Music was blaring and I watched from the corner of my eye as Kevin, Hayden and a couple others were sitting on the couch in the basement of Amelia's house, laughing loudly. I was laying down on the opposite couch when someone pulled my legs up and sat down where they were, putting my legs back on their lap.

I looked up from my phone where I was changing the music that was playing through the speakers in that room to see Amelia's brother, Raphael smiling at me. "Hey S."

I turned my phone off. "Hi."

"So," His eyes glanced at the group. "Which one is the lucky guy?"

"Wow, not even a how are you doing? How's life? Are you okay? No, you just get straight to it."

Raphael raised an eyebrow, looking over at the group of people. "Which one is he? The one in black? The one with the vans? The one with the joint? The one in plaid-"

"Vans. He's wearing the vans." I snorted, trying to even imagine Kevin possibly being high. Yeah, I couldn't imagine that, I said to myself, looking at the guy blowing rings and passing the joint to someone else.

"Wow."

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything rude."

"You didn't have to. It's all in your tone."

Raphael handed me a bottle and I practically got war flashbacks at the familiar brand on it. He grinned, clearly remembering too. "Have a sip."

I held my gaze with him for a couple of seconds before snatching it, taking a swig before handing it back. "And that's all for tonight."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," I struggled to suppress the aftertaste of it. "I have work tomorrow."

"So do I. You don't see me giving a shit. It's my sister' birthday, your best friend."

"Where is she right now?"

"She's with Cam I think."

"Cam?" I accidentally said out loud. I think it was the way I said it that made Raphael's eyebrows raise high.

"She has a thing for Cam? Cameron? Out of all people? I've been gone for too long. "He got up and moved towards that group of people before I could even say anything.

About an hour later, I was in the kitchen, taking a break from the dancing that was going on outside. I grabbed a ginger ale, wishing I wore a different top tonight due to how hot it was outside. I was partially regretting my choice to not drink when my eyebrows raised high seeing Diana from physics dancing on-not with-Hayden from the window view of the patio.

Someone poked me on the side and I shot out to grab their hand when I realized it was a very smiley Kevin I relaxed.

"Hi." He grinned, twisting a lock of my straightened hair around his finger.

"Hi." I said back. He's been like this all night. More Kevin than usually I couldn't describe it.

"You're pretty."

"You've said this several times, Kev."

"Just a reminder."

I put a hand on my face, ending up in pushing strands of my hair out of my face. "Stop being so-"

"So what?"

"So cute, it's irritating me," I inspected him a lot closer. "Are you drunk?"

Kevin let out a little giggle that made me laugh so hard, I had to put my drink down in the caution of spilling it. He squinted. "Maybe a little bit-just a little bit."

"Why?"

"Why not?" He retorted, spinning around and moving around the island in the middle of the room. "We're 17, life's too short. Might as well drink at least once."

"You've never drank before?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Nope. It's weird but it's fun. It's really fun."

I couldn't help but laugh, my hand reaching out when he came back to me and he took it. He leaned towards me, his chin on my shoulder. "Is that Hayden with Diana?"

I realized he was looking out the window. "Yeah."

"Interesting," He started humming a song I didn't recognize, his fingers that were laced with my hand tapping against the back of it.

"You okay there?" I asked him.

He nodded, letting out a sigh that was filled with either relief or content. I couldn't distinguish it.

I let go of his hand, letting it trail to his hair. He let out another sigh, his hands moving to my waist and staying there.

"Do you want to stay like this?" I asked him in a hush whisper. I wasn't even sure why I was whispering in the moment. The music was still playing on full blast but Kevin heard me.

He responded with another nod, his hands moving to my back, locking his position, his chin still perched on my shoulder. I don't know how long we stayed like that. I wasn't even aware of the song changes and multiple voices of people talking and laughing.

I pulled back for a moment and Kevin pulled back as well, a smile playing on his lips. I narrowed my eyes at him. "What?"

"Why are you staring at me?"

"You're staring right back."

I shut my mouth at that answer, taking a deep breath and rolling my eyes. I was completely aware of the closeness between the two of us and it made my breathing choppy.

Kevin's smile grew when he realized his response had rendered me shut. "You want to know why I'm staring at you?"

He leaned for until his lips were against the shell of my ear and he reached for me gently, both hands going back to my waist. "Because I like you S."

And that was the first time he had said those words. To my face. It wasn't over text or over the phone where I could imagine his movement but I actually see them. The way he looked at me after speaking, his eyes softening, his bottom lip in his mouth.

Then my dumb mouth, practically opening and closing like a fish, asked, "You do?"

"Yeah, why else would I want to," He hiccuped and laughed, his face hiding in my neck again. Out of nowhere, he lifted me up and onto the high counter and I gasped in surprise, my hands on his shoulders as he looked up at me with his brown eyes. "Why else would I want to be with you?"

"I-I don't know." I answered honestly.

"What did you think?" He whispered in astonishment, his hands on my knees to open my legs so he could step in between.

My breath caught in my throat at the proximity. "I don't know. Maybe that you were bored or something." I mumbled.

"I'm going to waste my-my time talking to you, texting you, calling you because I was bored? You thought me wanting you to meet my own mom was because I was bored? That I was chasing after you because I was bored? C'mon S. You know me better than that."

"Do I?"

"Yeah you do, like what's my favourite color?"

The answer popped into my head without a doubt. " Purple." It was the color of his phone case, of his backpack and his basketball shoes. I kind of figured.

"And yours is red. You love Disney movies. You love chocolate more than the next person. You hate watching shows because you feel like you're not longer part of the character's world and that makes you so emotional as hell that you end up tearing up-"

"Uh, no," I lightly his him on his chest. "I don't cry at TV shows."

"Yes you do. I know this, you know this."

"Fine." I mumbled, taking another deep breath.

"So listen to me S." He whispered, his hands pulling me closer to the edge of the counter. My own went from his shoulders to his neck, my thumbs grazing against his jaw.

"I'm listening." I said back.

"I like you."

"You said that already."

"No, I like you like you," He hiccuped. "Like really like you."

I smiled. "I know."

"Good," He grabbed my cup, taking another sip before putting it down. "And I want to hug you."

"Okay." He grasped me in a tight hug, bringing my legs around his waist and I grinned, a hand on my face to hide my smile.

He pulled my hand off jokingly. "Ah I knew you liked my hugs." oh my God. "And..." He trailed off.

"And what?" I asked, wondering.

"And I want to kiss you."

"You do?"

"I do. Can I?"

"Not when you're drunk." Hayden cut in out of nowhere, pulling Kevin back and away from me.

Kevin groaned. "Hayden."

"I'll take him home." Hayden said.

"But I never got to kiss her." Kevin whined, his arms reaching out for me and Hayden tugged on the collar of his shirt, pulling him back.

"And you'll kiss her later. Maybe at school. Or maybe she'l give you one of those cheek kisses again. I know how much you like those." Hayden laughed at the end of that sentence.

"Hayden man." He looked at me with a huge grin. "Bye S."

"Bye Kevin."

When I went inside and heard a lot of people I grew up with screaming the lyrics to some song, putting it on their snapchat as they got wasted. I found Amelia in her room, lying on her bed, her hands on her face.

"Ames? You okay?" I laid down next to her, shaking her slightly to see if she was awake.

She groaned. "Yeah, yeah, just tired."

"Did you have a good time?"

She groaned again. "What time is it?"

I glanced down at my phone. "A little after midnight."

"It's only midnight and I feel like absolute shit."

"What? What happened?"

"Cam and I talked and-"

I didn't even get to hear the end of that sentence before I heard the retched noise come from Amelia's throat and the pizza she had before and everything else landed on the ground beside her bed.