"Got everything?" Lucas yelled from the front door downstairs. Karen walked out of my closet, "Well, I think you're ready to go." I laughed, "We're only going to be gone a couple days." Lucas and Karen were both treating our weekend trip like it was a big deal because neither one of us had left town for any length of time, let alone a whole weekend, with no supervision. Karen was skeptical at first especially because we were missing a day of school, but she reluctantly gave in. "Now, if Lucas gets out of line--" "Karen, seriously, how many times have Lucas and I spent the night alone together?" She smiled, "Well, now I'm doubting my previous parental decisions..."

"Prove to everybody who doesn't understand. All the nights, all the fights. You are out of sight. Some say more with their hand. I'm running just as fast as I can," I sang along to the Ben Kweller song with the top of my convertible down. Lucas was driving and I had my feet up on the dashboard, exposing most of my bare legs to the sun, flipping through the CDs we brought. I hummed the words I didn't know and sang the ones that I did, "It's easy but it seems so hard. You're near but you seem so faaaar." Lucas tapped his thumb and drummed his fingers on the wheel to the music. "I'm ready for a new CD, what's next?" "Umm, what do you feel like?" I asked. "Something upbeat... Whose idea was it to leave so early in the morning?" I shrugged sliding USE into the car stereo. "Perfect," he said as it started playing and he sang along.

On the drive to UNC we didn't talk much, but it was a content silence. Every once in awhile, I'd snake my arm under his and rake my nails lightly against the soft skin of his inner arm. About the fifth or sixth time I did that, he reached over, and slid his hand up my leg, curling it to rest on my inner thigh. It wasn't sexual, just relaxing and comfortable.

"So, I had Brooke do some investigating and there's supposed to be a really great party tonight." Lucas looked over at me, "A college party?" I nodded. "One with lots of hott girls?" I smiled and nodded again. "Alright, count me in." "Good, because I got this new outfit and if you said 'no' I was going to have to go without you."

After awhile, Lucas pulled over to the side of the road. "Um, what are you doing?" I asked looking around, noticing that there was almost absolutely nothing around us and the cars passing by us were infrequent. "Peyt, I've had one too many coffees and I really, really have to take a leak." I groaned, "Hurry up." When I was sitting in the car alone, I decided that since we were stopped I might as well try to go to, even though I didn't really have the urge. I got on my knees and bent over the back of the seat, rummaging through the crap on the floor. Finding an old roll of toilet paper, I got out of the car to join Lucas. I was just about to call his name when I noticed him standing behind a huge bolder. His muted groans could not have just been from going to the bathroom. One of his arms was holding him up against the rock and the other was quickly stroking himself, his back towards me. I looked down at my watch, then back up to Lucas. I contemplated the consequences, and then decided to walk back to the car and shed the toilet paper. And my underwear. Good thing I was wearing a skirt. I walked back over to where I was standing before hoping that Lucas hadn't finished yet. I snuck up behind him pressing the length of my body against his, reaching around his body to stroke him, too. "Oh my god, Peyt!" I purred in his ear, "Yes?" "St-sto-st," he tried to tell me to stop, but since he didn't really want me to, he couldn't quite get the whole word out. While I continued to pump him, he took his newly free hand and put it behind him, massaging me. He got even harder when he realized I wasn't wearing any underwear. Abruptly, he turned around and pinned me against the rock attacking my mouth with his. I lifted my skirt as much as I could, grinding my hips against him. I shimmied my way down only breaking the kiss for a moment, feeling around for his back pocket. I took out his wallet and stood back up, blindly trying to find a condom through Lucas' kisses. When he started to kiss my neck, I raised the wallet above his head so I could look without interrupting him. Upon finding not one, but a long accordion strand of condoms, I laughed and chocked out, "Came prepared?" "Hmm?" he vibrated against my neck through a kiss. Realizing what I was talking about he stopped and looked at me embarrassed, "Well, I wasn't sure, so..." I cut him off, "Lucas, it's fine, seriously."

We sauntered back to the car and I put my underwear back on. "Ready to get back on the road?" Lucas asked. "Yep! But it's time for a new CD." We resumed our previous positions -- Lucas driving and my feet up on the dashboard thumbing through the CD case.

Almost to the hotel, I finally broke our silence, "Are best friends supposed to have casual sex?" Lucas shrugged not taking his eyes off the road. I looked over at him through my sunglasses. "Well," he answered, "it's not like I have a girlfriend or like you have a boyfriend, so we're not hurting anyone." "Except for Meagan." "That's not true! She's the one who pursued me! I never showed any interest except for the one time at the café when we went to dinner with your dad." He was right; it wasn't his fault that she liked him. However, Meagan was my friend and I knew how she felt.

After checking into the hotel, we hurried over for our campus tour. Just as we had suspected, we were totally bored within the first 20 minutes, so we decided to skip out and go look around ourselves. We were investigating the greek houses, informally looking for the place where the party would be later, when my cell phone rang. "Hey girl!" I saw Brooke's name on the caller ID. "Peyton, Meagan and Kristin weren't in school today." "So?" I asked not catching on. "Well, I don't know where they are." I laughed, "Again, so?" "Sooo, maybe they decided to take a road trip, too?" "Oh." "Yeah. But maybe not! I don't know, I just wanted to warn you just in case." "OK, thanks..." "Talk to you later." "Bye." Lucas turned to me, "What was that about?" "Um," I bit my lower lip, "Nothing. Just teachers wondering where I am. I forgot to tell them I'd be gone." He threw his arm around my shoulder, "Peyt, you're a terrible liar, but I'll let it slide this one time." I laughed, "Gee, thanks!" Lucas chuckled, "So, what's our plan for tonight?" "What do you mean?" "Are we sticking together at this party? Or are we going to branch out and meet new people?" "You mean 'are we allowed to hook up with other people'?" "Well, yeah?" I looked up at him, his arm still over my shoulders. "I don't know. How do you feel?" "I feel... like I don't know how I feel..." "OK..." "Can we just... I mean, would it be possible..." I smiled, "Just spit it out." "Well, maybe we don't hook up with anyone until we figure things out? I mean, would that be OK?" "Sure buddy. It looks like it's you and me tonight. You have to promise not to leave me alone tonight, though." "Of course not."

I walked out of the hotel bathroom wearing a black mini-skirt and a vintage, slightly faded, red Journey band shirt. "This is nice." Lucas looked up from his book, "What is?" "Us. Being friends again. I missed it. And I hate having to hide 'us' from people." "Me too, but like you said, people wont understand. No one remembers that we were best friends once." "I know, which is why I'm glad you came with me this weekend. No hiding." I grinned, "Let's get going! I'm ready to party!"

We walked into the house asking people where the alcohol was. Some drunken girl finally told us it was in the basement of the house, so we tried making our way through the crowd. Lucas was walking in front of me, but he stopped and turned slightly and I accidentally walked right into him. He laughed and grabbed my hand, yelling over the music, "Stay close, I don't want to lose you." He turned to walk again, but we were blocked. Lucas made his way through, but I was blocked off before I could catch up with him. His grip on my hand struggled and he finally lost it. "Lucas!" I yelled. His eyes apologized and I got pushed further away from him. "Meet me downstairs!" I barely heard him yell. After a bit I finally pushed my way to the edge, walking down the stairs trying to maneuver my way around couples making out. Once downstairs, I heard, "Well, that was intense." I turned expecting to see Lucas, but instead saw an unfamiliar face.