"So," I said as Jack and I walked towards my front door, "since I asked you on this date, I think it's only fair that, since you agreed to spend an evening with me, you get to choose what we do."

Jack seemed confused as he replied, "I thought it was dinner and the project?" A quick glance over showed me that he was looking at the duffle bag he'd stuffed, slung around my shoulder.

"Yeah, we could work on the project... or we could watch a movie or talk or something. We hardly know each other, right? We gotta change that as soon as possible." My hand reached for the doorknob as I sent a grin his way, pushing the door open and beckoning him to go in ahead of me.

"Alex, honey, is that you?" my mum called from what sounded like the living room. There was no possible way we could avoid walking past it on the way to my room, and I jerked my head in the general direction I planned on walking, calling a confirmation as well.

Jack followed closely behind, wide eyes moving from different decorations and pictures hung on the walls, mouth just barely open in what appeared to be awe.

"Hey, mum," I greeted, not looking towards her as I kept on moving forward, gaze set on the staircase. Her voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Who's this?" At that a sigh pushed its way from my lips. I turned to face her nonetheless, taking in her eyes roaming over Jack as he stood there fidgeting a little uncomfortably where he stood, black and blonde hair falling limply in his face.

"This is Jack," I said, waving my hand up and down the length of his body, as though to prove he was actually standing there. He looked up a little futher, flat locks shifting from in front of his eyes just the tiniest bit and a small smile stretching across his lips. "He's, uh..."

"I'm Alex's boyfriend," he finished, hand blindly seeking mine out as he once again shrunk in on himself.

My mum seemed confused for a moment, head subconsciously tilting a bit to the right as she looked between our faces and linked fingers. She soon smiled brightly, though, and was then piping up, "Sweetie, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend." She didn't sound upset or patronizing, just like she was ready and more than willing to gossip.

"Yeah, it's kinda pretty new," I replied with a shrug. "We're actually on a sort-of mini date right now, if you don't mind..." I squeezed Jack's hand encouragingly, slowly sliding my way towards the door once again with him in tow.

"Alex, don't be rude. I was just—"

"Mum," I groaned, ceasing my movements once more, "we'll be down again in a little bit. You'll have plenty of time to tell him embarrassing stories. Let us get five minutes alone, please, I'm begging you."

She stuck her tongue out at me, and I grinned. When I started our journey back up, we weren't stopped.

"She seems nice," Jack teased as we finally reached my bedroom, and I shrugged.

"She is, but she's also kinda... pushy? Maybe not pushy, but she can be a bit much at times." I placed the duffle bag on the ground next to my bed and rolled my arm around, trying to get some sort of feeling back in my slightly-stiff shoulder. When I was fairly satisfied with the movement I'd been able to regain, I sat on my bed and stretched out completely, looking to Jack as he stood in the middle of the room. He'd gone back to fidgeting, head tilted towards the ground and occasionally looking towards my poster-covered walls.

I pat the space next to me after another few moments of silence, and his gaze darted over from where it had been studying a Panic! at the Disco poster.

"I really like them," he said as he climbed up and sat next to me, about an inch of space between us. My arms were dying to pull him closer, but I was able to keep myself under control.

"Who?" was my inquiry, and he nodded towards the poster he'd been looking at before.

"But It's Better If You Do is my favorite. I can't wait until their next album," he said, glancing over to me. I decided to not comment on his sudden shyness and instead grinned right on back.

"I'd have to say that There's a Reason is my favorite," I remarked casually, shrugging. "I'm still pretty upset it never became a single."

Silence enveloped us before he was leaning his head on my shoulder and shifting closer. "Never really pinned you for much of a music guy," Jack murmured. I leaned my head against his and hummed.

"If I could be doing anything right now—besides sitting here with you, that is—it'd be learning guitar," I decided.

He seemed to take a moment to think it over before saying, "I could teach you... I mean, if you want. I'm not too good, but I don't think I'm terrible or anything."

A grin made its way on my face as I nodded as best I could. "That'd be awesome, angel," I assured. He turned his head then, nose just barely brushing against the flesh of my neck and causing a shiver to wrack up my spine as my heartbeat quickened. It was then that I got an idea and was asking, "Do you wanna play twenty questions?"

"Gaskarth, what the fucking hell," Franceschi sighed as he flopped himself against the hood of his car, pulling me from my thoughts of my and Jack's first kind-of date. "I thought you said you told him we were leaving campus for food today."

"I did," I snapped back, teeth chewing on the inside of my lip. I had, after all... hadn't I? I can remember seeing him run through the door before first period started, scaring him as he sat down, kissing him in the locker room... surely I hadn't forgotten to tell him about our midday excursion...

"Well, text him, damn it," he responded as the rest of the group nodded.

"Dude, I can literally feel my stomach folding in on itself as we speak," Monster groaned. "I just really need food right now. Preferably pizza. That you'll pay for because you're making me wait for this kid."

"He's not a kid, he's my boyfriend." I rolled my eyes as I slid my phone from my back pocket and went to Jack's contact, composing a new message.

Jay, where are you?

It was no more than two minutes later that I got a response.

I'm waiting on you, aren't you joining us for lunch?

"Where is he?" Ramsay whined, throwing himself on top of Franceschi and earning what sounded like a grumbled 'get your fat, Canadian ass off of me.'

"I don't know," I muttered, already typing up another message: Angel, we're waiting for you. Are you at your locker?

My thumbs tapped against my screen a little impatiently as I awaited his response. When one finally came, I could feel my teeth grind together harshly.

No, I'm sitting with your other friends. Oli invited me over during second period. I assumed you would be here, too.

Fucking Oli.

Before I could even fully register the action, I was shoving my phone back in my pocket and stepping towards the school entrance once more. It was a hand on my shoulder that stopped me.

"What the fuck, Gaskarth?" Kevin, a kid who was much closer to Monster than the rest of us, asked.

I shook my arm free and turned back around, calling over my shoulder as I walked, "I'll be back in two minutes. He's with Oli."

No one followed after me as I stormed my way through the halls, which kind of surprised me. I'd expect them to either want to join in, hold me back, or get a video of it... If anything happened, at least.

It felt like an eternity had passed before I was finally pushing my way through the cafeteria doors. My eyes did a quick scan of the sea of faces, and at first I noticed that the table usually occupied by me and my friends was virtually empty. I also saw that Jack's other friends, Rian and Zack, were sitting with some girls—two brunettes, one I recognized as a cheerleader who was dating Rian, a red head, and a blonde. Dismissing them, I continued my search.

It was as I finally got near the back of the room that I recognized the black and blonde hair, and sure enough, it was beside a brunette. Jack had a smile on his face, one of the shy ones he was so prone to making, and the others were all laughing and joking about something.

I hurried across the room, weaving my way in and out of other peoples' paths and drawing the attention of everyone around me. When I was stood in front of them, they all looked up expectantly. I could feel a grimace pull onto my face as Oli smiled innocently up at me.

"Hi, Lexy," Jack chirped, grinning up at me. I returned the look, not letting my gaze roam around any further than his eyes.

"Jay, angel, we're all waiting for you, come on," I urged, waving behind me and towards the entrance. He seemed confused for a moment, head turning to look at the other guys before he made eye contact with me again, nodding his head in agreement. Then Oli spoke up.

"Aw, come on, Gaskarth," he whined. "You can't just take our new friend away from us. Sit, join us. We were just talking about this year's teams. Baseball's looking better than last year, wouldn't you say?"

A deep breath was pulled through my lips and my eyes squeezed shut tightly. "I wouldn't know; I don't pay attention to baseball."

"But isn't your friend—what's his name... Josh? Josh Rassy? Isn't he on the team?"

"Ramsay," was my only reply, and I opened my eyes to see Jack. "Come on, baby, they're all waiting outside for us." He blushed, probably at the fact that I'd called him baby, but nodded again, this time standing from his seat.

"I'll see you guys later," he offered, smiling to each of them in turn.

"Yeah, of course, mate," Oli agreed.

Jack seemed satisfied enough with that and gathered his things. His backpack was slung over his shoulder and a tray of food that looked like it hadn't even been touched was tossed in the garbage can before he appeared by my side. My hand reached out to link with his before I was pulling him from the cafeteria.

"Lex, what's going on? You almost sounded... jealous?" he asked hesitantly, tugging on my hand in order to get me to stop walking. I turned to face him and sighed, my free hand moving to the back of his neck. I leaned our foreheads together, letting my eyes slip closed as I just took a moment to breathe and calm my nerves.

When I figured I was as controlled as I'd get, I opened my eyes to look at him. "I am," I murmured, deciding that maybe it'd be a better tactic than getting him on-edge about something that probably might happen. "I just got you, angel. I don't wanna lose you to some other British pretty boy."

His dark eyes searched mine for a moment before he shifted enough to press a gentle kiss to my lips. "You're not gonna lose me," he assured. "Oli's nice, but... I don't know, I just can't ever see myself being interested in him like that. Is he even gay or anything?"

I shrugged at that, moving away from him and beginning the walk to my car yet again. "I don't know, but I don't wanna find out," I lied, being surprised he didn't catch it.

By the time we'd made it to my our group, he seemed to be in a much better mood. Everyone had already piled into Franceschi's car, and he rolled down the driver's side window to lean out of it.

"Are we ready to go now, ladies?" he teased, to which I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Sure are, bitch." He laughed and shook his head.

"Italian restaurant down the road. Monster says you're still paying for his fucking fix."

"Only if I get a blow job in return," I scoffed, shaking my head and undoing my hand from Jack's. He didn't move anywhere at first, and I placed a hand on his back to nudge him towards the passenger side of my car.

The guys all laughed as Monster did the universal blow job sign from the back of Franceschi's car, and they were already making their way out of the parking lot as I shoved my key into the ignition.

"You're okay with Italian, right? I can call them and tell them that you wanna go somewhere else. It's really not a big deal," I assured, and he shook his head, fingers moving to twist different knobs and press random buttons on my radio. "If you break my radio, you're gonna have to sing for me everywhere I go, got it?" I warned teasingly. He grinned at that, but settled into his seat nonetheless.

"So this whole 'leaving campus for the lunch hour' thing," he started as we pulled from the lot. "Does that, like, translate to 'skipping the rest of the day' or something?"

I shook my head. "It might mean we skip fifth period, but whatever. Do you want to skip?"

"I can't," was his immediate answer. "I can't just skip a period either. If my mom finds out, I'm dead."

"Gaskarth charm, baby," I reminded him as we pulled into the lot of Petrocelli's Diner. "Gaskarth charm."

Notes