Three years ago.

Jace's POV.

"I'm busy!" I respond to Cass, my eyes still glued to Olivia.

"It's show time!" She shouts back.

Show time means Sandra's here so we have to do the whole make her jealous thing.

"Is Cassandra Richardson your new girlfriend?" Asks Olivia as she looks at the door.

"What's it to you?" I scoff.

She rolls her eyes at me and tries to walk away.

"Hey, hey, hey, chill." I grab her arm, "It's complicated." I answer her question.

"How complicated?" Her face looks serious, I watch her expression in disbelief.

I might be obsessed but Olivia is a little bit possessive.

A very bad combination indeed.

"I can't explain how complicated it is but, she's not my girlfriend." I shake my head.

"You're sleeping with her then." Her eyes go round, I laugh.

"Please say fuck before I call you a Normie." I joke, that makes her smile.

"I am a Normie." She clarifies.

"I don't think you should be saying that to anyone else."

"You haven't answered my question." She changes the subject, folding her arms over her chest.

"No, Liv, I'm not fucking Cassandra, apparently, she's way out of my league." I rephrase Sandra's statement.

"Bummer, you guys actually make a good couple." She tips her head to the side.

I don't know what part of the game this is but it's quite confusing.

"What are you doing?" I ask with genuine curiosity.

"Me?" She presses her finger against her chest, pointing at herself.

"Jace! Oh my God, dude, you can't pull one out at a party, it never works!" Cass sounds frustrated.

"See? She sounds just like you." Says Olivia as she strides to the bathroom door and pulls it open, Cass is now standing in front of Olivia and she suddenly widens her eyes.

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry, I didn't know you had company." Says Cass in an apologetic tone.

"It's okay, I was about to leave anyway." Olivia assures Cass, "Olivia." She extends her hand for a hand shake.

"The Olivia? Oh, wow, hey, nice to meet you." Cass goes in for a hug instead, I raise my brows at the sight.

It's like my wife met my lover and they decided to get along and I don't even know which one is my wife and which one is my lover.

"I'm gonna go now." Olivia announces once they pull away, "It was really nice meeting you." She says to Cass then she glances back at me and steps out the door.

"She's cute," Cass closes the door behind her, ambling further into the room.

"Real tease." I respond.

"Broke up with her boyfriend?" She asks, leaning against the bathroom sink.

"Not really." I scratch my head, avoiding eye contact.

"Dude-"

"I asked her to tell me to stop and she didn't." I defend, raising my hands in the air.

She sighs, "Have you ever had someone get with you because of how good looking you are?" She asks me.

"Only all the fucking time." I roll my eyes.

"Exactly, and I know it doesn't suck sometimes because you like that person and you're using them just as much as they are but then at the end of the day, they leave because you're 'toxic' and they are 'better' than that." She explains.

"Well, at that point I just crawl back to my ex." I shrug.

"But there won't be an ex to crawl back to this time cause A, that's not healthy and B, we're doing this to get rid of your ex for good." She points her finger back and forth between us.

"I don't follow, what's the point of this lecture?" I question.

"The point is, that girl is not going to break up with her boyfriend for you, she likes how your pretty lips feel on hers and how she gives herself the best orgasm when she attacks herself to the thought of you at night but that's all it is, pleasure." She emphasizes on the word.

Her words kinda sting a little, maybe it's because deep down, I know it's the truth. There had been girls who only got with me for their own personal reasons, it was never for a real connection or relationship, mostly because I look like a 'bad boy' and bad boys are undatable.

The fuck?

I didn't mind it very much but I also kinda felt used in some way, Olivia might be just like those girls or maybe even worse than them cause she's in a serious relationship, maybe not that serious but hey, her angry dog likes him so I say it's pretty serious.

"What makes her boyfriend so special?" I ask.

"Well, he's probably sweet, caring, gives good advise, her family has probably met him and they look forward to giving him their blessing and-"

"Okay I get it." I cut her off, "So if he's all that then why's she all over me." I mumble more to myself, Cass sighs and walks towards me, she grabs my hand and drags me to the bathroom mirror.

She stands behind me, wrapping her arms around me and meeting my eyes through the mirror.

"Because he doesn't look like this, and he definitely doesn't make her feel the things that you make her feel." She answers my question.

"Okay how the fuck do you know all this stuff?" I turn around, looking down at her.

"Been there, done that." She pushes back her blonde locks, "look, I'm not telling you to stop, clearly you're not gonna listen but if you continue, this whole thing is gonna end pretty badly and you're the only one who's gonna end up getting your feelings hurt." She tells me.

I know but it's a little too late to stop.

"So I shouldn't involve my feelings, got it." I snap my fingers, pointing at her with a wink.

"Fuck it, I tried." She releases a defeated sigh, "Take off your jacket." She orders.

"Aw, we taking things to the next level already?" I rub my hands in anticipation.

"Shut up." She wrinkles her nose in disgust, helping me take off the jacket. "Wearing your boyfriend's varsity jacket is part of the highschool cliché." She informs, I hold it out for her and she slips into it.

"It looks good on you," I smile down at her.

"Can I keep it?" She checks herself out in the mirror.

"Absolutely." I nod.

I was thinking of burning it after tonight anyway.

"C'mon, let's go make people jealous." She holds my hand and we exit the bathroom, back to the real party.

I tighten my grip around her small hand as we move through the crowd, we make it outside to the pool where we find a whole bunch of people swimming together in the pool.

I can't believe people actually swim together like this and feel safe about it.

Cass and I sit on a lounge chair, she sits in-between my legs, leaning against my chest while I lean against the chair.

"What's the plan?" I speak beside her ear.

"This is the plan." She responds.

"Sit here and do nothing? That's the plan?" I ask, finding this plan quite ridiculous.

"You know, you're dumber than I thought." She says.

Instead of being offended, I actually laugh.

"Oh yeah? How so?"

She tilts her head on my chest and looks up at me, "If we do shit like make out, it will be too obvious but if we sit here like this, looking cute as fuck, it will be more realistic."

"You think we look cute as fuck?" I grin at her. Out of my league my ass.

"Yeah, now pay attention, will you?" She's so serious about this, it kinda makes me feel less shitty about putting her in the middle of all this.

"Do you have like a dating manual or something?" I ask because I think she does.

"No, babe, I just read too many fucking books." She heaves a laugh, I smile at that.

"Heyy, guys." Sandra stands over us in a tight green dress, her brown hair in a ponytail.

Neither of us respond, we just stare up at her, waiting for her to say something else but she keeps waiting for us to respond.

"Hey..." Cass trails, like she can't seem to remember Sandra's name.

"Seriously? You don't know who I am?" Sandra let's out a fake laugh.

"I'm sorry, am I supposed to?" Asks Cass in a clueless tone, I bite my lip to muffle my laughter but my chest shakes.

Sandra's face looks red, she's pissed.

"Jace didn't tell you about me?" She forces a smile.

"Maybe you're not worth telling." The confidence in Cassandra's tone is quite impressive.

"Uh, rude." She gives an awkward laugh, "and a little bitchy." She mutters underneath her tone but we heard her loud and clear.

"Can we like help you with something?" Cass  draws invisible circles on my arm around her, Sandra stares at the action and, let's just say she's sixteen seconds away from exploding.

"Let's see how long this one lasts, yes?" She says to me and finally walks away.

"Such a pick me bitch." Cass stares at Sandra as she goes.

"Hey, babe?" I call.

"Yeah?" She answers.

"You just started a war." I tell her.

"Yeah, well, she might have her mean girl minions but I have you and Diego and Blair so I'm not too worried about it." She points out, "What I am worried about though is her." She glances up at me before looking in a certain direction, I twist my head to look and my eyes find Olivia's.

She's standing by the door, her boyfriend by her side with his arm wrapped around her shoulder and Diego is standing in front of them, having what looks like a casual conversation with them.

I shift my eyes back to Cass.

"She has a boyfriend." I respond.

"So now she has a boyfriend?" She bursts out laughing, her blue eyes gleaming.

"Yeah, I'm single, I can do whatever the fuck I want." I exclaim.

"Okay, Jace Rodriguez, you do you."

"Thanks for doing this shit for me." I scowl at Matt and Daisy as they eat each other's faces off in the pool.

"It's the tattoos, man, I'd do anything for these bad boys." She says playfully, I chuckle. "You're welcome though." She relaxes into me.