UNSPOKEN

2 (Past)

I met Jackson when I was 17 through my best friend's older brother. It was summer and her brother was back from college and Alexa had blackmailed him into taking us to a club, any club; we wanted to have fun. I had no idea what Alexa had on Connor but it was bad enough to take us, highschool girls, to a club where he would meet his college buddies. I had been completely nervous over the outfit I would wear and had spent the entire afternoon at Alexa's home trying out different options. In the end I went with an embroided yellow minidress with some animal print ballet flats because Connor said that we weren't going to an actual club but to some kind of bar. Whatever the difference that made he said that my outfit was ok for the night. Connor was a nice guy and I had known him my entire life so I trusted him fully. Outfit wise or any other wise. I was excited to be out in the world with "adults" but I also felt a bit stupid because, really, what were we going to do in a place full of older guys. I bet $20 to Alexa that we would get bored.

When we got there I realized the difference between a club and a bar. The bar was kind of dingy and I was surprised that Connor had chosen a place that had nothing to do with the Hamptons lifestyle; it even crossed my mind that he was so embarrassed of us that he decided to take us to a place where he wouldn't bump into anyone he knew. I didn't care; I just wanted to have fun. Alexa and me, we weren't nerds or anything; we had our amount of popularity but we got bored of the same scene every weekend so whenever Connor was in town we took advantage of that.

"C'mon girls" said Connor jumping down from his convertible that had horribly messed with my hair and now it was a big tangled mess of red waves.

"Wait" I said stopping for a second to run my fingers through my hair. I heard Connor laughed and Alexa telling him that convertibles weren't for girls. After some attempts to untangle my hair, which I had carefully conditioned, I let it be and hoped that the bar would be so damn dark that no one would notice.

We walked into the bar and stood in the front door while Connor had a talk with the bouncer and it wasn't until that moment that I realized that he had brought us to the one bar that would allow underage kids in. I was touched because I knew he had chosen the place to let her sister have a good time. Any other guy would go with the "oops, see you at home" attitude.

"In you go" he said letting us go inside. I was relieved to realize that my hair wouldn't be a problem since the bar was dark as a cave; I could barely see some tables and the bar. It was a tiny bar but it was packed. Connor wouldn't take us to a dangerous place and he wouldn't go out to a lame bar so I was confident it would be okish.

"So exciting, uh?" said Alexa next to me. I knew she was already looking for hot guys. Her hormones were so out of control. I always wondered where were my hormones because never in my 17 years had I felt a burning attraction towards someone. I liked guys, I went out on dates, I'd had boyfriends of 2 or 3 months but I've never met the guy that made me think only of sex. Seemed that every guy Alexa met was made up by sex atoms or something like that.

"Connor" I heard someone calling his name and from the top of the stairs that lead to the tables in the bar I saw him. It was some other guy waving and screaming Connor's name but it was Jackson who caught my eye. As I said the club was really dark but I could clearly see him, I am not kidding, it was like some kind of halo shone down on him because I couldn't see anything but him. There he was a faceless stranger that I knew would change my life.

When we got to the table where Connor's friends were, we realized it wasn't big enough so we moved to a bigger table with more chairs and I ended up sitting next to him. I didn't make that happen it just happened. The halo of light was moving towards me and then sitting next to me.

I was shocked that I had ended up sitting next to this guy and that Alexa had run immediately to get something to drink and had left me alone. "Hey" I heard him say. I almost threw up because I was so nervous. It took me a little longer than what seemed normal to answer back because I was trying really hard to distinguish his features.

"Hi" I said trying to smile. I probably looked like some kind of lunatic. He moved closer and I finally could see his dark eyes, they were like dark chocolate. I just wanted to eat them. What?

"Jackson" he said stretching his hand.

"Marion" I shook his hand.

"Are you Connor's sister?" he asked really serious.

"No, I'm her sister's best friend" I said laughing.

"Good" he nodded. What did that mean?

"Beer?" He showed me the bottle he had in one hand. I nodded.

"Thank you" I took a sip of the bottle he offered.

"How old are you, Marion?" he asked passing his hand around my shoulders.

"17" I blushed but I didn't care because I knew that he wouldn't tell. "you?" I asked

"20" I nodded.

"College?" I asked after giving another sip to his beer and handing him the bottle back

"Yes. Pre-law" he scrunched up his nose.

"That's what you want to be.. a lawyer?" I was curious.

"I guess" he shrugged and took a sip of his beer and I just nodded "what about you?"

"I'm not going to college" I said pretty sure of myself.

"Is that so?" he asked with half a smile. His hair was all over the place and I wanted to reach and run my fingers through it.

"Yep" I smiled back at his half smile.

"What do you plan to do with your life?" he went closer to me.

"Bake it all away" I smiled and he grinned.

"Would you teach me how?" he asked and I nodded.