After calling out again and again, we finally connected with someone who assured me that they were on their way. However, they said to get comfortable, because it may take 30 minutes to an hour. "Alright. You heard them," I said. "It's gonna be a while; let's just sit down." Finally, Jaxon complied. I grabbed onto his hand for balance as we sat down against the side wall near the buttons incase we got a call back. His hand felt hot and damp in mine, and I could feel the heat radiating from his body. "Seriously, what's wrong with you?" I asked, "and don't tell me it's nothing because I've never seen you like this before." "I just don't like elevators. I've had a bad experience before in one," he panted. "Okay... well you need to calm down. Remember when you helped me during my panic attack? Let's breathe together. In..." I said, inhaling a deep breath, "out...," I finished. "Come on; do it with me." "Emery..." he protested."Don't 'Emery' me. We're doing this. Come on, in... Out.
"So, I've been thinking," Hannah said, running a hand through her long blonde hair. "Uh-oh," I replied, looking up from my psych homework. "Very funny," she smiled, sitting up on her bed. "Tomorrow after class, Drayden and I are going to go see a movie. You and Mason should come! We can make it a double date." My heart skipped a beat. A date with Jax? "Hannah... Mason and I aren't together.""Exactly! But you told me he has feelings for you, and the two of you have done absolutely nothing about it since then. Consider this your opportunity to move things along.""I don't know— Mason's not usually into the whole 'dating' thing," I tried again to get out of this; I couldn't come up with a decent excuse to save my life. "Puh-lease," Hannah said, flipping onto her stomach to stare down at me. "He would definitely go if you asked; he does anything for you." I smiled to myself. "I don't know what you're talking about." "Um, just one example off the top of my head," Hannah started, "he
"Where are we going?" I asked Jaxon."Shhh," he said, "follow me." I held onto his hand as he lead me further down the hallway and past our movie theater, until we arrived at one on the end. "I thought this movie was much better suited for you." I glanced at the title, "The secret life of pets?" I smiled. "Yep; several cute dogs in this one," he agreed. "Act casual... we're gonna find some seats."I did as I was told, holding Jax's hand in the dark theater while he causally and gracefully snuck us into two seats in the back.We were quiet at first as my nerves calmed and I focused on the cute, animated pets that floated across the screen. "Hey..." I whispered after a while. Jax leaned down so that he could hear me better, a waft of his cologne hitting my nose. "Thank you... this was a nice distraction." Even in the dark, I could see the corners of his lips turn up into a small smile. "Of course," he whispered back. He took his hand, draping it over the center console and picking
Unfortunately, I barely saw Hannah for the rest of the week; She came in and out, but it wasn't like I wanted to sit her down and have a deep conversation about how her boyfriend sucks while she was rushing to get to work. Now, the weekend was already here, and she headed off to Drayden's house for the weekend before I even got back from my last class on Friday evening. Part of me wondered if she was avoiding me. Maybe she was embarrassed that Jax and I had witnessed that kind of behavior from her boyfriend; not that it was her fault. But, since I'd moved in, she hasn't been gone this long without at least checking in or trying to make a plan with me. I stretched out my arms, getting ready to get up for the day. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but Jax told me yesterday he had an idea. I made my way to the bathroom, brushing my teeth and taking a quick shower before returning to my own dorm. I pulled out my phone, seeing that I already had a text from Jax. Mason: Let me know when
I watched as Jax pointed out the various parts of the gun, and how he filled the clip with bullets. When it was set, he slid the clip into place and removed the safety before getting into position. I watched the muscles in his arms flex as he raised the gun and pulled the trigger. I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of hot. When it was my turn, I was feeling okay about being around a gun but actually holding one in my own hands was another thing entirely. I listened to Jax's instructions, holding the gun in front of me and trying to still my hands as I took aim. However, I was shaking so badly that the gun wasn't staying aimed where I wanted it; and besides, I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger anyway. “I can't," I said, lowering the gun, "I can't do it. I'm sorry; it's just too soon.""You can do it," he said. "Just breathe." I picked up the gun again, holding it out straight in front of me. My body quaked as I tried to hold it still. I was about to give up again when I felt Jax
Luckily for my growling stomach, there was a pizza place right across the parking lot. We were immediately hit with the air-conditioned interior and open seating. The friendly hostess brought us back to a booth as the scent of fresh pizza filled my nostrils. It didn't take long before we were seated across from each other and scanning the menu. "I could really go for a drink right now," I sighed as I viewed the selection of soft drinks. "Why did they have to make me 19?"Jax shrugged, "We both are 19."I looked around, making sure nobody was in ear shot. "No offense, but you look like you're 25." "I am 25," he chuckled. My mouth popped open for a second. "Really?" He nodded, "How old did you think I was?"Now it was my turn to shrug. "I guess I hadn't really thought about it, but I would have thought 21ish. Technically, I turn 21 in 4 months." "That explains why you can't handle your alcohol." I rolled my eyes, preparing to shoot him a comeback when the server came over. Since I
"So... what happened?" I asked as I approached a blubbering Hannah. "Drayden's an asshole," she cried, "He made out with another girl last night.""Oh no... did you see him?" I asked, handing her a tissue from the box on my desk. She shook her head, "No, but one of the girls at the frat told me they saw him last night. When I confronted him, he just got angry with me for not respecting his privacy."I let out a sigh, "Hannah... you could do so much better than him. Seriously, I didn't like the way he treated you the other night at the movies.""What do you mean?" She asked, wiping a tear away from her eyes. I cocked an eyebrow, sitting beside her on our futon. "I know you know exactly what I mean. You've been avoiding me."She let out a small chuckle, gathering some of her blonde locks in her hands and twisting them around her fingers. "I haven't been trying to avoid you. But... I do know what you mean. He's not always like that, though. Most of the time he's really sweet.""Maybe,
Hannah was right, the bouncer definitely had a crush on her. Not only did he willingly let us in, but he also let us skip the line. I tried my best to avoid making eye contact with the angry people who were still waiting their turn. Once inside, I forgot all about the people in line, and I was actually having a really good time with Hannah. We drank, we danced, and Hannah flirted with any semi-decent man in the bar. Even better still, was the sense of security I felt just knowing that Jax was here somewhere. I had stuck to my internal promise of not drinking too much more at the bar, but Hannah was spiraling faster than I could keep up with. It seemed like every time I turned around, she was taking a shot or had a refilled drink in her hand. I started trying to spill them or even take them myself when she had her back turned, but eventually she was a drunken, slurring mess. I watched as she clung to the neck of some man who was swaying her around the dance floor. It looked like she