"Ally, why are you such a bitch?" Sam yelled at the girl behind me, effectively shocking me. He knew her? Why did everything have to be so complex all the time?

"Oh, come on, I'm just having a bit of fun." Alyssa pouted, feigning innocence. I could already feel my temper rising. Based off of the clench in his jaw, could tell that Sam's was too.

"No, you're being a bitch." Sam took a step around me to peer down at Alyssa's tan face. She looked bored, but her words were melodramatic.

"I'll have you know that Sawyer was the one flirting with me." Alyssa shifted the blame to me, not actually knowing what she just got herself into with a comment like that.

Sam's hazel eyes looked me over. I knew that he was aware that I didn't do anything of the sort. Like I said before, she was not quite my type. But one of them was. "I don't know about that."

Her thin brows furrowed and a small creased formed in between, her lips pursed into a flatline. All the while I simply stood there, still baffled by the fact that they apparently knew each other. "Oh yeah, and what makes you think that?"

Despite his blatant annoyance, he still had some sort of small smirk dancing on his lips, whether she noticed it or not. However, he wasn't about to drop the subject. "You're not his type."

Alyssa's mouth opened, her eyes looking at me with distrust. Clearly no one had ever said that to her before, because she could not seem to accept it as truth. I was sure that hearing both me and Sam say that had caused those words to cut deeper. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with her appearance - personality maybe - but she was beautiful on the outside. I just didn't like her... kind? Or did I? It had yet to make sense to me.

"I'm everyone's type." She insisted looking at Sam with narrowed eyes.

"Debatable." He responded, glancing at me in a way only I could recognize. She was definitely not everyone's type.

"Wait." I murmured, trying to get Sam's attention. When his eyes met mine, I asked, "How the hell do you two even know each other?"

Alyssa suddenly began to smirk widely. She seemed proud with the chaos she had caused, despite the reality that came out of it. It was easily a chaotic evil. "I like this new friend of yours, Sam."

"Sawyer, this is Alyssa. My cousin." Sam sighed, looking down at her with disdain. Cousins or not, he didn't seem too fond of her.

Wait.

Cousins?

The words finally registered in my head, causing me to look at them both closely. It suddenly made so much sense. That would explain why her face seemed vaguely familiar. They weren't perfectly alike, but they were similar enough to see a clear resemblance. Alyssa's hair was curlier and more brown, her skin more tan. Her nose had a sharper edge to it. The only reason I didn't put the pieces together sooner was because my mind was too scattered.

The longer I stared with wide eyes, the more I could see their relation.

"What the fuck?" I murmured with a raised brow, looking at Sam for some sort of explanation. Did his cousin just kiss me? I felt violated. God, I only have one question for you: why?

However, Sam was back to looking at her sternly. "I'd really appreciate if you could just be normal and not try to molest my friends for once."

Wait, had she done this before? Oh, God squared, I think I needed to sit down.

"I did not molest your friend! And nor have I done this before." She stuck out her tongue. "It's not my fault that he's hot."

Sam paused for a moment, clearly trying to contain his emotions. I knew that Alyssa didn't understand what our relationship was, but that didn't mean it was helping. He was definitely beginning to become protective over me.

"Just don't fucking talk about him like that, alright?" Sam threatened her. He started biting at his bottom lip.

"God, why are you no fun?" She pouted. I could already tell that their fight was going to escalate, but I didn't care anymore.

It was getting harder and harder to listen to this. It was too loud in there with the music and other people talking. I could hardly even breath over all of the sweat and the scent of alcohol. Not wanting to deal with any of this, I tugged on Sam's sleeve. The distant image of Caden doing the same thing registered. I pushed the memory away.

"Sam, I'm going to go outside for a little bit." I announced, getting ready to leave.

"Okay, but go out the front, not the back." He nodded after a second, already preparing himself to scold Alyssa some more.

Even though I was curious as to why he said I needed to go out the front and not the back, I didn't bother asking. He was clearly pissed off and not in the mood. Then again, I wasn't either.

Pushing my way through the crowd of people, I stopped next to Millie for a moment to let her know that I'd be out front if anything were to happen. She nodded drunkenly, leaning against Caden. It was definitely not very assuring, but I left her there anyway. For some unknown reason, I really didn't think Caden would do anything to her, or let anyone else to. He was too sensitive to allow it.

As soon as I was outside, I started to feel a lot better. The air was far cooler, and the alcoholic stench instantly fell away. I wondered if someone could get second hand drunk. It was pitch black out, all of the stars hidden behind the thick clouds and streetlights.

Freddy's house was framed by massive bushes that towered high. It created a sense of safety from all of the surrounding houses, even though they were right there and could probably still hear the music as well. I would want to die if I was neighbors with an annoying teen who was addicted to throwing parties. How did they possibly put up with that?

Sighing loudly, I glanced around at the yard. There was a couple borderline having sex on the hood of someone's car. I just hoped that it was their car, and not some poor stranger's. There was also a group of three girls talking while having a smoke on the opposite side of the yard. Other than them, I was all alone.

I contemplated going for a short walk just to avoid the party some more, but then decided that it'd be in my best interest to stay put. So I walked off of the small porch, and passed some small bushes beside it. Finding a nice spot just after those bushes came to an end, I sat down, pulling my knees to my chest.

Why did she have to kiss me? I felt assaulted and gross. Add the part where I found out that she was related to my boy-crush, and I had a wholeass cake. It wasn't even the good kind of cake either, because I knew that there were fatasses out there who probably drooled at that sentence.

After having sat in my nice little nook for sometime, my ears picked up on the sound of a door opening. I wondered if it was Sam. My heart leapt when it occurred to me that it might be Alyssa. What if she wasn't finished with me yet?

As if on cue, a particular beautiful boy came into view, protecting me from the mess that was my own mind. Thank God I had him to save the day. It had only been a week, and yet I couldn't remember my life before him. The version of him that I had never recognized before.

"Hey." He whispered, his hair falling in front of his eyes as he looked down at me.

"Hey." I replied, looking up at him with a small smile. Sam never failed to make me feel comfortable.

His eyes fluttered shut as he crouched in front of me, his hands brushing softly against my cheeks, ridding us of any space that could have been left between. I wasn't concerned about eyes on us, because I knew that Sam would never risk it unless he was sure that no one else was there.

Slowly pulling away, our eyes met. The lingering feeling of our locked lips finally washed away the feeling Alyssa had left behind. I never knew what it was like to be kissed by someone who didn't hold my heart. It felt like swallowing the world's hottest ice cube against my will. Not that I believed anyone would swallow that willingly, but that was counterintuitive.

With a sigh, Sam took a seat in the grass beside me. We didn't sit as close as I knew we both wanted to, but our arms still brushed just enough to keep my heart beating to a silent melody. Maybe that melody was the sound of his voice, or possibly even the rhythm of his breath.

"Where's Jocelyn?" I asked after a long pause, listening to the occasional passing car and the din of music coming from the house behind us.

"Don't know." He murmured, causing me to glance in his direction out of curiosity. "I ditched her somewhere in there."

I furrowed my brow, getting ready to scold him. "You can't just ditch her!"

Sam laughed despite my efforts. "I thought you wouldn't mind."

"I mean, I'm definitely not complaining or anything." I admitted, my cheeks beginning to pink. "But don't you think that it's a little rude to just ditch someone?"

"No, I think it's rude to kiss your cousin's friend without their consent." Sam rolled his eyes, but I knew that he wasn't rolling them at me. It was directed at Alyssa.

"Oh, so we're friends now?" I teased, nudging him with my shoulder.

"Hush up." Sam told me. "And besides, since when were we ever more than friends?"

I felt my face fall a bit as I turned to look at the boy who held my heart. It was all fun and games until I realized that he wasn't even wrong. We never discussed our relationship status, or what exactly was going on between us. Would we ever call each other boyfriends? It didn't feel like it would happen soon. Sam and I were too minute by minute for those titles. I didn't know if I was even ready to start using one.

"Why are you out here?" I asked, studying the depth to his hazel eyes.

"What do you mean?" He replied, his eyes drinking in the features of my face as I did the same to him. Soon enough, he began to bite his lip just as he always did.

"I don't know, I just know that you like partying. And you're here with a hot girl who would definitely be down to get freaky. Yet you're outside with some stupid boy. Doesn't that seem weird to you?"

Sam shook his head, sending those captivating blonde curls of his to drift around him in a dreamy wake. "It doesn't seem weird at all, Sawyer. Why would I want to be in there wasting my time on a stupid high school party that I could always replicate next weekend, when I can be out here, sharing something with you that I'll never be able to repeat?"

My heart swelled in my chest, sending the butterflies inside of my stomach into pandemonium. Was it all truthful? Did it even matter? Right then, beneath that black sky, was me and him. A moment I would never be able to have again. This was the present, not the future, not tomorrow, not yesterday. It was a single millisecond that was ours to cherish for the rest of our lives. Fuck the rest of the world. Fuck Alyssa, fuck Jocelyn, and fuck opinions.

"Sam, have you ever thought that it is weird how fast things are moving between us?" I took the opportunity to let that question sit in the air. Somethings just needed to be answered. Sometimes it was better to ask them sooner rather than later.

"Weird, no. Funny, yes." Sam answered, leaning his head against the house, the streetlight catching on his profile just enough to set a glint in his eyes.

"How so?" I continued, not daring to look away from him. I felt as though the entire world would pass me by if I allowed my attention to wander for even a second.

"Well, I may not have hated you when we first met, but I quickly learned to start. I mean, you don't treat the people that you like the way that we did. Yet everything twisted around in a matter of a few seconds." His expression was wondrous. "Maybe I..." He trailed off.

"Maybe it was never the kind of hate we thought it was." I tried, effectively gaining his attention.

"What do you mean?" Something in his eyes told me that it was precisely the same thought that he had. Despite that, he still spoke tentatively.

"Maybe we just interpreted it as hate."

Our eyes locked for a while, the sound of distant laughter being drowned out by the silent conversation we were having. Who knew how long it lasted, but I knew that I didn't mind it one bit. In fact, I was so invested in it that I was startled to see his expression slowly change. A smile bloomed across the perfect garden of his lips.

When he stood, he offered me a helping hand, his tooth digging deep into his skin.

"What do you say we head back?"

Out loud, I said nothing. A mere nod would suffice. But in my head, three words echoed.

Anything for you.

•O•O•