WHEN DARREN OPENED HIS EYES, it was much lighter out, and the sun stroked his skin from its position high above the horizon. He blinked a few times, trying to get his eyes to open that refused to let the bright light in, but once they had gotten used to the brightness, he got up from where he had been lying. At the same time, he felt his muscles protest his decision to get up.

It didn't take him long to realize that from his bed at the McCosta's family home he shouldn't be able to see the sun and the typical fall sky. The surface he had been lying on also wasn't as soft as his usual bed. This new bed was hard, prickly, a little damp, and more interestingly, had the smell of fresh grass leaves.

Then, yesterday night came back to him. The party at the mansion, the trip with Dakota in the car, the adventure out in the fields... Which would be where he was right now. He had fallen asleep on the grassland, and the uncomfortable ground had given him a stiff neck and aching muscles.

He rose up, and at that same moment, he felt something fall off his chest to his right. His head turned towards it, and his eyes perceived an arm attached to a girl, her eyes still closed and her chest rising and falling slowly. Dakota.

Had her hand been resting on his chest? Darren shook his head. No, he didn't have time to think about that right now. Actually, what time was it? The McCostas must be wondering where Darren was by now.

He reached for his pocket, but quickly found that it was empty. No phone, and he also wasn't wearing a watch. Around him, the only thing he could see was a large, green field spreading out in all directions around them, and in the distance, a white Kia was parked on the side of a deserted road. Dom's car, Darren now remembered. At least that was still there, especially considering since neither he nor Dakota had taken the keys with them and any passerby could have stolen it.

He put his hand on her shoulder and shook it. "Dakota, wake up," he said, and then even louder, "Wake up!"

She opened her eyes and immediately closed them again. A groan left her lips.

"Dakota, get up," Darren said again. "We have to go."

"It's light out," she protested.

"That's exactly my point." He shook her body once more and then started brushing grass leaves off his clothes. "We fell asleep and have been here all night."

"But it's much too light out," she said. "I'm a vampire, you know. I only function at night."

"Dakota..." He grumbled. There was no time for jokes. She had to get up, so they could go to their respective homes. He needed to reach the McCostas too, but he didn't want to run to the car and leave Dakota behind.

She opened her eyes again and squinted. "Okay, I'm coming," she mumbled. "But don't expect me to be at my best." She pulled her dress that had risen up her thighs during her sleep back down, got on her knees, and then stood up. "I really regret wearing heels now."

Darren glanced at Dakota. Her hair was messy and some green leaves were sticking in it, her dress was stained and wrinkly, and her makeup was smeared in some places. That she could hardly get her eyes to open didn't help her to achieve the beauty ideal.

However, he didn't give himself much time to look at her blemishes that couldn't hide her beauty, and instead turned away to start walking in the direction of the car, quickly increasing pace until he was running.

"You want to run?" Dakota asked, her toneone of disbelief. "What, did I sign up for some morning gymnastics class? 'Cause if that's the case, I want to sign out again."

"Dakota, don't joke about this right now!" Darren grumbled and turned to look over his shoulder. When he saw she wasn't running, his entire body turned to run backwards while not losing her out of sight. "We have to go, and fast." To himself, he mumbled, "I can't believe I fell asleep!"

"Why do we have to go?" To Dakota, there was no reason to rush. The deed had already been done, so a few more minutes in which they would slowly return home instead of the rush they were in now wouldn't hurt.

However, Darren didn't get the chance to answer her question, because just as he was about to, he tripped over his own feet and fell backwards, his feet slipping out from under him. He yelped.

She rushed towards him. "Are you okay?"

He groaned. "Yes." He pulled his legs towards him, about to get up, when he noticed something else. "No, no, no..." His arms reached out to his feet, and he started rubbing his shoes. "No..."

Dakota's eyes followed his to see what he was talking about. On his shoes, that had been brand new as she deduced by the unstained white, was a green and brown smear that the fall had caused.

"These are Liam's shoes!" His voice sounded desperate as he tried to get the smear off the shoes, but no matter how hard he tried, it didn't budge, and the shoes didn't look any cleaner after his efforts.

Dakota remembered it now: the evening before, she had encouraged Darren to wear that pair of Nikes. That they were someone else's and that that person hadn't gotten the chance to wear them yet hadn't been a bother to her.

Darren sighed. "Not this too," he said when he let his arm fall to his side, giving up on the attempt to clean the shoes with nothing but the skin on his hands. His head dropped backwards and he stared up at the sky. It had been so mesmerizing and beautiful the night before, but now, he was just mad at how it had distracted him and seduced him into staying longer.

"It will be okay," Dakota said, putting her hand on his shoulder to try to comfort him. "They're just shoes."

"They're Liam's shoes," Darren corrected. "I didn't even ask if I could borrow them. I took them – no, I stole them – and now I've ruined them too. What reason does he have to still look me in the eyes?"

"The realization that everyone is human, and that humans make mistakes." She tapped his shoulder and got up. "Come on, let's go." That the roles were now reversed and that she was the one encouraging him to go was an irony that didn't go unnoticed by her.

He shook his head. "I should never have come with you," he mumbled, but he got up anyway. "A party? What was I thinking?"

She had already started walking, but had heard his words anyway and had decided to answer. "You were thinking about having fun – and we did have fun. Don't beat yourself up over this, okay?"

He shook his head. "I just can't believe I..." He didn't even finish the sentence.

She was more sure of her words. "Well, I had fun yesterday. I think it was the best birthday I've ever had."

Darren followed her as they walked towards the car, flattening the grass leaves of the field with their feet. It took him some time to realize the words she said. "Birthday?"

"Eighteenth," she confirmed.

His eyes widened. "That's– that's huge! Why didn't you say anything?" He looked at her with a bewildered expression and almost forgot to add, "Happy birthday, by the way."

"Thank you. And I didn't tell you because I didn't think it was important." She just shrugged and walked on, but Darren quickly caught up to her.

"Not important? I would have loved to celebrate your birthday! We could have done something, like–"

She raised one eyebrow. "We did do something, remember? I took you to a party."

Right, the party. He remembered that, but he also remembered the part in which she was harassed by a guy and they had left in a hurry. "But..." He shook his head. "What about a present? Let me get you something."

She dismissed his offer. "I've had my fair share of gifts. I really don't want any – this is exactly why I didn't tell you about it." She stared into the distance to their destination and slowed her pace. "You would feel obligated to get me something, make it the best day of the year, but really, there's no need to. I'm happy and that's all that matters."

He seized her up. "If you're sure..."

"I am." She smiled. "And you would have been too late, anyway. I only get one birthday a year, you know."

"What about a do-over?"

"A second eighteenth birthday?"

He nodded. "We'll just pretend today is October eighteenth." He gestured to the wide fields they were in. "And your birthday would start here – isn't that amazing?"

She chuckled. "Thanks, Darren," she said, and he could see in her eyes that the idea appealed to her. "But I don't want to relive October eighteenth."

His voice became quiet, and he found the opportunity to ask her what he'd been wanting to ask ever since it happened. "Because of what happened at the party?"

She tilted her head, and then she seemed to remember it too. "No, not that... Something else."

By now, they had reached the white Kia on the side of the road, and Dakota walked over to the driver side. Darren opened the passenger door and sat down, fastening his seat belt just as Dakota got in. Before she ignited the engine, in a moment where he and she were closed off from the world by the car frame, she said, "I learned the names of my parents yesterday."

Her parents... Darren narrowed his eyes, wondering why that would be relevant, until he remembered that she was an orphan. She'd never met her parents. "Wait, really?"

She didn't look at him when she started the car. "Yes. Apparently, they made sure some notary would contact me on my eighteenth birthday to tell me their names."

His jaw dropped. "But, Dakota... That's amazing!" He looked at her with wide-open eyes. "Why are you not ecstatic right now?"

The car came into motion and she shrugged. "I really couldn't care less about their names."

He shook his head, trying to shake those words out. Such an attitude couldn't be real. "You could find your parents," he said. "Get to know them, learn something about them and yourself. This is incredible – the chance of a lifetime!"

"Why would I want to know them? They never wanted to get to know me."

That was something Darren refused to believe. "No, Dakota, they do want to get to know you! That's exactly why they got themselves a notary to look for you." His voice became more excited.

"Eighteen years too late."

"They must have set this up much earlier. That's common for these types of things. It often happens around the time the parents give the child away."

"So they dumped me in an orphanage and drove over to the notary to plan a reunion after eighteen years?" Her voice was cold and her eyes stared straight at the road ahead. "That doesn't make any sense."

"They must have had their reasons if they gave you up to the foster care system," Darren tried. When she didn't respond, he looked out the window on the right side, where he could see the view rapidly changing from green fields to a grey scenery typical of a city, with more houses that only got taller the further they drove. "What are their names?" he asked in a soft tone.

Dakota rolled her eyes, but when the silence persisted for many more seconds, she said, "Rebecca Kingsley and Walter Cox."

Huh. Those were simple names for the parents of a special girl, Darren thought. Rebecca Kingsley and Walter Cox. He repeated the names once more in his head so he would remember them later on, just in case they would come in handy.

Dakota narrowed her eyes. "Can you believe that? My father's name is Walter." She shook her head in disbelief. "Only jerks are named Walter."

He chuckled. "Don't judge a book by its cover," he still said, even though he knew those words wouldn't make a difference to her.

"Everyone does."

He bit his lip to suppress a smile. "Well, at least the name Rebecca is better, right?"

Dakota took a moment to think. "You know, when I was a kid, I used to imagine this moment. One day, my parents would just show up at the orphanage, and they'd come to pick me up and take me home." She didn't look at Darren as she said this. "They'd take me to this huge castle, and I'd have a big room just for myself..." She sighed. "But I learned that's never going to happen."

"Maybe not the castle," the ever-optimistic Darren tried.

She shook her head. "None of it would. And when Dom adopted me, I realized that that was the best reality for me. Why would I want to be adopted by the people who gave birth to me, abandoned me, and who I had never met?" She bit her lip and kept her gaze focused on the road ahead.

However, before Dakota could continue, a phone in the glove compartment started playing a soft tone, the melody growing louder and louder. Her last words hung in the air, and for a few seconds, Darren wasn't sure if he should pick it up even though he recognized the ringtone as his. He looked at Dakota, as if to get her approval, and then decided to pick up. He opened the glove compartment, got his phone out, and read the display.

"It's Liam," he said to Dakota, and he didn't wait any longer to pick up.

"Finally," a voice on the other end sighed. "Darren, where are you?"

In the background, a woman's voice exclaimed, "You got him?"

"He picked up," Liam confirmed to his mother, and then asked Darren the same question again. "We've been calling you all night and day."

"Yes, s-sorry," Darren stammered. He glanced at Dakota, whose eyes were fixed on the road ahead and whose ears weren't listening in on the conversation. "It's a long story, but I'm coming home now."

"Well, you better have a good reason," Liam warned him. "We've been worried sick. Couldn't you call?"

Darren cast his head down. If he'd known how the previous night would've played out, he would've taken his phone and sent the family a text about his whereabouts.

"Are you in a car?" Liam then asked. "I can tell by the background noise."

Darren frowned, surprised he could pick up such details. "Yes, I am."

"Park the car, okay? We're coming to get you."

"But –" That wasn't necessary, he wanted to say; he was only twenty minutes away from home.

"I don't care what you have to say," Liam said sternly. "You've been gone all night without any message, then suddenly pick up the phone and tell us not to worry. But we worried, Darren. So, my dad is getting in the car right now, driving to you, and making sure you get home. Send him your location."

Darren didn't know how to respond to that. Liam was mad, and from his voice, Darren could tell there was no changing his mind, no matter how unnecessary he deemed it that Isaiah would come pick him up. "Y-yes, I will."

Liam let out a satisfied sigh. "See you in a bit."

I think this scene or the one before this (where they're staring at the stars together) might be my favorite scene from the entire book... I remember writing it a long time ago, in the middle of the night (you know, the moment inspiration suddenly hits you). I didn't have any characters yet or a story I could use the scene for, but I already knew that one day, I would use that scene. And here it is 🥰

And another little fact: you're halfway through the book! What do you think of the story so far?

Anyway, thank you for coming this far, and I hope to see you for the next chapter.

A big hug from me, Jessy