"That guy.. the one on stage.. is your religion professor?" Hardin asks me, despite the fact that Steph just told him.

"Yes." I finish off my drink and begin looking around the table for another.

"He's in a band? How fucking lame." Hardin leans back on his chair and rolls his eyes, tapping his fingers against the wooden table.

"They are pretty good, really." Nate says, clearly testing Hardin's patience tonight.

"How weird is that that you came here and he's here playing? What a coincidence!' Landon says to me.

Yeah, coincidence.

"He asked me to come, to bring some friends." I explain, still not looking at Hardin.

This whole thing really isn't a big deal at all but with Hardin, everything is a big deal.

"Anybody want another?" Nate asks, holding up another pitcher of beer.

"Oh." Landon's nose scrunches up in that way that lets me know exactly what he is thinking.

"He shouldn't be inviting you anywhere, he is a professor." Hardin frowns, he is obviously annoyed by the fact that he was locked out of the apartment and perhaps that Zed is here.

"It's not like that. He's a nice guy Hardin." I say quietly.

"You think everyone is nice Tess, you are naïve."

"He is a college professor, that would be incredibly unprofessional if there were anything more to this. It's just a show. That's it."

"Sure, Tessa." Hardin barks.

"Anyway... let's enjoy the music." Zed says, looking at Hardin.

My hand immediately rests on Hardin's thigh in an attempt to make some of the tension disappear, the air is thick with it and my head is beginning to feel fuzzy from the alcohol. Hardin glares at Zed for a few seconds but doesn't say anything.

"We will be back on in ten minutes!" Professor Soto announces through the microphone.

"Probably needs to try to learn how to actually sing." Hardin says under his breath.

"How was the game?" I ask him and Landon.

 The game must have not gone too bad since Landon is sitting across from me. It's still strange that Landon is here with us, I don't know why Hardin brought him but I am glad he did. I wish he could hang out with us more often.

"It was great, we won." Landon beams, then coughs.

"I hate cigarettes." He complains and I nod in agreement.

"I missed you." I lean into Hardin's shoulder, he seems to relax slightly.

"Did you now?" He asks timidly, a smile slowly creeping in.

"Yes, I did." I say and feel his hand lay over mine on his leg.

"How much have you had to drink?" He asks.

"Not this again." I roll my eyes playfully and take a large gulp from my glass.

"I'm only asking." His lips are dangerously close to my ear, close enough to make me shiver.

"I can't tell what type of mood you are in." I say so that only he can hear me.

"Neither can I. I'm pissed that you were invited here by your professor, and I'm pissed that he is here." He says, I know he is referring to Zed. "But I did miss you, and now I am here."

"Okay." I say, I am glad he seems to not want to start a fight tonight. Yet.

"We should play a game of pool." Tristan suggests, nodding over to the row of pool tables a few feet away.

"Yes! Great idea." Steph chimes in.

"Hardin, Tessa, you in? There are two tables." Nate says.

"Yeah, I will play." Hardin stands up.

"I don't play.." I tell him.

I have never played pool and I am terrible at anything that involves competition, unless it's academic of course.

"I will sit with Landon." I smile.

I don't like the idea of leaving Landon to sit alone anyway, not that he can't handle himself but he will be bored out of his mind, he probably already is.

Hardin looks towards the pool tables and back to me like he is measuring the distance, before nodding and following Nate. I was hoping he would kiss me but I wasn't really expecting him to so I am only slightly disappointed when he doesn't.

"So how was the game, really?" I ask Landon when Hardin is no longer within ear shot.

"It was good. He behaved himself." Landon laughs.

"Hardin? Now I know you are lying." I tease and join him in laughter.

"Do you want a drink or something?" I ask him.

"No, thanks though." He pats his pocket before pulling his phone out.

"Hey babe." As soon as he answers his phone, the music begins again.

"Hold on." He says, covering the mouthpiece.

"It's Dakota, and it's sort of late.. I think I am going to head home, unless you need me to stay?" Landon asks.

I glance over at Hardin playing pool with Nate, smiling and leaning down to take his turn.

"No, go ahead. I am glad you came. You should hang out with us more." I smile.

"I don't know about that." He chuckles and says his goodbyes.

After he disappears it occurs to me that I am not left with Zed and Rebecca. I want to go stand next to Hardin while he plays but I also want to finish my drink and enjoy the music.

I choose the second option and fill my glass again. Drinking never turns out well for me but I have already started and Hardin seems to be back in a good.. well somewhat good mood.

"How long have you and Hardin been together?" Rebecca's voice sounds over the music.

"About four months." I tell her, choosing to just go with the time since we began... whatever that was we were doing in the beginning.

"Wow, that's a long time!" She smiles her perfect smile.

"Not really." I say, Noah and I were together much longer.

"You guys are so cute!" She squeals, resting her head on Zed's shoulder.

"Yeah.. so are the two of you." I tell her.

Zed's eyes meet mine but I look away.

"How long have you two been seeing each other?"

"Only a week or so."

"That's good.." I don't know what else to say so I grab my glass and take a drink.

"It's really cool that you two are still friends, most exes hate each other." She looks up at Zed.

"Who?" I ask.

"You two." She gestures to Zed and I.

"Oh.. no! We aren't.. we weren't.." I fumble the words.

"We are just friends." Zed tells her.

"Really? Sorry! I just thought you dated or something. Seems like it." She shrugs.

"No, we didn't." He says again.

Why would she think Zed and I dated? We have barely spoken all night.

"I'll be right back." I tell them and get up from the table to go to the bathroom.

All of this beer has went straight to my bladder and honestly, I don't want to talk to Rebecca any longer.

I take my time in the bathroom, wiping the excess black liner from under my eyes and reapplying chapstick to my lips. My eyes are slightly bloodshot from drinking but overall I don't look too bad. Not as good as Rebecca, but not bad.

When I walk back out into the dark hallway, I nearly run into someone. The skull patch on the sleeve of the leather jacket lets me know exactly who it is.

"Are you alright?" Zed asks me.

I take a few steps back before answering.

"Yeah, I am fine." I say.

"You seem.. different?" He raises his brow.

"No, I am just sort of drunk. Why don't you just get back to Rebecca?" I snap then cover my mouth.

Why did I just say that?

"What's wrong with Rebecca?" He asks, crossing his arms.

"Nothing.."

"Why don't you like her?"

"I never said I didn't like her." I defend.

"You have been rude to her all night."

"Not purposely. I was.. I was just annoyed with Hardin so I was taking it out on her."

"Oh.. I thought.. Never mind." He runs his fingers through his hair, making the front stick up. He looks like a model.

My mind screams at me to stop my mouth from speaking, but it's not successful.

"You thought what?" I ask.

"I don't know.. that maybe you didn't like her because she is, you know.. here with me?" He is embarrassed but I can tell by his eyes that he has been drinking too.

"No, of course not!" My voice is much more high pitched than intended.

"I mean, no. That isn't why."

"Of course.. I don't know why I said that." He says.

"What's taking so long?" Hardin's voice makes me jump.

"Nothing." Zed answers and walks into the men's bathroom.

'What the hell was that?" Hardin asks when I reach him.

"Nothing, he was talking about his date." I tell him.

"What about her?"

"Just about her, are you done with your game?" I ask to change the subject.

"No, I was just checking on you. Landon left then?"

"Yeah, Dakota called him."

"He's so whipped." Hardin says.

"So? That's not a bad thing." My temper is heating up, aided by the alcohol.

"Yes it is, the worst really. Let's go so I can finish my game. Don't disappear again, please."

"I didn't disappear. I went to the restroom." Just before I begin to tell him to stop being so damn bossy, he grabs my hand in his and leads me back to the pool tables. Hardin wins against Nate and Steph and Tristan are making out against the other table so I assume their game never finished. Zed is sitting with his arm around Rebecca as she talks in his ear.

The Reckless Few perform their last song and everyone in the room cheers, except Hardin of course. I have to admit I was very impressed.

"Thank you all for coming!" Professor Soto says and steps off the stage.

I watch him as he walks towards us.

"Ms. Young! I didn't think you would actually show." He smiles.

Hardin's arm wraps around my waist immediately.

"I brought some friends." I gesture to my small group of friends, Steph and Tristan are still kissing of course.

"Really? Thanks. So what did you think? It wasn't too bad right?" He laughs.

"I'm Hardin. Her boyfriend." Hardin interrupts.

I can tell the professor is confused, and most likely surprised when he looks at Hardin. He is probably surprised by my entire group of friends. I clearly stand out next to them.

"I'm Jonah, nice to meet you." Professor Soto says to him, reaching his hand out for Hardin to shake.

"You're a professor right?"

"Yeah, but I prefer to be called Jonah outside of the classroom." Prof..Jonah remarks.

"You see your students outside of the classroom often?" Hardin asks.

I try to be nudge Hardin to get him to stop but he tightens his grip on my waist.

"Yeah, I guess you can say I do." Jonah doesn't seem to be intimated by Hardin at all.

"Hmm.. you won't be around this student outside of class." Hardin nods towards me.

I inhale too quickly and choke on the smoky air, bringing everyone's eyes from the awkward exchange to me.

"Oh, so you're that type then?" Jonah smirks.

"What type is that?"

"The jealous type." Jonah doesn't even blink as Hardin takes a step closer to him, still holding me.

This isn't happening right now between my professor and my boyfriend. How incredibly uncomfortable. I just want a nice calm night with Hardin, especially since I am slightly drunk.

"No, I'm the type that makes sure nothing happens to her."

"You're a little overboard don't you think?" Jonah is really asking for it.

I usually feel sorry for whoever is at the other end of Hardin's temper, but I am beginning to suspect Jonah can hold his own, even with Hardin.

"We should go." I say to Hardin, my speech coming out slightly slurred.

"You don't want to do this, trust me." Hardin says through his teeth to Jonah.

"I'm not doing anything. Thanks for coming Ms. Young, I will see you in class tomorrow." Jonah smiles and walks away.

"That was intense." Nate says with a laugh.

Nate's face blurs and I blink a few times.

"Let's go." Hardin doesn't give me a chance to respond or even say goodbye to anyone before he leads me outside.

"What the fuck was that?" Hardin yells as soon as we step into the cold air.

"I don't know! You two were obviously having some sort of pissing contest." I roll my eyes.

"Why did you even accept his invite tonight? You know how fucking stupid that makes me look?" He throws his arms into the air.

"No it doesn't! And stop cussing at me."

"Yes it does! You should have told him to fuck off. Give me the damn keys." He holds his hand out and I drop the keys into it.

"You need to just stop." I groan, my head is already pounding.

"Stop? You are the one who is hanging out with your professor and not to mention Zed, while I'm not there. Let me guess, fucking Trevor is in the bathroom?" He shouts, unlocking the door and climbing in.

"You are overreacting. I didn't do anything wrong, nothing at all." I remind him, my anger is growing with every glare he shoots my way.

"You... well.. you.. you shouldn't have agreed to come. Did you see the way he was just talking to me? You need to stay away from him. It's obvious what his intentions are."

I bite down on the inside of my cheek to prevent myself from laughing.

"You are just mad that someone actually stood up to you." I say and he stops the car.

"No, Tessa. I am mad because every time I turn around someone is trying something with you and I am fucking sick of it!" He yells, the small space of the car makes his voice much louder.

"No one is trying anything with me! You are the one who made something out of nothing and you are really pissing me off." The alcohol speaks for me.

"

(Wattpad's app wasn't showing the last chapter so a lot of you had to use the computer to read it, I hope you saw it and liked it:) Please vote and comment! ily all)