Silence consumed the locker room. The only thing that was heard was the beating of three hearts that clashed together in a fast rhythm. I avoided looking at Hunter's face. I was too disgusted with the blood gushing from his nose and lips to look at him. I was disgusted with the way he acted more tonight.

Jax stood leaning against one of the lockers with a bloody lip, holding ice to it. The game had finished without them, leaving us to a victory. The school was empty except us and a couple of teachers and the coach that was in his office.

Neither of us had opened our mouths to say anything. I didn't know what to say that wouldn't possibly make this situation worse. I couldn't apologize because I did nothing wrong and I couldn't hug Hunter because what he did was wrong.

The tapping of my foot against the floor was starting to bother my ears so I came to a quick stop and stood up from the bench.

"Why?" I finally let out. "Just...why?"

Hunter took a deep breath in and looked down at the floor. He shrugged, continuing to clean his face.

"You don't know why you started a fight with Jax?" I question. "I told you I would never forgive you for this."

"Then don't." He glared at me. "Do you, Emma."

"Are you really mad at me right now?!" I raise my voice. "You just picked a fight with Jax in front of the whole school! You're both suspended for a week, Hunter!"

"How do you think it makes me feel seeing you screw my best friend, huh?!" Hunter stands up. "Tell me?! I can assure you it isn't pleasant."

"Dude, calm down." Jax jumps in.

"Don't fucking tell me to calm down." Hunter snaps. "You were supposed to be my best friend and what do you do? You screw my sister."

"Woah," I hold my hand up. "Nobody screwed anyone so stop saying that. You can't start a whole scene in front of the school because of Jax and I. You're acting so immature."

"Oh, I'm the immature one." He mocks.

"Yeah, you are." I agree. "What would mom say?" I shake my head in disappointment.

"Mom's not here!" He gets in my face.

Once again we were left with an unpleasant silence. Hunter looked at me with eyes that held so much pain I wanted to reach out and hug him.

Jax cleared his throat and excused himself so we could talk in peace. It was Hunter and I alone now as he sat on the bench with his head hanging low and his arms holding him for support.

"Hunter," I say in a low voice. He didn't move a muscle. "Hunter, look at me."

He stayed frozen, not daring to face me. I walked over to him and sat down, putting my hand on his knee.

"What's going on?" I put my other hand behind his back, rubbing circles around to calm him down.

Sobs filled the room as he broke down and used me for support. He laid his head on my lap and covered his face as his body was shaking from crying.

"Oh, God." I mutter. "Hunter, what's going on with you?"

"I just miss her, Emma." He cried.

Moms face appeared in my mind and my heart clenched in pain as I watched Hunter cry out.

"I don't know why I've been feeling her death so much more lately and then everything with you and Jax." He sat up. "It's all so sudden."

"It's okay to feel this way, Hunter." I look at him. "You were so much closer to her than dad and her birthday's two months away. I get it, but you can't take out your anger on Jax anymore. You have to stop that. You have to accept sooner or later that Jax and I are together."

"He's going to hurt you, Emma." He was no longer crying. He wiped away any tears he had and was looking at me with worry. The blood on his nose had dried out and so had the wound on his lip.

"You don't know that." I defend. "He's different with me."

"He's different with every girl. He can't keep it in his pants." Hunter scoffs. "I don't want you being added to the list of girls he cheats on."

"I won't be added to that list. You have to let us have a chance and I'll prove it to you." I stand my ground.

"I'm not saying this to be a shitty friend towards him, I'm saying it to protect you but take Rebecca into consideration."

I nod. "I know, but you did technically sleep with her behind his back...so."

"Hey!" He playfully shoves my shoulder with his.

Laughing, I stand up. "Talk to Jax and work things out with him. For me, okay?"

He hesitates, looking between the floor and back at me. "Fine, but no promises."

"I'll take it." I grin. "Come on, let's go home."

When we exited the locker room, Jax was standing in the hall with his things and my bag. I grabbed my bag from his grasp and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Hunter walked in front of us as Jax and I trailed close behind him.

"How did it go?" He said in a low voice.

I shrug. "Not horrible. I feel bad for him."

"What's up with him?"

"He's been thinking a lot about our mom and with finding out about you and me I guess everything has been a little crazy." I explain.

"He's not going to try to hit me again is he?"

"Nah, I don't think so." I chuckle. I bring my hand to touch his lip and he winces as my fingers come in contact with his bruises.

"You should probably come over and help me take care of these injuries." He whispers.

As we reached the car I let out a laugh and watch as Hunter gets in the back seat. I go around and clutch the handle to the passenger side.

"I think you'll survive."

"I need my sexy nurse to take care of me." He winks.

"And who might that be?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Who else, baby?" He smirks.

- -

Friday came suddenly. I waited in my living room with Jax next to me scrolling around on my phone as we waited for Nick and Marissa.

Today was our double date and I was feeling a little nervous to say the least. Tonight was Jax's first date and it was the first as a couple.

Marissa and I decided on going roller skating while the guys wanted to take us to a fancy restaurant. We wanted to do something more relaxing and fun instead. After roller skating we told them we could go eat somewhere.

"I don't get why we can't take my car and meet them there. We could have been there by now." Jax whined. He laid his head on my shoulder and had his arms wrapped around my body.

"It's easier. We can all ride in one car and enjoy time together." I tell him.

"I want to enjoy time with you alone." He kisses the side of my lips.

"You were the one who suggested to Marissa about the double date."

"I changed my mind. I want to be alone, just us. Call her and tell her you're sick."

"Jax," I sigh. "It's too late we can't do that."

"Who says?"

There was a honk outside just as I got a text from Marissa telling us to go outside. I grabbed my purse and got off the couch, dragging Jax by the hand.

"Come on, whiney pants." I say. "We'll do something after we're done with the date if I'm not tired."

"Mmhm," He pulls me close to his body and brings his lips to mine. "What kind of something?" His hands linger down my waist and places his hands right above my bottom.

"I'll s-"

"Hands to yourself, idiot." Hunter's voice makes us jolt away from each other in a rapid motion.

We awkwardly stand side by side as I feel my cheeks heat up. Hunter looks at Jax and I with uneasiness and rolls his eyes.

"Hey." Jax reaches out to Hunter with a fist.

After seconds passed of Jax holding out a fist, Hunter finally raised his hand and awkwardly met his fist with Jax's.

"Well, uhm, Nick and Marissa are waiting for us outside. We're going roller skating and probably to eat after." I tell Hunter.

"Cool." He puts his hands in his pockets.

"You're more than welcomed to join." Jax offers.

"Thanks but I have plans." He says. "I'm going out with the guys from the team."

"Oh, cool." Jax says.

After what felt like hours of awkward silence, I cleared my throat and we excused ourselves for the night. Leaving the house, Jax and I looked at each other with a confused face.

"Well, that was..." I trail off.

"Something."

"Yeah, something." We both laugh.

When we got into the car we all said our hellos and made our way to the roller skating place. I've never been roller skating before so I was nervous about it. I barely even knew how to ice skate.

The car ride was filled with conversation and enjoyment between the four of us and Nick and Jax got along better than expected. We got to our destination and made our way inside to be welcomed by flashing lights and disco music playing.

Jax grabbed me from behind and swayed our hips side to side as we walked to the counter where the guy was handing out skates.

After paying and grabbing our skates, we all made our way onto the rink.

"Jax, wait." I held onto the railing as I was entering the rink. Jax was skating around back and forth, watching me struggle to get in.

"Do something and help me." I say. I finally get inside and wobble around almost falling as I quickly grab onto the railing.

Chuckling, he comes to my side and grabs my waist. "Let go."

"I can't," I shake my head. I look up to see Marissa and Nick skating by us, hand in hand. "I'm going to fall."

"Who told you to pick roller skating when you don't even know how to?" Jax questioned.

"It sounded fun at the time." I pout.

"Just let go, you're not going to fall." When I didn't let go he grabs my face and looks me dead in the eye. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes, but-"

"Let go." He slowly forces my hands off the railing and with ease he grabs ahold of my hands.

He let's go and I start to lose my balance but he catches me from behind and puts his hands on each side on my hips.

At first I wobble around, almost making the both of us fall but I get a hold of myself and with the help of Jax I keep a steady balance.

"Having fun?" Marissa smiles at me as she and Nick state besides us.

"Yeah! I got the hang of it." I chuckle.

Suddenly, I lost my balance and my foot got stuck behind my other one, making Jax and I to come crashing down. His body lands on mine, squishing the air out of me.

"Ouch, Jax!" I squirm from under him. I hear Marissa gasp loudly and then burst out into a pit of laughter with Nick.

"A-Are you guys okay?" Marissa says, trying to control her laugh.

"Fuck." He groans. He pushes his body off of me and whines in pain as he sits up.

"You almost dislocated my entire body." I moan in pain.

"You're the one who tripped!" He scoffs.

"Marissa distracted me." I defend.

He gets on his knees and pushes himself off the floor. Skating besides me, he holds his balance as he helps me back up and holds my hands.

"Are you hurt?" He asks.

I shake my head. "I'm okay."

We continued skating around for about an hour until we got tired and decided it was best to go eat. After a long discussion debating where to eat, we finally made a choice to have chinese food.

On the way to the restaurant, I felt my knee start to throb from the fall Jax and I had. I could feel a bruise start to form from the throbbing.

Arriving to the restaurant, we all made our way inside. It was more of a fast food looking place than a fancy restaurant. There were bright christmas lights hanging around the room and stools placed by the window where you could see the view of the street.

Jax and Nick went to place our orders meanwhile Marissa and I saved them seats by the window next to us. She eyed Nick from a distance and smiled to herself as she looked away.

"I got him tickets to see his favorite band tomorrow night and then," She takes out her phone, scrolling through it before turning it to me. "These shoes."

"Damn," I utter. "He's going to love it." I stared at the black and red colored sneakers.

"You think so?" She said, eyeing me nervously.

"Definitely."

Just then, Jax and Nick walked back with trays of food and soda cans. Immediately we dived in and devoured every piece of food.

"So," Nick begins to say. "I heard you're on the basketball team?" He looks at Jax as he wipes his mouth with a napkin.

"Yeah, I am. I play power forward."

"I'm on the team, too." Nick says. He takes a sip from his soda and clears his throat. "I play for the Cougars."

"No kidding?" Jax says. "We're most likely playing against each other sometime this season. We just played against the Lions the other day."

"Ahh, they're an easy win. Their team sucks" Nick tells us.

"Deadass," Jax slams his hand on the table. "Bro, fucking Jenkins is the easiest target. He's one of the guys who practically gives up the ball."

"I know," Nick chuckles. "My friend, Alex, he's one of our best players this year. Just joined, hopefully if we play against the Lions this year he'll get a chance to see what a shit show they are."

My heart dropped at the mention of Alex and my eyes caught Marissa's immediately. I looked over at Jax to see him clenching his jaw and looking between Nick and I.

"Alex?" I look at Nick. "He's on the team?"

"Yeah, sorry I didn't think about bringing him up." He looks at Jax. "I'm sorry, man."

"Nah, it's cool." Jax gulps. "Totally cool."

"How is he?" I find myself asking.

He nervously looks at Jax and the Marissa, finally locking eyes with mine. "He's good, really good. He stopped working at his dads company and got an internship at a law firm."

"Law firm?" I slightly gasp. "That's amazing, how?"

"You know his dad, he has connections."

"Right, well," Jax clears his throat. "If you're done discussing how your ex is doing I think we should get going." Jax throws any garbage that was on the table onto his tray and gets up. He walks away from us and goes to throw away the tray.

"What the hell, Nick?" Marissa whispered, smacking his arm.

"Ouch, what was that for?" He whined.

"Why would you bring up Alex?"

"It slipped, I'm sorry." He looked at me with apologetic eyes.

"It's okay."

We all get up from the table and throw away our unfinished food and walk out. Even though we hadn't finished our food I was sure I wasn't the only one who lost their appetite after the awkwardness we encountered.

"I think I'm going to take an uber back home." Jax said as we reached Nicks car.

"What?" I raise my eyebrows. "Why?"

"I'm tired." He simply says.

"It's not a problem, bro I'll drop you off first." Nick offers.

"It's okay, I'm going to call it in for tonight."

"Uh, okay wait for me I'll get my purse from the car and I'll go with you." I open the door but Jax soon stops me.

"Stay, let them drive you home. I'll see you tomorrow." He kisses my cheek.

"Wai-"

"Goodnight, guys. Happy anniversary." He waves to Marissa and Nick. "Get Emma home safe, please."

"Jax!" I call out to him as he walks away and goes back into the restaurant.

"What just happened?" Marissa speaks.

"You don't think it's about Alex, do you? Because if it is I am so sorry." Nick tells me.

I shake my head, getting in the car. "I don't know."

"I'm sure he'll be okay, don't worry." Marissa assures me.

"Yeah, I hope so."