Me: I yelled at you b/c what you did was stupid.

It wasn’t exactly an apology, but it was as close as she was going to get. An hour later I got a response.

Patience: Should I bring you a napkin? You might have some apology on your chin.

I laughed. I liked the fact that she could dish it out. I also liked the fact that she got me. I didn’t want to admit it before, but she definitely got me. I didn’t have to send her an apology for her to know my text was my way of apologizing.

Me: Smartass.

Patience: Mean ass.

Me: Goodnight, Snowflake.

Patience: Goodnight, Zeke.

I passed out as soon as I got in my bed and didn’t wake up until after two that afternoon. Once I was fully awake, I got a shower and headed out. I passed my dad in the living room and, as usual, he said nothing to me. Either he was hitting me or he was ignoring me. I’d made some pretty good money selling drugs for Javier so far so I wouldn’t be living here much longer anyway.

When I showed up at Finn’s house, I walked in on Chet and Megan making out on the couch.

“Don’t y’all have homes of your own?” I said as I set my guitar next to Chet’s drums.

“So are you and Patience okay?” Megan asked, as she wiped her mouth and adjusted her top.

“We’re fine, but there’s no me and Patience,” I said as I fell onto the couch.

“Oh, okay. Whatever you say.” She grinned at me.

“Seriously, we’re just friends.”

“I saw you two together last night in that corner.” She nodded to corner of the room. “Looked like more than friends to me.”

Finn came in and saved me from having to respond, but the truth was I didn’t know what the hell Patience was to me anymore. I just knew I didn’t do the girlfriend thing and if that’s what she was looking for, she was looking in the wrong place.

She quit coming to Boy’s Club. I guess she took what I said seriously when I told her to stay away. The week went by slow and it sucked entirely too much ass. We played The Pit on Friday night and I saw Megan, but still no Patience. So when I ran into her at Finn’s house party the following night, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tiny bit excited. I could see on her face that she was excited too.

“Long time no see, rich girl.” I teased her.

She rolled her eyes.

“My name’s Snowflake.” She grinned.

Damn, she was fun to flirt with.

“So did you miss me?” I nodded at my friend Connor who walked by and said hey.

“I missed you about as much as you missed me.”

I couldn’t help myself. I had to say something sweet.

“That much, huh? Damn, I must be pretty special.” I winked.

Her smile spread and I got a satisfied feeling. I liked making her smile. Something told me she didn’t do it often at home.

“Yeah, must be.” Her cheeks turned pink. She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear shyly. “You guys should play. We need some music in here.”

She was right. The place was entirely too quiet.

“You just like to watch me play.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged and looked up at me through her lashes.

I loved it when she did that. She looked so fucking hot when she flirted. There was no more denying anything. I liked Patience, too damn much if you asked me, and I missed her. Damn, it was hard to admit that to myself, but worse things have happened.

We hung out together most of the night and I sneaked in a touch every now and again. Not once did she jerk away from me, and I was glad to see she was becoming comfortable with me. When Megan drank too much and passed out on Finn’s couch, I smiled to myself because I knew I’d get to take Patience home.

Once I got her in my car and we weren’t surrounded by a bunch of people, I could really turn up the flirting. Usually, I was the big flirt at Finn’s parties, but it hadn’t even occurred to me that I didn’t pay any attention to any of the other girls who were there. At one point, Stephanie, the redhead, even tried to throw herself at me, but I hardly noticed.

“I think she does this to me on purpose,” Patience said as she rolled down her window.

“Why would she leave you stranded on purpose?”

“I never get stranded because you always take me home. She only drinks too much when you’re around.” She peeked over at me.

That could only mean one thing.

“So she drinks too much to get us alone?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you tell her you liked being alone with me?”