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Asher stored his camera back in his truck. He had discovered that same night that Elena was the perfect model for his pictures. He had taken many pictures of her on his red pickup, but now that he was finished, they were off for a walk around the lake.

He took Elena's hand and squeezed it, before walking past the dark lake. The stars were reflected in it, but it was a sight she had seen a million times before. She could draw it without having to look at the view.

She leaned her head on Asher's shoulder and sighed loudly.

"I want to swim," she admitted.

Asher chuckled. "And I want to push you in the lake. But we're not allowed to be in the water at night."

Elena pouted, but then her eyes widened. "They can't forbid us if they don't catch us."

Asher raised an eyebrow. "You want to break the rules?"

With a shrug, she easily dismissed him. "I want to be adventurous. And the cops can't punish something they don't know about."

Asher whistled. "Look at you, becoming a true daredevil."

A laught escaped Elena's throat. "You make me sound much tougher than I am."

"But you want to swim in the lake at night? Break the rules?"

She shrugged while biting her lip. She didn't want to break the rules, but she did want to swim. And there was something exciting about doing what wasn't allowed that made her bolder than usual.

Asher kept staring at her, his eyebrows raised in disbelief.

Elena sighed. "Do you want to?"

He stayed quiet for a while, then answered, "I can't let you swim alone."

"So you'll do it? If I do it, too?"

A mischievous grin appeared on his face before he nodded firmly. "Let's do it."

Adrenaline rushed through her body as she ran hand in hand with Asher across the beach toward the lake. The sand felt cold when they took off their shoes and threw them away. Without much thought, Elena took off her shirt and her skirt, then dipped her feet in the water.

Asher watched her with raised eyebrows, but eventually stripped to his underwear as well. As long as they didn't get caught, there shouldn't be a problem.

There was a grin on Asher's face when he bent down and splashed water on Elena. She returned his gesture with more than just a few drops. With water dripping down his arms and legs, he pulled Elena into a tight hug. She let out a shrieking laugh.

She tried to get out of his grip, but was laughing too hard to have enough strength for it. Luckily, Asher let her go – after he pushed her down into the water.

With her mouth wide open in shock and laughter, she stood up from the water. The air around her was very cold, and she immediately started shivering. But it didn't stop her from jumping on Asher and trying to pull him into the water with her.

She didn't have any luck, because not only was Asher much stronger than her, a car passed by the lake, making both of them freeze up. The bright headlights turned toward the lake and the sound of an engine came closer.

It was not just the cold that made Elena shiver, but also the fear. When the car neared, they saw clearly it was not just any car. It was a police car.

They stood motionless in the water, watching the driver's side door open and a police officer walking toward them. He stopped in front of the clothing they had thrown on the ground and picked them up.

"Better put this on, or it will get very embarrassing," the man told them, raising his voice so that they would hear him clearly.

It already is embarrassing, Elena thought. In silence she and Asher walked out of the water and quickly threw on their clothing. She immediately felt the difference in heat, although her clothing was getting soaked.

"You both know swimming in the lake at night is forbidden," the police officer said, not bothering to ask for their names. He probably knew them already. Elena didn't know the man's name, but she had seen him around.

The officer took a paper out of his pocket and started scribbling on it.

"I won't take you into the station, but I am giving you a fine," he mumbled as he wrote.

Asher suddenly dipped his hand in his pocket, then slipped a few pieces of paper over the officer's bill.

"Why don't we pay you the fine," Asher said, "and you don't put anything on record."

The police officer stopped writing and eyed Asher's money. There was a spark of interest in his eye, but Elena didn't think he would take the money. Weren't cops too loyal to be bribed?

But to her surprise, the man put his pen in his front pocket and took the money in his hands. He slipped it in the back pocket of his jeans before looking up at Asher and Elena.

"You're getting off with a warning," he said, not mentioning anything about the money. "Don't let me catch you again."

With her mouth wide open in surprise, Elena watched the officer return to his car and drive away. The darkness and silence engulfed them again and Elena turned to Asher.

"Did you just bribe a police officer?"

It was a stupid question because she had watched him do it. But she couldn't believe he would ever do that. Asher was good. He would never bribe a cop.

Yet he did.

Asher was still watching the car in the distance, its taillight the only thing that proved it was there. "My father would kill me if he knew," he eventually said.

Elena remembered how angry his father had been when discovering he had drunk driving on his record. She hadn't been there when Asher told his father, but she had heard the many angry reminders Mr. Singleton had given his son.

But it still wasn't a good excuse to bribe a cop.

"What if he hadn't taken the money?" Elena hissed. "He would arrest us for more than just swimming in the lake at night. Bribery wouldn't look good on your record either!"

"I've heard of the man," Asher argued. "Anton Smith is not a good cop. He's known for taking bribes and turning a blind eye."

Elena didn't dare ask how he knew that, so she just let out a disappointed sigh. "You could have screwed us both."

"But I saved us, didn't I?" He sounded proud. And he shouldn't be. Bribery was not something to be proud of.

Her thoughts must have been visible from the look on her face, because Asher turned to her and grabbed her arms.

"Hey, no one will know of this," he said, his voice calm and soothing. "We're in the clear. It's our secret. And if you want to forget, then you can. I won't ever speak of this again."

Elena nodded, but she still wasn't very convinced. Despite her worries, she allowed Asher's hand to slip down and hold hers. Then she followed as he guided her toward his pickup, trying to shake off the shivers.

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It was a late Saturday night when Elena and Asher returned from a party in a nearby town. With the music blasting loudly through the car, the mood was set. Elena might be a little tipsy, but Asher was completely wasted. He was singing loudly – more like screaming – along with the music.

They had decided it was safer if Elena drove, because Asher's feet couldn't be trusted to hold him up decently, let alone drive an entire car. Besides, it wasn't his pickup, but Elena's mother's dark blue Ford. Therefore she felt responsible and decided she would drive the car.

Maybe her feeling of responsibility wasn't big enough for her to call a taxi instead of driving, but she wasn't thinking clearly. That day in Soda Springs was not on her mind at the moment. Only Pitbull's song Fireball got her attention.

As they neared Saint Charles, Elena knew she had to slow down the car. She couldn't remember why, though. So her tipsy mind told her to forget the warning and keep driving.

When the car suddenly moved up and back down, she realized why she should slow down. The road was full of potholes.

But instead of doing what the sober part of her brain told her to do, she burst into laughter and kept driving over the broken road. It felt like they were flying the air – like the car lifted off the road before falling onto it again.

And that made them laugh even harder.

Until they suddenly got pushed forward when the car stopped abruptly. It took Elena a few moments to realize what had happened and why they had stopped driving – why she had stopped driving.

She was quickly sober when she saw the street light in front of her car. She sat frozen in her chair for a while. Had she hit the street light? But she hadn't seen it coming!

"Elena," Asher said without slurring his words. He laid a hand on her arm, and when she looked at him, she saw the worry on his face.

"Did I break the car?" she asked him with a weak voice.

He shook his head. "The engine is still running."

She nodded, feeling a little relieved, but still not at ease. With shaking hands, she opened the door and stepped out of the car. From the front, she could see there was a dent in the bumper. But to her luck, it wasn't very big. Her parents might not even notice.

Asher suddenly stood next to her and eased her by saying what she was thinking. "It's not that bad."

Hearing him say those words made relief wash over her. It really wasn't that bad. She was in luck.

But she was also sober enough now to make a better choice. So she took her phone and called her mother. She said she had almost hit a street light and was too afraid to drive. Mia quickly agreed to pick up her daughter and Asher, fearing something bad might happen if she didn't.

Mia wasn't happy, but she believed Elena's lie – a lie Asher backed up, of course.