"You didn't take him with you?!" I looked at my sister, appalled. 

"He was zonked out, what was I supposed to do? He had someone with him, he's fine." She leaned on the door frame, avoiding my gaze. 

"Who?!" 

"Some girl with red hair, I don't know." My stomach turned. "Maybe his girlfriend?" 

"He doesn't have a girlfriend!" I spat out immediately. She looked at me, concerned. My heart started to race and it seemed my head was covered in frost. I stood up, grabbing a jacket. 

"Where are you going?" She asked as I pushed past her. 

"Finding the boy you lost!" I snarled, stomping out the door. "Tell Mom I'm out saving him from a drug overdose, or kidnapping, or something! I'm not afraid to tell her the truth!" I slammed the wooden door shut, exposed to the cold air outside. The wind brushed against my face, welcoming me outside. I soon realized I had no idea where the junkyard is. I sighed. He knows what he's doing.. but no part of me can just wait here while he's out with someone else. Is that bad? Am I really just worrying too much? I sat down on the curb, fidgeting with the sleeves of my jacket. Thoughts rattled through my head, keeping me chained in place. I wanted to get up and actually do something, but my mind was too busy to tell anything to move. 

"Chip?" I looked up, two crystal eyes peering back down at me. 

"Hey, Ro." I said in a weak voice, I was relieved and happy to see him, but a block in my heart kept me from leaping up and hugging him. 

"How long have you been out here? It's freezing." He bent down to be eye level with me. 

"I don't know.." I felt his arms wrap around me. "What happened? Adriana said you were high." He stayed close to me, his head rested on my back. 

"I did some acid... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be out too long. I'm okay, I promise I was safe the whole time." His voice was soft, knowing I was anxious. He kept hugging, which was unusual since he didn't like it that much. I finally wrapped my arms around him, burying my face into his shoulder. 

"Who were you with? Do you have a girlfriend?" I asked, my voice muffled. I heard a small chuckle from the rough boy. 

"Her name's Fox. She's just some annoying girl." He said with a voice almost like a sigh. He still sensed my discomfort. He pulled away from me, to my disappointment. His gaze fixated on mine, a glint appearing with a soft, unfamiliar grin. "She's insane, but she knows a lot of people. We could use her to figure all of this out." He held my shoulders as he talked, his rough but reassuring grasp tightening as he stopped speaking. I shut my eyes and let out a heavy sigh. I felt something under the curve of my knees and on my shoulders. I was floated up with a swift movement.

"Rowen-" I gave a flustered look to the tall boy who had scooped me up into his arms. 

"Let's go to bed, you can't sleep out here all night." He shoved his way inside.

"Was this really necessary?" I asked, to which he gave no reply. I set my face into his shoulder as he opened the door into my bedroom. "What was it like?" I mumbled. 

"What?" I heard the door close. 

"Drugs." He carefully set me down on my bed, looming over me, pondering at the question. I felt sort of weird with him over me on the bed like this.. 

"It's like my dreams came to life... I don't know, it was weird.. I didn't even know how long I was out for." He stared down at me.

"Rowen are you alright?" His eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Um.. yeah, of course I am. Why-" We heard the door creak open, turning our heads in surprise. My sister appeared, her eyes widening at us. 

"Oh, shit-" She closed the door again. "Sorry!" She called. I pushed Rowen off of me, leaping to the door. 

"What?!" I pulled her into my room again. "What do you want?" She gave me a troubled look, glancing over at Rowen, who had lazily flopped onto the bed. 

"Just wanted to see if you were okay... you've been out there all night." She traced her foot across the floor, avoiding my gaze. "Seems you're alright, so I can go." She looked at Rowen. "Are you gonna tell Mommy?" 

"OH MY GOD IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" I slapped her arm. "He- we..." I fumbled on my words, looking at the tall boy uncaringly picking at his fingernails. "He was just bringing me inside." My voice softened into a mumble. She raised an eyebrow at me. "It's not like that, I promise." I heard her sigh before putting a hand on my back. 

"I believe you. Don't freak out, okay?" She grabbed me into a hug. "I'm sorry, I should have brought him home. I'll be more thoughtful next time, I just wasn't thinking. Please don't be mad at me." 

"I'm not mad at you." I continued to look over at Rowen. His blue eyes hovered to me, furrowing his eyebrows. 

"You're mad at me?" He said in his rough voice. I stayed silent, lowering my face into my sister's shoulder. He briskly got up. "What did I even do?" Adriana let go of me, turning to him.

"You-you..." I thought of him with some girl, sitting close to her... Getting high, laughing. It took me so long to get him to trust me like that, and some... some girl comes in and gets to him that easily. What else did they do? My mind went to thoughts I tried to stop, but I was snapped out when I heard a voice directly in front of me. 

"Leave him alone, Rowen. He was just worried about you, stop being mean about it." My twin had gotten in front of me, close to the icy boy's face. His glare floated over to me, a scowl on his face. I shoved past both of them and picked up a blanket from my bed, wrapping it around my shoulders. "I'll let you get some sleep..." Adriana flipped her hair at Rowen and walked out of the room, gently closing the door. I was left alone with Rowen. I collapsed on my bed, curling myself up and burying my face into the pillows. The thoughts still raced through my head, making my stomach churn and heart pound. I didn't know why it upset me so much. Am I being controlling? The smell of leaves and lake water surrounded me as I felt a heavy force beside me. Silence filled the air, leaving me thinking and him still guilty in my mind. Guilty of what? He was just hanging out with someone... What's wrong with me? 

"How long have you known Fox?" I broke the silence, hoping for a reply, hoping to hear his words of comfort. 

"I don't know her, Chip. It's not like that." 

"Then how come you let her drug you and trust her to take care of you while you were out of it? O-or stay with her for hours longer than I thought you would. Adriana came over hours before you did! You were with her that whole time!" I bounced up, turning over to face him as I threw my accusations out. He merely sat patiently waiting for me to finish. "WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT HER?!" My voice broke, tears finally escaping my eyes. He jolted up and put his hands on my shoulders. 

"Chip, please..." My vision was blurred by salty tears, my nose was running and my face felt hot. I felt Rowen tap his forehead against mine. "Please don't cry, Potato Chip." His hand glazed over my back, which made my sniffling less frequent and the tears start to run dry. "Listen, I don't want you to think that I'm... replacing you or something. I'm not. Chip, no one is as close to me as you are... you're my best friend, not anyone else. Okay?" I was silent, turning his words over in my head again and again. "Hey, dummy, I said okay?" I lifted my head from his.

"Okay."