“Adrian, you try to sneak into her room one more time, I’m going to cut your eyeballs so you’ll be lost wandering where the hell you’re going,” Drew’s voice disturbs my peaceful reading as it carries throughout the house. You’d think the mystery bad boy was quiet, not when it comes to his family, he really is overprotective. Personally, I think Adrian just likes baiting him by sneaking off to Sammy’s room. A knock on my door has me heaving a sigh. I don’t feel like getting up.

                “I know you’re in there, cupcake,” oh, it’s the devil himself. Maybe if I just keep quiet he’ll think I’m gone. The living arrangements have gone quite good, well, except for Adrian and Drew’s bantering, but that’s not new. I’ve been hiding inside my room all day, today’s Kohl and I’s birthday, and I know Sammy’s keeping watch to try to girlify me.

                “Lucy and I just want to see you,” I can hear the smile on those rosy lips. With a smile of my own, I get up from the black bean bag chair and open the locked door. There stands the most beautiful sight for sore eyes with beautiful blue ones of their own, and Drew.

                “Hey baby,” I chirp as I grab the giddy baby from Drew’s arms.

                “Well hello there,” his arrogant voice speaks up. I scowl as he makes his way inside the room, not before locking the door.

                “I was talking to Lucy,” I state without looking at him, my attention captured by a little girl that seems to be oozing happiness. I’ve tried to avoid Drew as much as possible since that kiss. No one’s mentioned anything so I’m hoping we’ve all forgotten about it.

                “Haven’t seen you around,” he sighs nonchalantly.

                “I’ve been around,” I’m working on my lying skills and the ability to come up with an excuse at any given time, I’m happy to say I think it’s working. I head over to my massive bed and plop down with Lucy in my arms. She begins to thrash around before crawling around on the bedspread. I see him get a lopsided grin on his chiseled face out of the corner of my eye.

                “Why are you hanging out in your room, it’s your birthday, didn’t I make some calls to have a party ready?” he raises an eyebrow as he plops down on the bean bag chair I’d currently been sitting on.

                “Not much of a party person, plus I’ve got plenty of time,” I shrug as I carefully keep an eye on Lucy.

                “So, I, uhm, came to ask you something,” I jump as his voice sounds closer. I raise an eyebrow as he stands by the foot of the bed with his hands in his pockets while his gaze hovers over nothing.

                “Yeah, I have a question too,” I speak up causing him to sigh in relief and sit down on the edge of the bed, making faces at Lucy.

                “Go,” he motions with his hand for me to speak.

                “Okay, can you explain the whole gang thing to me or is it ‘you know, you die’ sort of thing, and why do I need to be protected?” I let it all out in one breath before the courage of speaking up dissipates.

                “Wow, uhm, okay, I could let you know so much about the gang and not putting you in some sort of danger,” he stops, hesitating. I was about to tell him to forget it when he begins to speak as he rolls over on his back with Lucy on his muscular chest.

                “My father was the bad kid around his side of town, people had heard about him being a gangster’s son and they alienated him for it. The rumors were true, but it didn’t mean he was a bad person, it’s like assuming a killer’s son is automatically a killer and you hold him up for his father’s crimes. It’d been this way for a while. His father had gone through the same treatment. Basically this gang had been formed years ago, before any of us had been born.

       “See, when towns began to industrialize many people moved to rural areas to get part of the riches, take over, start new businesses, you know grow with the country. My family lived in the Midwest back then, in a small town in Wisconsin. The tale says that some new business people wanted to buy the town’s inhabitants’ homes for meager prices and go on to make a great fortune of the place. My great, great, great, you get the picture, great grandfather had heard about the Wild West gangs, you know the cowboy raiders, that’d been moving in for gold towards where the gold was.

                “Well, he gathered the men around town and formed a gang against the newcomers, to scare them off, it all started in order to protect their home, in a sort of righteous way. But you know, as time passed and the gang was passed down to the next family member, our family remaining the leaders, some of my family began to get greedy. They turned the gang into what my ancestor was trying to prevent, greed took over them.

                “It wasn’t just the greed but being singled out by other people, it turned many of my family members to anger, so much that they began moving the gang around. My father was shunned as well until a girl came to town, she treated him differently and he grew to love her so much. When it was his time to take the leadership she reminded him of how it all began the gang’s original purpose. She’d been fascinated by the story, the history and she loved him. He followed it, sure a gang’s still a gang and she understood that, but everything that was done was for a reason, never out of pure malice.

                “It’s all very secret society like, you know that whole Illuminati shit, but a gang. My mom made my dad see things differently, everything was fine until now,” he turns to look at me while I just sit there stunned by the amazing story. This is so History channel worthy kind of thing, so much history in one gang, who would’ve thought? I personally would’ve thought it all started with a bad ‘your momma’ joke.

                “That’s cool, I mean not the whole thing, you know the history and stuff,” I ramble hoping I hadn’t offended him.

                “Yeah, I like the way it began,” he smiles while looking down at a now sleeping Lucy, guess I’m not the only one that likes story time. I smile at the baby as I lay down next to Drew, keeping three inches of distance between us, getting ready for questions.

                “What happened, with your dad?” I question as I turn face to face.

                “That is a story for another time, and as for what you need to be protected from that falls into Adrian’s job to figure out. Somehow, I have a feeling he’s trying to protect you from something, it’s weird, the way you’ve grown on him,” Drew explains.

                Wow, I am so Adrian’s best friend no matter how many times he tries to deny it.

                “So, what were you going to ask me?” I question slowly while looking up at the ceiling. A black night sky painted on there, calming my form, it’s the only thing that differentiates from the purple and mauve walls.

                “Oh, well since you’re not the party type and I hate people, I was thinking we could sneak out early and I take you on our first ‘official’ date?” aw, his cheeks get a slight tint of pink to them. To be or not to be, should I go or not? What’s the worst that could happen, for him to shoot me to death?

                Don’t forget that is a possibility, Khloe.  

                Right, right.

                “Okay, does it matter that we’ll be dressed up?”

                “Nah, whatever you wear will be fine and before you ask where I’m taking you, no, it’s a surprise,” he states in a firm tone, the dude could be psychic. I huff making him chuckle and place an arm around me. I try to get away only for him to tighten his hold. I’m defeated, strong bad boy wins.

                “Don’t think I don’t know you’ve been trying to avoid me,” he whispers in my ear. I can feel the blush overtake my features so I bury my head in his chest as a form of response.

                “Shut up,” I mumble only to feel the rise and fall of his chest as he laughs. I hate to say it, but this blue eyed bad boy is very comfortable so I snuggle into him some more, yep, I’m using him as a pillow, a strong, calloused hand stroking my head down my back in repeat a soothing melody causing my eyes to droop, until I slip into sweet bliss. 

                “Khloe, Khloe, open the goddamn door, I swear Drew if you deflower my little sister it’s on like donkey Kong,” a loud, obnoxious voice seeps into my ear taking me away from my sweet dreams. I wake up as a loud bang resonates throughout my room. I jump up slightly as I’m held down by something. I look around and my eyes zero in on Drew’s arm as he holds me tightly in place, closer to him. At the doorway, where my door used to be before Kohl decided to break it down, stands panicking Kohl and a smirking Adrian.

                “Uhm, we fell asleep,” I state slowly while trying to desperately remove Drew’s arm from around me. Drew and Lucy sure can sleep, she’s a baby, how did she not wake up?

                “Drew, wake up,” I begin to shake him with my free arm.

                “Do I need to murder anyone, did he touch you inappropriately?” Kohl begins to question as he steps into the room with Adrian, why the hell is he still smirking?

                “And he tells me to stay out of Sammy’s room,” Adrian decides to remark.

                “Excuse me, nothing happened or have you failed to notice the baby in the room,” I retort as Drew finally stirs before opening his eyes, I’ve got to say, he does look cute while he’s sleeping.

                “What’s going on?” Drew yawns as his arm instinctively tightens around Lucy and me, overprotective much?

                “Can you let go?” I ask before he finally releases me and I step further and further away from the devil.

                “Dude, I’m all for the Krew ship, but we’ll set some ground rules later on,” Kohl scowls at Drew.

                “The what?” Adrian asks the question running through my mind.

                “Khloe and Drew, Krew, it’s all I got at the moment if you have any idea don’t fail to mention it,” Kohl explains in a duh tone, as if it should be as clear as water.

                “I’m gonna take Lucy to her room, I’ll find you at the party,” Drew whispers that last part in my ear before heading out of the room with a wide smile framing his features. Sometimes, I do wonder how I get myself into these awkward situations. I’m worse than Jenna Hamilton on Awkward.

                “So, I gotta get ready, and Kohl, my door better be back up by the time I come out of the shower,” I say slowly, not wanting to make them feel their presence is not welcome, even if it is precisely so. Kohl hurriedly makes his way out of the room while Adrian’s pace is leisurely, that smirk forever instilled on his face, if only I could knock it off. I shake my head at the wooden door on lying on the ground and head to the bathroom to shower before getting ready for the party, yippee. I walk back out into my room in a bathrobe and a towel wrapped around my hair, just in time for the knock on my now standing door, I sigh in relief.

                “Yes?” I trail off uncertainly as Sammy stands at my door with an excited expression marring her features.

                “I came to help you get ready,” she bounces inside my room, almost knocking me to the side. She holds two bags in her hands and I look at them skeptically. She’s also in a bathrobe but her hair’s in curlers.

                “What’s in the bags?” I close the door and follow her to my vanity.

                “Our dresses and shoes,” she responds before sitting down and starts messing around with my hair, by what I can see she’s adding some slight curls to it. I sit there fidgeting slightly as she applies some make up to my face before deeming me ready to change and beginning to work on herself. I walk over to the bags.

                “I thought I was wearing the purple one I bought,” I trail off uncertainly.

                “I found a better choice, trust me,” she smiles.

                “Which dress is yours?” I ask.

                “The black one’s mine, the other one is yours,” she answers. I look inside the other bag and pull out a very pretty dress all in white fabric. It has a simple bodice that goes down in slight ruffles, it’s beautiful. I smile as I pull it up and look inside to find some very pretty black shoes.

                “I knew it, you look so pretty, you know who won’t be able to take his eyes off of you, like he ever does,” she speaks a mile a minute but I don’t think it’s hard to figure out who she’s talking about. I roll my eyes and take a seat on the edge of my bed while she finishes getting ready. In no time we’re both heading downstairs, where all the guys seem to be waiting. I don’t know why but suddenly I feel a herd of butterflies in my stomach, my nerves going to high levels, I don’t know why. In the back of my mind there’s one thing, will a certain someone like the dress?

                “Where’s the party going to be at?” I turn my attention to her as we head downstairs, until the sudden silence turns deafening. I look around confusedly as we head to the bottom, where a dressed up Adrian waits for his girl with a foreign smile on his face. I receive one of my own as I watch him intertwine their arms and strut off to the side. Kohl smiles at me from the side and I was about to head off in his direction before I feel a firm grasp on my arm.

                “You’re riding with me,” Drew’s voice makes me shiver involuntarily and I merely nod following him out the door.

                “Why couldn’t we just have the party here?” I ask.

                “Don’t want addresses to be known, it’s better to stay low,” he replies leading me to his amazing car, that’s now scratch free.

                “You look very pretty,” he leans in to say as he opens the car door for me. I struggle to form a coherent thought with the close proximity.

                “Three feet distance, Drew, three feet,” I hear Kohl snap from afar. I look towards Drew for a logical explanation.

                “I had to make a compromise in order to take you out tonight, I think we really scared him today,” he explains while turning to smile and wave at my idiotic brother.

                “What’s in the bag?” Drew asks once we’re situated in the black sports car.

                “Kohl’s present,” I smile as I picture my brother’s for sure to be overdramatic reaction.

                “What did you get him?” Drew gives me a glance before turning back to the road.

                “If I kept this under lock and key from Kohl, what makes you think I’ll tell you?” not even Adrian knows what I got my overzealous brother.

                “Because I’m awesome,” he states cockily.

                “Sure, you keep thinking that,” I wave him off with a smile. I like this teasing side of Drew, the playful guy, I wonder how many people actually get to see this part of him.

                “There’s not gonna be a whole bunch of strangers at this party, right?” I suddenly blurt.

                “Nope, it’s just us we just sort of had the place fixed for your gift from Kohl,” Drew informs while I turn to him with a very scary Cheshire grin.

                “You know what Kohl’s getting me?” I look up at him innocently.

                “Not happening,” he turns to the road.

                “Fine,” I huff turning to face out the window, just watching the scenery pass by.

                “Come on cupcake,” Drew’s voice snaps me out of my zoned out state while he gets out of the car and heads to open my door. I grab Kohl’s gift before climbing out of the car and following the imposing bad boy to a very well structured ball room or party hall, whatever. The room’s been decorated in black and purple, both of our favorite colors, purple glistening stars hanging from the ceiling.

                “Wow,” I breathe out in awe.

                “I thought you might like this,” Drew grabs my hand and leads me further into the room. I don’t know why but I feel my face flush when his warm hands envelopes mine, stupid teenage girl hormones.

                “How did you have this all done?” I ask recalling Sammy saying that Drew was responsible for most of the party.

                “When people think you’re some scary dude and you have the right amount of money, things happen,” he smirks, if only people knew he is some scary dude. He leads me to the part of the room where a makeshift stage has been built. I turn to him with an eyebrow raised.

                “What’s going on?” I ask slowly.

                “Kohl’s birthday present for you,” he smirks as the lights dim down and smoke begins to fill the room. As people begin to come out from backstage and I finally get the gist of what’s going to happen, I feel like almost tearing up. It is in this moment in time that I know I have one of the best brother’s in the world. You have to be pretty exceptional to pay for the reenactment of my favorite scene in the original Batman, as he faces the Joker in the bell tower. I watch mesmerized throughout the whole thing, not willing to believe this is actually happening. At the end of the scene, after the curtains drop they then raise to reveal all of the guys and Kohl screaming ‘Happy Birthday,’ I smile and jump on top of the stage to hug my brother.

                “That was fucking awesome, happy birthday Kohl,” I scream as I hang on his back and he holds me in place, I lean down to give him a kiss on the cheek.

                “Happy birthday Khloe,” Ruby steps up with a bag in her hands.

                “Thanks,” I give her a beaming smile.

                “Did you like your present?” Kohl asks with a wide smile once I climb off of him.

                “Yeah, best gift ever, here’s yours,” I hand him the bag with the frame inside.

                “Khloe, I have never loved you more than I do now,” he smiles as he holds up the autographed Nirvana poster, with the authentication certificate. He places the frame down carefully on the nearby table before flinging his shirt off and running around the room, officially starting the party. I place the presents the guys have gotten me on the table as well as I head off to the snack and pastries table, I love food.

                “You want to head out now?” I feel hot breath hit my neck as Drew obviously stands behind me.

                “Before you two lovebirds go on your little rendez vouz, here Khloe, don’t tell anybody I was fucking nice to you or you’ll regret it,” gee Adrian, you’re so nice only to take it back. I look inside the bag and smile as I take the book out.

                “You had ‘Die for Me’ autographed?” I smile as I look at the signed front page, Amy Plum scribbled on it.

                “Happy birthday,” he takes me completely by surprise as his arms envelop me in a warm embrace.

                “Thank you,” I murmur as I wrap my arms around him briefly before he scurries off to his girlfriend. I think Adrian’s becoming my best friend, grouchy and mean, but good friend nonetheless.

                “Come on,” Drew holds his arm out. I take it and we leave the noisy and slightly crowded place behind in the dust. We get inside Drew’s car and I make myself