"Peyton?" I knock on her bedroom door.

"Who is it?"

"Leo...from downstairs..." I said lowly, disappointed by the fact that my voice wasn't enough.

I'd know her voice even if I were blindfolded in a crowded room.

I heard her footsteps as she approached the door. "My high school boyfriend," She smiled once she saw me. "What's up?"

"Nothing really," I shrug, "I just wanted to come and talk to you."

"Shouldn't you be hanging out with my little brother, Leo." She playfully rolls her eyes.

"Matt's with him, he probably doesn't even know I'm gone."

"He looks up to you, you know. He has only one sibling and he seems to think that's you," Peyton spoke almost admirably.

"Well, I'm glad it's not. Zach's like a brother to me, but if we were actually related, how could I marry you?" I smiled at her, and she laughed lightly at my words.

"You're adorable, Leo and so sweet to me." She walks back into her room, leaving the door open for me. "Here, sit on my bed," She pats the spot next to her.

"Now what?" I say slyly.

"You know I'm too old for you, right?" She says in a way that seemed seductive to me.

"Oh, come on," I sigh. "What's two years?"

"A prison sentence, honey." Peyton placed a soft kiss on my cheek, "don't worry, Leo. You're going to make some girl very happy one day. You're a good guy."

"You're my girl," I glanced over at her while she stared back at me, clearly amused. "One day I'm going to make you very happy. You'll see."

I sent her one last smile before getting off of her bed and heading toward the door.

"Goodbye, boyfriend," She said the way she always did...like it was a joke.

"Don't tease me," I shook my head and continued walking.

I shut her door behind me and the hall became silent. Quiet enough for me to hear a conversation someone obviously wants to keep private.

"Now? Are you sure?" Zach said lowly. "I mean, yeah it's last minute, but if you want me to come over, I will." He sounded like he was trying not to smile. "Do you want me to bring anything?...Oh, yeah, I can sleepover, that's cool."

I pace slowly down the hall until I find Zach crouched down in a corner, the phone pressed to his face and the cord stretched down above him. "...what're you doing?" I chuckle.

"I'll call you back, okay?" He said quickly before hanging the phone up on its post.

"...who was that?"

"No one," He keeps his head down.

"Was it that girl you like?" He nods hesitantly. "She wants you to sleepover?" I smirk proudly, and he nods again."Well, what are you doing on the floor? Get up, get ready, I'll take you over there."

"...I don't know, man."

"Are you crazy? You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Now get your shit, we're going," I nudge him with my shoe.

He takes forever to do it, but eventually he comes trudging out the door with his overnight bag hanging off his shoulder.

"I'm ready," He mutters.

"Good," I nod. "Matt!"

"Hm?" His head peeks out from the kitchen.

"Would you come on? We're taking Zach somewhere."

"Where?"

"To his girlfriend," I pat him on the back before lightly pushing him out the door.

Matt doesn't have his license, but ever since his brother went to jail three years ago, he's been around in his '64 Impala. I'd guilt trip a car out of my dad if I wanted one, but we're in New York, traffics a bitch, I'd rather take the subway.

Zach gave terrible directions and we got lost in about four different neighborhoods, making a thirty-minute drive, fifteen minutes longer.

"Stop here! The blue house!" Zach says abruptly.

"This one? Are you sure?" I ask when I see a boy waiting outside, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Zach breathes out.

The car comes to a stop and Zach jumps out excitedly, smiling as he greeted the boy. They hugged and it...lingered?

Holy fucking shit.

"I thought you said this was his girlfriend's place." Matt furrows his eyebrows in confusion, "I don't see any girls."

"Yeah...me neither."

"Fucking hell..." My heart seemed to fall into my lungs as I saw the blood trailing from the concrete and over the small step by my back door.

What's he done now?

I walked into the house and was met by more blood, stains on our furniture, and a trail leading to the bathroom.

"Danny...is that you?" My dad slurred.

My eyes widen when I spot him on the floor, "Are you okay?" I ask though the answer is apparent. Judging from the gashes in his face, he's anything but okay. "How much did you drink?"

"A forty," he admitted.

He usually drinks two, so it's safe to say he's drank an eighty ounce of five-dollar beer and then fell on his goddamn face.

"Dad, I've got to call an ambulance," I say, my voice shallow at the sight of blood pouring from the bridge of his nose.

"...no, don't...please don't call them, Danny. They'll take you away from me."

"If you cared about that you wouldn't do this every night..."I sigh and walk over to the phone in the kitchen, my hands shaking as I punched in the numbers.

"Hello?"

"Aunt Carroll— Hey, did I wake you?" I tried to sound calm.

"It's twelve in the morning, Daniel. What do you think?"

"I'll just let you go back to bed then..." My voice cracks a bit as I try to breathe through the fact that I want to cry.

"No, no, what's wrong?"

"My dad...he fell, outside I think, his face is all bloody and busted, he told me not to call anyone, but I think he needs stitches."

"Oh, my god. I'll be right over, don't worry, okay?" I let the tears fall once I hear those words.

It's like a verbal hug when someone asks "Are you okay?" Or says, "Don't worry."

"Should I call the paramedics?"

"Depends...do you still have that thing about talking on the phone?" I could hear the smile in her voice, but I let my lack of a response answer her question. "Then I'll call, just sit tight, I'm on my way."

I nod and hang up the phone.

"Who did you call, Danny?" My dad stumbles over to me, a washcloth pressed to his face.

"Aunt Carroll-"

"No, don't call her!" He shouts.

"It's too late, and she's calling an ambulance. You need to go to the hospital."

"Thanks a lot, Danny. I get fucked up one night, and this is how you treat me?"

"You do this every night, dad!"

"No, I don't," he denies.

"Whatever," I shook my head as I paced through the house looking for his wallet so he could take it with him.

"Are you coming with me?"

"I can't ride in the ambulance, I'm not 18. Just call me when they release you, okay?" I toss the wallet into his lap.

He rolls his eyes and stumbles his way to the bathroom, mumbling along the way, "you don't care about me."

"Okay, dad." I dodge the blood on the floor as I head to my room. Grabbing my bag from out of the closet and packing it with clothes. "Fuck!" I groan and frustratedly grab fistfuls of my hair, leaning against the wall and silently sobbing to myself.

I would thrive with literally any other life.

"Jesus Christ!" I hear a woman's voice and look down the hall to see Aunt Carroll.

"Thank you for coming," I sigh and look down to see my little cousin Raina by her side.

Raina runs over to hug me and I smile at her before leading her with me to the kitchen so that she doesn't have to see my dad. She's 13, but that's still baby years to me.

"Who are you calling?" Raina asks me.

"My girl,"I sniffle and try to gather my composure before putting the phone to my ear. She answered quickly, the way she always does. "Val, baby, hey." I try not to sound like I was just crying. "Can I stay with you for a while?" I'm sure if I just showed up at her door with my bags she'd let me in, but hearing her voice right now is calming. "Yeah, it's my dad again..." I say sadly, "alright, see you soon. I love you."

"Aw, you love her?" Raina coos.

"I do," I nod, "I just don't tell her enough."

The paramedics filled my living room, but I brushed past them on my way out. I hugged my aunt goodbye and told her to leave the blood on the floor, he deserves to clean this shit up himself. How can someone be such a sad, pathetic, fucking mess?

"I'm sorry you have to go through this, Danny. That's not fair to you," my aunt sighs.

"Life's a bitch, isn't it?"

"AJ, your friend is here to check on you. Feeling any better?" My father says unsympathetically. His emotions never match his words.

"Audrey? I heard you were sick, I brought soup." I turn over in my bed at the sound of Alison's voice.

Sick? I wouldn't call recovering from an abortion a common cold, but okay.

"Thanks, hun. You're too kind." I turn away from her again.

"Don't mind, AJ. She's grouchy because she refuses to eat."

I told him what I was going to do, I asked if he, as my father, would come with me.

"AJ...do you know how that would look? Being photographed with my teen mom of a daughter at an abortion clinic? They'd never re-elect me. Besides...you got yourself into this mess, you're lucky I'm paying to get you out of it."

I debated on having the baby just to piss him off, but it wasn't worth it.

"I know we haven't been getting along, lately. I said some things I shouldn't have." I feel the spot next to me lower on my bed. "I still care about you, Audrey...you need to eat to get better."

"Alison..." I feel my tears fall hot against my cheek.

"Yes?" She sounds concerned.

"Please don't date Ethan," My breath becomes shaky as I choke back the tears I wish weren't there.

"Not this again," She sighs in irritation.

"I'm serious, Alison. He's not a good guy, okay?"

He's the kind of guy that leaves you outside of the clinic and thinks he did something right because he wished you "good luck."

"I know you two had a thing or whatever, but it was just sex, Audrey. Do you really have the right to be jealous?" Oh, you wretched bitch.

"Why do you want people to like you so much, huh? No one thinks about you hard enough to be jealous." I lift up to be eye level with her so that she could feel just how cold my glare is, "do yourself a favor and drop him...or don't...I honestly couldn't care less anymore." I wince at the cramping in my abdomen.

"Even when I'm here to help you, you can't find it in your heart to be a decent human being." She took the container of soup off of where she left it on my nightstand. "It hurts you more to be happy for me than it does for you to be sick, so here, have some soup." Alison lifted the lid and tipped the container, pouring the hot liquid all over the right side of my bed.

My eyes widen as I scoot away close enough to the edge to carefully get up, not wanting to put too much strain on my body. "What the hell is your problem?"

"You, Audrey."

I nod in false understanding before walking past her to my door. "You can leave, I'm sure Ethan is missing his whore by now."

"Oh, no, he's not missing you. He's with me, remember?" She smiles arrogantly as she clutched her bag to her and walked out, her head held high.

"Dad! Call security!"

"You suck at this," Evan teases. We've been playing Super Mario on his Nintendo for an hour and a half, but I still can't get the controls right.

"I don't get hours on this thing every day, you dick." I got a GameBoy for Christmas last year but that's all I own as far as gaming goes.

"Want to try a different game, then?"

I chuckle, "you have guests literally in your kitchen..." I turn toward the boys and girls drinking and eating all of his junk food. "You'd rather play games all day with me than party with them?"

"Yeah," he smirks, " I guess so." I watch as he stands up from where he was sitting on his beanbag. "Hey, guys. I'm sorry, my aunts on her way back, she forgot something. You've got to get out of here before she comes."

I hear gasps and whispered chatter that consists of "shit" and "fuck, hurry up." They scurry like ants grabbing all their things and trying to carry as much booze out as possible. I almost feel bad for them, but they still leave a mess behind.

"Want me to help clean up?" My eyes scan over the chips spilled over the counter and the half-empty 2-liter bottles of soda placed everywhere.

"Maybe later," he shrugs. "Are you hungry? I can order a pizza."

"Nah, I'm good."

"Do you want to play another game?"

"Not really..." I admit.

"Then, what?" Evan laughs lightly.

I look away uncomfortably as I think about what I'm about to suggest, "alright, so I have this friend... Leo..." I start to explain, "he gave me this tape, sort of, and I've been too scared to watch it at home. You know, with my mom and sister around and all."

"Tape? Like...porno?" He seemed way more chill about it than I thought he would. It was hardly a reaction at all. He tilted his head a bit and furrowed his eyebrows, but he didn't laugh at me or flinch at the thought.

"Yeah, his favorite, apparently." I try to sound casual though I'm shaking on the inside.

"And you brought it with you?" Evan asks and I nod in response, "alright then, let's see it." He motions for me to get it out.

"Uh— sure," I say nervously and let him follow me over to my bag, taking out the creepy Stephen King movie case and handing it to him.

Evan chuckled and glanced up at me with a smile, "nice." The tape didn't have a sticker or writing on the side to even give us an idea of what we were in for. But, Evan pushed the tape into the DVR and sat patiently next to me on the other beanbag.

"Ah- fuck," I thought to myself as the title sequence rolled. It was full of clips from other tapes, I guess— just a bunch of random women being fucked senseless by dominant men.

What is with Leo?

I continuously glanced over at him and tried to read his facial expression. Again, he remained calm as he always did. His eyes were locked on the screen, but I couldn't tell if he liked what he was seeing.

"So...this is good right?" I break the silence.

"Mm, I don't know," he narrows his eyes. "They're a bit dramatic, don't you think?"

"Who?"

"The girls..." Evan answers, "they're moaning before the guy even does anything." I laugh in response. "See, all he's doing is kissing down her stomach."

"Maybe she's moaning in anticipation," I shrug.

"No one does that," he scoffs as if he knows everything.

"Or...maybe no one does that with you," I challenge.

"Oh, yeah?" Evan says in disbelief.

"Yeah." I don't falter.

We hold eye contact for a few seconds, but the nerves running through my body made it feel like hours. I almost thought I imagined his eyes shifting down to my lips...but that's when he came onto me.

Evan's lips pressed hard against mine, I was at a loss for breath. He pulled me onto the ground under him and held me there, a hostage to him.

It was passionate, yet rough...his lips are so soft.

He sat up for a second to pull his shirt off, never taking his eyes off of mine, my heart is racing.

"Let's turn this shit off." Evan reaches over and presses the power button on the tv.

All I could do was stare up at him, that is until his body pressed to mine again, and his teeth gently bit down on my neck while his hand brushed against my skin, slowly lifting up my shirt.

His hips moved over me causing friction between us, and I fidget at how good it feels.

"Fuck," I moaned breathily, causing Evan to chuckle and smirk down at me.

"Anticipation?"