Young Lust

24 - "I Swear on Mick Jagger's Face."

I looked at him blankly for a moment. "Victor, ay?" I let a giggle escape me.

Steven narrowed his eyes at me, then let out a light chuckle.

"Seriously though," he said, "would you?" Steven waited for my reply.

"You're truthfully not in on that stupid bet with Johnny and Joe?"

Steven reached over to my night stand from where he was sitting, snatched my Mick Jagger book and held it to his chest. "I swear on Mick Jagger's face."

I frowned at his choice of... actions and tried to not laugh at him. After calming down from my internal laughing fit, I finally answered Steven's question.

"May as well, then," I shrugged. "No funny business,"

"Gee, how passionate." Steven said monotonously. "I hope you do everything else with more passion than what I just witnessed."

I looked at him with a face that said you've gotta be kidding me.

"What? I'm serious, that was shit-poor,"

"Oh, thanks."

Steven and I continued insulting each other until there was a knock on my bedroom door. It was my mother, and she had an eager look on her face.
"Tom's here!"

"What?" Steven and I looked at each other, confused. We followed Mum downstairs and saw a rough-looking blonde guy in ripped, black jeans, a white AC/DC muscle tee, black, leather, fingerless gloves and a black leather jacket putting a big, brown suitcase on the floor just inside the front door.

"Oh, my God!" I exclaimed, super excited at what I was seeing. I jumped the last two steps and ran towards him, giving him the biggest hug ever.

"You finally dyed your hair," he noticed proudly, returning my hug.

"Yes! What are you doing in America?!"

"Visiting you, dummy. I was supposed to come over in November for your seventeenth, but I just couldn't wait. Who's your friend?"

"Oh! That's Steven. Steven, this is my best friend, Tom!"

Steven approached us and Tom shook his hand. I was still smiling like an idiot when I remembered what had just taken place upstairs. "This is my..."

"Boyfriend," Steven finished for me.

Tom's eyebrow seemed to twitch when he heard this news. "Jade, that's not like you," he joked.

"Oh yeah, whatever," I punched Tom's arm as Steven awkwardly shifted his weight.

"I'm serious. Malinda, did you know of this?" Tom tried to not laugh.

"Actually, I didn't. When did this happen?"

Oh, right. "About five minutes ago," I answered.

"You mean I was five minutes too late?" Tom feigned distress and I sensed Steven tense up.

Tom's liked me since I was twelve. He's two years older than me, so he'd kept it to himself until I turned fourteen. Literally, he'd handed me a nicely wrapped birthday gift and added the fact almost as an afterthought.

"Anyway," I piped up, "how long are you here for?"

"Until you wanna get rid of me," Tom smirked.

"So never, then?" I asked. Tom shrugged as Steven stayed quiet.

I realised we were still crowded in the doorway when Tom asked me to give him a house tour. I took him through the main living room, Steven in tow, to our little yellow kitchen; through the kitchen's back door onto the patio; back inside through the door to the games room - or, soon-to-be games room; past the bathroom; through to the second living room where all our books lived; and then we arrived back at the foyer again. Tom liked the ground level of the house, so I decided to take him upstairs.

"It's a maze up here," Tom commented after we got to the top of the stairs and turned lots of corners to get to the other bathroom, two spare bedrooms, Mum's room, and lastly, to my bedroom.

"It's so colourful!" Tom said, excitedly. "I like it!"

"It's pretty cosy in here at night time," Steven said, eyeing Tom for his reaction, which was just awkwardness.

"Shut up, man," I hissed at Steven and plopped onto my bed. Tom sat in the armchair at the other end of the room after going through my bookshelf; Steven joined me on my bed.

"I'm sure it would be cosy at night," Tom sighed, "I'll have to test that theory some time." He surveyed Steven's face for a reaction, like Steven did to him.

All Steven could manage was to wind his arm between me and my pillows to sit firmly around my waist.

This is just too weird, I thought. I stood up from my bed and started aimlessly looking through my piles of records on my chest of drawers.

"I'll go get my suitcase and pick a room," Tom sighed again, as if reading my mood. Good best friend.

As soon as the door shut behind Tom, I whirled around to have a dig at Steven. "What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem? A random guy that I've never heard of just showed up at my girlfriend's house, casually letting everyone in earshot know that he's got... something for you," Steven remarked.

"Oh, get over it. I've been your "girlfriend" for like ten minutes!" I pointed out.

"Best ten minutes ever, by the way," Steven winked at me, completely ignoring the aura in the room.

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes and started to exit my bedroom. But Steven jumped off of my bed and landed in front of me, blocking my path.

Before I could say anything, Steven, with both hands, grabbed my head and pulled it towards his. He kissed me - but this one was much quicker than previous kisses - then held me to his chest in a tight hug.

"Okay, sorry," he said.

"Anyway," I stepped back, "I'm gunna go see what Tom's doing."

---

"Jaaaade..." I heard a whisper right next to my head, and felt my bed tilt a little. I opened my eyes slightly and frowned when I saw Tom sitting on the end of my bed. I peeked at my clock and groaned when I read "5:13 am".

"What. The hell. Is wrong with you?" I'd forgotten that Tom was an early riser.

"Time to go jogging," he informed me.

"How about no?" I pulled my blanket over my face and rolled away from him.

"Not an option," Tom ripped my covers back down.

"I have school today," I grunted.

"So you'll be pumped and ready to go!" Tom pulled me by the arm and literally dragged me out of my bed-cocoon. I hit the floor with more groaning and he kept dragging me all the to my wardrobe.

"Your attitude before nine a.m. disgusts me," I mumbled at him.

I'd ended up convincing Tom that he could go for a jog without me. He was back in time to walk me to school, considering that I was ready to go about an hour earlier than usual.

"This school looks busy," Tom commented.

"It's not, though."

"What's not what?" said a voice behind us. I spun around to see Joey, Tom, Joe and Brad approaching.

"Nothin'." Tom said, narrowing his eyes at them slightly.

I introduced them to each other, and they all frowned a little when I told them that my best friend's name was Tom.

"Well," Joey said, "nice to meet you, Tom the Second," Joey shook Tom's hand.

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A/N: Hello hello, if you haven't already noticed, I've posted another story! It's another Steven fic, but I'm planning for it to be super short compared to this one. Maybe... five parts, if that.
I'd love for you guys to check it out and let me know if it's worth continuing. Thank youuuu!