The digital clock reaches eleven thirty as it illuminates bright, neon green from next to the lamp on the nightstand. Casey's room is lit up from the sun shining brightly through the blinds. Everything is neatly organized and tidy, except for her bed. Her modern furniture, from her bed frame to her dresser, all match with polished steel and a thick black wooden trim. On her vanity mirror she has several pictures of her and her family bordering the circular edges. Taylor is part of that family. Her closet is a walk-in, filled with dozens, if not hundreds, of different attire for her to mix-and-match. She grew up in a rich family and sees having money as normal to her. Deep down however, she doesn't feel any greater or less than anyone else.

Casey rolls over, batting her eyelashes as she slowly wakes, to see Riley staring at her. Already wide awake, his head is propped up with his hand and he smiles back at her. "Good morning, beautiful."

"Morning." She smiles as she wipes at her dreary eyes.

"I wish I could wake up like this every day."

"Casey, Mom said that if you have any—" The door handle rattles from outside.

Wide eyed, Casey turns to Riley and kicks him off the bed. He tumbles to the floor, tangled in the sheets, and pulls the comforter down with him.

"Dirty laundry..." The door pushes open and Peyton, Casey's younger sister, steps into the room. She just turned 14 not too long ago, and resembles her sister more-and-more every day. If she was a bit taller the two could easily be mistaken for each other. Her hair is blonde as well but a slight shade lighter and, unlike Casey, she often curls her hair to purposely give it a messy get-out-of-bed look.

A nervous smile spreads across Casey's face as she sits up on the bare bed. Peyton stares at her awkwardly.

"Where are your sheets?" She asks, her eyes wandering around the room.

"It was hot last night." Casey's eyes roll when she hears the muffled sound of Riley giggling into the blanket immaturely.

Luckily, Peyton doesn't hear a thing. She has a natural sarcastic tone in her voice, in which every word she says tends to roll off her tongue with snide. "Okay then. Need any clothes washed?"

Casey points at a laundry hamper near the door. "Just that basket right there."

Peyton grabs the basket and notices a green, mesh-like shirt on the floor. She reaches over for it.

"No, not that one! That one's clean!" She watches as Peyton picks it up and unfolds it, revealing it to be a Riverside Gator's jersey.

Gasping, Peyton's eyes gaze over to Casey, then gaze down at the floor where Riley's toes poke out from behind one of the bed legs. "You had sex? Eww!"

She drops the jersey to the floor, as if it was tainted with some sort of infectious disease, and scrunches her face. "That's gross!"

Casey sighs, "No, Peyton. It's not what you think!"

Riley slowly stands up from the other side of Casey's bed, covering his lower body with the blankets. Casey's eyes widen even more as the humiliation sinks in even deeper.

"Hi." Riley utters awkwardly, his face growing pink from embarrassment.

As she stares at Riley, Peyton's 'eww face' quickly reverses into an enthralled simper. "Okay, I take that back. Not so gross."

Scoffing, Casey snatches a pillow from her bed and tosses it at Peyton. "Out!"

"Hey, don't yell at me." Peyton cocks an eyebrow. "I'm not the one sneaking boys into my room."

"Get out!"

"Okay, okay!" Peyton throws her arms up defensively, her way of raising the white flag, then reaches down to grab the basket. She walks through the door and slowly pulls it shut behind her. Her head peeks back through. "You know this means I get a pass, right?"

Another pillow flies into the door and she laughs as she shuts it.

Annoyed, Casey rolls her eyes again to look at Riley as he fishes around the floor with his foot in search of his pants. He finds them under the bed and drags them out with his toes.

His tone is nervous. "Is she going to tell your parents?"

"Calm down. She's not going to tell anyone. I have way too much dirt on her." Casey squints her eyes. "Why are you so worried?"

"I just—I don't want your parents to think bad about me."

"Relax. They know you're a good guy." She smiles and grabs the blanket to pull him closer to her. He laughs, crawling on top the bed in the tangled mess as he leans over her to go in for a kiss. "They know you're nice, handsome... honest."

Riley's head pulls away as his eyes go dull. He has been wanting to tell her for weeks now about what happened that night. Everything has just seemed so perfect lately that, he feared if he told her the truth, she would think differently of him. She would hate him. Maybe even fear him. But eventually, he will have to tell her, especially now that things are getting more serious. Maybe the sooner the better...

Sensing something wrong, she grazes her hand against his cheek, snapping him back into reality. "Hey, you okay?"

He glances at her and forces himself to muster a smile. "As long as I'm here with you, I'll always be great."

"That was so cheesy." She laughs, pulling him down underneath the sheets.

♫ ᴄʜᴇᴍɪᴄᴀʟ / ᴋᴇʀʟɪ ♫