*Jack Pov*

Once I lost sight of him, I turned to grab my bag, the smile never leaving my face.

"You ready to go, or are you still mentally undressing the new kid?" Rian questioned.

"I was not doing that!" I defended, my face heating up and my voice raising higher than intended.

Rian laughed and gestured for me to follow him to the car. He unlocked the door, and I climbed into the passenger seat. I could feel a serious feeling settling into the atmosphere. Rian normally gave off a certain vibe, when he was about to go on one of his rants. I looked out of the window, avoiding his gaze.

"Jack -" he began.

"Shut it, Rian. I don't want to hear it." I snapped.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" he objected, raising his voice slightly.

"Yes I do. You're gonna tell me to remember what happened last time. That falling for him is a bad idea. Then you're gonna say that I'm falling way too hard, way too fast." I listed, getting slightly more agitated with every sentence.

"Ok, but you forgot the part where I say you can't help who you fall for."

"I know that already, Ri. I just want to be his friend. He's alone, and he's practically afraid of his own shadow. He needs me"

"Just don't get too far in over your head, okay?"

And with that, he pulled out of the parking spot and took me home. A few moments later, I was getting out of the car and heading into my house.

"Hey there, Jacko!" May greeted me.

"Hey, May" I responded, trying not to sound pissed off.

"Someone's in a good mood" she stated, sarcasm coating her words.

"Sorry, Rian and I got into an argument."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Nah. It's not that important."

"Okay, but if you change your mind, you know where to find me. Oh, and Dad is working late."

I nodded my head as an acknowledgement. That wasn't really a surprise. Dad worked late most days. I followed the smell of dinner cooking in the kitchen and found my mom.

"Hi, Jack!"

"Hey, Mom"

"How was band? How was your first day as a section leader?" she asked.

"It was actually pretty great. I even made a new friend."

"Ohhh, I want details!" she squealed like a teenage girl.

"Well, his name is Alex, he's in my grade, he's new to the school, he plays guitar, and he loves all of the same bands as me" I smiled, counting the details off on my fingers.

"So, when are you inviting him over?"

"Mom, I just met him today."

"Yes, but I want to meet the boy that has my son smiling so much."

"Mom!" I whined.

"Not to mention, I've seen tomatoes that looker whiter than your face at the moment." she stated teasingly.

"Mom, I don't like him."

"Jack, you can't let what happened last time ruin your future."

"I was in the hospital for a month. I'm not chancing it. I can't believe you would even suggest that falling for him would be a good idea." I shook my head in disappointment and went upstairs to my room, before she had the chance to reply. I sprawled out on my bed and my phone buzzed in my pocket. I had two text messages. I opened the most recent one first.

From May:
Hey, are you ok? I heard yelling from downstairs...

She was just doing her job as my big sis by looking out for me, but it got annoying sometimes.

To May:
Yeah. Fine. I don't feel like talking right now.

I went back to my inbox and opened the other message. There wasn't a name.

Message:
Hey, it's Alex. Any chance you want to hang out later?

To Alex:
Miss staring at my ass already? :p

A few seconds later I got a response.

From Alex:
I have no idea what you're talking about ;)
So, you wanna hang out?

I asked my mom, and she was ecstaic. She even decided to make chocolate chip cookies.

To Alex:
Sure, my house?

From Alex:
That's fine. I need your address though.

I texted him my address and began cleaning up my room. He said he'd text me before he left. That should buy me some time to make it look like I have a floor...

Notes

My friend was making a fuss over what the text said. That's where this chapter got its name. Enjoy!

-Em