Noah

"So, now will you admit that you'd love to fuck her?"

I turn my attention away from Jamie and John on stage and glare at Will. The song has just ended and everyone in this place is going wild. That was a really good performance. But I'm not clapping my hands together and jumping around like everyone else. Will and I are standing by the island bar on the top level of the Grill. It's better back here, we're not drawing too much attention to ourselves. We don't have as good a view of the stage, but that's fine by me. I don't wanna catch Jamie's eye again, it was bad enough when The Middle were performing, and when she stormed over to talk to John during Aubrey's performance, I had a feeling she would end up on stage with him again, so I made my way back to the upper level and I found Will. I didn't need to make any more eye contact with Jamie than I already have tonight.

"Shut up, Will." I say, sipping my beer and fixing my gaze ahead at the stage again, waiting for the next act to come on.

"What? Lit Girl was awesome just now, you can't deny that." Will says with a shrug of his shoulders. "And if your brain works the same way mine does, you'll agree that there's something very alluring about watching her perform up there, yes?"

"Yes, I agree." I sigh and turn to face him again. "But just because she's hot and talented and we fooled around one time, doesn't mean I wanna fuck her." Even though I do. I know I do, Will knows I do. But I'll deny it until my balls turn blue.

"Wait, what?" Will asks, startled. "You fooled around? With Lit Girl?"

"Yes, and stop calling her Lit Girl." I say, losing my patience with this conversation. "On Freshman Friday, remember? I spent the night at her house. You gave me shit because I didn't sleep with her then."

His face is telling me that he doesn't remember this at all, either that or this is brand new information to him. What the hell? We talked about it, I told him about it, why does he looked so surprised?

"You never said it was Jamie." He says, his voice quiet.

"I didn't?" I can't really remember the conversation exactly, but I'm sure I told him I went home with her.

"No, and I didn't ask. I just thought it was some random girl." He sighs and pulls a hand through his perfectly styled hair. Why is this bothering him so much?

"Okay, so what's the big deal?" I ask him.

"No big deal, just... I didn't realise it was her." He says, coughing, and getting his tone of voice back to normal. "You spent the night at her place then, wow."

He shakes his head in disbelief and I frown.

"It doesn't mean anything, Will. Trust me. Nothing else is gonna happen with her." I insist.

"Dude, you like her." His eyes search mine. "Just admit it. It's okay, you know."

"Will, fuck off." I'm pissed. He's pushing me on this, and I don't like it. "I don't like her. I have to do an assignment with her, that's it. Now drop it."

He holds his hands up in mock surrender before turning to the bar to pick up his beer. He thinks I'm fucking in love with her or something, and I'm not okay with that. I need to prove that she doesn't mean a fucking thing to me. I need to take some other girl home tonight. It has been a while since the last girl, this is fine. And Zach's busy with Kim, he doesn't need to know. I look around the crowded room, in search of a potential female companion for the night, when my eyes spot Jamie flirting with some guy. He's tall, like me. Lean, but muscular, like me. Black hair, like me. Arms covered in tattoos, unlike me, but I can see the appeal from Jamie's perspective. She's on the prowl. I feel my cock twitch, which pisses me off even more. I know she's not above meaningless one night stands, because she told me so. And the thought of her going home with this guy annoys me. If she should be fucking anyone tonight, it should be me.

"I'm gonna go talk to some people." Will says, before setting down his half full beer bottle and stalking off. I think my attitude has rubbed him up the wrong way, but it's fine, he'll get over it. And I'm grateful he even stood and drank half a beer with me before pulling his usual disappearing act.

How can I stop Jamie from going home with that guy? She's touching his arm now. He's showing her his tattoos and she's smiling and tracing them with her fingertips. What the fuck? It's so obvious that she's up for it, why is he wasting so much time? If she touched my arm like that I'd pull her into the bathroom and fuck her here and now. But she won't be like that with me, because I fucked it up. Storming out of her house the other night was a dick move, but it had the desired effect at least. I haven't text her since, and she hasn't been in touch with me either. She hasn't so much as acknowledged my presence since then, so I know I did the right thing. I wanna keep my distance from her, because I know this thing with her is dangerous. But I don't want her going home with this tall, dark, tattooed stranger either. Why the fuck am I so territorial? What do I do to stop her from having sex with him?

"Hey, you're Will's friend, Noah, right?" I turn my head, snapping my attention away from Jamie and her suitor, and see Madison Hudson's friend Zoe standing next to me. She's wearing a pink woolly pullover, and a puke green skirt. Her eyelids are blue, and her lipstick is crimson. She has the weirdest style I've ever experienced, but there's something likeable about her. I'm not gonna blow her off.

"Yeah, you're Madison Hudson's friend, Zoe, yeah?"

"That's me." She smiles up at me, she's craning her neck a little, because she's so small and I'm so tall. "Have you seen Madison around here?"

"No, I haven't seen her at all tonight." I tell her as she looks around. And it dawn's on me, Madison is probably with Will right now. He couldn't put his beer down and get away from me fast enough. He must have spotted her and dashed over to her. There's something between them, I know that for sure.

"Will was here a minute ago, though. He took off to talk to an old friend or something." I raise my eyebrow at Zoe ever so subtly, silently asking her if she knows anything. Her smile confirms that she does.

"Right, Maddie blew me off a few minutes ago to go talk to an old friend too." She throws airquotes around her words. "That line doesn't really work on me though, since I'm Maddie's oldest friends and I know everything about her. She must be with Will."

Zoe sighs and turns to face the bar, signalling for the bar tender. "You good?" She asks me. I could use another beer, so she orders two. She doesn't let me pay.

"Don't worry about it. I don't know if Will told you, but you and I bat for the same team." She smiles at me, and I smile back at her. My mom's best friend from High School is a lesbian (she only came out a few years ago, following a messy divorce). People are people, and love is love. I don't give a fuck. I consider telling Zoe this, but I don't see why I need to. So I don't.

"Yeah, Will told me. Is your girlfriend out tonight?" I ask her, and her face falls a little.

"No, Zara and I..." She starts, then she takes a deep breath. "It's not important, dude."

She smiles as she sips her beer, and although I know there's a story there, I don't pry. It's none of my business.

"There are loads of hot girls here tonight though, huh?" She says, looking around the Grill, and I nod my head in agreement as my eyes land on Jamie again. Tall, dark, tattoos has one of his hands on her lower back now, and it's making me uncomfortable.

"Kinda makes me wonder why Will and Maddie keep disappearing every time we go out." Zoe says with a sly grin.

"What's the deal with those two?" I ask her. She's known them for years, she's gotta have some information about this.

"They have history." Zoe informs me. "If Will wants to tell you about it, that's up to him." Zoe isn't a gossip, and I respect her for it.

"What Will has told me has all been pretty negative. I'm open minded though, I know there are two sides to every story."

"That there are." She says cryptically. "Don't believe everything Will tells you, dude. He's no Saint."

And with that, we drink our beers in comfortable silence and watch the random band playing on stage. My eyes flicker down to Jamie a few times, until I see her whispering something into the tattooed guys ear, and she makes her way over to the side of the room, on her own. Now's my chance. I slam my beer down on the bar and ask Zoe to watch it for me real quick while I run to the bathroom. I don't need the bathroom. I just need to remind Jamie about the sexual chemistry between us, and hopefully make her forget about this guy she's obviously eager to take home.