Curfew alert. Get your butt home.

       Brett's text had ended what turned out to be a glorious makeout session with Ethan Wheeler, shutting it down as if I'd been doused in a bucket of cold water.

       "Ohmigod, I have to go," I gasped, realizing it was already 1 am. I sprang up from the couch, crossing to the full length mirror tucked in a corner near Ethan's closet. I moaned when I took in the disarrayed state of my hair and face. Yanking out the ponytail to finger-comb my hair, I caught Ethan watching me in the mirror, that lopsided grin on his face.

        "What?" I demanded, pulling my hair back in a sloppy approximation of the perfect ponytail Victoria had tied earlier that night. He shook his head with a smile.

      "Nothing," he said, rising from the couch and stretching, "Come on, I'll drive you home,"

       He pulled on a hoodie as I grabbed my purse from where I'd left it next to the couch. He followed me out to the elevator, wrapping his arms around me from behind and burying his head in my hair as we waited for the doors to bing open.

       "If you mess my hair up-" I threatened, only to be cut off as he ran a series of kisses down my neck. If the elevator hadn't opened right then, I probably would've missed my curfew for good. Ethan chuckled as I checked my hair in the mirrored walls of the elevator.

       "You know you still look gorgeous, just leave it," he said, keeping a respectable distance between us as we plunged down to the garage.

       "No thanks to you," I said, hoping that no one was awake at home to take in the mess that was my kissed-off makeup.

       "Don't say you didn't like it," he said, planting a quick kiss on my lips right before the elevator doors opened. He grabbed my hand as we made our way to his car.

       We crossed town in silence as my brain finally woke up and the questions that had been swirling there surfaced once again. At the forefront was what the hell did "it's complicated" even mean? Coupled with where do we go from here? I was working up my nerve to ask him when he pulled to a stop in front of my house and I noticed with a little pulse of panic that the lights were on in the front sitting room.

       Someone was waiting up for me.

       "I'll call you tomorrow," I said quickly undoing my seatbelt in my haste to get inside before whoever was waiting would see me get out of Ethan's car. If it was mom, I'd be lucky not to get grounded again for coming home after curfew with anyone less prestigious than Will Dawson.

      "Whoa, where's the fire," Ethan said, pulling me back towards him. I cut the kiss off with a shake of my head.

       "I can't, I'm so late," I said, forcing my eyes closed so I wouldn't get lost in those slate gray eyes again.

     "Tomorrow then. Good night Buttercup," he said, kissing me one more time before I dashed out of the car in earnest this time.

       Ethan waited until I'd opened the front door to pull away down the driveway. I didn't stay to watch him leave, instead closing the door as quietly as I could before padding softly towards the front sitting room.

       My heart was about to beat out of my chest as I came around the corner, an excuse ready on my lips, only to be faced with an empty room. My brows crashed down into a frown as I switched off the lights, wondering why the heck they were left on since Brett and I both knew full well that the formal living room light meant someone was waiting up.

       Once the living room was dark and I'd caught my breath, I heard the quiet sounds of the TV coming from the back of the house. Realizing I wasn't in the clear yet, I steeled myself for a verbal lashing. Tiptoeing towards the kitchen, I peered across the island into the living room area. Sure enough, a head of manly hair was lying on the couch, snoring lightly. Much to my relief, it looked like Brett and not my father. The TV was on low, bad music and a shouty voiceover playing as an overzealous salesman waved his hands around a fruit peeler.

       "Serves you right for giving me a heart attack by leaving the lights on, Brett," I thought, crossing the kitchen and reaching over the couch for the remote. As I flicked off the TV, the room grew distinctly dimmer.

       "So you decided to come home."

       I was leaning over the couch in such a way that my feet weren't touching the ground, but when I heard the voice I actually tumbled forward, the picture of clumsiness, onto the couch. That wasn't my brother's voice, that was...

        "Brandon?" I said as I righted myself, thoroughly confused, "Where's Brett?"

       "He gave up awhile ago. He's pretty pissed off you know," Brandon said, stretching as his t-shirt lifted high enough to grant me a little peek at his lower abs. My face flamed as I thought of the abs I'd been touching not too long ago. I forced the memories of my makeout with Ethan down and away as I faced Brandon.

       "And you're still here because...?" I prodded, glancing at the clock. It was only a half hour after my curfew and if Brandon hadn't said Brett had already gone to bed, I would've assumed he was still out at the party with Vicky.

       "Because I wanted to make sure you got home okay," he said through a yawn. I gave his arm a gentle punch.

       "I don't need two older brothers, even though I've been saddled with you for awhile now," I teased. But Brandon didn't seem amused. He actually seemed crabby, which was completely unlike him.

       "Where were you?" he asked, looking straight at me. Taken aback, I immediately went on the defensive.

       "What, you want to be my mother now too?" I asked dismissively, "Whatever. I'm home now, do you want me to get you a pillow or are you gonna go home?"

        "I'm being serious," he said, and his voice was so serious I was starting to wonder if this was Brandon or a lookalike clone, "Where did you go after the game tonight?"

       I shot him a look because he knew darned well who I was with. He'd nearly had to pull him off Tyler when they got all up in each other's faces. When I said nothing, Brandon sighed.

       "Listen, just watch your back with that Ethan kid, okay?" he said, running a hand through his hair, "I don't want anything to happen to you,"

       "Why does everybody have to care who I'm spending time with?" I whined, burying my face in my hands. First Victoria, now Brandon. Since when did my business matter so much to everyone else?

       "Because we're your friends," Brandon said, resting a hand on my back, "And because your brother's worried about you spending so much time with Ethan,"

       "If Brett's so worried then why isn't he talking to me, huh? Why did he have to send Vicky to drag me out tonight and why are you here to lecture me?" I demanded, turning to face him. Brandon blinked a few times.

       "Probably because he was ready to break something when you no-showed at the party and he hasn't cheered up since," he said finally. I made a frustrated noise, flopping back against the couch.

       "Whatever. Thanks for the warning," I muttered, throwing my arm over my eyes.

       Was Ethan really not all he seemed? First the ignored phone call from Dakota, now the warning from Brandon. I mean, Brandon and my brother had never particularly enjoyed the idea of me dating someone, but they'd never outright told me to stay awy from someone. What was going on that I didn't know about?

       "You should really come back to hang out with us again," Brandon said, breaking the silence between us. I moved my arm from my eyes to look over at him.

       "And why is that? So I can spend my lunch hours listening to Deanna lord it over everyone?" I demanded. Brandon shook his head in frustration.

       "You just don't get it, do you? It's totally weird now that everyone in junior year is on edge. Whatever you said to Deanna really got her pissed off because she's all about bashing you now," Brandon said.

       "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I asked, rolling my eyes. Brandon sighed, flopping back against the couch next to me.

       "I'm really bad at this," he said finally, turning his head to look over at me, "What I mean to say is that we miss you and we want you back hanging out with us. Tonight sucked. There was no one to harass,"

       I laughed despite myself.

       "Sorry I'm not sorry I wasn't there for you to harass tonight," I said, then blushed as my thoughts turned back to what I'd actually gotten up to that night.

     "I'm serious. I miss hanging out with you," Brandon said, reaching his hand over to take mine. I glanced down at it, remembering Vicky's words.

       Holy crap. Was Brandon putting the moves on again?

       "I should really get to bed," I said, snatching my hand away and hopping off the couch. I was incredibly grateful it was so dark in the room because I was fairly sure my face was bright scarlet what with thinking about Ethan's lips and the realization that maybe Brandon missed me as more than just a friend.

        Brandon watched me for a few seconds before his eyes dropped as he pushed himself off the couch.

       "Just watch your back," he said, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets, "I don't want you to get hurt again. It sucks to see you hurt,"

       "Thanks Brandon," I said, awkwardly shuffling in place, "I'll see you tomorrow,"

       "Sure, Maddie," he said, but didn't move towards the door. I didn't want to be caught under his scrutinizing stare anymore so I gave him an awkward little wave and darted up the back stairs. I paused at the landing to wait for the sound of the back door, but it didn't come. Instead, Brandon spoke to the empty room.

       "It's like I hardly know you anymore. I wish you'd come back," he said. I don't think he knew I was still on the stairs listening because his words were nearly overpowered by his footsteps on the marble of the kitchen floor before the back door closed behind him. I waited a few seconds then flicked off the lights and crept downstairs to the windows. I watched Brandon stalk across the vast expanse of yard between our houses. Hands buried in his pockets, he kicked at a beach ball lying near the pool, sending it reeling off into a bush. Biting my lip, I felt a well of guilt open up inside me.

                         ****************************************

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This one is dedicated to one of my very first readers who took the time to give my story a shot. Thank you @AndreaKuska for all your input and helpful comments! Check out her story, all about being captured by a vampire and taken to his flying castle high in the sky! Complete with a cute little sidekick in the form of a hissing cockroach (trust me, she's adorable!)