The Past - November 2, 2011

Alaina Harding.

Talon stood next to me, not removing his eyes off of me."What?" I asked looking away from the books in my locker.

"You're beautiful." He suddenly said making me close my locker halfway so I could see his full face.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked with my eyebrows furrowed as I gently pulled at the paper shoved at the bottom of my locker.

He smiled,"Nothing."

I looked down at my jeans, black vest, striped long sleeve shirt, and boots. There was nothing special about what I was wearing today so why was he acting so strange. I didn't comment on it anymore and only slid on my black jacket and hat.

"Are you ready?" He asked and I nodded slowly. He slammed my locker before grabbing my hand and pulling me down the hallway.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I demanded, letting him pull me to whatever destination. I was dragged all the way to the little theatre we had in our school. The doors shut behind us, submerging us in darkness.

I felt his warm palm touch my cold cheek, immediately heating it up."Talon?" I whispered confused by his sudden attitude.

"I need you to do something for me." He said softly and I stood there, waiting for him to continue. "I need you to tell me if this picture is good enough to send to Chelsea. She sent me hot full body pictures last night and I figured it'd be a good time to return them since she'll probably show all of her hot friends if I send it now. Plus, if it's not good enough then I can take another one now." He suddenly flickered on the lights next to us and I was glad he did, so he could see the look of disgust on my face.

"You're crazy," I said pushing him away.

"C'mon, Lain. Friends do this for each other." He said lightly tapping my arm with his elbow as he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Are you high or something?" I hissed and he shook his head."I'm not looking at your vulgar pictures!" I exclaimed.

Talon suddenly bursted out laughing,"I'm only kidding. I already sent them. I really just wanted to see your face." He explained causing me too huff in response as I went to leave the theater.

He grabbed my arm, stopping me."Alaina, don't get mad." He said with a small pout.

"Was there something you actually wanted?" I asked impatiently and he shook his head before grinning. After a few seconds he nodded.

"Go on a double date with me."

"Go with Jace," I said feeling slightly irritated with the male beside me. I hated the way my heart clenched for him in sadness.

"Jace hates movies." He said and I bit my lip knowing it was true.

"And suddenly so do I," I said making him pout.

"Alaina." He groaned in annoyance.

"I have homework." I said sternly.

"So do I! Just let us watch one movie and then your job will be done." He said and I looked at him for a long minute with the pout on his lips.

"Fine, but you're buying the popcorn." I said making him smile.

"I knew you couldn't resist my charm." He said finally letting go of my arm as we headed towards the schools front doors.

"Who's this double with?" I asked once we took a seat in the black jeep he shared with his brother.

"It'll be fun. You, me, Jace, and Jacqueline." He said and I groaned.

He couldn't have just started with this.

"I don't want to see you dry humping some girl the whole night," I said with an eye roll. I doubt Jace would even want to go if I had to be his "date". That boy would probably much rather have a date he can get laid with.

"We can get you a guy too, but I thought it'd be much easier if you were just with Jace so she wouldn't get me and him mixed up in the future." He said pouting slightly.

I groaned,"Why do I do these things for you?" I asked and he smirked.

"Because you love our connection."

I snorted, "Or because I've known you so long that I just can't get rid of you anymore.'

"Wouldn't it make more sense to just go by yourself?" I asked after thinking about it and he shook his head.

"Jackie gets clingy and if I need an escape route then you'll be there to claim you're dating both of us." He said and I couldn't help rolling my eyes again.

I will admit that I have helped them both get out of their dates by pretending to be their girlfriends as it's something best friends do. It's always funny until the next day the girl tries to get into some argument with me. If only they knew how that would never happen. Those boys were too worried about weed, alcohol, and getting laid.

I'll admit we have our fun times on movies nights, bowling, and plenty of water balloon fights in the summer, but they were still teenage boys. Part of the reason we got along so well was because I grew up with their fun carefree attitudes that always left us throwing mud pies in each others faces. To this day, I partially blame them for my sport addiction and my tomboyish attitude.

Starting up the car, he finally faced forward and got ready to go. "Don't get all pouty. You can always get laid with Jace if you really get bored." He said making me snort.

Yeah right.

"How'd you even get Jace to agree to this?" I questioned curiously. He wasn't getting anything out of this.

"I promised him that you'd be there to third wheel with him and I'd buy him food."

It wasn't a bad deal. Every time Jace and I did something like this for Talon we'd always have an interesting time with secretly throwing popcorn from the back or just laughing about the movie the whole time.

My jaw dropped dramatically,"Why aren't you offering me anything? I like free food."

"Because you already said you'd go to the movies with me." He said smiling cheekily as we finally pulled out of he parking lot.

"What time and what movie?"

"Thor and 7:30." He responded.

"I may love superheroes, but I'm not going to see this again if you're swapping spit the whole time." I said causing him to chuckle.

"You act like I've never been your wingman before." He said flicking through the radio stations.

"Once. Just once I've used you. You on the other hand try to get me to help you get laid once a week. Double dating doesn't even make sense and it doesn't help me if everyone thinks I'm dating Jace!" I said and he nodded slowly in understanding.

"Okay, you'll date Luke next time." He said making me groan.

This boy's brain is like a bag of rocks.

---------

I looked in the mirror at my dark lashes slightly hidden under my dark baseball cap. My outfit wasn't much different than my normal clothes but something about the high heel boots made it feel like I put more of an effort in since this was suppose to be a date.

"Are you finally ready?" Jace asked opening the door and I rolled my eyes.

"I could've been naked." I commented and he shrugged.

"I would've preferred if you were." He joked making me throw my jacket at him.

"Let's just go." I said turning off my light as we headed out. We decided to just meet Talon and his lovely date there so we could drive ourselves and have an escape route if things actually work out.

"How long do you give it until they start making out?" Jace asked and I thought about it for a moment as I put on the jacket he held ready for me.

"Ten minutes," I said and he snorted.

"No way. I give it less than that. At most five." Jace said and I paused staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"Ten."

"Five."

"Let's bet ice cream on this. If I'm right then you owe me a huge tub of ice cream." I said holding out my hand and Jace grinned challengingly.

"And if I win then you owe me a tub of ice cream and a night where you watch every single Jennifer Lawrence film with me." He said and I shook my head at his obsession with Jennifer Lawrence.

"Deal," I said knowing very well that I would win. We shook hands before deciding that we should probably leave. I locked the door behind me before heading to Jace's car that was still parked next door.

Part of me was hoping it would only take a couple of minutes for Talon to realize that a fling isn't what he needed in life, but I knew that wouldn't even happen in a dream. I clenched my fists angrily. I hated the fact that there was nothing I do in the whole 'like-a-sister-situation" there wasn't any hope at this point and that thought alone left me numb at times.

I felt Jace's eyes on me causing me to snap out of my thoughts and look over at him. "Sorry, what?" I asked realizing he must have said something.

In response, he flicked my nose, "Stop daydreaming. I can't have you dozing off on me during this movie. It'll make this a hundred times more boring." He said starting his car and beginning our short trip to the movies.

I stared at him, my eyes skimming over the many similarities he shared with Talon. "I'm not tired so there's nothing to worry about. Plus, I need to see your face when I win this bet." I said causing him to chuckle.

"Yeah, we'll see about that." He retorted before turning up the music to tune me out.

••••••

Jace won. It only took 5 minutes for Talon's date to basically be on his lap. "She's like eating his face off." I whispered and Jace covered his laugh quickly with a cough.

"Where's his face? All I see is her hair." He said as he shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

Jackie suddenly moaned loudly making my eyes widened as both my eyes and Jace's snapped to each other's."Holy shit." He said as we both fell in a fit of laughter.

"I don't think that's PG 13 anymore," I whispered as I chewed on the body of a red sour patch kid.

He nodded,"Oh, it's definitely hot." I smacked his thigh. "I mean it's definitely not." He said faking an innocent look.

"Want to try it?" Jace asked wiggling his eyebrows which easily resulted in a handful of popcorn being thrown at him. "I was kidding, I was completely kidding. Jeesh."

I looked at how far we were from the nearest group of friends and felt slightly relieved for the sake of my embarrassment.

Jace suddenly nudged my shoulder, "Want to get out of here?" He asked and I looked around the theater and the movie that was already twenty minutes in and I haven't truly watched a single second.

"What did you have in mind?" I asked curiously with my lips titling up.

"Bowling and food. You going down..." He paused for a second before leaning his lips close to my ear. "...again."

I stood up and grabbed all of my stuff before exiting the theater, knowing he was following me from behind. As soon as the doors shut behind him, I began walking backwards while looking at him. "You're totally going down." I said causing him to smirk. 

"Whatever you say, princess." He said shaking his head.