"I have a great idea!" Dennis smiled widely as he plopped down on one of the seats. I looked at Sam with a concerned expression, but he just shrugged. "Since tomorrow we die, we might as well party hard tonight."

Sam quirked a brow. "We're not going to die tomorrow. And I haven't partied on a school night in a while."

Dennis' smile only grew larger. "Which is precisely why we should!"

"Have you told Cade and Brian about your idea?" Sam asked.

"Nope."

"Are you going to?"

"Probably."

"Is there even a party going on tonight?" I piped in. My parents would fucking kill me if they found out that I going to a party on a school night.

"I've done my research. There's one at some chick named Rachel's house. Apparently her parents are gone all week, so she's having a week long party." Dennis explained.

Sam snorted. "Isn't that the same chick who attempted to flirt with Sawyer?"

Was it? I thought her name was Rebecca. Wasn't her friend's name Sophie? "Is it?"

Sam started laughing. "You don't even remember? Damn, you're even worse than I thought."

"Why should I have to remember? It's not like I was interested." I pointed out, rolling my eyes at my boyfriend. Key-word, boyfriend. He should know why I wasn't interested better than anyone else.

"Um, hello?" Dennis' jaw hung slack. "Why the hell would you pass up an offer like that? Isn't she that hot blonde chick with the big rack-"

"Hello! Watcha' talking about?" Caden skipped over to our table. Just I expected, Brian was trailing closely behind.

"We're talking about how dumb Sawyer is. He let a chick with a big-"

"Alright, that's enough." Sam laughed, shaking his head. "She's a person, not an object."

Dennis scowled, throwing his head to the side. "What happened to you, Sam. You used to fuck girls all the time too."

"Nothing happened to me. I've just got more important things to worry about." His eyes flickered to mine, but I didn't think that Dennis noticed. "Anyway, would you two be up for a party tonight?"

Caden instantly had a huge smile on his face, tugging on Brian's sleeve. "We need to go! I love parties!"

Brian raised an eyebrow, shrugging. "I think I can. I'll just have to check in at home first."

Caden threw up his arms. "Yay! Party time!"

Sam laughed, ruffling his friend's hair. He looked back at me. "You down, Sawyer?"

"Why not? I'll just make some story up to my parents." I said.

"Make sure you let Millie know.0 Dennis winked, and I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm sure she would love to join us.

"Keep your grubby hands off of her." I told him. "I don't even want to know where they've been."

"What? You got a crush on her or something? Is that why you don't acknowledge all of the hot girls around you?" Dennis teased.

"Alright, you two." Sam brought it to a stop before it escalated anymore. I was on the verge of slapping Dennis. "We don't need any fighting going on."

Dennis just mocked him with a sour expression, before turning to Caden and Brian. He started a new conversation in a matter of seconds. They were all such great friends, I sometimes forget.

Recently I had an easier time hanging out with them all. They seemed to have grown more accustomed to my presence, which was refreshing. I was so scared of being treated poorly by them. They were Sam's fiends after all, and I cared about being on good terms with his friends.

Thinking about friends only brought me back to Millie. I hadn't properly spoken to her in weeks. It was ironic how quickly we ended up drifting away from one another. We used to spend every single day glued at the hip, and now I hardly even saw her. Hell, we didn't even text.

I hoped that we would able to come back together after everything. Did she resent me? I guessed that I didn't blame her, since she didn't really understand the extent of the situation. I cared about her too much to risk her life. It simply wasn't worth it.

I didn't know if I would even tell her the full story once it was over. I had a hard time admitting it to myself, let alone saying it aloud. It was always just the two of us for the longest time, and now it was more Sam and I than Millie and I.

My parents knew about us, and so did Alyssa, which I was still trying to decide exactly how I felt about that. After Sam left yesterday, my mom gave me a more proper talking about how I shouldn't have been hiding those things from her. Then she switched to talking about how much she loved me, and how she would always except me no matter what. After that, she went down a horrible path.

She tried to talk to me - a seventeen year old - about safe sex. It was absolutely mortifying. I thought that part was bad, but it only got worse. My father ended up joining in, saying that it was a natural part of life, and should be taken seriously.

I wanted to die.

Despite all of that, I was just glad that it was over. At least I wouldn't have to worry about telling them, but it still wasn't how I imagined things happening. I just had to hope that they wouldn't start telling anyone, because that was exactly what we were trying to avoid.

"Earth to Sawyer?" Sam's hand waved in front of my face, causing me to jump a bit. He laughed at my expense. "What are you thinking about?"

I looked over at the other boys, taking notice of the fact that they were still distracted. "Last night."

His laugh faltered, and I was very pleased to see a light rosy tinge appear on his usually tanned cheeks. "Don't remind me."

I snorted. "You think it was bad for you? You have no idea the things they said once you left."

"I don't want to know." His face scrunched up. "That was the worst first impression I could have ever made."

"It wasn't as bad as you're making it." I attempted to assure him.

He raised an unimpressed brow. "Yes it was."

I sighed. "Okay, yeah, it was pretty bad."

That only made him look worse. Not that he could actually look bad. He took both of his hands and tiredly ran them over his face. I didn't realize how horrible it was for him. The poor guy made a pretty bad first impression on his boyfriend's parent. I would have been a mess, too.

"Hey, at least you managed to crack my dad." I said softly. "If you hadn't done that, then he probably would have ended up never being able to look me in the eyes again."

That made Sam smile a little bit. "Then I'm glad I managed that."

I frowned when a new question popped into my head. "What the hell did he even talk to you about?"

"About how he will kill me if I break your heart." Sam shrugged.

"That's sweet, but embarrassing. What did you tell him?"

"That breaking your heart was never something that I've thought about doing."

I felt my face heat. "Cute, but you said that to my dad, so it loses the cute factor."

"Your face says otherwise."

"Shut up."

"You want to know what else he said?" Sam asked, effectively regaining my attention.

"Oh, God. What?" I groaned.

"Well." Sam began. "He was basically telling me about how we needed to have safe sex-"

"Stop talking, right now!" I yelled at him, throwing my hands up in front of his mouth. I was not going to listen to how my dad taught my boyfriend about safe sex. It was bad enough when he tried to tell me.

Sam just laughed, raising his hands in defeat. "Calm down. I surrender."

"What are you guys doing?" Caden suddenly said, causing me to quickly pull my hands away from Sam.

"Nothing." Sam chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm just fucking with him."

"Ooh, I want to fuck with him too!" Caden got all giddy, rocking back and forth in his seat. He suddenly stopped, looking very stumped. "How does one go about doing that?"

Sam snorted. "It's pretty simple. Just find something embarrassing that Sawyer has done and never let him live it down."

"Ooh!" Caden once again got riled up. Then he slumped over all over again. "But I've never seen Sawyer do anything embarrassing."

"Then be vigilant." Sam told him. "He has to slip up eventually."

"I'm right here." I rolled my eyes. "I can hear what you're saying."

"That's what makes it all the more fun." Sam pointed out.

"You really need to stop spending so much time with Sawyer." Dennis sulked. "I miss you, man."

Sam rolled his eyes, patting his friend on the back. "You're just dramatic. You'll always be my best friend."

Dennis seemed to feel a bit better after hearing that. They had been best friends since middle school. At least, that was what Sam told me. He said that he met Brian and Dennis in detention. Dennis got it for telling a religious teacher that she was going to go to hell for the amount of homework she assigned. Brian was there for sleeping in class and refusing to get up when the teacher tried to wake him. And Sam was there for refusing to do homework for over a week straight. He said it was a phase he went through.

It was safe to say that they all had their priorities set.

I guessed that they just ended up sticking with one another even after so many years went by. Sort of like how Millie and I did. Even after all of the fights and pitiful arguments, we always bounced back as though nothing actually happened. I just had to hope that it would work that way again. I didn't think I would be able to exist knowing that Millie hated me.

I looked up, snapping out of my thoughts to see what the other boys were doing. Dennis had an arm around Sam's shoulder and was currently jamming his fist into his hair. Sam was struggling to break free, fighting a fit of laughter.

Caden was cheering for both sides, while Brian told him that he had to pick one. To which Caden responded with a what's the fun in that? Brian just shrugged.

The entire situation was oddly heartwarming to watch. You could practically taste the love for each other. It wasn't the same sort of love that Sam and I felt, but it was the sort of love that childhood friends felt. Even though Caden came into the picture much later than the others, you would never have been able to tell.

As Sam was trying desperately to escape his best friend's grasp, his elbow jutted out, and landed promptly on the ridge of my nose.

Out of reflex, my face scrunched and my hand cupped the sore area. Sam instantly quit with the theatrics, his face reflecting panic.

"Shit, Sawyer." He breathed, leaning over to get a look at the damage. "Let me see."

I pulled my hand away, instantly realizing the mistake. Blood had soaked my palm, and I could feel it traveling down my chin. It wasn't like Sam had hit me all that hard, I was just very prone to bloody noses.

I tossed my head back, holding my hand over my nose to try and contain any blood that might still find a way to flood over.

"I'm fine." I tried to assure him. "It's just a bloody nose."

He pouted, clearly wanting to touch me and express just how sorry he was. But he couldn't. We were in public, and were currently being intently watched by his friends.

"I'm still sorry." He sighed. "Does it hurt? We need to get you some tissues."

I stood up, making sure to keep my head tilted back. "It doesn't hurt." I said. "But I will definitely take you up on that offer."

And thus off we headed towards the boys' bathroom. The whole while, Sam profusely apologized and promised that he would make sure to be more careful. When we entered the bathroom and saw that no one was in there, he placed kisses to my face, talking about how he was a horrible boyfriend.

All the while I just laughed and told him that he was being ridiculous. I was fine. It hurt for the first couple of seconds, and then I was fine. The only reminder was the prolonged bloody nose.

I would much rather get a bloody nose from an accident involving the boy I loved, than what I was scared might occur tomorrow.

The clock was ticking, and until then, we were just sitting ducks.

•O•O•