Jessica Thompson as That Girl

XL. How Foolish

I turned around, "How long?"

Jax blew a light breath of relief. With a closer look, I can see the sweats lurking off his forehead. He shouldn't be sweating, particularly on such a cold day. "Half a year?"

I turned around and walked away.

"Really? Have a heart!" Jax screams.

If I have an easily accessible heart, it's only going to hurt me. I watch enough people having heartbreaks around me. "I don't have time to be a maiden in waiting!"

Jax burst out laughing and jogged towards me. He paces backward, "Please?" I'm not too fond of that word coming out of his mouth. "Pretty please?"

I ground my molars, "You can't look like that and say things like - pretty please!"

Jax halted in front of me. He messed up my hair, and his grin only widened. "Thank you."

I grip onto my backpack, "I haven't said: yes."

"I don't hear you saying: no."

"Are you really in a bad situation?"

Different people have different definitions of a bad situation. A person in a bad situation may be standing outside without an umbrella. Meanwhile, someone else in a bad situation may be not finding what they want to eat in the fridge. Then, there's the bad situation of being abused at home—all bad situations, but not all equivalent.

"Yeah." I knew I should have looked at him. That look. That's the type of face that makes a girl weak. Tugged their heartstrings. Make them desire to embrace the guy in front of them in their arms.

"How bad?"

"I think in half a year, my life is going to change. I'm not sure for better or worse, but it's going to change."

I want to know. I want to know what's going on in his life, but it feels like something I shouldn't probe too much. "There's another reason why I'm trying to keep my distance." It's best, to be honest.

"Why?"

"Jax. I don't know you."

Jax smiles, "You do know me."

I frown, "No. I don't."

Jax tucked his hands inside his pockets, "You know I stay at Hotel del Grinch as much as possible." My face starts heating up. "You know I like eavesdropping on a private conversation."

"Well, ain't that true," I mumbled.

Jax grins only widen, "You know I like sleeping on your bed, and you know I like hogging the blanket while I sleep."

"Were you awake?"

Jax's eyes motion away from my face.

"You were awake! You purposely hogged all the blankets every night!" I grabbed his jacket and pulled him in. "You bastard! I was butt cold every time you sleepover!"

He scratches his cheek, "Well, your parents turn on the heater at night. So-"

"And if they didn't?"

Jax rests his arms on my shoulders and leans down, "I would've shared." I'm completely speechless. How can there be a guy like him? How can someone like him exist? "I'm not going to stop you," he said.

"Hm?"

Jax smiles, "If you decide to stop waiting and move forward. I won't stop you from dating other guys."

I scoffed, "Of course you won't. You can't."

Jax inches closer to me, and I lean away. He hugged me, "But, I'll be sad."