“What do you say we leave for California?
If we drive all night we can make it by the morning
And no one has to know if we decide to go.
What do you say we leave for California?”
-Metro Station – “California”

After dinner, I walked with Chris and Chiyo back to our room. I had to open the door because Chiyo locked her key inside when Chris came and whisked her away for lunch. They were being all mushy when I opened the door. I froze when I did, though.

There, sitting dead center of my bed was my moon. I could see a piece of paper sticking out from under it. I grabbed it, and printed on it from a computer, it said I’m sorry. I frowned. That was it.

“Oh my gosh, it’s your moon,” Chiyo said, clearly surprised. “Who brought it back?”

“I don’t know, but this was with it,” I said, handing her the paper. I frowned at the globe again.

You know how in the center, where the equator would be on the earth, there’s like, a crease or whatever and that’s how it’s put together? Well, it’s wasn’t on straight. My frown deepened and I tried to push it back into place. That resulted in the two pieces coming completely apart and me hurting myself somehow.

“Fuck,” I said, holding my now hurt hand and looking at the globe.

“Smooth,” Chiyo said with a small laugh. Chris was just watching. I looked at the globe trying to decide how to put it together.

Through the center, there was a bar that kept the globe itself from rolling away. However, it was longer than the diameter of the sphere, so the two pieces of the moon were able to move up and down. With a sigh, I moved the globe with the intention of fixing it later. But then another piece of paper fell out. This one was written on in red pen. I could tell it was a gel pen. Behind me, I heard Chris’s sudden intake of breath. I turned to look at him, holding up the piece of paper.

“You know what this is?” I asked and he nodded. “What’s it about?”

“Just read it. We’ll be right out here,” he said, pulling Chiyo from the room. I frowned as he closed the door. I sat on my bed in front off my moon. As soon as I opened the letter, I recognized the handwriting.

Hey Dani-ella. So, you obviously broke the moon, too. Yeah, it was a complete accident that happened on the way back from LA. Freaking Chris sat on it. He needs to lose some weight.
Anyways, I figured since it was open, I’d leave you a surprise. Assuming that you open it, too. If not, then this would be a complete waste of time and you wouldn’t even be reading it. But I know you enough that you will end up popping the top off sooner or later. I just hope it didn’t happen because you threw it at my head or something.
Hey. You remember that time at the bonfire? The time we went skinny dipping? I was thinking about that just now. You look amazing naked, you know? You should get that way more often, special for me. You should know that’s one of the few things that I never told Chris. I couldn’t not tell him about the rest. You’re the first girlfriend I ever had. Or at least made official. I miss you. Five days was definitely too long to be away from you. I think I’ll die in Ohio without you by my side. You should reconsider going there. I honestly don’t know why there’s a Miami University in Ohio.
I still think you should have dyed your hair red instead of purple. That barely matched anything you owned. Red matches everything, don’t you know?
Well, Mom is complaining because I’m not helping her clean up. Just so you know, I love you.
Oh right, if you need help putting it together, just call me. I’ll put this crap together somehow.
Hasta luego,
BAD-ass.

Even though I was pretty much crying, I had to laugh at his signature. It made me wish my initials spelled something cool. I got up, opening the door to my room to find Chris waiting for me. He pulled me into a hug without a word.

“He didn’t even put it back together,” Chris told me when I asked for help. “I did.” I laughed a little and he smiled.

“You sat on it and broke it in the first place,” I reminded him and he rolled his eyes. I put the unfolded note on my desk as Chris forced the two pieces back together.

“Ash said they might be doing a memorial service,” I said, my chest tightening. “I don’t know when, but me and him aren’t going to go.” Chris’s eyes met mine, and I could see his angry. “It’s not like that, Chris. It’s just… I can’t go there because people still think it’s my fault, and no matter how much time has passed, it doesn’t matter to them. Besides, everyone will go just to say that they went. I’m gonna go back on the sixteenth.”

“The day of the accident,” Chris said silently.

“So I’m going back next weekend for the bonfire,” I said, changing the topic. “Three straight years and I wasn’t supposed to go to any of them. But hey, I can’t help but be this completely awesome.”

Not much happened the next week. Well, I avoided Stacy so I wouldn’t slam her head into the lockers. Oh, and we had taken up permanent residence at the center table. That was one of the most noticed changes in the social hierarchy. I had decided I’d take Paul back with me, to meet Ash. I figured they’d get along well since they were pretty much the same. We left Saturday in the mid-morning. You know, like ten-ish. However, before going to Ash’s, I made a stop at the mall in Westview.

“What are we doing here?” Paul asked as we entered the air conditioned establishment.

“Buying hair dye,” I said brightly. I led the way to the lovely world of Hot Topic. The guy working the register went to Central, so he knew me. He was a senior, too.

“Why red?” he asked as he rang it up.

“Because I’m in a fiery mood,” I said dully. “You going to the bonfire?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m working in the morning today. Are you going?”

“I wouldn’t miss that even if I moved to Australia.” I gave him my debit card and he ran it through the thing. I was thankful on the inside that it worked because I didn’t know if my mom had done anything to it. “See you tonight.” He handed me my bag with a smile and Paul followed me as I left the store.

“We’re going to the bonfire?” Paul asked as we walked to the front.

“Duh, I told you that,” I said. “I wasn’t joking. I’m not missing the senior bonfire. It’s at the lake in the same spot every year. We don’t know who’s land it is, but no one has ever said anything about it, and so we don’t question it. I’ve gone the past two years.”

We drove to Ash’s house and I frowned when I saw Lee’s car in the driveway. I walked to the front door and chose to knock. But before I could knock the door opened and Lee stormed out. He stopped short when he saw me.

“You told her?” he asked.

“Technically, we both told her when we were arguing that time,” I said. “The only person I specifically, and purposely told would be Bradley, and by that time, I had already leaked it out to my parents on accident.”

“I don’t fucking believe you,” he said, walking away. I handed my bag with hair dye to Paul and went after him. Call me crazy.

“Lee, don’t be mad at me,” I said, grabbing his arm just before he reached his car. “I’m being honest when I say that it was an accident that I told my parents. I blew up at Kara and it slipped out and my parents were there. I really didn’t plan on telling them. I swear.”

“Look, it’s not that I’m mad,” he said, leaning against the car. “I just didn’t think my mom would call me over to bitch me out. Especially since she’s known for a few weeks.”

“Well, my mom probably didn’t tell her, and she was probably waiting for that. And that probably happened because I brought it up again last weekend at Bradley’s mom’s. That day was fucking awkward.”

“You had sex with him didn’t you? Don’t look confused, you know I’m talking about Bradley.” I looked down at my feet and tried to fight a smile. “Your boyfriend didn’t mind?”

“Boyfriend?” I repeated, my head snapping up to see him. He nodded towards Paul who was standing at the door waiting for me. “Paul isn’t my boyfriend. He’s just my friend.”

“You don’t take ‘just a friend’ to the bonfire,” Lee said in a knowing voice and I rolled my eyes.

“I’m going with Ash,” I challenged.

“But you and Ash randomly fuck, nor are you two ‘just friends.’ You mean something to him and vice versa. This Paul guy means something to you.”

“He’s just like Ash,” I said quietly and Lee just nodded.

“Did Ash tell you they might do a memorial service?” Lee asked. I groaned out loud and let my head fall against his chest. “I’ll take that as a yes. Are you gonna go?” I just shook my head and Lee wrapped his arms around me. “Didn’t think so.”

“I’ll go on the sixteenth,” I told his chest.

“Dani, I have to go,” Lee said softly, rubbing my back a bit.

“Sorry for telling my parents,” I said, moving away, but his arms were still around me.

“By that do you mean just your mom and step-dad?”

“And dad and Rebecca.” Lee smiled slightly at my face. “Seriously, I don’t like her. She fed me bullshit already.”

“She wants you to like her, that’s all. And don’t argue with me, I haven’t got time.” He kissed my forehead and released me. I walked back to the front of the house, but Lee called my name as I was about to knock on the door. I turned to face him. “Take pictures if you go skinny dipping again, okay?”

My jaw dropped as he got into his car and left. I could feel Paul watching me.

“Skinny dipping?” he questioned. I didn’t respond and just rang the doorbell. A second later, Ash’s dad answered the door. His face was stony.

“Hi Mr. Saunders,” I said quietly. “Is Ash here?”

“The guest bedroom,” was all he said before walking away.

I followed him into the house, closing the door behind Paul. I led the way through the house to the bedroom. Ash wasn’t in there, but I noticed the light in the bathroom was on. I opened the door without knocking in time to catch him zipping up his pants.

“What the fuck?” he questioned before turning his head to see me.

“Ain’t nothing I haven’t seen before, Moonshine,” I told him, leaning against the counter. He flushed the toilet and turned fully to look at me. He saw the bag I had taken from Paul and so I handed it to him. He opened it and pulled out the red hair dye and just stared at me.

“You hate red,” he said bluntly. “In the summer you specifically told me you’d never dye your hair red. You said you’d die before that happened.”

“I changed my mind.” I shrugged.

Ash glared at me and turned to Paul. “I’m sorry, but I need to talk to her real quick.” Paul just nodded and Ash slammed the door closed, making me flinch. “Explain.”

I pulled out my wallet and then pulled out the short letter from Brian. I bit my lip before handing it to Ash. He unfolded it and began reading. I just looked at my feet and remained silent. Chiyo and Chris had seen the letter, but neither had read it. No one had. When Ash finished, he looked up from the paper to meet my eyes. Without looking at the paper, he folded it up and put it into my back pocket. He pulled me into a hug.

“Looks like I’m dying someone’s hair today, too,” he said quietly. I stood on my tippy toes to give him a kiss at the same time he opened the door.

“If I’m so much like Ash, when do I get my kiss?” Paul asked and I felt myself actually blush.

“When you stop screwing my step-sister or I get my shirt back,” I said, not moving away from Ash. “Whichever comes first. Oh right, Ash, this is my buddy and peer counselor bullshit Paul. Basically, he sits around and mocks my life. Paul, this is my best friend Ash. He does the same job as you, only he’s the one telling the stories of my past at the same time.”

“If I’m your best friend, why didn’t you tell me about skinny dipping with Brian?” Ash asked with a fake pout.

“Hey, she didn’t tell me, either,” Paul said. “And she’s supposed to say that kind of stuff.”

“Okay the skinny dipping had no affect on my life,” I told both boys, finally moving away from Ash. “I mean, we almost had sex in the lake, but decided against that because it’d be terribly gross, you know?”

“I try to avoid the lake,” Ash said. “It’s terribly gross in general.”

I rolled my eyes and began to leave when he grabbed my hand, stopping me from going anywhere. I looked at him questioningly.

“You’re wearing a skirt,” he said. I could tell he was surprised. “It’s not even a school skirt. It’s a real, for live, short jean skirt.”

“Whatever, let’s go cut your hair,” I said, pulling him from the room.

“No, no,” he said, limping slightly behind me. “We’re cutting yours first. Sit in that chair. Paul, can you be a babe and get the scissors from the bathroom. They’re in one of the drawers.”

“Anything for you, darling,” Paul drawled. He went into the bathroom and I took a seat in the desk chair Ash told me to sit in.

“So, here’s the plan,” Ash said, sitting on my lap, which was painful. “I’ll cut your hair and then put the dye in. And then you’ll cut my hair. But I won’t let you see how yours looks out of fear of you not liking it and taking that out on my hair.”

“Fine, just get off of me,” I said, my legs starting to go to sleep. Paul returned with the scissors and then Ash stood up. He wobbled to stand behind me.

“How short do you want it?” Ash asked.

“Shave me bald, babe,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“As you wish.”

“Aw, I love you, too, Farm Boy.”

Ash let out a small laugh and Paul just sat on the bed, looking confused.

“The Princess Bride,” Ash explained and Paul’s features didn’t change. “You’re joking right? You don’t know The Princess Bride?”

“Dude, there’s like, cheesy awesomeness flying out the wazoo in that movie,” I said. Paul just shook his head a little. “I have lost all faith in you, Paulie.”

Ash laughed at me before cutting my hair. I watched the beautiful blondeness fall to the floor. I could tell that it would come out very uneven, but I didn’t mind. I hated when I was little and my mom would just cut my hair straight across. Plus I wasn’t expecting it straight since Ash had uneven eyes. We actually proved that once, too.

“Hey Mom!” Ash yelled. “I need a brush!”

“What kind of brush?” she yelled back and I smiled a little at hearing her yell and not be angry.

“Uh, a normal one for brushing hair,” Ash said.

A minute later his mom appeared in the doorway holding a brush but she stopped before entering, her eyes wide in shock.

“Ashley Oskar Saunders,” she said slowly. “What did you do to her hair?”

“Oh my gosh, is it that bad?” I asked, suddenly terrified. My hands flew to my hair and Ash batted them away.

“It looks fine,” Paul said lazily. He had discovered an old magazine and was somewhat reading it. His speaking caught Mrs. Saunders’s attention. She looked at him with curiosity. Her eyes went from me to him and back to me. She walked slowly into the room to give the brush to Ash.

“Mrs. Saunders, this is my friend Paul,” I said with a sigh. “He’s also my peer counselor because apparently I have issues. Paul, this is Ash’s mom.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Paul said, not looking up. I grabbed the brush from Ash and threw it at Paul, just barely hitting his leg. He looked up and just smiled.

“You have an interesting taste in friends, Danielle,” Ash’s mom said and I let out a laugh. “Oh, Danielle, are you going to see your mom while you’re here?” Ash snorted and I saw Paul trying to hold in a smile but failing. Mrs. Saunders sent me a questioning look.

“Me and my mom aren’t talking right now,” I said slowly. “There was an… incident last weekend that we didn’t see eye-to-eye on.”

“I see,” was all she said. “I’ll let you guys continue.” She left the room and once she was most definitely out of earshot, all three of us started laughing.

“An incident, huh?” Paul said, tossing the brush to Ash. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“It sounds better than ‘I screwed my brother,’ don’t you think?” I asked after flipping him the bird. He just rolled his eyes and went back to the magazine.

“Where’s the hair dye?” Ash asked.

“Up your ass,” was my response. He hit me in the head so I turned around and punched him in the stomach. He didn’t appreciate that much and pushed me sideways out of the chair. I grabbed his arm in surprise and took him down with me.

“Nice underwear,” Paul said, sounding beyond amused. My phone rang, and since I had yet to get a new one, I just answered it.

“Yo, yo, yiggity yo,” I said with a grin, not getting up.

“Is that any way to answer the phone?” a male’s voice asked. I sat up immediately, ignoring the hair that had taken residence on my t-shirt from the floor.

“Dad?” I asked, surprise in my voice.

“What other guy would be calling you?” he asking in a semi-innocent voice.

“You don’t even want to know the answer to that,” I mumbled. “What do you want?”

“I talked to your mother yesterday,” he said, as if it were something that happened every day. I swore under my breath, but he heard it. “No need for swear words. I just wanted to know a little bit about this Bradley boy.”

“He’s on the football team, pretty popular, one of my close friends; I think he’s on the basketball team, too. Oh, right, and he’s my step-brother.”

Ash and Paul had the same “what-the-fuck” look and I just smiled.

“Your mother didn’t mention that,” my dad said, his voice slightly hoarse.

“Yeah, she’s probably ashamed of me, but I mean, if any girl was given that chance, they would have had sex with him, too.”

“Sex?” my dad repeated and I let out a laugh. “Your mother left out a lot.”

“What all did she tell you, then?”

“That you’ve been spending a lot of time with a guy named Bradley and that it seemed like you two were serious.”

“Yeah, we aren’t dating. We’re just friends and other than the one time we had sex in the shower, we’re just normal friends. In my defense, though, I was pretending to be his girlfriend for his mother’s benefit, which was stupid in the first place. Oh, Dad, I have to go. I’m about to dye my hair. Toodles.” I hung up the phone and let out a groan.

“Your dad?” Ash asked.

“Apparently my mom left out the juicy details when she called him,” I said with a laugh.

Ash just rolled his eyes and moved to apply the lovely hair dye to my hair. After sending Paul on a quest to find gloves, that is. After my hair had the dye in it, Ash and I switched places. I walked in circles around him a whole two times before he told me to hurry or else he’d beat me up. I knew he wouldn’t, but I knew better than to test him. I twisted my lips in thought and then it came to me: Mohawk. He’d hate it, but I didn’t care. With a grin, I skipped out of the room in search for the shaver. I found it in their main bathroom and I made my way back to Ash’s room. He saw the shaver and his eyes widened.

“Danielle, I would not look good bald,” he said quickly and I laughed.

“You’re silly,” I said, giving him a small kiss on the cheek. “I’m not shaving you bald. It’s just a lot easier to cut your hair with this than scissors.”

Ash frowned as I plugged in the shaver. Is that even what it’s called? Whatever. I went through the adjustment things so that he’d have about an inch of hair left, other than the Mohawk. I felt Ash tense and I realized that he realized what I was doing with his hair.

“I fucking hate you,” he mumbled.

“It won’t look bad, I swear,” I said and he turned to face me.

“And what if it is?”

“Then I give you permission to have another go at my hair after I get out of the shower.”

This seemed to satisfy him and he turned back around. I finished off my handiwork, and it really didn’t look that bad. Honestly, I thought it looked wonderful. Ash sat in the chair as I set off to find the vacuum. I told Paul to make sure Ash didn’t see his reflection until I got back. I found Ash’s mom, and she got the vacuum for me and walked with me back so she could see Ash’s hair.

“You gave him a mohawk?” she asked as we entered the room.

“It looks fine,” Paul said to Ash. “If I was gay, I’d totally do you.”

“Unfortunately for you, he’s straight,” I said to Ash with a grin.

“A mohawk?” Ash’s mom repeated. “I’m still in shock.”

“It looks good, Mrs. Saunders,” I said, plugging in the vacuum. I vacuumed up the massive amount of hair on the floor, most of it being mine. When I finished, Mrs. Saunders was still staring at Ash.

“It actually looks alright,” she said slowly.

“See, I should become a hair dresser,” I said brightly.

“I don’t think enough people trust you with scissors, babe,” Ash said.

“Come on, let’s go check out our new hair,” I told him, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the bathroom. He grinned and followed behind me.

I was right about my hair. It was uneven, but it looked good with all the random layers. The longest part was the back, and it just barely made it to my shoulders. The rest was randomly shorter from there. It looked odd, since the dye was still in there. I still had about fifteen until I needed to wash my hair out. With a smile, I turned and looked up at Ash.

“Do you like it or should I be prepared for another new hairstyle?” I asked with a half grin.

“I love it,” he said, kissing my forehead. I had almost hugged him, but that would have ended with hair dye on his shirt.

“You love me more, though, right?” I asked with a smirk but he didn’t respond, just looked away. I hit his shoulder lightly and he laughed.

“Of course I love you more. But just barely,” he added quietly.

“Whatever,” I said moving around him to leave. I saw Mrs. Saunders had left. “What do we do for fifteen minutes?”

“What happens in fifteen minutes?” Paul asked, sitting at the end of the bed.

“I get a shower and wash out this hair dye,” I said, sitting on the floor next to his legs.

“Dani, you’re fucking getting hair dye on the sheets,” Ash grumbled, coming out of the bathroom. He walked to the bed and sat down on my other side.

“The sheets are red so it’ll match,” I told him.

“So fifteen minutes? That’s enough time for a quickie,” Ash said, kicking my side lightly.

“Okay, I’ll find you a hooker then,” I said, hitting his leg.

“You suck,” he said like a five year old.

“Like a vacuum,” Paul added and I hit his leg.

“If you both want a quickie, go at it with each other,” I said.

Both boys kicked me at the same time and I smiled. We just talked for the next fifteen minutes about nothing in particular. After that time passed, I went into the bathroom – alone, much to Ash’s dismay. I showered quickly and only washed my hair. I had gotten a shower that morning, too, so there was no need to wash anything else. I dried off and dressed before digging out a blow dryer. I dried my hair and then opened the door to find an empty room. With a frown, I left the room in search of my two friends. Instead, I found a few other people in the kitchen.

“What happened to your hair?” Patty asked me, appearing out of nowhere. I looked at her clearly concerned face and laughed. “I’m serious. Red?”

“Yeah, red,” I repeated. “You know, it’s a color, the first in the rainbow. Red, rojo, rouge.”

“I know what red is,” Patty said with a sigh. “But red… isn’t exactly your color.”

“She’s kind of right,” a light voice said. I turned to see a small girl with black hair sitting on some guy’s lap. I knew the guy’s name was Greg; he was Sam’s little brother. But I didn’t know the girl. I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Do you even know me?” I asked her, crossing my arms over my chest.

“No, but I can tell that red isn’t your color,” she said.

“You’re either really stupid or… just plain stupid,” I said with a grin. “Firstly, how can you even think your opinion matters to me if you don’t even know who I am? Secondly, even if I did know you, I highly doubt your opinion would matter at all since I only value the opinion of pretty much one person. Thirdly, who the fuck are you?”

“Firstly, I was giving you my opinion because I figured any normal girl didn’t want to look like shit,” she said, her attitude mirroring mine. “Secondly, I don’t know whose opinion matters to you, but they are obviously stupid if they thought you’d look okay in red. Thirdly, I’m Christa, Ash’s cousin.”

“Oh fuck, you’re Logan’s little sister?” I asked, a grin plastered on my face. She appeared a little taken back.

“How do you know Logan?” she asked quietly.

“I go to school with him,” I told her. “I dated his roommate, which was a total mistake…”

“Who are you anyways?” Christa asked finally and a few people snickered.

“My best friend,” Ash said behind me. I turned in surprise to see him. “Didn’t you two meet before?”

“Nope,” I said brightly. “Though apparently, you’re stupid for thinking I’d look okay in red.”

Ash’s eyes flicked behind me and I knew he was looking at Christa. I turned around to see Christa looking at the floor. Greg was sending me a dark look so I just flipped him off before going to the fridge. I frowned as I rummaged through its contents.

“Ashley, you don’t have any orange juice,” I said, turning around to face the room.

“My dad can’t have orange anything,” Ash said dully. “He’s allergic, remember?”

“Oh yeah …”

People were looking at me until Paul came into the room. Everyone’s gaze moved to him instead.

“And who are you?” Christa asked, looking Paul up and down. She had a sneer on her face.

“Christa, shut up,” Ash said and I smiled. “Guys, this is Paul. He’s Dani’s friend.”

“That means we have to play nice,” Greg explained to Christa.

“Damn right,” I agreed and Christa rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth, about to say something, but someone else spoke first.

“I wouldn’t suggest defying her,” Lee said. I hadn’t noticed him before and he grinned at my surprise. “She’s actually quite violent if you do and throws things. Like knives and plates.”

“You deserved the knife and it didn’t hit you anyways,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “As for the plate… That thing was hideous as it was and you were happy to see it go.”

“I didn’t deserve anything you ever threw at me,” he said defensively and people watched as he moved to stand across the island from me. “Except maybe that book, but you were gaining weight, and you knew it. I just pointed it out.”

“You aren’t supposed to point that shit out,” I reminded him. “It was your fault I was gaining any weight anyways.”

“I believe you also took part in the adventure that caused it.”

“Except I was a minor at the time, so I mean, I could twist that in so many ways.”

“What are you two going on about?” Christa asked and we both looked at her. “I mean, I now know you’re Ash’s best friend, but Lee’s, too? Are you trying to invade my family or something?”

“Aw, you’re so cute,” I said in a little voice. “But I invaded your family back in January.”

She looked from me to Lee and back to me and her eyes widened.

“It was her?” she asked Lee. “You married the queen of all bitches?”

“Okay, let me speak before he answers,” I said quickly. “One: I’m not the queen of bitches. That would be a toss up between Sam, Marie, and Stacy. Two: How can you even call me a bitch when you’ve known me all of five seconds?”

“I don’t even know Sam, Marie or Stacy. And I can call you a bitch because you ruined his life.”

She was lucky there was a counter blocking my way from killing her. I think everyone saw that, even her. Her face was one of triumph, but her eyes told the opposite story. Everyone’s eyes were on me, waiting for my reaction.

“Christa, I think you should leave,” Lee said, looking at me and not his cousin.

“Are you serious? The girl who broke your heart is being a bitch, and you let her?”

“Yes.”

“Christa, just fucking leave if you’re gonna be a bitch,” Ash said, sounding annoyed.

Christa rolled her eyes but left the room, taking Greg with her. A few other people I didn’t know very well followed them into the living room and I heard them put on a movie. Patty smiled at that and left as well. In the end, it was just me, Ash, Lee, and Paul. With a lazy grin, I turned to Lee.

“I broke your heart?” I asked and he rolled his eyes.

“Christa doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” he told me and I nodded.

“Yeah, because last I checked, it happened the other way around.” He looked away with a somewhat bitter smile.

“Play nice, Dani,” Ash said, coming to me with the help of his crutches.

“It’s fine, I kind of deserved it,” Lee said and I raised my eyebrows. “So maybe I deserved it a lot.”

“Either way it was true,” I said and his gaze fell to the counter in between us. I felt Ash burning holes into me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Lee. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Paul watching Ash.

“Can I talk to you alone?” Lee asked quietly.

He wasn’t asking for my permission, but rather Ash’s. Ash nodded stiffly and left the room, taking Paul with him. Lee looked at me before leaving the room through the back door. With a sigh, I followed him out, closing the door behind me. He sat on the tire swing and waved me over. I stood in front of him, slightly awkwardly.

“Look, Lee, I shouldn’t have said that,” I started but he shook his head.

“You should have because it’s true,” he said with a sigh.

“I know, but still… I could be nicer, you know.”

“You don’t have to be. I mean, I was quite the jerk to you in the first place.” He paused for a second and looked me in the eyes. “Do you ever regret us?”

“Which part of us?”

“Any of it.”

I thought for a second. “I never regretted any of it. Ever. Well, maybe the last day with the knife throwing, but that was almost pure accident. I didn’t know it was a knife, really. It’s your fault for leaving knives out and about with me in the vicinity.” A thought struck me. “What are you doing back here?”

“My mom left and Ash called to tell me so,” he said with a grin. “I like your hair by the way. Who cut it?”

“Ash.”

“Am I right to assume you cut his, too?” I smiled and nodded. “And you didn’t cut his ear off. I’m proud of you.”

I laughed and pushed him. The swing moved and came back and hit me lightly. I stumbled a little, but Lee grabbed my arms to steady me. I bit my lip nervously under his gaze.

“Kara came to talk to me the other day,” he said and I rolled my eyes.

“Why?” I asked, even though I didn’t really care.

“Apparently, she needed to vent. And apparently, her little sister is a slut. She told me about the whole fiasco with Bradley at his mom’s house. She’s pissed about that, you know.”

“Why the hell is she pissed? It’s not like I screwed her ex or something.”

“She’s pissed about Bradley’s mom, Danielle. Not that you had sex with your brother. She told me that your step-dad said she had died and she’s pissed that he lied.”

“That’d make two of us.” I was silent, staring at my feet when I thought of something. “Do you ever regret us?” He was silent and I looked up at him. He looked like he was thinking about it.

“The only thing I regret is Marie,” he told me.

“Dani!” I turned around quickly to see Paul walking towards me. “We have a problem inside.”

“What kind of problem?” I asked, frowning slightly.

“Some girl showed up and instigated a somewhat fight with the girl who called you a bitch, and they’re about to go at it and Ash said that you would be able to break it up.”

“That fucker,” I said under my breath. “I can’t save the fucking world today. I’m wearing a skirt, for fuck’s sake.”

Moving past Paul, I heard a crash in the house and a startled scream I knew all to well. I groaned before hurrying into the house. I found chaos in the living room, yelling mostly, and Ash appeared to be waiting patiently for me. He offered a half smile as I walked past him. I found two girls standing in the middle of the room having a face off.

“Samantha darling, I thought I taught you manners,” I said over the two girls. Sam and Christa both turned to me in surprise. “You don’t fight in someone else’s house.”

“You don’t understand, Danielle,” Sam said, glaring at my presence. “She’s cheating on him.” She pointed to her brother who was standing on the other side of the room.

“With who? Mark?” Christa rolled her eyes and Sam’s features darkened, if at all possible. “Christa, my ex-cousin-in-law, are you cheating on him? And before you answer that, you should know I’ll have to kill you if you’re lying. I mean, even though Greg is an insensitive prick, I must protect the world from sluts.” My gaze flicked to Sam for a second before going back to Christa.

“Before I answer, I have a question of my own,” she said. “Is it possible to cheat on someone who isn’t officially your boyfriend or something?”

“Not really,” I said with a smile. “I mean, if you two aren’t officially together, then you couldn’t officially cheat.”

“Well, in that case, I didn’t cheat on him.”

I looked to Sam who rolled her eyes at me.

“It may as well have been cheating,” Sam said, crossing her arms over her chest. “They’ve been ‘dating’ for a few months now. That’s close enough to being boyfriend-girlfriend, isn’t it?”

“You know, a little over a month ago, I may have agreed with you,” I said calmly. “But even though Christa thinks I’m a bitch, we all know that deep down, you’re the biggest bitch in the county. And we live in a pretty big county, last I checked.”

“You’re only choosing her side because of what happened with me and Mark.”

“Bingo! You’re a smart cookie. It’s hardly my fault that you’re not only the biggest bitch, but the biggest slut as well. How many other guys have you slept with without tell me, Sammy?”

“This isn’t about me,” she ground out.

“You’re lucky it’s not about you because if it was, I’d probably have kicked your ass by now,” I told her with a grin. “And since I, unlike you, have manners, I suggest you leave before I get blood all over Ash’s house. We can catch up at the bonfire.”

“You’re going?” she asked rudely. “You don’t even go to Central.”

“And last year I wasn’t a senior, so it looks like that doesn’t even matter. I mean, are you going to stop me?”

“I’ll see you at the bonfire,” she said. “Let’s go, Greg.”

“You can go,” he said. “But I’m not.”

“You can’t go to the bonfire, either. You’re only a junior. And your little not-girlfriend doesn’t even go to our school, so you two won’t be getting in.”

“Actually, I was gonna take Christa with me,” I said brightly and the girl looked surprised. “Greg can ride with us, too.”

“Whatever,” Sam said, rolling her eyes before she left. Christa was still looking at me and I grinned.

“Ever call me a bitch again, and I’ll have to kill you. I pretty much just saved your ass from a lot of pain. While I may be able to beat her in a fight, it’s only because we’ve been friends forever and I know how she fights. She’d totally beat you, though. And I just got you both into the bonfire and no one will try to kick you out.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Christa said, shifting her weight. I turned around to look at Ash.

“Next time you want me to save the fucking world, allow me time to find a phone booth to change. The real reason I didn’t kick her ass is ’cause I’m wearing a skirt.”

“Then you should probably change before the bonfire,” Ash told me with a grin. I grabbed one of his crutches and hit him with it. I walked away, taking the crutch with me. “Dani, I need that!”

“Sucks for you then, huh?”

I found Lee still sitting on the swing out back and Paul was laying on the grass, looking at the clouds.

“You guys missed the show,” I said brightly hitting Paul with the crutch. “It was Sam’s skank ass trying to bust Christa for cheating on Greg, even though the two aren’t technically together. And to think, I always thought Greg was gay.”

“Christa could do better than him,” Lee said darkly.

“Greg couldn’t do any worse than her,” I mumbled under my breath. Lee didn’t say anything so I assumed he didn’t hear it.

“Dani, I need your help!” Ash called from the back door. I rolled my eyes and went to him. “I can’t walk with only one crutch so well, so either I need it back or you can do stuff for me. It’s all your choice.”

“What kind of stuff?” I asked skeptically.

“I was actually gonna order some pizza, but I don’t need a crutch for that. But I have to get stuff to drink from the garage. I can’t do that with crutches anyways.”

“Lead the way,” I said, giving him his crutch. I followed him through the kitchen to the side door that led to the garage. He stopped me from picking up any of the cases of soda and I rolled my eyes and he let out a sigh.

“What’d he say?” Ash asked and I rolled my eyes again.

“Nothing of high importance,” I said, shifting my weight. Ash raised his eyebrows and I groaned. “He asked if I regretted anything, and I said no, except the knife throwing. And I asked if he regretted anything, and he said the only thing he regretted was Marie.” Ash groaned and I cocked an eyebrow.

“Dani, I know that look. That’s the same look you saw who Channing Tatum was. I also recall you saying you’d bang him, even if he is ten years older than you.”

“Channing Tatum is hot,” I defended.

“But my brother broke your heart. Get rid of that look.”

“What look?”

“The look that says you want him back. You will die before I let that happen.”

“What if you die first?” I asked, just for fun.

“Bitch, I’m taking you with me.” My jaw dropped and Ash just laughed.

“That’s not funny, Ashley,” I said, pursing my lips. He grinned stepping towards me and I crossed my arms over my chest as I took a step away from him. “Look, I don’t want Lee back, anyways. I’m not up for heartbreak. I mean, you do realize the two guys I dated and actually loved left me with a broken heart? I’m not up for that again.”

“Brian wouldn’t have ever left you on purpose and you know that,” Ash said, stepping towards me again. I didn’t move back that time.

“I know but still… Say I did get back with Lee for whatever reason. He cheated on me once, what’s to say he won’t do it again. I don’t want him back.”

“Do you want him at all?”

“If I was dead drunk, yes,” I told him.

“Never get drunk again,” Ash said seriously.

With a laugh, I stood on my tippy toes to give him a kiss. It was meant to be small, I swear, but he kissed me back and tangled his beautiful fingers in my hair. You know, I liked to make out with Ash for a reason. He was a great kisser and most girls knew that. I grinned slightly when I heard his crutches fall. He nearly fell as well, and put most of his weight on me.

“Ash, where the fuck are the-?” I heard Christa ask. “Well, that explains the delay.”

Ash moved away and I let out a sad noise which made him smirk and Christa’s eyes widened when she saw it was me. I ran a hand through my hair, attempting to fix it.

“Best friends with benefits, then?” Christa asked as she picked up Ash’s crutches for him. “I don’t mind, I wish more guys were cool with that. Half of them want like, permanent attachment or something, and honestly, clingy isn’t hot. Oh, there’s the soda.”

She grabbed a couple of the cases of cans of soda before leaving the garage.

“That was…” I started, searching for a word.

“Weird,” Ash finished. “But hey, now we don’t have to take sodas out. Okay, you don’t have to take sodas out. Now we can just make out instead?”

I wanted to say no. Really, I did. I thought about it and decided that saying no would be a bad answer. So we spent the next half hour in the garage. When we finally did go back out, there were more people than before. Ash explained that a lot of people were going there before they all went to the lake. At three, people decided we should probably be heading out. I was going to drive myself, Ash, Paul, Christa, and Greg. Christa was afraid of someone saying something to her, so I offered to take them. I can be nice sometimes.

I followed behind Patty’s car the entire way. A lot of people were already there, eating and drinking. Mostly drinking. We parked and got out and got many stares. Out of the five of us, only one was supposed to be there. The guy who worked at Hot Topic, whose name I forgot, came up to us.

“He’s a junior,” he said, nodding towards Greg.

“And he’s a friend of a best friend’s cousin, so he stays,” I said.

“Danielle, you can’t just bring anybody to this, you know. We’re supposed to wait our turn.”

“Okay, I’ve been the past two years, so I screwed that tradition. Look, if you don’t want them here, then I’m gone.”

“And then I’m gone, too, because she’s my ride,” Ash added. The guy looked between my challenging face and Ash’s smiling one.

“Fine,” he said before turning on his heel and leaving.

“What’s his name?” I asked Ash, but Greg answered.

“That’s Sean Johnson,” he told me. “He’s student body president this year.”

“Oh yeah, I voted for him. What a douche.”

Ash laughed before leading the way down to the camp “fire” circle. Then, it was just a bunch of logs in a huge circle around what would later become the bonfire. There were a lot of wooden picnic tables spread out through the huge open space. Beyond that was the lake and there was a small deck that went out over it. To one side there were a bunch of trees. We call this a forest. On the other side were cabins. Most people tended to stay the night in the cabins because it was free and didn’t require driving while drunk. Ash found some of his friends and I followed as did Paul. Christa and Greg disappeared somewhere else; I didn’t know nor did I care.

“Danielle, did you miss the memo? This is Central’s bonfire.” I turned slightly to see Mark making his way to us. Sean was with him along with their friend Justin.

“Who are you?” Justin asked Paul, who in return rolled his eyes.

“This is my friend Paul,” I said dully. I noticed Ash had kept going and was talking to Tyler.

“Nobody brings ‘just a friend’ to the bonfire,” Mark said.

“I guess I’m nobody then because that’s what I do. Besides, I came with Ash.”

“Yeah, and you two are always having sex, so it doesn’t matter.” I rolled my eyes. He sounded exactly like Lee.

“Who was that girl that showed up with you?” Justin asked, changing the topic.

“Christa, Ash’s cousin,” I told him. “She’s practically dating Greg, so don’t try anything with him. Apparently, he doesn’t swing that way. Oh, but my step-brother does, and he’s pretty cute. I could get you his number.”

“You’re a bitch,” Justin told me.

“You’re the one who made out with Carl What’s-his-face.”

“It was a fucking dare and it was either that or do a shot.”

“Every other guy did the shot.”

“Well you made out with his sister Lisa,” Justin reminded me and I laughed.

“As I recall, you said it was hot.”

“Paulie!” a familiar voice yelled. We all turned to see Cam making his way to us. “Dani! What are you bitches doing here? And what happened to your hair? Holy shit, it’s red.”

“Good to know you aren’t color blind,” I said as he pulled me into a hug.

“You’re also wearing a skirt. Easy access for later?” I pushed him away and he laughed. “But seriously. What are you two doing here?”

“Didn’t you hear?” Mark asked. “Dani rules the world and does as she pleases no matter who objects.”

“That is a false statement,” I said. “As much as I’ve been tempted to, I have not broken the law… As far as the police know,” I added as an afterthought. “And trust me, I have wanted to break the law. But I mean, murder is just a little… too illegal for my tastes, you know?”

“You’re weird,” Sean said with a nod. I shrugged before walking away. I noticed that Paul as well as Cam followed.

“Cameron, babe, are you following me?” I asked as he fell into step next to me and Paul did the same.

“You haven’t explained what you’re doing here,” he explained.

“Is it that big of a deal that I’m here?” He looked away and I knew that look he tried to hide. “What do you have planned?” He didn’t answer and I hit his arm lightly. “Cameron, I know you pretty well and you have that same look you got when we stole that car.”

“You stole a car?” Paul repeated.

“I left out a few details, sue me,” I said, waving him off. “What are you going to do Cam?”

“Nothing,” he said with a sigh. He put his hands in his pockets as we reached where Ash and Tyler were talking with a few other people.

“If it involves breaking the law, you know what to do, right?” I asked and Cam smirked as he looked out at the lake.

Cameron was not the best influence over me. We go into a lot of trouble, in and out of school. We’d not really break the law seriously, but we didn’t exactly abide by all the rules. We ended up getting temporarily banned from the mall, the movies, and even Dairy Queen. I missed quite a bit of cheer practice due to being in detention almost daily. Stealing that car wasn’t even the worst thing we did. Once we broke into his neighbor’s house so we could go swimming in their pool. It didn’t matter that we could always just go to Sam’s or someone else’s; a lot of our friends had pools. But it was around eight at night and his neighbors had just left, and we were bored. So instead of just hopping the fence, we went through the house. We did it a few times and never got caught.

“Danielle, what have I told you about breaking the law?” Ash asked in a calm voice, bringing me out of my memories.

“Don’t get caught?” I replied as an unsure question.

“Don’t do it is more like it,” Ash told me.

“Right,” I agreed. “I’m a total law abider. I forget sometimes.” Ash narrowed his eye at me and I simply grinned. He didn’t know about all of the things I had done. He knew about the car stealing, though. It was a one time thing, though.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mark talking to a girl who looked familiar but I couldn’t place who she was. Her hair was a medium blonde and barely reached the end of her chin. Everyone continued talking while I watched the two. The girl said something to Mark and he turned to meet my eyes. I was tempted to look away, but I just met his gaze.

“Who’s that girl Mark is talking to?” I asked in the middle of whatever the guys were talking about.

“Why? Are you jealous?” Justin asked. That made me break away from Mark’s eyes. I didn’t know he had joined our group.

“No,” I said blandly. “I just know her from somewhere but I don’t know where.”

“You should,” Cam said, hitting my arm. “That’s Cindy Helms.”

“Her hair grew back nicely,” I said with a small nod. “Looks better than before. Fuck.”

“Why’d you cut it in the first place?” Tyler asked and I shrugged my shoulders.

“She deserved it.”

For pretty much the entire time, I stayed with Ash and Paul. Ash couldn’t go swimming and so I wasn’t going to go either. Paul informed us that he could swim at all. A couple of people tried to get me to go out into the lake, but I never did. When it finally got dark enough, around eight or so, someone lit the fire.

“Where are the flipping marshmallows?” some girls asked and I laughed at them.

Thankfully, the marshmallows were found. After I set three consecutive ones on fire, Ash made me stop. Personally, I like them burnt on the outside. But Ash got angry at having to blow them out because to be honest, I didn’t want to catch myself on fire.

“Let’s play truth or dare,” Marie suggested with a devious smile. A few people groaned and others said no.

“We have to, you bimbos,” I told them. “It’s part of the tradition.”

“Exactly,” Marie agreed and I rolled my eyes. “If you don’t want to play, then just go.”

And people did. It ended with about twenty of us. I, of course, stayed. As did Ash, Paul, Mark, Sean, Justin, Sam, Marie, Patty, Cam, Tyler, and some other girls and a couple of guys. I settled in comfortably to Ash’s side where his arm was around me in a semi-protective manner. Paul was on my other side, sitting on the ground with his back against the log. Marie complained that we were all too spread out and Ash told her that he wasn’t moving so they all gathered closer to us.

“Dani, you’ve been here before,” Patty said. “Are there any special rules?”

“Where’s the tequila?” I asked with a half grin. Most people looked surprised, knowing that I never drank. Rolling my eyes, I explained, “If you refuse to do the dare or answer the truth, then you do a shot. Also, if the dare involves another person, they can’t refuse to do it.”

“You could have left that out,” Ash whispered and I smiled. Someone got up and soon returned with the tequila.

“Who wants to start?” Patty asked, looking at everyone.

“I will,” Mark said. “Dani, truth or dare?”

See, I saw that coming as soon as he said he would. I narrowed my eyes at him and said, “Truth.”

“Out of all the guys you’ve had sex with, who was the best?” Looking around the circle, I saw that two of the possible choices were there. I didn’t have to think long.

“Brian, hands down,” I said. No one looked surprised (or offended). “Cameron, truth or dare.”

“I’ll have to say truth, babe,” he said and I grinned.

“What’s the biggest law you’ve broken?”

“You already know that answer because you were there,” he said darkly.

“Just answer the question,” Marie said and he sighed.

“Pass the fucking tequila.” I let out a laugh as he did a shot. I knew he wouldn’t answer the question because we’d sworn each other to secrecy. He flipped me off and turned to Sam.

“Samantha, truth or dare,” he said and she seemed to deeply contemplate it.

“Truth,” she replied slowly. I looked at Cam and I saw it. I saw the same look he had earlier.

“What really happened between you and my good friend Danielle? I doubt it was a little misunderstanding she got ‘butthurt’ about.” He did air quotes around “butthurt” and I turned my gaze to Sam as well as everyone else. She met my gaze.

“Pass the tequila,” she said quietly and I shook my head. After she did a shot she looked at the group. “Marie, truth or dare.”

“I’ll go with dare,” Marie replied.

Sam looked directly at me before turning to Marie and saying the dare. “I dare you to make out with Ash.” My gaze immediately went to Marie’s smiling face. I knew then and there I should have left out that rule.

Watching Ash make out with Marie was not a very pleasing sight. I didn’t even watch and neither did Sam. We were too busy watching each other. She was trying to gage my reaction and I was too busy trying to not be pissed and drown her in the lake. I nearly jumped when my phone vibrated in my pocket. Paul watched me pull it out and I saw it was Bradley. Standing up from the circle, I answered.

“What’s up?” I asked, walking away from the two making out. I made sure I was far enough from the group that they wouldn’t hear me.

“I’m bored,” he whined.

“I can’t help you. I’m at the lake. But trust me, part of me doesn’t want to be here.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” I muttered. “Just… old friend issues.”

“I can kick their ass,” he offered and I laughed.

“Unless you beat up girls, I think that might be a problem,” I informed him. I looked back at the group at the same time Marie pulled herself off of Ash. She met my gaze and smirked. “If I’m not back by Monday, it means I landed myself in jail for murder.” Ash turned around and I looked away from Marie to meet his eyes. I tried to read him but I couldn’t.

“Dani, what are you doing?” Bradley asked.

“Being bored,” I said with a sigh. “I’m surprised I get service out here.” Inside I let out a groan when Ash began to make his way to where I was. “I’m starting to think I need new friends, Bradley-boo.”

“Don’t fucking call me that.”

“Whatever, I think it’s a nice name. I mean, sure, it’s slightly gay. But it is endearing nonetheless.”

“Whatever,” Bradley grumbled as Ash reached me on one crutch. He waited for me to tell the person on the phone I had to go, but I didn’t. Instead of waiting, he grabbed the phone and closed it. He put it in his pocket and stared at me.

“I wasn’t jealous,” I said and he smiled.

“You think I don’t know that,” Ash said and I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like you have any reason to be jealous seeing as how much time we spent doing that today.”

“Sam did it just to piss me off,” I told him and he nodded in agreement. He still looked me in the eyes.

“You were jealous,” he said slowly and before I could deny it, he laughed. “Don’t try it, Dani. I know the look.”

“Whatever,” I said, rolling my eyes. I was about to walk away when he caught me with the hand that wasn’t holding the crutch.

“I was serious, Dani. You don’t have to be jealous of that. It was just a dare that I had to do because you decided to say that stupid rule.” I rolled my eyes and Ash kissed my forehead. “Seriously. I don’t like Marie at all. In any way, shape, form, color, hue-”

I cut him off with a kiss and he smiled before kissing me back. It was just a small kiss but it sent the right message. Everyone had seen it and when we made it back to the circle of people, Marie gave me a dark look. I brushed it off when I noticed Paul shoveling marshmallows into his mouth.

“Justin dared him to shove as many marshmallows in his mouth that was possible,” Cam explained. I just nodded as a marshmallow came back out of his mouth. I scooted away from him slightly and closer to Ash.

“That’s disgusting,” I said.

We went around again and I had chosen dare when it came back to me. Someone dared me to go skinny dipping and I took the shot. When it came back to me choosing truth or dare the third time, it was from Marie, so I went with truth.

“What was the really illegal thing that you and Cam did?” she asked with raised eyebrows. I let out a few swear words and a groan.

“Pass the fucking tequila,” I grumbled, repeating Cam’s earlier words.

“Excuse me?” Ash said, clearly surprised. He was the last one to do a shot so he had it.

“I said ‘pass the fucking tequila.’ I think I said it pretty clearly, too.” With a troubled look, Ash gave me the lovely alcohol. After doing a shot, I regretted not just telling the truth. “Sean, truth or dare?”

“Since I said dare last time, I’ll go with truth,” he said and I did a half grin.

“Did you really switch out the ballot boxes for the elections for homecoming last year?”

His eyes widened at this knowledge of mine and I grinned big.

“He fucking paid me,” Sean said immediately and I laughed.

“Who paid you?” Mark asked and I was trying to stop laughing.

“Brian did,” Sean told everyone.

“He didn’t even win,” Cam said slowly.

“That was kind of the point. He didn’t want to.” Sean’s eyes met mine and I grinned. “He said he wouldn’t want to dance with anyone but her.”

“That’s fucking cheesy,” Ash said making everyone laugh.

“Mark, truth or dare,” Sean said, stopping that conversation.

“I’ll take dare again,” Mark said.

“Make out with Danielle,” Sean said, not missing a beat.

“Okay,” Mark responded right away. I swore under my breath as he stood up. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?” I asked skeptically, standing up as well.

“I don’t give out free shows,” he told me, sending a glance to his sister.

“How can we trust you’ll do it, then?” Justin asked.

“We will. Scouts honor,” I deadpanned, holding up my right hand for emphasis. Mark grabbed that hand and pulled me away. “You’re not secretly taking me into the forest to kill me, are you?”

“No, so don’t give me any ideas,” Mark said.

He actually did lead the way into the forest. His reasoning was that he didn’t want anyone at all to see. I was surprised when he pushed up against the tree, but I won’t say I fully minded. Mark wasn’t that tall, maybe five-eight at the tallest. He didn’t waste any time before pressing his lips to mine. Weird part is that I was kissing him back right away. His hands were cupping the sides of my face and my hands were in his hair, holding him in place. I was surprised when his lips moved to my neck, but I didn’t stop him. His hands slid down my sides to sit on my waist and pulled me into him. He moved back up and began to suck on my bottom lip before suddenly pulling away. My eyes flew open in surprise and he was looking away from me, running a hand through his hair.

“We should be going back,” he said, walking away.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, following behind him. “You could have given me a warning before just stopping.”

“Seriously Dani?” He asked, turning to face me. I stopped, almost running into him. “I had to stop. You have a hickey forming on you neck and last I checked, you hated them. Ash would fucking kill me if we did anything more than that and I’m not up for that risk.”

“What’s to say we were going to go any farther?” I asked him in surprise.

“Were you going to stop me any time soon?”

He had a good point and he saw that. He turned around and walked away. Heaving a sigh I followed behind him.

“There’s nothing going on between me and Ash,” I said, falling into step next to him.

“Yeah, we all fucking know that,” Mark said. “But I mean, you looked about to kill Marie earlier and I’d hate to think of what he’d do to me.” I let out a small laugh and we were silent the rest of the walk back. I took my seat next to Ash and he put his arm around me immediately.

“You have a hickey,” he breathed into my ear. I ducked my head and he let out a small laugh. “I love you, Dani.”

“I love you, too,” I whispered, for only him to hear. He kissed my forehead before we turned to the rest of the group to watch Justin do his dare of giving Patty a striptease.

A/N: Eh. I wanted this to go on to the next morning, but I think I’ve taken long enough to write this. Sorry it took so long, by the way. But for a week, I was staying at my sister’s, babysitting. But it is a long one. Can you say hecks yeah for breaking 200,000 words?

So there was something I meant to ask you guys… Oh right.

I wanted to know who your favorite person in the story is, out of everyone ever mentioned. And your least favorite as well. Please and thank you?

I'ma give a shout out to my homies Lory Bory and MCakaWriterGirl, who helped make this possible. YES.