AGONY

Chapter 1 - Feathers, Babies and Tears

Jax's POV

"Get up you sleepy head. What do you think the time is?" my sister yelled at me whilst hitting me with the pillow. I half opened my eyes and saw her wicked grin amongst the feathers flying around the room.

"Macy!" I yelled back at her. "What do you think you're doing? Who's going to clean this up now?" She didn't say anything but gave me a sheepish smile and ran from my room.

I checked the time and almost freaked out. Damn it! It's almost 15:30. If I don't wash up now I'm going to be late! Shit! Shit!

I took a quick shower, grabbed the first tee I found and went to the kitchen to grab some food. "You better clean the mess before you go play," I warned my sister. She just stuck her tongue out in response. I shook my head, amused; I'll never be tired of her antics. "Where are you going?" she asked me. "I have a high school reunion to attend," I replied. "Ah! Are you eager to meet her?" she asked me smirking. I rolled my eyes and replied "It was five years ago, all right? And anyway, I am over it. Who knows, she probably has a boyfriend too!" I answered. But I really don't want that to happen. "Yeah, yeah, keep telling that to yourself, but your cheeks say otherwise though," she says and bumped my shoulder while walking away from the kitchen. I just glared at her and grabbed my car keys and left.

As I was driving, my thoughts got muddled. Am I still attracted to her? It could be true due to my lack of romantic life. But c'mon I can't still be stuck with things that happened 5 years ago, she might have moved on and for all I know, she could be engaged to some guy. Although, the thought made me quite upset.

As I parked my car at the entrance of the park where we were supposed to meet, I saw Chris and she's trying to unload a cooler. Chris is one of my good friends. We were pretty close during high school but weren't in touch after that.

I jogged towards her. "Here, let me help you with that," I said and took the cooler from her. She gave me a big smile "Well! Look at you all grown up. I see that you finally hit puberty" she said, referring to my facial hair and body. Shaking my head and smiling "Well, you haven't changed one bit. Still talkative." I replied.

We started walking through the park towards this place opposite to the pond where the benches were set up for people to sit down. As soon as we reached, we heard this happy scream and I was surprised that it wasn't high pitched. "Hell yeah!" it was a familiar female tone. Chris smiled, shaking her head. I kept the cooler down and finally saw the scene above me.

To say that I was surprised would be the understatement of the year. There were two people playing arm wrestling. One of them was Dee. He's my best friend from high school and still is. And the other one, well, I couldn't see her face as her hair was hiding her face, but damn she was two seconds close to winning. And she won.

She flipped her to the other side and smirked at Dee. Wearing a white T-shirt and washed up jeans, there stood my crush from high school, and god did she look different. Her hair was so long and slightly messy and to say she just looked great would be an understatement too.

"Who's the master now loser?" she teased my friend. Dee just rolled his eyes and looked disappointed. She shoved him in the shoulder and said "Oh come on! It was just a game, suck it up Dee-Dee." She then turned towards us and looked at Chris and said "Finally you arrive! I missed you, you know" and hugged her.

I still hadn't stopped staring at her and she finally looked at me and asked "I'm sorry but have we met? You see, I met with an accident and forgot all that happened in high school." For a moment I was shocked and upset, but when I saw a small smile forming on her face I realized that she was just messing with me. "Good to see you too, Athena," I replied while playfully glaring at her. She gave me a smile that made my heart skip a beat and gave me a hug. "Nah Nah, why would I forget you, Mr Smarty Pants?". I had to control myself to not fall into her warm hug.

Gosh, talk about feeling so awkward.

"Let's arrange the food before the others come," Chris said and we started to make the table. We also chitchatted and talked about how our lives were going. Athena told me that she has recently joined Chris's firm and is working under her. I wanted to ask her where she was all these years when I was searching for her but held myself.

By 17:00 everyone had reached.

I was actually happy to meet everyone after so many years.

We talked about our work life, how some of us actually found our dream job and I was surprised to hear that some of them even started a family.

Our playboy captain found his one and only and has been married for 2 years and is expecting their second child. I couldn't help but smile and glance at Athena for a moment.

Dee saw this quick movement of mine and smirked at me. I just rolled my eyes and moved towards the drinks area. And of course, he had to follow me. "So aren't you going to ask her out?" he asked. "Hell Naw, she'll just freak out. And I don't want to freak her out when I finally get to see her after so long." I replied way too fast. "So you still like her." He said as though confirming something as we joined the rest of them in the conversation. "No wonder you always evaded the blind dates."

The reunion was coming to an end, I talked and laughed so much that my jaw and cheeks began to hurt. I sneaked glances of Athena every now and then. She seemed to have fun, moving her ear to Dee's pregnant girlfriend's tummy and smiling. She was shocked when she pecked her stomach.

For a moment, I wished she pecked my lips instead.

Most of them started leaving and bid their goodbyes. Even Dee left as he didn't want his girlfriend to stand for too long and have her stomach hurting later since she was laughing way too much. That guy just loves his girl way too much. I was shocked when he told me that he was going to be a father. Dee was never a responsible person and the fact that he was going to be a father and take up so many responsibilities made me realize how time changes people and that it makes you a better person.

I wanted to talk to Athena the whole time, but I just didn't have the balls to walk up to her and talk all alone. So I decided I'll just talk to her while leaving and maybe ask her phone number too.

A boy has to somehow take his crush to the next level.

As I started walking towards her, I thought she saw me and gave me a small smile. She too started walking towards me. My heart started beating so fast that I hoped I wouldn't get a stroke in front of her. I was about to open my mouth and ask her whether she was leaving, but she saw something or someone behind me. Her facial expression had changed into one of contrition. I saw a few tears forming in her eyes and before I could ask her what happened she ran past me.