It Was Only A Kiss

@ XxLithiumWingsxX

Jaxon put his bass guitar down as practice finished up. He cracked his knuckles as he opened his bottle of water and took a drink. He waved bye to his band mates before grabbing his stuff and going out to his car. He placed his bass carefully in the backseat before hopping into the front and pulling his phone out. He sent his best friend Chandra, who was pretty much like a little sister to him, a text; hey sis, I just finished band practice and was going to get some food before I come by. you want something? he sent the text to her as he lit a cigarette.

--

Eden looked up as the little bell on the door of the tattoo shop she worked at went off. She smiled, seeing her best friend since pre-k walk in. "Hi Cliffy." she said, using the nickname for him. She smiled when she saw the Starbucks and smelled food. "Aw, you brought me food!" she cheered, walking over to where her best friend was. "Mikey, I'm taking my break!" she called to her boss as she went and sat down on the leather couch, patting the spot beside her for Cliff.

@ season0fthewitch

Chandra lounged back in her chair, slightly tipping backwards while humming a song to herself. Despite wanting to study for a test tomorrow, she found impossible to concentrate for ample amounts of time. She watched her phone light up in the corner of her eyes and pushed her weight forward to grab it, seeing that it was Jaxon. Yo, bro. What about some Chinese? It's on the way back anyway. She sent back to him with a grin on her face. Knowing Jaxon for most of her life, she practically considered him to be her brother.

--

Cliff pushed through the door of the tattoo shop where Eden worked, holding up the burrito he had bought her on the way. "Hey, Eden." He automatically responded since she had come up with the stupid name in the second grade. "Burrito and Frap, just the way you like it." Cliff announced with a crooked grin to his face. Taking the seat beside her, he took out the burrito wrapped in foil and tossed it over to her. "The line at Chipotle had at least twenty people in it. You're lucky that I've known you since pre-school."

@ XxLithiumWingsxX
Awesome. I'll get you the usual :) Jaxon texted back as he pulled into the nearby Chinese place. He got sweet and sour chicken with fried rice and two egg rolls for Chandra and then got hunan chicken and steamed rice with a veggie roll for himself. He went by the local gas station and got their drinks and then drove to her house. He pulled up and grabbed the food and their drinks before going up to the door, letting himself in like he owned the place. "Chandra! Your dinner is here!" Jaxon called, closing the door behind himself.

--

Eden giggled, taking a bite, "yum! Please, you would have waited because you're in love with me." she joked. It had been a running joke since about seventh grade that Cliff was secretly in love with her. Everyone in school used to tease him about it but Cliff never admitted, nor did he deny, ever being in love with Eden. She swallowed her burrito and then took a sip of her drink, "so are we still hanging out tonight?" she asked, finally getting her food down.

@ season0fthewitch

After tossing her phone back onto the desk, she read her book for another twenty minutes before ruling that she was done for the night. Chandra stretched her arms above her head then headed for the living room, waiting for Jaxon to show up. It wasn't long afterward when he came bursting through her door with the smell of Chinese food filling the room. "Bring it in here!" She called over her shoulder since Chandra was feeling a bit too lazy to move from her spot.

--

Cliff merely rolled his eyes at her comment and responded back,"Just eat your food before it gets cold. You can't heat up a burrito." Taking a bite of his own burrito, he reached over to grab the frappucino that he had placed on the table. He gave a nod of the head while swallowing his food to respond to her. "Of course, we're still hanging out." He finally said when he got everything down. The two hung out so much that it would be odd for anyone to see them separated.

@ XxLithiumWingsxX
Jaxon walked into the room and smirked, "I see your studying is going great." he teased, sitting the food down and handing her her Mountain Dew. "I still think once my band gets famous you should be our merch girl and just say fuck college." he said, sitting down and opening his food. "Speaking of my band...we have our first gig Friday night, you better be there...actually, you're going to be there because you're going to do our merch, whether you like it or not." he smiled.

--

Eden smiled. "Remember that guy I was telling you about? The one with all the tattoos and piercings?" she asked, watching his reaction. "Well, he was trying to get me to come over to his house tonight because he's under some sort of impression that I'm easy and that I'll sleep with him." she said, sipping her Frapp and looking over at Cliff.

@ season0fthewitch

"Hey, you're no better than me when it comes to studying. Remember last time?" She countered with another tease while taking the Mountain Dew into her hands. Taking a quick swig of it, she glanced over at Jaxon then set down the bottle onto the table. "I wish my parents would let me do that, but they would say that path only leads to becoming a crackhead." Chandra rolled her eyes at the mere thought of letting those type of drugs into her system. Sure, it was only one time, but she didn't like the feeling of it anyway.

--

Giving a small nod, Cliff remembered the guy, especially since he wasn't so fond of him. He wasn't really sure what to think when she finished her thought though. "Well, the douche was obviously wrong." Cliff merely replied with a shrug of the shoulders. There was a lingering feeling that he tried to ignore. One of annoyance that just wouldn't go away. "Besides, you like me better than him anyway." He added on with a grin.

@ season0fthewitch

@ XxLithiumWingsxX
(sorry I never got your notification)

Jaxon laughed, remembering the last time he even looked at a school book. "Yeah, you're right." he chuckled. He snorted when she mentioned the crackhead comment. "Your parents are really going to hate me now, crack is my new thing this week." he winked at her. He was joking, kind of. Sure, he had done a little bit of it but he wasn't much a fan...but there were times when he just said "fuck it all" and let his adrenaline take over. He began eating his food, "what if I talk to them?" he said, still trying to get her to go on tour with them.

--

Eden smiled and nodded, "of course I do!" she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She finished her burrito and looked up as her boss came back in, giving her that; "you better hurry your ass up" look. She rolled her eyes and looked at Cliff, "I got to get back to work before he has a cow. I'll be off in three hours though and I'll just come by your house; how does that sound?" she asked, standing up and stretching.

@ season0fthewitch

(It's alright!)

Giving him a light shove, Chandra shook her head since her parents would flip if they had heard him say that. They were completely outraged when she decided to dye half of her hair pink, but that ship had sailed a long time ago. "Yeah, good luck with that. You know how my parents are, Jax." She gave a half-hearted laugh since her parents were so strict about everything. The only reason why Jaxon was allowed around her was, because her parents knew his. Other than that, they probably would have ruled him off as a bad influence.

--

"Alright, I'll see you around in about three hours then." He nodded then glanced over at her boss to see he still wasn't quite thrilled that she had taken too long eating. Cliff resisted the urge to flip him the bird and finished up his food quickly. Putting all the trash into the bag, he tossed it out before leaving the tattoo parlor to get back home. He remembered all that stories that Eden told him about how her boss was a complete dirt bag and wasn't sure how she put up with it.

@ XxLithiumWingsxX
Jaxon laughed softly but he knew she was right. "I think the only reason your parents tolerate my ass is because our mom's are PTA moms and our dads play golf together." he said, shaking his head. He continued eating and then looked at Chandra, "but you should still try to sneak away and come to our show Friday, even if you won't be doing merch....you deserve a break from all your studies." he ruffled her hair.

--

Eden waved and then went back to work. Her boss was on her ass about her long break for about an hour before his next customer came in. Finally, when it was time to go home, Eden clocked out and grabbed all of her things before going to her car. She got in and lit up a cigarette before starting her car up and pulling out of her parking space. She started the drive to Cliff's house and got there within ten minutes. She shut her car off and finished her cigarette as she walked up to his front door, knocking twice.

@ season0fthewitch

"That would explain everything." Chandra chuckled in agreement since she could remember her parents' faces after seeing Jaxon with his first tattoo. They were not pleased to say the least. "I could try. It's been a while since the last time I used my secret escape route." She reminisced to the times back in middle school but snapped back into reality when her hair became a pink mess. "Hey, watch the hair." She lightly protested before smoothing it out with her fingers.

--

Waiting until Eden arrived, Cliff decided to take a nap and drifted off until he heard a two loud knocks on the door. He groaned as he peeled himself off of the bed to answer the door with a yawn, knowing exactly who it was,"Eden, you could just come in. You know the key is underneath the door mat anyway." Stretching his arms above his head, he moved over to let her inside of the house. Cliff softly closed the door behind her then moved into the living room with her. "I was thinking movie night or something. It's been a while."

@ season0fthewitch

@ XxLithiumWingsxX
"I'm honestly surprised your parents didn't kill you when they saw you with pink hair." Jaxon chuckled, finishing his food. He remembered the day she showed up at his house with part of her hair dyed pink. He loved it, but then again he loved anything and everything she did.

--

Eden rolled her eyes, "yeah, I know where it is but like...what if I would have walked in and you were having sex with someone or worse...all naked." she said, giggling when she saw the look on his face. She nodded about the movie night thing as she flopped down on the couch. "You know I love popcorn and a good horror movie so I can cuddle up against my bestest friend in the whole wide world."

@ season0fthewitch

Chandra nodded in agreement since her parents threatened to shave her hair off as punishment. "Well, they learned to live with it. I'm sure they won't disown me if I have a little fun, so count me in." She grinned, taking another bite of her food. One thing she could always count on was the fact that Jaxon would always have her back.

--

Cliff's eyes widened in horror at the idea of Eden even walking in on something remotely like that. He did have the occasional hook-up, too. "Okay, so, don't touch the key underneath the mat unless I know you're coming over." He corrected himself, trying to erase the image of her walking on that. Nodding his head, he stood up to go over to the rack of movies. "I don't know what you would rather watch this time since I have practically all the horror movies."

@ XxLithiumWingsxX
"Well if they do decide to pull a bitch ass move like that, you know you're always welcomed at my apartment." Jaxon smirked. "So, now that we're done with our delicious food, what do you want to do?" he asked, looking over at his best friend.

--

Eden giggled and shook her head, "I'll call next time to make sure you and that whore face slut Brittney or whatever her name is, isn't hooking up." she said. She hated that girl and Cliff knew it. Why he kept hooking up with her though, she'd never understand and maybe, just maybe, she was a little jealous. "You know I love A Nightmare On Elm Street." she grinned.

@ season0fthewitch

"I feel like you're obligated to do that as my best friend though." She pointed out with a grin while nudging him lightly. With a shrug of the shoulders, she wrapped up her trash then tossed into the giant take-out bag. Her mind couldn't help but think that a swig of that whiskey would help complete the meal. "How about.. we go for a walk?" Chandra suggested since she hadn't been outside the whole day.

--

Cliff could tell that there was hint of malice in that sentence since Brittney was just a side hook-up whenever they were in the mood. Even though he had already explained that to her, it seemed like she still wasn't alright with it. "Please do call. You can't unsee anything." He glanced over his shoulder to reply then pulled out the movie. "Nightmare On Elm Street it is then."

@ XxLithiumWingsxX

Jaxon laughed and nodded, "sure. Let me go drain my lizard first." he smirked, trying to be as polite as he could. He dashed off to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Once he finished his business, he washed his hands and walked back out, "okay, I'm ready to go for our walk to the liquor store!" he cheered, knowing damn well that's where she wanted to go.

--

Eden smirked, "you could just stop inviting her over? I'm sure there are plenty of other girls, prettier girls, that you could find to hook up with. Like my friend Sabrina, she thinks you're mega hot, her words." she said, getting up to go make them some popcorn. She got the bag out and put it in the microwave and sighed, going back into the living room. "Hey, if I fall asleep can I just crash here? My dad's on another one of his drunken tyrants and I don't want to end up a punching bag again." she said, picking the nail polish off of her nails. She had never told Cliff that before but she supposed there was a time for everything.

@ season0fthewitch

Chandra merely shook her head since he could have just announced he had to go to the bathroom. She grabbed a coat while he was in the bathroom since it was a bit chilly, according to the weather app on her phone. Blinking over at him, she was a little startled when he mentioned the word 'liquor'. "Oh.. I-I'm good. I actually just wanted to go for a real walk." She gave an awkward laugh then ran a hand through her hair. It was nervous habit she had picked up over the years.

--

Things with Brittney were completely sexual. He never had to talk about possible feelings or any of the like, which was why he kept her around. They just had sex and then she left. "I'm good with Brittney, but thanks for suggesting one of your friends to hook up with." Cliff settled while popping the DVD into the player, allowing the trailer to play. "Yeah, no problem. It wouldn't be the first time anyway." Letting a frown cross his features, he moved towards her to examine her closely. "What do you mean that your father uses you as a punching bag? How long? Why didn't you tell me before?" Cliff questioned while reaching out for her arm, needing to look for bruises.

@ XxLithiumWingsxX
Jaxon nodded, "well I'm ready. Actually no, I'm not. I've got to get my hoodie out of my car." He said, grabbing his keys. He followed her downstairs and outside, unlocking his car in the process. He grabbed his hoodie and pulled it on,"now I'm ready."

--

Eden pulled her arm away and sat down, bringing her knees up to her chest and hugging herself. "You've been really busy so I haven't wanted to bother you." She said, focusing on the screen. "Besides the bruises aren't anywhere visible."