Teenage Dirtbag

"I'm telling you Jack, in a battle of wits, Batman beats Iron Man every time! No contest." Alex laughed into the phone as he and his best friend continued their over-an-hour-long argument while he rifled through cd's on the shelf of the only local record store in all of the Baltimore/Towson/Lutherville area, "Jack, your argument is invalid on account of the fact that you are an idiot."

"Excuse me." A girl smiled as she walked past him. Alex moved out of the way so she could get by, but not before giving her a once over, er, make that a twice three times over. He had just discovered the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life. She had long, blonde hair that just grazed the lower back, jeans that showed more of her sun-kissed skin than the woven fabric of the actual pants, and the most beautiful pale gray eyes he had ever seen in his life.

"Jack, I'm going to have to call you back later, Bro." He said before hanging up the phone without even waiting for his response.

The girl seemed to notice Alex as he advanced towards her. He smirked as she rolled her gorgeous eyes at him. He had always loved a challenge, which is exactly what this mystery girl was going to be for him.

"If you like Third Eye Blind, you should really check out Blink-182." Alex flashed his winning smile at her that usually had girls swooning as soon as they saw it whilst he grabbed the CD out of her hands, "I'm Alex by the way."

"Yeah, I already have all of Blink's albums." She said with a tone of disinterest, "Thanks though." She gave him a half smile before snatching the CD from his grasps, walked up to the cashier to pay for it, and gave Alex a mocking wink as she left the store.

Defeated, yet turned on, he grabbed the last copy of the same CD she had just picked up and went to the counter to make his final purchase as well. About half an hour later, Alex found himself strolling down Thames Street alone when someone grabbed his hand. "There you are!" The same girl from the record store squealed as she pecked him on the cheek. When she pulled away from a very surprised Alex, she motioned with her eyes to the three burly-looking, football-playing type douche-bags who were now glaring at him, "I was just telling them how my boyfriend would be showing up to take me home anytime now!"

A smile slowly formed on Alex's lips as he realized what stunt she was trying to pull. He had pulled it once or twice before after a show when girls were throwing themselves at him. It was always a turn off to him to see a girl so desperate for attention.

To make the scene unfolding look even more authentic, he slipped his arm around her tiny waste and planted a sloppy kiss on her lips, biting her bottom lip before pulling away, "Well, we better get going then, Babe." He smirked at the guys before leading her over to his car parked only half a block down the street.

"Thanks for that." She said as she looked back and waved at the three boys still staring at the faux couple.

"No problem." Alex grunted as he started the engine, "So where are we goi-" Alex stopped short as a hand connected with his face, "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"That's for kissing me, you pig!" She smirked triumphantly, "I guess I do owe you some sort of thanks for today though." She blushed as he rubbed his cheek while he drove off. She hadn't realized until that moment how cute he actually was. His hair was falling in his face, and he had beautiful brown eyes that had a mischievous sparkle to them. She blushed and looked down at her hands when he glanced over and saw her looking at him.

"I probably deserved that." Alex shrugged, quickly getting over the fact that she had actually slapped him hard, "You'll just have to owe me sometime." He smirked when she let out a quiet groan, "Will you tell me your name now?"

"Noelle." She stated as she stared at the road ahead, "Turn left."

"That's a nice name." Alex noted as he followed her directions and merged onto the highway, "So where are we going anyway?"

"You're taking me to my house, obviously." She stated as if he was dumb and for all she knew, he could very well be.

"Where exactly is home?" Alex raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"Home, is where the heart is." Noelle noted, "But if you want to know where my house is, it's in Towson."

"Fancy that!" Alex exclaimed in a British accent that Noelle noticed sounded pretty accurate, "So is mine."

"Congratulations, you live in the middle-of-fucking-nowhere. I can't wait to move back to Maine when I graduate." Noelle said bitterly as she turned her body to look out the window.

"Oh shut it, Newbie." Alex rolled his eyes playfully, "Towson is the shit. So where do you go to school?"

"I'm hardly a 'newbie'." She put air-quotes around his term for her, "I've lived here for over a year now, I didn’t just move here. And I go to St Paul's Christian Academy. It's a private school."

"I got kicked out of there in 8th grade!" Alex laughed at the memories of his troubled youth and thought about how not much had changed since then, "And Sweetie, you hardly look like a devout Christian in that outfit." He let his eyes wander over her perfect body once more before turning back to look at the road.

"Just because I'm a Christian, doesn't mean I have to dress like a nun." Noelle snorted, choosing to ignore his ever so frequent gaze.

"Touche." Alex chuckled, "I go to Dunaley by the way."

"I know some people there." She nodded and thought about her best friend Ashley and her boyfriend Liam.

"Now you know me, too." Alex grinned as he pulled off at the next available exit. "The most attractive person you will ever meet in this town, Alexander William Gaskarth." He winked at her once again.

Noelle couldn't deny that Alex was attractive. His long, shaggy brown hair was in quite contrast to Liam's short blond hair. He also had that 'rock star' look that he pulled off so well. Secretly, she loved that style much more than the jock-type style her boyfriend always sported, no pun intended.

"Turn right up here." She said quietly a she pointed up the road a short ways.

"You live there?" Alex asked slightly bewildered, "And I thought my family had money." Alex whistled at the house he could see through the gate as she smirked and got out of the car to type in the password before getting back into the passenger seat.

"You don't expect me to walk all the way down that long driveway now, do you?"

Alex chuckled, "I would have enjoyed the view, that much is a definite."

Noelle laughed and hit him again, more playfully this time, "And just when I was starting to like you too."

"Baby, soon enough you'll be begging for me to come around."

"What does that have to do with anything?" She wrinkled her nose to try and distract from her flushed cheeks, but Alex didn't even seem to notice as he put his car in park at the end of the driveway.

"It had to do with everything, Noelle." He winked, hoping his charm would eventually make her cave and sleep with him kiss him again, maybe this time by choice.

"Thanks for the ride, Alex." She smirked as she got out of the car and headed inside. Alex stayed and watched her until she gave him one last smile and closed the door.

Feeling content, he pulled away from the house and began driving down the long driveway once again. On his way out, he pulled past a familiar blue mustang he saw every day at school. "Shit, she's Liam's girlfriend?" He muttered as he sped down the road hoping to make it to band practice in time.

This was going to be interesting.