Deck of Cards

Chapter Three | Walk-On Songs

"You really listen to punk music?" Luca practically gasped, his eyes bugging out of his head as he walked along the sidewalk with Alessia by his side. The brunette only stifled a laugh, tossing her shoulders up in a soft shrug.

"I listen to literally anything. One second, I'll be listening to some Ariana Grande song, then I'll just switch to The Amity Affliction, then I'll be on Kanye and finally I'll get back to some overplayed Maroon 5 hit single," she explained, simply watching Luca's face transform from one of shock to pure confusion.

"How d-" he began, but was cut off by the girl's quick words.

"C'mon babe, we're gonna be late," she chirped, grasping his hand and tugging him through a seemingly random door. Over their session of teasing and buffalo wings, Alessia had finally managed to slice through the shell of nerves that was covering the boy underneath. The conversation hadn't stopped and to passers by, it appeared as though the two had known one another for years.

The term of endearment that had escaped Alessia's lips, although it probably meant nothing to her, caused Leo's cheeks to illuminate a deep shade of red. It hadn't even been a day and all this girl had done was caused him to blush deeply. It seemed as though the boy was the only one that noticed that she still hadn't dropped his hand because the girl was busy leading him through a series of hallways. He wasn't paying attention, though, because he was lost somewhere else in his mind. This girl seemed so lovable, so kind: what brought her to the dark side of life? He wanted nothing more than to dig deeper into this girl, but not in the way that he is expected to.

The sound of someone clearing his throat snapped the tanned boy out of his daze. As soon as his chocolate eyes flickered upward from the position they had been locked in, they were met with a darkening glare from Chase, who was seated across the room with the rest of the Jacks and the eights they were mentoring.

"Well someone's a bit late," Chase practically spat, his words directed to Alessia but his eyes were still narrowed at Luca, making him feel a bit uncomfortable. The tension in the room was compiling to the point where even the other Jacks looked as though they wanted to scurry out of the way.

"Two minutes, Chase, relax," Alessia retorted, her snarky tone catching solely Luca by surprise. She had just been so calm, so giggly, but now, she was back to the girl that first introduced herself to him. The silence began to envelope the room, but everyone was focused upon the mental showdown between Chase and Alessia. Swiftly, the girl attempted to push her way to an empty chair across the room as Luca took his own seat, but before she could reach her destination, a pair of strong hands grasped her waist, bringing her down.

"Chase," she lowly growled, turning in his lap to meet his gaze. Of course that typical sly grin was painted across his face, his expression daring her to move.

"C'mon, baby," he cooed, leaning in and allowing his hot breath to hit her neck. She wasn't delving into his games, though, so she simply untangled herself from his grasp in silence, knowing that everyone was watching them. This was a typical occurrence, but there was one person that she was concerned about when he saw the dysfunction of the relationship between Chase and Alessia: Luca. The boy's expression was a mixture of deflated and confused, a combination that the girl could not help but feel guilty for.

"I'll explain later," she mouthed to him, batting her long eyelashes as she plopped down on the floor. The girl aimlessly smoothed her fingers over the fabric of her tattered charcoal jeans, wanting to just push past the awkwardness that Chase had caused. "This happens all of the time, why do you care so much?" the voice in her head taunted, but she ignored it and focused on those around her. This was no professional meeting or Deck of Cards related gathering: it was a casual hang out.

"So..." Brielle, the most innocent appearing one in the group with her doe baby blues, tumbling golden locks and Southern twang, breathed out, her smooth voice interrupt the silence of the room. "God, this is awkward," she muttered, attempting to be subtle, but voicing her opinions loudly enough for Kiernan to snicker and a soft smirk to paint on Alessia's lips. She was doing her absolute best to avoid the gaze of Luca, who just wouldn't take his eyes off of her.

"Is she with Chase?" his conscious immediately pondered, unsure of whether or not he should be jealous, confused or simply surprised. Before he could allow himself any further time to overthink the situation, an unrecognizable, yet heavy, beat filled the room and interrupted his internal dialogue. Everyone immediately shifted, taken aback by the sudden sound and a few of the teenagers even burst into a bit of laughter.

"You know," Chase, the one who had caused the tension, piped up, "that would make an amazing walk-on song," he grinned, causing Micah, who had been seated beside him, to shoot him an odd look.

"Walk-on song?" someone had beaten Micah to the punch, though, and all eyes darted across the room to where Elianna was perched on the couch - a bit close to Tanner, if Luca might add. For a brief moment, the two locked eyes, silently and momentarily communicating. They would meet later on in the evening, as they had decided earlier on that day.

"You know, like in baseball games when a player comes up to bat, they play a song to introduce him. For example, Derek Jeter's was Trophies by Drake," Tanner, the New York Jack, of course, explained to Elianna. Luca's raven-haired partner did not look amused, whatsoever, but forced a smile upon her tanned cheeks in order to appeal to her mentor. She bobbed her head in a simple nod, ending the conversation between them.

"I know the perfect walk-on song for Alessia," Chase taunted, his expression shifting from playful to devious in a matter of moments as the beautiful girl positioned on the floor turned to face him, a look of confusing ridding her face.

"And that would be?" she snapped back at him, knowing that she was not in the mood to deal with his games. That's all Chase did - played mind games. Enough was enough, for today, that was, as Alessia had grown to realize. The boy's eyes simply narrowed at the girl and a feeling of panic struck through her system.

"Bitch Better Have My Money," he announced, causing all of the eyes of the Jacks to turn to stare Chase down. The other six in the room were clueless to Chase's allusion, but Alessia knew loud and clear what he was trying to do: rat her out to the eights around them.

"Are you calling me greedy and demanding, mister?" she challenged in return, not allowing anyone to catch on to the hint of the song that went 'Don't act likeyou forgot, I call the shots, shots, shots, shots' before creating a new theory to Chase's madness.

"No, actually I'm sa-" he began, but thankfully, Kiernan knew what she was doing and allowed her voice to ring out over his.

"Let's get real, Chase's walk-on song would probably be 'We're All In This Together' from High School Musical or 'True Friend' by Hannah Montana," the cruel blonde joked, causing laughter to bubble through the lips of everyone in the room other than Chase himself. His eyes weren't on his tormentor, though, as he was focused on something else: the way that Luca was staring at Alessia as she conversed with Micah. The way that Luca stared at his girl.