Reece stayed at his uncle's duplex where it was being sublet to three other males that were undergrads or part-timers. Micah was the youngest and only one Beth had ever met, including the uncle and Reece intended to keep it that way. Apparently, the other two were 'shit stains' but for the most part, Reece appeared to be on good terms with them.

At least, a lot better than Reece’s parents he preferred to treat like they were dead. All Beth knew about them was that they were both surgeons and Reece moved out when he was fifteen, but Beth felt like she didn’t need any other details. Maybe it seemed absurd to others but Beth had always understood feeling more at home with strangers than flesh and blood.

Beth hadn’t known what to prepare for, so she'd dressed up in a cocktail dress and put a little more grooming into curling her hair and some red lipstick she'd bought months but never found an opportunity to use. Or more accurately, looked for every excuse to put it off.

Though, in pulling into the driver, Beth began thinking that she may have overdone it. This was Reece, after all. She rifled through the glove compartment to find a napkin or kleenex to at least wipe off the lipstick, when something peculiar caught her attention at the corner of her eye.

Parked a few houses up front, was the bulky most of a dark, polished Tesla. Beth wasn’t so familiar with the area to recognise the neighbours but it seemed quite odd for such a luxury brand to be in a middle class district. It stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the brown lawns and chipped picket fences.

Most of all, Beth had seen the exact model and colour numerous times before, as it was the very one Siddh would pull up into the school parking lot for the whole last semester.

It had to be a coincidence. Someone like Siddh wouldn’t be caught dead in a such a place. Perhaps it was an out of towner simply lost or something. As much as Beth wanted to brush it off with that in mind, the longer she looked at the dark tinted windshield, the more she grew uneasy. It was as though she could feel the heavy presence of eyes, staring right at here behind the wheel.

Yet, she couldn’t look away. Her only option was to go and see for herself if anybody was there but… then what? It was at that, a sudden THUD crashed in at her side. Beth nearly jumped right out of her skin, snapping her eyes to find a large silhouette marked on the foggy windows.

Reece was stood, those green eyes eyeing her oddly with his wrapped knuckles against the glass. “You planning to stay in there all day?” Despite the muffling, she could still make out the teasing tone.

Beth flashed a sheepish smile, feeling her racing heart beat start to settle down. She switched off the engine, promoting Reece to step back and aid her in room to climb down.

“Hey, do you know who owns that car?” She jerked her thumb to point as she turned.

Except, only an empty roadside lay in front. The Tesla had vanished.

“Um, what car?” asked Reece.

“Just a second ago, there was a black Tesla parked over there. I saw it when I was pulling up…” Beth pursed her lips. “I mean, I think I did.”

Reece’s brows pinched, a look of concern streaked his features. “Are you alright?”

If Beth was being completely honest, she wasn’t. She was very far from it after that encounter with Jun but she’d rather have pleasant company than be holed up in bed, replaying every single second of it over and over again, like a broken record.

“I’m fine, I just…” Only then, did her eyes take in Reece’s clothes.

Besides the dark robe draped over his shoulders, there seemed to be nothing beneath with his bare chest peeking through the sloppily wrapped front.

“Were you sleeping?” Beth questioned.

She tried not to sound upset, but dammit, was it so hard for him to just give her a heads up if he wasn’t even going to try?

Reece frowned. “No.”

“Then why are you dressed like that?”

“For the jacuzzi.”

“Jacuzzi?”

“Yeah, the construction finished earlier and my uncle said I'm free to use it. I thought we could go in together, that’s what I texted you to ask and when you didn’t reply and just showed up, I was guessing that meant you were onboard.” In sweeping his eyes over her dress, Reece could evidently derive that had not been the case. “Clearly, I was wrong.”

“Uh, I actually didn’t read it. Sorry.”

When her phone intervened at the café, Beth had immediately taken it as her means to escape but after receiving the voicemail from her mother on the way, she had completely forgotten about it.

Sure enough, as Beth opened the chat, the message was practically identical to what Reece had said. And, there she was ready to flip out on him when she was the one who’d acted neglectfully on their date. “I’m so sorry, Reece.”

He dismissed it with a wave. “That’s alright. I can just put something on and we can go to a restaurant.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Stuff like that is more romantic even if it is cliché, right? Besides, it'd be a waste to stay out in the yard when you’re all dressed up— you look really nice, by the way.”

Beth smiled, taken aback. “I do?”

“Well, not that you don’t normally look good or anything.” Reece cleared his throat in a miserable attempt to cover up the awkwardness. If it hadn’t already been obvious handing out compliments weren’t common for him, then the tinge of red dusting his cheeks certainly did.

“Thanks. But we should just use the jacuzzi.” The whole mishap wouldn’t have occurred if Beth had read the text so this seemed only fair.

Reece had looked relieved at her answer but apprehension still hung on his expression. “You sure?”

Beth confidently nodded. If she were a homebody, then Reece was quite dangerously close to becoming a hermit if not for his humanitarian side.

**

Beth had been more glad she refused to go out to some restaurant, when a delight aroma hit her nose as she entered the house. In the kitchen, a pasta dinner was in the midst of brewing with the dinner table all set with lit candles and a single rose propped in a glass vase. Contrarily, with how red Reece’s face had gotten and he avoided directly making eye contact, he'd secretly been eager to bail at the opportunity Beth’s mishap presented.

As much as Beth adored every part of it, she didn’t want the poor boy dying from embarrassment so she assured him they could do without the candles and roses and simply have the pasta.

With the jacuzzi all set to go, Beth made use of Reece’s room to slip out of her dress to get more comfortable. She found Reece just about done clearing up in the kitchen when she walked in, his back faced until hearing her approaching steps. When he turned, he nearly dropped the candle sticks.

His eyes slowly raked over her body only clad in her bras and undies. “You really weren’t kidding about going in your underwear.”

“You wanted me to wear Micah’s scuba diving costume, you left me with no choice.”

That was a statement more made to earn a chuckle, rather than anything else. The idea of being even nude in front of Reece was something Beth considered she wouldn’t have minded. He was the exception when it came to her unease around most males. It had gotten better until she started high school.

If Beth closed her eyes, she could see herself back in her freshman year at a new home, adamant to start afresh.

It more or less was going smoothly and then came the fateful night of the party after the first homecoming. Beth figured if she went, she wouldn’t be seen as boring and for the same reason, agreed to play a game as juvenile as Seven Minutes in Heaven. In Beth's case, it was only two minutes and ten seconds.

She must’ve skipped the lesson in Sex Ed that explained what to do when trapped in a closet with a guy who had a boner, as her instincts had her fleeing for dear life. Apparently, it had been the highlight for all who witnessed it and spread around that for the rest of the term, Beth Kennedy was called The Virgin.

The mocking wasn’t so hard to get by and Beth went forth to commit herself to her studies, hoping her existence would be forgotten soon enough. Her wish didn’t take long to be granted, thanks to another student that became a spectacle the second he transferred and that was Reece Hansen.

He took a different approach to the judgement of his peers on his appearance. He did nothing. He didn’t try to hide or blend into the crowd and one sophomore seemed to take his defiance personally and 'accidentally' got gum in Reece’s pink dyed mohawk at the time. Reece proceeded to 'accidentally' swing a racquet into the sophomore’s face. They weren’t even in gym class.
It had made Beth second guess if she had it all wrong to hide herself away because of one bad night. If not for him, she'd have likely excluded herself for the rest of the years with not even a single friend. Or Siddh.

‘Why are you guys breaking up?’

Jun’s question suddenly whizzed by Beth’s mind at that moment, for some reason.

It persisted to linger as she followed Reece into the backyard. A tempting phantom of steam circled the bubbling tub, Beth found herself dipping her toe in and out the scorching waters before reluctantly copying Reece’s action to descend in. He made it all look so easy and although her imitation wasn’t as graceful, Beth managed to find the courage to bide the sharp sizzle which flared her skin, welcoming the heat that engulfed her up to her wide waist.

“You sure everything’s alright?” He asked, tentatively.

Once again, Beth had underestimated the boy sat beside her on how well he paid attention. Her mind drew back to how she'd accused him of not even caring much for their relationship, when everything today and the past two years had said otherwise. She felt so small and selfish, not wanting to speak up when the last thing she needed was for their date to be about their complaints. Though, she worried Reece would assume he wasn’t trusted if she clammed up again, so she begrudgingly shared the whole apartment fiasco.

Reece took it in with a neutral gaze. After the many stories he heard about her mother’s antics, none of it fazed him. He also had this understanding, unlike her therapists or guidance counselor who would’ve just told Beth to tell her mother she wasn’t comfortable sharing an apartment with some douche. That if she made her feelings clear, her mother would of course, accept that.

Reece instead said, “Drive him out then.”

“What?”

“It’s unlikely your mother will listen to you even if you do end up having problems living together, but Siddh’s parents aren’t like that. If he gets uncomfortable enough, he'll jet and you'll have the whole place to yourself.”

Beth took it all in for a moment, eye brows raised. “That’s really twisted… but also sounds great.”

A devilish smile spread on Reece’s lips. “I can even offer you a few suggestions, if you'd like.”

Beth knew she probably would’ve felt too guilty to orchestra an underhanded scheme just to get rid of Siddh, as insufferable as the guy was, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to hear what ideas Reece had in mind.

Most of them were ludicrous or downright too absurd to be actually attempted, rendering chuckles out of Beth. Which she suspected was his motive all along. She found herself wanting this date to continue all night long, nor did she want tomorrow to arrive.

It was strange to think she hadn’t had these desires until now.

‘Why are you guys breaking up?’

The question rose back up again, but Beth couldn’t dismiss it this time. She was beginning to feel that Jun was onto something. How had she reached such a decision? Of course, there was the obvious variable of long distance, but not once did Beth  even have that discussion with Reece when bring up calling things off.

Where had it all started? Whose idea was it in the first place, really?
Right as Beth was going to ask, there was a sudden thunderous shatter of glass breaking.