𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐓 qᵘⁱⁿⁿ ʰᵘᵍʰᵉˢ

04

april, 2018

Ivy had just gotten her license, feeling unstoppable on the rough roads of michigan. Despite the ever growing potholes and construction cones, she was having the best time of her life. Her car that she'd gotten for her sixteenth birthday finally being put to use.

Quinn, however, looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack in the passenger seat. Her parents were working at the time of her appointment with the DMV and Quinn offered to drive her. He didn't expect that after passing her test he would be so nervous to let her drive home.

Except, she wasn't driving home and they had been in the car for nearly an hour.

"Easy on the breaks, V." Quinn had gripped the handle above his window like his life depended on it.

"Relax, I'm a licensed driver now, you can't tell me what to do." She grinned, tapping her fingers along the wheel to the music as if she were a professional.

"Where are we even going?" Quinn questioned, trying to name the street she had turned on but he didn't recognize it.

"I'm not sure, just driving."

Ivy had always been like this, living life on the edge. She let her heart guide her, she hoped to travel the world some day. In her mind, she would do it with Quinn at her side, her best friend. Maybe in the summers during his off seasons, she knew he was going to make it big and these next few months before the draft could be the last time they got to spend every second together.

Quinn had always went along with her antics, at first it was to make sure she was being safe. When they were younger and he would get stuck with her, Jack and Luke while their parents went on double dates; he was more worried she'd run off on her own than he worried about a young Luke. He grew to love it though, as they got older he understood that a little impulsive decision making wouldn't hurt anyone.

When they first moved in next door to the Morgans, their parents were worried that she and Jack would be sneaking off together by the time they were sixteen. Then as time went on, they realized Jack wasn't the brother they needed to watch. Ivy was glued to Quinn by the time she could develop a real crush on a boy. They all saw it in her eyes and Quinn never really understood why the girl was always following him around.

That was until he started to really enjoy her at his side. When he'd turned sixteen he no longer pushed her towards Jack when she'd come over. He had found himself waiting for that moment she'd walk in after cheer practice like it was her own home. Craved feeling her hug him after every game.

The pair had wound up at an abandoned park, swings rusted and the slide was barely hanging onto the playset. They were on the backroads, the early spring weather just warm enough thatthey weren't freezing as they stepped out of the car.

Ivy ignored the clinks of the old chains, taking a seat on one of the swings and inviting Quinn to sit beside her. The wind was slowing, birds singing to them as they made themselves comfortable.

"Hey, Q?" He wasn't moving on his swing, though her feet were kicking back and forth, finding her momentum.

"Yeah?" Quinn watched her carefully, afraid the swingset would collapse.

"Do you think guys at school don't like me?" She questioned, slowing her kicks as he seemed to think too long on his answer. That made her heart pound in fear, "do you think it's cause of my skin? Everyone else we go to school with is just these pretty blondes and—"

"Ivy, don't say that." Quinn seemed offended, kicking himself off the swing to stand in front of her. He grabbed the chains, stopping her completely, "V, you're beautiful. Your skin is beautiful. Those guys we go to school with, they don't deserve you. They are nothing compared to you."

She stared up at him with a frown, "why don't you like me then?"

Quinn didn't know how to put his response into words. He does like her, a hell of a lot more than he should. Rather than saying anything, knowing the words would come out slow and stuttered—he kissed her.

now,

The four had fallen asleep on the livingroom couches, exhausted from the snow, waking up to Jim wanting them to move. Except, when they woke, Jack let out the first cough and it went like domino's, one after the other. They weren't unbearably sick, but enough to bundle themselves in blankets by the fireplace as Ellen started the soup.

"I cannot go back to Jersey like this." Jack grumbled, leaning against Ivy with a sigh.

"Then stay here." Ivy mumbled, scratching a hand through his hair.

"Can't. Neeks would kill me."

"Don't be dramatic, Nico would give you the week off if he could. You're like his prized player." Luke retorted, laid out in front of them on his stomach, a couch pillow beneath his head. "Quinny is asleep again." The teen pointed out, Quinn already fast asleep with his back against the couch.

"Oh, no." Ivy sighed, reaching back to him and pressing her hand to his forehead.

"Dude has the worst immune system." Jack mumbled, noticing how Ivy's hand retreated. "He's burning up?"

"Yeah, we should get him away from the fireplace." Ivy stated, pulling her hand away from Jack to fully get herself back to Quinn. She couldn't help but to wake him up softly, rubbing his shoulder and pushing back his hair. "Q, let's go to your room, alright?" She whispered as he stirred at the touch.

"This sucks." Quinns voice was hoarse, a cough brewing in his throat.

"I know, you're just dying." She teased, holding out her hand as he pushed himself up from the floor.

"I could be."

"You're fine, it'll pass in like a day." She assured, walking with him to his room. Ivy hadn't been in that room for years, but it hadn't changed much. A few new pictures added to his wall of polaroids, his draft Jersey, but it was still mostly the same.

He had even kept their pictures up.

"You remember that day?" Quinn asked quietly, catching her staring at one of the pictures longingly.

"The day I got my license." And the day he kissed her for the first time.

"Yeah, it was." Quinn sighed out, a notable frown appearing on his face but Ivy didn't comment on it. Instead, she let him get comfortable in his bed.

"I'll be back when Ellen finishes the soup."