The Truth About Love

I sighed and tapped my toe, rolling my icy blues and leaning against the bar.

"Look dude, either order something or move along. We're busy."

I was supposed to be off work five minutes earlier but I had promised my boss I would help with the rush before I left for the night. I had sent a quick text to my cousin Mark letting him know that I would be late meeting him and his friends.

I continued working for the next fifteen minutes, rushing to clear the crowd that had accumulated around the bar. I was finally able to slip into the back room and retrieve my leather jacket and small crossover bag. I stepped out the back door and made my way up the alley to the dark New York City street.

'Be there in five.'

I sent the text to my cousin and raised a cigarette to my lips, lighting it quickly.

I had been looking forward to seeing my cousin, Mark Ruffalo, again since he had invited me out two weeks ago. We had been close when we were younger, but I hadn't seen him since our family Christmas a year previous. He was going to be in New York for the next few months, filming a new movie and I was excited to get to spend more time with him.

After walking a couple of blocks I stomped out my cigarette butt with my military styled boot and flashed a smile at the bouncer in front of me. He moved aside and allowed me to enter the crowded club.

I navigated my way through the crowd, the loud hip hop music throbbing in my ears. I slipped between the couples that were pressed to each other, swaying to the beat. I finally found the somewhat quiet back lounge and spotted the familiar face of my cousin. I shouted his name and waved with a smile on my face.

The first thing I noticed about his friends was that they were all incredibly attractive.

JEREMY'S POV

"Who are we waiting for again?" I asked Mark, tipping my glass back.

"My cousin. I haven't seen her for a while." He replied, sipping his drink.

"How old is she?" Chris asked quickly.

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. Chris was always looking for a girlfriend.

We heard someone shout Mark's name and all turned as one. I heard Chris hiss and saw him turn away out of the corner of my eye.

"You know," Rob began. "When you said cousin, I imagined someone way too young for me." He chuckled.

I had to agree with him, I had imagined a teenager for some reason. The word cousin just made people sound so young. But this girl looked to be in her late twenties and looked, for lack of a better word, badass. She was wearing a black leather jacket over a tight, black lace corset top, and I had never seen someone rock a pair of leather pants quite like her.

"Roxanne! How are you?" Mark exclaimed, stepping forward to hug the woman.

"I'm great! It's good to see you!" She grinned, running a hand through her already ruffled blonde pompadour hairstyle.

"Roxanne, these are my friends. This is the infamous Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Renner, and Chris Evans."

Chris turned back to face us as the smile slid off of Roxanne's face.

"Uh, hi." Chris grimaced nervously.

"YOU!" She shrieked, her face red.

I exchanged a confused glance with Mark and Rob but my attention was quickly brought back to Roxanne when she smacked Chris right across his face and stomped on his foot as hard as she could with her boot.

"I'm gonna go smoke." She announced, turning and flouncing out of the lounge.

"I might have deserved that." Chris groaned, rubbing his cheek.

"What the hell was that about?!" Mark demanded, looking just as confused as I felt.

"We kind of had a fling last time I was in New York. And... Well... It got kind of messy." Chris admitted.

"Jeremy, do you care to go check on Roxanne?" Mark requested, obviously holding back his laughter.

I heard him apologizing to Chris for his cousin's feistiness as I turned to leave the lounge. I pushed my way through the crowd and out the front door.

"Whatcha smoking?" I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets.

Roxanne turned to face me, a cigarette dangling between her red painted lips.

"Reds. Want one?" She asked, digging through her bag and pulling out a pack of Marlboro Reds.

I accepted, letting her hold out her lighter and light it for me. Our eyes met as she did so and I was struck with how crystal blue they were.

"You, uh... You ok?" I asked cautiously after taking a couple hits of the cigarette.

She chuckled and flicked her ash to the ground.

"Yeah. I just didn't get the chance to do that when we broke up." She shrugged, pursing her lips to meet her cigarette butt.

I noticed that there was a bit of a British accent in her voice, and wondered vaguely how long she had lived overseas.

"So it got pretty nasty, huh?"

She snorted and stomped out her cigarette, twisting the toe of her boot and spreading the ash across the concrete.

"If you call telling me I'm a two cent whore and the worst sex he's ever had nasty."

My eyes widened and the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. My brain has a bad habit of working slower than my mouth.

"Well I seriously doubt that."

She threw back her head and let out a loud bark of laughter. I felt heat creeping into my face and rubbed the back of my neck nervously.

"Alright lover-boy. Lets go back inside." She snickered, hooking her arm around mine and pulling me towards the door.

The rest of Mark's family must be very interesting.