A ray of light hits my eye and wakes me up. My vision is blurry at first, a swirl of blue and white. I open my eyes and realize I was in Vincent's room. It wasn't some crazy daydream while I was laying on my bed on a boring Friday night. There's footsteps outside the door, approaching closer.

"Vincent, time to wake up honey. I'm going grocery shopping. Did you need anything?" It's Mrs. Miller I'm guessing. Crap. I'm in her son's bed. In a flash, I'm rolling onto the ground behind the bed. Thump! My body falls onto Vincent, who's still sleep, and I bump my head against his chest.

"Ugh," he groans, slowly opening his eyes.

"Shush," I hush him and clasp my hand over his mouth. The door slowly creaks open. There's a moment of silence before someone interrupts.

"Mommy, hurry! I want to go before they run out of the apple fritters!" a girl shrieks from downstairs. Must be his sister.

"Alright, just wait for me in the car." The door closes and there's thumping on the stairs. I hear the car engine start and disappear.

I relax and let my body lay back down. For a moment, I forgot I was still laying on Vincent.

"Sorry!" I roll off of him and bump my head against his wall. I really can't go through a day without embarrassing myself.

"Wow, you moved so fast. Looks like you know what you're doing." He gives me a sly smile. "You must do this often."

My face turns rosy and I reach for the pillow that's on the bed. With one motion, I push the pillow on Vincent's face and push his head down. I don't want to give him the satisfaction of teasing me.

"I'm going home." Racing down the stairs, I give one quick look before opening the front door. The door opens, but is shut right after. Vincent's arm is pressed against it.

"I'll drive you."

"No thanks." My hands yank at the door, and I'm using all of my weight.

"You're still in pajamas." The realization hits me that I look totally disheveled.

"I don't mind," I stubbornly reply. Vincent lets the door swing open, and I'm out in a second. I walk for around two minutes before I feel a jacket wrapped on my shoulders.

"Wear this at least," Vincent mumbles. He's slightly out of breath and he's changed into some shorts and a t-shirt. He still has bed head, but he still looks good. Ugh, what am I saying? I must not be fully awake yet.

"Why? It's hot out."

Vincent coughs and his ears turn red. "Your shirt..."

I look down and I'm horrified to realize I didn't have my bra on. Sure, my chest isn't big, but the shirt I'm wearing is still pretty thin. I'm hoping last night was too dark for him to notice.

"Um, thanks." I quickly put on the jacket and zip it up as high as I can. Vincent keeps walking with me, but the tension between us is too awkward. I don't bother to ask him why.

Once I'm at my house, I ring the bell. Thank goodness my sister, Wren, was already awake. However, when I realized it was already 11 in the morning, I was no longer impressed. Typical time to wake up during the weekend. Vincent's still behind me, and follows me into the house. Wren doesn't even bother to ask about him, taking a box of cinnamon cereal and the carton of chocolate milk upstairs with her, drinking directly from it and shaking some cereal into her mouth.

"Your older sister?" Vincent asks, plopping onto the couch.

"Younger. She's in the 8th grade." I can see how Vincent is mistaken. Everyone is when they first meet her.

Wren has a boyish figure, very tall, and pretty muscular. She's into sports and could compete against boys if it wasn't for the fact that the school separate sports team by gender. I feel bad for girls who play against her. She broke a kid's nose in the 2nd grade while playing hop-scotch. How that happened, I have no clue. Wren could push me with her pinky and I would be bulldozed. She used to have long hair, but found it too inconvenient for games. She cut it during the summer to a shoulder length bob. Unlike me, she extrudes confidence.

"Are you going to sit here all day?" I sigh at the sight of Vincent sprawled across the couch.

"I'm waiting for you to get changed."

"Why?"

"Let's hang out."

"I have homework," I groan.

"Do it tomorrow."

"Sorry, but I like to be responsible."

"I'll wait till you finish. In fact, I'll wait in your room." Vincent gets up and starts to head towards the stairs. I block his path with my arms.

"Fine, I'll be down in ten. Just wait on the couch."

I quickly go upstairs and start to brush my teeth and wash my face. My hair is a tangled mess. Examining my closest, I find a pair of gray leggings and a light purple shirt. My hair is still messy after all my efforts to brush it. I gather it into a ponytail and slip on an old baseball cap. I took longer than I thought, a total of 20 minutes.

Vincent's sitting on the couch, playing a game on his phone. He pokes his head up when he hears me walking down.

"Hey, ready to go?"

"Where?"

"I don't know. Where do you want to go? The movies? The mall?"

"You didn't take your car here."

"No, but I brought a motorcycle."

"Motorcycle?" I peer outside, and sure enough, there's a blue motorcycle parked in the front of the house. "When did you get it?" I remember clearly he walked home with me.

"Walked back to get. Plus, I had to brush my teeth." Vincent flashes me a wide smile.

"Cool, I like motorcycles," I beam. I quickly walk outside and look at the bike. It's shiny and sleek in design. Maybe if I was more daring, I would totally get one. I'm too much of a wimp to even drive a car. I let Vincent hop on it first, before climbing on behind him. He hands me a helmet before starting the bike. I quickly put it on and steady myself on the bike by gripping the sides of the seat.

"Unless, you want to snap your neck on the road, you should hold onto me," he sighs.

"It's fine. I ride motorcycles like this." Vincent backs the bike a bit, and I nearly topple over.

"Ahem, maybe I'll hold onto your shirt." I take some fabric from the sides of his shirt and clench them under my fist. Hopefully, this fabric is high quality, or I'm breaking my skull today. Vincent grabs my fist and yanks me forward. My chest makes contact with his back, and he wraps my arm around his waist. Straightening my back, I leave some distance between him and me. I hope he didn't feel the hammering in my chest. We peel off onto the road.

"We should go to the mall." Malls are casual, rights? Friends hang out at malls. It's just like I'm out with my friends. Thump. Thump. I wish my heart would stop hammering my chest.

"How about a movie?" Vincent suggests. Going to the movies is too weird with just the two of us.

"Bowling!" I nervously word vomit.

"Damn. Excited much?" While Vincent drives us to the bowling alley, I'm quiet. I don't even bowl.

We arrive and rent out a lane and two pairs bowling shoes. Vincent picks out a pretty heavy bowling ball while, I pick the lightest one. I'm pretty sure the one I picked is meant for little kids. Before we get to our lane, I realize that my friends are occupying the one beside our's. I'm nervous for no reason. What's there to hide? I'm casually hanging out with Vincent... Just us two... I'm a horrible friend.

"Oh, hey!" Vincent jogs up to them. They greet him and Vivian immediately starts a conversation.

"Where are you friends?"

"Oh, actually, I'm here with Wen-" he turns around and doesn't see me.

"Huh?" Olivia looks around, confused.

I'm ducking behind a rack of bowling balls. I hunched over, ready to waddle outside and return my bowling shoes when I feel a tug on my shirt collar.

"What are you doing?" Evelyn asks, but doesn't let go of my shirt.

"Fancy meeting you guys here!" I pop up from behind the rack. "I ran into Vincent outside, in the parking lot." I sound like a total dork.

"You walked all the way over here?" Olivia sounds shocked and concern. I swear, she's too pure. It's obvious I'm lying, but she's totally buying it.

"Gotta work on my calves," I laugh nervously.

"Mind teaching me how to bowl? It's my first time," Vivian pleads, batting her eyes. It's not. She's better than any of us at bowling.

"Sure," Vincent agrees and the two of them go to the lane Vincent and I rented. I retreat with Olivia and Evelyn to their lane, and we start our own game.

Vincent places his right hand on Vivian, guiding her arm's swing. His left hand is on her left shoulder, his arm casually hanging down and across her back. Vivian looks so happy, but my chest feels tight. My head is stuck upside down in a bowl of water, I can't breathe, and my head feels light from the blood rushing to it. Why am I like this?

"I think I caught a cold. I'll head home first, guys. See ya Monday," I wearily say, starting to untie the bowling shoes and put my sneakers back on.

"Aw, you don't want to stay for a bit longer? We're going out to eat soon," Olivia whimpers.

"Nah, I should rest before it gets worse. I'll be fine once I sleep it off."

"Alright. See ya Monday," Evelyn calls after me while I start to walk off.

After returning the shoes, I start to walk towards the library. I honestly feel drained, so a fifty minute walk back to my house doesn't sound amusing. I text my dad to pick me up after work. Hopefully, they won't catch me hiding out at the library, though I seriously doubt they will ever go here. They hate books, especially Vivian.

After finding a table, I settle down with a book I picked on a whim. I'm trying to read it, but my head is blanking and I'm not processing any words. After 10 minutes, I still haven't gotten past the first sentence. It takes me a while before I realize it's because I'm holding the book upside down. No wonder the librarian has been giving me dirty looks. I forget to silence my phone and I get a call from Vincent. The librarian wastes no time to give me another dirty look. My phone is silenced and I ignore Vincent's call. I need some alone time. My phone rings, indicating a text message. Another dirty look from the librarian. With slight hesitation, I look at it

Vincent: Where did you go?

Me: Home.

Vincent: Are you walking? Wait for me, I'll drive you.

Me: No thanks, already home.

Vincent: If you were that fast, you would be in the Olympics.

Me: I got a ride. Stop worrying.

Vincent: Why did you leave?

Me: I didn't feel good. Just have fun with Vivian.

Vincent: Does this have to do with me ditching you? I was only trying to help your friend learn to bowl.

Me: No. Why would you think that? I'm glad you're hanging out with her. You should do that everyday instead of bothering me. In fact, you might as well date it her. It would make me even happier. I'm going to sleep. Don't wake me up, and don't come to my house.

I cross my arm across the table and bury my face into it. My heart is throbbing and I don't know why. I feel tears tickle the back of my eyes, but I suck it in. My head is a clouded mess, so I try to sleep it off, like the flu. I hate the hammers in my chest. Dad finds me asleep and tells me the librarian thought I was a troubled, run-away teen. She was wrong was the run-away part.

*****