When Liah parked in the lot of Mapleway assistant living facility, I thought she was joking. Yesterday, after we picked up a few items for her room makeover, she wouldn't tell me where we'd be going to meet Oakwood boys. Now, I knew why.

Look, I understand what a blessing it is for people to live past eighty. But old people creeped me out. Their wrinkled skin and age spots. The way their hands were always shaking like one strong gust of wind would cause them to crumble into a pile of dust. It made me uneasy.

I think it had something to do with my fear of death. The older people got, the more likely it was that they'd take a nap and never wake up. It scared me, the thought of someone just not being alive anymore. And I definitely didn't want to be around to witness it.

"Are you freaking out? You look like you're freaking out."

I turned to Liah. "Why are we here?"

"Didn't you say you liked older men?"

"Liah!"

"Chill! Pop-pop lives here and every Sunday, a busload of Oakwood kids come to spend time with the residents," she explained.

Why anyone would volunteer to do that was beyond me.

"I've never visited on a Sunday, so I don't know who'll be here. But I figured it'd be a nice place to meet a cute, charitable boy."

Cute or not, was meeting a boy worth being around a bunch of old people? "How likely is it that one of these people will keel over and die?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I failed statistics."

I stared up at the beige building with all its windows and manicured lawns. "You know how I feel about old people."

"I do, and I find it extremely offensive because my Pop-pop is awesome." She hopped out the car. Reluctantly, I followed.

Mapleway looked like a hotel. All carpet and neutral colored walls. A man with more hair on his chin than his head greeted us. He knew Liah, of course, and was surprised to see her on a Sunday. Apparently, she usually came on karaoke night and the residents loved her.

Liah led me to the rec room. There was golf on the tv and a knitting circle in the corner. Liah's grandpa was playing checkers with one of nurses, noticeable by his burgundy scrubs. He was in his late twenties, a tattoo peeking from the collar of his scrubs.

"Careful, Ernesto, he cheats," Liah told the nurse, a playful smile on her lips.

He chuckled, kinging on of Mr. Scott's pieces. "I've noticed."

"It's not cheating," he said. "It's called strategy." He let out a hearty laugh before revealing the three black pieces hidden in his palms. His pieces. "Can't take them if they're not on the board!"

While Liah talked to her grandpa and Ernesto, I glanced around the room. There were a lot of comfortable looking chairs and couches. A woman in a recliner had her head thrown back, eyes closed, mouth wide open. My heart stopped. Was she...

The chainsaw like snore she let out both startled me and sent relief through my body. She was asleep.

"And you remember Harlow, right?"

The old man squinted at me through his glasses, scratching his gray beard. "Oh yeah, Grayson's little sister." He smiled fondly. Great, another one of Gray's followers. "Your brother used to come by all the time. He adored you. Never shut up his artistic little sister."

I caught Liah's eye. So much for the Oakwood guys not knowing my brother.

"Relax," she told me as we lagged behind Mr. Scott on the way to the cafeteria for lunch. "This doesn't mean anything. Maybe Gray wasn't here on Sundays."

That sounded like a long shot. But Liah was my ride, so it wasn't like I could leave.

We had turkey sandwiches for lunch with Mr. Scott. I was adding old people chewing to my list of things that creeped me out about them. Right below them putting in their dentures in public. Needless to say, I had no appetite.

Halfway through lunch, a yellow school bus rattled to a stop in front of Mapleway. We had a clear view from the cafeteria window as ten students filed off the bus, along with their chaperone.

Liah looked at me over her sandwich, eyebrows dancing. "Show time," she sang.

My eyes rolled. Still, I craned my neck to see the people getting off the bus. They were kind of dressed up. Button-ups or polo shirts with dark jeans or khakis. It was almost a uniform. As far as I knew, Oakwood didn't have a dress code.

Liah and I excused ourselves from the cafeteria to get a closer look.

The students went their separate ways once they got inside. Some went to the rec room or to the indoor swimming pool or to the back patio area. Their chaperone chatted up the bald guy at the front desk, a smile so wide you could see her gums.

"Outside," Liah said, pulling me towards the door. "It'll be easier to sneak around with all the hedges."

It sounded like she was speaking from experience. I followed her out to the backyard. Hedges, trees and flower bushes filled the area. Benches and tables with huge umbrellas were dotted around throughout. A concrete walkway connected it all.

Some of the Oakwood kids sat on benches with the guest, on their phones rather than talking to the elderly.

A burst of laughter caught my attention. Near some rose bushes, a kid from Oakwood raced a lady in a wheelchair down the pathway.

Okay, racing was a bit of a stretch. He wasn't going very fast. But from the way the woman shrieked, you'd think she was on a rollercoaster.

"He's cute," Liah said from beside me.

He was. Olive skin, thick dark hair that reached his shoulders and light-colored eyes. Plus, he seemed to be the only one doing his job and entertaining the guest. Even though old people gave me the creeps, I could respect that.

A nurse rushed over just as the guy tilted the woman's wheelchair back in a small wheely, ending their little game. The woman, who'd been all smiles seconds ago, swatted at the nurse when they started wheeling her back inside. Her accomplice said something to her that I didn't catch, but it brought the smile back to the woman's face.

He was watching her and I was watching him. Then, suddenly, his eyes were on me. A slow smile spread across his face. My cheeks burned hot.

The other night, with Travis, beer pong served as the perfect ice breaker. Now, I was out of my depth. How did one approach a guy out in the wild?

"What do I do?" I asked Liah. Only Liah wasn't there. Great.

"If you're talking to yourself, I think you're in the wrong place."

The really cute boy was in front of me, one hand in the pocket of his dark jeans, the other holding a red lollipop. From close up, I could see that his eyes were hazel. A light brown rimmed with green. Beautiful.

"I'm talking to my friend." He glanced at the empty space next to me. "I mean, I was talking to my friend. She--"

He walked past me, completely uninterested in what I was saying. Cute or not, he was kind of a jerk.

"Prove it." I turned to find him standing by the door, holding it open as he beckoned me closer. "Let's fine this friend of yours."

• • •

Vik, with his red suckers, wasn't actually interested in finding Liah or letting me prove she existed. He led me through Mapleway, introducing me to who he considered to be the most interesting residents. He spoke to me as if we'd been friends our whole lives. Also, after I told him my name, he didn't run. So, I kept my fear of old people to myself as he paraded around like he owned the place.

"This is Geoffrey," he said, entering the room of a frail looking white man. He had wisps of white hair on his head and one brown eye, one an icy blue. His wheelchair faced a window that overlooked the garden, but his stare was vacant and unblinking.

My palms started to sweat. Was the guy breathing? Vik, cool as ever, grabbed two chairs for us. He wanted to sit here with the possibly dead old man? I wanted to turn and run, but I didn't want Vik to think I was weird. So I swallowed my fear and sat.

He rested his arm on the back of my chair. He smelled like deodorant and fabric softener with a hint of something sweet, maybe the sucker staining his tongue red. "He's my favorite."

I watched the old man. He blinked. I breathed. He was alive. Thank God! "Why?"

Vik shifted in his seat, his knee knocking against mine and resting there. "Because you can tell he's seen some shit. He also won't tell you about every one of the 'broads' he's been with." He leaned closer, his nose nearly touching mine. "You know what that means, right?"

It hit me that we were basically alone in the room. Just us and a barely breathing old man. "He's a good listener?"

He smiled at my joke, leaning back into his chair. "Exactly." He watched me a second longer, then stood. "See you around."

Wait. What? That's it? He was done talking to me? I thought it was like before, when he stopped and told me to prove it. But he didn't stop. Didn't glance back. He left.

• • •

"Abort mission." I startled at Liah's sudden appearance. I'd been searching for her for nearly twenty minutes. The place wasn't even that big.

"What?"

She gripped my arm, tugging me out the front doors. "Those kids aren't volunteers."

"Again: what?"

She stopped beside her car. "They're delinquents. This is their mandatory community service."

That made so much sense. Vik didn't exactly give off a charitable vibe. More like he was trying to make the best of his time in a place he didn't want to be.

"So?"

"So?" Liah echoed, incredulous. "I'm all for your rebel phase. But those kids aren't in trouble for hooking up in tree houses. They're in trouble for skipping school and fighting and setting fires to trash cans. Trust me, they're not who you want to hang around."

"That's even better. If they don't respect their teachers, then they won't be afraid of my brother."

She blinked at me. "Do you hear yourself right now?"

"I'm just trying to have a little fun. If I start setting fires, then you can be concerned. Until then, just know that I can handle myself."

The school bus was back. Oakwood kids gathered out front before it even parked. Vik was easy to spot with his long hair. A lollipop stick hanging from his mouth. For the second time that day, he caught me staring. That slow, easy smile was on his face again.

My stomach flipped with excitement and maybe something a little more.