I give her one more hug and sigh. "I think I'll go check on the boys." "Okay. I'm going to get out of these heels," she says, jogging into her room. I wipe my eyes and take a deep breath. I practically skip down the stairs to find Dylan and Anthony messing with the spare tire. "Hey, Lacey," Anthony smiles at me. "You look different without pool water all over you." "Ignore him," Dylan says as he was putting the spare on. I laugh. "Is that my reputation now?" "Better that than something else," Anthony says, helping Dylan with the tire. "Thanks for coming to help, Anthony." It's actually really nice of him. "No problem." After the spare is on, their hands are black from the tire and Dylan has a black smudge on his neck. Anthony wipes his hands with a rag from his car before handing it to Dylan. "Well, I better get going," Anthony says. "Am I seeing you guys tonight?" "Yeah, we'll be there," Dylan tells him. Anthony waves and says his goodbyes before he drives off in his car. "What now?" I ask Dylan. "Well, you should only use your spare for so many miles, so you'll have to deal with getting a new tire soon." Not what I mean, but that's good to know. "Oh, okay. Are we going to head to Raven's now or...?" "Oh." He pulls his phone out of his pocket and checks it. "Yeah, we can go now. We'll go on my bike so you don't use your spare yet." We jog back up the stairs and find my aunt sitting on the small couch watching TV. She smiles at us when we come through the doorway. Dylan explains the situation with my tire and she thanks him for everything. "I'm gonna go wipe all this black off of me," Dylan says. "Is it alright if I—" "Sure, no problem. The bathroom is the first door on the left," my aunt tells him. He thanks her before walking away. My aunt raises her eyebrows at me. "A handy-man," she says, smirking. I ignore her comment and when Dylan comes back, I rush the goodbyes. She tells me to use protection if needed and I have to stop myself from smacking my forehead. Outside, Dylan hands me my helmet. "Gotta use protection." I can tell he's trying not to laugh. "Very funny. I thought you were going to sell the bike?" I ask, remembering what he says the day we got ice cream. "We're parting ways on Friday. I'm actually trading it off for a car." "Something less dangerous. I like that idea," I say as I pull the helmet on. He smirks. "You care about my safety?" "Let's go." We arrive at Raven's and park in a small parking lot behind the old building where a few other cars are already parked. I follow Dylan to the front of the building where we walk in. "Dylan!" someone exclaims as soon as we enter. People are sitting at different sized round tables around us. In a far corner, there's a small stage set up with amps and cords littering the floor. The walls around us are a rusty red color and are covered with posters of old bands. Bands such as Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, and a whole lot of others. Dylan and the guy who says his name did their man hug thing guys usually do when they see each other. "Look who decided to show up," the guy tells Dylan. He doesn't look much older than us, maybe in his early to mid-twenties. He has black hair and brown eyes and wears a black and maroon flannel with a pair of faded black pants. He has that 90's grunge look going on. "Why wouldn't I?" Dylan asks. Grunge guy scoffs. "You haven't been in a while, man." His eyes flicker to me then back to Dylan. "And I see why." "Right," Dylan says. "Max, this is Lacey. Lacey, this is Max, a family friend." Max holds his hand out to me and I shake it. "It's nice to meet you," I say politely. He smiles. "Brought a girlfriend here with you huh? You're growing up so fast." He messes with Dylan's hair and Dylan shoves his arm. Well, that needs to be cleared up. "We're not—" "She's just a friend," Dylan tells Max, cutting me off. Max chuckles. "Whatever you say." He says something about having to go to the back before leaving me and Dylan. Dylan heads towards a table and motions for me to follow. We sit down on stool-like chairs at the tall, circular table near the middle of the room. "So," Dylan says as he motions around us. "What do you think?" "I think my shirt matches that poster." I point to the Nirvana poster behind him. He looks at my shirt before turning to look at the poster. "Told you you're dressed appropriately. I thought you had figured out where we were coming. Are you really a fan?" "Not at all. I just thought the shirt looked good on me." I try to hold back a smile, but I can't. He holds his hands up in defense. "Sorry. I never would have assumed you're a Nirvana fan." "There are a lot of things you don't know about me," I point out. It sounds flirty as it leaves me mouth. Dylan bites his lip and leans forward. "Is that a challenge?" There's a commotion behind us and we both turn. Anthony, Reece, and Carlos walk in through a different door and their attention is quickly focused on us. "Dylan!" Reece yells.