chapter 1

"You" We both said at the same time. I narrowed my eyes at Gage who in turned glared back at me. He was the friend Dylan had talked about and had run off to yesterday.  "Wait you two know each other?" Dylan asked beside me.  "Unfortunately." Gage said keeping his eyes on me. At his words I glared harder at him.  "I wasn't the one being an ass." I bit out.  "You came onto me."  "I did not! I was thanking you not trying to sleep with you." I curled my lip at him.  "It didn't seem like that." Gage said taking a step towards me. I had to crane my neck up to look at his face. His face looked a lot better and I couldn't help but wonder if he had some kind of salve for his cuts and bruises. Not replying I took that moment to look at him fully.  Gone was his hoodie and a black t-shirt hugged his upper body. Muscular arms that I didn't know where under his hoodie were now stretching the arm holes of his shirt. Although he was fit and probably had abs under his shirt, you could practically see them through his shirt, he wasn't over muscular. He didn't look like some of those guys that work out everyday and take steroids just to look cool. I noticed what looked like a tattoo peaking out from under his t-shirt. My eyes traveled lower to his low hung blue jeans. My eyes widened a fraction when I saw he had black converse on as well. My gaze looked up at his face taking in his bruises. His brown hair was styled in a messy but sexy look.  "Are you done checking me out yet?" I blinked stupidly. "Dylan get your 'friend' to stop staring at me like a freak." He put emphasis on the word friend, almost as if the name was disgusted him.  "My name is Carter."  "I don't care." He shot back at me. "Dylan lets go."  "No you can't take my friend away." I did the same thing to the word 'friend'.  "He isn't your friend."  "Yes he is. He is hanging out with me." I stated folding my arms over my chest.  "He doesn't even know you, princess." We argued back and forth like a couple of 3 year olds. After every thing Gage said he took a step closer to me until we were almost toe to toe. "Unless you want to sleep with him as well." At that I felt my blood boil. Who does he think he is!?  "Woah guys! I'm not just a piece of meat you can just toss around." Dylan said interrupting us. I know I am very sexy and likable but you have to atleast take me out on a date first." I turned to him biting back a smile, cooling off a little bit.   Dylan was looking at both of us shaking his head. There was a small smirk on his face and his hazel eyes were sparkling in amusement.  "Gage remember I like to be taken out first before you give me those fuck-me-eyes." I choked back on laughter that was trying to burst free. Gage's glared and frowned deepened even more as he stared at his best friend. Dylan didn't even look fazed at Gage's look but if it were anybody else they would be shitting themselves.  Dylan's smirk widened while I grinned at him. He clearly wasn't frightened of Gage. I could tell these two have been friends for a while. Even at that comment I knew Gage wasn't as pissed off as he seemed. As they continued to stare at one another I felt like I was intruding on a private moment between the two. It was like they were talking in each others minds.  "Um do you guys want me to leave you alone so you can continue with your private stares? I'm not a huge fan at being a 3rd-wheel." I said. It seemed they didn't hear me or were ignoring me. "Hey love birds!" I snapped my finger between there faces. "Do you want me to leave you alone so you can continue with your secretive looks?"  That did it. Dylan grinned over at me while Gage threw me a scowl. I grinned trying to wiggle my eyebrows but by the look of Dylan's laughter and Gage's unimpressed look I wasn't doing a good job.  "Don't ever do that again." Gage said.  "Why? I think I can do it perfectly, see." I did it again.  "Dylan come on we have to go."  "Oh tired of me intruding on your 'private time'? I can just turn around if you'd like." I acted nonchalant.  "Stop insinuating that Dylan and I are together." Gage gritted out.  "What? Am I not good enough for you?!" Dylan exclaimed sending his friend a hurt look. He put a hand to his heart like he hurt him.  "We are not going through this again." I couldn't help but burst out laughing. I clenched the side of the table as I laughed.  "Y-You've been through this before?" I wheezed out. "Dylan I love you."  "Of course you do." Gage muttered. It took me a minute to stop laughing and when I did I had to wipe the tears from my eyes.  "Sorry. I'm okay now." I smiled over at Dylan who was grinning back at me. Yeah this was going to be a start of a good friendship.  "Whatever Dylan lets go." He adjusted the strap of his backpack which I didn't even notice that he had on.  "Where are you guys going?" I asked before I could stop myself.  "None of you business, stalker." Gage snapped at me his eyes flashing at me. I put my hands in front of me and forced myself not to lean away from him.  "Okay I was just wondering no need to get snappy, gosh." I rolled my eyes at him. "I'll let you go and be with Mr. Grumpy pants." I said to Dylan. I could tell Gage wanted to say something back to me but Dylan opened his mouth first.  "Why don't you come with us? Unless you have class or something." He offered. For a split second I considered it but shut it down immediately. No way could I could and be around Gage for more then a few minutes. The guy hated my guts anyways. I glanced up at Gage who looked seconds away from blowing up.  "That's okay I don't want to intrude. Plus my roommate should be here soon." I declined.  "But you wouldn't be intruding. You would be keeping me company while this one," He pointed to Gage. "figh...works out." He caught himself from saying a different word. I picked up on it but decided to let it go. It was their business anyways, not mine.  "As much as I would love to keep you company I better not. I'm just going to finished up my thing and wait for my friend. But thank you." I stole a glance at Gage from the corner of my eye and saw he had unclenched his jaw and fists. Made the right choice apparently.  "Well next time okay?" I nodded in agreement. Dylan stood up but before he turned to leave with Gage he turned back to me. "Can I have your number?" I looked at him funny for a second.  "Sure." He fished out his phone and handed it to me. It seemed slightly weird to give my number to a guy I literally just met yesterday but I liked Dylan.  "Here you go." I handed it back to him after I put in my number. "I'll see you later." Surprising me he tugged me into a hug, my face smashing against his hard chest.  "I'll text you later Carter. Bye."  "Glad your face is better." I said to Gage before they walked away. I had no idea why I just suddenly said that.  "Whatever." He muttered before walking away, leaving Dylan to run after him.  "What a jerk." I mumbled before sitting back down at the table. In my defense I was nice to him. Sighing I turned back to my drawing of Gage. I didn't want to finish it but I hated when I didn't finish my art work. Pushing Gage's rudeness to the back of my mind I grabbed my pencils to start on drawing his face.  It took me 20 more minutes to get his face just right but looking at it I couldn't help but compare it to his face in real life. His jaw line didn't look as pronounce in the picture as it did when you were staring straight at him. Even his eyes didn't look the same shade. Seeing that is as good as I will get it I dropped my pencil and rubbed my forehead. I hated that I when it came to drawing it had to be perfect.  Staring down at the picture I couldn't help but think Gage was attractive, really attractive even in photo form. He oozed sex appeal but it was his personality that made me think twice about even liking him. Sure he had that bad boy vibe going on as well as the don't-fuck-me look but that is what seemed to draw people in. I wasn't stupid to not know that he probably gets girls by the dozen, and he also probably does the hump and dump with them.  I wanted to justify the reason behind drawing him but I couldn't. Something about him lured me in and he stuck in my head like a bad song. If it wasn't for how he acted towards me I would be like every other girl, drooling and making a fool of myself in front of him. I don't know what I did wrong for I only just met him two days ago.  Maybe he just wasn't use to a girl not wanting to sleep with him. I definitely was not the type to just go and be flirty with some random guy to sleep with him. Sure Gage may be undeniably hot I wasn't like that. Hell it took almost two years with my first boyfriend to even think about sleeping with him. If Gage was mad at my for not immediately wanting to sleep with him than it was his own fault for being rude.  I let out a loud sigh at my thoughts. Here I was thinking about somebody I really didn't care for. I don't even know why I care so much that he was rude and didn't like me. Why should I even care that he doesn't like me? It wasn't like I was here to impress anyone, well other then Ethan, but still. It shouldn't matter that much to me but for some reason it did. I didn't like knowing Gage hated me. He doesn't know me and takes it upon himself to think he does.  I guess my need to please people and have them liked me applied to Gage as well. I did not want him to hate me for an unknown reason and I also didn't want him to be rude to me. I just never thought I would care so much of what someone thought of me. My whole life I have tried not to care of what people said behind my back or what they thought my life was like. I've succeeded to an extent where I would just shrug off their comments but now with Gage I couldn't. I just wanted to know why he hated me when he only just met me.  "Why the loud sigh?" A voice questioned as a big body flopped down on the bench beside me. For the second time in a day I let out a small shriek while clenching my chest. I looked over at the person who just raised an eyebrow at me. "Didn't know I was that frightening."  "Ethan don't do that!" I snapped trying to calm my racing heart, but of course it didn't work whenever he was around.  "I didn't do anything. I thought you would have heard me." He shrugged. "So are you going to tell me what the sigh was for?" Ethan leaned his forearms on the table looking my way.  "It was nothing, just have a lot on my mind." I said as I quickly shut my notebook. I did not want Ethan to see the drawing I did of Gage, that would not go over well.  "Well if you need someone to talk to you know I am here." He said seriously. I nodded and sent him a small smile.  "Thanks."  "So how has your day been? No classes?"  "Not today I have two tomorrow though. I've just been sitting here taking pictures and drawing." I answered. "I take it you had class?" I gestured to his backpack he had placed on the table.  "Yeah had Anthropology with Professor Mclaren at 8 o'clock, then had English 235 a few minutes ago."  "Oh how were they?"  "Eh English won't be bad since the teacher is pretty chill, but Anthropology is going to be a bitch. A lot of homework and studying." He let out a shudder at studying.  "You never know you may end up liking the class."  "Yeah right Prof. Mclaren is such a hard ass. He doesn't let anything slide and has the most monotone voice ever." Ethan groaned. "But lets not talk about that, any plans tonight?"  "Probably not. I have class early tomorrow morning and I would rather stay at home anyways." I shrugged.  "Same old Carter." He sent me a grin which made my insides warm. His stupid perfect smile always got to me, with his straight white teeth and dimples.  "What's that suppose to mean?" I asked looking at him.  "Nothing honestly. It's just that you have always been the type of girl who would rather stay at home than go party."  "You guys never want me to 'go out and party'." I reminded him.  "It is not a bad thing. It is something that I love about you. Not everyone likes to dress up nicely every time they go out. It's nice to just stay home and relax." At the mention of the word love I wanted to melt into a puddle. Sure he didn't mean it the way I wanted him to but it was still the word LOVE! I continued to stare at him processing everything he said.  "It is not a bad thing I promise." Ethan said again. He thought I was offended. I mean I slightly was but when he said he liked that about me that flew out my mind.  "Well...good." I got out finally not really knowing what to say.