Let's Make This Moment a Crime (Nate Ruess) *THIS STORY IS HORRIBLE DON'T READ*

Chapter Five

"Rachel, I told you, I'm done."

It was my turn to hang up.

Ivy and Jack and Andrew were sitting on the counter, listening to my end of the conversation.

"I can't believe I let that woman drive me down to Rock Bottom," I croaked, shaking my head disbelievingly.

Jack put an obliging hand on my shoulder. "You can't let her get to you, bro."

Ivy and Andrew nodded in agreement.

"You've got us," Andrew reasurred. Ivy smiled weakly and gave him a light kiss on his cheek. She got up and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"And you'll always have me. For sure."

"Thank you," I whispered, putting my hands on her hips and planting a light kiss on her lips.

Jack decided to go overdramatic and slapped his hand over Andrew's eyes, squeezing his own shut.

"Ahh!" he exclaimed. "Avert your eyes!"

"Get a room!" Andrew laughed.

"Grow up, my children," I bellowed, dropping my grip on Ivy's waist and grinning sheepishly.

"I'm going to the studio to record my guitar track," Jack announced, pulling on a Fun. sweatshirt with a huge Some Nights logo printed on the back in bold, black, all-caps block lettering.

"I'm going to get some fresh air," Andrew stated, pulling on those Fun. Converse shoes with all the song titles on it.

I nodded and said, "We'll go for breakfast."

Ivy opened her mouth to protest, but I hushed her with a quick kiss to the lips, throwing her off guard.

"Put on some clothes and let's go!"

She rolled her eyes, but decided to keep her mouth shut.

Seated at a booth eating pancakes, Ivy looked at me with a question.

"Nate, your song, It Gets Better...Is it about our experience...losing our virginity?"

I nodded, chewing thoughtfully on a mouthful of hashbrowns.

"Yeah," I replied, swallowing. "I wrote that not long after we both lost our virginity to each other. It was written in scrawl on a Happy Meal bag, and I soon stuffed into a moving box and forgot about it. I didn't unpack that box in New Jersey until I found it buried in our basement years later. I went through the box of mainly junk and unfinished lyrics until I found that, and we soon transformed it into a song."

Ivy smiled happily. "That was an amazing afternoon. I still look back on it fifteen years later and don't regret a single thing. It was absolutely beautiful."

I nodded, grinning warmly. "I agree. I still remember every detail."

She took my hand from across the table. "I love you, Nate," she said in no more than a whisper, "Together again?"

"I love you too. Forever and always."