2

"No, thanks, just... just looking for something that's not showing up," I ended up muttering. "Do you need anything?"

My craving for tobacco was making me nervous. Just one, a damn cigarette between my lips, and I'd be happy. I didn't consider myself a heavy smoker, but I did smoke occasionally, especially at parties; I was more of a social smoker.

"A beer."

Since I wasn't going to find my tobacco, I approached the fridge and grabbed the first bottle of beer I saw. The fridge was full of food, but I rarely ate at home; I usually preferred going to Jerry's with my friends and enjoying a fun meal.

I turned to the guy and pressed my lips into a smirk as I looked at him. If I wanted to get more than just four words out of him, I needed to know his name.

"What's your name?"

He ran his hand through his hair, looking at me with a tense jaw and expressionless eyes. Maybe if I hadn't been born impulsive, I would be scared, but instead, I found it amusing that he was going to play the cold and rude guy with me and end up telling me everything about him.

I raised both eyebrows, and my smile widened as I shook the beer bottle in the air.

"If you told me your name, we'd be done sooner, tattoos."

He kept looking at me, and I straightened up, arching a single eyebrow. Did he think he could intimidate me? Well, the slight tremors in my body let me know that he was succeeding, albeit slightly. It was just one word, one word and I'd leave to the street to buy tobacco, or call Nora to have her buy it for me with her freshly turned eighteen years.

"I don't have to tell you," he asserted, but yes, he did.

"I'm Andra, the girl who won't give you the beer until you tell her your name," I smiled, taking a step closer to him and seeing over his shoulder how one of the girls in the living room frowned at me. My hand gained momentum, and I ended up flipping her off. "I've told you my name, are you going to tell me yours? I'll end up finding out one way or another."

He took large strides towards me, snatching the beer bottle from my hands with a triumphant smile.

"Jax Jones. Stay away from me."

I slightly opened my mouth. Damn! All the rumors the girls spread were true; that guy was like a panther, handsome, attractive, strong, and enigmatic. The rumors about him were everywhere, but the most believable one was that he participated in illegal fights; that was something even I believed, but I didn't care to think of him as anything more than a rumor. It was a possibility someone had come up with. Nora—my best friend—had talked to me about him; his name, Jax Jones, was circulating with a story behind it, all those made-up stories.

"Just because people talk about you like you're the worst of demons doesn't mean I'm afraid of you," I assured.

"You should step out of your spoiled daughter comfort zone and live the world like I do to say you're not afraid of me," he was sure of what he was saying, and his words came out of him as if he had repeated them over and over again; I could even sense some disgust in his tone.

I avoided letting him notice the surprise on my face when he finished speaking. He shouldn't judge me without knowing me. I huffed aloud, not wanting him to see my surprise, but I didn't care if he heard me huffing just because I cared little about what others thought of me. I tried to walk around him to leave the kitchen; if he didn't want to talk earlier, I didn't want to talk after his misguided comment.

"Your world isn't much different from mine, Jax."

I walked straight to the door, not wanting to turn my head to see him or any of the others in the living room; I could already imagine myself with a cigarette between my lips and gossiping with Nora about Jax Jones showing up at my house.

---

"You had Jax Jones in your house?" Nora sat on a bench in the park near our neighborhood, and I imitated her, letting out the smoke from my cigarette.

"I want to know about him," I admitted, and watched from afar as a couple argued loudly. "He's so hot, but he treated me like a spoiled child, and my desire to kiss him has been ruined... well, not that, because I still want to sleep with him."

Nora tied her short, pink hair into a ponytail. It was one of those hot days we were experiencing in summer; all we needed were the vacations to start, and we could go to Sicily as we had discussed. We were going to spend all our time at the beach in our bikinis, just enjoying being young.

"That guy is trouble, Andra, be careful," she warned.

Yes, like the good best friend she was.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," I looked at her and kissed her cheek, biting it with some force. "There was a friend of his at my house too; can you imagine going out with him? You, who are more into relationships, could get me closer to Jax."

She coughed, and I let out a laugh seeing her eyes open wide like a doll whose eyes popped out when you squeezed it. She was not only looking out for me, Nora was my best friend, and she wanted the best for me. The other guy at my house was Jax's best friend; they were like brothers. If Jax Jones wasn't into relationships, Trent Hunter was—at least—a guy who respected women; I had seen him at parties, and when he was done with a girl, he didn't look for another, or not always; at least he didn't pass the saliva from one to another like it was a roulette wheel.