Chapter One

“Darcy Elizabeth Pistolis, you come down from there this instant!” My mother’s panicked screams were commonplace in the Pistolis household, but our neighbors scarcely paid her a moment’s notice after all these years, knowing full well there was nothing they could do to help her or to dissuade me from whatever stunt I was prepared to execute.

I looked down at my petite mother from the roof of our family home, wondering why she still hadn’t learned to be more specific about what she wanted when it came to me. If she wanted me down, then down I would go. I had a motto—if you’re not living, you’re dying—and I did all I could to live in accordance with it, even if it meant giving my mother frequent heart attacks.

I stood assessed my situation. My neighbor, Hazel, and her boyfriend had just pulled into the drive, back from D. C. for a summer visit with their families. I shifted my focus from them, back to the situation at hand—getting off the roof. I calculated the distance from the roof to the deep end of the pool, one hundred percent sure I could make it without falling on my face and breaking every bone in my body.

“Don’t you even think about it, young lady!” my mother screamed. “Darcy, if you—”

Too late. I threw myself off the roof without a second of hesitation, tucked my legs tightly against my chest, and landed with a cannonball in the deep end of the pool. The surge of adrenaline was incredible, not to mention the satisfying checkmark I could place on my list of outrageous things to do during summer break.

I swam the length of the pool and reached for the ladder, meeting my mother’s dissatisfied glare as I placed my foot on the bottom rung and made my way up. She handed me a towel and stormed away, her dark curls bouncing with each clack of her red, designer pumps. She mumbled under her breath—something about wanting a nice, well-mannered daughter—but her complaints were drowned out by my other next-door neighbor’s slow clapping.

“Hello, Mr. Mitchell! Is Foster home yet?” I yelled across the yard, excited to see my lifelong best friend after months spent apart enduring our first year of college.

“Not yet, but I’m sure you’ll see him before I will.” He wasn’t wrong. Foster spent most of his time at my house over the years, but after we started college, I rarely saw him except for the occasional holiday or video chat. For two people who were accustomed to spending nearly every day together, the distance was almost unbearable.

“Hi, Darcy!”

I glanced over my shoulder to find Hazel waving at me while her boyfriend dragged suitcases up the driveway. He nodded my direction, then glanced at Hazel and smiled. They were a sweet couple. Though I was happy for my friend, I couldn’t deny I was envious of her. I wanted what she had—a great guy who thought I hung the moon.

“Hi, Hazel! How long are you in town?” I yelled. Mr. Mitchell leaned over the fence to better hear her reply.

“Only a week. Daniel’s sister is going back with us for a few weeks to explore the city. We should get lunch one day!”

“Sure thing!” I yelled, then waved as she disappeared into her house, Daniel right behind her.

“Darcy, get in here now!” My mother shouted from the back door, her face contorted with irritation. She tapped the toe of her shoe frantically against the concrete patio, her arms crossed and lips pursed. She was beyond angry.

“You better get in there before she blows.” Mr. Mitchell chuckled and disappeared behind the fence, leaving me to face my mother on my own. I wandered over to the door with puppy dog eyes and a grin, all I could muster in the way of humility. She uncrossed her arms and grasped the door handle, her red fingernails tapping furiously as she waited for me to reach her.

“Are you ever going to grow up?” she asked. I had pushed too far, but I knew how to work her. There was nothing a well-timed joke couldn’t fix.

“Probably not. It’s not my fault you and Dad are short. Five feet two inches is probably all I’ll ever be at this point.” The sides of her mouth twitched, a smile trying to escape her perfectly painted lips. “Besides, did you see that splash? Olympic divers would be impressed with your child, Mom.”

She finally laughed out loud. “Get in here and get changed before your wet clothes ruin my carpet. I swear you’re going to put me in an early grave.” She returned to her office and left me to my own devices again. The time on the clock said I was already running late, so I darted toward my bedroom.

I showered and changed as fast as I could. Ben Watkins threw the best parties, and his next one started in less than two hours. I knew Foster would be banging on my door in even less time, ever the punctual person. My first year of college was a blast, and one of Ben’s epic parties was just what I needed to kick off a phenomenal summer. People had forgotten about my antics while I was away, and I was itching to remind them that this girl was still the queen of good times and great fun.

“Hello, pretty lady.” Foster’s deep voice echoed into the bathroom from just outside the door.

“Hey! I’ll be out in a few!” I yelled back, quickly putting the last of my make-up on and adjusting the soft curls that fell down my back. I slipped into my dress and opened the door. “What do you think? Too much? Just right?”

I trusted Foster’s opinion more than anyone else’s. After all, he had been my next-door neighbor since we were seven, and my best friend for just as long. However, when I glanced up to look him in the eye, I was surprised. He was not the same boy I’d last seen three months before. His hair was shorter and cut a little differently, and he’d taken the time to shave—properly, not one of his usual shaves where he always missed a patch. For some reason, the smirk on his face made me blush, and I quickly diverted my eyes.

“It looks great. You ready soon?” he asked.

“What’s with the hair?” I asked, diverting his attention from me.

“New barber. Is it bad? Should I ask my mom to fix it before we go out?” And, the same old worrywart Foster returned. The smirk was gone, and in its place were worry lines and a frown.

“No, I think it looks good like that. Here, can you hook that little clasp so the zipper won’t open?” I had managed to get the zipper all the way up on my dress, but that tiny clasp at the top was impossible. He stopped fiddling with his hair as I turned my back to him. He slipped the hook into the eye and tucked my tag in, then gave my shoulders a squeeze when he finished.

“Have you been to your house yet? I saw your father a little while ago,” I said.

“Nope. I came to see my Doodlebug first.”

I rolled my eyes at the nickname he’d given me when we were ten. I didn’t hate it, but I always wondered how he even came up with it in the first place.

“Well, there’s no to time now. We gotta go, or we’ll be late, and you know how I hate being late to a party,” I said, wagging my finger at him.

“Don’t lie to me, Doodle. You’re never on time because you like to make an entrance,” he said.

Foster grabbed my shoes from my closet and followed me out to the kitchen. Like always, his head was in the fridge before I sat down at the table. The man had the metabolism of a hummingbird.

My mother entered the kitchen, took one look at her refrigerator, and shook her head. “The butt sticking out of my refrigerator looks a lot like Foster’s,” she teased.

His hand flew out, giving her a quick wave, but his head never left the inside of the fridge. He finally emerged with a sandwich sticking out of his mouth, sending my mother into crisis mode.

“Those are for the open house! What are you doing?” She pulled the sandwich tray from the fridge, assessed the gaping hole where two sandwiches should have been, and swatted Foster. “Out! Both of you get out of my kitchen! Houses don’t sell themselves, you know! This takes work!”

We scrambled out the front door and to his car. Foster practically dove into the driver’s seat while I slid into the passenger seat, laughing my butt off. He revved the engine and started out of the drive, turning toward Ben’s house as my mother stood on the front porch, scowling.

Ben Watkins and his girlfriend, Nina Carson, had been our friends since middle school. When the two started dating early in our senior year of high school, we all thought the romance would burn hot and fizzle out fast, but almost two years later, they were still going strong. Along with Ben’s cousin, Alicia West, we were known as the Fearless Five, causing more trouble than Principal Harrison would care to remember. I believe with all my heart, the man probably had a celebration once the five of us left his school.

When we arrived at Ben’s house, the party was already going strong. So much for arriving early, but Foster was right—I did like to make an entrance. Unfortunately for me, most everyone was already too distracted to notice I’d arrived. I’d have to remedy that quickly.

“Go easy tonight, okay? I don’t want to explain to your mom why we’re in the hospital… again.” Foster whispered in my ear seconds before Ben tackled him to the ground.

“I’m almost twenty, Foster. I know what I’m doing,” I said, eliciting an eye roll from my do-gooder best friend.

I meandered through the crowd in search of the girls and found them setting up a space for games. Wonderful. I hated playing games with drunk people, almost as much as I hated drunk people. Not only was I a risk-taker, but I was also easily annoyed, and drunk people were nothing if not an annoyance of the highest order—to me, anyway.

“Darcy!” Nina squealed when she saw me and smacked Alicia’s arm, almost knocking her into a row of chairs stacked against the wall.

“The squealing wasn’t necessary. I saw her.” Alicia’s flat tone told me two things. One, she was already bored. And two, she was annoyed with everything. Those two things made her a lethal combination, which meant someone would probably go home with a black eye or wounded pride.

“What are we playing?” I asked, a little nervous because I had a good feeling I already knew.

“Seven minutes, you in?” Alicia took her games seriously, and if I didn’t play, I would find myself outside with the other losers who didn’t like games. I sighed and agreed to play. Angry Alicia was no fun, but if I played along with her games for a while, she would get bored with them and move on.

I spotted Foster across the room, seated beside a pretty girl doing her best to get his attention. He was too involved with explaining civil engineering or whatever he was studying to another girl, who was bored out of her mind. I didn’t know if I should rescue him, or the girl he was boring to tears.

I walked over to him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him away mid-sentence. “Hey, I was just about to—”

“You were going nowhere. Trust me, my clueless friend.”

Arm in arm, we joined the group around the game table. Nina snuggled up to Ben, both excited to play the game. I assumed they didn’t care if their significant other kissed someone else, but I hoped it wasn’t me who wound up in the closet with Ben. Nina could kick my rear end any day of the week.

More people surrounded the table, several of whom I had never met before.

“Okay, guys, you know the rules. The bottle lands on you, you head to the coat closet and your partner will follow shortly after. No getting handsy, and no means no. I don’t care that it’s a kissing game. If someone says stop, you stop. Otherwise, have fun!”

Alicia sat the bottle down and spun it. Of course, the stupid thing landed on me first. My anxiety peaked, and I bounced up a little too quickly. My head felt dizzy, and I stumbled over Foster’s feet. Fortunately, he reached out to catch me before I faceplanted.

“You and your big feet,” I teased.

He shook his head with a grin, no remorse whatsoever. I rolled my eyes and headed toward the closet, shut the door, and waited. Alicia’s rules were so weird. For some reason, she always wanted the person chosen first to be surprised by their partner. I thought it was silly, but who was I to judge her crazy ways?

I sat on the floor cross-legged, waiting patiently for my partner to arrive, entirely unprepared for absolute darkness. The light above me flickered and died.

“Oh, nice. The bulb blew out.”

I heard a collective gasp on the other side of the door and sighed as I realized the power went out everywhere, not just in the little closet. I hated small spaces, and small dark spaces—well, those were definitely not my thing. I stood up and reached for the door handle, frantic to find my way out of the tiny room when the door opened and someone walked in.

“What happened? Why did the power go out?” I asked, but I was met with silence. “Hello? Who’s there?” The smell of men’s cologne drifted in the air, a little familiar, but I couldn’t place a face to the scent.

“Um… Is this okay?” he asked. The voice was familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it either. I knew I’d heard it a lot, probably in school, but the owner of the voice just wouldn’t come to me.

He slipped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. I was a little surprised he wanted to continue the game with the blackout and people wandering around looking for flashlights, but I went with it because that’s what I did. I did the unexpected, and if he was okay with it, then I was too.

“Sure, why not?” I said, then leaned toward him.

He was a lot taller than me—shocking. He had to bend down to kiss me, even as I stood on my toes, but it was a comfortable position. I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to do with my hands, so I rested them on his chest and let out a sigh. He smiled into the kiss and pulled me closer still.

I’d done some really crazy things in my life, and I’d felt adrenaline rushes most people will never experience. Back then, I was known in our little town as the wild child, the adrenaline junkie, the girl who physically couldn’t turn down a dare no matter how insane. But in my entire life, I had never had felt such a mind-blowing jolt of electricity as I did the moment his lips touched mine. It was like a lightning strike, and my brain went into overdrive.

Who is he? He seems familiar, but… not quite. He smells nice… also familiar. He’s a great kisser, and super tall... Who else was at the table after I spun? Who in the world is this guy?

But I wouldn’t find out, not then at least. He ended the kiss abruptly and rushed out the door before the lights flickered back on, leaving me standing in a puddle of confusion and electricity. My fingers tingled. My lips tingled. My toes tingled. My spine tingled—every inch of me knew this person was special, and I had to figure out who he was or risk never feeling the intense rush again.

In my nineteen years of life, I had never listened to my brain, and I rarely listened to my heart. The only thing I ever trusted my gut, and at that moment, my gut was in full agreement with my heart and my brain. I had to find him before he left. He was the jolt of electricity I had been looking for my entire life. The thrill I chased, but could never seem to catch.

I jerked the closet door open, but in the sea of scrambling people, I didn’t see a single person who looked like a guilty boy who had just kissed a girl in a dark closet. I stumbled out of the closet in search mode. I would find him, and if that meant kissing every boy in town, then so be it.