Three years ago.

Jace's POV.

Our almost kiss made things more awkward between us, we walk back to her house in total silence.

She looks like I made her very uncomfortable, which is understandable.

"Can I pick it up later? After I check on Diego?" I ask, pointing at my bike when we reach her driveway.

"Yeah, sure." She interlocks her fingers behind her, barely looking at me.

Yeah, so, remember when I said I didn't wanna fuck it up?

I fucked it up.

"Goodnight, Olivia." I start walking backwards, gazing at her.

"Goodnight, Jace." She responds in a low tone, I turn around and I squeeze my eyes shut, groaning in frustration.

Fuck fuck fuck.

That went awful.

Diego's car is in the driveway, I don't know if he drove it to the party or maybe he also walked, I notice that his Mum's car isn't in the driveway which means she's not home.

I ring his doorbell repeated until he opens the door and almost snaps at me.

"Well, shit, I thought you got arrested."

"Nah." I let myself inside his house.

"What's up with your face?" He follows me into his living room.

"What do you mean?" I plop down on the couch with a sigh.

"You look... Struck." He grabs a bottle of beer from the table and sits next to me.

I rest my elbows on my knees, pushing my hair back and staring down at the carpet as the events of the night endlessly circle around in my head.

"That damn girl, man, she's..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, first of all, I hate when conversations go like this and secondly, what girl?"

"Olivia." I smile, turning my head to him.

"Man, shut the fuck up, you met that girl yesterday." He rolls his eyes at me, looking away from me for a brief moment.

"Friday." I correct him.

"What's the fucking difference?" He lifts his shoulders, clearly annoyed.

"I know, I know, but I feel like I'm losing my shit, bro, I feel.... Fuck, I don't even know what I feel and I haven't even known her for that long and-"

"Just fuck her, you'll get over it." He cuts me off.

I sigh.

"I don't think it's something you get rid of with sex." I tell him, he sips his beer.

"A kiss then?"

"I had that opportunity tonight but I didn't take it." I say underneath my breath, clearing my throat then after.

"Why? You pussy." He punches my shoulder, laughing.

"I didn't wanna ruin everything." I defend.

"I didn't wanna ruin everything." He mimicks my tone, "Everything, you say that like you've made a trillion memories with this chick." He laughs at me like I'm being ridiculous, "I know what you need." He squeezes my shoulder.

"What do I need?" I ask in a lazy tone, "And don't say sex." I raise a warning finger.

"Sex." He smirks.

"Oh, dear God." I roll my eyes.

"Okay, fine, not sex but a distraction, you need a good distraction." He says.

"Racing?" I suggest.

"No," he shakes his head, grinning at me, "Bitches and liquor," he chugs his beer, "Tonight, right fucking now, c'mon." He slaps my shoulder and brings himself to his feet.

*****************************

I don't know why I thought he was taking me to a strip club or a night club but he actually brought me to a convenience store, Diego and I always come here for our liquor cause it's the only store in town that doesn't call our fake IDs bullshit.

They're pretty legit fake IDs, it's just that everyone in town comes to watch us play football so before we even show them our fake IDs, they already know we're high schooler.

We sit on the hood of Diego's car, leaning our backs against the windshield and sharing a bottle of booze.

"Hey, dude, what's the one thing that you would never do to your body?" He asks randomly.

"Get a neck tattoo," I say the first thing that comes to mind, "I hate neck tattoos, you?"

"Get my dick pierced, that shits crazy." He chuckles.

"Wait, I thought you already had one of those." I joke, laughing.

"Shut up." He also laughs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

We both turn our heads when a pink sports car pulls up next to Diego's car.

Cassandra Richardson.

Her friend's driving them since she was drunk at the party, they both get out of the car, chatting and laughing about something.

Cassandra's friend is tall, skinny, brown skin, brunette hair, cute fashion style. I can see why they're friends.

"Are they here because you called them?" I ask Diego as we both gape.

"I wish." He scoffs.

"Hey, it's pretty lips." Cassandra points at me.

"You're not nicknaming me that." I respond, objecting.

"Oh but I already have." She shrugs.

They both stand in front of us, Diego and I sit up at the same time, exchanging a glance.

I know he's inner voice is probably saying shit like, dude, two hot girls just stopped to talk to us!

"Booze?" I extend the bottle to Cassandra, she takes it from my hand, taking a sip then spitting the liquid on the ground, "Why does this taste like shit?" She wrinkles her face, wiping her mouth with her sleeve and passing the bottle to Diego.

"Because it's not Malibu." Diego snorts a laugh, I chuckle.

"Assholes." The two girls mutter at the same time.

"C'mon, sweetheart, let's go get y'all something sweet and bubbly." Diego jumps off the car, clings his arm around Cassandra's friend's shoulder and leads her to the store.

I slide off the hood of the car, standing in front of her, shoving my hands in my pockets and crossing my legs at the ankle.

"So I heard that your Dad is the richest man in town, how does a rich man's daughter get expelled for strike one?"

"Except it wasn't strike one, it was strike one thousand and one." She moves to stand beside me, leaning against the car.

"What was strike one?" I ask curiously.

"Calling the head master a motherfucker and threatening to burn him alive in his sleep." She sighs, almost like she regrets the incident.

"Wow, that beats my strike one." I say.

"What was your strike one?" She questions, twirling a blonde lock between her manicured fingers.

"Beating the shit out of a teacher that groped my little sister." I pull my hand out of my pocket to scratch the back of my neck.

"Oh." She stares at me like she's speechless, "I would have helped you, honestly." She adds.

Silence.

My mind suddenly drags me back to that moment I had with Olivia, I don't know what she thinks of me now and it's eating me up, what if she thinks I'm one of those guys that-

"Who is it?" Cassandra's voice drags me out of my head.

"Huh?"

"The person you're thinking about." She smiles at me, showcasing her perfect set of white teeth.

"Her name is Olivia Conner." I tell her.

"How deep are you?" She elbows me.

"I met her last Friday so not deep at all, I just really can't get her out of my head." I run a hand down my face.

"Last Friday, huh? That's wild." She half laughs.

"I know, but..... Have you ever met someone and just thought, fuck, I want this person so bad but then at the same time you're just holding back."

"Yeah, I have, but sometimes you just gotta let fantasies be fantasies." She tells me, my brows meet my hairline.

"Are you saying that you met someone and wanted them but you couldn't have them?" I ask in disbelief.

"Yes, why?"

"Was the person aware of your feelings?" I ask.

"Yeah, he knew." She nods, looking down at her shoes then at me.

"Dude, who the fuck wouldn't wanna have you?" I say more to myself, she shakes her head at me, like my words disappoint her.

"No matter how hot and good looking you are, there's always gonna be someone who's not gonna want you." She informs, "And he didn't want me." She purses her lips, kicking a rock.

"Name? I'll punch some sense into his head." I chuckle softly, my words make her smile so hard her dimples show.

"Doesn't matter, he's long gone now." She looks up at me, staring into my eyes, I stare back into her blue eyes and I realize that staring into someone's soul is a real thing.

I stare into her eyes and I see it, the storm she holds behind them, the rage, the anger.

Broken people recognize other broken people.

"When Jace met Cassandra at the convenience store while Diego and Blair went to get the liquor, sparks flew and history was made but are they right for each other?" Diego remarks in a dramatic tone as they approach us.

"What?" Cassandra laughs.

"He does this every time I talk to a girl." I fill her in.

"Ooh," she nods in understanding.

"It's a test, to see if the girl runs away or stays." He tells her, "They always smile and stay for some reason."

"Look at him." Cassandra points at my face, "of course they stay." She says.

"He's like a Greek god in form of a teenage boy." Blair looks at me from head to toe, "So hot it fucking upsets me." She whines, Cassandra and Diego laugh while I smile.

"I'll take that as a compliment." I snatch a red cup from Diego's hand.

"Did they give you guys the cups?" Asks Cassandra.

"No, sweetheart, they sold us the red cups." Diego corrects.

Everyone gets a cup, Diego opens the bottle and pours the beverage in each cup.

"To high school." He lifts his cup for a toast.

"The fuck?" Blair narrows her eyes at him.

"Clueless much?" Cassandra tilts her head as she stares at my dumb friend.

I just hold in my laugh.

"Okay, geez, you try." He mumbles like a child.

Cassandra turns to look at me and says, "To new friendships." She lifts her cup.

"To new friendships." Diego repeats after her and we all click cups, I take a sip from the cup, already feeling distracted.