“Done.”

Unclenching my fists, I cautiously peeled my eyes open. I waited for another painful sting, but felt absolutely nothing.

Colton chuckled from beside me. “He’s done Sutton.”

 I nodded my head, wanting to look down at my hip but forcing myself not to. What if he messed up the tattoo? I mean, I had to live with this decision for the rest of my life.

“It looks good.”

Colton’s hand brushed against the skin around my hip bone and I felt myself involuntarily shiver. Slowly in my head I counted to three. Once I reached zero, I shot a quick glance down towards my stomach area. Right over my left hip bone, surrounded by a circle of irritated red skin was a small hollow infinity sign. I pulled myself up into a sitting position and glanced further at the tattoo. The name ‘Melody’ was inscribed into the hollow infinity sign, the cursive letters swirling gracefully around in black ink.

A smile reached my lips. “It’s perfect.”

I glanced up at Colton and noticed the trace of a grin spreading across his face. “Well I mean it was my idea…”

“Way to ruin the moment,” I mumbled.

The tattoo artist appeared from the back room with a small bandage and cleaning bottle. He instructed me to lie back down and quickly washed the skin on and around the tattoo. After he was done a bandage was placed over my hip bone and we were free to go. Colton had pre-paid him, but I insisted on paying him back. All he had said was that I would somehow, just not with money. Whatever that meant…

“Come on let me get you home,” Colton finally said.

Nodding my head, I followed him out of the tattoo shop and into the street. It was dark out and a chilly wind swept by, tossing my hair in all directions. The ride home was short, and even though the bitter wind nipped at my exposed arms, the feeling of holding on to Colton was enough of a distraction.

I banished the though from my head and willed myself to forget about his warm back as we pulled into my driveway. The kitchen lights were on and I saw my mother perched at the table through the front window. After taking off Colton’s helmet, I slowly turned to look at him. I tried not to think about how sexy his hair looked all messed up, but it was inevitable.

“Thanks for not making me get some stupid tattoo of your face or something.”

At this he smiled. “If you want to go back I can ask my frie—“

“No,” I said in a rush, “trust me.”

Colton chuckled. “Goodnight Sutton.”

“Night.”

I turned around and walked towards my front door. Even before I became good friends with Colton, I always told myself not to fall for a guy like him. He was too unpredictable. But here I was, feeling more and more attracted to him every time he hung out.

Maybe I needed a break from Colton.

What was I thinking…there was no way I was getting a break from Colton. He was here to stay.

Sighing, I opened my front door and shut it quietly behind me. Just as my mother called out, I pulled down the bottom of my shirt to make sure she wouldn’t see the bandage.

“Sutton is that you?”

I followed her voice into the kitchen and sat down at the chair across from her. “How was yoga?”

“Fine. Where were you?”

“Out.”

She sighed. “With who? And why so late on a school night?”

Taking a deep breath, I willed myself to lie. If I told her I was out with a guy she never met, I’d be bombarded with tons of questions. “Mark. We went to get something to eat mom.”

Hew scowl only seemed to grow, and a strange expression crossed her face. Why did she look so upset?

“Well I’m going to go to bed,” I said slowly, standing up from the chair and swiveling around.

The screeching sound of my mother’s chair being pushed out stopped me. “Are you positive you were out with Mark tonight?”

Without facing her, I nodded my head. “Yes mom, like I said we were just getting something to eat.”

I didn’t wait for an answer before I left the kitchen. Ever since I showed up at 2 in the morning, both my mother and father had been on me about silly things like hanging out with friends after school. Every second I was being questioned, and if I didn’t pass it meant I would be staying in that weekend.

Once I got into my room I stripped out of my clothes and threw on one of my dad’s tee shirts that always ended up in my laundry. I was always the one who’d end up wearing one of dad’s old shirts while Melody looked absolutely stunning in a cute little night slip. I winced as the thought entered my head. As soon as Colton was gone, she was back. It’s not that I wanted to completely forget about my sister; I could never forget her, but thinking about her constantly was starting to wear me down. Her presence in my life was gone, and would never be filled again. At least not completely.

I switched off my bedroom light and quickly crawled under the safety of my covers.  My hand slipped down and brushed against my bandage and I held it there until I feel asleep.

**

The next morning when I woke up, I felt a little bit better about everything for some reason. Taking advantage of my good mood, I decided to actually do my hair and put on a little makeup. I even picked out an old red dress that Melody had bought me. It had medium length sleeves and clenched at my waist before flowing down to my mid thighs. When I got to school with my normally untamable curly hair straightened to perfection, Vee almost didn’t recognize me.

“What the hell happened to you?” she asked, looking me up and down apprehensively.

I frowned. “Too much?”

“Definitely.”

“Definitely not,” Blaine said at the exact same time as Vee.

Vee opened her mouth—probably to argue with Blaine—just as Mark approached us. He looked at me cautiously before turning to Vee and Blaine for some explanation.

“Is it so weird that I don’t look terrible today?” I questioned sadly.

Mark shook his head. “You never look terrible.”

“Well I mean occasionally you do,” Vee added.

“But what’s all of this about?”

Blaine didn’t mean anything bad when he spoke, but for some reason I felt a little kick to the gut.

Glaring at my friends, I lowered my voice to a hiss. “I know I’m not Melody but once and a while I can look nice.”

Mark immediately jumped in before Vee could respond. “We’re all just a little shocked, that’s all. You look really nice, I promise.”

Suddenly I felt incredibly guilty. I had no reason to snap on my friends, they were the best people I had ever met and I couldn’t get mad every time something little happened. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Vee reassured me, “I mean besides the fact that you don’t look at all like yourself, you look pretty darn good.”

I smiled at her, and almost laughed at the attempt to compliment me. Vee was never any good at giving me a good compliment, but it didn’t matter because I didn’t need that from her.

“You’re going to be turning some heads today young lady,” Blaine said sassily.

At the thought, I almost laughed. Never once in my life had I been that girl, and I never was going to be that girl. The bell rang, sending a high shrill echoing across the lockers. Waving goodbye to Vee and Blaine, I walked to homeroom with Mark and sat down next to him in the back of the room.

Once Colton walked in, I snuck a quick glance at him. He was wearing a plain black V neck and dark washed jeans that clung to him in all the right places. As he walked by my desk, I sent in a sneaky smile. Without even thinking about it, I reached my hand down to my hip were the tattoo was. It was a constant reminder of my sister, Colton and many other things.

Class began in slow motion. The teachers words blurred together, and soon enough I found my head on my desk. Just as my eyes started to close the sudden urge to pee came over me. It was like all of the sudden I hadn’t peed since the day before, and I felt like at any moment my bladder would burst.

I shot up from my desk like a bullet and rushed towards the door. “Emergency, got to go,” I called over my shoulder as I rushed towards the ladies room. After relieving myself, I wondered the hallways with a mission not to get back to class. Everything felt so weird; the school halls and lockers. I felt as if something weren’t right, but I couldn’t wrap my finger around it.

And then suddenly there were hands around my waist and I was being pulled into a dark room. My first instinct was to scream, but a hand covered my mouth and muffled the sound. I was getting ready to bight my attacker when a light flickered on and I was released. I swung around to face a smirking Colton. Slowly, my heart started to beat at a normal pace.

“What the hell!”

Colton didn’t seem to notice my frazzled state. Instead, his eyes lowered down to my chest, and then even further to my bare legs. And suddenly my heart was beating fast again.

“Colton—“

Colton’s voice was raspy and dry when he finally said something. “You look absolutely irresistible in red Sutton.” 

I tried to make sense of the thoughts that were filling my mind but it was impossible. All I could think about was the gorgeous, sexy man standing in front of me looking equally flustered.

“Why do you have to tease me like this?”

I shook my head slowly. “I didn’t mean to do anything.”

My words came out in barely a whisper, but they somehow had some crazy effect on Colton. He closed his eyes and bit his lip, his hands moving up to ruffle his hair.

When he finally looked at me again, all of my common sense flew right out the door. As if he sensed my walls going down, he took a step towards me and backed me up against the closet wall. As soon as I was trapped, he had his hands around my waist and was lifting me. Instinctively, my arms snaked around his neck and my legs wrapped around his own waist. And then the one thing I had been dreaming about ever since the night at the restaurant happened. We kissed.

At first we were both needy and desperate for each other. I raked my hands through his hair as he lifted up the bottom of my dress and squeezed my ass. But as be both became out of breath, our lips moving in sync, I lowered my hands to cup his face and he rubbed smooth circles into my back. The feeling of his mouth against mine was amazing, and his touch left a trail of fire blazing down my skin. I somehow felt as if we would never part, but then everything went black and I was in the closest by myself.

And then I wasn’t in the closest at all anymore. I was in class, my head heavy and my eyes closed.

“Sutton wake up!”

I shot up from my seat, a line of drool stuck to my chin. Mark chuckled down at me as I whipped it away from my face and instinctively turned to find Colton. He was already looking at me with a crooked grin.

It was all a dream.

A damn dream.

“Class is over come on the bell rung!”

I looked up at Mark and nodded my head. Grabbing my stuff, I followed him out of the classroom and waved goodbye as he made his way in the opposite direction.

“I take it you didn’t sleep well last night.”

At the sound of Colton’s voice I froze. My face heated up at the thought of the dirty dream I had just experienced. For some reason I wanted it to be real…

“Uh I guess.”

He laughed. “You’re sure not yourself today.”

“What?”

“Hair straightened, makeup, and that sexy red dress.”

I looked down at my feet feeling embarrassed. “I just, I don’t know I—“

He laughed. “You don’t have to explain yourself. And I’m defiantly not complaining. You know I can’t resist you in red.”

Colton sent me a playful smirk but I managed to look away as if I hadn’t seen it. “Well I’m coming over tonight bud; make sure you leave your balcony door unlocked.”

I waved him goodbye and frowned. Bud? He called me bud?

That was right, I was just so totally friend zoned. And for once I didn’t want to be.

**

 When I got home from school I practically ripped off my dress in frustration. For one, my friends didn’t seem to like it. Second, Colton told me I looked good but then called me bud, which meant he definitely wasn’t attracted to me, and while I’d like to say the same thing, I couldn’t  lie. I was so overly attracted to Colton I was starting to have dirty dreams about him at school. And last, a bunch of guys I had never talked to decided that today they wanted to flirt with me. It just goes to show you that looks are the most important things to guys…

Sighing in frustration, I pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a tank top. I heard my balcony door slide open and knew it was Colton the minute he stepped into my room. Instead of turning around and greeting him, I plopped down onto my bed and buried my head in my pillow.

“Rough day?”

I responded by nodding my head.

“Want to talk about it?”

The sound of his voice was so inviting but there was no way in hell I was telling him about my dream. Some things were better left alone. I shook my head. Colton lowered himself down onto my bed and I sunk towards him on the mattress. As soon as our skin came in contact I jumped back and fell right over the side of my bed.

“You’re so clumsy Sutton,” he said with a slight chuckle.

The raspy sound of his laugh made me want to melt. God even his voice affected me…

The room fell silent. “Well someone’s not in the talking mood today,” Colton mumbled.

“I’m sorry, it’s just been a weird and very long day.”

Suddenly Colton’s head was over the side of the bed. I lay on my back as he watched me. “You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

With a sigh, I stood up and made my way towards the door. Once I was practically in the hallway, I turned back around. “Yeah, I’ll be fine though. You want something to drin—“

I stopped immediately at the sound of a familiar voice. Peeking my head over the railing, I saw Mark at the very bottom of the steps talking to my mom.

“She’s in her room,” she said with a small smile.

Mark nodded his head and started up the stairs. Holly hell Mark’s coming up stairs. And Colton’s in my room!

Without thinking I dove into my room and quietly shut the door behind me. “Get in the closest now!” I hissed.

Colton shut up from the bed in alarm. “What’s going on?”

“Mark’s about to walk through that door! Get in the closest!”

Colton looked hesitant. “Why don’t we just tell hi—“

“Now!”

I grabbed Colton’s arm and yanked him towards the closest. I managed to push him in and close the door just as Mark walked in.

“Don’t worry I’ll get rid of him,” I whispered in hopes that Colton would hear me.

I looked at Mark like I was surprised to see him and put on a smile. “What are you doing here?” I asked as politely as possible.

Mark laughed. “I thought that would have sounded more like ‘Wow great to see you Mark!’”

I chuckled nervously. “I’m sorry I just wasn’t expecting you.”

“We planned a movie night like weeks ago. Remember you said today was like the only day you could do it?”

I thought back to a few weeks ago and suddenly remembered. We had been sitting at the lunch table when Mark confronted me about being upset that we hadn’t hung out in a while.

“You totally forgot didn’t you?”

I knew I looked absolutely guilty. “Sorry I’ve just been busy with homework and what not.”

He shrugged. “It’s fine. So I was thinking She’s the Man or This is the End?”

I took a peek at my closest door and then back at Mark. What was I supposed to do? How could I get him out of here?

“Sure, that sounds good,” I told him.

Mark plopped down on my bed and turned on the TV. In five minutes I would just ask him to go get some drinks or maybe he would have to go to the bathroom…

Five minutes passed.

And then fifteen.

And then suddenly we were forty five minutes into the movie and Mark wouldn’t leave. I had asked him to get me food and water but he simply refused, saying he wouldn’t leave during his favorite movie.

“Mark I’m tired.”

“It’s only seven.”

I sighed. “I know but—“

“Just stop,” he said cutting me off.

“You’ve been trying to get rid of me this whole time what the hell is going on? If you didn’t want to hang out, why didn’t you just tell me?”

I was surprised by Mark’s outburst. He hadn’t lost his cool on me since everything with Colton. I struggled to find something to say. “No I’m just tired but I didn’t want to tell you, and I have a lot of homework.”

“You’re lying.”

“Not I’m no—“

“Don’t tell me another lie.”

Sighing, I looked down at my feet.

“What, are you getting sick of me? Don’t want to hang out with poor old Mark? What, you hiding some boy in your closet?”

My eyes snapped up at the mention of my closest and Mark’s eyes widened. “You are!”

He turned around to face the closest but before he was even close, Colton pushed open the door looking very mad. And the bad part was his anger was directed towards me, I could see it in his eyes.

Holly shit I was in way too deep.

Hey everyone

I feel like the worst writer ever. You guys deserve someone who can upload a little faster, I’m sorry I’ve been lagging, I feel really bad but sometimes I can’t help it. I wrote you this super long, super juicy chapter to make up from the wait.

Love you all!