"When was your first time?" I asked Declan later that night. We were wrapped in the sheets of my bedspread. My head was gently rising and falling with his chest as he breathed. He kept his shirt off when we put our clothes back on. Now his warmth enveloped me with comfort.

I moved with his sigh as he must have thought back to his first time. "Sophomore year," He said with a tone of disinterest. "She was a senior and we were both drunk so... not much to remember."

"And the next time after that?" It was my subtle way of finding out if there was a second time. He clearly knew what he was doing when he did me, so there had to have been a second time.

He stayed quiet for so long that I had to raise my head off his chest to look at him.

"Uh..." He started, clearly struggling to let me know what it was.

"What is it?"

"Well, I did date Brooke for a little while there." His expression cringed a little.

"Hm," was the sound of disapproval that I let out before I could stop myself. I dropped my head back into his chest before I let myself say something else.

"Row," he said gently, giving a nudge to his shoulder as he tried to get to look at him again. I was hesitant, but I looked up anyway.

"It wasn't-" He tried. "Sex was never something I did because I enjoyed it. My first time happened because I was barely thinking. And with Brooke, it was just something I did because- I don't know, I guess because people were expecting it, which is stupid, I know."

"But with you," He continued. "I wanted this with you, I chose this with you. It actually meant something to me, you wanna know why?"

"Why?" I humored him.

"Because I love you," he smiled at himself. "God, it feels good to say that."

I laughed at him before wrapping my arms around him and dropping my head into his chest once again. "It feels good to hear that," I said back, and then relaxed into him as he stroked my hair.

"I'm not mad about it, Declan. What you did in your past was your business. So, thank you for telling me."

"Hey now that we're being all open and honest, I think there's something else I should confess."

I lifted my head up again, his fingers still tangled in my hair. "What?" I asked, an edge of nerves in my tone.

"I'm really good at math. It's probably my favorite subject and I never needed tutoring for it."

I felt my mouth drop. "What? But why did you-"

"Because something told me that you wouldn't have said yes to me if I had straight up asked you out."

I got up from his chest, throwing myself beside him as I thought back to the time when I tried to avoid Declan and his mischievous smirk and watchful gaze. He was right, I probably would have said no.

"But Coach said..." I stopped short at my utter disbelief.

"Coach lied his ass off to help me spend time with you." I didn't have to look at him, I heard the smile in his voice. I opened my mouth to say something, but I had no idea what to say.

Declan rolled over to dig his arms under me and hugged me from around my waist. "Are you mad? I'm sorry for being a colossal waste of your time. Hey, but it all turned out okay, didn't it? Remember when you told me you loved me?" He said as he laid his head on my stomach. It was easy to hide a smile when he wasn't looking.

"I can't even believe the two of you. Wait until I show up to the next practice."

He looked up at me with the softest smile on those completely kissable lips. He didn't say anything for a moment, just watched me as I mindlessly swept some hair out of his eyes. Then he took his arms from around my waist and his muscles flexed as he hoisted himself higher, dropping his lips on my mine as I kissed him back.  

———————

I had to kick him out eventually before dad came home.

The next morning Cyrus drove the two of us to school. He kept asking me about what happened at the party and if he needed to give Declan an ass-kicking. I told him we kissed and made up and he finally dropped the subject.

"As long as he's sorry and you know what you're doing," He finally said to me.

"And what are you doing?" I asked him.

He took his eyes off the road to give me a look. "What do you mean?"

"I mean does Natalie know how you feel about her?"

He shook his head. "She's not ready for that. She just got out of a relationship, I don't want to dump that on her."

"You aren't dumping anything on her, you're letting her know you're interested when she's ready."

He made a sound of disapproval. "I'll tell her when I feel ready then."

"You should feel ready," I mumbled.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I know she likes you back and maybe she doesn't know it herself yet, but I notice the way she's been looking at you."

"How has she been looking at me?" He asked a little too quickly, jerking the car ever so slightly with his urgency.

I let out a breath of laughter before replying. "I don't know, she just looks at you differently from before. Like she's just realized how pretty you are or something."

He went quiet for a second, watching the road in consideration. Then finally he said, "I am a pretty son of a bitch, aren't I?" But I knew he only joked to mask his fluster. If this pretty son of bitch blushed, he would be red as a tomato right now.

It was true though. I had noticed that Natalie had looked at him recently in a way that was new to her, in a way that I had never caught her looking at Jeremy, and I don't think she even knew it yet.

When we met up with the others, Declan came around too, acting like his usual self and throwing an arm around my shoulders.

"Oh, thank god," Adam let out a sigh while watching the two of us. "It almost felt like my parents were divorcing all over again."

———————

Today was one of the rare days that I didn't work after school, so I was able to stay for practice. Of course, Coach still had work for me, so I guess saying I had a day off wouldn't be as accurate as I thought.

However, when Coach took a break from barking orders at the boys and he came over to get some water, I know my moment for confrontation had turned up.

"Remember when Declan needed math tutoring?" I asked straight away.

"Math tut-" He frowned then stopped himself. "Oh right, of course I remember."

"Yeah," I agreed, nodding my head slowly as he drank. "I also remember how you lied just to get us to spend more time together."

He choked on his water. "You can't prove that," He said after a short coughing fit.

"Coach, I can't believe you played matchmaker and lied to my face." I feigned disappointment in him, but I wasn't even a tad bit mad.

"Ah-" he waved me off. "You can't be mad at me, Rowena. We're pals, you and I."

"You owe me a lap around the field Coach, I can't forgive you until you run it." I wasn't even joking about this, I really wanted to see if he would it.

"For real?"

"For real," I deadpanned.

He was still looking at me when he roared to the boys. "Time for a lap boys! I'll take this one with you." Then he spoke normally again. "It's worth it. You keep him focused, I like that he has you."

He turned to go run his lap and then turned back around. "You know, a thought just occurred to me. You should bring that friend of yours around. Natalie? Rivers is perfectly focused but something about the duo makes my cupid alter ego twitch. What do you think?"

"I think you owe me two laps now. Beat it, Coach Cupid."

A/N: Coach really made the boys run a lap with him to mask the fact that he is being controlled by a teenage girl.

Makes me so happy when I actually have time to update :')

ALSOOOOO. I got my nails done you guys and it took me 3 days of staring at them to realize I got them done in mole rat shade. AHAHAAAA

Thanks for reading <3