***

"So, the executive branch- the president- nominates judges for the judicial branch... and the legislative branch confirms them."

"Yes, but remember the executive branch includes the president, vice president, and cabinet. Only the president nominates judges." I said, nodding to the girl who'd spoken up and a bright smile lit up her face as the pieces clicked.

"Wait, I still don't understand exactly what the legislative branch is though?" The girl sitting to my left said, inching closer to look at the chart I'd drawn for the group.

My political science professor had asked me to help tutor his introduction to government students. I accepted after learning I'd be getting paid thirty dollars an hour, though I underestimated how mentally draining it'd be.

That's why I found myself stuck in a small room of the library with four anxious girls who were continuously interrupting each other to ask me questions. While it was stressful, it did force my thoughts of Rowan and his dad from my mind as I tried to keep up.

"Okay, no problem." I ignored my discomfort at her proximity and pulled a blank piece of paper towards us. "So, the legislative branch passes laws, and in this country it's called Congress," I wrote Congress at the top of the page before drawing two small arrows from the box.

"Right..."

"And Congress is made up of the Senate and House of Representatives." I wrote each under the arrows and circled them.

"-but what's the difference between the Senate and-"

"Let him finish, Jenna." The girl across from me said, cutting her off. I didn't know how to deal with arguments, and bit my lip in unease before the image of Rowan's thumb touching it flashed in my mind. I stopped, and felt my face heat up.

"Calm down, Eva." Jenna replied, venom dripping from her voice. "I was just asking a question."

"Uh- so, members of the Senate represent their whole state, and the members of the House represent a district in their state. Each state gets two senators, but they all get a different number of house representatives based on how many districts they have."

Jenna still looked confused.

"Okay, so for example, here in Nebraska, we have two senators like every other state." She nodded, and I saw Eva rolling her eyes at her while the other two stifled laughter at the action. "But we have three house representatives because we have three districts. You and I can only vote for a representative in our own district."

"Sure..."

"And now think of Pennsylvania. They also have two senators, but a much larger population, so they have eighteen districts, and eighteen house representatives."

"Oh, okay."

"So the representatives elected from each state form the House of Representatives, and the senators elected from each state form the Senate. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, thanks." She inched a bit closer to me, ignoring the glare she was receiving from Eva.

"Sure, so the actual responsibility of sponsoring bills goes to the House, they vote on a selected one, and if the majority approves it, it's then passed to the Senate. The senators debate with each other, if the bill passes by majority vote, they send it to the president who either signs it into law or vetoes it."

"Ohhh, I get it now." She said, and leaned back in her chair.

"Awesome," I said, releasing a breath quietly. I hadn't prepared to talk so much.

"The library will close in five minutes." A woman's voice said calmly through the speaker. I refrained from smiling at the announcement.

"So any last minute questions before we leave?" I asked, crossing my fingers under the table, hoping there'd be none.

"Wait, how do they determine the districts in each state?" The girl sitting beside Eva asked.

"So that's not gonna be on this test," I said, glancing down at their study guide. "Maybe the next one. Districts are drawn based on population, but there've been a lot of problems with that. I can go over it in more detail next time."

"Yeah, totally, thank you." She said, and started packing her bags.

"Can I keep this?" Jenna asked me, taking the paper I'd written on. I nodded, avoiding her playful gaze.

"All yours."

"Thank you so much." She touched my shoulder for a second too long before grabbing her bag and heading to the door with the others. "See you next time!"

The others said their goodbyes and I let out a sigh of relief as I was finally left alone in the room.

What have I gotten myself into?

"The library is now closed. Please find your way to the exit." The voice returned over the intercom, ending my brief moment of solitude.

I stepped outside, feeling calmer as the cool air breezed against my skin before heading to my moms office. She'd asked me to bring home some essays she'd forgotten. I punched her code in and entered, spotting the stack on her desk.

I grabbed it, eager to leave as soon as possible when something else caught my eye.

There was a check on the table, made out to Stewart and Smith Law Offices, LLC with $2,000 written in my mothers neat slanted handwriting.

My stomach turned, and I felt the blood drain from my face. Two thousand dollars? I thought they'd dropped the lawsuit?

I stared frozen at the check for a minute, feeling my heartbeat from my skin. They would've told me... After a moment of hesitation, I grabbed the check and slipped it into my pocket.

Erik was waiting by the parking garage.

"You done with practice?" I said as we walked to my car.

"Yup- you done with your nerd stuff?"

"Ugh, yeah." I said, lacking any energy to think of a better comeback.

"That bad?"

"I just want to not think for the rest of the night."

"Huh, now you know how I feel every time I wake up." I rolled my eyes and unlocked my car, falling into the driver's seat. Sitting all day listening to lectures and taking notes had induced a back ache, and I reminded myself of a grumpy old man getting off of work.

"You hungry?" I asked, shuffling in the seat as I started the car.

"Yeah, Rowan's ordering pizza though, told me we should come over. You in?"

"Sure." I blinked at the windshield, before what I'd just agreed to settled in my head. "Wait, what?"

"Let's go before we starve." I realized I was staring and started to pull out of the parking spot.

"But... you said Rowan told us to come over?"

Erik looked at me like I was stupid.

"Dude, I do not think this tutoring thing is good for your brain."

I sent him a glare and drove out of the parking garage. I didn't know what I thought about seeing Rowan. I knew I still felt some hurt about the kiss, but I wasn't sure how I really felt after the other night. It felt as if he was warning me to stay back, but at the same time whispering to come closer.

But I did need an answer about Ray Warner.

"So we're going to Creighton?"

Erik shook his head.

"No, Rowan has tomorrow off so he's at his moms for tonight."

Rowan's house... which I've never been to. With his mom...

"Oh, okay..." I tapped my finger on the steering wheel, feeling my nerves creep back. "I actually need to drop something off at home first though." I said, hearing a voice faintly whispering two-thousand dollars to me.

"Ooh, secretive." Erik said sarcastically, giving me a scrutinizing look.

"It's just a pile of essays for my mom."

"Oh, shit is she grading those?" Erik dove for my backpack behind him, unzipping it and pulling out the pile of papers.

"I think so..." He slowly flipped through them, his eyes scanning each paper with judgment.

"Oh good, these are all shit. I'll be fine."

I pulled into the driveway and left the car running.

"You can stay here if you want, I'll only be a minute."

My mom was organizing papers across the dining room table, looking as exhausted as I felt.

"Oh, good honey you brought them!" She said once she looked up, managing to plaster a bright smile on her fatigued face.

"Mom..." I set the papers down beside her before digging out the check. "What is this? You guys told me you dropped the lawsuit."

She took it from me, barely giving it a glance before setting it aside.

"We dropped it, Evan don't worry."

"So why is it two thousand dollars?!"

"Listen, your father was talking to them for about a week, it wasn't free."

"I know, but it wasn't worth two thousand dollars!"

"Evan," her voice cracked. "These were the very best lawyers we could find."

"Okay," I said, my voice softening. I didn't want her to cry. "But mom... if this was just for a week of talking over the phone, how would we have been able to afford the rest?" She shook her head and shrugged, looking very small.

"I don't know honey. We just wanted... we just wanted him to be held accountable for what he did to you." I saw her eyes fill with tears, and I instantly felt regret fill me. I put my arm around her shoulders.

"Mom, it's okay." She sniffed and hugged me back tightly. "He's gone, it doesn't matter anymore."

We stayed like that for a minute before she pulled away, wiping her eyes.

"Oh I forgot to say, a letter came in for you."

"Letter?" I frowned, I never got mail that wasn't some automated bank telling me I'd been pre-approved for a card with the highest Annual Percentage Rate they offered.

She pointed to the other end of the table and I found a small envelope, my name and address printed neatly in black ink. There was no return address. I picked it up, and as soon as I did I felt an unsettling feeling travel through my body.

"Oh, thanks." I slung my backpack over my shoulder. "Well I'm gonna head to Rowans, Eriks waiting in the car."

"Erik's been waiting all this time?"

"It's only been like four minutes-"

"Well go then- don't leave him waiting there like some poor dog!"

I bit back a laugh and nodded, before rushing to my room and dropping my bag. I quietly tore open the envelope, and pulled out the paper in fear.

I stared at it, before turning it over in confusion. It was blank.

It was just an empty sheet of white paper.

I frowned. What kind of joke is this? I took a moment to study it closely, surely this was an accident...

Before I knew what I was doing, the paper was crumpled up and I'd tossed it in the trash can by my desk. It'd given me a dark feeling, one that I didn't like at all.

I left the envelope on my desk after giving it one last apprehensive glare, and headed back out.

Erik was still in the car, listening to music at full volume and singing along. I got back in the driver's seat before turning it down a bit, my eardrums feeling as if they were about to burst.

"Turn it back up!" He yelled, over the already loud music.

"I need directions!"

Erik reluctantly turned the volume lower.

"Fine, but I'm still on aux."

We reached Rowan's street about ten minutes later. I almost hit a parked car because I was staring at the houses around me in awe, until Erik jerked the wheel just in time.

For Omaha, it was a shockingly rich looking street. Most of the houses near where I lived were two stories, with three or more bedrooms. But that was because we lived in Omaha. Compared to any desirable state, we got much more property for much less money. But this...

"It's here," Erik said, and I followed his directions, pulling into a smooth-paved, dark driveway outside the garage. I stared up at the house above me. It was built in a contemporary design, painted in dark grey colors. The smaller rooms of the house were on top, held up by large, square stone-patterned pillars, and looked intentionally stacked so that they were just slightly mismatched with one another.

There was a set of steps to the left of the driveway, followed by a hallway that gave an intriguing glimpse into the backyard. These too were surrounded by the towering stone pillars. Lights sat at the top of each pillar, shining an orange glow down, and drawing attention to different spots of the exterior.

Even next to the architecture, what amazed me most was the garden. There was perfectly trimmed grass that covered the small hill along the driveway, and nestled perfectly between the lawn and the building was a cluster of vibrantly colored plants and small decorative trees, each fitting perfectly next to each other like pieces of a puzzle.

"Yeah... no. I'm too poor to be here." I said, turning back to unlock my car. Erik grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

Like Rowan, the house was intimidating. It was dark, possibly sinister, but beautiful.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me he lived in a place like this? I thought you guys were like, neighbors?" My voice had a slightly higher pitch to it. I felt as if I was trespassing just by walking near the house.

"We used to be neighbors. He moved his senior year, his mom sold a few paintings for... uh, let's say a lot."

I held back a curse, and followed Erik up the stone steps. The hallway wasn't long, but I caught sight of the backyard again, which had more of the perfectly trimmed grass and an array of smaller trees, some with soft rose-colored blossoms hanging off the branches like a painter's rendition of a pink cloud.

Erik banged loudly on the towering front door and I cringed, looking around us as if we were doing something wrong.

In less than ten seconds, the door opened and there Rowan stood. I was taken off guard when I saw him. His dark hair was ruffled as if he'd just dried it off with a towel, and his usually steely exterior was replaced with a relaxed attitude. He was wearing a black tank top and emerald plaid pajama pants, holding a bag of popcorn under his arm. I avoided looking at his exposed toned arms, instead trying to think of what to say.

"I almost started without you guys," he stepped aside and gestured indoors. "Come in."

"Yeah right," Erik said, shoving him aside. He grabbed the popcorn out of his grasp and shoveled a handful into his mouth as he dashed inside. "Where's the pizza?!" He asked after a moment of searching.

"It'll be here in five," Rowan replied, ignoring Erik's distressed groan and turning back to me. "You coming in?" He asked, with a sparkle in his eye.

"Yeah, yeah. I was just..." I turned and motioned awkwardly towards the front. "You have a really nice garden."

Rowan flashed his normal charming smile to me before gazing out towards where I'd motioned.

"Thank you. If my moms not at the gallery she's working all day in that garden. I'll let her know you like it." I let out an anxious laugh. The whole setting had thrown me off.

"Yeah, please do."

There was a moment of silence as I looked anywhere but him and his eyes rested on me.

"Rowan, what's the ETA on the pizza?! I'm about to pass out!"

I let out another laugh as he held one back and gestured me inside. I stepped past him, ignoring that familiar, sweet tantalizing scent and finally entering his house.

***