I blankly stared at him. "But I...no. I am not letting you put me through this."

"What are you, my mother?"

I mumbled under my breath, "Poor woman…"

"What was that?" he asked quickly.

I stared at the ground. "Nothing. But I'm not going." I put a hand on my hip, only faintly aware that I looked ridiculous, using my other hand to keep a firm grip on his arm.

He began to rock his body from side to side, pulling my arm with him. I glared, digging my sharp, almost catlike, nails into his skin. He yelped, jumping a foot in the air. "Damn woman! Retract the claws!"

I loosened my grip. "Fine. But I'm not going with you."

He sighed. "Look, I really care about this girl. And you have to come with me, because I refuse to sit through a movie all the while listening to you."

I sighed too, but only because what he was saying made sense. "I..."

"Please," he grudgingly asked.

My eyes stared into his, and I could see that he really did care about his girlfriend. Which was nice, because he could really care less about my feelings in this whole ordeal. "Fine."

"Thank you." He was being polite enough, I figured I owed him the same respect.

"Wait a minute. Won't your girlfriend care that I'm there with you?"

He laughed nervously. "She, uh, won't notice?"

I laughed, trying to conceal it with a cough. Come on, I'm not that mean. "Right. You obviously don't know too much about us females, buddy." I hit him lightly on his upper arm, taking notice of how hard they were. The boy was ripped!

He looked torn, like he was having an internal battle. I shook my head. Dude had no idea what he was about to get himself into.

"What exactly do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes. "Once again, you're an idiot."

He glared. "I'd appreciate it if you'd stop calling me that."

I whistled. "Can't deny the truth…"

He groaned. "Look, I don't have time for this. You're coming with me, whether you like it or not."

I raised my eyebrows at this. "Right. And how exactly do you plan on that working out for you?"

He shrugged his shoulders, putting his hands on my waist.

Next thing I know, I'm in the air, being tossed over his shoulder. I would've screamed if it weren't for the fact that mom and dad would run in, assuming the worst. I did hit him a few times though, and I'll even admit that it felt good. He deserved it.

"Sorry about this, but…like I said, I don't have time for this."

My head was resting against his back, my fists pounding as hard as I could against him. My legs were immobile, as he had a strong grip on them. Sadly, he didn't react to my protests.

Shane was strong. I'd give him that. The ass.

"Let me go," I bit out.

He carefully, but swiftly, got us down the stairs. "No."

He tiptoed to the front door, opening it with one hand, keeping his right arm wrapped tightly around my legs. "Let me go!"

"No."

We were on the sidewalk and by then I realized I had no chance of getting away from him. I sighed. "Will you at least tell me how long we're going to be gone? My parents should know where we're going."

He set me down then, and my head began to spin. "Um, ow?"

He barely acknowledged me. "Yeah, whatever. Just hurry up okay?" He crossed his arms, watching me with narrowed eyes.

Rolling my eyes I walked crookedly back into my house. 'Stupid idiot.'

'You have really got to stop calling me that.'

I fumed. What a cruel joke. Both of our "options" seemed unjust. I didn't want to touch him, nor did I want my thoughts in his head and vice versa. 'This sucks.'

'Are you just now realizing that?'

'Will you shut up for just a second?'

'You first.'

"Ugh!" I screamed, slamming the door behind me.

My mom was standing before me, eyebrows raised curiously. "Honey? Is everything…okay?"

I swallowed nervously. Lying never was my forte. 'What to say, what to say…I guess I could say I'm going to Sierra's…crap. She's at math camp.'

'Math camp? What a nerd…'

'Shut up!'

My mom was giving me a strange look, not that I blamed her. My expressions kept changing as Shane's comments continued to piss me off.

'Just tell her the truth.'

'The truth? Are you crazy?'

'Okay…so maybe not the "whole" truth…just tell her that you're going out with a guy and you'll be home soon. You seem like the good girl type, she'll believe you.'

'Good girl type? What does that mean?'

"Mitchie?" my mom asked again.

My thoughts, or rather Shane's thoughts, were distracting me. Finally focusing on my mom, I smiled. "Heh, you know…I'm going out today mom, so I'll just be back later…" I reached to the left to grab my purse off of the hallway table, I turned to leave, but she spoke again.

"Not so fast young lady. Where are you going, with who, and exactly what time will you be back?'

Shane heard my thoughts, and responded with a, 'Damn. Does your mom always have you on lockdown? Must suck to be you.'

I ignored him long enough to say, "Um, well, his name is-

If possible, her eyebrow went even higher up. "His?"

I blushed. "Yes, um, you see…his name is…" I scrambled for a name, "Shawn! Yeah, Shawn and we're going out to…see…um…Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants…so…yeah." I finished lamely, and I could tell she barely believed a word that came out of my mouth.

'Shawn? What kind of gay name is that?'

"Okay…well, what time will you be back?"

'What time will we be back…Shawn?'

'Screw you…tell her around seven.'

'Seven!? You're planning on kidnapping me for SEVEN hours? WHY!?"

'I'm not keeping you that long genius. Better safe than sorry right?'

'Wow, that must've been the most intelligent thing that's ever come out of your…thoughts…that sounded really stupid…'

"We'll be back around seven mom."

I turned to move away, but before I could get an inch closer to the door, she said, "Wait."

"Yes?" I asked meekly.

She smiled, reaching into her pocket. "Here! Wear this! It's just your color."

She put something in my hands and I looked down.

Lipgloss.

"Uh, thanks mom. I'll see you later."

Before she had another chance to speak, I was out the door, ready to face my newfound annoyance. I shoved the lipgloss into my jeans pocket, intent on not thinking about it.

He was smirking. "Well…that was certainly interesting."

I returned the smirk. "Whatever Shawn."

It had the desired effect, as he grumbled, "Bitch."

'Takes one to know one.'

'Let's just get this over with.'

I walked forward, behind him by a few steps. What shocked me was, before getting into the driver's side, that he opened the door for me! 'Okay…that was weird.'

He stiffened next to me. 'I was taught to always be a gentlemen.'

I rolled my eyes. 'You call tossing me over your shoulder being a gentlemen?'

'I said I was taught to be a gentlemen, I never said I was one.'

'Once again, I repeat: you're an idiot.'

We were both in the car by that point, as he pulled away from my house. He stiffened, hesitantly reaching out to rest his hand on my knee. Knowing that he couldn't hear me, I thought, 'God, could things get any worse?'

"By the way…we're supposed to be seeing a movie. Sisterhood…something, or whatever."

I knew I shouldn't have asked the question. Two hours, alone, in the dark with him? Sure, his girlfriend would be there…but, I honestly didn't see how things could get any worse than that.

Bu I was very wrong.