"Alice!"

Only when my name was shouted once again that I broke out of the stupid trance I was in, halfway panicking and halfway grateful when I saw the frown on my mother's face morphing into a look of dubious confusion.

She was confused. I could say the same for myself.

"Who--"

"I should probably go check who that is!" I blurted out, eyes widening when I realized I'd cut off my mother again, and started taking a few steps out of the kitchen.

"I'll come with you." Mom narrowed her eyes.

"No!" I shook my head. "Stay here. I'll be back in..." I trailed off and practically dashed out of there, nearly slamming into Uncle Sam before weaving my way through the bustling circle my cousins had made around one of the family photo albums, and heading towards the front door.

Alyssa waited for me right there, smiling and gesturing at me to come closer a little faster.

"Who is it?" I asked her with wide eyes, eyeing the front door that was open ajar.

"Looks like your Soren's here!" She squealed. She actually squealed and I felt the horror settling inside me.

I had this tiny little moment of absolute terror where I thought it must be Nico and he had somehow gone along with his suggestion back at my dorm. He was here pretending to be Soren.

Or at least that's what I thought until Alyssa added, "And oh my God, you should've warned Auntie Frannie! She's totally gonna fall for those soulful blue eyes."

I blinked. Then I blinked again. Blue eyes. All of a sudden, my stomach lurched and I had this feeling that I might throw up. I hadn't even had any wine yet!

Soren was here, I realized with dread. It must be him. Just behind that wooden door stood my boyfriend who wasn't my boyfriend anymore but everyone in this house thought that he was.

"I...I..." I stuttered, inching away from the door.

A furrow formed in between Alyssa's dark brows. "What's the matter?"

"Give me a few minutes," I spoke in a rush before pulling open the door and throwing myself outside, ready to speak clearly and directly with Soren when I looked up, in front of me, and everything came to a rather abrupt halt.

Or my heart did. I wasn't quite sure right then.

Because right in front of me wasn't Soren or anyone who resembled Soren. Or Nico even.

No, it was Ryder.

"What." My eyes must've resembled saucers by then. "What are you doing here?"

There he was, standing right before me, looking exactly the same as that night at Soren's apartment. Only his attire was different. A gentle breeze blew past and sent one dark lock of his hair over his forehead, disheveling it all, almost as if to prove me wrong.

No, this really wasn't the same at all. Because Ryder wasn't supposed to be here. Not here, standing in front of me and in front of my house.

"Ryder." I hissed out.

"Alice." He spoke in that infuriatingly calm voice of his and I hated it right then. I hated that it caused a chill to run down my spine.

"What are you doing here?" I repeated, shaking my head--hoping that would be enough of a hint to make him leave.

Because if anybody saw him...if anybody saw him...there were people in the backyard who could round up the corner any given second and see him!

"What does it look like I'm doing here?" He asked me, slowly following my gaze to the back patio as I looked around anxiously.

"I-I don't know!" I exclaimed worriedly. His eyes snapped back to mine in an instant and his lips--those lips--quirked upwards at one corner. "You can't be here. If anyone sees you, it'll be a big mess and I can't handle any more messes right now!" Not when I was doing a pretty good job of worsening the whole situation myself.

"What happened to your clothes?"

I took an anxious step towards him only to take two little ones back. "You're not listening to me!"

He looked up from the big obvious stain on the side of my sweater and it should've been alarming how quickly his gaze hardened. "Are you hurt?"

Hurt? Oh my God, he really wasn't listening at all to me!

"You can't be here," I whispered, shaking my head and nearly cursing out loud when I saw someone stepping out of the patio, standing a little too close in my line of sight--enough to see me and Ryder. I grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the end of the porch that seemed mostly hidden with all the fake rose bushes Mom loved to keep around. "Ryder, you can't be here!"

"Clearly," he said, staring directly into my eyes before glancing down at the grip I had on his arm. Before I could let go, he did it for me, pulling away with a rather harsh tug. "I'm doing you a favor."

"A favor?"

"You mentioned something about Saturday. Saturday night, to be more specific."

I widened my eyes, pointing an accusing finger at him. "No, I didn't! You forced it out of me. And I didn't...it wasn't an invitation, for God's sake!"

He leaned against one of the pillars behind him and crossed his arms, the dark sweater that he wore only managing to make his eyes appear bluer under the night sky.

"I didn't think so." His eyes trailed down my face. "Is that supposed to be a wine stain then?"

A shriek resounded from somewhere inside the house and I had this horrifying image of my mother stepping outside and seeing us standing right here, having an argument. I gritted out frustratedly, "What are you doing here?"

I was getting a little too fed up a little too fast with the fact that he wasn't just being straight with me and telling me what he was doing here. An alarming thought hit me right then. He knows where my family house is, I thought. How does he know that?

And then another, a much quieter thought followed. Who else knows?

"I thought it must be obvious. I'm offering to be your boyfriend for the night." Ryder finally spoke, his gaze seeming to pierce right into me, almost as if he could've seen the dread within me right then. "Doing you a favor, like I said."

I almost nearly would've laughed if I hadn't been so stunned. "I don't need any favors from you."

"No." He was still staring at me, eyes so blue and dark and hiding so much. It was so bizarre because I could've sworn they were calculating every little secret around us as seconds ticked by. Everything about him--even the silent way he stared--left me reeling from the very edge. "No, what you do need is that boyfriend of yours."

Yes, I almost said. At least it would've made sense in my head if it were Soren standing here in front of me. But I couldn't say anything when Ryder chose that exact moment to lean closer, a lot closer than he should've with only inches left between us, and my breath hitched.

"But he's not going to show up, querida." His voice was softer now. "Not anytime soon."

I inhaled shakily and would've taken a step back if there wasn't this...this big devil's ivy plant right behind me.

"You don't know that."

"I do, actually." He blinked and I tried not to stare. I really did try. Why was life so incredibly unfair sometimes? "So are we doing this?"

How could he even ask me that with such utter nonchalance? Like he couldn't possibly guess how badly I wanted to run back inside my house and pretend that this never happened and he was never here, standing just outside my house, talking to me, and standing so so close to me that I could feel him. Without even touching him.

Pulling a little too harshly at the rubber band still around my left wrist, I forced myself to look away.

"No," I said. "Why...why would you even agree to this so willingly when you don't even know me? I don't even know you! We're not even...acquaintances!"

It was only then that I realized I probably shouldn't have used that word since he'd used the exact same one to describe the thing that was between him and Brenda--Soren's roommate--who I was pretty sure he'd been kissing that same night.

A flicker of pure annoyance flashed over his features and he pulled back, frowning. It was a tad bit surprising because that might've been the realest of emotions I'd ever seen on him. One that didn't look so forced. So hidden and calm and steady.

"Of course, I expect something in return," he said. "You'll owe me the same for one night. Any night that I say."

I did laugh then, one that died as soon as it started because Ryder, despite me never seeing him do anything violent, was still a bit scary. All that he reminded me of were bad, horrible things. Like that dark, underground cellar--

"I'm not doing it," I told him because obviously, I wasn't. I would never.

Ryder kept frowning.

That was also the exact moment the front door was pulled open and my mother stepped outside, looking around until she saw me. And it was almost instant that her hawk-like gaze darted from me and to the only other person who was right in front of me.

I paled. I must've. This was going to be such a big disaster.

"Alice," she started in a carefully slow, pissed tone. "What on earth--"

"Mom." I took a tiny step towards Ryder, at which I practically felt him tense up. "This is Soren," I whispered a little weakly; defeated. "My boyfriend."