I'm trying hard not to giggle like a tween but my lack of sobriety is making it hard to reign in. "If I guess, will you tell me? At least give me a hint?"

Nate stays silent and I take that as my green light. I say the first name that pops into my head but bite down on the inside of my cheek instantly afterwards. "Is it Molly?"

Nate scoffs but turns serene immediately afterwards. "No." I'm sure even if it was intentional, he would be avoiding eye contact at this moment. I smile at his answer.

My heartbeat picks ups. "Do you want to kiss me, Nate?" There is no point beating around the bush. I really want to know.

This time he hesitates but soon slowly nods, the movement so small that I almost ask him again.

"I want to kiss you too," I confess. Nate's throat bobs as he swallows. I can't believe I just admitted that. I can't believe he admitted that. But man am I glad. I really want to be his first kiss.

Butterflies--no moths--are beating their big hairy wings in the pit of my belly and they feel amazing. I haven't felt excited about a kiss in a very long time.

I turn my body on the couch so that I am firmly in front of Nate as he sits frozen in his spot. I take a deep silent breath before I reach forward and take one of his hands in mine.

His hands are large and his finger slender and long. My hand is dwarfed by the size of his and that makes me feel safe for some odd reason.