We drive for what seems like miles. The February air is chilly, but warm enough for us to drive with the windows down. We are so close to warm weather I can feel it as my hair whips in the wind. Flint offered to drive my car and I didn't object. It's nice to lose myself in the scenery and music.

The faint sound of Charlotte Rising plays through the car speakers as we drive. It's easy to fall into the moment with him and sing. A strange sensation of calm rushes over me, even as we go through unfamiliar roads.

He pulls into a long driveway. The main house on the property appears abandoned, with paint peeling and rickety old shutters loosely hanging from the siding.

I should be nervous about taking a drive with a boy I hardly know, but I'm not. Today feels different, like two friends escaping reality for a bit.

"See that garage back there?" Flint points to the left side of the house, in front of the gravel driveway.

Following his line of sight there's a garage that's more updated than the house itself. Clean gray siding lines the outer walls of the small rectangular building.

"Where are we exactly? That house is like something out of a horror movie."

Flint chuckles. "This is where we practice, it's my buddy's place. After seeing your music room I thought it might cheer you up."

I narrow my eyes on him. "And your friend is okay with us being here?"

"Yeah. I sent him a text while you were talking to your dad. Want to see where the magic happens?" he questions, wiggling his brows.

"I hope the magic we're talking about is music." There's a flirtatious edge to my words, that even he catches.

Flint winks and butterflies emerge in my stomach.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Bennett," he says, with an amused smile on his face.

We step out of the car and I follow him around the back of the garage to the door. He pulls out a key like he owns the place and allows me to go in ahead of him. He reaches around to turn on the lights, they flicker on and I'm in awe. The way everything is set up reminds me of a real recording studio. The hallway to the back is even lined with pictures of artists, some are signed too.

Flint steps ahead to turn on the light in the main room. My jaw drops at the sight of it all. There's a recording booth with glass, a mixing board, and several instruments scattered about the room.

"This is awesome." I spin around to make sure that I don't miss anything.

I peek through the glass of the studio and eye the board. What I wouldn't give to learn how to use that.

"I have an idea, let's play a game," he suggests.

"What kind of game?" I give a questioning look.

He rubs his hands together and narrows his eyes at me. "How many songs can you actually play on the guitar?"

I scoff. "Are you kidding me? I've got a pretty wide range."

Laughing he replies, "Oh, so now you're an expert?"

I'm taken aback by how easy the banter between us becomes as we spend more time together. Am I flirting? Shit, I think I am.

"Guess you'll just have to find out."

I walk over to a beautiful metallic blue Fender Strat.

"Okay, so we have to guess the band based off of the music, or lyrics if you want to add them."

He grabs two black crates for us to sit on, then reaches for the light gray Strat sitting on a stand on the opposite side of the room.

"I like the way you think, Rogers."

As we sit his phone goes off, he sends it to voicemail and takes a seat on the crate. I plop down on the empty one beside him. Turning my legs they briefly graze against his. I shiver and hope to god he doesn't notice. I start to tune the guitar when his phone goes off again.

"You can get that, I'll be okay."

He eyes me, like he's afraid I might break if I'm left alone for a few minutes.

"I'm fine, I've got a guitar in my hand so everything is right in the world." I muster a smile.

The phone stops ringing, but picks back up a second later. He throws me a grin before heading over into the hallway to take the call. He leaves the door ajar. I try to play lightly so I'm not eavesdropping.

"Hey, Mom." He sighs. "No, I'm not at school." He pauses. "You know I haven't touched the stuff in a year. Tell him I wasn't feeling well and fell asleep in my car at school." He pauses again listening to her. "I'm..." he hesitates. "I'm helping out a friend."

My body reacts to the word friend. Is that really what we are now? Guilt washes over me. He's trying so hard to be a friend, while I'm convincing myself that it could never work between us.

"No it's not them I swear to you. You know me better than that. It's... Marnie."

There's silence on his end.

"Yeah she saw it. I'm keeping her company while she figures it all out. Okay, I will. Bye."

I pretend I wasn't listening and start fooling around with some chords. He comes back in and smiles. "Sorry. Mom was worried. She says hi."

He sits back down and picks up the guitar. He strums a few chords and refuses to make eye contact with me.

"It's okay. Is she mad?"

He shakes his head. "A little annoyed, but she'll get over it."

"Your mom was okay with you helping me?"

I don't know why I'm looking for him to open up, but part of me wants him to. Maybe if he does I can justify the title of friends.

"She likes you, Marnie. She's not happy with my decision, but she wants you to be ok."

I leave it at that, because the thought of pushing this further leaves a nagging heaviness in my stomach. I don't bring up his dad or the comment he made about not doing something for a year. I remember the crowd he used to hang out with. They were bad news.

"I see that questioning look in your eyes, spit it out, what do you want to know?"

I'm taken aback by his question, guess my face wasn't as subtle as I wanted it to be.

"Who does your mom not want you to be with?" I ask.

I figure that's safer than asking about his dad.

He sighs."After my brother passed I was in a dark place. Dad started drinking and suddenly it really showed that my brother was the only one dad truly cared about."

I stop strumming the guitar and pay attention.

"I got into the wrong crowd, which is probably why you had this image of me in your head, because I was that guy. I fell in deep and then in the middle of sophomore year I met Ryder and we started a band together. Things started falling into place. The band saved my life."

I don't know how to respond, because I didn't think he'd actually tell me.

"I'm sorry." I'm not sure what else to say to make the sadness in his eyes vanish.

"It's all good, it's in the past now."

A few moments of silence pass between us. He looks up and our eyes meet. My breath catches in my throat.

"Ready to eat my dust?" I ask, shaking off the weird feeling.

His smile reaches his eyes, washing away any ounce of sadness in them.

He laughs. "There's no way, because I'm winning this thing."'

He's got another thing coming if he thinks he's the one that will beat me. I may have distanced myself from music, but it's not something I can forget.

"I'll go first," I say with confidence.

He raises a brow at me. "Okay, be my guest..."

I wiggle my fingers in preparation. He brings his game face on, scrunching his nose, and the look alone makes me laugh. He's so serious like we're in an actual competition. I hope he's aware of my vast knowledge of music for this genre. I'm so ready to kick his ass.

When I don't start he snickers. "Nervous?" The teasing in his voice is playful, but I still scowl at him.

"Oh, shush you!"

I place my hands where they need to go and take several deep breaths before picking at the strings.

"There's a reason why..." he sings.

I scowl at him, but continue to play the song while he sings. Everything naturally falls into place as if we'd been singing together our whole lives. When I stop playing his laughter fills the room.

"Told you I was good," he smirks.

"That was one song. Ugh, can't believe you knew"Jaded," I sigh.

It only takes him a moment to decide what to play. A familiar tune has me tapping the side of the guitar. Singing along to this song is as easy as pie.

We go back and forth for a while without anyone moving ahead of the other. I'm shocked when he caught on to a song that wasn't part of the mainstream bands that blew through that era of music, but he even got that.

"I thought I had you on that one," I say.

I don't remember the last time I smiled for this long, or lost myself in music to the point where nothing else mattered.

"Guess we both have to step up our game, huh?" He chuckles.

"Tell me about it, you know too many songs, rich girl," he teases.

Our game continues well into the afternoon and there doesn't seem to be any sign of us stopping or either of us losing. He checks off a tally on a small piece of paper to keep score. There's an extra line on the paper near his name. I point to it.

"Hey, you just put an extra one for yourself. Cheater!" I tease.

He laughs, pushing my hand away. "I did not, these points are all very much earned."

I roll my eyes.

"I can see the future and I know I'll get the next one," he says, confidently.

"Very unlikely, I'm about to throw you for a loop," I tell him.

He leans forward on his crate and stares me down. "Oh, is that a challenge?" he asks.

"Round two... fight," I say, wiggling my brows.

His smile widens. "Wait, no. You didn't just quote Mortal Kombat."

It's my turn to lean forward, our faces meet in the middle. The closer I get the more my eyes decide they want to inspect his lips. Why am I even thinking about that right now? We're over here playing a friendly game and I'm the one with my mind elsewhere. Our foreheads touch and he closes his eyes. A silent gasp escapes my lips.

He pulls back suddenly. "Seriously, where did you come from?" A loud chuckle came from deep down inside his chest. He acts as if the moment we had didn't happen.

I shrug and smile. "All I can hear in my head is ... finish him."

His face turns red from laughing so hard. A strange fluttering flitters across my stomach at the sound of his laugh. It's something I could get used to hearing, because the sound makes me feel lighter.

"Not if I don't beat you first," he says.

"You are so going down with this one," I tell him.

"Bring it," he heckles.

We spend the next two hours going back and forth. We must have a lot of determination to stump the other. Aside from dad or my brothers, I can't think of anyone who I would battle on guitar for two hours straight with.

The best part is what happened earlier is the furthest thing from my mind right now. Later when I get home in the silence of my bedroom when all those thoughts come rushing in, maybe I'll try to remember how I felt right here in this moment and it will get me through.

As I'm about to play another song my stomach growls so loud that even he hears it. "Hungry?"

"Starving," I say, grabbing hold of my noisy stomach.

"We could go get pizza in a bit. I know this place right off the highway. You won't need to worry about anyone from our town seeing you."

He scrubs his hands over his face and groans. "I'm sorry it came out like that..."

"It's fine." I stop him. "I deserve it."

"No Marnie, you don't."

The serious look on his face frightens me. It makes me feel things I shouldn't, and that in itself complicates things.

"One more round?" I ask, attempting to make the tension in the room disappear.

"Oh you're on," he says, with a reassuring smile.

***

We don't spend a long time at the pizzeria, because it's Flint's day to pick up Connor at aftercare, so we have to head back. I'm grateful that he saved me from having to go through this alone. I thought the people I cared most about would have been there for me, but instead the person I least expected to be there, was. Our ride back is quiet, Flint drives again. I keep teasing him because he's secretly in love with my car, even if it isn't his favorite. He is trying to convince me otherwise.

"Shit." He says out of nowhere. "I forgot my brother's booster seat at the house, do you mind if we swing back to get it? And is it okay if we go straight there? I promise I'll drive you back to the school right after we get him."

I catch him watching me for a brief second before settling his eyes back on the light traffic as we pull into town. My heart flutters and I have to take a deep breath to keep my pulse steady. The idea of spending some extra time with Flint doesn't bother me like it used to. Honestly, I wasn't ready for our day to end.

"Yeah, I'm okay with it."

I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear and coyly glance over. I'm not sure if he notices, because his eyes are glued to the road.

The stop at his house is quick, he runs inside and is back out in under a minute. The elementary school that Connor attends is across town. By the time we get there it's a little hard to park from the other parents picking up their kids. He finally finds a spot at the end of the bus circle.

The old brick elementary building houses Kindergarten through fifth grade. It's not a huge school, there's only one floor. The town itself isn't big and so class sizes are small.

I chose to wait in the car to give myself some extra alone time. I watch him walk towards the main entrance. From here I catch Connor running out with a woman at his heels. He crashes into Flint's arms and Flint catches him. He ruffles Connor's hair, then looks up at the teacher bringing him out. He nods a few times, before they turn and head back for the car.

As they get closer, Connor glances up at Flint. I can't hear what they are saying with the windows rolled up, but a second later he jets for the car. My side is parked against the sidewalk and as he rushes up I open the door.

"Marnie!" He leans in and wraps his arms around me.

"Hey, kiddo. How was school?" I ask.

Flint stands behind him watching our interaction.

"So, Betsy told Sarah that she had a big nose. Sarah cried. And I did just what Flint said to do."

I raise my brow at him. "Oh, and what did he tell you?" I ask with a smile.

"When a girl cries you check on them. It's not always PMS." He attempts to lower his voice and octave to imitate Flint. "I checked on her and she hugged me." He pauses and leans forward. I slap my hand to my mouth to suppress a giggle."But there's only one girl-"

"Okay, Connor." Flint says, trying to withhold a laugh. "Let's get you home. We still have to go back to school to get my car."

Flint opens the passenger side door and situates Connor inside the small booster seat. As Flint walks back around the car Connor asks, "So are you two on a date or something."

I slap a hand to my face and let out a snort. Flint slides in and eyes the two of us. "What's so funny?"

"I asked Marnie if you two were on a date." He shrugs his shoulders as if it's no big deal.

"Oh, did you? And what did Marnie say?"

"She snorted like a pig."

At first I'm worried that he's going to take it the wrong way, and that this whole day will be ruined. But as I look over at Flint the grin I've grown attached to appears. My eyes wander down to his lips and a want I didn't understand until today returns. I can't seem to shake the rapid flutters that have gone from my heart down to my stomach.

"Since you and Flint aren't together, maybe-"

"She's too old for you dude" Flint smirks at his brother through the rearview mirror.

He starts the car and pulls away from the curb slowly as other parents race across to retrieve their kids. For a few seconds the car grows quiet. I keep my eyes out the window as we exit the parking lot. There's a tiny bit of dread that hangs over me, because the High School is five minutes in the other direction, and that means today will be over.

"Is this your car?" Connor asks, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Sure is." I stare straight ahead, but glance in the mirror to see his smiling face observing.

"It's the bomb!"

Flint and I turn to each other and smile.

"Your brother said the same thing."

"Is that why he's driving it?"

"Actually, I said I wish you had a fancier car for me to drive."

I push him lightly as we come to a stop at a red light. My hand slides down his arm, making its way towards his hand and my fingers slide between his, again. His body trembles at my touch. He's affected by me the same way I am of him.

"Flint's right. It's a cool car and all, but you should drive something like a lamborghini. Now those are lit!"

Flint and I laugh, and our eyes meet again. He literally said exactly that earlier. It's so funny how similar the two of them are. I love how Connor looks up to Flint. I start to notice that every few minutes he focuses on him and positions himself to mirror him. When Flint clears his throat, he does the same. If Flint adjusts himself, Connor does it too.

"If this isn't a date, why are you holding hands?" He asks.

Flint stops and another light and glances over at me. It feels as if he's expecting me to remove my hand from his. I hate that I want to prove him wrong, like it's some kind of bet.

"Lights green," Connor says. And the moment is broken, and our hands detach.

I release a shaky breath and go back to staring out the window. The backseat grows quiet as we hit a small traffic jam from a disabled vehicle in the right lane. I glance back and find Connor slowly nodding off.

"School should be just about clear, but just to be safe..." Flint says quietly.

The school day has been over for a while at this point. He still pulls up to the curb outside the gates and puts the car in park. I hate the way it makes me feel. The parking lot is mostly empty, minus those staying for after school activities, and some teachers.

"Flint I..." I reach over the center console to grab his hand, but pull away before I get close.

"Hey, I get it."

He gets it, but he's still hurt. Things were going so well too. My head falls forward, I'm unable to meet his eye with all this guilt weighing me down. For the first time, I'm not looking to make a jab at him. I had the most amazing day and here I go doing what I do best, ruining everything.

Without another word he gets out of the car. The keys still dangle from the ignition. It's my turn to get out so I can drive home.

He starts to walk around the car. I step out and block his path grabbing for his arm. A horn wails in the distance, but even over the loud ringing I swear I hear him gasp at my touch.

He turns, but I still can't find it in me to look at him. I keep my hand gently wrapped around his wrist and my eyes on our matching black and white converses.

"Thank you for everything. I really don't deserve it, but it meant a lot to me." I glance up, blinking several times to rid my eyes of the impending tears.

"Hey, it's fine, really. I kind of enjoyed our time together today,"

"Same here," I admit.

I haven't let go of him yet. He closes the small gap between us, grabbing hold of me too. My pulse hasn't stopped racing since we held hands on the way over.

The moment feels almost intimate. He slides his hand down and our fingers clasp together. My body stops, but my pulse races. It's like our hands belong together. My stomach drops as if I were on a swing. It's both exciting and scary at the same time.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow," he whispers. "If you need to talk just send me a text or call," he offers.

"Thank you." There's so much more I want to say, but I can't bring myself to say it. I want to tug his hand back into mine, but he's already slipping away.

Connor stirs while Flint pulls him out of the car along with the booster seat. It's small and easy to carry.

"Do you need help?"

He shakes his head. A cloud of sadness hangs over him. "I'm okay."

I walk around and slide into my car immediately putting it in drive. I don't look back, because I'm terrified at what kind of reaction my heart will have if I do.