"What do we do?" Nick asked.

We were standing by the bedroom door motionless for the past few minutes, not daring to go downstairs without a certain plan.

"Maybe you stay in the bedroom with the boys till she leaves?" I was ashamed of my own idea.

"What if she doesn't leave? Or comes back tomorrow? That's not a solution." Nick's words were more fitting to my thoughts than mine were.

I scratched the back of my neck nervously, taking a deep breath and trying to use at least one percent of my brain power, cause somehow all I could focus on was my own heartbeat thumping in my throat.

Clay's voice was loud in my head as well, playing like a broken tune over the unfitting beat of my heart, reminding me how much he feared this moment and how desperately I wanted to get it solved before he'd wake up.

"I'll go talk to her," I finally breathed out, "you know, make it seem like I have no idea what's going on and she got the wrong house."

My hands were too shaky for me to consider my nervous system healthy at the moment. Even while knowing how equally traumatizing the experience was for Nick and George as well, my mind was spinning in circles around Clay - his privacy, his well being, his worries.

"What if she doesn't believe you? What if she already has pictures and proof that we're here?" Nick whispered, voice inaudible at some parts of his sentence. I suppose he avoided the consequences of his friends waking up as well.

"Then we'll have to wake them up," I breathed, "and call the police."

I don't think Nick thought that would even be considered as an option. It clearly intimidated him - he looked taken aback.

"I'm not letting you go there alone. I'm coming with you." Shaking his head, Nick put a palm on my shoulder, stopping me from turning around and leaving.

"That defeats the whole purpose of me going." I furrowed my brows, putting my hand over his cold one that was rested on my shoulder. I pushed it down gently.

"I'm watching you from behind the curtains then. If I see something fishy, I'm coming." He warned, referring to the living room curtains which were pretty thick and impenetrable even for light.

"No matter what happens, don't you dare open the door." I was pretty serious with my words, "Unless you see me get kidnapped or brutally murdered. Don't let George and Clay come as well if they wake up while I'm still outside."

This was turning into a dramatic movie scene pretty rapidly, and when Nick hung his head low and sighed, I knew that he was already accustomed to his role.

"If something bad happens, know that Clay loves you." He spoke seriously as if that was the appropriate way of saying that I was loved.

"The whole point was to say something I didn't know." I laughed, disappointed at his acting skills.

"Oh, right, hold up." He furrowed his brows, trying to come up with something, "If anything bad happens, know that I don't have an appendix."

I took a breath, shaking my head and walking past him. A sudden influx of confidence overtook my body when I reached the door and opened it, revealing the outside world. With confident steps I walked farther and farther away from the house, towards the already familiar girl and the dog.

I wanted to turn around and check if Nick did everything as I told, which if he did, he shouldn't have been anywhere visible - like near doors and windows. But then I realized that turning around and checking would be very suspicious, so I scratched that one from my plans.

As I got closer and closer to the girl, I realized how hard she was trying to act natural and pay attention to her dog rather than me. But I could see the tension in her every single movement. I could feel the awareness in them.

She's nervous, I like it. My house, my rules- I mean, Clay's house his rules. But sharing is caring so..

What am I even thinking about.

I approached her with a smile, deciding to test the waters first by acting friendly and seeing what brought her here.

"Hello!" Smiling, I decided to ask permission to pet the dog which was rubbing against my legs. Seeing that she didn't mind, I gave the dog a few scratches behind its ear.

"Did he get lost again?" I chuckled, taking the girl by surprise. I guess she hoped I wouldn't remember them.

"Oh.. no, haha." Her cheeks were turning red, "I just took him for a walk."

"I see.." My smile was daring to slowly fade away, but I made sure to keep it engraved on my face, "Do you live near?"

There weren't that many houses in this neighborhood, and the ones that were here had rich old couples living inside.

"N-no.. not here." She stuttered, tightening her grip around the leash.

"Your dog must like this area then." With a fake giggle, I started pushing a bit on her.

She knew where this was going. She probably didn't even expect anyone to suspect an innocent looking girl with a cute dog to have such a gross behavior.

"I- Uh, y..yeah, he does, mhm." Her voice was starting to shake. I almost felt bad, but then again, I didn't.

"As much as I hate to say this. Your dog is kinda.. loud..? And he seems to appreciate walking specifically around my house, especially in the middle of the night," I started, "and as much as I love him, I'd like to ask you to keep him away from around here, cause if not, I'll consider filing a noise complaint-"

"No, no, no, no. No, it's okay, I'm sorry." She interrupted me as soon as I mentioned the authorities. I don't even know if filing a noise complaint for a dog is a thing, but apparently it works as a threat, "I'm sorry, I'll keep him away, I'm so sorry."

"Ah, thank you." I nodded with a smile and was about to say goodbye to her, turn around and walk back to the house with victory. But just as I did the first step, which was the goodbye, she responded with something unexpected to say the least.

"Are you Drista?"