Quinn clutched her pink comforter and pulled it closer to her body while her eyes stared into the darkness that surrounded her. She lied awake in thought, it was yet another sleepless night. Even though it had already been three days since she found out that the man that raised her probably wasn't her father, she still had great trouble staying asleep or getting to sleep at all for that matter.

Although both she and Paloma were aware of the new information, the teenager seemed to be the only one entertaining the idea or even giving it a second thought. Every one of her advances to discuss the subject in detail seemed to fail. Over the past couple of days, anytime she tried to spark the conversation, Paloma immediately shot her down and diminished the discussion entirely. She'd immediately follow it up by asking the girl if she respected her wishes by not contacting the redhead that they came across online.

While Quinn was slightly fearful of the answer, she needed to know the truth, even if her sister didn't.

The girl turned her head to the side as it rested on her fluffy, white pillow. Her eyes met the small alarm clock that sat on her bedside table, she groaned at the time. It was already almost midnight and she wasn't remotely tired. Her gaze wandered to the picture that stood next to the alarm clock, a broad smile immediately spread across her face.

It was a picture of her and Charlie standing near a local ice cream truck. Quinn's grin matched the ones that she and Charlie held in the picture, despite the large stain that rested on the redhead's shirt. She remembered that day like it was yesterday. Mere seconds after they got their dairy treat, Quinn had managed to spill it all over herself and for whatever reason, Charlie felt the need to document it. From then on, it became one of her favorite pictures. It never failed to flood her mind with warm memories and now was no exception.

Quinn snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of light tapping that seemed to be coming from her bedroom window. She quickly put her glasses on and removed the soft comforter from her body. The warmth that she once inhibited rushed out of her, goosebumps instantly formed on her bare legs. After she pushed aside the white drapes, her eyes widened at the sight of the boy who was just on her mind.

"Charlie, what are you doing here?" she whispered while lifting the window wide enough for him to climb inside.

Charlie shrugged timidly, "I couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd come here. Sorry, is that weird? I didn't really think it through."

Quinn couldn't help but grin, "No, it's fine, perfect actually. I was just thinking about you. But, why didn't you text me? You didn't even know if I was awake, what if you'd come all this way for nothing?" She quietly scurried to her bedroom door and turned the lock, she really didn't want Paloma to suddenly make a grand entrance.

"I knew you'd be awake. We must be on the same mental wavelength or something," he joked.

"And your grandpa just let you go?" the girl pondered.

"He doesn't know," Charlie admitted.

"Sweet Charlie is breaking the rules for little old me and on a school night on top of it all?" Quinn gasped. "I'm honored, I truly am." She crept back to her bed to regain the warmth that she once held.

Charlie grabbed a nearby chair and placed it beside the girl's bed before planting himself down in it. His eyes flashed to Quinn's once he heard her giggle softly.

"You don't have to sit there." She lifted her comforter and motioned to the space next to her.

Charlie chuckled softly before raising his brow after he noticed the sincerity within his girlfriend's expression. "Oh, you're serious. I-I don't know, I mean your sister doesn't even know I'm here and if she sees me in your bed she'll-."

"Ava stayed over, so I'm pretty sure my sister's a little occupied right now," she snickered. "It's fine."

Charlie bit his lip in worry, his gaze darted to the closed door before finally traveling back to the bed. He reluctantly removed himself from the chair and joined Quinn on the warm mattress. He squirmed slightly as he tried to get comfortable, as much as he enjoyed being close to his girlfriend, he was well aware that they were in a lot closer proximity than usual. However, once Quinn rested her head on his chest and her sweet scent softly kissed his nose, he immediately relaxed. His arm wrapped around her gingerly to stroke her soft, red hair. The gesture suddenly felt so natural.

The couple listened to the peaceful quiet that filled the air before Quinn reluctantly disturbed it. "...About the whole Micheal/Mickey situation-."

"We don't have to talk about that now if you don't want to."

"Well, I don't really like to talk about it at all," she laughed softly. "But I kinda want to get it out of the way. You know, just rip it off like a band-aid."

He nodded his head in understanding. "...Okay."

"Alright, I'll just give you kind of like a crash course," she sighed. "Basically, when I was a little younger, I started talking to this guy online. He was...older."

Charlie settled his eyes on the girl as she snuggled further into his chest. "How much older?" he whispered.

"He was like...in his late twenties," she reluctantly admitted. "I tricked him into thinking I was an adult. It was way before I started living with my sister and I don't know. For some reason, I liked him a lot and I kinda felt like we were together, even though our relationship, if you could even call it that, was just online. Anyway, after a while, we lost touch, but once I started living with my sister, we started talking again."

Quinn inhaled deeply as she reflected on the past and all of the insipid things that she did. "To make a long story short, my sister started dating this guy and she finally introduced me to him and that guy ended up being Michael, or, I used to call him Mickey but..." her voice trailed off, a small sigh filling the void her silence left behind. "It was stupid. I hurt my sister pretty badly and they ended up breaking up. I didn't want to tell you because, again, it's really stupid."

Charlie breathed in through his nose as he soaked in the new information. "Well, that's okay," he said quietly. "You regret it which means you understand your mistake. It's alright and I'm glad you told me. Am I up to date now?" he chuckled.

"Well, the guy...he actually lives next door to us now," she confessed.

Charlie knitted his eyebrows together and looked down at the girl who snuggled deeper into his chest in response. "Whoa, are you serious?"

"I don't know how that happened, but it doesn't matter because we don't associate with him at all," Quinn quickly asserted.

"So, I don't have anything to worry about then...right?" he whispered.

"No, of course not. Besides, you're way hotter than him." She smirked.

Charlie smiled, his cheeks dimpling in the process. His expression faltered once an important question ran through his mind. He was unsure as to how to phrase the inquiry without sounding accusatory, so he tore a page from his girlfriend's book and quickly ripped the band-aid clean off. "Did you two have sex? I...sorry, I don't want to overstep, but I just wonder." He grimaced at his own words.

Quinn lifted her head from his chest and let her eyes meet his. "No, we definitely didn't do that," she giggled quietly before allowing her gaze to settle elsewhere. "I've never done that, actually."

Feeling a sense of relief that was somewhat unexpected, Charlie couldn't help the beaming smile that surmounted onto his features. "Yeah, me neither."

"But...I want to," the girl admitted.

"Yeah." Charlie nodded. "Me too."

Quinn closed her eyes and leaned forward, capturing Charlie's lips with her own. Although the kiss began languid and gentle, it swiftly turned into something else entirely. There was a sense of urgency, hunger, and passion that wasn't present before.

She deepened the kiss and allowed her hands to tangle in his thick, curly hair. She felt him follow suit by running his digits through her lengthy, red locs. Quinn shrieked in surprise once Charlie swiftly switched their positions and hovered above her.

"Shhh! Someone will hear us," he warned, gently covering her mouth.

Once she nodded in understanding, Charlie smiled and delicately removed her glasses from her face. He blindly placed them on the neighboring table as he resumed their lip lock. They fed one another their kisses and they each consumed them as though their lives depended on it.

Charlie delicately traveled down the girl's jaw, leaving a trail down the length of her neck and though Quinn immediately missed his lips on hers, she absolutely fell in love with the soft kisses that he was planting down her highly sensitive skin.

She couldn't suppress the gentle moan that escaped the depths of her throat. She leaned back, readily granting him more access to her neck. Her breathing nearly stopped as a whole when his kisses slowly crept their way further down to the V-neck of her pajama top.

Her head was spinning, her heart was pounding and nothing else seemed to matter. In that moment, the entire world could've collapsed into an endless black hole and she wouldn't have even noticed or cared. But just when the feeling intensified, Charlie stopped. Quinn snapped her eyes open and scrunched her face up in aggravation.

"Listen, as amazing as this is, maybe we shouldn't—" Charlie's words died in his throat while his pants grew tighter and his innocent forest green eyes immediately darkened in desire once the girl freed herself from her top and tossed it to the side. His gaze instantly darted from her eyes to her chest and for a second, he thought he might die because the girl's light blue bra cupped her breasts perfectly.

Charlie's silence and unwavering gaze was more than enough to make a fierce blush climb Quinn's neck and embed itself into her cheeks. It took no more than a second for her to yank the covers back over herself. Her skin felt like it was on fire as embarrassment washed over her and she knew that even in the darkness of the night, Charlie could probably see that.

"No, don't," Charlie pleaded, tenderly peeling back the comforter. Quinn felt the cool air return to her stomach but didn't object. "You're gorgeous, I was just admiring you, that's all."

The girl still didn't seem to be convinced so, in a single swoop, briskly yanked his shirt off too. Quinn looked his body up and down in awe and smirked at the slight indentions where his abs seemed to be forming. Her eyes traveled down to the red boxers that peaked out from the top of his jet black jeans.

Once the teenager noted the smile on his girlfriend's face, he hurriedly leaned back down and connected his lips to hers. Quinn could only gasp at the feeling of his skin on top of hers. She ran her hands along the center of his back, letting her hands drift and wander as much as he'd allow.

After a few more minutes of heavy petting and an equal amount of mental coaxing, Quinn finally gathered the courage to reach for the zipper of Charlie's pants. She had almost pulled the metal material down halfway before Charlie abruptly tore his lips from hers.

For a moment, neither of them uttered a word, instead, they attempted to grasp their breath. The peaceful stillness that initially lingered throughout the room instantaneously dispersed and alternatively became tense and awkward. The feeling was foreign, to say the least. It was the type of awkward that neither of them had felt around each other for a long time.

Charlie leaned back and forced some space between them. Quinn mentally cursed at the failed advance, both in embarrassment and vexation.

Charlie fought to catch his breath. "We shouldn't," he spoke softly.

Quinn had never felt so frustrated and disappointed in her life, but she tried her best not to show it. "Why not?"

He shook his head. "It's just...we don't have any protection."

The redhead sat up and reached towards the drawer of her bedside table. Charlie's eyes climbed in size once she presented him with a condom. "Yeah, we do."

"Where'd you get that? From your sister or something?"

"No," he drawled out, chuckling to herself. "Paloma would never give me something like this. She'd kill me if she knew I had it. I bought it." She shrugged. "I got a whole box, actually."

"You bought it?"

"Yeah." She nodded her head. "I got it a while back for...I don't know, just in case."

Charlie couldn't hide his amusement at the courage that she possessed to make the purchase as well as the level of certainty that she held that they'd have sex. But, his laugh diminished as he spoke, "Well...we still can't."

Just when Quinn thought she couldn't possibly be any more disappointed, Charlie's words proved her wrong. "Why not?" she whined.

"Are you on the pill?"

She sighed heavily and shook her head in defeat. She had considered it in the past, but while she did have the courage to buy condoms from the local convenience store, directly asking her sister to pay for the pill for purely sexual purposes was an entirely different thing.

"Then...we can't," Charlie muttered reluctantly. He lifted himself from her and took the spot next to her instead. "I'm sorry, I want to, trust me, I really, really want to, but if something happens and the condom breaks or something then you could get pregnant and I can't...do that. By the time my parents were my age I was already almost two years old and they didn't even stick around to raise me. I can't make the same mistakes they did."

"Yeah...I get it. I can't do that either." She had never even held a baby, she couldn't imagine having one of her own, especially at such a young age. She didn't know exactly what she wanted to do with her life, but she knew that her dreams didn't consist of a teenage pregnancy.

She tossed the condom back into the drawer and sighed. "Well that was money well spent," she chuckled.

"Well, maybe, eventually," he began, "we can use them. But, for now, I'd suggest you find another hiding place for them. I don't even want to think about what'd happen if Paloma found them."

"Yeah," Quinn giggled. "And, you know, it's probably for the best. I don't want our first time to happen right down the hall from her and Ava."

Charlie nodded. "Especially since you'd be really loud."

"Shut up." Quinn shoved Charlie's side but it only made his smirk expand.

"What? I'm basing it on facts. You were pretty loud just then," he chuckled. Quinn playfully rolled her eyes and Charlie grinned. "So, are we good?"

After Quinn smiled her response, Charlie pecked her one last time on the cheek before slipping his shirt over his head and standing to his feet. "Well, I should probably go now."

"Wait, no." Quinn grabbed onto his arm. "You don't have to leave."

Charlie looked at the alarm clock that sat on the table. "It's almost one o'clock and we have school soon. I have to."

"Please, wait. There's something else I want to talk to you about," she pleaded.

"...Okay." He raised an eyebrow. "But no funny business."

Quinn pulled her pajama top back over her head. "No funny business," she repeated. "Scout's honor."

Charlie climbed back into the bed and they both resumed their earlier position; the girl lied her head on her boyfriend's chest. "You remember that guy from the other day, the guy that could be my real father?"

Charlie frowned. "Yeah."

"Well, he contacted me."

"What? I thought your sister told you not to reach out to him."

"I didn't," she asserted. "He got the same notification that I did about the whole us possibly being related thing. He sent me a direct message."

"What he'd say?"

"He basically said that he wanted to meet me. He knew who my mom was and my dad and Paloma, without me even saying anything. He remembers us, he remembers me. He said that he never knew for sure if I was his kid, but it was always in the back of his mind. He said that he knew that my mom was still married and he didn't want to rip our family apart."

"He could just be lying to you," Charlie gently pointed out.

"He could be," she agreed. "But he knew a lot and you said it, he looks a lot like me. He could be lying, but maybe he's not. I need to meet him, I need to find out the truth."

"Okay, I understand that, but did you talk to your sister about this?"

"No," blurted. "She refuses to talk about it. For the last three days, it's seemed like she's pissed or something like she's mad at me and I don't know why," she said quietly. "She's fairly subtle about it, but I've still noticed it. I don't know if she's truly angry with me or if she's mad at our mother or if she has information that she's keeping from me or if she's just as in the dark as I am. She won't say anything about it. She just changes the subject. It so stupid."

"Keep trying to talk to her," Charlie soothed.

"No," Quinn whined. "I told you, she's not listening. She probably doesn't want to know and that's fine, but it's not fair for her to keep me in the dark too. I wanna know, I need to know. I found out exactly where the guy is. He lives a few miles from here and I want to talk to him."

"What?" Charlie sighed. "Quinn, come on, you can't do that."

"Why not?" she challenged. "Because Paloma doesn't want me to? That's bullshit. She doesn't even have a decent excuse. I'm doing this."

"Quinn, you don't know this guy. It could be a trap or something, he could be a predator."

"That's why I want you to come with me," she surmised. "Tomorrow. I want to skip school and go there, he can give me some answers and I won't be worried about him being a predator if you're there to protect me."

Charlie couldn't help but smile, however, his expression diminished as he thought. "But, your sister will be really mad. I mean, skipping school and going to a stranger's house? If she finds out, she won't let me see you for like a month."

"Don't worry about Paloma, you're not dating her, you're dating me," she whispered. "Besides, we see each other all the time at school and work, she can't exactly keep us apart. And...I really want this. Please?"

The boy shifted uncomfortably, all the while sighing audibly.

"You know I'll go either way," Quinn asserted. "If you don't want to, I can go by myself."

"No," Charlie blurted. "There's no way you're going there alone. I'll go...we'll go."