I was dead asleep on the couch when the sound of a car horn blaring from my driveway startled me awake. I rolled off the couch and yawned on my way over to the front door to see who could possibly be at my house. It was also dark outside so it must have been getting late. I swooped open the door, blinking rapidly to clear the haze from my sleep.

"Get in, loser," my best friend called from his car with his head of brown hair sticking out the window.

I rolled my eyes, yawning again as I strolled down the driveway to get in his car. "X," I whined once I was sitting beside him, "I don't wanna go."

I hadn't even realized that I was still wearing my crumpled clothes and my hair was a freaking mess. Ugh, whatever. There was nothing I could do about it now.

"Hey, don't act like you don't like their music. Remember that time when Ryker-"

I cut him off real fast, holding up a hand as he backed out of my driveway. "We do not speak of that name. Got it?"

Xander sighed, rolling his eyes. "Drama queen, much?" He muttered with a smirk. I playfully punched his arm and he grunted, "Ouch. That hurt."

"Bullshi-"

"Language, Eve! Do you kiss Ryker with that mouth?"

I gawked at him as I felt my face turn an unattractive red color. "NO!" I crossed my arms over my chest and mumbled under my breath, "And the saying is, 'Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?'"

Xander took one hand off the steering wheel to wave it in the air as he said, "Minor details." I huffed out a breath of annoyance and turned my head to look out the window until we arrived at the club for teenagers. Xander and I got out got of the car and walked inside The Hangout.

It was crowded tonight since Two-Strings would be playing and people were already gyrating to the music booming out from the huge speakers in front of the DJ. I looked around at what everyone was wearing, or wasn't wearing for that matter, and looked down at myself.

To say I looked like a hot mess was an understatement if there ever was one. I hoped that no one from school would be here to see me like this, but I knew better than to think that I was the only from my school who was here.

"I need to use the men's room, I'll be right back," Xander said, laying a hand on my shoulder. I twisted my head to look up at him and asked, "Why didn't you go at my house when you picked me up?" He shrugged, replying, "I didn't have to go."

I held up both of my hands and shoved him away from me. "Woah there, buddy. TMI."

He chuckled to himself and headed over to the bathrooms, leaving me alone. I decided to head over to the bar to draw as little attention as possible and order a soda. I took a seat on one of the bar stools and took a sip of my drink when I heard someone's voice who made my ears bleed. 

"What is she wearing?" Tracey Evans hissed from behind my back. I rolled my eyes, taking another sip of my soda as I ignored her.

"It's probably one of her weird emo band shirts," Hannah Schmitt sneered. That's it. One did not make fun of Black Veil Brides and get away with it.

I spun around and smirked, fully aware of the fact that I looked worse from the front. "Well if it isn't Fake Pumpkin and Hannah the Hoe," I drawled, lazily leaning my elbows back on the counter. Tracey gasped as her cheeks turned pink and Hannah puckered her lips, looking at my hands as I folded them in my lap.

"What's that?" She asked, narrowing her eyes on my wrist.

I glanced down to see what she was looking at and held up my arm for her to see. "Oh this?" I asked, playing stupid. "This is just a tattoo that Ryker gave me. We even have matching feathers now. See?" I pointed at the feather Ryker had drawn at the end of the word Mine.

Hannah's mouth dropped open in a silent "O". Then she tossed her platinum blonde hair over her shoulder and huffed, "Really? Because that's what he whispers in my ear when we're-"

My fist was swinging right for her before I could stop myself. When my knuckles were just inches away from her face, an arm streaked across my vision and threw my hand back.

"X!" I yelled as he gently shooed Hannah and Tracey away as they shot dirty looks over their shoulders at me. I flipped them off and turned my back on them to take another sip of my soda. Xander sat down beside me and got a glass of water because he's boring like that.

"I leave you alone for one minute and you almost get yourself into a fist fight. What am I gonna do with you?" He asked, poking my arm annoyingly. I swatted his hand away and rested my chin on my arms that were folded in front of me.

"They made fun of my shirt," I mumbled.

"That's what you got mad about? Not about the fact that they made fun of you?" Xander said in disbelief. I shrugged.

Cheers suddenly went up around the dance floor as I guessed Two-Strings appeared on stage. I didn't care so I didn't bother to turn around. I found myself unconsciously tapping my foot along to the beat of the music. Xander had left me again to go dance.

The bartender wordlessly handed me another soda when I had finished mine. I gave him a small smile as thanks. I twirled the straw around in my soda as I checked my phone for any messages from my mom. Most of them had been pictures of her and Christopher and it looked like they were having a really amazing time. I was happy for her.

Another text was different from the rest. It was from Sebastian making sure our date for this weekend was all set. Barely paying attention to what I was writing, I replied with a confirmation. When my thumb was hovering over the send button, a familiar voice rumbled in my ear.

"Eve? I'm sorry, I never got the chance to formally apologize for the night when...you know..." He trailed off. I turned my head over my shoulder to look Finn right in his eyes.

"Mhm. It's in the past now, I'm over it," I said, honestly. I haven't had feelings for him for a while now, especially since I found him with another girl the night of our date or whatever it had been.

He nodded. "Okay. How's your relationship going, by the way?" He asked, plopping down on the stool Xander had just vacated.

"Oh, I'm not in a relationship right now. I'm a single pringle," I said, taking a sip of my soda. I was very thirsty for some reason.

"What, really? I thought that you and Ryker were a thing since he's been staying at your house-"

I startled him by spitting out the soda that was in my mouth all over his face. "Oh God! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that," I rushed on, grabbing handfuls of napkins and throwing them at him. He took a napkin and wiped his face off and then padded his shirt dry. When he was satisfied, I was stunned to see he was laughing.

"I guess that's a no then; about being with Ryker."

I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. Anyway, how are you and that girl who you cheated on me with?" I asked, bluntly.

Finn winced at my choice of words and said, "We aren't together."

"Oh, I have a date with Sebastian this weekend," I said as I clicked send on my phone.

He made a face. "What?" I asked.

"Eh it's just that Sebastian is known for, how should I put this?"

"Spit it out- wait I don't mean that literally."

Finn snickered and said seriously, "He's a nice guy and all, but that's only so he can get what he wants. And what he wants is to get into your pants," he explained, holding up a hand, "Before you try to refute me, practically everyone in school knows about his player ways."

"Well jeez, he can't be worse than Ryker," I said, choosing to ignore all the bad things he had just said about Sebastian. I mean come on, it just so happened that I had a date with him this weekend and my ex boyfriend was basically telling me not to go on the date.

Jealous much? Like for real. But hey, I'm pretty dense when it comes to these things so I could be wrong.

Hell, I didn't even like Sebastian in the romantic way. I liked...

Ryker's face formed in my mind and I quickly shook it out. He didn't like me back and I wasn't "allowed" to have these types of feelings for him. What a jerk.

"Hmm. You like him, don't you?"

"Well, I mean it's going to be our first date so-"

Finn interrupted me. "No, not Sebastian."

"Then who?" I asked, confused.

"Ryker."

I held the soda in my mouth that time and gulped it back before answering. "No, no, no, no, no-"

Finn held up both of his hands in mock surrender and said, "Okay, okay, okay. Just checking. Anyway, I have to start heading home to make dinner for my family. I'll see you later, Eve." He got up and waved to me at the doors before leaving.

What was that all about? I wondered.

"This next song is called I've Fallen for You," Ryker's deep voice boomed in the microphone. Fan girls squealed as then fanned themselves with their hands. Blech.

Wait. I remember seeing this song downloaded on the iPod he had given me in the hospital but had taken it back when I had asked him about it. And now he was singing it in front of a crowd. I focused on him to listen for who the song was written for, thinking to myself what a cliché song title that was.

"Aww, Ryker," I heard Hannah gush right in front of the stage. He cocked an eyebrow at her and flicked his lip piercing, making the girls swoon. He cleared his throat and said, "She's not here tonight."

I swear every single girl instantly deflated at that moment. They pouted and some even sat down to cry. It was very pathetic if you asked me. I cringed when I saw Hannah's face all surprised.

I raised my eyes back up to the stage and sucked in a breath when I locked eyes with the heated gaze of intense blue ones. He raised both of his eyebrows as his eyes grew wide in surprise as if he hadn't expected me to be here.

"Shit," Ryker cursed as his voice echoed throughout the room.