I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous for tonight. I've never had a real liking for anyone, let alone had a girlfriend. Not that that's what we are... are we? What are the rules for this thing?

What the hell did I get myself into?

I pull up to her house and can feel my heart pounding in my chest. I ask myself how this is different from every other time we've hung out... but it's like I'm on a different planet. This is different because there's pressure now to be something I don't know how to be. I don't know how to be patient and caring like boyfriend's should be.

Mikey had one serious girlfriend in his lifetime. They had broken up about four months before he died. I remember him bringing her to the house and always being in such a good mood. He would ask her how her day was, watch movies on the couch, and go out and do stuff all the time. How do I separate time for myself and time for Sam?

I lean back in my seat and close my eyes, take in a deep breath. Mikey could do everything he set his mind to. Why can't I?

Finally, I force myself to get out of the car slowly. I take one more deep breath and turn to head up the steps, but Sam is already making her way out the door.

I think I'm supposed to admire her outfit or something, but I can't take my eyes away from hers long enough. She smiles nervously, crossing her arms over her chest. "I was wondering when you'd get out of that car."

I walk up to her with more ease than I thought I had. Now that I've seen her and I know she wants this as bad as I do, I feel a calm wash over me. "I was just taking my time."

She nods. "I see that. Are you ready?"

I look past her to look for her grandpa. "What about your grandpa?" I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to say something to him.

"He fell asleep. He's been worrying about the calves all night. He'll be okay." Sam grabs my hand and leads me to my car. "You aren't nervous or anything, are you?"

I roll my eyes at her teasing tone. "I thought that I should do a little workout before I came, which explains my sweaty palms." The nervousness seems to be leaving my body with every word we speak.

Sam giggles as I open her door for her. "That makes two of us, then." She slips inside and mouths a thank you as I shut it behind her.

Once inside the car, I start down her driveway as she plugs her phone into the aux cord. "So, we get to listen to the Jonas Brothers and One direction?"

"While I am totally offended by your lack of support for my taste in music, I actually have some good songs that I think you'll like," she explains as she scrolls through her phone. "Just give it a chance."

I recognize the song as soon as it comes on and I can't help but laugh. How she came up with this song to play, I don't know. But I'm all for it.

Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack

I went out for a ride and I never went back.

Like a river that don't know where it's flowing,

I took a wrong turn and I just kept on going.

Everybody's got a hungry heart...

"Wow," I tell Sam, smiling. "Perfect song."

She looks at me with a grin. "You like it?"

"Of course," I exclaim as I do a little dance in my seat. "It's a classic eighties song." We both start to sing to it, and I can picture us sitting in an old Ford Mustang cruising downtown with our windows down, neon business signs lining the road and lighting our way.

I look over at Sam singing her lungs out (quite literally) and the grin on her face. She looks happy, and I hope I can keep her that way.

*

"I'm still confused," I say once we leave the theater. "Why would Katnip, or whatever her name is, choose that short guy that was brainwashed over the good-looking tall dude?"

Sam laughs as she tosses her almost empty bag of popcorn in the trash. "Because Katniss has been through a lot with Peeta. She needs to be there for Peete too because he was there for her."

"I'm team Gale," I tell her matter-of-factly.

"You haven't even seen the other movies," Sam argues, shoving me playfully. I'm beginning to think that's her thing.

I shrug my shoulders. "I've seen enough to know, Samara."

"Well, I'm team Peeta," she says with a shrug of her shoulders. She waltzes in front of me, twisting around as we walk along the sidewalk. I take notice of the dark jeans and sweater she has on and how her curled hair looks against the light blue of it.

"Agree to disagree."

"Like we do on most things." Sam twirls one more time before stumbling into me. I catch her by the elbow as she falls against me.

As if the world around us has completely frozen, I lean down and kiss her gently, pulling away slowly.

"It's just our thing, I guess," I say quietly, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. She smirks suddenly and dashes away from me, looking back over her shoulder to shout, "I'll race ya!"

Shaking my head and trying not to pay attention to the eyes I can feel on me, I take off after her, my converse pounding against the sidewalk. It doesn't take me long to catch up to her before we reach my car. I grab her wrist to pull her to a stop, pulling her back into me. Without a word, I slip away from her and race for my car.

"You're such a cheater," she exclaims once she reaches me.

"It's called strategy." I open her door and wait for her to plop in. Like the five-year-old she truly is, she sticks her tongue out at me as I make my way over to the driver's side.

I begin our drive back towards her house as she plays her own music again, except this time it's actually the Jonas Brothers and One Direction. I hold my tongue as she belts out the lyrics to every song because of the ease I find in the night.

"And now I'm one step closer to being
Two steps far from you
And everybody wants you
Everybody wants you..." Sam belts out, pumping her fists in the air.

"I don't want to go home yet!" She shouts over the radio. I turn it down a little bit so she doesn't have to yell.

"Where do you want to go?" I ask, having the same feeling of not wanting the night to end.

"Let's go to your house."

"What are we supposed to do at my house?"

"You have a job to do."

I become very curious to see where this conversation is going. "What's that?"

"Teach me to play the piano!" She shouts right as she twists the knob to turn the volume up.

Much to my own dismay, I realize that I did tell her I would help her learn. I pass her driveway and head straight to my house now. Mom and Dad went out for once too, so I have one less thing to worry about. Although I'm positive they'd kill me if they knew I had Sam with me.

Once we're there, I push open the door to a dark house, Sam close behind me.

Still on her little high of energy, Same hurriedly sits down on the seat meant for the piano that sits in our foyer. The one that I haven't played since Mikey died. I'm hesitant to sit down next to her, but she pats the seat beside her, giving me an encouraging look.

I finally sit down beside her. "I haven't played this since Mikey..."

"It's okay, Quentin. We can play your keyboard. Or you can just take me home if you're not up to it." The more she talked, the more disappointment I heard in her voice.

I shake my head quickly. "No, let's play it." I lift up the cover over the keys slowly, feeling uneasy. I can feel Sam's eyes on me as I rest my fingers on the cold keys, the familiar touch bringing back more than just notes and lyrics.

I play a few notes, the sound echoing throughout the house. My eyes close as I remember the way my fingers need to go, which key to press at what time, and the melody of the music. I make myself come back down to earth for a few seconds, continuing to play as I try to get Sam to catch up.

"You play these keys." I show her a quick pattern with one hand, and she follows it easily. I continue to play what I was but make sure to slow it down for Sam.

She grins from ear to ear. "This is so cool. We could totally blow Beethoven out of the water."

I laugh at that and shake my head. There's no way that would happen, but her imagination is a nice break from my reality. She moves closer to me as we play, our hips mashing together. She's so close to me that I can hardly keep track of what I'm doing, and the song's melody goes way off track.

Sam doesn't notice because she's turned her head to look at me now, her hands holding either side of my face. "You are the most complicated person I've ever met, and for some reason, I can't stop thinking about how much I like that."

As much as I want to roll my eyes at her, I want to kiss her even more. Gently, I press my lips to hers, then to her cheek. "Somehow I find myself thinking the same thing about you."

This girl has a complicated life, that's for sure. But she views things with such a clear vision that I wish I possessed.

"I'm so glad you got stranded on the side of the road," she says without a hint of humor.

I laugh because of the irony. "You know what? Me too. I'm so glad that you annoyed me back to being a little more humble."

She scoffs and leans away from me. "You're gonna need it if you become a Rockstar one day. All that fame might go to your head." She lightly brushes her palm over my cheek to rest it on my jawline.

"How do you have such high expectations for me?"

"Have you listened to yourself play music? Heard the songs you write? How could people not want to hear you?"

"A lot of people probably wouldn't."

"I guess there's only one way to find out."

I lower my gaze from hers, my hand mindlessly drifting over the keys, careful not to press down on them. I'm not sure where this whole band thing is going to go once I meet Asher. I'm still in high school, so what can I really do?

"I have a feeling I might have to do something that my parents won't like." It's the truth I've known all along but have tried to bury. As much as I feel invisible in this house anymore, I don't want to just leave my mom and dad. I don't want them to lose another son.

"Quentin," Sam says, making me look her in the eyes. "Your parents love you. That much is obvious, or else you wouldn't have the things you have. Something bad happened to and to them. But that can't define you for the rest of your life. You only have one life to make as many mistakes and learn as many lessons as you possibly can. I think they could understand that if you just tell them."

I bite down on my lip. I take my parents for granted because of the grief I still hold in my own heart. I know they love me, but it's like I can't allow myself to believe they love me as much as they loved Mikey. He can no longer disappoint them. He lived his nearly perfect life and then it ended.

"Sometimes I hate how honest and truthful you are," I murmur.

Sam kisses my cheek. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

"No," I reply. "I needed to hear that." I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her closer to me so I can kiss the top of her head. "Thank you."

"As much as I don't want to go home... Grandpa will have both of our heads if I don't get home soon."

I nod my head in understanding. "Let's go, then. I'd like to keep my head."

At Sam's house, I make her wait until I can make it over to her door to open it. Of course, she makes her little chivalry jokes, but I don't care. Instead, I bend down to wrap my arms around her waist and pick her up, twirling her around.

Once I put her on her feet, I plant a kiss on her lips. "Thank you for tonight."

She smiles into our kiss and pulls away, leading us to her steps where we sit down next to each other. "I am seeing a completely different side to you. I like it."

"You're saying you didn't like the old me?"

Her cheeks suddenly bloom with a tint of red and she looks away from me, a shy smile on her rosy lips. "If I'm being honest... I had a pretty big crush on you before we really knew each other."

My mouth opens but no words come out at first. "You're serious? Why didn't you tell me?"

She jerks her head back over, giving me a look that says, "are you serious right now?"

"You mean I should have approached the boy who looked like he hated the world and never talked to anyone?"

I shake my head. "See? I don't know why you even liked me." I lean forward onto my knees and clasp my hands together.

She shrugs her shoulders, leaning forward with me. "You're were cute. Those glasses and that hair. I wasn't sure about the attitude, though. But now I see a little more than that."

Now it's my turn to blush. No one's ever called me cute – at least not to my face. It gives me a weird feeling. "I don't get it."

"That's okay. You don't have to." Sam snakes her arm under mine and leans her head on my shoulder. "As long as you trust that I get it."

I let us sit there for a few more moments before I see the time on my phone. It's almost midnight now. I'm surprised Mr. Moore hasn't come out of the house yet to talk to us, but I'm thankful at the same time. I slip away from Sam and take her hands, pulling her to her feet.

"I really need to go." I hug her for a long time, not really wanting to go. At the same time, I can feel my eyes beginning to droop and I know it would be best to go before I fall asleep while driving.

"What if I don't want you to?" Sam says into my chest.

"I don't know what to tell you," I say, my blatant honesty coming to me easily. "I can't just... not go home."

"And why not?" She asks defiantly, still keeping her head against my chest.

I sigh and lift her chin to look at me. "Tell you what. Close your eyes, and you won't have to watch me leave."

"You'll still be gone," she pouts, sticking her bottom lip out. I can see how tired she is, too.

"I can only do so much for you, you know."

"Fine," she grunts. She steps back and crosses her arms over her chest stubbornly. It takes her a second to look away from me, but she finally closes her eyes. I kiss her forehead softly before I turn and head to my car.

Even when I'm in my car and leaving her house, I look in my mirror to see her eyes still closed.

____________________

The song, of course, is Hungry Heart by Bruce Springsteen! One of my favorites.

Also, the picture attached is what helped me form Quentin and Sam!

P.s. I was having lots of trouble with the WiFi when posting this chapter so I'm sorry if there's problems with reading it. Let me know if you aren't able to read it or there's weird mistakes with the text!!