"Come on," Nick held out his hand for me to take, but I didn't trust him to not shove me into the ground like the guy who'd just attacked me. I was still shaken up from the whole affair, which made sense since it had happened like three minutes ago. I shivered. It didn't feel totally real, it felt so separated from my regular life. Usually I felt safe in a school, but one moment alone to myself, one moment I had let my guard down, and suddenly I was being choked? This shit was going to make me paranoid.

I took Nick's hand reluctantly, watching his eyes to gauge if he was planning any sudden movement. From what I could tell, he wasn't. As I stood up, he began walking, moving his hand in a gesture that indicated for me to follow.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"We're going somewhere."

"By car?"

"You think I have a car?"

"Uh," Nick laughed at my nonsensical syllables. "It takes a lot to get a car around here. Well, more like keeping one. Mine got busted up a few years ago." He frowned, dropping his gaze to the floor.

"Where are we going?" I asked curiously, thinking in the back of my head that I was being annoying like a child.

"To my house." My jaw dropped open. To his house?

"Just kidding. We're gonna go to my spot."

"Your...spot?"

"Yeah, no one knows about it except me. It's pretty in the middle of nowhere, so we don't have to worry about getting jumped." Was this going to be a frequent occurrence? He made his way over to the bike racks, and unlocked both a bright red one and a dark blue one.

"Um, whose is this?" I wondered. He smiled at me.

"Don't worry about it." Well now, I was worrying about it. Nick was such a mystery to me, why couldn't he ever just tell me what was going on? Bad boy this, mystery boy that. Just communicate, geez.

Slight anxiety filled me. My parents had never taught me how to ride a bike, but my grandparents had, except they only visited once a year, so I was still a bit shaky with turning. Another wonderful side effect of neglectful parents is that you don't learn how to do basic stuff.

"Yeah," I said, more confidently than I felt. "Let's go."

Nick went ahead of me so I could follow, and while I was anxious about people realising that I was with Nick, we soon entered a stretch of land that really seemed abandoned. This was actually kind of cool.

He led me to what looked like an abandoned warehouse, as the door was already wide open. As we made our way inside, he sat down on a metal bench, patting the spot next to him in an invitation for me to sit. Why had he acted so cold to me earlier when now he wanted to act like we were best buddies? I didn't understand him.

"So, what, are we going to..." and that was when he held my face in his hands and kissed me. His lips were soft, slightly chapped and still a bit roughed up from his fight. I let out a soft sigh as his tongue entered my mouth, when I remembered that I still didn't know the reason for his fight. Why was I kissing a guy I barely knew? I couldn't catch feelings without being friends first, and kissing without feelings to me was like kissing a frog. Although kissing Nick was less like kissing a frog, and more like kissing a star that had some kind of hope within it. Maybe I could develop feelings for him. But I was straight, right?

For some reason, the first thing I said as I pushed him away gently was, "I don't know you." Why didn't I say, sorry, I'm straight? or maybe, fuck off, I'm straight?

"Do you need to know more about me to kiss me?"

"Um yeah. Isn't that what everyone is like?" Nick shook his head softly, still smiling for some inexplicable reason.

"Why do you think people go to bars to kiss strangers?" he had a good point. Whenever Sheila and I had kissed, she encouraged me to find other girls, (I think she was just anxious that I might develop feelings for her, which was something neither of us wanted) but I just couldn't kiss someone I wasn't friends with first.

Sheila had called it my 'no strangers thing'. The internet had called it 'demisexual.' 

"You are interested, no?" I blushed, looking away.

"I may be straight." At that, Nick furrowed his brows, squinting at me in mock innocence. I could tell he was laughing at me in his mind. 

"You... may be straight?" I nodded frantically.

Nick didn't push it. "Well, what would you like to know about me, Alex?" Fuck. I didn't even realise that he knew my name. When did he figure that one out?

"Well for starters, have you killed anyone?" I squeaked. I was mentally hitting myself on the head. Why on earth was that the first thing I had said in a get-to-know-you question? Was I stupid? (Yes.)

He wrung his hands together from where they were sitting on his lap, an anxiety tic that made me widen my eyes. So he had?

"It was a while ago." I inhaled, needing a moment to take it in. A while. What exactly did that mean? But I wasn't going to push him on this if he was already this flustered. Nick. Anxious. It was absurd, it wasn't right. I changed tack to a different line of questions.

"Who is Asher? Who is his brother?" he looked over at me, grateful for the change in topic. 

"I guess you're already in too deep, there's no harm in telling you. Asher is on the side of the Angels, because his brother, Eli, is the king of the Angels. Maybe you noticed his shirt. Eli and Asher don't live that well, but we can't afford sympathy when the entire hoard of Angels are against us."

"When did this thing..." I paused hesitantly. "Start?"

"Before we were even born."

Just then, I heard a high pitched ping sound. It was a notification from my phone, breaking the tension. I was relieved for a break from the intense conversation, but also disappointed that I didn't get to hear more. It was Ryder.

"Hey" he had texted. He'd given me his phone number the day before, which I had agreed to in an indifferent manner. Another ping. 

"where are u rn?"

"w nick." I responded. I didn't see the point in lying, I was too bad at it anyway.

My phone suddenly started ringing. I jumped.

"You were with Nick?" he yelled in my ear.

 "I told you that guy is bad news." Fuck. I realised Nick could probably hear this whole conversation, he was right next to me after all. He probably didn't like Ryder badmouthing him. Um.

"Well, we were kind of talking about..." I lowered my voice. "The Ghosts."

"You told Nick?" his voice cracked in disbelief.  "What has he told you?" My mind was whirring in confusion. Why was Ryder anxious about what Nick would tell me?