Carry You Home.

The Hutcherson family always had a fourth of July ritual that included inviting a bunch of family and friends over to swim in their in-ground pool, grill every meat imaginable, maybe, almost guaranteed game of basketball, drinks, and of course an abundant amount of fireworks. This year, McKinley got to join in on the fun, seeing Josh and her were trying to work out exactly what the other want wanted.

McKinley knew what she wanted; Josh. Only it wasn't simple. Maybe if he was just the average guy, maybe in the midst of graduating college, or stuck at some dead end job, but he wasn't. Josh wasn't average. His name was thrown around casually around peoples dinner tables across the United States; across the entire planet. He had his beautiful mug print screened on tee shirts, for crying out loud!

She wasn't that simple either, she wasn't as average as she had been letting on. Of course she wasn't famous, but she wasn't a simple girl from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania either. She didn't graduate high school early because she hated it, or the kids were mean there, she had other reasons that made her grow up a little too quick. They showed every time she looked in the mirror; McKinley was just glad that people, and by people she means Josh, are too oblivious to see. And all of that made it hard for McKinley to let herself to dive head, or heart, first into the abyss that is called Josh.

Josh on the other hand, didn't have the battle that McKinley had going on inside his head. He knew what he wanted, and he told and showed anyone that would give him an ounce of their time. McKinley Joseph was his, whether she knew it or not. Whether she wanted or not.

That girl had him deep under her spell; he couldn't do anything without the constant need of her. Josh couldn't go a second without looking at her or thinking about her, touching her velvety, alabaster skin or kissing her lips that felt like pillowed clouds.

McKinley stared at her reflection coming from the mirror that hung from the back of Josh's door. She's been standing there for the last twenty minutes, carefully dissecting what's wrong with the most recent outfit she's tried on. It only took Josh a total of five minutes to get ready; all he had to do was through on a pair of board shorts, a tank top and slip on his sandals and aviator sunglasses and he was set.

McKinley had three bathing suits that she could wear but in each one you could see the faint, yellowing bruises on her chest and hips that Josh left on her a few days ago. They were annoying, but a constant reminder of how it felt his lips on her, sending her into a frenzy of emotions, each time she thought about it too hard. So that left all sorts of swimming material out of the equation.

She did have American flag short. She was wearing them now along with a loose fitting black shirt that slips off her shoulder on occasion. McKinley always had a nasty habit of judging girls too quickly when she spotted them out at family functions wearing skimpy little shorts like the ones she’s currently sporting. She understood that it was hot and everything, but they should learn to respect their elders.

A knock on the door pulled McKinley out of her thoughts. "Come in."

"Hey," Michelle, Josh's mom, poked her head into the room. "People are starting to get here; Josh wants you to meet everyone before too much alcohol gets consumed."

"Do I look trashy?" McKinley asked seriously, that's what she saw when she looked in the mirror.

"No dear, you look just fine. Why?"

"Are you sure that these shorts aren't too short? I don't want to offend anybody," McKinley pulled down on the hem of her shorts, causing the bruises to show so she quickly pulled them back up.

Michelle let out a loud laugh. "Oh Sweetie, you're not going to offend anybody." McKinley decided to take Josh's mom's word for it, and decided not to dwell on her problems, or keep everybody waiting.

She made her way down the set of stairs behind Michelle and into a growing crowd of people that were congregating in the family room and kitchen, waiting for the mystery girl that Josh has told his family about, to make her debut. Michelle looked back at her, giving her an encouraging smile before releasing her to the wolves.

McKinley didn't have to fend for herself for too long. In no time, a large hand attached to her waist, and attached to that hip was an overzealous Josh, whisking her away to meet a group of his cousins, family friends, and his roommate; Andre. Among the group were two familiar faces that McKinley was surprised that she found herself relieved when she made eye contact with the two of them.

"Help me," she muttered into Connor's ear as Josh busied himself with rattling off the names of people that surrounded her.

"Hey Josh, I'm going to go McKinley how Dad makes his loudmouth soup," Connor said quickly, pulling her away from the crowd, not bothering to wait for his brother's response.

When they were a good distance away and out of earshot, McKinley gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much."

"Yeah, he's pretty psycho right now. What spell do you have over him?" Connor jokes.

"I don't know. I just agreed that I wouldn't leave the day I got here and he could take me to a Reds game and dinner in the Space Needle, then I told him that he could show me all over L.A. Next thing I know he's bombarding me with all this, it's like I'm his girlfriend or something significant."

Connor rubs the back of his neck. "I think you are his girlfriend, I mean that's what he's telling everybody. 'Hey Grams you need to meet my girlfriend, she's amazing.'" Connor did a piss poor imitation of his older brother.

McKinley let out an aggravated groan. "He doesn't even know me though, how does he know if I'm amazing or not? I could be a monster for all he knows."

Connor shrugs, "It's that gut instinct that I was telling you about. It's hard to reign in Josh when he gets this excited about something. Just let him have his fun then talk to him when you get him alone."

"What are your instincts about me Connor? I mean it's got to be weird for you. You watched your brother hit on me, take me out for dinner, you know we slept together, and now I'm here like I'm someone important."

Connor bit the bottom of his lip, McKinley could see in his face that he was debating on some things. "Yeah it's weird. I mean I never thought that a one night stand would result in Avan having to sleep on the couch because you're still occupying his bed."

"Oh."

"It's just that he's in a line of work that is appealing to a lot of people, and to a lot of girls they think that they can ride on the coattails of some hopeless romantic that can't see what they are really after."

"I could care less what Josh does. I have no desire to join the spotlight with him, I'm not some gold digging hussy," McKinley said defensively.

It was Connor's turn to let out an aggravated groan. "I'm not saying that you in particularly are some gold digging hussy, but it's been known to happen. You're okay, I don't know you well enough to think anything else, but my instincts tell me to trust Josh."

McKinley didn't know what to say exactly. Connor basically just announced to her that he didn't trust her because for all he knows, she could be someone just using Josh for his fame. Only he was going to go along with it because Josh seems to know what he's doing, but McKinley didn't know what she was doing at all. She hadn't signed up for being his girlfriend. She just agreed to see where this would lead.

McKinley sat at the edge of the pool; her legs dangling in the water while sipping on some mixed concoction called Loudmouth Soup Chris urged her try. It was way too strong, and made her head fuzzy with the first drink, but she didn't want to be rude. She watched from behind her sunglasses as Josh, Avan, Connor, as well as a few other people that she had been introduced to but has long since forgotten their names played catch with a chlorine soaked foam ball.

"McKinley, catch!" she heard Josh say only seconds before registering that he was throwing the small ball towards her. Not enough to put her hands up to block it from smacking her square in the nose.

Josh was at her in seconds, ready to start is series of apologies when he noticed the blood flowing freely from her nose. "Shit, you're bleeding."

McKinley quickly put her hand up to cover her nose and to hide the blood. This isn't her first nose bleed, she used to get them a lot when she was younger. They'd come and go at any time of the day for no provoking reason at all. Josh pulled himself up and out of the pool, water forming a puddle at his feet, and guided McKinley into the house, towards the bathroom.

"I'm so sorry, McKinley. I keep hurting you," Josh says as he watches McKinley from her spot perched on top of the bathroom counter, leaning forward slightly, pinching the bridge of her nose with toilet paper shoved up her nostrils.

McKinley laughs, she needs to keep the mood light. "It's fine. I used to get them like once a week when I was younger."

"Why?"

McKinley shrugged her shoulders, even though she knew the answer. "I don't know. Allergies I guess. The bleeding should stop soon."

It did stop and McKinley flushed the bloody toilet paper down the toilet, removing any evidence that her nose even bled. She looked at herself in the mirror making sure there was nothing on her face before turning back to Josh.

"All better," she said with a smile.

Josh returned her smile with a sexy smirk. "Guess what."

"What?"

"We're alone," he whispered, his head disappearing into the crook of her neck where McKinley felt his hot lips leave even hotter kisses on her skin.

"Josh," it came out more of a moan than anything, and it only encouraged him further down her neck, adjusting her top to reveal more skin. She let out another small whimper as he used his tongue to tease her, which only encouraged him further down until he was crouching between her legs beginning to make short work of her zipper. "Josh, stop."

He wasn't in the mood of following directions, shimming McKinley's patriotic shorts down her legs in one quick and fluid movement. Josh placed a single kiss on the outside of her skimpy panties before he felt McKinley's fingers lace through his thick hair. He thought it was encouragement but instead she pulled him away from her crotch before he could do anything else.

"What?"

"I told you to stop. Your family is right outside," McKinley pointed to the window where you could hear Josh's close ones mingling with one another.

"They're not going to find out."

"It doesn't matter," she huffed as Josh watched as McKinley reached down to pull her shorts back up and secure them around her waist with a small silver button.

"What's wrong?" His brows furrowed in confusion.

"I think I should leave, without you."

"I thought we decided that we'd leave tomorrow. I thought we were going to go see a game together then fly to Seattle."

"Well I don't think that's a good idea. I just need to leave, I'm sorry." McKinley made her way to the door but Josh successfully blocked her, being half a foot taller than her and two of her in width. "Josh, I'm serious, let me leave."

"No," he said with even more confusion showing on his face.

Being trapped in a bathroom frightened McKinley. She didn't know why, maybe she did subconsciously, but nothing came to mind when she could feel herself start freaking out. She looked up to the window; she could get out that way.

"You'd rather climb out of a window then tell me why you think you want leave?" Josh read her thoughts.

"I don't think, I know that I'm leaving."

"Tell me why then. Give me one good reason and I'll let you walk out that front door, no question asked, no hard feelings."

McKinley let out a large puff of air through her nose and ran her hands nervously through her short hair. "I'm not your girlfriend Josh. I didn't agree to that."

"You said that we could see where this goes."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean that I'm automatically your girlfriend. That commitment has so many strings attached to it and I don't know if I want that."

"There aren't that many strings attached," Josh tried to reason.

McKinley shook her head; he wouldn't understand where she was coming from. "Just let me leave Josh. Seriously, in like a week you'll forget all about me, promise."

"I like you too much to forget about you in a week."

"You don't even know me!" McKinley shouted louder than she should of, but it was enough for Josh to catch on.

"So let me get to know you."

McKinley rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. This was it; either she stays or she leaves. McKinley leaves and that's the end of it. She'll never know what could have happened; what she and Josh might have ended up. If McKinley stayed though, that meant that she'd have to open up. Reveal to not only him but to his family why she started this fifty state journey in the first place. There would be too much that she wouldn't want to tell Josh, but would end up spilling her guts out to him after falling head first in love with him. She knew that if she stayed, that she would. But that meant that Josh could easily break her heart and she knew that she was physically not strong enough to go through all of that.

"I need to leave," McKinley said slowly.

Josh looked at her, honestly crushed. In the few short days he spent with McKinley he knew that she was trouble; she was a thief. In those few short days she managed to steal his heart and she wasn't giving it back. Josh wouldn't take no for an answer, he couldn't. And dammit he was Josh fucking Hutcherson and he would charm and persuade anybody into doing anything if he really put his mind to it.

So he wrapped his arms around her, allowing her to smack his chest with open and closed fists, trying desperately and failing miserably to get out of his grasp. He held her though, until she wore herself out and stopped fighting, standing against his body with her hands clutching his bare chest.

"You're not leaving without me," Josh whispered quietly.

This was honestly ridiculous, McKinley thought. This boy was nuts, clinically coo coo. She didn't understand how he could act like this, like they've known each other for years and at this moment it was make or break for the both of them.

Yeah so what if she's spent the last few days pretending to be a part of his family. Participating in all family functions, helping make dinner, joining in on family jokes and secrets. McKinley would admit, it felt nice to be a part of something again. She hadn't realized how badly she craved human interaction. It had been too long since the last time she sat down and had dinner with other people.

"I don't want to get hurt, Josh. You'll realize I'm not the girl you think I am, you'll come to your senses and find out that I'm not the girl you concocted me to be in your head. You'll leave me and I'll be broken, I know it, and I'm not strong enough to go through that."

"Sh," Josh shushed her. "Nothing is going to happen to us."

"How do you know? I'm not who you think I am."

"Then who are you McKinley?"