•Jenna•

       "I'll be back in a few!" I yell as I walk out the back door and toward the woods.
    "Okay!" my Mom yells back from the kitchen. "Don't knock yourself out!"
   "No promises!" I shut the door and jog into the trees. I've memorized my way to the Joseph house since the water balloon fight. It's actually not that far from the treehouse, which makes sense since Tyler's family built it.
   Zack answers when I knock on the back door of the house and leans against the door frame. "Hey, babe." I roll my eyes.
   "Again with the being a creep thing!" I hear Jay yell from somewhere inside.
   "Is Tyler here?"
   "Yeah," Zack says. "He's downstairs." He moves to let me through the door. I nod a hello to Mrs. Joseph and Maddy waves at me from the stairs. I bend down to high-five Jay as I head toward the basement staircase.
     Descending the stairs, I hear music drifting up from the basement below. I pause right before reaching the landing. Tyler is on his keyboard.
    "...I walk
    "To you.
    "Rain falls
    "From you.
    "Can you
    "Wash me?
    "Can you
    "Drown me?"

     I take a deep breath remind myself that Tyler hasn't always been perfectly happy with his life, and that he's had great struggles and mental pain. It hurts my heart to know this. I stand quietly, listening carefully to the song. When it ends, I climb a few steps up, then stomp back down noisily. Tyler's head shoots up, his mouth shaping into a smile. "Hey," he greets. He checks his watch. "I lost track of time."
   "It's okay," I say. "So, are you ready?"
   "Uh...yeah," he says, glancing at his red button-up shirt and black skinny jeans. "I just need to grab my ukulele and sunglasses." He stands up from his keyboard and picks up his ukulele lying on his bed and his sunglasses from his nightstand.
   "Thanks again for coming," I say, hugging him.
   "It's no problem," he murmurs back.
   I pull back, my hands still on his shoulders. "You nervous?"
   "Yeah," he says, exhaling loudly and widening his eyes.
   "It'll be okay," I say. I take his hand, intertwining my fingers with his and give it a reassuring squeeze. Tugging on his hand gently, I lead him upstairs.
   "Wait...," Tyler says. "Did you walk here?"
   "Yep," I reply.
   "Cool," he says. We proceed to climb the stairs.
    Mrs. Joseph hugs Tyler with one arm and kisses him on the forehead when we walk into the kitchen, causing him to blush in embarrassment.
   "Mom," he whines. "Not now."
    Mrs. Joseph ignores him. "Have a good time, sweetie."
    Tyler groans. "I will." He pulls away from his mom and herds me toward the back door.
  "Bye, Honey," Zack coos, blowing me a kiss.
  Tyler rolls his eyes. "Quit being such a creep. No wonder why you're still single."
   "I just play hard-to-get." Zack winks.
  Tyler rolls his eyes and pulls me out the door before Zack can say anything else. Then, we set off through the woods. 
     
     •Tyler•

    Jenna rests her hand on the doorknob of her back door. "Ready?" she asks.
   I nod and take a deep breath, reminding myself that you have one chance at a first impression. Jenna turns the knob and opens the door. I grip my ukulele neck tighter and hook my sunglasses onto my shirt as we step hand-in-hand inside.
   Mrs. Black is setting a bowl of spaghetti noodles on the table as we stride into the kitchen. She reaches out a hand and offers a gentle smile. "Welcome, Tyler."
   I nod. "Nice to see you again, Mrs. Black." I shake her hand.
  "Well, I guess I'll give you the 'Tour de House,' even though you mostly already know what it looks like," Jenna says. She turns around. "You've already seen the kitchen and dining room." She points to a door on the other side of the kitchen. "That's the mudroom slash laundry room." She leads me around the corner to the living room and gestures to a set of doors along the main wall. "That's my parent's room, and that door is the office." She turns and leads me upstairs. "You obviously know where my room is at. The door before it is the bathroom. Brennan's room, Carrie's room, and Kristen's room is on the right. So...yeah." We walk back toward the stairs when we hear the front door open. Jenna squeezes my hand in reassurance. "They already like you. Just be yourself." We descend the stairs, where two guys and two girls are standing at the bottom.
   "Oh my gosh, guys, it's her husband!" a younger Jenna lookalike—Carrie, I think—exclaims, which earns her a glare from Jenna.
   Jenna rolls her eyes. "This annoying fourteen year old is Carrie, but you've already met her." Jenna releases my hand so I can shake Carrie's. A tall, dark-haired boy stands beside her. He also extends a hand.
   "I'm Brennan, Jenna's younger brother. I'm a junior."
   I nod a hello. "I'm Tyler."
  "I've seen you around at school. You're on the basketball team, right?" I nod again.
  "Well, I've seen you play at practice and you're pretty good. We should have a match out front after dinner," Brennan says.
   "Sounds good to me," I reply, shrugging. I need to get in my daily practice, anyways. Next comes another girl, also with dark hair.
   "I'm Kristen. I'm a freshman." She shakes my hand.
   "Nice to meet you, Kristen," I greet. Mr. Black then takes her place.
   "It's good to see you again, Tyler," he says. "It seems like you've been treating my girl well."
   "Thank you, sir," I respond nervously. "And yes, I've done my best at treating her well."
   "Well, dinner is ready," Mrs. Black butts in, seeming to sense my nerves around Jenna's father. I mentally thank her.
   All of us hurry over to the oval dining table, where steaming spaghetti, Italian salad, and toasted garlic bread await us. I take a seat next to Jenna, Brennan on my other side. It only now dawns on me that my ukulele is still clamped in my sweaty left hand.
   "Um, where can I set this?" I ask Jenna quietly. She takes it and walks into the living room where she lays it on the couch. Mr. Black offers a prayer, then silverware clatters against plates and elbows battle each other as the family dishes up their food. I patiently wait until most of the dust settles before piling noodles, sauce, bread, and a hint of salad onto my plate. My elbow bumps something as I reach for the Italian dressing followed by a cry from Jenna. I whip my head in her direction to see her lap soaked in water, an empty glass rolling across the tabletop.
   "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" I cry, my face coloring in embarrassment as everyone's eyes settle on me. Grabbing a few napkins from the top of the stack, I hand them to Jenna, who starts pressing them against her legs while whispering forgiveness to me.
   "It's okay, man," Brennan whispers in my ear. "You're probably better coordinated in basketball." I laugh nervously in response, trying to break the tension I've made. Or maybe it's my imagination.
   "So, Tyler, have you always lived in Columbus?" Mr. Black asks after everyone returns to their food.
   I nod. "I've never moved houses."
   "So you've always been on the other side of the woods?"
   "Yep." I look down at my plate and take a few bites of my spaghetti noodles, trying to rid the lump in my throat. My stomach squirms in anxiety, making it hard to get food down.
   I notice Kristen glance at the ukulele on the couch. "So you play?" she asks.
   "Yeah," I say.
    "I do too! Maybe we can give each other some tips!"
     I grin. "Maybe."
   "Do you play any other instruments?"
   "Um, I can play piano, ukulele, drums, and guitar. I also sing." I shift in my seat nervously.
   You know none of them want to hear about your music ambition.
   "You should play something for us after dinner," Kristen suggests.
   Jenna and I glance at each other. "I might," I say.
   "Do you write your own music?" Mrs. Black asks this time.
   "Yes."
   "That's cool!" Carrie adds. "I've never met a musician."
   Kristen nudges her. "What about me, dummy?"
   "Pfft, you don't count." I smile at the sisters' bickering. The rest of us finish our meal.
   "The food was excellent, Mrs. Black," I tell Jenna's mom. "Thanks for having me for dinner."
   "It's was a pleasure to get to know you more, Tyler," Mrs. Black replies. "I think it's safe to say that you're welcome over any time now."
   "You should totally play something, now," Kristen says, pushing her chair back from the table. She walks around and grabs my arm, pulls me up, and drags me over to the couch where my ukulele is waiting.
   "Kristen, don't force him! Geez," Jenna chuckles.
   "Nah, it's okay," I reply, picking up my ukulele and strumming it a bit. My mind empty, I look to Jenna for what to play.
   "You should play the one you played for me when I was sick," she says. I smile.
   "This Øne is called House if Gold." I start strumming a muted C chord. (A/N: my autocorrect automatically slashed the o, but I just kept it because hey, it works lol).
   Everyone starts clapping along when I get to the second verse, their faces beaming, Jenna's especially.  
    I am greeted with applause after I strum the last chord. "You wrote that!?" Kristen exclaims. I nod shyly. "That was amazing! You're way better at ukulele than I am."
   I shrug. "Just keep practicing, and you'll get better. Practice is key."
   Brennan stands up and walks into the kitchen, then returns with a basketball under one arm. "You still up for shooting hoops?"
   "Yeah, sure," I say.
   Jenna gets up. "Here, let me put your ukulele in my room." I hand the instrument to her, then follow Brennan outside.

    "So what made you date my sister?" Brennan asks as he shoots toward the goal standing to the side of the concrete driveway.
   "Well," I start. "I was captured by her beauty when I first saw her, then as I got to know her, I fell for her personality." Brennan passes me the ball, and I take a shot and make it.
  "She's hasn't talked about you much around me, so I don't know a lot. Like, how did you guys meet?"
  "Well, I had first seen her in the music store a few weeks before school, then I ran into her in the woods later that day. Funny story, I know. I was also the one who found her when she had the concussion and went with her mom to the hospital."
  I switch hands and fake a left, then go in for another shot, which Brennan fails to block.
   "Yeah, I had known about the concussion thing, I just didn't know how you guys met before then. I know you hang around with Josh and Mark at school. I have some classes with them, as well as your brother, Zack."
   "Yeah, they're good friends of mine. Zack's a pretty great brother, too."
   "I haven't talked to them much, but they seem nice." He goes in for a shot, but I manage to block him and steal the ball. "So tell me about your band," he says. "What's it called?"
   "I didn't think I had mentioned that I was in a band. I had just mentioned that I write songs," I reply.
   "Oh, well I've overheard Josh talk about you and him having a band."
   "Oh." I hide my surprise. Usually Josh isn't one to talk about our band. "It's called Twenty One Pilots."
   "That's an interesting name choice," Brennan replies. "What genre of music do you play?"
   Oh gosh. "Um...," I trail off. "A little bit of everything. We like to experiment, so we're not really a set genre."
  "Interesting," Brennan replies. Each of us takes three more shots before heading inside, where we find the rest of the Black family dispersed throughout the house. Jenna is sitting on the couch.
   "You ready?" she asks me. I nod and thank Mrs. Black and the others for having me over for dinner as Jenna runs upstairs to get my ukulele. Then, we head through the woods to my house as the daylight starts to fade.