"The greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places."

~ Roald Dahl

***

"Jason?" Mac repeats but I don't look at him. I keep my eyes glued to the radio dials, as if I can move them with my mind. Kind of like the Force but a little less cool and more sad zoning out but not really. If that makes any sense at all.

"Colby," Mac says and he gently rubs his callused hand on my knee. "Look, if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. But -"

"It was in sophomore year," I choke out, somehow managing not to start crying. God, I'm such a baby. "I don't know why I'm still so sad about it, it shouldn't matter at this point." I wipe my nose with my sleeve and blink back forming tears.

Mac looks over at me with concerned ice-blue eyes and says, "Jason. As in, Jason Brinkley?" His fist tightens at his leg but his face remains collected. Without answering, I just nod. He purses his lips and shifts his gaze to where his hand rests on my knee.

"I'm sorry," he says in a low voice. "I'm so sorry he hurt you Cole." His words sound so real. As if he knows me as much as he says he does, which he just might. God, am I really that readable?

"It's fine," I assure Mac and I swallow back tears. "It was a long time ago." I shift in my seat to pull my knees up to my chest and I reach for the radio, but his hand catches my wrist and I feel my fingers tingle. God, won't you listen to me? I sound like a fricking saccharine refrigerator.

"No it's not," Mac tells me, seriously for once and I feel myself tense. "You know it's not. And I'm not saying you have to tell me everything, but at least tell me the gist."

I ponder this for a second. My first thought is to tell him exactly what the hell is wrong with me and why, but the rational part of my mind screams at me not to and tells me to stop being an idiot and think for a goddamn minute. He hasn't given me any reason to trust him. And even so, the last time I trusted somebody with something like this was before I had a reason to hide it. No. If I tell him about what happened, there's a chance that he'll leave me.

I mentally slap myself. God, Cole! Just listen to yourself! You've known him for three days. Three goddamned days, how in the hell can you get that close to a person in a time span of seventy two hours? So what if he leaves? He was going to leave anyway and you know it. Stop this, Colby. You're being fucking ridiculous.

I groan aloud and this makes Mac smile at me, obviously amused even though I don't see the humor in my groaning. Okay, well that wasn't supposed to sound the way it seemed, stop being perverted.

"You okay?" Mac chuckles and in a fit, I open the pizza box in between us with a lot of attitude and hastily take out a slice, stuffing it into my face as one with a migraine the size of Texas would take an Advil. Which means to say, I eat it as if I haven't eaten in weeks, even though the last slice of pizza I had was barely five minutes ago.

"Fine," I mumble around the gooey cheese and tomato paste as I check the time. I have about a half an hour until I have to be home. Mac rolls his eyes playfully at me and says,

"So, Cole," He slips his key into the ignition and the heater kicks on, warming me up a bit. He leans back into his seat and continues, "Baseball season's here and we have a game on Tuesday -"

"No," I state with a swallow. "No fricking way."

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" Mac complains.

"You were about to invite me to watch you play," I conclude and Mac groans. "I hate to break this to you," I say. "But I haven't been to any kind of school sports game since sophomore year. I'm not breaking that streak."

Mac sighs melodramatically and pleads, "C'mon Cole!" I shake my head. "Stop being a Debby Downer and come watch me." I take another bite of my pizza.

"Nope," I say. "Not happening." He looks at me with an annoyed face and I shrug. To be completely honest, I'm kind of proud of myself right now. And here I was just a moment ago, freaking out about me and him and me being a ridiculous asshole. It's glad to see that I really haven't changed as much as my friends say. Look out world, Colby Elisabeth Matthews is back.

"That hurts," Mac says in mock sadness. "I thought you loved me."

"I do -" I catch myself quickly. Oh God. "... n't care." I try to add but Mac has already heard me and he starts freaking out, flailing his arms around and banging the steering wheel with his fists, making the horn beep multiple times.

"I KNEW IT!" He shouts and I desperately try to get him to chill.

"No, no!" I shout and his fist bangs in the horn again, making me jump. "No, I didn't mean it like that! You know I didn't!"

"And so the cynical but beautiful and lovable Colby Matthews admits it," Mac teases (I hope). "Admits that she is hopelessly in love with the incredibly handsome and equally lovable and sexy Mac Thompson with -"

"No!" I shout but it's hopeless. He grins and keeps me at bay with his arm outstretched in front of me. "No I don't!"

"Alllllll of her heaaaaart!" Mac grins and he grabs my hand and brings it up in the air with his. "We shall be married in the morning!" I feel myself flush red and outside I see people peer in the windows of the truck to see what's going on. Mac's stage acting voice doesn't help at all, it just makes the deep feeling of embarrassment pound mercilessly in my stomach even more than it already has.

"In your dreams." I say, not even trusting my sarcastic remarks generator anymore. I'm finished.

Mac kisses my hand and I blush. Oh God, Cole. His blue eyes twinkle and he smiles sweetly, all the fun and games now vanished from his face.

"Correct," he says and his warm breath tickles my hand, sending tingles up my arm. If people were actually spectating this, I'd be a puddle right about now. And no, no don't get any ideas that I'm flattered. I actually want to punch him in the face.

"Why wouldn't I dream about marrying somebody as wonderful as you?" He winks and something in my chest flips. I'm guessing it was my lungs because currently I'm having trouble breathing.

I swallow hard. Keep it cool, Cole. Just freaking breathe.

"If you think that this will get me to go to your damn game, I'm afraid you're out of luck." I choke out. Mac's lips form a grin gently in my hand and he chuckles.

"Dammit, I thought that was pretty genius of me." He says and now it's my turn to smile.

"You keep telling yourself that." I reply.

***

It's almost nine thirty when I get home after church. Braiden is back to watching TV, The Fosters now playing in the living room. Again, my little brother is probably the bravest kid alive considering who our parents are.

My mom has disappeared into her room to take a shower and I can hear her Bethel Live album playing loudly throughout her bathroom, the acoustics causing it to reach all the way out to the staircase.

Last time I checked, my dad is in the room too, reading a book and sprawled across the bed, the door halfway open.

I enter the kitchen and fetch myself a glass of juice and my  orange pill container. I down the pills in one swig and drink the rest of the orange juice before clamoring up the stairs to my room.

I close the door behind me and roll onto my bed, taking out my laptop and pulling up the show Riverdale and starting to watch from the beginning. Since I started watching it, I've been utterly in love. I know the introduction by heart, which annoys my friends to high heaven, but I couldn't care less. If I want to use my mind to memorize my favorite TV show's introductions, so be it.

I only watch one episode before I close my computer and lay down in bed with music playing in my ears.

"Between the wars we'll stay,
Fading echoes spinning away,
Lost in memories, lost in memories..."

It reminds me of him. The song. He never liked just one specific genre of music. He liked everything from contemporary to classic rock. Every date we had, he'd have at least one new favorite song or album that he was bent on making me love too. This is the song that was playing in his truck that night by the creek.

It's a 12:01 a.m when I see Jason's truck pull into the cul-de-sac that I live on. My parents are dead asleep in the room across the hall and I'm able to sneak down the stairs in a matter of seconds. After I check my reflection in the mirror hanging in the foyer - short shorts, a low cut tank top, and a high ponytail for the summer night - I walk over to the door, locking it behind me and making my way to the truck that's stopped in the middle of the street waiting for me.

"Hello beautiful," he says after I've climbed into the passenger seat. He puts his phone down and leans over, pulling me into a deep kiss, his hands cupping my face gently and his mouth moving just slightly against mine in greeting.

"Hey," I reply in a whisper as I pull away. He smiles sweetly and turns his face in front of us, then shifts the car into drive and peels out onto the connecting road. Exhilaration courses throughout my already excited body and I let myself smile. "So where are you taking me now, William Clark?" I can see his lips perk up in the lights of the glowing city at his unofficial nickname.

"Nowhere in particular, Lewis," he says, running a hand through his thick blonde hair. "That all depends." He looks over at me and winks. I roll my eyes and push his arm playfully. He chuckles at me and we continue driving through the now less crowded streets.

The moonroof and windows are open wide and the warm summer night blows throughout the car, filling my nostrils with the scent of city air and washing out the lingering scent of Jason's cologne.

"I found a new song," He says suddenly with clarification and I grin at him. When does he not? He somehow noticed this look on my face and he laughs at me.

"What?" He chortles and I shake my head. "Look I know you don't always like my music but this ones a mind blower, I promise." His smile never leaves his face as he reaches for his phone and presses play.

The sound system in his truck is supreme. I know because one, I've never spent a Friday night without him since we'd gotten together. And two, I remember the day after it was installed and he wouldn't stop boasting about how high tech it was. The subs in the back are just as good as being his own children and don't get me started on the stereo face.

The song plays throughout the truck and I feel his gaze rest on me, wondering. It's a beautiful song and it sounds even better on his sound system, the drone at the introduction vibrating melodically through my bones. I can tell that he's proud he found this song, going from the twinkle in his eyes and the tapping of his fingers on the steering wheel.

"So Little Miss," he says and I glance at the clock which reads 12:19...

***

I wake up to my Green Day alarm that rings at 6:15 and I'm surprised at myself. I was able to wake up to the first of the four, that's a record.

"AMEN!" I shout deliriously to the lyrics of the song and I flop back down into my pillows. Before I can get up, I hear my door creak open and I fall out of my bed, managing to grab a tube of mascara on my way down, holding it out to the intruder as the chorus of Holiday ends and the guitar solo begins.

"Chill sis," Braiden chuckles as he enters my room wearing a black STAR TREK shirt and khakis. He picks through my messy room and grabs the mascara tube out of my hand with an eyebrow raise.

"Wow, Cole," he snorts and I glare at him in annoyance. "What're you on? You're acting like you were about to kill me." I laugh incredulously.

"Yeah well that's what you do when you're door opens at six in the morning and you're expecting the literal Satan, not your stupid little brother." I snarl. Braiden gives me a face and chucks the mascara tube into the garbage.

"Hey!" I protest.

"Oh stop being such a baby, Cole," Braiden says. "You've got more in the bathroom and I would know. It's all over my side of the counter." I scoff and roll my eyes.

"Yeah you would know because you use it." I say.

"Mmmmhm," he says sarcastically. "Totally. Cause I need help looking prettier than I already am." He runs a hand through his dark blond hair and I snort.

"Screw you."

"Kiss my ass."

"No thanks."

"You know you want to."

"You wish."

"You're kidding."

"No are you?"

Bray glares daggers at me. "You're impossible." He says in mock disbelief.

"What, sardonic humor is just my way of relating to the world." I say, proud that I can now quote Riverdale in a regular conversation off the top of my head.

"You keep saying that, sis," he says. "Anyways - damn can you turn that freaking thing off?" He makes an annoyed face at my phone which has restarted my alarm song. I look at it and then at my little brother.

"No." I say, knowing how much he despises Green Day. Bray looks at me with a frown and I smile sweetly up at him in return. God I'm such a bitch.

"Fine. I was just going to tell you that I need a ride home after school." Braiden says. I groan.

"No." I say. "The last time you needed a ride home we ended up behind a grandma's minivan on a two lane, double striped road in attempt to 'avoid traffic'."

Bray just shrugs. "Okay then," he says and I tense, knowing what he's about to do. "I'll just have to Hotwire your car after school and drive myself."

"Uhh, no!" I interrupt earning myself a triumphant smile that I ignore. "One, you don't even have a permit. Two, you don't even know how to Hotwire a car. Three, I hate you. You're an idiot. And get out of my room." Bray gives me a dirty look and flips me off.

"You're welcome." I say to him as he exits.

I attempt to untangle myself from my bedding but barely succeed, meaning that I hit my head on the bedside table once or twice and didn't make it out standing up. With an annoyed grumble, I pad across the floor to my closet where I take out a light purple shirt and jeggings. I put on my clothes and my Converse and I trek to the bathroom. I wash my face and put on my concealer and eye makeup, then make my way downstairs to get food.

My dad is the only one up at this time. He sits at the bar drinking his coffee and reading his Bible, like he does every morning, some instrumental music playing on the stereo.

"Mornin' Dad," I say as I open the fridge to grab a Danimal's.

"Morning." He answers. I take out a handful of Frosted Flakes and start chugging my mini smoothie. "What're you doing today, kid?" My dad says, closing his Bible when I sit down at the bar next to him.

"Work." I reply. He nods at me.

"Where were you last night?" He asks. I immediately freeze. Crap. My mom took it well, I thought she would've told my dad. But no. She didn't. Thanks Mom.

"Ah.... uhhhh out." I stammer and my dad looks at me disbelievingly.

"Fun." He says suspiciously but doesn't venture any farther. Smart choice.

I finish my Danimal's and my Frosted Flakes and by the time I've grabbed my keys and backpack, it's time to go.

"Bray!" I shout up the stairs as I shrug on my backpack. "Let's go!" A second later I hear my brother's hasty footsteps clamoring down the stairs and he appears, his teeth gleaming white and his hair all gelled up how he likes it.

We make it out of the house and to the car in a matter of moments. I unlock my little blue baby (don't ask) and swing myself inside, chucking my backpack in the backseat and jamming my keys into the ignition. The car starts up and the radio kicks on, playing some stupid song that makes me cringe. Oh God, not another one of these.

I turn it off and by the time Braiden has buckled himself in, the song has changed to Hurricane by Panic! At The Disco. I grin to myself. Ready to kill a Monday. And I pull out of the driveway to the lyrics,

"Hey hey we are a hurricane,
Drop our anchors in a storm,
Hey they will never be the same,
They're fighting with us to keep us warm,
Cause they know, I know that they don't look like me..."

***

Author's Note

I hope this chapter was worth the week and a half wait. I decided to update it earlier just to make you guys a little happier with me. I also apologize for any crude language or spelling errors, it's been a long week and a half. Don't forget to vote and share! Love you guys!

~ Cara