Chapter 14, part 1: Fire

You set me
You lit me
I'm on fire
What a beautiful sight to see
I'm on fire

"I know you like her." Sean tells Jay, watching him walk around the kitchen.

"Like who?" Jay plays dumb, not wanting to deal with this subject.

"I know you Jay, you like Emma. I swear if you do anything to her-"

"Just drop it okay. I'm real tired of hearing your 'I will kill you' speech." Jay rinses his cup out and puts it in the sink.

"Fine, let's go." Sean picks up the keys to the apartment and heads out the door. Jay follows suit.

"Whatever." He stands against their closed apartment door while Sean knocks on Manny's and Emma's door.

"One sec." Manny calls from inside. Emma comes out first, looking radiant in her black Rock Star boot cut jeans, a grey lace up plaid vest, and red plaid wedges. Jay stared at her, wondering how she looked so good and not at all trashy. She still looked conservative, even though her red pumps had a good three or four inches, making her short 5'5 figure, almost Jay's height. Her vest had thin red lines, which is why she wore red shoes, which had thin black lines. Her hair was down, with a zigzag part, and hardly any make up. A thin black outline along her eyes and some lip gloss. Manny appeared behind her a minute later.

"Let's go!" Manny announces, her bubbly personality spilling out of her.

"I'm driving." Jay states, walking ahead, trying not to stare at Emma any more. The three followed Jay to his car, with them making small talk, about nothing in general. They got to The Dive.

"You think Tristan's playing tonight?" Manny asks Emma, just above a whisper.

"I don't know." Emma answers honestly, not wanting his being there to ruin her good time. They walked in, going to the bar first. Jay ordered a beer and turned around, leaning with his back against the bar.

"Jay can you get me a drink." Manny asks sweetly.

"Why?"

"I'm not twenty-one yet, please Jay, please, please, please." Manny almost begs, making her voice girly so Jay will give in.

"Yeah, whatever." Jay orders Manny's drink, after she tells him what she wants. The group stands there, drinking and talking, taking in the club scene. Out of nowhere, Emily comes up, placing her hands on Jay's chest, Jay jumps, not seeing her come over, and looks down at her.

"Hi." She says, trying to sound seductive, but you could tell she was wasted. "I thought I might be able to-" She leans closer, whispering into his ear. "Give you a good time, again." Jay looks at Emma, Manny, and Sean, who are all staring at him. Jay looks back at Emily, vaguely remembering her. She leans up into him again, whispering in his ear so the others couldn't hear. "We were both pretty high at Todd's party, but I do remember giving you pleasure. The names Emily and I never got yours." She backs down from his ear, smiling up at him. Emily... Emily... oh I remember her, I was on X that night... Emily... she was going down on me... I called her Em... Emily... Emma... Emily... Emma... Em, that was the only reason I let her continue...

"Jay, are you going to introduce us?" Emma asks, trying to break the weird silence. "I'm Emma; this is Manny, and Sean."

"Emily." She looks quickly at them, and back at Jay. "So, Jay, what do you say?" Jay shakes his head, trying to focus on his current situation. He notices Sean's glare. Great, just great, Sean is going to 'kill me' now. I need air... fresh air.

"Sorry, but no thanks." He pauses for a moment. "I need some air." With that, he walks out of the bar, and Emily walks away.

"What was that about?" Manny asks curiously.

"I don't know." Sean states, matter-o-factly, pissed that Jay has a 'girlfriend' and likes Emma. Emma doesn't know what to think.

"I'll go see if he's okay." Emma says out loud, not believing those words just came out of her mouth. She walked out anyway, trying not to show Sean or Manny her hesitance.

"Okay, now I'm really confused." Manny tells Sean. "They like each other, don't they."

"Seems that way." Sean states, not knowing whether to be happy Emma likes Jay, or pissed. He had a bad feeling, but the two of them were his best friends, so he couldn't tell them that.

Emma went outside, finally finding Jay at the back of the club. She walks over to him, taking a seat on the curb next to him.

"You okay?" She asks, unsure of what else to say.

"Yeah... just needed some fresh air." Jay keeps his eyes on the ground, trying to figure out what Emma is thinking.

"Are you going to come back in?" Emma keeps her eyes on him, even though he won't look at her.

"Uh, yeah... in a bit." Jay nods his head slightly.

"Okay... do you want to be alone or-"

"Look, that chick, we kinda had a one night thing like a week or so ago." Jay cuts her off, his eyes still on the ground.

"Oh, okay..." Emma trails off, still not sure how to feel. He wasn't with her, so she can't be mad. Plus she had a boyfriend when she kissed him... "Do you like her?" Emma asks, trying to sound subtle. "If you do, just go back in there, talk to her, I'm sure she-"

"I don't like her." Jay exhales. "We were both high that night. She knew that, she just asked if I wanted to... let her..."

"Go down on you." Emma bluntly finishes Jay's sentence. He looks up at her, shocked that those words came out of her mouth. He nods his head yes as he looks away from her. "Okay, do you want her to?"

"Don't laugh at me, but no, I don't."

"Why would I laugh?" Emma softens, happy to know that Jay doesn't want that girl. He looks at her, meeting her eyes.

"The 'old Jay' wouldn't say no."

"So, people change." Emma shrugs her shoulders. Jay slightly nods his head. He keeps eye contact with her, really wanting to kiss her again, so he does. Allowing his lips to crash into hers, he turns his body towards her. Emma places her hands on Jay's cheeks, letting her fingers rest on them. A few minutes later, the two pull away from each other. In need of some fresh air, they breathe slowly, looking at each other.

"What flavor is you lip gloss?" Jay asks, licking his bottom lip.

"I don't know, it doesn't say it's flavored." Emma watches him lick his lip, wanting to kiss him again.

"Tastes good."

"I'll have to buy more." She smiles at him, allowing herself to fall for him as he presents her with his signature smirk. The two continue staring at each other, both debating whether they should lean in for another kiss when a voice calls Emma's name.

Chapter 14, part 2; Life Is a Garden

Somebody should have told you
It never comes easy
And somebody should have told you that
There are no guarantees

Emma looked up to see who was calling her. Her brain froze. Oh no, this can't be good. Oh no. What do I do, what do I do. Snapping out of her trance from her name being called again, she looks up.

"You okay Emma?" Zack asks, standing in front of her, looking down.

"Yeah, yeah, in my own world there for a minute." Standing up to meet Zack, Emma remembers to introduce Jay and Zack. "Zack this is Jay, Jay, Zack."

"Hey man." Zack nods towards Jay's direction, and Jay nods back. Zack focuses his attention back to Emma. "You look good." Staring down at her outfit, and the slight inch of midriff showing.

"Thanks." Emma smiles warmly, trying to hide her embarrassment from him checking her out. "Are you guys playing tonight?"

"Yeah, I don't want to abandon where we got our break, you know?"

"Totally." Emma agrees, looking around, hoping not to see Tristan.

"They went around the front; I was just parking the van." Reassuring Emma that she won't see Tristan, Zack places a hand on her arm. Emma's arm feels a light tingle. "I should get inside. I'll see you. Nice to meet you Jay." Zack starts heading inside, leaving Emma and Jay alone once again. Emma stared down at the ground, trying to get her feelings in check.

"I'm gonna go inside." Jay announces, breaking her thoughts.

"Okay." Emma keeps her eyes on the ground. "Me too... can you get me a drink?" She asks, following Jay back into The Dive.

"Sure, what do you want?" They stand a little bit away from the bar. Jay waits on Emma for her answer.

"Um... a screwdriver." Emma decides. Jay looks at her, a little stunned that she was going to drink a screwdriver. Nevertheless, Jay ordered one, and another beer.

"Where's Cameron and Santos?" Jay asks in between sipping his beer.

"Probably dancing or something." Emma gulps down the rest of her drink. "Jay, can you get me another one?"

"Um" Jay looks at how fast she drank that, debating whether or not she'll be able to handle her liquor. "Sure." Jay puts in another order, making sure to keep a close eye on her.

Emma didn't know what possessed her to drink, but she needed something to drown out the swirling thoughts circling her head. After months, and months, she was finally able to get rid of Tristan, well he dumped her, and now she still had to more guys that she liked being with. They were the total opposite of each other. Zack is so sweet, caring, and Jay, the bad boy. No girl can resist the bad boy, especially when he walks around without a shirt. Emma was finishing her second screwdriver when Sean walked over.

"Manny's starting to get dance happy." He states, taking a seat at the bar.

"Were you dancing with her?" Emma asks, not really caring, but wanting to make conversation so she could get another drink.

"No, I was... somewhere else." Sean looks away from Emma, still uncomfortable with sharing his sexual activities with her.

"Way to go Cameron." Jay pats him on the back, nostalgia hitting him.

"Jay, can you get me another drink?" Emma queries, as sweetly as she can muster.

"I don't know, you've already had two." Jay tells her, not wanting to get one of Cameron's stupid speeches when they got home.

"Yeah, but I'm not even drunk."

"Em, I think you're good." Sean says, knocking back his own drink.

"Sean, you can't tell me what to do. I want another drink, please Jay, please, please, please." Puppy dog eyes took over Jay's view. He looked at Sean real fast, but Sean wouldn't look at Emma. He still couldn't resist those eyes, and neither could Jay. "Thank you." Emma takes her drink, chugging another big mouthful.

"I'll go find Manny and we'll head home." Sean gets up, winding in out and of people to find Manny on the dance floor.

"Jay, can I have another drink?" Emma finishes the last of her third cup.

"You drank that way to fast." Jay tells her, setting her empty cup on the counter near his beer.

"I did no s-such th-thing." Emma replies, finally feeling the affect of her three screwdrivers.

"Oh, this is going to be funny." Jay says aloud, watching Emma. Sean comes back with Manny, who herself is tipsy.

"You got her?" Sean questions, motioning to Emma, and to the door.

"Yeah." Jay throws some cash next to his beer, and grabs Emma. Emma walks a little, holding onto Jay's t-shirt, with his arm around her waist. The guys get the girls into the car and head back to the apartment.

"Where is your key?" Sean asks the girls.

"I don't know." Emma states, "I don't have it."

"I do, I have it somewhere." Manny feels the pockets of her jeans, not remembering where she put her key. She's too worn out from the drinking and dancing to care. "I know where I put it." Manny giggles and points to her chest.

"You keep your key your chest?" Jay queries, a smirk on his face that he can't hide.

"Yeah, that way when you daance, it d-doesn't fall out." She states matter-o-factly.

"Well, take it out." Sean tells her, wanting to get inside to his own apartment and sleep.

"No, you do it." Manny flirts. Jay smirks even more.

"Yeah Cameron, you get it." He can't help but to smile, watching Manny become more and more flirtatious with Sean. This girl could apparently hold herself, but can't hold the sexual side to her when she drinks.

"I don't have time for this." Sean gently puts his hand down the front of Manny's low cut tank top and pulls out the key. Emma and Manny giggle as Sean puts the key into the lock and opens the door. Jay takes Emma into her bedroom, as Sean does the same with Manny.

Jay lays Emma down on the bed, taking off her shoes, and Emma sits up. Once both of her pumps are off, and Jay stands back up, Emma pulls him to her. Her lips smash into his as she kisses him fiercely. Jay, being Jay, kisses back, running his hands across the inch of skin between her pants and her vest. Pulling him on top of her, Emma breaks the kiss from his lips, moving to his earlobe and neck; all the while her hands were going up his shirt. Jay, snapping out of the hot and heavy moment he was just in, stops Emma.

"I can't... you're drunk..." Jay moves Emma up to her pillows and puts the blanket over her. Flipping the light switch, and exiting the room, he leaves it ajar. He heads off to his room, wondering how he stopped himself from having sex with Emma.