"I don't understand," said Maverick blankly, staring at the wall with forced dismay. "G.R.M?"

"They're the 'initials' burned into the Bible, remember?" I looked at him with expectant eyes, but his face did not budge.

"Are you sure those were the initials?" he asked me.

I snapped a picture of the text engraved upon the stone."Yes, yes, I'm sure. How can you not remember?"

"It's not that I don't remember. It's more like I thought that they would stand for something more striking, but this? This is some cheesy line from a movie," he motioned to the words engraved on the plaque in front of him. "I'm really disappointed."

"You're joking."

"Yes, I'm joking. You need to lighten up. Take this as your night off with your friend, just chillin' and doin' whatever," he made to wrap his arm nonchalantly around me, but I felt him tense the moment his arm touched the back of my jacket.

We strolled down the road as I sent the pictures to the group chat, silencing my phone. "Better?" I asked Maverick.

"Much better."

I felt small compared to him, with me being somewhere along the lines of five foot-eight, where as he was probably about six foot-three. Still, I could think of no better place to be.

Maybe he was really starting to like me. There were those times when we nearly kissed, but how much did that really validate his feelings about me? If I wanted answers, I'd have to buckle down and ask him. "Maverick," I began.

"Hmm?"

"How do you feel about me? Am I annoying, nice, your friend, loud?"

"Oh, well I think you're smart, you're definitely my friend, nice with a bit of a temper, and. . ." His voice trailed off.

"And what?"

"It's really nothing."

"No, please tell me," I begged, pivoting on my toes to face him.

"I was going to say 'beautiful', but I thought that might cross a line."

"That's about the nicest thing you've ever said to me," a bashful grin spread across my face and I wiggled my toes nervously within my boots.

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. Sometimes I think I can be annoying or act stupid or embarrass people. I was just wondering."

"Is that the real reason?"

"Even if it wasn't, what's it matter?" I asked him, shrugging. Technically, he couldn't argue with that, so we continued to stroll along the path until the hours turned ungodly and almost dangerous to be out in. "I'll drive you home. My parents lent me their car for the night."

"You're too kind," he joked, his fingers grazing mine as we ventured to the car. Closer and closer his hand got to mine, but just as we were about to close the tiny gap between our palms Lacey skipped over to us. We both jumped away from each other, looking shamefully down at the ground.

"Maverick! Hey, what's up?" She exclaimed happily. She tried to give me a warm smile, but I could see the stone wall in her eyes blocking any real emotion.

"I was just hanging with a friend."

I mentally cringed at the word friend. I had just been kicked painfully back to square one.

"I was wondering if you could help me pick out a gift for a friend of mine," Lacey continued, ignoring me completely.

"I-I-"

"Who's going to take you home?" I asked him.

For a moment he seemed overwhelmed, but before he could speak Lacey answered for him. "I will!" She winked at me and I gave her a confused look, though I knew perfectly well what she meant. Lacey dragged him away, a cheerful bounce in her step.

My footsteps echoed dully through the hallway as I rounded the corner, prepared to finally leave school after about an hour of working on a project. Days had passed since Maverick and I spoke, which was quite unusual. We were always so caught up in solving the case of the missing teenagers that we never stopped to think that we might need some time apart.

Something hard jostled me from my thoughts. I looked up from my feet to see a group of about five people- three girls and two boys- standing with anger-curled lips.

"I can't believe you ran into me!" Cried the tallest boy, the one in front, faining light headedness.

I glared up at him, a small trace of fear burning in my chest. "Sorry? I really need to go now, so if you'll excuse me-"

The boy caught me by the arm and shoved me back to where I was standing before. The people around him laughed and oohed. "Don't touch me," I snapped.

"Huh? What was that? Punch you?" He reeled his arm back, but was knocked to the ground by what seemed to be an invisible force. Maverick had done a running jump and body checked him into the opposite wall. He was on top of him, swinging, hitting, kicking until he was begging for mercy. Somehow no teachers were around to notice.

"Is there a problem?" The boy shook his head frantically. "Did he touch you?" Maverick looked up from his current, and very bloody, engagement.

I nodded and he responded by punching the boy in the face. "Did he hurt you?" I shook my head no. Maverick grabbed the boy's collar and pulled him up so that he was hanging by his jacket from the wall. "What's your name?"

"B-B-Bentley," he stuttered.

"Well, Bentley, stay away from her and stay away from me and stay away from my friends, got it?"

He nodded and Maverick let him fall to the floor. Without a word, he lead me out of the hallway, down the stairs, and to the exit of the school.

"How did you find me? What are you doing here?" I questioned.

"I was finishing something up and heard your voice in the hallway. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"As 'okay' as I'll ever be. Now can we talk?"

"About what?"

"Lacey."