A\N: Please listen to the song above when I tell you to. Thank you! :)

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Eighteen:

"Bree, yo, will you pass me that bottle of vodka?" asked Michael, pointing to the wide table next to me.

I followed his gaze to table, which was decorated with half a dozen bottles of transparent liquid, some of them looking more suspicious than others. A small part of that liquid was spilled on the wooden surface from all the sloppy drinkers who tried to fill their cups, and an another part was already dried up, making the table look sticky at places.

I turned my head back to Michael and passed him a death glare in response.

We'd barely been in this house for three minutes. It had taken me thirty minutes to convince mom to let me go to this party, and another ten to squeeze my body into my one and only black dress, so I was not going to spend the next three hours taking care of a drunk Michael once again.

That wasn't going to happen. Not on my watch.

"Geez, relax, Bree," laughed Michael, probably noticing the smoke billowing from my ears, "I was just kidding."

I arched an eyebrow at that but he just chuckled. "Come on, I'm serious. I promised I wouldn't drink after all, didn't I?"

I gave him a slight nod. "Okay... Back away from the drinks and I'll believe you."

"I'm not a child, Bree," he responded, but I could see the disappointment in his eyes as he shuffled further away from the drink table.

"Whatever you say, buddy." I followed him as we travelled the improvised dance floor, which was nothing but the house's living room plus a couple of seemingly new disco lights, flashing through the dim lit room.

This party was very much alike to Carly Duncan's Valentine's Day fiasco. People danced frantically to the beat of the song, minding their own fun in their revealing clothes.

And speaking of the Devil, I could spot Carly Duncan somewhere at the edge of the crowd as she moved her body to the beat of the song, her short red dress bathed in the blue light making her look like a 3-D dancing mannequin.

"Where are we going?" I demanded, seeing as we were wandering the dance floor and unintentionally getting closer to Carly.

Michael shrugged, turning his head toward me as he kept walking. "Well, you asked me to move away from the drinks, so that's exactly what I'm doing."

"Michael!" Carly squealed, her high heels clanking on the hardwood floor as she headed toward the two of us. We met half-way near a broken lamp randomly abandoned onto the floor and stopped to greet each other.

Carly approached Michael, flashing him a smile before aiming for a gentle hug. Meanwhile, I remained still in my spot, trying to ignore the green eyed monster slowly growing inside me.

"Oh," Carly let go of Michael and turned to look at me, "Hello there, Bree. Two parties in three days, huh? Your mom must be proud."

I stretched my lips into a smile. "Yeah. After a thirty minute fight, she certainly let me go here with a big smile on her face."

"Well I'm glad I could see you," she told Michael, her eyes scanning his body from head to toe, "You look really good."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he knows that as well," I said in a rather hurried manner, aiming to quicken the compliments process. I passed Carly a slight smile which she gladly returned in a rather fake manner, displaying her white teeth. "Well, it was really nice to see you, Carly, but we gotta go."

Michael turned to look at me and frowned. "Uh, but I thought -"

"Oh, but what's your hurry, Bree?" She gave me an innocent look. "You just arrived. Do you need to take care of something...?" A smile creeped up on her lips. "Perhaps... Your blo- "

"No," I quickly said, my palms growing with sweat. "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

"Why, Bree, you of all people should know what I mean."

"Know what?" Michael demanded. His penetrating gaze drew holes into my skin.

I froze, my eyes widening. My heart beat heavily against my ribcage. I swallowed, opening my mouth to speak but no sounds dared to come out.

I felt trapped.

So, naturally, I did the only thing I could possibly do.

"Nothing. Let's go."

I grabbed Michael's hand and dragged him out of Carly's field of view, without saying anything more.

My insides felt like they were made of butter, and worst of all, I felt scared.

She knows.

"Bree, what's going on?"

"Nothing," I lied. We travelled the whole house, shoving our way to the main exit door.

"Bree," Michael yelled over the music, "Why are you dragging me outside? We barely got to stay here for fifteen minutes!" He stopped into his tracks and shot me a confused look.

"I know," I sighed, suddenly feeling very tired, "Look, I just - I'm not feeling okay."

"I don't think it's just that," he shook his head, arching his eyebrows at me. His voice sounded so small into the noise of the music, I had to read the words on his lips.

"Yes, I... " I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. "I feel sick. I'm really sorry, but I - I gotta go."

I turned around in my heels and headed to the door. Leaving the loud music behind, I exited the house and walked onto the front porch.

I felt like a hypocrite.

That's all I could say.

It was all my fault... Everything was my fault. The fact that I was lying to Michael, the fact that Carly knew... Sure, that wasn't because of me, but if I wouldn't had posted that stupid blog, everything would've been different.

Who could've possibly told Carly...? How did she know?

Only thinking about this made me sick.

"Bree!" I heard the voice call from behind.

I stopped, turning around so as to face a hurried Michael.

He went down the small set of stairs leading to the house's door and landed next to me.

"I think you forgot something. I'm your ride home, Princess."

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[A\N: Press play on the song now ;) ]

"You really didn't have to do this," I repeated. "I could've taken the long way home and simply walked."

"Sure," Michael agreed with a nod, "And maybe later I would've seen you at the news, you know, after you were kidnapped by some psycho on your way home."

I let out a small laugh. "That would've gotten me out of your hair forever."

He knit his eyebrows, his hands gripped tight onto the steering wheel. "Hmm... On second thoughts, maybe that wouldn't have been such a bad idea."

I nudged his arm, laughing. "Oh, shut up. Let's face it. If I were to be kidnapped by some psycho, it'd better be you."

He laughed. "Thanks, Bree. That's by far the best thing someone has ever said to me."

"I know," my mouth curved into a smile, "I'm the best at giving compliments."

Michael turned his head toward me as he spoke. "Don't push it, Princess."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Sorry, Princess."

He directed his gaze back at the road, letting out another laugh. "You sure you didn't drink anything while we were at the party?"

"Nope," I said, popping the letter p just to annoy him. He passed me a glare, but failed the very next second as he burst out laughing.

A smile made its way up my face. However, I could feel it fading when I remembered why Michael was now here with me in the first place.

I slowly cleared my throat, my expression turning grim. "Anyway, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

For everything.

"You know... For ruining the party for you."

He waved my question off. "Don't worry about it. I just hope you're okay." He turned to look at me, his eyes glistening with worry, and something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"I'm okay," I nodded.

I wasn't. How could I be okay?

I felt horrible. The tumultuous feeling of guilt was spreading within me like wild fire... And I couldn't tell him.

He was so nice to me... And all I did was lie to him.

I was starting to believe that maybe Darth Vader and I could be best friends.

I ended up heaving a small sigh and gazed at the window, trying to ignore the hole from my stomach.

Small drops of rain gathered on the glass, pouring down lazily. I watched them leaving water marks behind, their image flickering with the warm street lights reflecting on the window.

I could hear Michael switching radio channels, probably trying to fill the silence with some music.

I glanced at him with the corner of my eyes. His brown hair was still decorated with tiny water drops, from when the rain had started to pour all over us when we were only ten feet away from the car. I ran a hand through my own hair. It was also still a little bit wet.

"Hey, Bree?" Michael said, his right hand still shuffling through the radio channels.

I turned my head in his direction. "Yeah?"

"I just - I just wanted to say - "

He was soon interrupted by my widening eyes and loud gasp.

The radio caught a new channel. Suddenly I was very aware of the familiar tune making its way to my ears.

I'm lost without you from Blink-182 now echoed throughout the car.

My insides filled with warmth at the sound of my favorite song. I swayed my head to the melody and mouthed the opening lyrics, their sound giving me a slight feeling of melancholy.

"You like this song?" Michael asked eventually, though his question didn't really need an answer.

"You kidding? I love Blink-182!"

"Really? I didn't expect that..."

I frowned. "Why, you don't like them?"

"They're my favorite band."

My eyes widened. "Woah, that's great," the corner of my mouth stretched into a smile and I continued singing along to the lyrics I knew by heart.

I'll leave my room open till sunrise for you,

I'll keep my eyes patiently focused on you,

Where are you now?

I can hear footsteps, I'm dreaming,

And if you will, keep me from waking to believe this.

Are you afraid of being alone?

Cause I am, I'm lost without you.

Are you afraid of leaving tonight?

Cause I am, I'm lost without you...

The car came to a halt. I blinked, waking up from my trance as I watched Michael park on the sidewalk.

"We reached the destination," he said in a robotic tone, imitating the GPS voice.

I glanced through the window. Sure enough, the white frame of my house stood tall before the car.

"Thanks again for driving me. I'm sorry you had to do this -"

"Bree, it's fine, really. I'm glad you came with me to this party. Those fifteen minutes were definitely... interesting." I chuckled at his choice of words, and he continued. "To be honest, I... I don't even know why I asked you to come. But I'm glad I did."

He passed me a warm smile which I couldn't help but return. We exchanged stares, his brown eyes fixing me with an emotion I couldn't exactly put my finger on.

Seconds passed.

My gaze lingered to him. I felt something twitch into my stomach. A hole grew inside - a black hole, waiting to release all the butterflies.

A tick tock bomb.

I bit my lower lip, sensing my cheeks burning up.

I cleared my throat loudly. "Well, I guess I should go - "

But before I could utter a single more word, his lips crashed against mine.

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