Tweet reference: "the way winona and jesse are going to serve hot headed gf soft bf i already love them."


.: (we're not) partners in crime :.

"They did what?" Winona Meadows screeched, wincing at her own volume. She leaned forward in her folding chair and clenched her fists on her bare legs.

Vada Abbey and Kinney Hale were equally as horrified as the three of them stared at the fourth member of their friend group, Audrey Cobalt. Audrey had just finished regalling them with the newest atrocity the T-bags—the neighborhood and Dalton Academy bullies—have committed, and Winona was filled with a type of fury she usually reserved for Sea World. Vada and Kinney looked as furious as she felt, Vada's leg bouncing a million miles-per-hour and Kinney's black-lined eyes narrowed fiercely.

Audrey was the most composed of the quartet, and the only sign of her anger and distress was her splotchy face and her trembling hands as she tucked a strand of carrot-orange hair behind her ear.

Winona and her babes were at the yearly neighborhood block party. The air smelled like hamburgers (ew!), and her family members mingled amongst the other residents of the gated community. Winona wasn't a fan of these parties—number one reason being, she had to bring her own vegetarian option to eat (animal murderers!)—but she still showed up every year, lest the media find out they "shunned" their neighbors and label them every variation of "Shit Neighbors" in the next days' news.

At best, her neighbors were nosy snobs. At worst, they were arrogant jackasses who longed to make her life miserable. And the lives of her very best friends. Winona glared across the cul-de-sac at the aforementioned group of T-Bags.

Vada leaned forward in her seat, her legs spread and her elbows on her knees. She fiddled with her shoe-lace bracelets as she said to Audrey, "You should tell your parents."

"No." Audrey shook her head.

"Nona's parents already know about their worthless existence," Kinney recalled. "And if they know, you can bet your ass Aunt Rose and Uncle Connor definitely know."

"I don't think they do," Audrey insisted. Winona traded a yeah, right, look with Vada. "Mother and Father would've already confronted the issue if they were aware."

"Maybe we need your parents to confront them," Kinney said.

"Hell," Winona added, "once Uncle Connor is through with them, they'll never crawl out of their pathetic, dark hidey-holes."

"Remember your party?" Vada asked. "They crossed a line that night."

"They always cross lines," Audrey said. "If we run to our parents, we show weakness."

Cobalts, Winona groaned, rolling her eyes skyward.

"Fine." Winona lurched to her feet, tightened her scrunchy, and retucked her tank top into her cargo shorts. "I'll confront them."

"No!" her three friends chorused.

"Remember the last time you spoke to them?" Audrey asked vehemently. "Remember the time before that? They threatened you, Nona. You must avoid them. We must avoid them."

Winona fiddled with her fanny pack, sliding it to rest on her hip, in order to avoid her best friends' eyes. Audrey was right, of course. Avoidance was best, but it wasn't a solution. They couldn't retreat to pathetic, dark hidey-holes.

Winona's last two confrontations with the group of boys had scared her, but those had both occurred before they'd cornered Audrey. If one thing overrode her extreme sense of self-preservation, it was the fear that something would happen to her family and friends when she'd had the opportunity to stop it.

Winona squared her shoulders. "I'll be right back."

She strode away from her friends before they could grab her and stop her, their voices echoing behind her as she marched decisively across the hot pavement. Her heart thundered in her chest, but she kept her pace steady.

Was this the best idea? Absolutely not. But she was doing it anyway.

She was halfway to the T-Bags when someone stepped into her path.

Jesse Highland wore a peach-colored bro-tank, and his tanned biceps were on full display as he crossed his arms over his chest. He was tall and beautiful and outdoorsy, and he flirted with her every time they were within arms reach. She didn't mind the flirting, per say, but there was something about him that always made her hands shake. That, she did mind.

They'd known each other less than a year—had met when Jesse began helping his older brother, Jack, film for We Are Calloway. Her initial assessment of him—annoying, California douche-bro—had been completely wrong. It turned out he was exceptionally sweet and easy to talk to. (Plus, he'd never given her any shit about the fake numbers she gave him. He just donated to all the charities and persevered in his quest.)

"And where are you off to in such a hurry?" he asked.

Winona narrowed her eyes. His smug tone implied he already knew her plans, and that wouldn't do one bit. She crossed her arms. "Important business. Nothing that concerns you, 'cuse me."

She sidestepped him, hiking boots scuffing on the asphalt, but he just mimicked her.

"Yeah, you seem like you're on a mission. Want a partner in crime?"

He raised his eyebrows playfully and uncrossed his arms to snap his fingers. She tucked away the feeling his smirk stirred within her—tucked away her immediate desire to say, "Yes, please"—and said instead, "Where's your camera?"

"I'm on a break," he replied. "I'm on a mission of my own to find something that doesn't have meat in it."

Hiding her smile was almost impossible, but she thought she managed pretty well.

"Well, good luck with that. I always have to bring my own food to these things."

He opened his mouth to reply, and she saw how this would go down. Saw him successfully distracting her and deterring her from her mission.

She spoke again before he could. "Well, nice chat, Jesse, but I need to go confront an asshole who fucked with my babe. Let's flirt later."

She tried to side-step him again. No luck.

"You do know that 4-on-1 are horrible odds, right?"

She glared. "You do know I can add another name to my hit list, right?"

He grinned. "You do a really cute nose-scrunch when you're flustered, do you know that?"

Ugh, shut up.

"You're not confronting any assholes, Winona," he said firmly.

"Yeah, and are you gonna stop me?"

"Yup."

She faltered, surprised he'd actually come right out and admitted to it.

"Nope."

She tried to move past him again, and he did something totally unexpected. He bent at the knees, wrapped his arms around her bare thighs, and threw her over his shoulder.

"Jesse!" she yelled, her breath whooshing from her lungs with every step he took. She smacked his back, gave his side a pinch, but he kept walking. "Put me down!"

"Nope," he said, his tone mocking.

He maneuvered through the crowd with ease, and she felt more than a few pairs of eyes on her. She smacked him one more time and huffed when it still yielded nothing. She couldn't cross her arms like she wanted to, so she settled for sighing loudly into his t-shirt and giving up.

She hadn't wanted to talk to them anyway—something Jesse could never know, obviously.

As quickly as he'd picked her up, he set her down, right onto the chair she'd vacated. Her friends were around her again, and they looked incredibly pleased that she'd been...contained.

"Excellent work, Jesse," Audrey complimented.

"Traitor," Winona mumbled to her friend. Audrey just grinned, her dimples prominent.

"No confronting of the assholes," Jesse reiterated.

"T-Bags," Kinney corrected with a pointed look.

"You confronted them," Winona said quickly, remembering how Jesse had stood in front of Tate at the disaster party and said, "Come at me, dick." How he'd tipped up his chin, narrowed his eyes, and shoved Tate into the pool.

Jesse narrowed his eyes now, too. And he leaned over Winona's chair, his hands on either arm. She didn't feel crowded as he leaned closer yet. Didn't feel caged in.

"Then the next time I ask if you want a partner in crime, say 'yes.'"


thank you for reading!