Unconditional.

The rest of Felix's birthday party had been pretty good. Aidan had come over to me and Holly and dragged us into the throng, doing some weird dance moves I couldn't even begin to describe. Holly and I joined in the best we could, laughing under the firelight. For a while all my negative thoughts and worries left me and I just enjoyed myself.

When Holly asked me for a lift home, I hesitated, wondering if it would be awkward. It was a long drive, but I couldn't exactly abandon her. I consented and we made for my dad's car. A million thoughts collided in my head as I climbed into the driver's seat. What on earth could we talk about for an hour? Was she serious about being friends, or did she just see me as her ride home? Was this going to be as awkward as I thought it would be?

Holly slid into the passenger seat and immediately made herself at home, putting her feet up and turning on the radio. I looked at her uncertainly before starting the engine, and she smiled shyly at me. I cleared my throat and backed the car off the grass, my heart thumping a little too hard in my chest. I hated how nervous she made me.

She was silent for a while, nodding her head along to the quiet music and tapping her fingers on her knees, her hair dancing in the soft breeze sent in through the gap in the open window. I glanced at her a few times before realising she was looking at my hand.

"What?" I demanded, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze.

"I was just thinking," she mumbled, tearing her eyes off me and glancing out of the window, up at the stars.

It was nice to be able to see the stars. Living in the middle of the city, all I saw at night was streetlights and a black sky. Out here, in the middle of nowhere, space opened itself up to you. It didn't look real, the amount of stars there were.

"What are you thinking?" I asked, and she shrugged, glancing at my hand again.

"Nothing," she muttered, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Tell me," I insisted, trying my hardest to keep my eyes on the road.

"Well," she said slowly, moving her gaze up from my stitches to my face, "I was thinking about... You. I don't know how to feel about dragging you into my problems. Almost every time I talk to you he adds new injuries to your body, and..."

"Hey," I said softly, moving one hand off the steering wheel to touch her shoulder, "he didn't hurt me, okay? I did this to myself."

"Didn't he hurt you when you ran into him in the park?" she said. "The day he trashed your house?"

"How do you know about that?"

She shrugged. "He told me. I just don't like that you're so involved in this. Like you said, you don't know me. You don't owe it to me to get between Luke and me."

"Someone needs to," I grumbled.

"If I couldn't handle him, I'd ask for help."

"I don't believe you."

The thought of Luke and Holly still being in contact made me uneasy. I didn't pretend to know anything about their relationship, but he'd hurt her before. Why was she still talking to him? Was he threatening her too? She'd broken up with him, hadn't she? Why couldn't he just leave her alone?

We fell silent again. There were so many questions I wanted to ask her, but I knew it wasn't my place. The need to protect her roared back to life inside me, fuelling me with adrenaline that made me grip the wheel tighter. I winced, my stitches stretching as my hands tightened.

The silence encouraged my thoughts to bounce around freely in my head, and I couldn't help thinking about the night's events. Holly had asked to be friends. She'd asked for a lift home. She was worried about my involvement with Luke. What did it all mean? All my outlandish feelings for her were resurfacing with a vengeance, making me want to pull over and press our lips together. I wanted to protect her, I wanted her to be mine. But she couldn't be feeling those bizarre things for me because there had to be one rational person in the car, right?

I took a deep breath and tried to focus on the road. I couldn't be thinking these things right now, not when she was in the car with me. I had to think of something to say to her, something to distract myself.

"Hey Josh?" she said quietly, and I glanced at her. "You haven't told anyone about Luke, have you?"

"I wouldn't do that," I assured her. "I promised you I wouldn't."

I saw her smile in my periphery, and I found it really diffficult not to stare. I wanted to tell her how beautiful she was, but that would be weird. Instead I kept quiet, trusting her to continue the conversation.

"It's funny," she said, turning away from me to look out the window, almost as if she was talking to herself. "I mean, it's nice that someone knows about Luke. I feel like I can tell you all my secrets and you won't tell anyone. Is that weird?"

"How many more secrets do you have?" I said with a grin, doing my best to suppress those stupid fuzzy feelings I felt when she said those things to me.

She shrugged. "Heaps. Want to know another?"

"Go for it," I said, trying not to sound too eager. God, what was wrong with me?

"Nope," she laughed, crossing her arms like a child. "You have to tell me one first."

"What are you, ten years old?" I demanded, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Hey," she said, "I trust you. You should trust me too. Come on, Josh. Don't you just have a bunch of things you want to tell someone without being judged?"

"Everyone does," I muttered.

"So," she said impatiently, turning in her seat to face me, tucking her feet underneath her, "I'm that person. I've told you my deepest, darkest secret. Now you tell me one. No judging, no laughing. I'll just listen. It's not like I have anyone to tell anyway."

"Why? What makes you think I'm interesting enough to have deep, dark secrets?"

"We're friends now," she insisted. "This is a good way to get to know each other. Tell me a secret."

I didn't know whether or not it was weird that Holly trusted me, of all people, with her darkest secret. I was the guy who beat someone up in an alley on my first day of work, and left early the very same day to take home my manager's daughter. I was the weirdo who got involved with her crazy relationship and did reckless things like wreck her ex's car. I could imagine her seeing me as the reckless, thoughtless type who did things without caring what happened. Who would trust a person like that?

But I knew what she meant. To me she was the petulant, spoilt little college girl who liked to mess around with feelings. She didn't know what she wanted. She had enough mood swings to give passersby whiplash. But I trusted her. We trusted each other. So was it so weird if the feelings were mutual? I wondered how many of my other feelings were mutual with her.

Then again, how could she not judge me for the secret I was about to tell her?

"Josh...?"

"Fine," I sighed, snapping back into reality. "Erm, I was sacked from my last job for beating up my manager's son?"

Her eyes widened. "You have a thing for fighting on the job, don't you Joshie?"

I winced at the pet name. It was what Seb called me when he was drunk and I hated it. But I didn't say anything. If the girl I liked wanted to use her own name for me, who was I to say no? Unless, of course, she was just doing it to mock me.

"What happened?" she asked after I fell silent.

I glanced at her. "I didn't know I was supposed to explain myself too?"

"Well you don't have to," she grinned. "You can just let me assume you beat up your manager's son because you're a huge, egotistical asshole, or...?"

I noticed how most of the things she said sounded like a question, but at the same time somehow she sounded so convicted in what she said. As if she was asking me to agree. It was quite funny. Cute, too. Her voice was soft and sweet, and I could've listened to it forever. It kind of made me want her to read one of her classical books to me.

"Josh?" she giggled, snapping me out of it again. "You get so distracted?"

"Yeah," I said, "um, well, I worked in a garage with my friend Leo and my boss was never around. But his son was always there and he was annoying as hell. He watched my every move and told me I was doing everything wrong. To him I was this insolent, useless child and he tried to get his dad to sack me so many times. He always went to him saying I was stealing stuff and breaking things, and he even tried to plant evidence in my jacket once."

"Why?" she asked, tilting her head a little to the side. "Was he jealous of you for, like, having better hair than him?"

I laughed. "Probably. I mean, I don't think I ever gave him a reason to hate me. We went to the same school before I worked there, but he was a few years ahead of me, with my sister. Maybe he just liked picking on people, I don't know. But when I got with my girlfriend she came to meet me after work most days, and he was always trying to flirt with her. I mean, I didn't really like her that much, but it irritated me and one day it just got too much. I snapped."

"You should've smacked their heads together?" she smirked, and I grinned back.

"Nah," I said. "I knew what she was like when I got with her. We were together for a while after that, actually. As if it never even happened right in front of my face."

"What happened? In work, I mean?"

"I guess he'd been a little more irritating than usual that day," I said with a shrug. "Then Liss showed up and he went straight for her. Something snapped in me and I dragged him back by the shirt. When he turned around I didn't hesitate. I hit him until his nose cracked. He was only half conscious when Leo pulled me off him. And just my luck, my boss showed up just as Leo was dragging me off his son."

She let out a low whistle. "You, sir, have quite a temper."

I shook my head. "Not really. I mean, I never used to. I guess he broke me, I don't know."

"And what happened with your girlfriend?" she asked, and I raised an eyebrow. "Did you hit her too?"

"Is that supposed to be some sort of sick joke?" I demanded, and Holly laughed. "I wouldn't hit a girl."

"Sexist," she sang, pointing a finger at me.

"We just split up," I continued, ignoring her accusation. "We argued a lot and afterwards we just agreed it would be best to go our own ways."

"Oh," she said.

As I told her this, I realised that was the moment that had changed my life. Before I'd started work at that garage I'd been happy. I'd only ever been in petty little fights at school, I'd never really been in any real trouble. I'd just kept my head down and had a good time with my little group of friends. Then something inside me must've really broken, because since then I haven't felt the same. I just breezed through life, trying to keep out of trouble, but trouble just loved my company. I hadn't been able to escape it since. So in a way, all this was my old manager's son's fault.

I sighed and looked up at the stars again, realising this was the most relaxed I'd felt in a long time. In this little moving metal box, I felt like no one could get us. It was like we were floating around in space, out of reach of anyone who wanted to get us down on earth. I wanted so badly to pull over on one of the empty fields and talk to her all night.

"You know," said Holly quietly, looking absentmindedly out her window, "I've never known a guy to think as much as you do. What goes through your head when you drift away from our conversations?"

"Hey," I snapped playfully, smiling at her, "it's your turn to tell a secret. No more about me, not yet."

"Is what you told me your biggest secret?" she asked, ignoring what I'd said.

"Your turn," I insisted, prodding her in the side and making her squeal.

"Okay," she giggled. "I skip half my classes in college. Sometimes I take whole days off behind my dad's back."

"Really?" I said, surprised. "The quiet little girl reading Gatsby in the corner skips school?"

"Not a little girl," she corrected, "and yeah. I never wanted to go to college. My dad makes me go. He thinks I won't have a very good future if I skip out on 'further education'? It was hard enough getting him to agree to let me take Art for one of my courses."

She rolled her eyes and for a moment I just looked at her. This was a whole different person from the one I'd first met at the club. Now I could see why she was in such a bad mood all the time. Her abusive ex boyfriend wouldn't leave her alone and her dad was forcing her through college? And there I'd been, thinking her a spoilt little rich girl with the world at her fingertips.

My gaze moved slowly back to the road and I let out a low whistle. I'd had Holly Brewer pinned completely wrong.

"What do you want, if not further education?" I asked, and a smile touched her face.

"It's nice to be asked that for once," she acknowledged. "I guess I want simplicity. I want to open a shop, like a bakery or a little cafe, and live in the little apartment above it? I think it'd be really nice to just sit in there with a notepad to doodle in and endless streams of coffee. I think it'd be really cute? But I can't exactly do that if I'm not earning any money, you know?"

I nodded. "It does sound nice. Maybe you could get a job after college, or on Saturdays for the timebeing."

She shrugged and smiled sadly. "I don't even have any friends in college."

"You don't? How come?"

She shook her head. "Beats me. I'm great, right?"

"Definitely," I laughed. "So where do you go when you skip classes?"

"I like getting the bus to the pier outside town and playing on the arcade games," she said with a smile. "Sometimes the guy at the counter gives me free candy floss and lets me stay past closing time if I want to."

I shook my head in disbelief. It was so strange to me that Holly didn't have any friends. She was funny, she read classics, her father owned a nightclub, she liked arcade games and she was undoubtedly the most beautiful person I'd ever seen. Honestly, she was beyond perfect. She was flawless. How could no one in her college want to be friends with her?

The stars began to disappear, smothered by pollution as we reached the centre of the city. I slowed down, not wanting the drive to end. I found Holly utterly fascinating. I wanted to ask her what other books she read, what her favourite games were, what films she watched and what else she liked to do outside the club. I wanted to help her save money to achieve her dreams, I wanted to help her get rid of Luke. I wanted everything to do with her.

But soon enough I pulled up outside her house, killing the engine and stretching my legs. She looked doubtfully up at the pretty white house with the red door, and I shot her a quizzical look. She shook her head and smiled. Apparently the time for sharing secrets was over, and the time for wondering without answers had returned. What could possibly stop her from wanting to go home? Her dad couldn't be that bad, could he? He seemed pretty cool to me.

I stepped out of the car and walked around it, opening Holly's door for her. She smiled gratefully up at me and accepted my hand. I pulled her gently to her feet, the temptation to pull her body against mine almost too much to bear. Instead I let her hand drop and walked at her side, keeping my distance so our skin didn't accidentally brush. We stopped at her door and she grinned up at me, tucking her disobedient hair behind her ear. I made a mental note to beat her to it next time.

Suddenly I felt awkward. Didn't guys only do this on dates? In movies? God, I was stupid. She probably thought me an idiot for walking her to her door. I immediately thought about kissing her, but I knew she wouldn't want to. Why would she, after one tiny hour of conversation in the car? She was just being polite, not forward. God, Josh, you're an idiot.

"Thanks for the lift," she said, searching her pockets for a key.

"It's no problem," I replied, and suddenly I had a stupid idea. "Listen, why don't you call me next time you skip college? There's a pretty cool arcade in town if you don't want to waste your money on a bus...?"

I trailed off, feeling like a twat. Of course she didn't want to spend her time with me. It probably sounded creepy, like I was asking for a date. I had half a mind to walk away right then and there, before I could make a bigger fool of myself, but a smile grew on her lips.

"I'd like that," she said quietly. "It'll be nice to have some company for once. How about tomorrow?"

I shook my head. "I can't tomorrow, my dad's got this art exhibit that I'm helping out with. What about Tuesday?"

Holly nodded, beaming, and I felt my spirits rise at the thought that she wanted to spend time with me. I grinned, finding it a little weird that I was planning times for Holly to skip her classes. Here I was, corrupting my manager's daughter. Apparently I hadn't learned from my last job.

Suddenly Holly pulled me into a hug, and after the initial shock I relaxed into it and hugged her back. Her hair smelled sweet, like honey, and it felt soft between my fingers. It felt so good to have her in my arms, even just as friends, but even just as friends I couldn't help but notice how well she fit in my embrace.

"Thanks again," she said as she pulled out of the hug. She took my phone from my pocket and punched her number in before passing it back to me. "Text me later so I have your number, okay?"

I nodded and watched her slip inside, waving goodnight to me as she closed the door behind her. Holly had just given her number to me. Holly had just agreed to spend a day with me. Had that really just happened?

Five minutes later I arrived back home, and I went straight to bed, suddenly tired. I had an early morning the next day, and I wasn't looking forward to the tension between Seb and my father all the way through the exhibit. But thoughts of Holly kept me awake for a while. I felt anticipation for Tuesday bubble up inside me, and I feared I wouldn't be able to sleep much. But eventually I nodded off, and the next thing I knew my alarm was going off.

I got straight out of bed and showered, hearing my dad already getting ready for the exhibit downstairs. I sighed. It was going to be a long day.