The doorbell rang as I put mascara on that Friday evening. The time on my phone told me he was early which was bad since I wasn't even fully done with my makeup.

"I got it!" Everly called out.

A shiver went up my spine, knowing that Miles was on the other side of our white door. Everly still didn't know I hung out with him, and maybe if I was lucky, she wouldn't recognize him when she opened the door. Or maybe she was going to...

"OH MY FLIPPING GOODNESSS. You're Kit Keen. Kit Keen is at my house," Everly shouted, obviously making Miles deaf.

Shoot. This was exactly what I was afraid of. With mascara only on one eye, I ran out of the bathroom and looked at Miles from the top of the stairs. "Hi," I said to him casually.

"Hey Isla," he said with a wave, slight amusement playing in his eyes.

"ISLA ANNE MAAS. YOU KNOW KIT KEEN?" Everly asked, closing the door as Miles stepped into the house.

Surprise? If she knew me better, she would have known already. Guess the jokes on her. "Yeah."

"Everly. Goodness, why are you yelling?" Mom questioned as she came out of her office, rubbing her eyes, hinting that she fell asleep at her desk again.

Everly pointed to Miles. "Is Isla friends with him?"

Mom nodded, confused why she was overreacting. Thank goodness Mom was so busy with her work that she didn't know what was "in" in pop culture. To her, Miles was just Miles, a friend of Isla's, nothing more than that. "Yeah, that's Miles."

Everly looked at Miles, then at me, not believing that someone like Miles would be here for me. "But how?" Everly pouted.

Wow, real confidence-builder, Everly. But I asked myself the same question almost every time he texted me. Why me? Why was he wanting to hang out with simple me?

With a shrug, I quickly put mascara on my other eye, then ran down the stairs before Everly had more of a meltdown.

"I'll tell you later," I said as I patted her shoulder.

She crossed her arms over her chest. I knew she wanted to know the story now, but I didn't have time to explain.

"Hey, mom, we're going to Zoe's. I'll be back late. Don't wait up."

She nodded with a yawn. "Of course. Have fun."

With that, we left the house and got into Miles' Subaru. In the car's silence, Miles started cracking up laughing. "You didn't tell your sister about me?"

"She never asked."

"You're something else, Isla," he said as he turned the car on.

"That's what people tell me." Maybe being different was good, at least Miles liked it and maybe that was enough. I didn't need many friends like Tristen had. I just needed Miles and Zoe.

"So, I got a new song for you."

Instantly a poppy song came onto the speakers, forcing me to tap my foot to the beat. It wasn't one of the better songs he showed me, but it wasn't the worst song I had heard, that was for sure.

"What do you think?" he asked as the song ended.

"It wasn't terrible. The beat got a little old though. Who sang it?"

"Me," he admitted shyly.

My comment chipped his confidence. Even though I was sure I listened to all of his songs, somehow, I missed this one. What I would never tell him though was that I wasn't a huge fan of his music. It was bland, sounding like everything else on the radio. "Oh. Well, it's a wonderful song," I said, trying to cover my honesty.

"What do you think would make it better?"

That question forced me into a hole that I couldn't pull myself out of. But this conversation needed more than a 15-minute car ride to unpack. "Look, I'm not a song expert. In fact, most people don't understand my song choices. You shouldn't listen to me." And it was a fact. People loved the music he made. But I, on the other hand, knew nothing about the music industry.

"But I want to. Please give me your opinion on how to make this better. I value your opinion."

Did I just hear that right? He valued me? His words coaxed me to speak my mind as well as bring blush to my cheeks. "Ok." I took his phone and looked at his lock screen. "Passcode?" I asked as I looked at his locked screen so I could rewind the song.

"You just want the code to look through my phone," he joked.

I rolled my eyes. "Please, that's exactly what I want to do. You caught me," I said with sarcasm. I wouldn't do that to even Zoe. Phones were sacred. I just wanted access to the song he played.

"1235," he said as he drove down the road as my phone told him where to turn next.

"Wow, so creative."

"Hey, don't make fun of my passcode," he retorted.

I quickly put in those numbers, and instantly the song popped onto the screen allowing me to rewind the song to the middle. "Maybe have a slightly different beat in the middle. Like a drop?"

He nodded. "And what do you think of the lyrics?"

My honest opinion was that they were surface level for a party. But I think he was actually trying to evoke emotion.

"You know, Isla, not saying anything makes it worse," he said as he forced a chuckle.

Why he cared so much about my opinion was beyond me. I was seriously no one and everyone hated on my music tastes, maybe that was for a reason since it would probably only dig him into a hole. "The song doesn't speak to me. It only makes me want to dance."

He hit the wheel of his car in frustration as if that was the worst news he had heard all day. "These weren't my first lyrics. My manager changed them because he didn't like them. Maybe I should have you help write my songs."

As fun as that would be, I knew he wouldn't be an international pop star with any lyrics I would make. "I would love that sometime, of course, if you wanted me to help," I said as the phone directed him to turn right onto a dirt road.

"Are we going the right way?" he asked as the car shook slightly from the gravel.

"Yeah, we're going the right way." Lights flashed in the distance, telling us Zoe's place was close.

"When you said Zoe lived on the edge of town, I thought like a suburb, not the middle of nowhere."

Redding was already small, so there were no suburbs. "Sorry. I should have been more specific. Her house is there," I said as I pointed toward a house that grew closer to us.

He nodded as he continued to drive. "Don't think we are done with this music conversation just yet."

"Ok." If he forgot about the whole thing and moved on with his life, it would be better for all of those involved. I was not a writer; I didn't even know how to start a song. I just listened to them, but that didn't make me an expert.

Miles turned onto a gravel driveway and found a place to park. Already her driveway was filling with cars from the local high school.

The dark house flashed with strobe lights, lighting up the night sky for a second before flashing off again. The music vibrated the car, making me instantly regret coming here.

Zoe had a reputation for throwing the best parties. It started with her brother, who was a year older than Tristen, and she just continued the tradition since they lived on a 50-acre plot of farmland.

I sighed, bracing myself to go deaf and be hit on by drunk boys that would forget my name when I saw them at school. Nothing about the next few hours would be fun. "Ready?"

He nodded as he looked at the ranch farmhouse, turning off the car. "Let's do this."

I followed his lead and walked through the front door, noticing already at least 40 people here, making me believe she invited the whole school. I wandered through the rooms of the house until I found myself in the kitchen and saw Zoe laughing with another friend. We made eye contact, and I smiled at her, giving her a wave.

With a sloppy smile, she stumbled over to me. "Oh, my goodness! You came!" Zoe cheered with slurred words, hugging me, hinting she was already wasted. Typical.

"Wouldn't miss this." Actually, I would, you should be lucky that I'm here because you're my best friend. Miles walked right beside me, reminding me what I needed to do next. "Oh Zoe, let me introduce you to Miles."

She beamed at me, then at Miles. "Isla has told me so much. It's so nice to meet you in person," she said with a toothy grin.

Miles smiled at her. "It's nice to finally meet the best friend of Isla Maas."

She beamed again, throwing me a wink, impressed. She pointed to the counter that had cups and bottles on them. "Drinks are there if you want them."

"Great," Miles walked over to the counter and poured himself a glass of some strong, clear drink, showing that Zoe must have raided her dad's liquor cabinet. He took a drink without missing a beat and tipped his red Solo cup my way as if offering a sip.

"No thank you," I shouted over the music.

He looked offended that I didn't take a drink. "Don't like cheap vodka?" he chuckled.

As tempting as cheap vodka sounded, I would pass. "I don't like to drink." With a red cup in hand, I poured it full of water from a pitcher that Zoe kept only around for me. "This is what I stick to," I said, taking a drink.

"Wow, going hard tonight, aren't you?" he asked with a chuckle.

"You know me, such a rager," I said with little to no emotion in my voice. There was no way I would drink anything here that wasn't water, and not even Miles could convince me otherwise.

He took another drink and gave a kind of smile I hadn't seen before from Miles. It had a bit of mischief in it, which set me slightly on edge. "Let's dance?"

I shook my head, knowing I was such a terrible dancer. Additionally, I wasn't sure friends danced with each other, especially when he was looking at me that way. This wouldn't be good for either of us. "Nah, I don't think that's a smart idea."

"Come on, let's dance to one song," he said, pulling me into the living room, taking my choice away.

He danced to the music, pulling me in close to him. I smelt the cologne on his shirt, causing a blush to come to my cheeks, making me realize I had ever been so close to him. As we danced next to each other, I could feel my heart race in my chest, wanting to be closer, if that was possible.

Songs flew by as we continued to dance into the night. For the first time, I didn't care about who watched me. All I cared about was dancing with Miles. He spun me around and I laughed, not wanting it to stop, making me wonder if I was gaining feelings for Miles Keen. Another song ended and Miles pulled me into him. I swayed into his hips, lightly grinding into him, getting lost in the moment.

The next song popped on, and I recognized it as one of his own.

He stopped and listened to it for a second as a frown etched into his face. His light-heartedness faded and was replaced by distaste.

"You don't like the song?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "No. But I didn't write it," he said as he walked back into the kitchen and poured himself another cup of beer.

I raised an eyebrow at him as I watched him down it with speed, as if that would solve his problems. I had seen my brother handle alcohol the same way, making me wonder if there was more of a storm raging within him that he just hadn't shared. Maybe those rumors were right, he was a partier but there was more to the story that no one knew because this wasn't a happy party, this was a party he wanted to forget.

"Want a drink?" he asked for the fourth time as he thrust his cup towards me.

I shook my head, trying to keep my cool. How many times would I have to decline a drink from Miles tonight? "No, thank you." I poured myself another glass of water and downed it. I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already past one in the morning. I didn't realize that time had flown by so quickly.

The song changed again, and Miles smiled at me. His carefree attitude was back as the new song continued to play over the speakers. "Want to dance again?" he asked as he walked towards me.

There was nothing I would rather do right now. "Sure," I said as I followed him into the family room again.

We danced together to the songs until Zoe walked in with a speaker. "Party's over! Cops are on their way!" Zoe was just lucky her brother worked for the police department, so she got at least a 30 minute heads up before they came.

The music instantly stopped, and a few people booed while others ran off to get to their cars before it was too late.

I looked at Miles, who was underage to be drinking. He was famous, this would be all over the news and we couldn't have that. We had to get out of here before they came. The last thing he needed was to be on the news about going to a high school party in the middle of nowhere.

Wasting no time, I walked up to the not-so-sober Zoe and smiled. "I'll see you around, Zoe."

She nodded. "See you, bud."

And with that, I walked out the door with Miles in tow as I pushed forward to his car as he stumbled through the grass. There was no way he was driving home tonight. "Miles, your keys?" I asked as I wrapped my arm around him for support.

He hastily pulled his keys out of his skinny jeans and handed them to me. "Here."

We got to the car, and I turned it on. "Just don't scratch it," Miles said as he reclined his passenger seat.

I chuckled as I sped off down the road to get home.

Within 15 minutes, I was pulling into my driveway. I looked at the time on the clock to see that it was past two in the morning. I knew everyone would be asleep by now as I looked at the dark house. My gaze switched to Miles, who was asleep in the seat next to me. He shouldn't be driving, and no one would notice if he spent the night. I poked him slightly, and he jolted awake. "We're here."

He looked at my house and smiled rather naughtily. "Isla, am I spending the night?" he said with slurred words.

I nodded. There was no way I would send him home like this. "You betchya." I got out of the car, he followed my lead, tripping on nothing as we walked to the house. As we made it to the front door, he vomited into the bushes.

I sighed as I held him steady, remembering doing the same thing with Tristen not too long ago. At least I wouldn't have to clean this one up. "Go ahead, get it out," I said as I patted his back.

He coughed as I opened the front door. He quickly wiped his mouth, and I pulled him into the house with me.

"Where am I going to sleep?" Miles asked rather loudly.

"Shhhhh," I hushed him, not wanting anyone to wake up. But he posed a good question. Where was he going to sleep? I suddenly remembered the pull-out bed that Everly used to use under my bed. I was sure it was slightly dusty and old, but it would do the trick. "Come on," I said as I pulled him up the stairs.

I guided him to my room and shut the door.

Miles grinned at me. "I'm sleeping with you?"

Goodness. I couldn't fight the blush that came to my cheeks. "Lay down," I commanded him and pushed him onto my bed. He stumbled back and looked at me with content, waiting for my next move.

I got down on the floor and pulled out the mattress from under my bed. I then ran into the bathroom to get a sheet from the cupboard. Quickly I made the bed, not caring if it was messy, since all I wanted to do was sleep.

I laid on the pull-out bed and looked up at Miles, who was staring at me from my bed.

"You're so perfect," Miles said as he stroked my cheek.

I frowned at him, even though I welcomed his words. "Shhh, Miles, you're drunk." As much as I wanted to hear these things, I had to stop him, knowing he would say something he didn't mean.

"But I mean it, Isla Anne Maas. You're beautiful. In so many ways. I'm so glad that I met you at the skate park. My life has gotten better because of you."

My heart raced. Did he mean that? Would he even remember this tomorrow? As much as I wanted to cling to his words, I knew it wasn't worth it since I knew people said a good amount of crap when they were drunk. "Goodnight Miles." I turned off the light, ending this conversation.

"Goodnight Isla," he said into the darkness and with that, it was silent.