Morgan returned home to her fuming mother two days later. Her mother yelled at Morgan for a full hour before informing her there would be no slacking off this school year, and she could kiss her weekends goodbye.

No, "glad you're back" or "did you have fun?" Just a passive aggressive segue into an hour-long rant.

Morgan had expected this welcome home, however, and took the housewife's beratement in near silence, before slinking off to her room to unpack and cuddle her dearly missed cat. Kitty cuddles could cure any bad mood, Morgan had discovered.

Serena texted her later that evening, well after Morgan had unpacked and got caught up on social media and gossip columns. She'd gotten some texts from friends over the summer keeping her in the loop for some stories, but how had she missed Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe splitting? That required immediate Arty cuddles. And poor Britney. That girl never seemed to catch a break. But Lance Bass? Good for him.

Morgan flipped open her phone to read the message.

How'd it go? As bad as you thought?

About as horrible as expected.

Morgan started typing a longer complaint, but quickly erased the characters without sending. With her mother on the warpath, she didn't put it past her to check Morgan's phone. And the last thing Morgan needed was her finding more fuel for her rage. It was Morgan's experience that things could always get worse.

Lame. Sry.

I guess I'll see you for the holidays. Weekends are for studying now.

As if one good year's going to change anything.

Hey!

Sry.

That's lame tho.

Jay's promised to take me up to their school when classes start so I can see Darien,

Guess you can't come?

Dork. Why would I?

Also, no. Read much?

Sry.

Maybe we could guise it as a campus tour?

I'm just going to lay low and make it thru the semester, tbh. Thx tho.

Hey. Running out of txts. Switch to Yahoo messenger.

Morgan rolled her eyes, and reached over to wake her desktop up. Serena must have been texting Darien all afternoon. They had only been home half a day, and it was early in the month. How'd they texted that much already? It was common for Serena and Morgan to blow through their allowed texting limit and have to log into an online chat service until they rolled back over. Morgan and Serena had both ran up quite the bill once talking to each other, and they had been careful since not to let it happen again. They'd never quite accomplished what Serena had with Darien today, though. This was a new record.

Love struck fools.

The weeks rolled on, and soon Morgan started her senior year of high school, summer memories and her friends there a distant thought in her mind. Camp Elysian was officially somewhere she used to go.

Morgan was sad about it for a while, but she had collected all the numbers and screen names for the girls in her cabin, so they kept in touch. In school, Morgan dove head first into her theater class, landing a part in the first production of the year, and her mother still allowed her to play volleyball and run track. "Extracurriculars will look great on your application. And you need all the help you can."

She had come to terms with the fact that all the confusing thoughts she had been having all came to the same conclusion: she liked Kayden. Still. Her crush never really went away, as much as she had tried. But, none if mattered, because she'd never set foot in camp again. So, it was best if she didn't think about it anymore. Kayden was just someone she used to know. Used to like. She'd be heading out to the west coast in the spring, and he'd be back at camp, so what was the point in pretending anyway?

Morgan took her school work seriously for once, which was boring, but when her first grading period scores came back up from last year, her mom let up a bit on her restrictions.

A little.

She finally let Morgan catch a movie in the theater one weekend with her dad when he was home. And Serena was allowed to spend the night another weekend. It wasn't perfect, and Morgan felt a bit like a caged bird, but she could survive until the spring.

She had Arty to keep her company in the meantime.

Her birthday rolled around the second half of October, and fell on a Wednesday. Her parents promised Serena could come over that weekend to celebrate - as long as she stayed caught up with school work - and they took her out to the local T.G. for dinner. The way her mother had been acting, it was more than Morgan had expected, and she thanked her parents before heading to her room for the night to do homework.

Morgan was about halfway through her algebra assignment when her phone chimed.

It had been going off all day, random teammates and friends wishing her well, congratulating her on being an adult now. Happy 18th! Truthfully, Morgan didn't feel like today was that important. She thought she would, and had spent all year daydreaming about what it'd be like to be eighteen, but now that it was here, it was just another day. She hadn't changed just because suddenly, she was legally an adult. Nothing had changed. And while going out for dinner was nice, she still felt down.

Morgan finished the problem before reaching over to check the message.

Maybe she really had matured, she thought. Work before checking texts. Since when? Was this what being an adult was like?

The text was from an unknown number.

unknown. 10:31 pm. 10/22

She opened it, curious.

Come outside.

Morgan looked at the phone, and then to the cat curled up in her lap. "What say you, old friend?"

The cat opened one eye, and then went back to sleep, purring, hoping to get some affection from his owner after the interruption of his sleep. Morgan scratched the patch of fur between his ears in response.

"Hm. Jury is out, then."

I think you have the wrong number.

Morgan flipped it closed, and picked her pencil back up, determined to get through this so she could turn in for the night. Math always left her tired.

A minute later, the phone buzzed again.

Morgan sighed in frustration, dropping the pencil, and checked the message.

Morgan, come outside.

Please.

Who is this?

Just come outside.

Morgan found herself curious, and strangely excited. Who was this mysterious stranger texting on her birthday? And who had given them her number? She had so many questions. None of which she'd get any answers to sitting here.

Morgan knew she couldn't risk going out the front door. Too many questions from her parents. And she was still technically grounded. Her parents would not be happy that someone had come over so late. Her eyes landed on the window.

She always studied with music on, and with the light on, she didn't think her parents would think twice if they walked past her room. They wouldn't come in. They'd been proud of her new studying habits, and had made it a point not to bother her too much. So, if Morgan could make it out without making too much clamoring, she was pretty confident she wouldn't get caught.

Morgan picked up the white ball of fluff from her lap and gently placed him on her bed. "Be a good kitty and stay put. I'll be right back, okay?" The cat responded by closing his eyes again. "Good kitty."

It had been unseasonably warm for October, which meant Morgan didn't have to rifle through her closet for a hoodie and chance making any unnecessary commotion. She carefully opened the window, as to not make much noise, and skillfully climbed out, as if she'd done it a hundred times before.

She hadn't.

Not her window, at least. They'd snuck out of Serena's a lot, though.

Morgan quickly glanced around and didn't see anyone in the driveway or parked in front of the house, so she crept across the grass to the street and took a look, ducking behind the garbage bins, in case her parents looked out the front windows. She better not have been getting punked, she thought to herself. No one was to her left. She turned to the right and saw someone step out of their car a few houses down, holding something. Interesting.

Morgan was close enough to sprint back to her room if something shady seemed to be afoot, but she waited until the person got in range of the street light before deciding if she was going to bolt or not.

She wasn't stupid, alright? Morgan had no intention of getting abducted on her birthday. She was just - curious.

The person, a man, she noted, closed their door gently, and took a few steps forward. She couldn't make out the face at first, but he was wearing a dark vest and jeans, and had a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

When he entered the light, Morgan's jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Kayden!?"

He held a finger to his lips. "Shh. I thought you were grounded."

"Oh. Shit." Morgan had absolutely forgotten she was trying to be covert when the shock hit her. She covered her mouth and closed the distance, realizing she was being loud and might alert her parents. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards his car and out of the light, so they wouldn't get caught. "Wha - what are you doing here?" she asked, heart slamming against her chest. And how did he know she was grounded? Weird.

"I came here to give you these," Kayden smiled and handed her the flowers.

Red roses.

Morgan's stomach was in her throat. He's handing your flowers, she screamed internally. Grab the stupid flowers, Morgan.

"And to say, happy birthday."

"All the way - all the way for-"

Kayden dropped to one knee and took her hand in his, cutting her off from finishing her sentence. "And to do this." He placed a gentle kiss on top of her hand. "Morgan. Would you like to go on a date sometime?"

For once in her life, Morgan was stunned silent. Was Kayden, no fun, rule-following, pain in her ass Kayden asking her out? Her head was spinning. How long had he been planning this? How'd he even know what day her birthday was? They'd said their goodbyes, why was he here doing this?

Kayden stood back up when she didn't respond, still holding her free hand in his. "I've wanted to ask you for a long time. But, I told myself all those years ago I wouldn't unless you were 18."

Because that would be improper, she thought. Morgan felt like she might pass out. She had packed away all those thoughts and feelings, and here Kayden was, letting them all out again. "You idiot," she muttered, pulling her hand away to wipe a tear that had broken loose.

He reached up and brushed the skin where the tear had fallen with his thumb. "I know."

His skin was so warm. So comforting. "So dumb," she half cried half laughed, smiling.

"I know," he admitted, smiling back.

Morgan stared up at his soft blue eyes. It made more sense to tell him no. To tell him this would never work out. They didn't have the same plans for their lives, and they'd never see each other. She had her dreams, and he'd never leave his grandfather without help. He'd be on campus or at camp. She'd be halfway across the country. Could they make it until he graduated? It would be a long-distance heartbreak.

"Morgan?" Kayden asked, his fingers still lingering on her face, patiently waiting for a response.

Morgan bit her lip. She needed to answer him. She still couldn't believe he'd drove all the way out here, on her birthday. It was like a scene in some movie. He was definitely dedicated. And his Tallness, King Clipboard, was absolutely good enough at organizing to figure something out. Maybe things could work out?

"Kiss me, you idiot," she said.

Kayden complied.