The dogs only barked a little as Emily went inside the house. She went straight into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. Then she dragged herself into the bedroom, peeled off her clothes, and put on Kelly's shirt.

She wanted to go to sleep while she still had the memory of Kelly's kiss to keep her company, before her anxiety made her second guess everything that happened that night.

With the lights off and the window opened, she climbed into bed, hoping to drift asleep quickly. Instead she heard a car stop in front of the house.

Her pulse started to race.

Maybe Kelly changed his mind and decided to come back to me...

Emily pulled the sheets from her body, got out of bed and pushed the curtains aside. She was shocked to see that it wasn't Kelly.

Evan...

He was silently coming up the front walk.

She dropped the curtain and backed away from the window before thinking she should have shut it.

Too late now...

His voice called softly to her, "Emily I know you're there. Please come to the window and talk to me."

Emily froze, thinking through her options.

I could pretend to be asleep... I could tell him to go to hell... I could tell him I'll talk to him tomorrow... Or I could listen to him tonight... If I do, I should probably change out of Kelly's shirt...

And that's when she heard it.

A guitar riff played softly from his phone. Its electronic glow visible through the curtains from where it balanced on the outside ledge of her window.

She moved closer as James Taylor started to sing, "Do me wrong, but do me right. Tell me lies, but hold me tight..."

Emily listened to the first lines of 'Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight' without daring to move.

However, by the time the line "You've been turning my world upside down" played, something switched inside of her.

It was like she was on autopilot as she pulled off Kelly's shirt. Then threw on a bra, tank top and jeans. Finally, she lifted the screen as the saxophone solo finished.

Evan sat with his back against the porch railing.

"Are you going to help me or am I going to have to fall out of this window again?" she asked.

He stood up and pocketed his phone before he grabbed her waist. Emily gripped his broad shoulders, steadying herself as she climbed through.

After her feet were on the floor they continued to stand there holding onto each other.

He looked down at her. "You're so short."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Well, if that's what you came to my bedroom window tonight to tell me Evan, I hate to disappoint you, but I already know that."

She dropped her arms from him and sat down on the floor of the porch, with her back against the wall beneath the window.

He slumped down beside her.

They stared out at the empty cul-de-sac. Frogs chirped back and forth in the bushes below the porch.

His voice was barely louder than the din of the creatures when he began, "When I couldn't find you at the party after we fought or whatever that was. I freaked out. I needed..."

He halted and didn't start up again. His silence grew and with it so did Emily's annoyance.

I'm tired, pretty drunk and done with this day...

She asked brusquely, "What did you need from me Evan?"

When he still didn't speak she said more sharply, "If you just needed to make your ex jealous, well there were plenty of girls at that party that could help you do that. Or you could have at least tried being honest with me and maybe I would have played along willingly. Or if you think I'm some super experienced sex-kitten from Brooklyn, like a living episode of Girls come to your doorstep in Jersey... and all you need is some booty call, I hate to tell you, but the truth is I'm not. All of that talk earlier was just me trying to not look like the completely nerdy, virgin that I am."

Evan gently thumped his head a couple times against the wall behind him. "I needed to find you. I needed to make sure you were safe. I needed..."

He kept staring at the ceiling as his voice trailed off, "To make right whatever it was that went wrong between us tonight..."

He doesn't want to look at me... Why?

Emily wanted to look at his face to try to determine if he was telling the truth. She shifted around so her folded legs were perpendicular to his, which stretched along the porch and crossed at the ankles.

Evan wiped his palms across his thighs, took a huge breath that lifted his broad shoulders up to his ears and then blew it out.

As Emily studied him, she recognized these actions. She had done them a million times herself in the beginning stages of a panic attack.

Damn it! He's actually nervous...

She resisted the urge to reach out and touch his chest, to check if his heart beat frantically and maybe help him soothe the wild organ.

Instead she reached out with her eyes. She softened the skeptical squint she wore to let him know she was ready to hear more.

He finally turned to look at her, his own eyes were an inky purple in the dark.

Emily murmured, "Continue."

As attractive and vulnerable as he looks at this moment, I am not going to let him off that easily...

"When I went looking around for you after, I found Samantha and she told me what she'd said to you about Morgan. I felt terrible and I knew what it must have looked like. I'm not gonna lie and say that having Morgan see us together wasn't a fringe benefit of the night, because it was. But not because I wanted to make her jealous or want her back, it was more about putting the final nail in that coffin. And then I heard that you left with Kelly."

Evan took another deep breath before he said, "And I was jealous."

He closed his eyes and rushed to complete his confession. "Which I know sounds completely insane because we just met. But I also felt it when you were dancing with those guys tonight and letting them touch you. Because that was what I was trying to work up the nerve to do."

He stopped talking and opened his eyes.

Waiting for me to do or say something...

Now it was Emily's turn to panic, because they were sitting just a few feet from where she had kissed Kelly. She wiped her own sweaty palms on her knees and took a deep breath.

I have every right to kiss whoever I want to, because I haven't made any promises to Evan... but I can imagine he might feel deceived and upset if he knew... just as I felt betrayed by his manipulation of me in front of Morgan... there's truth to what he is telling me, because I experienced the same irrational jealousy herself at the party...this tall, athletic, popular boy is more like me than I ever would have ever guessed...

"It's true you know." Evan said breaking the silence.

"What's true?" she asked.

Maybe he read my mind...

He ran his hand through his hair. "The song. I am lonely... and you... you've somehow managed to turn my world upside down in twenty-four hours."

Emily's ears burned crimson. The heat reminded her of the way he made them feel last night.

"I'm sure you're exaggerating." She tried to sound casual.

Evan looked over at her with sad eyes. "I'm not. I've never met anyone like you before Emily. I knew it from the moment I saw you fall out of that window and you were so self-conscious standing here in your pajamas, and then when I looked through your music. And again when you were flirting so hard with me at the barbecue. And just before when you were dancing around totally into the music at the party, and even when you yelled at me."

Emily watched his Adam's apple bob in his throat as he swallowed.

"And all I can think about right now is how badly I want to kiss you and touch you. But I won't do anything without your permission first."

Emily didn't want to listen anymore and she didn't want to talk either.

She leaned forward to put her clammy hand onto his chest the way she yearned to before. His heart pounded as if he'd just done twenty push-ups.

Evan closed his eyes, tilted his head back against the wall and exhaled. Then he took his enormous hand and covered her tiny one completely with his own, as if to keep her attached to him.

Her own pulse was frenetic. She lifted his free hand and placed it against her heart.

Evan's eyes sprung open. They darted between his hand, resting just above her breast, and Emily's lips.

She leaned in even closer and spoke to his lips. "Yes."

He blinked. "What?"

She closed her eyes. "Yes," she repeated before adding, "You may kiss me."

This reminds me of playing 'Mother May I' in gym as a little girl... but this is s a very different game we are playing...

In an instant, the giant hand that had covered hers was encircling her wrist instead. Evan pulled her across his lap. He was so firm and urgent that Emily gasped as his mouth bonded with hers.

For as tentative as they both were a minute before, their first kiss was not.

Immediately, she felt the release of the tension that had built between them all day while a new coil begin to wind inside of her.

I don't want to run away from Evan now...

She clung to the back of his neck. Her fingers crept up and rubbed at the buzzed parts of his skull.

Evan hummed in response and removed his hand from her wrist. He brought it to her cheek and stroked her face with his thumb.

The spring inside her twisted tighter and her hands climbed further into his hair. She ran her fingers through the longer strands.

Evan slid his hand down onto her neck and then up to her ear, sending chills through her entire body. It made Emily moan.

Evan smiled against her mouth and tugged her earlobe gently in response to her noise. His other hand remained trapped between them, still on her heart.

Emily felt reckless. She tried to guide that hand lower in an unspoken offer for him to explore her body further.

But Evan pushed her back slightly and broke the magnetic contact of their lips. They were both out of breath.

"What's wrong? Was it bad?" Emily asked.

Please tell me you liked it...

Evan shook his head, "No not at all." His voice was husky. "Too good in fact. I think maybe we should stop."

Emily leaned forward and pressed her lips against the shell of his ear. "Remember, you don't get to say when I've had enough."

She sat back up to look at him with a smug look on her face. Evan cocked his eyebrow at her.

Then suddenly, he made an exaggerated snarl, bent her backward and bit at her neck. Emily laughed and just as abruptly Evan stopped again.

He sat her back up and brushed a piece of her hair away from her face. "Seriously though Emily. I don't want to go too fast with you tonight. You were drinking."

"You're right." Emily sighed.

As she was about to climb from his lap, they were suddenly illuminated for a moment by the headlights of a car.

Emily's instinct was to leap off Evan and she started to move. But his hands clamped down on her hips like a vice and held her to his lap.

She squirmed again and the friction made him let out an audible little grunt. Her head whipped back from watching the headlights to him.

He blushed. "Sorry. Just... just wait until the car stops to get off," he suggested.

Emily's forehead wrinkled.

"It looks less guilty," he explained.

His reasoning seems sensible... But maybe it is just my slightly drunken state that makes it sound reasonable?

She heard the car stop and then moved slowly off Evan's lap to sit beside him again. Evan slid his knees up, rested his arms on them and laced his fingers together.

Her head was woozy from hormones, booze and lack of sleep so it took her a minute to realize what was happening.

To her horror, it was indeed Kelly's car parked at the bottom of the driveway. Kelly got out and moved around to the passenger side door.

At least he has another shirt on...

Kelly helped John out of the car and practically carried her nearly unconscious brother up the walkway and steps.

Obviously I'm not the only one that drank tonight... Thankfully I'm not in that condition though...

Kelly brought John to the exact spot where he kissed Emily an hour ago. He leaned her brother against the wall.

As Kelly tried to fish John's keys out of his pocket, her brother pointed at Evan. He blinked his eyes rapidly, like he was trying to get them to focus. "Did she tell you? Did she tell you she is... she's got..."

He covered his mouth with the back of his hand like he might vomit. Emily held her breath.

Don't say it! Don't you dare say it John! I will never, ever speak to you again if you do...

"...GPS brain," he slurred.

Emily blew the air out from her lungs.

Then John tried to take a step towards them, but Kelly had a hand on his chest and gently pushed him back against the wall.

John hiccupped. "That's right... everything's set for her and you're just... just a detour."

His face screwed up like an old Popeye cartoon as he looked at them with one eye. "Or maybe a road hazard..."

He lowered his voice to a murmur. "A rest stop..."

Then John laughed to himself and mumbled something else incomprehensible. Finally he closed his open eye and seemed to fall asleep standing up.

Evan cleared his throat and addressed Kelly. "Hey man, do you need any help with him?"

Kelly glanced at him and said icily "Nah, I got it. I guess it's just my job to bring home drunk Randazzos tonight."

Emily felt Evan tense up at this comment. She put a hand on his arm to prevent him from doing anything stupid.

Instead of doing something, Evan said something. "Yeah well thanks buddy, even though you didn't have to bring Emily home."

Kelly's eyebrows twitched. His voice grew even colder "Is that so?"

Evan matched his glacial tone. "I spent a few minutes looking for her at the party before somebody told me they saw you ordering her into your car. I got here about five minutes after you left."

Then the dogs started barking from inside as Kelly slid the key into the lock and opened the door.

He looked at Emily and practically yelled, "I'm staying over tonight to keep an eye on your brother. I don't want to scare you if I accidentally bump into you in the dark hallway tonight or something."

Evan's knuckles cracked beside her.

Emily suppressed a hysterical bubble of laughter that threatened to burst from her throat and squeaked out, "Okay."

Kelly hauled her incoherent brother through the front door and she heard it shut behind them.

She turned to Evan. He frowned, so she stuck her bottom lip out and made a pouty face at him. He leaned forward to kiss her again and bit at her bottom lip a little. He stopped, groaned and said, "I can tell nothing is going to ever be simple with you, Emily."

He has no idea...

Evan stood up and helped her from the floor. Then he handed her his phone. "Give me your number, please."

Emily entered her first name into his contacts. When she started to type her last name she stopped. "What's your last name?"

His smile returned. "Murphy."

She beamed back at him and finished entering her number. "Well Evan Murphy, help me climb back through this window."