Emily pursed her lips as she sat quietly in the passenger seat of the older boy's truck, her fingers picking at the invisible lint on her skinny jeans. "You have a nice car," she finally spoke up, smiling to the teen in the driver's seat. "It drives nicely."

"Thanks," he grinned. "My uncle owns five dealerships in New York City and he shipped it down to me for my birthday two months ago. What about you? You have a car?" Noticing the surprise on the ivory girl's face, Aaron felt like reaching up and slapping himself. "Right, you're only fifteen." Idiot question.

The younger brunette slowly shook her head. "Well I do have one."

Aaron's brow hit his hairline. "Really?"

Emily suckled on her bottom lip. "Two."

"You have two cars?"

Emily felt her lips turn up at the astonishment she heard in the junior's voice. "Yeah, my parents got me a Mercedes and my Grandpa got me a Range Rover. Both arrived at the house last Christmas on flatbeds and I practically fainted," she chuckled.

The sixteen year old grinned at the blush on his new friend's cheeks. "Don't be embarrassed."

"Oh I'm not, they're nice cars," Emily laughed. "I just like to work for my things instead of them being given to me."

Aaron gave a nod, turning onto the street that Emily pointed out, trying his best to follow her directions to a part of town that he had never even seen before. "Understandable."

Sighing, fighting with herself over the words that wanted to pop out of her mouth, the teenager played with the curls that fell from her ponytail. "So why did you ask me out?" She saw his eyes automatically widen at the question, and she quickly shook her head. "You know, on the hang out, not really a date, date."

Aaron's fingers tightened around the truck's steering wheel as he tried to moisten his dry mouth. "Well, I thought you looked like a cool person to hang out with."

"You saw me, and thought I'd be cool to hang out with?"

"Yeah," he whispered, mentally slapping himself for speaking without fully thinking first off. "Yup, that's it."

Emily smirked, looking out the windshield and watching as the colored leaves fall onto the car. "You asked me out because you thought I looked good," she chuckled darkly, her stomach hurting as she laughed when the older boy looked at her with wide eyes. "Don't act like it's not true!"

"I'm not, but that was kind of forward," he smiled, loving the sight of her smile brightening with each passing second.

"Well thank you," the fifteen year old nodded politely, her smile dulling down to a cautious smirk with her two front teeth digging into her bottom lip. "No one really takes interest in me other than those losers trying to get at my money."

Aaron rolled his eyes. "Assholes like that are what make me mad. Why would you use somebody and hurt them like that?"

Emily's eyes stung with tears at the admission, pointing to the next street that they had to turn onto for him to get her home. "Thank you," she whispered.

"You don't need to thank me," he grinned, wanting to reach over and hold what looked like the softest hand.

"No, I do," the fifteen year old laughed, reaching up to wipe the tears that had somehow started falling from her eyes. "No one, not even my parents, seem to understand how it feels to have people use you like that. Even in their line of work, they act as if comforting their daughter is the worst thing they could do." She looked down to her fidgeting hands and let out a sigh. "It's complete bullshit."

Taking a chance after hearing the tearful words from the younger girl, Aaron stopped the car in the middle of the road and immediately turned around.

Emily frowned, turning around to see them heading away from her house than toward it. "What are you doing?"

"I think we should go on our hang out now," he nodded. "Something that'll make us both feel better." He barely knew the girl and he was willing to give up his 'A' average and skip his homework so he could hang out with her.

Something he never did for Haley.

Emily's thumbnail found its way in between her teeth as she smiled, nodding along with the idea. "Yeah, ok." She'd give anything to stay away from her house, and being with the older boy, the one who made her heart flutter, was the best idea she'd heard in a while.