My phone purred insistently, letting me know that someone was calling, and more importantly, not giving up after reaching voice mail for the third time. I was sitting in our comfy arm chair, and the phone lay on the kitchen counter. I figured I could call them back when I had the strength to move. Did someone say lazy?

"You gonna pick that up, or what?" Lily asked from where she sat in our overly large sofa.

"Go ahead, answer it. I know you've always wanted to do it, here's your chance."

That brought her up short. She looked at me, completely dumbfounded as if I'd spoken in a completely different language.

"You're kidding right?" she asked again, sounding as if she didn't dare to believe me.

"When have I ever lied to you?" I asked, trying to keep a serious face.

"Asshole," she snapped, and threw an orange peel at me which I caught and threw back, hitting her straight in the face.

"I'm serious, pick it up," I said again. She still looked at me incredulously, but dashed into the kitchen and answered it right away.

"Yes, hello," she said softly, not in her usual confident voice. "I'm his sister," she continued. "You're outside? Okay, I'll tell him."

She hung up and looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Why didn't you want to answer? That girl sounded really nice, they're outside by the way."

"Right," I said, and left her questions unanswered. I didn't think they would pick me up this early. Perhaps they had planned to do something before.

I took my phone from Lily's hand and fetched my jacket, pulled it on and was out of the door with a wave of my hand.

"Hey, where are you going? Have you told Mom?" Lily hollered.

"Tell her I'm with friends, I'll be home in time to take you to school," I yelled back, followed by the sound of crunching gravel as I walked toward the car.

"Hi Dylan, cute sister you've got there," Tyra said from the driver's seat. I looked over my shoulder and saw Lily standing in the doorway, glaring at me like she wanted to say something but didn't dare in front of my friends.

I chuckled softly. "She's a brat, but a rather cute one, I admit."

"Well, with a good looking guy like you for a brother I can't say I'm shocked," she answered, her eyes bright with laughter.

"Well, let's hope there are more of those good looking guys at that party," I replied, winking at her.

"This is why I've always wanted a gay friend. Mike or Russo would never say stuff like that. They are totally useless."

I laughed as I took the seat next to her.

I was wrong about the possibility of a plan. We went directly to the party, and despite being quite early on in the evening, the house was packed with drunken teenagers. I even saw one hanging over the white fence, clearly not feeling too good. Music blasted out through broken speakers and I felt at home right away. Tyra intertwined our hands again and pulled me toward the kitchen. Red plastic cups littered the sink and table, and the floor was sticky beneath my shoes. Someone would have a great time cleaning this up tomorrow.

"Who lives here?" I asked. The house was huge, and I wondered briefly if the person living here might be popular on account of throwing parties in their house. It was a sad thought, but I knew how these things worked. The social ladder was a predictable one and despicable at that.

"I honestly don't know," Tyra answered.

Just then a busty girl bumped into me, obviously on purpose. She looked up, trying to look both innocent and seductive at the same time. "Hi there, Dylan, right?" she said, batting her fake lashes. They looked ready to fall off. Poor girl.

I decided to play nice. Perhaps I was talking to the host, and I didn't want to be thrown out already. "That's me..." Apparently that was enough of an encouragement because she smiled widely and tugged at my arm.

"Come on, I'll show you the house."

I stifled a groan, but smiled. She was definitely the hostess. Tyra did a poor job at hiding her amusement, but she didn't step in to save me as the girl pulled me away. I looked over my shoulder and shot Tyra a glare, telling her that she would pay for this, which just had her laughing even more.

She handed me a cup filled with pale looking beer, and took one for herself which she sipped carefully. I rolled my eyes and gulped it down quickly. I would surely need it so why not be a man about it. It tasted like a mix of water and beer. Disgusting.

"I'm Bunny by the way," she said, and I almost spat out the drink. Bunny, who in their right mind named their kid Bunny? I tried my best to smile at her, but failed miserably. Not that she seemed to notice, though.

She dragged me up the stairs and showed me into a bedroom, her bedroom if I had to make a guess. The walls were scattered with photos of her with various friends, depicting her in a cheerleading-outfit. It was enough to make me want to gag. I had to get out of there. Now!

I decided to play along for a few seconds while planning my escape. "Cool, is this your room?" I asked.

She answered with a full blown smile.

"It is."

Then she did something-not entirely unexpected, but it shocked me nonetheless-she threw herself at me, crashing her lips into mine.

I struggled loose and held her off with my hands on her shoulders."Whoa, easy there girl."

For once I actually didn't know what to say. I'd never been molested by a girl half my size before. She pouted, clearly not yet convinced that I'd blown her off. I realized I would have to say something. "Bunny was it? I'm really not that guy. I'm going to leave, and if you know what's good for you then you won't try this again." I gave her a hard look, intended to scare her off. However, as I saw something begin to sparkle in her eyes, I realized I'd played this entirely wrong. She clearly liked my bossy side. I wanted to smack myself. How had I ended up here so damn quickly?

"Okay, stay here, I'll get some more beer." I said instead, not really lying, but not telling her the whole truth either. She smiled, convinced that she had won me over. I felt bad for her, I really did, almost. She was just too much of a parody. It was sad but hilarious.

"Okay Dylan, I'll wait right here," she answered, emphasizing each single word while she let her hand trail up her thigh. I forced out a smile, and literally dashed out of the room, but then I changed my mind and stopped in the doorway.

"Oh, by the way, I'm gay." I saw her mouth fall open, so I couldn't help but smile evilly as I closed the door.

Once downstairs, I started to look for Tyra, but she was nowhere to be found. I was stopped several times again by various people but managed to slink away every single time. I'd learned my lesson and once was more than enough.

After twenty minutes of avoiding people, I found her sitting with Mike in the garden. "That was low!" I growled at her. That sent her into another fit of giggles, and Mike had obviously heard the story because he was laughing just as much.

"I'm sorry Dylan, but it was just too good to miss. What happened? You look absolutely livid." She didn't look sorry at all, but now, looking back, I had to admit that it was pretty hilarious.

"She jumped me. And before you ask: I have no idea how she did it."

"She kissed you? Oh my God, that's so fucking funny." Mike choked out, barely able to hold the sentence together for laughing.

"Yeah, Bunny the Funny, real great gal," I said, drowning another cup of pissy beer as the others continued to laugh hysterically. I felt a twang of guilt. Even though she threw herself at me quite recklessly, I didn't have to make it worse by telling people about it. It was mean. However, it was too late to take it back.

Finally able to relax, I looked around, instantly regretting it. Zach. Why was he following me? He sat on a bench next to the pool, looking totally disinterested with a girl across his lap. She seemed to work pretty hard to get his attention, kissing him with plump red lips. His mouth seemed to work on autopilot, and while she gripped at the dark strands of his hair, his arms just lay there: inactive.

I nearly choked on my drink for a second time that night as I saw the girl start to grind herself against him.

"What the fuck is that?" I asked to no one in particular, perhaps I hadn't even meant to say it out loud. Tyra turned her head, sobered up from her giggles and sighed.

"That's how it usually looks," she said, almost sounding defeated as if she didn't like it any more than I.

I tore my gaze away from the couple. There was no use watching what they were doing when it made me feel uncomfortable. I paused briefly at that thought. Why was I uncomfortable? Again, that guy managed to get under my skin. I didn't like it. I wasn't ready to fall for someone so soon, and especially not someone who oozed the same kind of danger that had drawn me to Tobias in the first place.

Raising the red cup to my lips, I swept the remaining beer and wished it had been something stronger. "That's how it usually looks," she said, almost sounding defeated - as if she didn't like it any more than I.