Disclaimer: I do not own Everwood, or the lyrics used in the chapters. Blah blah blah.

A/N: This first chapter starts off with the scene at the end of the episode No Sure Thing, I know I didn't get all the lines exactly right, I just did it to the best of my memory. :P There are also a couple of flashbacks in here, one is from the episode Blind Faith and the other is just one I made up. The lyrics used in this chapter are from the song "Anna Begins" by Counting Crows.

--------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 1:

"You know, we're never going to agree on a song," Ephram said to Madison while sitting in the front seat of his old car. After talking about it for a little while, the two of them had decided to go through with something that Ephram had been thinking about all his teenage life. It would be his first time. He had made this decision somewhat impulsively; however, but he told himself it was too late to back out now. He really cared about Madison; he just wasn't sure if he was truly in love with her.

"Okay, fine then. I'm going to turn on the radio, and whatever song is playing will be it. Our song." Madison suggested.

Ephram laughed. "We could end up with a jingle or something…"

"So what?" Madison said, smiling. "Okay, here goes…"

Ephram could tell she was nervous, too. She pressed the 'power' button.

A strange country song that neither of them knew happened to be on. "Umm…" Madison looked at Ephram sheepishly and pushed the 'scan' button again. Too upbeat. She pressed it again, sighing. Too angry. She started reaching for it one more time, but Ephram stopped her. "Come on, forget about it," he started kissing her. She managed to hit the button one last time before she began undoing his belt…

{Her kindness falls like rain
It washes me away
And Anna begins to change my mind
Every time she sneezes, I believe it's love
And Oh, Lord, I'm not ready for this…
She's talking in her sleep, it's keeping me awake
And Anna begins to toss and turn
Every word is nonsense, but I understand it all
Oh Lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing
Her kindness bangs a gong, it's moving me along
And Anna begins to fade away…
I'm not ready for this sort of thing}

***

Amy was lying on her bed that night, thinking about Tommy and what had just happened with she and him. She had almost lost his virginity to him, but she was glad now that she hadn't. After what she had found out about him tonight, she wasn't sure if she could ever…

**FLASHBACK**

"…trust you again." Amy said. They were in the car. Tommy was taking her home after the party they'd been to that night.

"I know. And I shouldn't expect you to," Tommy looked down at his hands. "I totally suck."

"No, you don't. Well, not completely."

"So are you mad at me or not?"

Amy sighed. "I don't know, Tommy. I just don't know…"

**END FLASHBACK**

Amy had left Tommy like that that evening. She wasn't sure what else to do. The whole situation had made her think of somebody else. Someone she could always trust, but someone had never fully trusted her in the same way. That someone was Ephram Brown. She suddenly felt horrible for how she had been acting toward him in the past year. She had been a terrible friend, and she knew it. She would never forget what he had said to her that night she'd picked him up to go get ice cream. Laynie had blown off their plans, so she had decided to go hang out with Ephram instead, without telling him that she'd had plans with Laynie first. But he figured it out anyways…

**FLASHBACK**

"I'm an idiot," Ephram stated after Amy casually told him how Laynie had cancelled their plans that night because she'd been asked out on a date.

"What?" Amy said, confused.

"She blew you off, so you came to see me."

"Oh, no, that's not how it happened—"

"It is how it happened. It's how it always happens. Your first choice just fell through, so you come and find me, your back-up plan," Ephram said bitterly.

"Ephram, I never think of you that way—" Amy tried to protest.

"Maybe not intentionally, but don't you realize that makes it even worse? It's like you don't even know how much that hurts somebody. How much it hurts me," Ephram seemed to be growing more hurt with every word that came out of his mouth.

"Look, I-I'm sorry if I—"

"No. No, I'm sorry. Amy, look, I know your life is really rough right now and I want to be there for you, I do, but not like this. I can't keep being your second choice." He looked into her eyes. She could see how much she'd hurt him, and she wanted to fix it more than anything right at that moment. "Not when you're my first."

**END FLASHBACK**

Amy thought back to that week. She had made up with Ephram later--they always did. But right after she had made Ephram upset that night she had really wanted to tell him how she really felt. That she cared for him as more than a friend… that she always had. She was going to, until she had seen him kissing Madison in the driving school parking lot later that week.

Since then, things had been different. They had talked a couple of times—but she missed the specialness of the friendship they had before. No, she missed more than that. She missed Ephram.

***

Ephram spent the next day lounging in his room, reading his manga comics, listening to music—but most of all thinking about what had happened the night before with Madison. It had been great—and it would have been almost perfect, if it hadn't been for that one word that pounded in the back of his head. Amy.

He wondered if she had forgotten what he'd said to her that night three and half months before. He knew that he had just lost his virginity to his second choice. But would Amy even care?

Monday came around, and Ephram hung out with Bright at school, as usual. They were practically each other's only friends these days. It was strange—but Ephram really did like having Bright around.

"So," Bright started up conversation with Ephram at lunch, "PLEASE tell me that you got some action this weekend. Because if you didn't, my advice is going to have been given in vain."

"First off, your advice sucks," Ephram said, only half-joking. "But yes, for your information, I did."

"You… you did? Heeeyy, Ephy's dirty now!" Bright said, laughing.

"Dude, would you shut up?" Ephram looked around, embarrassed.

"Come on, man, it's a big deal," Bright said.

"I'm sure it wouldn't be quite as much of one if you'd actually done it yet," Ephram shot back.

"Hey, you don't know for sure if I have or if I haven't," Bright said.

"It's not exactly a secret."

Bright looked around nervously. "Maybe not to you, but it still is to some people, so would you mind lowering your voice a little?"

"Um… yeah. So, have you talked to Amy lately?"

"We barely talk anymore. You know that."

"But have you talked to her LATELY?" Ephram said, trying to make his words clearer.

"Why the sudden interest?" Bright inquired.

"I just haven't talked to her in a while."

"I figure she's probably getting ready to break up with that Tommy kid, going on what I've heard from Laynie. Thank God," Bright rolled his eyes.

"She is? When?"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, buddy. Remember, you have a girlfriend that you just slept with a few days ago."

"Dude, shut up! What's so wrong about me caring about what Amy's going through?"

Bright sighed and suddenly became serious. "I don't want you to hurt her again." He said quietly.

"Oh, what the hell, Bright! If either one of us has been hurt by our relationship it's me."

"Look, I don't know all that much about you guys' relationship history, but I know that when she saw you macking on Maddy that day she was totally crushed."

"What? When did she ever see me kissing Madison?"

"You didn't know? It was the same week of Reverend Keyes' wedding. I figured she told you." Ephram still looked clueless. "At the driving school," Bright said, the last phrase sounding like a major "duh."

Ephram rolled his eyes, not at Bright, but for Amy. "That explains everything…" he said to himself. He suddenly felt bad. He would never want to hurt Amy. It hurt him that he had.

"I have to go talk to her," Ephram said. "Everything's messed up."

"It's been messed up for a long time, man. You've just been too clueless to realize it."

-------------------------------------

A/N: Well, that's the end of the first chapter... let me know what you think, and whether I should continue or not!