Chapter 5

Let me tell you now that I have the worst luck with dates. They always seemed to get out of control. Something always goes wrong. So here I was pacing back and forth in the living room. Sean and Ellie were cuddled up on the couch, staring at me. Sean didn't approve of me going on a date so soon.

"Autumn, why don't you just hang with me and El tonight? You just started school; wait till you get adjusted." Sean said looking up at me.

I placed a warm-felt kiss on his head. "Sean, I'm glad you're watching out for me, but I'm a big girl now. I can take care of myself."

Ellie was completely frustrated with me, "I can't believe you're going on a date with Man Whore. Why do you like him? You know about his past. Doesn't that make a difference?"

I smiled to myself thinking of the way he smiled at me in homeroom. "I'm going to change him. I know it."

There was a knock at the door. I placed a kiss on Sean's cheek before going to answer the door. "I'll be home later. Ellie, trust me!"

"Hi Autumn. You look great. Sean, I'll have her home by 1. It's nice to see you, Ellie," Craig said. Ellie ignored him. "Ready to go?"

"Yes, I'm ready. What are we going to see?" We walked to his car and he opened my door for me. I slid into the seat as I glanced around the car. He had a guitar hanging from the rearview mirror.

Craig reappeared in the driver's seat a few seconds later. "We are going to see 'The Exorcist: The Beginning.' I love scary movies."

Great a horror buff! Just my type, I thought sarcastically to myself. I hated horror movies, but Craig was cute and I was going for him. "Oh, great. I can't wait."

"That movie wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," I said entering Craig's house. "I'm surprised that I didn't freak out at the scary parts." I looked around and noticed a man standing in the kitchen that looked nothing like Craig. He was making what looked like tea.

The man straightened up and smiled wide, "Craig, who's your guest?"

Craig turned to me, "Autumn this is my step-dad, Joey Jeremiah. Joey, this is Autumn. She's new at school, so I took her to the movies tonight. We're just going to hang out in my room." Craig intertwined his hands with mine leading me to his room.

I was led to a back room with a tiny bed with a guitar on it, along with a whole bunch of music paper covering the room. "You have a great room. It's much bigger than mine is, but than again, how big do you think it would be when you live in an apartment?"

"It's okay. I basically spend all my time in the garage with Spinner, Jimmy and Marco. We're in a band and that's where we practice. We've had a few gigs, nothing big."

I picked up the acoustic guitar looking it over. "Would you mind playing something for me? I love music so it's always been like a romantic thing for me." I handed him the guitar smiling at him. He took the guitar sitting on the edge of his bed, patting the seat next to him. His fingers lingered on each string as he began to play. It was a slow song. The words were sweet about him being in love with someone. He put his heart and soul into his music; you could tell just by the way he held the guitar. He loved playing; it showed with every little move he made.

When he finished, he looked over at me. "That was a little song I wrote for an ex-girlfriend. I couldn't say the words, so I wrote them in a song. But things didn't work out. I hate to admit it but that's one of my favorite songs that I've ever written."

"It was really sweet. I liked the lyrics, 'Something about the way you shine when the lights go out.' Those are really great lyrics. She was lucky to have a song written for her. You really have a talent, Mr. Manning." I leaned back on my palms staring around the room.

He placed his guitar by the side of his bed as he leaned back to lie near me. "So, Miss Cameron...tell me a little about you. I barely even know your name."

I laughed to myself as I realized he was right. "Well, I'm 17 and I just moved to Toronto, Canada from California, United States. My cousin is Sean Cameron. I have no brothers or sisters. I lived with my mother and father. My mom was a stay-at-home-mom; she was there when I got home from school, did all the cooking and cleaning. My dad was a plastic surgeon so he made lots of money and we never had to worry about it. I had few close friends. People didn't like me much, basically I was the rebel type: didn't care what people thought or said about me; kind of like you."

He moved my head onto his chest. I listened to his heart beat as he talked, "So why'd you move here? It sounds like you had a good life out there."

"Sean needed me. Ever since Sean and I were little we've always been there for each other, until he moved out here. He was my strength. When I needed him, he came to my rescue and I did the same for him. It didn't matter if I had a good life out there, what mattered was my cousin needed me. It was as simple as that. No questions asked."

Craig by now started running his fingers through my hair. "That's cool that you have such a close relationship with him. Not many people here can get close to him. He dated one girl, Emma, but you probably know all about that. They were close, but then he started hanging out with Jay and Alex. We hung out when I first moved here, so things are cool between us. Now, he's dating Ellie and she hates me because of Ashley, so we really don't get a chance to hang out."

I turned to see his brown eyes shining at me. "Craig, tell me about you. It's only fair." An evil grin spread across my lips.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but I have to warn you: I've had a rough life. Just don't feel sorry for me." I nodded silently as he took a deep breath. "My mother died a few years ago. I lived with my father after she died. My mom had re-married since they were divorced and had a daughter, Angela, with my step-father. But that's when things started going crazy. My dad started beating me, so that's when I started thinking about moving in with Joey. I did move in with Joey to get away from my dad. Eventually my father came back hoping that I would move back in with him, convincing me that he's changed. He was lying and I was wrong. I moved in for a short time and he started to hit me again. I vowed that I would never see him again. He died a few weeks later. So I started writing music and I got close to a girl named Ashley Kerwin. She just broke up with her boyfriend and we started dating not too long after. We connected on another level, which no one else could reach. But then there was Manuela Santos, the hot sophomore that every guy wanted. I cheated on Ashley with Manny and I lost both girls because I was stupid. A few weeks later Manny comes to me and tells me she's pregnant with my baby. I figured that we would keep the baby and have our own little family. I had Manny back, I had everything. She told her mom and she decided she couldn't handle being a mother at 15. She had an abortion and I haven't talked to her since the day she told me. It killed me knowing that she was killing something I had created, something we created together. After that day, I vowed that I would never do what I did to either one of them. I would never cheat and I would never have unprotected sex ever again." He took a long deep breath and just closed his eyes.

I didn't know what to say. I sat up running my fingers through my hair. "That sucks."

He sat up next to me and pushed me with his elbow. "That's real sensitive, Autumn."

"You told me not the feel sorry for you, so I'm not." I put my elbows on my knees placing my head in my hands.

He chuckled to himself remembering what he said. "Shut up." He put his arm around my neck and pulled me to him. He placed his lips on mine. His kissed consumed me. I couldn't feel any part of my body nor could I hear. I thought I heard Joey say goodnight, but didn't really notice. Being with him was different; it wasn't like being with my other boyfriends.

I pulled away to catch my breath. I know it sounds cliché but he took my breath away.

His faced had a look of concern. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, everything's perfect." And I wasn't lying. Things were great, even the date.