Mike, ever so slowly, shifted his gaze to us. His figure was lit up by the streetlamp. He'd managed to put on a shirt on his way out. How sad.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, thrusting away from the car and coming towards us.

"Nothing," I said, raising my hands in surrender. "We must have gotten the wrong house."

"And the wrong tree?" He lifted an eyebrow, all his attention on me. He was horrifying in a... sexy way?

"Yeah, that too." My voice was low but I was sure he could hear it. We were the only ones out at this time anyway.

"I have to take credit for this." Maya hurried forward to present herself to Mike.

I scowled. "I think you mean blame."

"Don't be a bitch." Maya spun towards me, her hands placing themselves on her hips. She leaned forward.

"You're calling me a bitch?" I aimed a finger at my chest, staring her right in the eye. "You're the crazy one."

"At least I'm not boring!"

"At least I'm not a criminal."

Maya folded her hands over her chest. She turned her head away and jeered. "It wasn't me who crawled up in the damn tree and stared at someone through their bedroom window."

"But it was your fucking idea."

And our quarrel went on. One after the other we threw insults and accusations towards each other. None of us were angry, but this was how we handled situations where we had no idea what to do.

A loud sigh stopped the words on their way out my mouth. We both turned towards Mike. He stood with his usual stoic expression. Impatience glimmered in his eyes.

"Go home," he said and rubbed his temples. He walked past us and towards his house.

Maya came to stand beside me. We were both staring at his back as he walked up onto his porch. He didn't stop to turn around. No. He marched right into his house and smacked the door behind him.

For a moment we stood and stared. Neither of us had something to say. I wasn't sure what Maya was thinking about, but Mike occupied my mind. Somehow I knew I was one step closer to figuring out who the hell he was.

"Well," Maya said, spinning towards me. She settled a hand on my shoulder. "That was interesting."

"No." I shoved her hand away and moved towards the car. "It was stupid." I shook my head. How had she even managed to talk me into this?

Maya jogged to catch up with me. "You enjoyed it."

I sighed, waiting outside the passenger seat car as she skipped around to the driver seat. She unlocked the car.

"Let's go home." My muscles ached from the climbing, falling and running. The wind had picked up and goosebumps ran up and down my arms.

Inside the car, Maya didn't start it, no, she leaned towards me. "Why do you have to be this negative?"

"I." I stopped, thinking about the question. Really thinking about it. What about this was so bad. Yeah, I was embarrassed and in a bit of pain, but it was somewhat... fun? Maya might have the stupidest ideas, but it was always fun in some way or another.

Maya elevated her eyebrows. "Yeah?"

"I was just afraid," I said, looking out the window."

"Afraid?"

"Yeah. I'm not as carefree as you. I don't have the same confidence and it's hard to go into situations like these." I rolled back in my seat, my eyes focusing on the lit window. "And I'm so embarrassed now. He saw me watching him through his window!"

Maya let a chuckle roll off her tongue. She didn't even try to hold it back. And here I was telling her about my emotions and she laughed.

"He didn't seem mad though."

I drew my eyebrows down and shifted towards her. She looked at me. "How can you say that?" I laughed between the words. "He was definitely mad."

"But he always wears the same expression! How can you even tell?"

"I can't, but I would be mad if he stared at me through my bedroom window."

And then we laughed. We laughed at the fucked up things we did. We laughed so the embarrassment and regret wouldn't take us down.

"Let's go home." Maya finally made an effort to start the engine, however, it didn't work the first time.

"What the heck?" Maya hissed the words under her breathe and as she tried again. She gained the same results.

"Don't tell me you skipped your check-up." I ran a hand through my hair, the beanie slipping from my head and falling to my feet.

She bit her lip and I got my response.

I slammed the door dashboard. "You got to be kidding me. This exact thing happened last month"

Maya brushed my comment off with a wave of her hand. She tried again and for a moment something roared, but then it went out cold.

"It'll work," she said, probably more to herself than to me. She tried again with the same result.

I glanced out the window as rain descended and clattered against the window.

Great. Just great.

The damn car didn't work and it was starting to rain.

I leaned my forehead against the window, closing my eyes. Beside me, Maya tried one more time before giving up and falling back into her seat.

She sighed. "Should we walk? It would take about thirty minutes, but I guess that's better than sitting here."

She was silent for a second.

"Or we could call your parents?"

I didn't need to think to answer that question. "No," I said, leaning away from the window and opening my eyes. "She'll kill me."

"Your right. Let's walk."

I nodded, opening the door to jump out. The rain came down in huge droplets. We hadn't been out for long before our clothes were drenched. I shivered and pulled the black hood over my head. I groaned while looking over at Maya.

She pulled her phone up from her pocket. Her face pulled into a tight grimace as she looked at the screen. "I don't have any battery left," she said, looking up at me. "Let's use your phone for directions."

I cursed, kicking the road. "I left my phone at home."

Maya widened her eyes as she looked at me. "Who forgets their phone?"

"Who uses all their battery to write down useless things?"

She scoffed, sliding her phone back into her pocket. "How are we going to get home now?"

"Maybe I can remember the way," I said, giving her a glance from my side of the car.

She tilted her head. "We took the highway, I'm pretty sure we can't walk back that way."

I sighed, falling on the ground. I sat on the sidewalk, my feet planted beside the tire. My arms rested on my thighs and held up my head. "You're right. We're trapped here."

Maya jogged around the car and sat down beside me. "Not to try and act smart or anything but maybe we should discuss our options inside the car."

Too tired to do anything else, I nodded and stood to jump into the car. As soon as my butt fell into the seats I welcomed the warmth. Yeah, this may have been Maya's best idea to date.

Maya joined me, closing her door shut with a bit too much force. She turned towards me. "So, got any ideas?"

I shook my head, my gaze falling towards the house. Mike was still awake. Maya followed my gaze.

"I have another idea," she said. "Am I going to like it?"

"Maybe."

"So no?"

"Yeah, you're going to hate it." Maya smiled and went to open her door again. She slid into the rain again and jogged around the car. She halted halfway and shifted to look at me through the front window. She waved me out to her, but I shook my head.

Before I knew it, she had come over to my side and yanked the door open. She gripped my hand and pulled me out into the rain again. The cold engulfed me in its clutch and I shivered. The rain was growing heavy.

"What are you doing?" I asked as she pulled me towards Mike's house.

"We're going to politely ask Mike for a sleepover," she said as if it was the most normal thing in the whole world.

I stiffened, not able to walk another step. "What?"

"You heard me." She yanked at my arm and I followed her up to the porch.

Was this her only idea?

"We'll ask if we can stay the night. I'll charge my phone and tell your parents we're at some friend's house and everything will be okay."

"No," I said, pulling my hand out of her grip. We had already arrived at the porch and I was no happier about the idea. "This is crazy. Just as your last idea. Mike doesn't even like us. He even asked us to leave."

"Well, do you have another idea than sitting in the car and waiting for some miracle?"

My shoulders slouched and looked away from her. "No." It was only a mumble, but she heard it.

Maya went up to the front door and pulled a fine smile onto her face. She knocked, first once, then twice.

I held my breath as we waited. Nothing happened.

"Maybe he's in the shower?" Maya peeped at me over her shoulder.

"Or maybe he's being a jackass," I said and pushed Maya away from the door. I was freezing as hell and if getting some warmth meant knocking on Mike's door, then that was what I'll do.

I raised my hand and as I was about to knock, the door opened to reveal Mike. He stood in nothing but a pair of sweatpants and messy hair. He raised an eyebrow as he looked down at me.

I stiffened, still with an arm in the air, and stared back at him.

"What do you want?" he asked, ignoring me and looking at Maya behind me. Rude.

"My car broke down and we don't know the way home. So, we where thinking maybe we could stay here and then call for someone in the morning?" Maya came to stand beside me. She pushed my hand down and smiled up at Mike.

His stoic expression didn't falter. "You want to stay here?" This time his gaze shifted and landed on me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying hard not to stare at his bare torso. From the top of his right chest, running down to his right elbow, was a flower pattern with different numbers intertwined between them. On the left side of his abdomen were four flying birds. It was simple but beautiful.

I shifted my gaze to his eyes. Those beautiful eyes there hid behind thick glasses looked down at me. Or rather, glared down at me.

I scratched the back of my neck. "Yeah."

"Then fine."