The last thing I'd ever expected was to meet Dex's mother, especially in the house that he grew up in. It just seemed like such an obvious place, but I guess that was why she hid there. Having the ability of becoming invisible was pretty helpful as well.

Dex couldn't deny how happy he was. He had been angry, but i knew how relieved and excited he was with the fact we had found his mother.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he suddenly asked me, and I hadn't even realized I add been starting at him, a goofy grin on my face.

"I'm just... happy," I answered, since it was the truth. "I'm happy that you're happy."

Dex leaned back on the couch and pouted. "Well, I think I'd be more happy if it was just you and me here. Alone."

I gasped, feigning disgust. "Were you planning on taking advantage of me?"

When Dex suddenly leaned in, so close I could feel his breath on my face, I shut up, not expecting him to come so close so suddenly.

"Would I really be taking advantage of you?" he questioned, his voice low and sultry. "You're saying that you don't want me as badly as I want you?"

My breath caught in my throat, my joking demeanor gone How was it that he could always fluster me with just words?

"Your mom will be downstairs any second," I excused, since there was no way I could answer his question.

"She's right, you know," a new voice answered, and suddenly Rebecca appeared right in front of us, in new clothes with her hair and makeup done.

I bit down on my lip to stop myself from shouting out in surprise, and Dex moved to the other side of the couch and away from me so quick, you could have mistook him for Anthony.

"Oh, my. Whatever could I be interrupting?" his mother gasp, smiling behind her hand as she side-eyed us. "I'm hoping I'm not interrupting the pre-conception of my grand-babies or anything."

"Oh, my God," I groaned, scooting even farther away from Dex and sinking far back into the couch, wanting nothing more than to just disappear. Dex merely face-palmed.

"You two are very close, I see," Rebecca smiled, playful and teasing, and I couldn't help but feel incredibly uncomfortable as this conversation continued. "How do they feel about that over at the DAU?"

Dex and I looked at each other, neither of us actually knowing the answer. We knew relationships were frowned upon between teammates, due to what had happened in the past; not only to our parents' team, but also to Hank and Nay's as well.

"Forbidden love is the best kind," Rebecca shrugged, taking our silence as a negative answer. "Let's just hope you don't have a third teammate who wants one of you for themselves."

I thought about our teammates back at the DAU. Aiden, who was too busy caring about himself and obsessing over Kristie. Kristie, who was in her own little world worrying about her own problems. And Anthony, who seemed like he couldn't have cared less about any sort of relationships.

No, we didn't have to worry about that. But unlike our parents' team or Hank and Nay's, we didn't have a strong bond with one another. Was it even possible for us to ever achieve a bond as strong as theirs?

I did consider them my friends, even though we did have arguments and disagreements a lot. It took me some time to call them that, but that had been over a year before. It seemed like it had been so much longer than that.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Violet had other boys after her," Rebecca continued, and this seemed to make Dex feel rather uncomfortable. I assumed he was most likely thinking about Tom, who was the only other guy who had ever showed interest in me that I showed interest back in. Even though that had ended up being fake on his part.

"There's no one else," I excused, laughing awkwardly as I waved my hands in front of my chest. "No one likes me. I don't like anyone else."

"But you like Dex?" she questioned, wagging her eyebrows. Was she just trying to get me to say it out loud?

"I... Uh..." I stammered, realizing that I hadn't ever actually said it before, and neither had Dex. "Um... I mean..."

Rebecca took my hesitation as another negative answer. "I wouldn't be surprised if Dex did something to lose you," she sighed, and Dex seemed to be caving in on himself in embarrassment. "He can be kind of an idiot when it comes to girls. He was that way even as a child. Very impulsive."

Well, that hadn't really changed. Dex was the most impulsive person I'd ever met. But in his defense, so was I.

"Hey," Dex snapped, but his mother simply waved him away.

"I mean..." was all I said at first, because I didn't really disagree with her. Of course, it wasn't like I was some genius when it came to the opposite sex either. "It's not untrue."

"Hey!" Dex called again, louder this time.

"But I don't like anyone else," I repeated, shutting Dex up. "I only like him."

I couldn't tell clearly because now he refused to look at me, but I could have sworn Dex was blushing. But I knew calling him out on it would only embarrass him more, so I kept my mouth shut.

If only I could have said the same about Rebecca, though.

"Look at Dex!" she squealed, laughing her head off. "You're so cute, Dex! You just love that Violet doesn't have anyone she likes but you!"

"Of course I do," Dex snapped, clearly exasperated with his mother's teasing. "I like her."

Now my face was bright red. I didn't know what I was supposed to say. Why was I getting so embarrassed by a guy saying he liked me?

Dex's mother was having a field day embarrassing two teenagers about their feelings for one another. Dex and I clearly wanted to fall into a hole a die.

"You two are just so cute," Rebecca gushed, clasping her hands together under her chin. "How did this come about? Was it love at first sight?"

"No!" Dex and I both shouted, horrified by the thought.

Rebecca giggled. "How was it, then?"

"We hated each other at first," I answered, since it was the truth. It was weird to say, but Dex and I really couldn't stand each other when we first met. How that had transformed into what we had now... Even I didn't know.

Rebecca stared at us, her eyes wide. The scariest part of it all was that she wasn't speaking; she wasn't even trying to tease us. Had I said something wrong?

"Sorry," she apologized once she realized she had been staring. "That just... really reminded me of your parents, Violet."

I felt my breath catch in my throat, and now I was the one at a loss for words. I didn't know what I was more shocked about, that I was being compared to my parents, or that they apparently had hated each other at first.

"I wasn't on their team, but I've been friends with Vince ever since we were kids," Rebecca explained, and I couldn't help but find it a little strange that both Andy and Rebecca had been such good friends with Vince, meanwhile Dex and Aiden could barely say two words to each other without getting into a fight. "That was how I met Andy and got to know the rest of the team."

I still couldn't believe that my parents had hated each other. Everything I'd heard from others made it seem like they had always been in love with each other, but it didn't surprise me that people didn't wan to talk about the days they hated each other now that they were both deceased.

"Your dad used to get so jealous over my friendship with Vince," Rebecca giggled, like a little girl. Dex seemed interested, leaning forward in his seat. "He thought we were dating for the longest time, and it really put a strain on his friendship with Vince until we finally convinced him that there was nothing going on between the two of us."

"That sounds a lot like..." I started, but then trailed off, side-eyeing Dex who was already flipping me off.

"Like father like son?" Rebecca giggled, and I nodded as my answer because Dex wasn't looking at me. "What about Aiden? Is he like his father?"

"If his father was a whiny little brat who doesn't care about anyone but himself, then yes," Dex answered, and I stayed silent because he was pretty spot on. Minus the fact that he did care about Kristie, but that was much more of an obsession than anything else.

"Vince is the most selfless person I've ever met," Rebecca explained, a little taken aback by her son's description of her old friend's son. "I'm assuming you and Aiden are not the best of friends, then?"

"Aiden's the biggest pain in the ass I've ever met in my entire life," Dex frowned, then jabbing his thumb in my direction. "Next to this one."

"Hey!" I gasped. He flicked me.

"I really see so much of your parents in the two of you," Rebecca sighed, leaning up against the wall as she stared off into space, seemingly thinking of the past. "They couldn't go a day without fighting with each other originally. They were the last two people I ever would have thought would get feelings for each other."

I wondered if that was what Dex and I had been like. Were people surprised when we started to have feelings for each other, or did they see it coming?

"If my parents hated each other so much, why did they end up getting married?" I had to ask, the whole thing not making sense to me.

Rebecca merely smiled. "Why are you and Dex together if you hated each other so much?"

She was right. Dex and I were proof that you didn't always hate each other. Had it been the same thing with my parents? It must have been.

"It was entertaining when they bickered, but everyone was happy when they finally started to get along," Rebecca continued, her smile disappearing as she continued her thought. "Well, everyone except..."

I frowned. "Damien Black."

So many different thoughts were rushing through my mind. Damien Black was still alive, but I didn't think Dex and his mother were the people I should have told that news to. I needed to wait until I got back to the DAU. I needed to talk to Hank and Nay.

"Damien Black was nothing but a jealous man," Rebecca sighed, brushing her black locks out of her face. "That's all he ever was. Jealous of Vince for his position as leader, jealous of Andy because of his looks, jealous of Elliot because..."

"Because he won over my mother," I had to finish, unable to stop myself.

Rebecca nodded. "Yes," she confirmed. "And that is why Elliot is who he hated most of all."

"But he was his friend."

"Best friend," she corrected, and this didn't make it better. "They were all best friends. I'd never seen a bond so strong. To have what happened happen... was the biggest shock of our lives."

A strong bond between a team... I couldn't stop wondering what that was like. My team couldn't even get through a day without fighting. If someone like Aiden had ever betrayed us, I wouldn't have even been surprised because of how much he obviously disliked us. So I couldn't even imagine how much it hurt for our parents when Damien betrayed them, someone they cared about. Someone they thought cared about them.

I didn't know how long we spent talking, reminiscing over memories and filling each other in on our lives, but when Rebecca suddenly yawned, I looked outside the window to see the moon was out and the stars were sparkling. They were much more beautiful in the middle of nowhere.

I hadn't even realized that it was dark out. I'd been so enthralled in the conversation that I had completely lost track of the time, and it seemed that Dex was in the same state. Neither of us had realized we'd been there for that long.

"How about you two get some rest?" Rebecca suggested, gesturing toward the stairs. "You're probably exhausted. Everything is still the same as when you were a kid, Dexy. Including your room."

I stayed quiet, because surely she wasn't going to have us sleep in the same room, especially after she had heard everything Dex had said to me. Right?

Right?

When she said nothing about the sleeping arrangements, my whole body went hot. Dex made his way toward the stairs, looking back at me impatiently when he saw that I wasn't following him. I just sat there, gaping at him.

This wasn't happening. This couldn't actually have been happening.

Rebecca shooed me toward her son, and that's when I realized that yes, this was very much happening. I was about to sleep in the same room as Dex.

Surely I was freaking out for no reason. Maybe Dex's old room had a bunkbed and that was why they were both fine with us sleeping in the same room together. Because we'd be sleeping separately, even if it was in the same room.

So I followed Dex up the stairs and to his old room, expecting just that. But when he opened the door and switched the light on, my stomach dropped when I saw one bed in the middle of the room.

It wouldn't look bad if I just jumped out the window, right...?

"You... had a really big bed for a kid," was all I said, even though I really just felt like opening up the closet and hiding inside of it. Or, you know. Jumping out the window.

"It's just a full size," Dex sighed, looking around the room that used to belong to him. "Not like it's a queen or a king or anything."

But that was even worse. A full size bed was big enough for two people, but not so big that we'd have much personal space.

When Dex started to strip, I squeaked. I hadn't even meant to, but it came out anyway. Dex looked over his shoulder, shirtless, and smirked at me. My face felt hot.

I dug through my duffle bag in search of my pajamas. Luckily I didn't sleep in anything Dex might have considered to be sexy, just an old T-shirt and pajama pants. I quickly scuffled into the bathroom down the hall to change.

My heart wouldn't stop beating a million miles a minute. Sleeping, in the same bed with Dex, in a room all alone. I wasn't overreacting, was I? Was I right in thinking that something could have happened between the two of us?

I was still freaking out as I made my way back into the bedroom, shutting the door behind me so slowly that the creaking caused me to cringe. Dex, who was already in bed, his back to me, didn't even flinch.

Maybe he was already asleep. I let out a long breath, tentatively making my way over to the bed and slipping under the sheets, laying as far away as I possibly could from him. I'd just fall asleep and there would be nothing to worry about...

When he rolled over, his eyes closed, I held my breath. He reached his arm out, expecting me to be close enough to hold. When he realized that I wasn't there, he opened his eyes, surprised I wasn't right beside him.

"Why are you so far away?"

"Oh," I chuckled nervously, begrudgingly scooting closer to him. "I didn't even notice."

Why was I so horrified? I felt so flustered, so scared. It wasn't even that I didn't want to be close to him, but I just felt... frightened. And I didn't even know why. Was it just that I wasn't ready for anything so serious to happen between us, or was it something else?

He wrapped his arm around me, and I noticed then that he had put another shirt on, and he seemed to be wearing pajama pants just like I was. That calmed me down just a little, but the fact that he wasn't immediately trying anything was calming me down even more.

"I'm not going to try to have sex with you, Violet," he suddenly informed me, catching me so off guard that I jumped so spastically that I got a charley horse in my leg.

I yelped, sitting up quickly to rub my spasmed muscles. Dex sat up just as quickly, a hand on my back as he made sure I was okay. I assured him that I was fine, just an idiot.

"How could you tell I was freaking out about that?" I asked once the pain in my leg subsided.

"I could feel how tense you were," he shrugged.

Of course I got busted. I was the least subtle person in the world, and Dex would see right through me. Of course he knew what I was worried about without even having to ask me about it.

"I'm just... I'm not ready," I informed him honestly, feeling much better now that I told him this.

"I know, Violet. I'm not going to force you into doing anything you're not comfortable with." He nodded, rubbing my back. It didn't make me feel uncomfortable, but safe. "Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if my mom has her ear to the door listening. I wouldn't be surprised if she was even in the room right now."

I made a face. "You're making this even more uncomfortable."

He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"You're really okay with just sleeping?" I asked, still unsure.

"I mean, I'd love to take advantage of you right now," he confessed, reaching out to play with a lock of hair over my face, "and I've thought about it. Quite a lot. More than I'd like to admit." I felt my face turn about a hundred different shades of red. "But I'll never do anything to you that you don't want."

I remembered the day that we had been partnered up to trail Nay. He pulled me on top of him and forced me to kiss him, that instance being my first kiss. He hadn't cared that he had forced me to do something then; it meant nothing to him. But now, he was considerate of my feelings and cared about how I felt. We'd changed so much in what seemed like such a short amount of time... Had my parents been the same way?

Suddenly, I felt sad, and I didn't even really know why. Maybe it was because I was thinking about my parents, or maybe it was because I felt like I was being unfair to Dex. He did nothing but care for me and I had been scared of just sleeping in the same bed as him. I never should have thought he'd try something I wasn't comfortable with. I knew him better than that.

I leaned forward, pressing my lips against his. We'd kissed so much, but somehow it was something I never grew tired of. I wanted to be close to him, even if I wasn't ready for anything serious just yet. I never wanted to be apart from him. I wanted to be with him forever.

And then I realized it. Why I had been more flustered than usual when he said things to me, why I was having such crazy reactions to everything. I loved him. I loved him so much.

And that thought by itself scared me. My parents had loved each other, and someone was so against that love that it eventually brought them to their demise. Time and time again, love in the DAU had been proven to only cause destruction and heartbreak.

Then why did it make me so happy?

Maybe I was risking a lot by loving him. But in that moment, as we laid in bed together, limbs tangled and lips locked, I felt nothing but pure bliss.

Of course, I didn't know how Dex felt. I knew he liked me; he'd said it himself so it wasn't like I had to worry about that. But love... I hadn't had anyone love me before except for my parents, two people I could hardly even remember. I didn't know what it was like to be loved.

Dex's hips grinded against mine, and it was an automatic response for my body to do it right back to his. He growled, flipping us so that I was on my back and he was laying at my side, towering over as he continued to kiss me.

His hands were so strong as they gripped my hips, something I'd grown used to. I never really thought about it, but he had the power to completely break me if he wanted to. If he didn't control himself, he probably could have killed me. So he was always holding back, sometimes more than others.

But now, nothing had to stop him. Because we were alone. Actually alone.

Well, as alone as we could have been with Dex's mother down the hall.

At least, I hoped she was down the hall.

But every time we had made out somewhere at the DAU, we always had the chance of getting caught. Kristie had walked in on us when we were in my room while both Aiden and Anthony had walked in on us while we were in Dex's. There was no private place there, not like this. Right then, we were in complete privacy.

Maybe it would have been the perfect place to lose my virginity. This was what I wanted, to lose it to him. To open myself up to him like I hadn't to anyone before. To become even closer to him.

This may have been the perfect place, but it was not the perfect time. Fear shot though my veins at even the thought of one of our items of clothing being removed. I just wasn't ready, and the last thing I wanted to do was disappoint Dex.

Suddenly he was pulling away from me, rolling onto his back and covering his eyes with his forearm, letting out a long groan. I was startled for a moment, confused as to why he would do this.

"Hey," I whined, scooting closer, still wanting to be close to him.

"Violet," he groaned, rubbing his eyes with his hands. "You were locked away by yourself through puberty. I wasn't."

For a moment, I thought this was an insult. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you don't know what you're missing." He stopped rubbing his eyes, but didn't remove his hands from in front of them. "I do."

"You haven't been with other girls like this, have you?" I shrieked, bolting up into a sitting position. Dex followed right after me, clasping his hand over my mouth so his mother wouldn't hear.

"No, of course not," he whispered. "But I had friends. I had the internet."

"I had the internet, too," I refuted, as if that meant I should have known everything he did.

Dex gave me a look. "Something tells me our search histories from back then would be very different."

I couldn't think of what to say to this, so I kept my mouth shut and made a face, not wanting to know exactly what would have been in his search history back then.

I wasn't completely clueless. I understood human anatomy and the reproductive systems. I knew how babies were made. All of this was required for the online courses I took for home schooling. But other than the basics for human reproduction, there wasn't much I knew.

I knew there were things people could find online, due to a few ads that were unfortunately on the side of some websites I would go to. I never saw much, though, because as soon as I realized what it was, I exited out, afraid I would somehow get in trouble.

If that was the kind of stuff Dex was looking at when he was younger, then I really, really did not want to know.

"Well," I swallowed, a million questions racing through my head. "Have you ever done anything really serious with a girl before?"

I couldn't believe I was asking him this, but now that I had, I needed to know. It was obvious that I'd never had sex before, but with Dex... I honestly didn't know.

Dex sighed, laying back down. My stomach did a flip, afraid of the answer. Even if it had been before he had even met me, it still made me slightly uncomfortable to think of Dex with another girl in such an intimate way.

"Most I've ever done with a girl is making out." He lifted up three fingers, still laying on his back as he did so. "Scout's honor."

I blinked. "Were you in the Boy Scouts, too?"

"Are we talking about sex or the Boy Scouts?" he inquired, pushing himself up so he was now laying on his side, resting his weight on his arm. "Because I can assure you, I have not earned my merit badge yet."

I felt better knowing Dex hadn't had sex with another girl before, even if it was before he'd met me. He seemed so confident around girls that it was kind of a surprise that he hadn't done it before. Maybe it was because of my insecurities, but it just eased my nerves knowing he was just as inexperienced as I was.

Well, at least physically. I didn't think I wanted to now how mentally experienced he was.

"Come here," I whined, pulling on Dex's shoulder to bring him closer. This, for some reason, caused his face to turn red, and he quickly ripped himself away from my grasp and turned so his back was to me, the sheets nearly covering his head.

"I need to calm down," he muttered, refusing to look at me.

"What do you mean, calm down?" I demanded, grabbing onto his shoulder again and pressing my chest up against his back.

"Violet," he groaned, warning me.

"Dummy," I sighed, letting go of him but still cuddling up against him, which he didn't seem to have any complaints about. "I'll get you back for this one day."

"I think I'm the one who needs to get you back," was his reply, and I believe he continued saying something else, but I had already fallen asleep before he could finish whatever else he wanted to say.

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I mean, finally love, am I right?

There's still so much of this story left and I'm just sitting here like... I have so many other ideas I want to write that I need this to end as quickly as possible.

But I mean that means I have to write more often and I'm trying

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! <3

I realized that I still say fan even though they changed Fans to Followers forever ago, but at this point it's my "thing" so I'm not going to change it...