Maya was all over me in the car on our way home. Her interrogation was a nagging there kept banging into my skull. I had rolled back in my seat, arms crossed over my chest and my hood veiled my features.

"Why did he hit him?" Jacob, who sat on the backseat, said, gaining my attention.

As an answer, I shrugged my shoulders and eyed him through the rear mirror.

"It's weird," Maya said as she pulled into my driveway. "I've never heard of Mike getting into fights. And now that think of it, Daniel has never gotten into one either."

"It doesn't matter. It's over now." I undid my seatbelt and unlocked the door to jump out.

"Wait!" Maya reached for my arm and kept me from going inside. "You have to tell me what happened."

I swept off her comment with a wave of my hand. "Maybe tomorrow. I need to hurry inside." I send her a smile over my shoulder. "Call me later."

She nodded her head and gave me a wave as I sauntered into the house.

In the refuge of my room, I slid my phone up from my pocket. I had ignored the text from Mike.

I clicked on his contact.

Angel.

Though I hadn't anticipated much, this was far beneath even my expectations.

My fingers typed out a reply but deleted it once again. It didn't feel right.

Catching my lips in between my teeth, I typed another reply. I didn't send this either. It was like I couldn't form the question I wanted to ask.

What the hell do you mean by that?

That was what I went for. I regretted it the second I pressed send, but there was nothing I could other than wait.

I tossed my phone into my cushions. I followed up by launching into my bed. The bounce was nice as I settled on my stomach. It'd been a long day, and all I wanted was to sleep.

I woke up by a ringing from my phone. I rubbed my eyes, my hand wandering my bed to find the god damned thing.

As the flat surface came in contact with my palm, I pulled it to me. Mike had sent me a reply.

I don't know.

You don't know?

I raised an eyebrow, rolling onto my back and lifting the phone above my head. I drew my eyebrows down as I awaited a reply.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes.

That rat had left me on read for four minutes. Yeah, I'd been left on read before, but this was different. This was Mike.

Tossing and turning for another four minutes or so, I found myself growing anxious. With a sigh, I tightened my grip around the phone and lifted it above my head, ready to throw it into my pile of pillows again. If that bastard didn't want to talk to me then fine.

A message slid onto the screen and I was sorry to say that I rushed to check who it was from. Mike's name sprawled across the screen.

A smile tugged at the corner of my lips.

I'll be at your house in a minute.

What!

"Stupid, little motherfucker of an asshole," I said as I typed out my reply.

No, you're not.

Don't text me, I'm driving.

With force, I threw my phone into my pillows, swearing under my breath. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't show up at my house as if nothing had ever happened.

Laying back onto my back, I stared at the ceiling. Should I go to him? Nargh. That would be stupid. And mom was trapping me in here anyway.

     Who was I fooling? Of course, I was going to go to him.

I sighed, jumping out of bed and making my way downstairs. Mom and dad were in each of their rooms, my dad in the kitchen and my mom in the living room. I peeped through both doors before running towards my shoes and jacket.

I was going to regret this.

That was my only thought as I yanked on my sneakers and extracted my jacket from the mountain of other jackets.

I glanced back. My parents still hadn't noticed me, but Will stood at the end of the stairs case, leaning against the railing. His usual smug grin there screamed trouble sprawled across his features. He lifted an eyebrow as our eyes met. "Going somewhere?"

"You damn know I am." I hissed out my words, trying to keep them as low as possible.

Will only nodded his head, glancing at the entrance to the kitchen and the living room. "Is it a party?"

I rolled my eyes as an unfamiliar urge to slap him flooded over me. "It's Monday, you fool."

Will shook his head, his hair swinging from side to side as he did. When he lifted his head to meet my gaze again, a flicker of mischief flashed within his eyes. The same flicker Mike had.

"Don't call me that, Debs."

"Then don't call me that!"

"Fine, I'll leave a window open in the laundry room." Will ran a hand through his hair as he sent me a dashing smile.

I returned the gesture. "Thanks. You're the best."

"I know," he said as I bustled out of the door.

Outside, as I made my way to the sidewalk, a car came hurrying up the road. Mike.

He came to a stop right in front of me, glancing at me from the inside. He lifted an eyebrow.

I scooted inside the car, hurling the door shut after me. I leaned back in the seat and waited. Waited for him to do or say something, but he didn't. No, he kept quiet, his hands tightening around the steering wheel.

"What happened today?" I asked, stirring with the corner of my jacket. I had my eyes fixed on the movement. A thick quietness settled over us. It wasn't the content one we usually sat in. This was even thicker than the tension radiating between us.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, debating if I should leave now.

Mike roared the car to life and sped down the road. My hands grabbed around the nearest possible thing as my eyes widened. "What the hell?!" The shriek was more surprised than mad.

"I'll tell you." He glanced at me. "Maybe."

He kept driving until we reached the outskirts of town. I had yet to say anything and as usual, he didn't utter a word. I bit my lip as he parked next to a lake. He jumped out of the car and went towards the lake. The sun reflected in the clear blue water. My mouth was ajar as I followed him towards the water edge.

I paused beside him, our shoulders grazing each other. Our gazes roamed the beautiful lake in front of us. The lake was as flat as any mirror, reflecting everything above it. It lay without a single ripple. No birds were calling. No movement of branches.

"My mom would take me here."

I blinked, my gaze traveling from the lake and up to his face. He kept staring straight ahead.

"It was only a couple of times a month, but it was nice." He tiled his head to the right, gazing at his reflection. "But it's been a long time now."

"She's dead?"

He didn't need to answer for me to know the answer. It stood written all across his cold features. Somehow I'd never wondered where his mother was. I'd never thought much about Mike before this, so I guessed that was why.

"Why are you telling me this?" I shifted my entire body to turn towards him. I moved to reach a hand towards him but halted before we could touch.

"You shared personal information with me. I'm returning the favor."

I sighed as I watched him turn towards me as well. "You didn't have too."

He shrugged, "nargh. Probably not, but I wanted too, so don't ruin it."

A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. I gathered enough courage as my hand went up to lay upon his arm. He flinched at my touch but did nothing to stop me. "It's beautiful," I said, my eyes roaming the lake and landscape in front of us. To the right, the city stretched out and to the left was an endless amount of land and forest. Why had I never known about this?

"Why did you hit Daniel?" I asked again, demolishing the peaceful moment I secretly hoped would last forever, or at least a few minutes.

"He was acting like a douche." Mike's fists clenched. His stern eyes met mine.

"He's always acting like a douche."

"Yeah, but he stepped over some boundaries."

"Which boundaries?" I dared to move closer to him. The space between us got smaller for each word we exchanged.

"Don't ask so many questions." He pulled at his arm, shoving my hand off him as he did. I dipped my eyebrows in confusion and rage as he turned his back towards me, his gaze shifting from me to the town.

"Don't be such a jerk." I crossed my arms over my chest, pulling away from him. Now I wasn't allowed to ask questions? Then why the fuck did he drive me the whole way out to a lake? This wasn't fair.

I wanted to fall back on my ass and curse until I got my way. But that had never worked, not even back when I was a child.

"How do you manage to be happy so often? Are you never sad?" he asked, shifting to face me. He stepped closer and tilted his head. He looked at me like there was something in me worth looking at.

"I'm not always happy," I said, tightening the embrace on myself.

"But you are most of the time. It's like you always have something to smile about. How do you do that?" He took one slow step closer, almost closing the space between us. Did I want him to?

He gazed at me from above. His tall figure was one I couldn't compare with. The sun reflected in his glasses as I watched an eyelash fall on his chin.

I bit my lip. "I choose to be happy," I said with a shrug. "Yeah, I could close myself off and cry all the time about my parents arguing, but that doesn't help. So I choose to smile. I choose to find stuff that makes me happy instead of focusing on the bad things. So, it's not something that I do, it's something that I choose. And." I meet his gaze. "It's something you can choose too."

A bitter smile spread over his lips as he ran his long fingers through his hair. "I guess you're right." He shrugged, gazing over the lake for a second or two. His gaze returned to me and stayed there.

I smiled. "As always."

He shook his head, a small chuckle erupting from deep within his throat. I smiled wider, my hand reaching out to take his. He didn't flinch nor did he pull his hand away. No, he let me hold onto him, his warmth streaming into my skin.

"You're pretty when you smile," he said as one of his delicate fingers brushed a lock of hair behind my ear. He, himself graced me with one of his rare smiles as he performed the little gesture.

A blush seared through my cheeks. I fought to stop my heart from beating faster and faster. It hammered against my ribcage, begging me to free it.

However, as I tried hard to control my emotions, Mike dipped his head and let our lips meet in a blazing kiss.