Since Xander had driven me to and from school yesterday, my car was still in the school parking lot. I hadn't planned on going out tonight anyway so I had figured that Xander could drive me to school tomorrow and I could drive my car home after.

So I texted Ryker back.

No.

Not even a second later, my phone buzzed.

Please.

What the hell? Ryker never says please, especially to me. Something was wrong. I quickly texted back.

I don't have my car. What's wrong?

I waited, staring intently on the screen for him to text back. I must have sat for at least ten minutes just looking at the screen that never lit up with a text. Ryker wasn't responding.

I busied myself by going on YouTube and tried not to think about Ryker. Nothing was wrong, right? I unconsciously searched up Two-Strings and was blasting a video of them performing before I realized what I was doing. The music pounded through my room and I didn't care if it was bothering mom.

Ryker had a sleeveless, black jacket on with the usual faux mohawk that was long in the front, covering one of his electric blue eyes. He bellowed out a song called, "All's Fair in Love and Hate". It seemed to describe our relationship perfectly.

A loud noise banged against my window. I dismissed it as one of the tree branches and turned up the music even louder. I drummed my fingers on my desk as I clicked on a bunch of their songs. 

The banging came again. It almost sounded urgent. Which was strange considering tree branches weren't alive. I pushed out of my comfy computer chair and strode to the window. Pushing back the curtains, I strained to see outside in the darkness. I put my face right up against the glass to see more clearly.

Two blue eyes burst through the darkness. I scrambled backwards, falling flat on my ass. Ryker rolled his eyes then motioned at the window for me to let him in. I climbed back up to my feet and heaved the window open.

"What are you doing-" I whisper shouted. Ryker held up a hand and pressed his finger against my lips. He tilted his head as if he were listening for something.

"You have good taste in music. And by the way, Hannah dropped off some papers that I had missed today. I realized that I missed kissing her so we got back back together. You and I are history," he finally said, smirking.

I smacked his hand off my mouth and darted over to my laptop. I pressed pause on the video and Two-Strings abruptly cut off.

With my back still to him, I said, "We were never together. I'd rather have had you tell everyone about what had happened between me and Finn than have to be your girlfriend. You can go suck Hannah's face for all I care, just don't involve me anymore."

I turned back around and almost fell for the second time in a matter of minutes. Ryker was standing right in front of me. We were almost touching. Wind from the open window blew the curtains out wards. I took a step back so I was trapped between my desk and Ryker. He leaned forward, blocking any sort of escape I could have had by leaning his arms against the desk on both sides of me. He flicked his lip piercing with his tongue, drawing my gaze to his lips. He leaned closer and I squeezed my eyes shut.

Rock music blasted out of my laptop and I jumped. Ryker removed his arms from around me, looking satisfied. The jerk got close to me just to turn back on the music, knowing full well how I would react to him.

I was about to curse him to the moon and back when a defeated look crossed his face. He turned his back on me, collapsing on my bed. The structure protested under his weight. He folded his arms beneath his head, closing his eyes.

"Ryker, you better start explaining yourself before I start screaming-"

"Today's the anniversary of my mother's death. She died last year which is why I had to move here. I never knew my father so I'm alone."

I was speechless. I stood frozen against my desk. Two-Strings was still blaring, but I could hear every soft word he spoke. My heart started beating faster.

With his eyes still closed, he continued, "I couldn't bring myself to go to school today. It felt wrong. I went to work instead, to take my mind off of her. It didn't work."

He opened one eye, checking for my reaction. When I didn't say anything, he sighed.

"I know your father isn't here anymore. You don't have to tell me why or explain anything. I just thought that since we've both lost someone we loved, you could ease the pain."

With both eyes now open, he sat up on my bed with his long legs dangling off the edge. I had forgotten that I had kind of slipped to him about my father's death, but he had remembered. I tapped off the music so my room was silent. Ryker locked his intense gaze on mine.

"Listen, Ryker. You can't just ignore the fact that your mother died, and you can't stop living your life. You went to work to get your mind off of her death, you said. I understand that, but you should honor her instead. She wouldn't want you to just give up on everything because she died. You need to go to school. But right now, you should do something that makes you remember her."

He was silent for a full minute.

"Then let's go," he said, getting off my bed.

I raised my eyebrows.

Ryker moved across my room to my door. He wrapped his large hand around my doorknob and twisted it. I ran over to him, grabbed his arm, and yanked him back in my room.

"What are you doing? My mom will see you!" I whispered harshly.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at my hands wrapped tightly around his arm.

"So?"

"So? A guy snuck into my room at night. You don't think that screams 'suspicious'?" I said.

A grin twisted his handsome features. He shrugged out of my grasp and said, "Your mom loved me when we were kids. I haven't seen her in so long. It's rude of me not to say hello to her."

He flicked his leather jacket up and strode out of my room, down the hall. I sprinted out after him.

"I swear I will kill you if you go downstairs," I threatened, grabbing at his jacket to pull him back. It was like he didn't even feel me. He just dragged me helplessly down the hall.

"Eve? Are you talking to someone?" My mom called from the living room.

"Yeah, I'm on the phone with Xander!" I yelled.

To my utter horrification, Ryker opened his mouth, "Mrs.-"

I slapped a hand over his mouth. I gave him a death glare, daring him to say something. I leaned up to his ear and whispered, "You climb back out of my window and I will go out the front door. Got it?" I pinched his arm for good measure even though I knew I wasn't hurting him at all.

"Whatever you say, Angel."

He went back in my room and unlatched the window. I let out a huge breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. That could have ended really bad.Gripping the railing tightly in my hand, I walked downstairs. Mom was watching TV on the couch. Her blond hair was in a high pony tail and she was still wearing her nurse scrubs. It seemed like she was working a lot more now. Unless she spent her free time with Christopher.

"What did Xander have to say?" She asked, twisting her head towards me.

I walked past her, putting on my shoes and a jacket.

"He just remembered that we have an English project due tomorrow and told me to come over his house to work on it," I replied.

"Isn't your car not here? I haven't seen it for a few days," she said, confused.

I smacked my head. I was so stupid. Ryker would take me wherever we were going on his motorcycle. How could I explain that to my mother? I couldn't.

Ding dong.

The doorbell rang. I hurried over to the door and peaked out the window. Ryker smiled through the glass at me. I gawked at him.

"Who's here?" My mom asked.

I flipped Ryker my middle finger and said, "The mailman just dropped something off. I'll pick it up on my way out."

I opened the door a crack so my mom couldn't see who was actually out here. I slipped through the small opening and went to shut the door. Ryker shot his arm out, stopping the door from shutting.

"Let me in."

"What the hell? No way!" I yelled, not realizing that my mom would hear me.

"That doesn't sound like the mailman," she said.

Mailman? Ryker mouthed.

"That's because it's not, Mrs. Cross," he said, loud enough for her to hear.

I died. My heart dropped into my stomach at his words. I hated him.

My mom met us at the door, opening it all the way. Her mouth dropped open.

"Ryker?" She asked in shock.

He nodded, "Yes, ma'am. How have you been?"

My mother shook her head to make sure she was seeing right.

"Wow," she breathed, "I would recognize your eyes anywhere. I've been okay, but you've really changed."

He stretched his neck out, showing off his tattoo.

"Yeah, I guess so," he shrugged.

"Come in. How's your mother doing?" My mom asked.

Ryker flinched.

"Mom, not now," I shook my head.

A surprised look crossed her face and she said, "Oh no. I'm so sorry. I had no idea-"

"It's alright, Mrs. Cross. I actually stopped by so Evangeline and I could..."

I spaced throughout what he had to say after that. My stomach had involuntarily flipped at the mention of my full name. I had never heard him call me anything besides Angel.

"Okay, you two may go. Be back before eleven, it's a school night," my mom said and went back inside, lightly shutting the door behind her.

At my dazed expression, Ryker snapped his fingers in front of my face. I blinked hard. He grabbed my arm and pulled me down the driveway to his motorcycle. He threw a helmet on my head and straddled the bike, turning on the ignition.

"Where are we going?" I asked stupidly because I hadn't been paying attention when he had told my mom what we were going to do.

He smirked, "You'll see."

I hopped on behind him, wrapping my arms loosely around his stomach. I was extremely surprised that my mom had let me go out at this time with a guy who looked like Ryker. She even knew that we hated each other when we were kids. Maybe she thought things were different between us now. She didn't know how wrong she actually was.

Ryker trapped both of my hands in his fist, tightening my arms around him. He looked down at me and said, "I wouldn't want you falling, now would I?"

Especially not for him. I thought to myself.