It was 9:15 by the time Tyler pulled into the drive way. The 45 minute ride home had turned into 2 hours of exhausting traffic. It had gotten eerily colder they noticed, as they stepped out of the car to retrieve their luggage.

"Wow, it got cold out all of a sudden! Where we really in the car that long!" Justin questioned, pulling his arms into his short sleeved shirt.

A gust of wind howled through the air, and Tyler just looked at Justin shaking his head. "Justin...you're and idiot."

"I was being sarcastic," he muttered.

"Sure you were," Tyler said rolling his eyes.

"Man, if there's something I didn't miss about Maryland is this crazy weather!" JC looked at the sky and closed his eyes. "Yup, it's good to be home!"

At that instance the front door swung open and Heather, and Karin sprinted there way over to the guys.

"Josh, Justin!" The shouted in unison.

As everyone said there hellos, Tyler knew it was his oppurtunity to break.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back, I need to go do some things."

Without a word more, he turned around and started sprinting down the street. He could hear his mother start to say something but blocked it out. He had others things on his mind, rather than to be home by dinner. His lungs began to swell, but he kept going, he was only a few more houses down from Chase's. He slowed down, and then stopped as he reached the familiar driveway of his destination. The blanket of guilt started covering him again as he made his way to the door. *It's ok, Tyler, they'll understand, everything will be ok,...* He repeated that over and over again in his mind, as he reached over and pressed the doorbell. No answer. He tried it once again. Still no answer. He felt relived and turned around to make his way home, but stopped quickly when he heard the creak of a door behind him.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show."

It was 11:30 and everyone had already gone to bed. Except for JC. He was worried. Tyler had said he would be back right away and had been gone for almost two hours. At dinner his mom had said he had been doing that often. Something about having to practice for some gig that was coming up. Trying to convince himself that Ty was alright and just at one of his friends house practicing, he grabbed his green windbreaker and decided to go for a walk.

Quietlty shutting the front door he made his way past the drive way and on to the sidewalk. It had gotten extremely cold and he could see his breath come out in little puffy clouds. He started jogging to try and warm himself up. *Wow*, he thought *haven't done this in a long time*. The jog was making him feel relieved and less stressed about Tyler's disappearence. He felt comfort going past all the houses he'd known since he was a kid. The neighbors he used to talk to mostly who were all still there, asleep quietly in their beds or sitting on their couches watching tv. He loved it, it just felt so good being home. He let his mind drift as he made his way down the street, increasing his speed from an easy moving jog to a moderate run.

After about 10 minutes he had to stop and catch his breath. The cold hair was stingy his throat as he inhaled rapidly. His jog had turned from a jog, to a run, to a sprint. Slowly regaining his breathing to a steady pace, faintly, he heard what seemed to be two people arguing. At that instance, two people came out of the house a couple houses ahead. It was a girl followed by a guy.

JC ducked behind a nearby bush not wanting to be noticed. He didn't want to be nosy but he wanted to see what was going on. He tried to make out what they were saying but didn't have to try very hard, since the argument was quickly getting louder and louder.

The man ran up to the girl who was already making her way down the driveway and grabbed her hand. "Why can't you get anything right, huh! We sit there for hours and hours trying to make everything sound perfect and then when it's your turn, you screw it up! Over and over again, you screw it up!"

The man was young, somewhere around 19 or 20. He had dark hair down to his ears, and was apparently holding something which JC made out as being a bottle. The girl struggled to loosen from his grasp.

" Damnit Greg! Stop it!" She tried again to loosen his grasp, but he just tightened it and pulled her closer. She eased her voice, calmly but forcfully she looked him in the eyes and demanded, " Let go of me, Greg. Your drunk, you need some rest."

"You're right," he agreed, " I do need some rest, but I think I wanna bring you along!"

He started to drag her behind him as he went up the driveway.

"Greg, no please, stop it," she begged weakily. She didn't want to fight with him.

JC watched intently. He wanted to help the girl, but at the same time he didn't want to get involved. This Greg character started to drag her back into the house, but she kept begging him to let her go. JC couldn't take it, he had to do something. He couldn't just watch this innocent girl be treated like that.

He quietly stepped out from behind his barrier bush and onto the sidewalk. He quickly jogged over to the driveway, where all the commotin was going on. The two were almost at the top of the driveway, when JC walked by.

Thinking for a distraction, he casually stopped and said the only thing he could think of, "Hey, uh... nice night isn't it?" It was stupid, but a distraction.

The two looked over at the stranger in silence. The girl immediatly freed herself from his grasp and quickly walked over to JC.

"Yeah, beautiful," she responded in a sarcastic tone.

At that instant JC felt like an ass. A very confused ass.

"Well, looks like I better be going," a hint of sarcasm was used again as she looked up at Greg.

Her smile was fake, and Greg was angry. She turned towards JC and gave him a dirty look. Now he was really confused. Had he not just helped this girl? He stared back at her, who was now a retreating figure down the dark Maryland street.

He shook hid head out of confusion and looked up at Greg, who had been staring at him the whole time. A muderous look was on his face, which made chills go up and down JC's back.

"Uh...well, I better get going," he said nervously, but trying to be as casual as possible.

Greg just looked back at him with the same motionless face.

JC zipped up the front of his windbreaker and quietly started jogging back to his house. He could feel Greg's eyes still on him as he started to make his way home. He stopped and turned around, to find no one on the driveway. Greg had gone in. JC didn't waste anytime he turned back around and started sprinting home. He just wanted to be home, asleep, and warm. Luckily for him the house was not to far away. His street went in a large circle, and it turned out Greg's house was only about 15 houses down or so.

Once he reaced the door he flung open and shut it immediatley. It was 12:15, he was tired. It had been a long day. Making his way up the stairs to his room, he stopped in the hallway. *Tyler!* He had frogetton about him. He dodged passed his room, pass the guest bedroom were Justin was sound asleep and quietly snoring, and stopped at Tyler's door. He slowly opened the door, relieved to find his little brother sound asleep with a smile planted on his face.

JC couldn't help but to smile himself. *Ty always looked stupid when he slept!* He shut the door and walked into his room. His bags were neatly in the corner, and his bed was still made.

He layed down on his bed and looked out his open window. The clouds had moved on a while ago, letting the moon shine bright. It was high and beautiful. It made his mind retrace back to the incident which happened only minutes ago.

Again he didn't understand why the girl had reacted the way she did. It was almost as if she was angry that he interuppted them. His mind then focused from the girls reaction, to the girl herself. He remembered staring at her face with awe. A mental picture formed in his head, and he remembered her eyes. Her eyes. That's all he focused on. They were these two icy blue gems, which sparkeled immensly from the moonlight. The moons reflection had made them dance, and JC had followed every move carefully.

The thought of her eyes made his stomach do flops. He knew what this feeling meant, and he didn't like where it was going. *They're just eyes JC, get a grip! She looks like all the other girls!* he scolded in his head. He stopped himself. Besides her eyes, he didn't really remember much of anything else. At least not in detail. His head started to hurt. It was late, and he was tired. He just wanted some sleep! Besides, he already has a beautiful girlfriend, whom no one could compare. Could they? The question rang through his head over and over again, until the next thing he knew, his eyes drifted shut and he was sound asleep.