We agreed on six in the evening and it's past seven already. I sent him two text messages already and during those two times, he left me on seen two times. I'm annoyed while sitting on the sofa and flipping through random channels in the living room.

Just when I gave up and decided to work on the project by myself, I heard the doorbell ring. I sat the remote onto the coffee table and walked to the front door. Looking through the peephole, I saw it was Kai.

He came just in time. I'm still feeling irritated from him ditching me tonight. Swinging the door opened, I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind.

Only when he lifted his head, I saw that his left eye had a bruise forming under it and he had a cut lip.

Geez, he looked horrible.

"What happened?"

Kai chuckled and dabbed his thumb on his lip.

"Nothing. Just got into a fight on the streets." He looked behind me before giving me a questioning look. "Gonna let me in?"

I nodded my head and opened the door wider, only to remember I'm pissed. I stopped him just before he could enter. This made us closer to each other.

"You made me wait."

"It was unexpected, Tamsin. What do you want me to do?"

"How about a text next time? I know you saw my messages," I snapped.

Kai's jaw clicked again and he looked like he was trying to reign in his temper. His pale green eyes wandered off for a minute to something behind me before he took in a deep breath. He shoved fingers through his unkempt hair.

"I'm sorry, ok? God, I need a smoke." Kai turned and walked back out of the doorway.

Kai stood on our porch and took out a pack of cigarettes. Hitting it on his palms before pulling out a cigarette, he popped the cigarette in between his lips before pulling out his lighter and lit the end of it.

"You can't smoke around here." I followed out after him.

He took a long drag of the cigarette before blowing it out. I watched him lift his chin and stared at the sky. The orange glow of the evening tinted his sun-kissed skin as he did so. He closed his eyes.

My parents would kill me if they smelled it. I walked around him and began fanning my hands. Kai didn't bother moving. Ignored me while I fanned around him.

He finished off his cigarette and instead of throwing it on the ground, Kai turned to me. "Mind tossing this for me?"

I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but realize how much that would delay our project. Without arguing, I grabbed the cigarette butt and walked inside. I heard Kai follow me into the kitchen. Ripping off a paper towel, I was about to wrap the cigarette butt in it to hide the evidence but Kai grabbed a hold of my wrist that had the cigarette in it.

"Are you stupid?" He glared in my direction.

"I'm trying to hide the evidence. My parents would kill me," I snapped back.

"You need to kill the fire end of it, Dollface." Kai took the cigarette butt from hands and walked to the kitchen sink. He turned it on and ran it under the water for a second before handing me the cigarette. I grumbled a 'thank you' before wrapping it up and tossing it deep into the trash bin.

When I turned around, I found him standing with his hands shoved into his dark denim jeans. He looked at me—sweeping me head to toe. I chose an oversized t-shirt and black leggings. Not a hint of skin was showing. An appropriate attire to wear when people are over. Yet I couldn't help but cross my arms beneath my breasts.

"What?" I shot his way.

Kai clicked his tongue before shrugging. "Where to, Dollface?"

"We'll work in the dining room."

"Playing it safe, I see. No worries, I wouldn't touch you."

That hurt more than I wanted it to. I held back the physical recoil. God, I know I wasn't the greatest looking girl, but it didn't mean I looked like the wicked witch either.

"Good, because I wouldn't want to touch you either." I shot back and walked to the dining table.

We worked together a little over 30 minutes before I leaned back in my seat. I think we have everything planned out appropriately.

"So, we'll go tomorrow after school to go buy the materials we need."

"Isn't tomorrow your little crush's track game?" Kai asked. He did it so casually that I stuttered when I responded to him.

"No, of course not. I don't know what you mean. I'm free tomorrow."

Then he did something that made me angry. He smirked in my direction as if he noticed how uncomfortable I was. I don't even know how he knows that I like Dean and now that he confirmed it, I felt trapped. I felt like a little piggy caught between a dead end and he was the wolf he would be devouring me whole.

I stood up from my chair and began re-arranging the papers.

"I have no clue what you mean," I said.

"Oh, you know, Dollface."

Keep it together, Tamsin!

I stopped re-arranging the papers and glared at him.

"I have no plans tomorrow. If you don't believe me, we can leave right away after school."

His features changed. He pulled back immediately like he wasn't just pushing my buttons.

"Cool. I'll be in the parking lot waiting."

I blinked.

His demeanor changed so quickly I had a hard time reacting. Did he deliberately bait me to argue with him? I opened my mouth to say something but clamped it back shut when I realized I didn't need to go to his game. The project was more important. The faster I get it out of the way, the less time I would spend with Kai.

Kai's stomach grumbled loudly. He pretended it didn't happen but I heard it loud and clear. I finished packing the rest of the stuff and put them away.

"Well, um, we are done here. If you want to go home or do whatever, you can. I'll see you tomorrow," I said.

"You got something to eat?" Kai asked.

"Wh-what? No. I didn't a chance to eat or cook anything-"

"Then you should take me out to eat."

This boy was going to drive me insane. He was demanding, rude, and disrespectful. I shook my head in protest. Kai didn't care. He took hold of my wrist and pulled me to the front door.

"W-wait!" I grabbed my key and purse with him still holding onto my wrist.

The sun at this point has already set over the horizon. It was dark and cool outside now. I shouldn't be going out. My parents would be home soon from their job, but I still followed Kai down the steps.

When we reached his motorcycle, I stopped in my tracks. I'm deathly afraid of motorcycles. Especially since I have never driven or rode on one before.

"Kai, wait."

Surprisingly, he stopped to look at me. He noticed how nervous I looked because he turned to touch my shoulders. Kai lowered his eyes to look at me.

"You'll be okay, I promise. I won't go too fast."

"I-I don't know."

"I won't let you get hurt, Dollface. You are safe with me."

For some odd reason, I believed him. He looked so serious compared to the last few times that we talked. I couldn't say no. Instead, I nodded my head shakily.

He swung his leg over his motorcycle. He gestured for me to move closer. When I inched closer, he took hold of my arm and pulled me close enough for him to put his helmet over my head. He hooked the straps snuggly before knocking me on the head gently.

"You alright in there?" he asked.

I nodded my head, unable to find my voice.

"Get on behind me." I did as I was told. I put my little purse between us but it felt oddly uncomfortable. So I swung it back to my side. Kai grabbed my hands and pulled me forward.

"What are you doing?" I asked just as he wrapped my arms around his waist.

He smelled like the outdoors and a lot of cigarettes, but it wasn't too bad. I actually like the smell of him. I was well aware of how my breasts were pressed up against his back. I could feel every hard inch of his body through his thin black V-neck t-shirt.

A moment later we were on the road. I was scared out of my mind the second he pulled off from my street. I hugged him tighter. My fingers bunching up his shirt in my palms. I moved even closer to him. Kai said nothing. He continued to drive. I didn't realize I had my eyes closed tightly until later.

When I opened my eyes and saw the city zoomed by, I felt a thrilling sense hit me. My heart thumped against my chest rapidly as I lifted my head to look around. City lights lit all over the place. The wind was brushing up against my skin. It was kind of thrilling for someone like me. I've never stepped more than a hairline out of step. I've always followed rules and procedures. I don't question authoritative figures.

Kai stopped in front of a local burger place. The building looked like an old diner on the outside. At first glance, visitors wouldn't want to try the place out due to how old it looked. However, the food was bomb.

He turned off the engine and turned his head slightly to look at me.

"You aren't a salad girl, are you?" he asked.

"What's wrong with salad?" I questioned in return.

"Damn, you're a salad girl."

"For your information, I like my salad just as much as I like my burger."

I unclipped the helmet and then got off his motorcycle. Removing it from my head, I shook out my hair before combing my fingers through them.

"My hair is messy now," I grumbled.

Kai swung his leg over his motorcycle before turning to look me over. His eyes sweeping over my unkempt hair. In return, I looked at his unkempt hair. He wore this look perfectly.

"You look alright to me."

We walked inside together. After we were seated, we placed our orders quickly with little conversation. When the waitress left, I turned to look out the window.

I looked out the window just in time too. Across the street was a clothing boutique. I saw Dean walk out first before holding the door open. A girl popped out of the boutique.

She wasn't somebody I knew but she looked beautiful. Her brown hair falling in beachy waves down her shoulders to her back. The yellow school girl skirt she had on made her hips popped in curves. The white cropped top reached just above the skirt and showed just a hint of skin.

They were both smiling. For a moment, jealousy pinched my heart and I couldn't stop staring at Dean. He looked happy. He was smiling right back at her.

"She's hot."

I blinked. I totally had forgotten I was here with Kai. Embarrassment flooded me quickly and I tore my gaze from Dean. In an attempt to recover from my mishap, I cleared my throat and tucked my hair behind my ears.

"She is."

"But you weren't staring at her."

I glared in his direction. "I was too."

He made a disbelieving noise. For some reason, I was irritated with him. I shouldn't feel this way because he wasn't anyone important, but I was. Even though he was a hundred percent correct, I wanted to still deny it.

Our meal came after. After we finished eating, Kai took me back home. We didn't even say bye to each other.

When I got inside, my parents were in the living room watching TV. My mom looked away from the TV to glance my way.

"Where did you go?"

"I went out to eat with Avery."

"Avery? I thought I heard a motorcycle outside."

"It was our neighbor's friend," I lied.

My mom seemed to have accepted the answer because she turned her attention back to the TV. It was a good thing my parents didn't question me further. Being interrogated by the parents wasn't something I wanted to do at night–especially tonight. I hurried upstairs and showered before plopping into bed. Scrolling through my newsfeed randomly until my eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep.