Thanks to Music [complete]

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Julien's POV

I was honestly interested in what Mackenzie was trying to tell me, advise me on the first of her plans, that was the direct approach, but my heart was beating irregularly and awfully fast at the thought of what was coming. Jamie was seated in the pizza parlor killing off time until her next class according to Mackenzie, and damn, was I anxious to get this over with.

"Okay, so don't scare her, you have to be subtle. Don't make her feel like the rest of the girls you've been with because I'm sure she's not, right?" she sped off. "And you want her to know that you're sincere and you do want another chance to set things right, right?" It took several minutes to unravel her words and comprehend what she was saying.

I nodded slowly, my eyes straying to the dark door of the parlor. I could see her vaguely through the tinted glass, and my heartbeat sped up in anticipation. Before I knew it, Mackenzie was eagerly pushing me towards the worn out door and wishing me luck.

The door swung shut behind me, hinges squeaking, and I realized she hadn't followed me in. In a second's panic, I was momentarily disorientated, then I saw her head of brown hair over the top of a bench. Building up my confidence to do something that took all the balls in the world, I raised my foot to take a step...

...and saw Josh lean back from her back into his chair, smirking and slurping down his drink.

Unexplained, irrational anger flooded through me and drew a veil over my eyes. All common sense drained out of me when I saw him, and it didn't take a genius to realize he'd kissed her; it didn't matter whether it was on her lips or her cheek, or whether he did it as her boyfriend or not, but it was the fact that he touched her that drove me insane. Anger enveloped the hurt and disappointment and sadness, but I took a minute to calm down and clear my head.

Pfft, like that worked.

All the advice, everything Mackenzie warned against doing, disappeared from my thoughts that were so organized only minutes ago. The current me took over, the playboy with no knowledge of how to be sincere and truthful; the old me that was fighting to claw its way back to the surface was pushed back down to the depths by my infamous temper.

A new kind of confidence took over, and a smirk fixed itself on my face, plain to the eye that I had just spotted prey and was moving in; this confidence was fixed every day on different chicks, and it always worked. I just didn't take the time to realize that it would never work on Jamie.

Josh's eyes snapped to mine in a glare, and his fists clenched tightly, skin stretching taut over hard knuckles. I wanted to laugh at him. As if he could take me down. Jamie noticed the sudden change in character and her head whipped around to see me standing just in front of the door, and she turned back to look out the window in an effort to ignore me.

The old me who was trying so hard to change back just to have the slightest chance to be with her again would have cringed at how cold she was being, but accepted it because she had every right to. However, upon seeing Josh touch her the way he did, with his lips of all body parts, every ounce of rationality and sense faded into black, and all anger buzzed in every corner of my mind, forcing the playboy I hated to completely take over.

"Hey," I greeted with an obnoxious, charming grin that made girls swoon. Forcing insane politeness, I glanced over at the boy I hated so much just for being close to her, then turned to Jamie herself.

She was looking out the window at possibly the most horrific car I have ever seen, and I almost ruined the moment by voicing it. But Jamie took up my entire vision, and before I knew what I was doing, my arm had brushed against hers and sent jolts of...I don't know down my body.