Francisco blinked blankly before roaring into laughter, leaning against the back of seat as if an invisible hand was pushing him, clutching his waist as he banged his fist against the door.

“Good one,” he cackled, trying to calm down. “As if Killian Henderson would actually settle with one person,” he snorted, making me frown as he spoke the truth. “No really, who is this guy? I’ve never seen him around.”

Before Killian could answer, I interrupted. “I’m his classmate,” I said shyly, ignoring the immediate frown on Killian’s face. “We um, we go to the same school.”

Francisco turned towards Killian with raised brows.

“Huh, I didn’t know that you still went to school,” he murmured, which made Killian roll his eyes. He placed his elbow against the window, his jaw leaning against his fist.

“Every once in a while,” he shrugged. glancing towards me. “For Jones.”

My eyes widened and I quickly looked away. “For detention,” I quickly corrected so Francisco wouldn’t get the wrong idea.

“Oh, so you’re Carter Jones?” Asked Francisco, looking at me with a surprised look on his face. How did he know who I was? Don’t tell me that he saw me dance at Joey’s party too? But he didn’t look like someone from our school… Maybe Killian talked to him about me?
No, that couldn’t be it. I mean, why would he?

I avoided his gaze. Rather than wanting to know about how he knew my first name, I was more worried about something else.

“Killian, could you please drive with two hands?” I asked in a small voice, feeling nervous as he only drove with one. He let out a small chuckle and quickly apologised, shifting in his seat and holding the wheel with both hands.

Francisco looked even more surprised, almost amused, but didn’t make any comments.

“Do any of you two have a cigarette? I’ve been dying for one since yesterday but apparently smoking in jail is not allowed,” he muttered as if it was the most ridiculous discovery he’s made. “Outrageous, I know!”

I gave him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I don’t smoke.”

“It’s fine,” he said, then turning towards Killian who remained silent. Francisco started to poke his shoulder. “C’mon Killian, don’t be petty,” he cooed.

“I don’t have any on me.”

Francisco rolled his eyes. “I’ll buy you another packet later,” he promised.

“I really don’t.”

His answer seemed to shock his best friend who blinked blankly.

“But you always have one on you,” he murmured in confusion.

“Well, not this time,” he said. “I cut off on the cigs.”

Francisco’s jaw dropped wide open, grabbing onto Killian’s arms and almost making us crash into the car next to us.

“Dude!” Hissed Killian, pushing Francisco’s hands away.

“Who are you and what did you do to my beloved Killian?!”

He then turned towards me. “Can you believe this? Killian Henderson cut off-” he didn’t finish his sentence, taking in a sharp breath. “Wow, you get yourself in jail for one day and the entire world just drastically changes. The next thing you know, pigs are going to fly and unicorns are going to take over the world!”

I let out a stiff laugh. “Um, I’m the one who asked him to stop, but it’s only temporary.”

Francisco’s mouth widened again and I was scared that his jaw might drop at this point.”What happened while I was in jail?” he murmured weakly, pointing his hand from Killian to me. “Because this… None of this is making any sense.”

“Francis, you’re scaring Jones,” sighed Killian, sounding slightly annoyed. “Look, just suck on this if you’re so desperate for a smoke,” he threw a lollipop to his friend who stared at it with narrowed eyes and confused brows. But Francisco then shrugged, unwrapping it and happily popping it into his mouth. “So where do I drop you off? Your house or Luke’s?”

“Ugh, not that brat’s house,” he groaned.

“Luke?” I asked weakly.

“Yeah, they’re dating,” informed Killian, making my eyes widen. Luke wasn’t straight?!

“We used to date,” corrected Francisco. “He broke up with me ever since I called from the police station and told him that I was in prison. He then hung up on me. Actually, no. He, I quote, said “serves you right you good for nothing dolt head, we’re over”. And then he started spelling the word “over” as if I didn’t know to spell,” he said, throwing his hands in the air in disbelief. “And then he hung up on me.”

I blinked a few times, wondering if he was being serious or if this was just some kind of joke.

“You know that he doesn’t mean it,” said Killian. “The number of times he’s broken-up with you because he was worried,” he then shrugged. “It’s just his way of showing you that he cares.”

“I know, and it’s sooo annoying,” groaned Francisco, tilting his head back.

“And yet you still date him.”

“Well yeah, he’s adorable,” he murmured. “Besides, his big ego and feisty attitude makes him a perfect power bottom.”

I almost choked at the unexpected answer and Killian chuckled, handing me a bottle of water.

“Luke’s house it is,” chuckled Killian.

“So what about you two? What kind of relationship do you guys have?”

“We’re just classmates,” I quickly precised once again. But Killian seemed unpleased my the answer.

“Not even friends? Ouch Jones, that actually kinda hurt,” chuckled Killian dryly. But before I could answer, Francisco let our a loud gasp.

“Kiki!” He cried, making the both of us jump.

“What?!”

“Mcdonalds!” he said eagerly, pointing at the big yellow M across the road. “Can we go get some ice cream? Please?”

Killian’s jaw tightened and I could just sense his annoyance. “You almost gave me a heart-attack for that?!”

“Come on Kiki, I was starving in prison!”

He narrowed his eyes in the rear view window. “You were in there for half a day.”

“Exactly!” Cried Francisco. They both started to argue, but despite their harsh words, I could tell that they were extremely close. Killian glanced towards me.

“Jones, do you want some ice cream?”

“Say that you do,” whispered Francisco into his ear, an exasperated sigh escaping Killian’s lips.

I couldn’t help but giggle. “I do,” I murmured. I didn’t want to go home just yet, even though I was grounded and supposed to be at home right now, I wanted to enjoy today as long as I could. Francisco cheered in joy as changed directions and drove towards the Mcdonald’s drive-through.

Francisco and I both ordered a vanilla cone while Killian said that he wasn’t hungry. When we went to the window to get our order, Killian paid for our icecream. I insisted that I’d pay, but he ignored my scrunched up 5 dollar bill and handed the lady his credit card instead. Killian then handed Francisco and I our cones.

“Heaven,” sighed Francisco as he licked his ice-cream. “Oh sweet, sweet heaven.”

I was scared that I’d drop mine, knowing how clumsy I could be, and held the cone with hands, carefully licking the vanilla flavor. A small smile lingered at the corner of Killian’s lip as he looked at me with an amused look on his face.

“Does it taste good?” He asked and I bobbed my head.

“Hey, why aren’t you asking me if mine tastes good?” pouted Francisco, making Killian’s smile disappear.

“Because you’ve been moaning like you’re having a god damn orgasm,” he growled, making us both laugh.

“Are you sure you don’t want any? You can have some of mine,” I said, turning the cone around. “The left side is still clean, I haven’t licked it yet, I promise.”

“He probably didn’t want one because he wanted to drive with two hands,” noted Francisco. I blinked, shifting my gaze towards Killian who turned his head the other way.

“Francis, will you just eat your icecream?” He grumbled, but didn’t deny the accusation. Before I could ask if he wanted some of mine again, we drove up a road bump and a trickle of ice-cream accidentally dripped off the bottom of my cone and onto the seat between my lap.

I let out a small gasp. “S-S-Sorry,” I stuttered nervously, quickly using my sleeve to remove the stain. “I um, I dropped some icecream.”

Killian stopped at a red light and leaned towards me.

“You’ll dirty your clothes,” he murmured in a husky voice, removing my hands and looking at my sleeve before the stain. Killian put his big hands on my knees, making me bite my lip from the warmth as he spread my thin legs apart to get a better look. I didn’t know what I was more nervous about, the fact that he was leaning so close to me or the fact that I accidentally stained his seat. But he pulled away, not looking mad at all.

“It’s fine Jones, I’ll wash it off with water later,” he grunted, putting both hands on the wheel and stepping on the pedal as the light turned green.

“The last time I dropped ketchup on your back seat, you almost gave me a fricken’ black eye,” huffed Francisco, making my brows furrow in worry.

Would he try and give me a black eye too?

“Jones is special,” he said, his pistachio eyes glancing towards me with a quick wink and devilishly charming smile. I looked away, feeling my ears turn red and my heart beat faster against my chest. Killian and Francisco continued to talk about what’s been going on in their lives and of people that I’ve never heard of while I waited for the redness of my face to sink down. We arrived in a calm neighborhood where Killian parked in front of a big blue house.

“This is Luke’s place,” grunted Killian.

“Thanks again for breaking me out of jail,” chuckled Francisco, doing a cool handshake with Killian. He then looked towards me with a smile. “I’ll see you around ma’, if you ever need help, you know where to find me!”

I nodded with a smile and with that, the bubbly Asian boy with tattoos left the car and Killian and I are were now alone again.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, feeling a sudden awkward atmosphere loom over us.

“Carter,” said Killian, making me flinch.

“Yes?” I squeaked, slowly turning my head towards him. But as soon as I did, he pressed his soft lips against mine and my eyes widened in shock. I felt his hand wrap around the nape of my neck as he gently pulled me closer towards him.
He pulled away without using any tongue and licked his lips instead.

“You taste like icecream,” he smiled. My face burned red as I quickly pulled away from him.

“W-W-What are you doing?” I stuttered, putting my hands over my mouth just in case he might try to kiss me again.

He shrugged. “Sexually harassing you.”

“That isn’t funny,” I frowned. The smile on his face disappeared, replaced by a sudden serious look.

“Jones,” his husky voice spoke. “I know that you like me. And I kind of have for a long time, even at Joey’s party.”

My eyes widened in horror. But I thought that I did a good job a keeping it a secret! I mean, I did accidentally confess to him today, and I did kiss him at the party, and I do always blush whenever he’s around me… But I was discrete, wasn’t I?

“Like you said, t-t-that was just because of the drugs,” I murmured, avoiding his gaze.

“You’re a terrible liar,” he chuckled half-heartedly, making me flinch.

You don’t have to be so straightfoward.

“Also, you literally just confessed to me like two hours ago,” he added, making me flush even brighter.

I squeezed my clammy hands, wanting to disappear into another universe and never come back.

“I know that you don’t like me back,” I murmured in a small voice. “So can you save me the embarrassment and just pretend like I didn’t say anything? I promise that I’ll get over you-”

Killian suddenly took my hand and bit my finger, my eyes widening as I tried to pull away, but he then slid his hand towards mine and our fingers intertwined. I stared at him in confusion.

“What I don’t like is when people make conclusions about me and make decisions in my stead,” he said in a low, husky voice, sounding slightly angry which strangely made him even more handsome. “When did I ever say that I didn’t like you back?”

Now that I think about it, I never did give him a chance to reply.

“But you knew about my feelings at Joey’s party and avoided confronting them by saying that it was because of the drugs and alcohol.”

“Yeah, because I was scared,” he said. His dark, green eyes drilled into mine, but for some reason, I couldn’t look away. “I was scared by how much I liked you and didn’t know what to do, so I used a crappy-”

My eyes hardened and he cleared his voice.

“I mean, a crabby excuse to give myself some more time,” he said.

My voice reduced to a whisper. “More time for what?”

“To see if my feelings were just temporary, like with every other guy or girl I’ve been with. But I came to realise that no Jones, you’re different,” he murmured, giving me a small squeeze. “You make me want to commit to a relationship on a long term basis, and for the first time in my life, I actually want to be with someone other than just for sex. Besides, I’m normally not into virgins,” a playful, yet, shy smile grew on his lips. “But you actually turn me on.”

I quickly looked away, embarrassed by the subject. I couldn’t even deny it because the truth was way too obvious.

Feeling like he was teasing me, I took in a small breath, deciding to just ask him directly. I mean, I couldn’t get any more embarrassed than I already was at this point, I might as well sink myself all the way down. Mustering up the courage, I finally raised my gaze and looked back into his beautiful eyes that made my heart thump.

“What are you trying to say?” I asked.

Without hesitation, Killian, with a smile that grew on his face, a feeling that came from deep inside to light his eyes, spoke in a relaxed voice that spread warmth throughout my entire body.

“What do you think Jones?” He chuckled softly. “I’m saying that I like you.”