The cold winter air beat on my scowling face as I distanced myself from my fucked up high school. My mind was clouded by complete static and all of my thoughts were incomplete and illogical. There was no real determined destination and I was okay with that. My feet led me and I didn’t question it. After a while, my fingers and face began to lose feeling, making me actually look up and take in my surroundings. I was in a small, relatively busy district with coffee shops and small businesses.

There were clusters of nicely dressed men, chatting into their cell phones and Bluetooth’s. I truly felt bad for the females in peep-toe platforms and short, conservative dresses. I decided I couldn’t really go wrong with an empty coffee shop. Ducking my head, I speed-walked to the crosswalk, crossed the street, and into a cute little café called “Richard’s”. My eyes glanced around for a table a comfortable distance from the other 8 people in here and decided on a small table meant for two in a corner. I slid into the cushioned chair and sighed.

‘Well this sucks,’ Phe huffed.

You’re telling me. I have no idea what I’m going to do. What if he doesn’t look at the footage and pins everything on me?

I admired the abstract artwork that adorned the brick walls. My feet shuffled uneasily on the cement ground as I contemplated my next move.

I hate this.

‘Hm?’

This, I pressed, I’m so ready for graduation.

Senior year is truly and utterly overrated. I’ve wanted nothing more than to have the most uneventful and bare senior year and it was the exact opposite.

“You look like you have a lot on your mind,” a shadow hovering over me called.
I slowly raised my head and was met with clear blue eyes surrounded by thick eyelashes. He was a boy about my age—maybe older? Mr. Blue eyes was wearing a waiter skirt thing, a black shirt, khakis a brilliant smile and was a bit more built than Vic.

‘Shit-fuck-damn’ Phe drooled.

“Y-Yeah, sort of,” I replied, pulling a few strands of hair behind my hair.

He laughed and took a seat across from me, “Ditching school?”

Why the hell am I blushing?

“I guess you could say that,” I answered evasively.

Don’t get me wrong, he had nothing on Vic. There was no denying the fact that he was attractive though.

“I’m not asking you to spill your guts, just didn’t think such a gorgeous girl should be left by herself looking so stressed.”

He whipped his brown hair to the side and smiled, “Did you want anything?”

“N-No. I ust needed a warm place to think.”

“Damon.”

“Huh?”

“My name, its Damon,” he smirked. “Yours?”

“Phoenix,” I inform, uneasy.

“That’s a strange name…unique,” he shrugged. “So what brings you to my folk’s humble coffee shop?”

I smiled, “Your family owns this cute little shop?”

He nodded, “Yep. It’ll eventually be mine.”

“Well, I left school and took a stroll. I began to realize just how cold it was and walked to the nearest sit-in.”

“Why’d you leave school?”

I shook my head, “Nu-uh, my turn to interrogate you.”

He raised his hands in mock surrender, “Shoot.”

“Why are you so interested in me, Damon?”

“Well your looks caught my attention,” he answered truthfully, tapping the table. “But you genuinely seem like you have a beyond-ordinary life and interesting personality.”

I shrugged, accepting the explanation “Sounds truthful enough. But I can’t tell you why I left school. Are you in school?”

I was now actually interested in this Damon character. Not only was he not bad to look at, I appreciate the fact that he could spot a stressed teen that needs a little human interaction.

“No, actually. Graduated high school last year though.”

I nodded, “Not a college guy?”

“I’m going, just not at the moment,” he smiled, his eyes seeming to look off in the distance. I
noticed the way his eyes shined when he smiled and his airily attitude. He screams ‘Big dreamer’; like he’s got outer-worldly aspirations.

“Why’d your parents name you Phoenix?” he asked innocently.

I stiffened and looked away, “I won’t ever know.”

He caught the way I instantly distanced myself from the topic and cleared his throat, “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”

He leaned toward me slightly, resting on his elbows, “What kind of music do you listen to?”
A mischievous smile possessed my face, “Shut up and sit the fuck back, we’re having a talk.”
From that point on, we discovered interests that we shared and time flew. School had long let out but I hadn’t noticed till Mitchell glanced down at his silver watch.

“Damn,” he breathed. “It’s already past five.”

“Are you serious?” I coughed, choking on the cocoa he made for me earlier.

“Yep. How are you getting home?”

“I don’t-”
The holiday bells hanging from the entrance rang and a voice called my name, “Phoenix?”
Both Mitchell and I looked behind me and my jaw momentarily dropped, “Vic?”

He rushed over to me, “Why’d you leave school?”

“I’ll tell you later. How’d you find me?”

“What? Was I not supposed to?” Vic asked, glancing at the curious brunette across from me.

“I didn’t say that, I just wanted to know how. I don’t even know how I got here.”

“I figured you wouldn’t be somewhere conventional and ordinary for you so I looked here. I spotted you through the window. C’mon, I’m going to take you home.”

“Who are you?” Damon asked, smiling.

I bit down nervously on my lip.

“Who are you?” Vic questioned, his eyes slightly squinted.

Shit, Vic’s not the rude type but I’d be pissed if I found him with a good-looking brunette. Plus, he doesn’t know that Damon is just naturally the curious, questioning type.

“My name’s Damon,” he smiled.

“Vic,” he answered curtly. Vic tugged on my hand gently, “Let’s go.”

“What about my cocoa?” I pouted, standing from my chair.

“I’ll make you another if you promise to come back,” Damon bribed jockingly “No problem. Be
sure to visit again?” he smirked.

I pretended to seriously contemplate his offer

“Definitely,” I nodded, giving into Vic’s insistent pull towards the exit. Vic pushed past the glass door and left his fingers laced with mine.

“So where did you park?”

“Who was that guy?” Vic questioned through gritted teeth.

I scoffed, “A new friend.”

“Friend?”

“Yes, friend.”

Vic shook his head, “The way he looked at you is not how friends look at each other.”

“How do you know?” I challenged.

“Because it’s the same way I looked at you the first time I met you,” he snapped with that gentle
voice of his. I stopped walking and he rolled his eyes.

“What?”

“You heard me. The only difference is his gaze isn’t the purest. I wanted to know your story and get you to open up to me but he…he’s into a different kind of romance.”

“Victor,” I warned. “I spent hours with him. Ya’ll weren’t in the same room for five minutes.”

“I’m a guy!” he ‘reasoned’, tugging me to walk. “I know these things.”

I shook my head, “Whatever.”

We continued in the direction I’m assuming his car was parked in silence.

It’s not fair of him to assume something like that.

‘He’s just being protective. Start worrying when he’s not like this.’

Still, Damon seems so nice!—and genuine!

“You know,” I cut through the silence, “He reminds me a lot of Mike.”

Vic scoffed, “That makes me feel worse about that guy.”

I looked confusedly at him.

Vic stared down at me, “Mike is a flirt that smokes weed and beds every girl he sets his mind to, whenever he wants. Yes, he’s got a great heart and he’s smart but when it comes to girls?—He’s a total player.”

I couldn’t argue with that so I left it alone. We soon approached his car and climbed in. Vic turned up the radio and headed towards my house, not saying a single word to me.

---

“…So that’s it?” I asked, annoyed. We had been sitting in my driveway for almost five minutes and we haven’t said a single word to each other.

He continued to ignore my gaze. I huffed and turned down the radio, “Victor.”

He reluctantly looked at me and cut the engine, “Just tell me that wasn’t some sort of date.”

I threw my head back, “Oh my god Victor. Damon is hardly a friend! I haven’t known him a full twenty-four hours.”

“I know but can you blame me for asking?” he whined—which was unintentionally adorable.

I shook my head understandingly and went to open the door before I froze. I can’t just leave things like this. I want to make sure we go to bed on good terms. Smirking, I turned back around and climbed into his lap, straddling him. His beautiful brown pools shined in the yellow street-lights and his body stiffened. I smugly pushed the button to recline his chair and took his face in my hands. I kissed him and he immediately kissed back, molding his arms around my waist. Just as we had deepened the kiss, there was a tap on the window that made me yelp. Jaime’s face was pushed against the window, his laughter ringing clear and fogging the window.

“What the fuck Jaime?!” I yelled.

“It’s late! Get your horny ass in this house!” he called back, removing his face from the window.

I looked at a blushing Vic and grinned. His hair was tossled and his mouth was slightly ajar, exposing his two front teeth. He was so adorable when he was flustered! I pecked him on the lips before sliding back over to the passenger’s side and opening the door that separated us from a giggling Jaime, “We’re good now?”

“Perfect,” he breathed, fixing his chair and starting the engine.

Notes

IM SO SORRY, OVER A WEEK WITH NO UPDATE IS UNACCEPTABLE T-T
I have a good ass excuse though! :D I was fast tracking since I'm moving from South Korea and back to the states during finals (WOOT) so I studied for all my finals for a WEEK and taught myself a LOT of material. Got an A on all of them though(; Hope you guys like this chapter :D Comment, rate, vote, subscribe and all that jazz~~

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Topic of the Day: Thoughts on Vic's behavior? Thoughts on DAMION? Comment~