I Knew You Were Trouble

Chapter Five

She dropped a black fedora on top of my head and smiled appreciatively.

"Now let's go!" She ran from the room and I reluctantly followed.

The music was shaking the trees and lights had been strung up through the branches. There was a large bonfire close to the creek and lots of teenagers were walking around with red Solo cups and dancing with each other. The familiar party scene made my stomach clench and as I looked around, I worried I'd see him making out with some girl.

A red cup was shoved into my vision and Ice was drinking from her own, gesturing for me to take it.

I grasped it in my hands, but didn't drink from it. I learned my lesson.

"Rage!" Ice screamed, jumping up and down. A tall guy with a black mohawk and many facial piercings came up and kissed Ice directly on the mouth. She giggled as he pulled away and I was slightly disgusted. Couldn't they take that somewhere a little more private?

"This is Will, my friend from Brooklynn." Ice introduced me to Rage and I just waved awkwardly. His eyes scanned my clothes and I felt incredibly uncomfortable. Jared was off talking to a girl about twenty yards away, Ice having dressed him up in Punk clothes. He didn't look half bad, but I knew I was alone on this.

"Hey, Will. You're hot." he said. My eyes widened. No one had ever been so bold like that. Ice just giggled and plastered herself to his side.

"Thanks. I'm going to go get some food now. See you, Ice." I said, approaching a table. Ice giggled and she and Rage began to make out noisily against a tree trunk.

While I looked over the food, mostly consisting of chips and hot dogs and mixers, I jumped when a hand on my arm pulled me from my thoughts.

I looked up, expecting to see Rage or maybe even Evan but was slightly suprised to see the one person who had occupied most of my thoughts throughout the day.

"Jax. Hi." I said, smiling.

"I thought you weren't into parties?" He asked. He wore a black t-shirt and dark blue jeans with red converse and his grey beanie. In his right hand was a red plastic cup and on his wrists were leather straps, one of which had the initials JA on a metal plate.

"I'm not. Ice dragged me here." I said, leaning against the wobbly table lightly.

"There's this word...it starts with an N...N-Nice? That's not it...Oh yeah! No. You could have just said no?" He said sarcastically. I narrowed my eyes and pursed my lips.

"You're sarcasm is so not appreciated." I said. Jax chuckled.

"It seemed appropriate at the time." he said with a lopsided grin that made my stomach flutter.

"Ha Ha. You're so funny." I replied. He raised his hands in surrender.

"Okay, I get the picture. You don't like sarcasm." He laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow and raised his Solo cup.

"Free booze. And pretty girls." He looked at me expectantly and my face blushed furiously.

"Well there's plenty of that here." I gestured to the party and he smiled.

"Well there's one in particular that I'd rather spend time with." he hinted. I frowned, trying to slow my rapidly beating heart.

"Her?" I pointed to a girl with many tattoos on her neck.

"Uh, no. Guess again." He said with a chuckle.

"Hmmm, do you know Ice by chance?" I asked, gesturing to where she was making out with Rage and he grimaced.

"You suck at this game, you know that?" He asked, tapping my nose with his index finger. "It's you, you muppet." He said with a laugh. I blushed even harder.