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Barrett’s fingers tripped over his guitar chords when Nell stepped into the garage on Monday evening.

“Dammit, dude. What was—” Dennis paused as he noticed Barrett’s attention elsewhere, and his annoyance audibly shifted. “Oh, hello, Duncan. Nice to see you.”

Thankfully, Barrett was close enough to nudge him oh-so-softly in the gut with his elbow when he heard the teasing in his voice. He’d warned the guys not to be awkward if she came around.

He should have known better than to trust them.

“Hi, Dennis,” Nell said. If she noticed his tone, she was very good at hiding her embarrassment. “Sorry to interrupt.” She made eye contact with Barrett, and his heart did its little dance reserved for her.

He knew he was grinning sideways like a dope before Paulie said anything.

“Fucking hell,” Paulie said. “Is anyone else getting chills watching this?”

Nell’s cheeks grew red, and Barrett glared at him before pinching his nose in annoyance.

“Discretion, Paul. We agreed,” Toni said and threw one of his drumsticks at the back of his head. Barrett was just about to thank him when he added, “Not mentioning the fact that Barrett and Duncan desecrated the side of my house without permission.”

Nell’s eyes widened, and Barrett stilled in horror, watching her entire face glow before she hid it in her hands.

Barrett was so going to kill them. “Jesus Christ, dude, that’s not—” He nearly dropped Sandra as he took her off so he could rush over to Nell. He was blabbering the whole way over. “I didn’t say that. I promise I didn’t say that. They’re just messing with you. Oh, god, please don’t kill me.”

“Oh my god.” She moaned into her hands.

Barrett panicked, running his hands through his hair and looking at his friends for some sort of support.

“Sorry, Duncan. I couldn’t help myself,” Toni said, snickering. He dodged as Paulie threw the drumstick back at his face. He was lucky Paulie had shitty aim. “Barrett’s a good boy.”

“I’ll also vouch for him,” Dennis said, though he looked to be enjoying this just as much. “Scout’s honor.” He held up three fingers.

“He loves you too much,” Paulie, so graciously, felt the need to add.

“Oh my god.” Now Barrett was the one with his face in his hands. “Fuck you guys.”

After a few mortifying seconds, a soft giggle rang out. He raised his head and found Nell watching him, laughing into her hand. Her face was still red, but at least she hadn’t run.

Barrett couldn’t help himself when he saw that smile. Gloriously brilliant, everything about it. His lips tilted up in one corner, mesmerized, even if it were at his expense.

“Love, huh?” she teased.

He groaned, but he wasn’t gonna get mad at her. “Not you too.”

She looked better than she had in a while, he thought. Her skin had a good amount of color, her eyes more blue than gray.

Selfishly, he hoped it had something to do with him.

“I think I’m done practicing for tonight,” he said, directed to the guys even though he didn’t stop looking at her.

“What? We just started,” Paulie said.

“We should all take a break,” Dennis said. “Let’s go celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?” Nell asked, breaking Barrett’s gaze to look at the others.

“I’d tell you,” Toni said, getting up and grabbing his jacket for the walk to the quarry. He grinned at her and lowered his voice. “But we’re not supposed to mention it.”

* * *

Warming up in the chilly early autumn night was easy with two things: alcohol and a very beautiful girl standing close enough to touch when she laughed and made your blood pump.

And boy, did his blood pump.

He drank more than usual, getting carried away with the music and nerves.

Their hands had brushed a total of twelve times on the walk from Toni’s house, and he’d been too chicken to just grab it. Whatever happened to that burst of courage he’d had when he kissed her?

He’d kill for that again, but as long as his friends were around, he couldn’t so much as casually wrap his arm around her waist—which he’d been picturing himself doing the past twenty minutes—without worrying they might embarrass her.

But every time they happened to touch, she would look over at him and give him her familiar drunken smile, a puff of smoke rising from her lips.

She was a vision, glowing in the moonlight.

Her golden roots had grown out, and their light color diving into her dark muddy ends gave off the most magical look—like an elf, or a fairy or something.

Damn. He was drunk.

She laughed at something Paulie said, and before Barrett knew what he was doing, his arm had wrapped around her waist.

He could feel her heat through her jacket, and it made him itch with the need to get closer. His eyes had steadied on her waist, but when he looked up, Nell was watching him.

Despite the terrible things she thought of herself, he’d only ever seen kindness in her gaze. A single look from her sent a soft buzz through his body.

How anyone could ever convince themselves to hate her was beyond him.

“Is this okay?” He wasn’t nervous anymore. The alcohol made sure of that.

She blinked a few times, then gave him an imperceptible nod and a simper.

He’d love to go brag to his sixteen-year-old self.

Toni turned up his boombox, and made it difficult to hear anything, so he could get up and tap his drumsticks on a nearby rock along with the beat. Dennis disappeared for a few moments to the van and came back with a baggie.

Barrett frowned when he saw it.

It was a zip lock from his selling stash, half full of a white powder. He stared at the edge of the quarry as Dennis dumped small piles of it onto a magazine and used his driver’s license to divide it up.

It wasn’t Barrett’s place to dictate what his friends could and could not do. He just knew what it could do, so he stayed away from it when it wasn’t putting cash into his pocket.

He’d rather watch Nell, but even she studied them with her head tilted. Barrett frowned deeper.

“I’ve never tried it,” she mumbled.

The intrigue in her voice made a small flicker of sobriety light in his brain, and he followed her gaze, his gut twisting.

Dennis kneeled by the rows and took his share, Toni following. Someone said something, and they all laughed, but Barrett’s humor stayed alert.

He looked back at Nell. There was something in her eyes he couldn’t read, far away and glazed over as she observed.

Before he could understand, she blinked, her eyes back in focus and on him. “Want to go for a walk?”

The hit of soberness eased back into a comforting lull of inebriation, and his lips automatically twisted up for her. “If you lead the way.”

Even her giggles slurred as Barrett rose to his feet, pulling her up with him, which was a fun adventure in both of their states.

This time, as they walked away from the others, he took her hand the first time it brushed against his.

Truth be told, these woods were creepy as hell.

Especially as they got further away from the lights and music and ruckus of their usual spot. But Nell hummed off-key under her breath, and he decided there were some perks to being alone in the woods with her.

It was hard to tell how far they walked, but he didn’t mind.

“I love it here,” Nell said, looking up at the sky.

“Gives me the creeps.”

She chuckled and glanced sideways at him. “Really? It’s so peaceful. You know, I usually go into the woods outside my house, just to get away. I’d kill for it to be this quiet.”

“Aren’t you scared that some axe murderer might pop out or something?”

She shrugged. “Not right now. I’m not scared when you’re here.”

He stopped walking.

He could look one way and see total darkness, the other way a drop-off followed by stars.

But he only saw her, as dark as it was, barely able to see much more than a silhouette, and yet he just knew what she looked like. He’d stared at her so much that her face must be etched permanently into his brain.

And thanks to his muddied mind, he couldn’t think about much else.

“I like you,” he blurted. “Like, a lot. I never did get over that crush I mentioned, and seriously, you seem way too good for me. But I’m drunk right now and, god, I would love to kiss you again.”

He was met with silence. In the darkness, only his mind could conjure what he feared was rejection until her fingers tightened around his.

He leaned in closer, hoping to be able to make out a smile or a blush or anything. “Please let me kiss you,” he said.

He startled as a warm hand rested against his chest. It sat there for a moment before it moved—upwards, over his jacket, searching its way in the dark to his neck, up his jaw, then his cheek.

Barrett closed his eyes, savoring the way it glided, imagining how it looked, and leaning into her soft palm.

A finger swept over his bottom lip—she’d found her way.

When Barrett breathed in again, it was all her.

No fantasy lived up to the reality.

The darkness heightened everything. Every move of their mouths rocked through him, sending chills over his entire body and blood to his core. He couldn’t get close enough.

He let go of her hand in favor of her waist to pull her closer. She let out a soft sound that vibrated against his mouth, and the world went dizzy. The stars in the sky and in his head spun.

The thoughts that went with them would make her blush. But maybe he wanted to make her blush.

Maybe he wanted to figure out ways to hear that sound over and over again.

Maybe he was already addicted to the way her thumb rubbed at his nape.

Maybe, just maybe, he’d been addicted long ago.

She whispered his name, and he pushed against her.

He had no idea his name could taste like that. He wanted to taste it again.

Taking a step forward, he forced her back until her back hit a tree. The bark dug into one palm as he held himself up while the other pinched at the denim on her hip.

There it was again, his name.

Their mouths grew more desperate by the second.

He dropped to her neck and groaned into the skin above her collar. It burned his lips, and he took his time brushing them there.

Her hands gripped his shoulders, her breath rustling over his hair.

“I’ve thought of this a million times,” he confessed softly.

She said his name. He wanted to confess everything to her.

“Barrett!” Dennis’s yell was a tragedy.

They both froze, waiting a few seconds to see if they had heard correctly. His lips tingled where they stilled over her skin.

“Barrett! Duncan! You guys better be alive.” It was closer this time.

Barrett groaned and pulled away. He leaned his forehead against hers to steady himself. If he let go too soon, he would drop to his knees.

He still couldn’t see her face in the dark, but he could feel her smile radiating. He breathed a heavy laugh. “They’re the nosiest bastards in the world.”

“Don’t forget you’re one of them,” she teased.

Barrett shook his head and tsked his tongue. “Don’t you forget I’m practically yours now.” He leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers for a few more seconds. “If you want me.”

She giggled, and Barrett closed his eyes to take in the sound.

“We’re way past that point.”