"Hey, Gracie, I brought you a surprise," Matthew called as we made their way down the beach to the fire pit. My stomach was tying itself in about a million knots.

"Yeah, Mattie? What is it?"

"Hi," I smiled once we stepped into the light of the fire.

She laughed, surprised. Good surprised, I hoped. "Hey."

Matthew walked away and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend – the blonde girl I had seen with Grace at the diner.

"How much did you win?" I asked.

"Eighty bucks," she told me. "I hope you didn't come here because you thought you deserved half. That's how I pay my way through college…kissing all the rock stars who show up around here."

"No, you can keep it," I laughed. "I'm Shane."

"I know. I'm Grace."

She was even more beautiful than I remembered, if that was possible. Her red hair was pulled into a messy bun and she wore a white and pink University of Michigan hoodie and tight jeans.

"What are you doing here, anyways?" she asked.

Shit. She thinks I'm a creeper. "Oh, Matthew said it would be okay…"

"No," she smiled. "I mean like, here, as opposed to LA or something."

"Oh," I sighed, relieved. Thank God. I had been afraid that I wasn't welcome. "We have a couple weeks off from the tour and we told our manager to send us somewhere nobody would find us."

"Well, you've come to the right place," Grace laughed. She reached into the cooler and grabbed a beer, offering it to me. I took it, and she pulled out a Smirnoff Twist for herself and sat down on a bench that had been set up around the fire. "Even if they knew where you were, they probably wouldn't be able to figure out how to get here."

I sat down next to her, very aware of how close we were. God, I didn't even know her and I already wanted to put my arm around her. "Where are we, exactly?"

"Oscoda."

I looked out over the beach to the dark water. I'd sure as hell never heard of this place, but I could already see why someone would want to live there. It was relaxing. "Is that one of the Great Lakes?"

Grace nodded, taking a sip of her drink. "Lake Huron."

I had no idea what to say. I was so nervous. I looked around at the other people for a few minutes and sipped my beer. I didn't know how to ask her the one thing I really wanted to ask. There were probably about fifteen other people there, all about my age. I recognized a couple of the other girls I had seen at the diner.

Oh God, she was looking at me.

"What?"

She smiled. "You're really quiet."

"I'm not usually," I told her. "I'm just…um…"

"Do I make you nervous?" she asked.

"No," I replied immediately, but she could tell I was lying. I was usually pretty smooth, so what the hell was going on?

"It's okay. I think it's cute."

My heart started pounding. Now I had to know. But there were so many people around; I didn't really want everyone to hear me ask her about the kiss.

"Do you want to take a walk?" I asked her.

She nodded. We stood up and walked down the beach, away from the others. I was playing it cool, but inside I was freaking out. What if she thought I was an idiot?

I stopped at the edge of the lake and tried to gather my thoughts. "Listen…the reason I really came here tonight…I wanted to ask you…"

"What?"

"Um…when you kissed me, earlier, did you…I don't know…notice anything?" I asked, realizing how stupid it sounded as soon as I said it.

"What do you mean?"

"Like…I don't know. I think you would know what I was talking about if you'd noticed," I sighed. So much for that.

"Well, try to explain it to me," Grace replied.

I thought for a moment. I didn't even know what I had felt, how was I supposed to explain it to her? "Well…it was like…"

No words came to mind. I knew there was only one way to find out, so I leaned towards her and pressed my lips against hers. I felt the same spark. She was kissing me back, I thought, so hopefully that meant she had felt it, too.

"What the fuck?" an angry voice said.

I broke their kiss just in time to see a blonde-haired man push me furiously.

"Who the hell do you think you are kissing my girlfriend?" the man shouted.

"Whoa, hold on," I started, trying to wrap I mind around what was going on; before I could, I felt a hard punch across my face.

"John, stop!" Grace begged, trying to get in between us.

John pushed her to the ground. "Shut up!"

Hell no. Hit me, fine. But there was no way I was going to sit back and watch him push a girl around. Especially not that girl. I pulled my arm back, preparing to hit him. Before I had the chance, Matthew and another guy grabbed us and pulled us away from each other.

"John, get out of here, nobody invited you," Matthew told him, pushing him.

"I'm not finished with you," John told me threateningly before turning and walking away down the beach.

I ran to Grace. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

I sat down next to her in the sand. "I'm sorry, I should have guessed that you had a boyfriend…"

Really, I should have. How did I think that a girl that beautiful was single? That was stupid.

"I don't," she told me. "I'm sorry. John is my ex-boyfriend. He just can't seem to get the first part through his head. He only lives a few houses down, he must have heard the music. I'm so sorry."

Grace touched my face gently, where a bruise was quickly forming around my eye. I flinched a little. "Sorry…does it hurt?"

"I'll be fine," I smiled. I really wanted to kiss her again, but decided to wait until John was a little further away. "Just as long as nobody took any pictures of that…"

"I'm so sorry," she said again. "We should get you some ice."

"Okay," I nodded, standing up and pulling her up from the sand. "And stop apologizing. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I know, but I still feel bad. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you…"

God, was she cute. "You could show me what you guys do for fun around here tomorrow. I spent like nine hours today watching movies with the guys."

Grace smiled. I wanted to make her smile all the time. "I think I can manage that."

She pushed the door to the house open and we entered the dark room. She flipped a light switch and opened the freezer, pulling out an ice pack. She put her hand on my arm and my heart jumped a little. She led me to the couch and sat down.

"Lie down," she said. "You're going to get a headache."

"Really, I'm fine," I promised.

"Lie down," she said seriously, pulling me down onto the couch and resting my head on her lap.

She placed the cold ice pack on my face gently. I didn't think it was really necessary, but I liked the attention she was giving me.

"I, um…I know we got a little interrupted, but…"

"Oh, right, the kiss," Grace smiled. I even liked her name. Everything about her was pretty. "I guess I could have just told you I felt something the first time and saved you the punch in the face."

She felt it, too. I'm pretty sure I had a ridiculous grin on my face, but I didn't even care. She felt it, too. I could have lived without the punch in the face, but if she'd told me, I wouldn't have gotten to kiss her again. "I'm kind of glad you didn't."

A/N: Thanks for reading the chapter! REVIEW!