JENNIE

Listening to the band play their full set was amazing. They really were good at what they did and Lisa was unbelievable. I was a little surprised that someone hadn't scooped her up yet. She was the poster child for a bankable rock star - talented, seductive and smoking hot. And they already had quite the fan base; almost immediately upon starting their set, the floor around the stage had crowded with people.

Taehyung pulled me out to the floor near the edge of the pack, where we had more room to dance and move about. The song they were playing was extremely catchy and easy to dance to, and Taehyung twirled me around, then brought me tight to him as we danced close together. I laughed and slung my arms around his neck. Then he dipped me and I laughed harder. Most of the D-Bags songs were fast, but Taehyung and I were comfortable with each other and danced together easily.

Occasionally, I would glance up at the group onstage. Lisa would gently keep time to the music with her body as she smiled flirtatiously through her words. She was captivating to watch and I found myself doing it more and more frequently as the night went on. While watching the way her body swayed while she sang, I happened to notice Jackson look over at Lucas suddenly, then scowl deeply. Somehow, without ever looking at him or missing a note on his guitar, Lucas managed to flip him off, making Taehyung and I giggle and Jackson roll his eyes. Evan watched over the group, slowly shaking his head and laughing as well. Lisa didn't seem to witness the exchange, or she was just ignoring it, her eyes focused on the adoring crowd instead.

For some of the songs, Lisa would pick up her guitar and play along with Lucas. Her guitar wasn't amplified like Lucas's, and the different sounds blended together nicely. She started off an intro to a slower song by herself, and I couldn't help but notice how good she was on it, probably as good as Lucas. Most of the people around the front of the stage were still cavorting and dancing, even though the song was slower, but some of the couples near Taehyung and I were starting to slow dance.

Taehyung pulled me close, slipping his arms around my waist. He grinned at me goofily, in a way that I immensely loved, and pulled me tight against him. I sighed happily and brought my arms around his neck again. Running my fingers through his dark hair, I gave him a soft kiss. As the music swelled and picked up intensity, I hugged him tight and laid my head on his shoulder, breathing in his wonderful, familiar scent. Looking out over his shoulder, I watched Lisa on stage. She was smiling sweetly at me during a break in the vocals and I smiled back. Then she winked at me and I blinked in surprise. She laughed at that, finding my reaction highly amusing.

They played one more fast-paced song after that, most of the couples going back to regular dancing, Taehyung and I choosing to stay locked together, smiling at each other and softly kissing. When that song finished, Lisa's speaking voice broke through the noise of the crowd.

"Thank you for coming out tonight." She paused, waiting for the crowd's sudden eruption of screams to die down. After a minute, she smiled charmingly and held up a finger. "I want to take a second to introduce you all to my new roommates."

Her finger pointed right at Taehyung and me. I blushed deeply and Taehyung laughed, moving to my side, his arms still around my waist. I looked over at him, biting my lip and wishing we had left after the slow song. He grinned and kissed my cheek while Lisa told the whole bar our names.

I buried my head in Taehyung's shoulder, mortified, while Lisa cheerily said, "Now, you'll all be happy to know that Jennie is joining the happy little family here at Pete's, starting Monday night." The crowd screamed again…I had no idea why, and I blushed even deeper and glared up at Lisa, wishing she would be quiet. She laughed at my look. "I want you all to be nice to her…" she looked over to the D-Bag beside uer who was grinning indecently at me, "…especially you Jackson."

She said good night to the crowd, that hollered yet again, and then she sat down on the edge of the stage. My embarrassment fading, now that the attention was no longer focused on me, I thought to go up and tell her how great she was. It apparently wasn't necessary though. Almost instantly, about five girls hovered around her. One brought her a beer, one played with her hair, and one even made herself quite comfortable on her lap. I'm pretty sure at some point I saw her lick Lisa's neck. After witnessing that, I figured she didn't need any encouraging words from me, and I could just tell her something nice in the morning.

Taehyung and I left soon after the band finished, and practically stumbled to bed in our tiredness. I don't know exactly when I heard Lisa get home, but it was much later than us. So naturally, I was pretty surprised when I groggily made my way down to the kitchen the next morning, and there she was, already sitting at the table, fully dressed, looking annoyingly perfect while sipping her coffee and reading the paper.

"Mornin'," she said, a little too cheerfully.

"Uh," I replied grumpily. So, not only was she talented and ridiculously attractive, she was also one of those people who could run smoothly on very little sleep. That irritated me a little.

I grabbed a mug and poured some coffee while she finished her paper. Upstairs, I could hear the water start running as Taehyung prepared for her shower. I finished making my coffee and went over to sit across from Lisa at the table.

She smiled at me as I sat down. For a second, I felt really self-conscious in the lounge pants and tank top I had slept in. Irritation at her all-too-perfect face swept through me. Really, did one person need to be so blessed? It didn't seem cosmically fair. Then I remembered Taehyung's conversation with me in the car…about Lisa and her dad. That cooled my anger. Things hadn't always been easy for this attractive person.

"Well, what did you think?" she asked, smiling, like she already knew my answer.

I tried to frown, like I was going to say it sucked, but I couldn't and laughed a little instead. "You guys are amazing. Really, it was unbelievable."

She smiled and nodded, sipping her coffee again. Not a great shock to her, then. "Thanks. I'll tell the guys you liked it." She looked up at me with the corner of her eye. "Less offensive?"

I started to blush, remembering our conversation yesterday, but then her performance started replaying in my head. With mild surprise, I realized that she had toned down the sensuality. She had certainly still been flirty and charming, but less…obvious. I smiled over at her. "Yes, much better…thank you."

She laughed at my comment, and it pleased me a little that she had actually listened to something I had, rather rudely, criticized her for.

We sipped our coffees in silence for a few minutes, and then something said in conversation last night suddenly popped into my head and slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it. "Joey was the roommate before us?" Really, what was wrong with my loose tongue around her? I was going to have to work on that.

She paused in drinking her coffee and slowly set the mug down. "Yeah…she left awhile before Taehyung called about the room."

Curious at the odd look in her eyes, I asked, "She left a lot of her stuff here. Is she going to come back for it?"

She looked down at the table for a second, then back up to my eyes. "No…I'm pretty sure she left town."

Surprise loosened my tongue again, "What happened?" I really had had no intention of asking her that question. I wondered if she would answer me.

She looked thoughtful for a second, like she was wondering as well too. "A…misunderstanding…" she finally said, slowly.

Firmly, I shut my thoughts off and focused on my coffee. I was NOT going to pry anymore. It was not my business and I didn't want to ruffle my new roommate. It didn't matter anyway; our situation was so vastly different. I just hoped that if Joey did come back, she would leave the bed. It was incredibly comfortable.

Taehyung and I spent the remainder of that lazy Sunday resting and preparing for our jobs that we were starting the next day. Taehyung's internship paid next to nothing, so we were both relieved that I had found a job so quickly. I thanked Lisa for her small part in introducing us to Pete and mentally thanked Jackson for not being able to keep it in his pants, the thought of which, of course, made me blush a little.

I was nervous about it though. I had never waitressed at a bar before. Taehyung and Lisa had a great couple of hours quizzing me on different drinks and what was in them. I protested at first, since my knowledge really wasn't that great, and told them repeatedly that the bartender was making the drinks. I only had to repeat the orders. But after some amusingly suggestive drinks, some of which I'm sure Lisa completely made up, I started having fun playing their little game. I suppose it would help me to know everything I could.

By that evening, Taehyung was starting to get nervous about his first day as well. He picked out three different sets of clothes, flipped through all his old schoolbooks, organized his briefcase four times, and eventually sat on the couch, tapping his feet nervously. Lisa excused herself to meet with the band - apparently they met nearly every day to rehearse, probably why they felt so comfortable before a show. I took the opportunity of our aloneness to do everything in my power to get Taehyung's mind off of his nerves.

On the second time, I think he finally relaxed…

Monday morning came up quicker than expected. I made my way downstairs for my morning cup of coffee while Taehyung got ready for his first day. Spotting Lisa at the table, casually leaning back in her chair, drinking her coffee and reading the paper, I had to chuckle at her shirt. She was wearing a black t-shirt that quite boldly in white across the front read, 'Douchebags'. She noticed my laugh and my gaze and smiled attractively.

"Like it? I can hook you up." She winked at me. "I know people." I smiled and nodded back at her as she went back to drinking her coffee.

Taehyung came down a little while later, looking very handsome in a nice, light blue button-up dress shirt and khaki slacks. He looked over at Lisa at the table and pointed to her shirt. "Nice, man…score me one of those."

Lisa laughed and nodded, then Taehyung came up and slipped his arms around me. I frowned at him as he gave me a kiss on the cheek. "What?" he asked, looking himself over quickly.

I smoothed out the front of his shirt, then ran my hand along his jaw. "You…are entirely too attractive. Some perky blonde is going to snatch you away from me."

He raised an eyebrow and smiled warmly. "You silly nong."

Lisa popped up from the table. "No, she's right, man." She shook her head at him quite seriously. "You're hot." Then grinning, shs went back to drinking her coffee.

Rolling my eyes at Lisa, I gave Taehyung a long kiss and wished him a good day at work. Lisa came up playfully and gave him a peck on the cheek as well. Taehyung laughed, and still looking rather nervous, made his way out the door.

I didn't have a whole lot to do during the day, since I wasn't starting school for another two and a half months, so I called my Mom again and told her I already missed everyone terribly. She immediately offered me a plane ticket back home. I assured her that everything was going great here, and I even had a job already. Sighing repeatedly, she wished me luck and lots of love. I told her to give Dad and Jisoo kisses for me.

I spent the rest of the day either watching TV, or watching Lisa write lyrics at the table. She seemed to be constantly jotting down some notes or thoughts, scratching them out, moving things around, and chewing on her pencil, thinking. Occasionally she would ask my opinion about a verse. I tried to give her as insightful of an answer as possible, but music theory was not one of my strong points. It was fascinating to watch her work though, and before I knew it, I needed to get ready for my shift.

I showered and then dressed, fixing my makeup and pulling my hair back into a ponytail. I sighed. Not great, but presentable, I guess. I made my way downstairs to grab my jacket from the hook at the front door.

"Lisa?"

She looked over at me from the living room where she was watching TV. "Yeah?"

"Is there a bus schedule around here? I want to look at the route again." Taehyung, with our only vehicle, wasn't home from work yet, and I wanted to leave early since I didn't know how long the bus ride would take.

She looked at me quizzically before she understood. "No…I'll take you though."

"No, no. You don't have to do that." I really didn't want to be a burden on her.

"No problem. I'll grab a beer, chat with Sam." She threw a charming half-smile at me. "I'll be your first customer."

Great, I hoped I didn't spill her beer in her lap. "Oh, okay. Thanks." I sat with her on the couch to watch TV for awhile, since now I had the time.

"Here, I wasn't really watching anything," she said, casually handing the remote over to me.

"Oh, thanks." It wasn't necessary, but it was a sweet gesture. I started flicking through channels and stopped when I started getting to the premium channels. I stopped on what I thought was HBO. "Oh, you get these channels?" It seemed odd to me that she would splurge on the extra ones when she didn't really seem to watch anything.

She grinned mischievously over at me. "Jackson. He likes to have…everything available to him when he visits. I guess he knows some girl at the cable company."

"Oh," I said, blushing just a little. I was thinking about what Jackson might want to watch on our TV, when I finally noticed what was currently playing on our TV. I had stopped on an overly erotic scene involving a naked man and woman, clearly in the throes of passion. And either the man was a vampire, or had a severe biting fetish, and was giving her a rather passionate bite to her neck, with lots of blood and lots of extremely suggestive licking and sucking. Blushing furiously, I turned back to Lisa's original show and threw the remote back to her.

I tried to ignore the look she gave me as she laughed softly beside me. When it got late enough Lisa turned off the TV and looked over at me. "Ready?"

I tried to smile. "Sure"

She chuckled at me. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

We grabbed our coats and made our way out the door. I had hoped that Taehyung would be home in time to take me, I'd really missed him all day, but I guess he was still at work. I hoped his first day had gone well. I hoped my first day went well.

We made our way to Lisa's car and I had to smile. It was an older sixties-looking muscle car - a Chevy Chevelle Malibu, according to the bumper. Shiny black with polished chrome everywhere, it was sleek and impossibly sexy; it matched its driver perfectly. I rolled my eyes a little at the extremeness of her attractiveness, which the car oddly seemed to accentuate. The inside was surprisingly spacious, with black leather bench seats in the front and the back. I had to suppress a laugh at the old fashioned looking tape deck. Aside from the living room TV, Lisa was a little behind on technology. Not that I was really up on it either - Taehyung and I didn't even have cell phones. Lisa smiled when she slid behind the wheel, obviously enjoying her vehicle. What was it with guys being so attached to their cars?

We were both quiet on the ride over and I quickly started getting nervous butterflies in my stomach. The first day on a new job always made me feel like getting sick. I stared out the window and started counting the street lights to distract myself.

Upon arrival at Pete's, and the twenty-fifth light, I suddenly realized that I had no idea what to do or where to go. Luckily, the pretty blonde girl that was our waitress the other night, introduced herself as Somi, and waving at Lisa, she led me to the hallway, which led to a backroom across from the bathrooms. The backroom was a large storage area, with multiple shelves along one wall, holding boxes of liquor and beer, napkins, salt, pepper and other random bar supplies. A couple of extra tables were propped up on their sides against another wall, with stacks of chairs beside them, and another wall had a group of lockers that the staff used. Somi grabbed a shirt from one of the boxes on a shelf and showed me which locker was mine and where to clock in. I took my very own red Pete's t-shirt and I changed in the bathroom. I immediately felt a little more relaxed. Something about looking like everyone else that worked at the bar, made me feel like I belonged, somewhat.

When I had told Pete I was a waitress, while not quite a lie, I was exaggerating a tiny bit. I had filled in for my sister one summer while she went off to "discover herself", whatever that meant. The tiny diner maybe got half the amount of traffic that Pete's got on a typical night. I was a little terrified.

Coming out of the hallway a few moments later, I noticed Lisa sipping on a beer and leaning against the long bar. The bartender was also leaning over the bar (her red Pete's shirt purposefully cut obscenely low), eyeing Lisa seductively. Lisa, ignoring her, sipped her beer casually and smiled when she saw me.

I frowned a little bit at her beer. She noticed my glance. "Sorry, Rita beat you to it." She smiled. "Next time."

The bartender, Rita, was an older blonde woman (although, I highly doubted that was her natural color) with skin that had been fake-n-baked one too many times, and was now a little leathery looking. Maybe at some point in her life she had been attractive, but time had not been kind. In her eyes though, she still was and she was outrageously flirtatious. And, as I learned throughout the night, she thoroughly enjoyed her job, and seemed to enjoy relaying all the juicy gossip customers told her even more. I blushed several times during my shift while she repeated their stories. I mentally reminded myself to never (not that I ever would) confide in a bartender…especially this one.

Throughout the night, I shadowed Somi as she took customer's orders. It was a little confusing, since most of the people who came in were regulars who always ordered the same thing. She would simply walk up to the table and say, "Hi-ya, Bill, same for you today?" He would nod and she would smile and head to the bar or the kitchen to relay an order that I'd never actually heard. It was intimidating.

She noticed my worried expression. "Don't worry, you'll get it. Weeknights are pretty easy with the regulars…they'll be nice to you." She frowned a little. "Well, most of them will be nice to you. I'll help you with rest." She smiled warmly and I was very grateful for her kindness. Her looks perfectly matched her sparkling personality. She was, as the phrase went, cute as a button - petite with flowing, silky blonde hair, pale blue eyes and just enough curves to get more than a few appreciative glances from some of the customers. She was too sweet to be jealous of though, and I instantly felt a connection with her.

Sometime in the night, Lisa came up to me and tipped me for the drink I never actually gave her. She smiled and excused herself to meet with the band for a gig they had at another bar. I thanked her profusely for the ride over, lightly kissing her on the cheek, which, for some reason, made me blush, and caused Rita to raise her eyebrows speculatively. She smiled and muttered something about not mentioning it and left the bar.

Later in the evening, Taehyung stopped in to see how I was doing. He gave me a long hug and a sweet kiss, also to the delight of Rita, who looked at him a little too appealingly for my taste. He only stayed for a few minutes though; he had a project he wanted to start working on at home. He was insanely happy and that happiness infected me. I found myself smiling widely for a long time after he left.

When I wasn't shadowing Somi, they had me cleaning up. I spent a good chunk of the night wiping tables, washing glasses, helping in the kitchen, and when things got slow at the tail end of the night…cleaning the graffiti from the bathroom stalls. Pete gave me some gray paint and a little brush and left me to it. Rita gave me instructions to let her know anything juicy written up there. Somi smiled and wished me good luck. I sighed.

I started with the women's, thinking it would be less offensive than the men's, and really not wanting to walk into the men's room anyway. There were three stalls, and all of them had pen and sharpie scribbles on the inside and the outside. I sighed again and wished they had just given me a roller. This was going to take awhile.

Some of the stuff was innocent enough: I love Chris, A.M T.L, Sara was here, TLF, I hate vodka, go home, you're drunk (I had to chuckle at that one). But a lot was less innocent: I'm horny, I wanna screw tonight, my boyfriend gives it good, random swear words. And then some were directed at people I knew: Sam makes me hot, I love Somi (hmmm, I wondered about that one, since I was in the women's room), Rita's a skank (I chuckled, wondering if that was the juicy gossip she wanted to hear).

And finally, a huge portion was directed at the four band members. It surprised me at first, but then I thought it made sense, since they played here so often…and were attractive, I guess.

Jackson's were the most explicit. I couldn't even read them fully. Blushing, I covered up the extremely graphic words of just what girls had either done to him, or wanted to do with him, as quickly as I could. There was even an exceptionally vivid drawing of an act so absurdly crude, that I worried how long it would stick in my head. I sighed, knowing I was going to blush the next time I saw Jackson. He would probably love that.

Lucas and Evan's tributes were more subtle. Girls wrote in adoration for Evan: I love him, I want him, marry me. Girls wrote with praise for Lucas: Damn, he's hot, he can pluck me any day, Lucas rocks me.

But of course, the largest portion of all the graffiti was directed towards Lisa. From the sweet: Lisa loves me, Lisa Forever, future Mrs. Manoban…to the not so sweet. Apparently, Lisa had been right when she said that women responded to her sexual nature. The markings where quite graphic, almost as much as Jackson's, of just what they wanted to do with her. There was also a section of comments that seemed to already have intimate knowledge of her. Whether real or not, theirs were the most explicit: Lisa licked my… (I brushed out the near paragraph on exactly what had been licked), I blew Lisa's… (whoa, really now), for a good time call… (I blinked, that was actually our phone number. I quickly brushed it out), Lisa shoved her… (ugh, I didn't even bother reading that one). I was already going to have horrid visions of Jackson. I didn't need them about my roommate too.

I finally finished with the women's room and made my way over to the men's, no longer worried about it. There was no way it was cruder than the stuff the girls had come up with.

Somi sweetly gave me ride home after work and, even though I tried to be quiet, Taehyung woke up when I entered our room. He patiently listened to stories of my first day and then regaled me for at least an hour on his new job. He was in heaven and I couldn't have been happier for him.

Lisa, Taehyung and I, quickly fell into an easy routine at home. Lisa was almost always the first one awake, and there was usually a fresh pot of coffee waiting for me when I finally shuffled into the kitchen. We chatted companionably, sipping our java as Taehyung showered and got ready for his day at work.

Taehyung insisted that I didn't have to wake up with him, since I got home so late on nights I worked, but I loved seeing him off every morning. He was all smiles when he left. He was having way too much fun at his new job and I was elated for him. After he was gone, I had a lot of time to myself. And even though I was getting anxious at the thought of school beginning in a couple months, I was really starting to want something to do during the day. I mainly just, well, napped and lounged.

Lisa didn't seem to have any other job than the band. She would leave for a few hours in the afternoon or early evening to meet with the guys; they played a couple of other smaller bars during the week and Pete's every Friday and almost every Saturday. She would sometimes go for a run during the day. She even invited me to go with her a couple times, but I wasn't quite comfortable enough to say yes. The rest of her time was spent resting, reading, writing, singing or playing her guitar. She did her own laundry, made her own food, and aside from her messy bed, cleaned up after herself. She was pretty easy-going, as far as roommates go.

I also fell into an easy rhythm at my new job at Pete's. My limited waitressing skills were starting to kick back in. That first week, Taehyung came in every night after work and let me "practice" on him. He would order different things from the menu, and make it as complicated as possible, to see if I could get it right. It made me laugh every time, but it helped, by the third night I finally got him the food he actually ordered, which was good, because the guys in the kitchen were getting a little irritated at us.

I was surprised at how often Lisa and her band came into the bar during the week. They always sat at the same table, back by the stage. I don't think it would have mattered to them if people were sitting there already or not. It was just known in the bar, that that table was theirs, and when they came in, you better move or sit with them. Weeknights were busy, but nowhere near as packed as the weekends, and while women still watched Lisa openly, the people here were regulars and generally left the guys alone. Generally. There were still pockets of adoring fans here and there. The guys seemed to come in after rehearsal, or if they had a show that night, they would come in before their gig - they were there practically every day.

Their claimed table happened to be in my section. On my second night, they had all come in together, and I'd had to grit my teeth to approach them. Luckily, Taehyung had been with them too. That had definitely made it easier to talk to them; they were just way too intimidating, all grouped together like that, especially with the bathroom homage still fresh in my mind. And, as predicted, I had blushed furiously at Jackson, and he had found that immensely entertaining.

By the following Monday, after a hectic weekend of waitressing the throngs of people the guys had brought in both Friday and Saturday night (that was so crazy-busy, I couldn't even remember it), I was finally comfortable approaching the group. Unfortunately, they were all too comfortable with me by that point as well. They all seemed to delight in teasing me. Well, not so much Evan - he was just a big sweetie.

Watching them walk in, I sighed and rolled my eyes. Here we go again. Evan came in first and gave me a great big bear hug. I laughed when I could breathe again. Lucas and Jackson seemed lost in some disagreement, but Jackson still managed to smack my ass on the way to his chair. I sighed at him and glanced over at Sam, who was paying no attention to the quartet whatsoever. Anyone else would have been kicked out on their rump for that, but apparently, these four owned the place.

Lisa came in last, looking perfect as usual. She had her guitar slung over her shoulder tonight; she brought it in sometimes when she was working on new stuff. She nodded at me with a small adorable smile on her face and took her seat.

"Usual tonight, boys?" I said, trying my best to sound as confident as sweet Somi did.

"Yeah, thank you, Jennie," Evan replied politely for the group.

Jackson was not so polite. "Fuck yeah, of course, sweetheart." He grinned at me mischievously. He seemed to know how his crudeness irritated me and he played it up whenever I was around. I ignored him the best I could, and worked on keeping my expression even.

Apparently, I hadn't worked hard enough and he noticed my irritation. "You're so sweet, Jennie. You're like an innocent school girl." He shook his head in open delight. "I just want to…deflower you." He winked at me.

I blanched and stared at him, totally speechless.

Lisa chuckled softly, watching my face, and Lucas beside Jackson snorted. "Dude, she's been with Taehyung forever. I'm pretty sure you missed that opportunity."

My mouth dropped open as I listened to them in mortification. Were they really discussing my virginity…right in front of me? I was too stunned to move away from the table.

Jackson turned to face him. "Too bad…I could have shown her the world."

Evan and Lisa laughed at him while Lucas, barely containing his own laughter, said, "When have you ever shown any woman…the world?"

Jackson scowled at them. "I have skills…you guys just don't know. I've had no complaints."

Lisa grinned. "No repeats either."

"Fuck you, man. I'll show you right now! Grab a girl…" He looked around the bar, like he was searching for a volunteer. His eyes eventually rested on me and I paled even more and backed up a step.

"Noooooo," All the guys loudly said at the same time, backing away from Jackson a bit and holding their hands out, as if to physically restrain him if necessary.

Regaining my composer, since the conversation had moved away from my experience level, I thought now was as good a time as any to slip away from them. I started sliding slowly to the side, but Jackson's eyes were still on me. He grinned widely as he ignored the laughing going on around him.

"Jennie, if you've already been deflowered…" he threw an irritated glance at the guys, "by a tool, I'm sure…" he looked back to me while they laughed harder, "…then let's hear something naughty." His pale eyes sparkled with playfulness and he started playing with his tongue, more specifically, the barbell pierced through it. My stomach turned a bit at the sensuality of the move. I really didn't want to answer his stupid request.

I grimaced and made to walk away. "I have to go back to work, Jackson."

"Oh, come on…just one little curse. Don't you ever swear?" He reached out and grabbed my arm as I tried to walk by him.

More focused on pulling my arm away from his grasp, than what I was saying, I sighed and stated, "Yes, Jackson, I swear." I immediately regretted saying that.

"Really, let's hear it." He seemed genuinely amused at the idea of me trying to be as crude as he was. Evan looked embarrassed by his persistence and rolled his eyes. Lucas put a hand on his chin and leaned forward and Lisa ran a hand through her hair and leaned back, both looking at me curiously. I was starting to get uncomfortable under their scrutiny.

I glared at Jackson. "Damn."

Both Lucas and Lisa chuckled. Jackson tucked his blonde hair behind his ears and pouted. "Ooh, vicious. Now let's hear a real one."

"That is a real one." I really just wanted to walk back to the bar, but felt trapped by the odd conversation. Lisa was openly laughing at my discomfort now, and my irritation towards her specifically was growing.

"Okay, how about a little more colorful one…an easy one. How about…bitch?" He grinned devilishly at me as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You're such a child, Jackson." I rolled my eyes and looked over at Evan, silently begging him to end this conversation, since he was the only one besides me who looked mildly uncomfortable.

Jackson laughed at my obvious plea. "You really can't say it, can you?"

"I don't need to." It wasn't that I never swore…it was just usually safe in my head, where it wasn't quite so offensive. I wasn't about to do anything just to please Jackson anyway. I considered simply walking away from the table to end his stupid game, but I could just imagine how hard that would make him laugh.

He leaned across the table, hands held together. "Come on. Something, anything, I don't care…just say somethin' dirty," he begged.

I shifted uneasily, still thinking of an escape. I could just slap him? That would definitely take the focus off of me…but I didn't know him well enough to know how he would react to that. I really didn't need him mad at me…or turned on by it.

Lisa butted in at that point. "She called me sexual once."

Jackson just about fell off of his chair, laughing.

I glared over at Lisa, who looked at me with an adorably innocent look on her face, hands raised slightly in an expression that clearly said, 'what'? Seeing my break to get away (and really, the whole table was laughing now, even my ally Evan, so my running away really didn't matter), I headed back to the bar.

Hoping my face wasn't too red, I, as calmly as I could, walked over to where Rita was already getting the guys' drinks ready. I cautiously looked back at the table. Jackson and Lucas were still laughing over Lisa's stupid comment. Evan was looking at me apologetically; at least he felt bad about laughing. Lisw, still chuckling a little, had grabbed her guitar from the floor and was idly strumming a rhythm.

She lightly started singing a song that I thought was a new one. I couldn't make out the lyrics from this distance, but the melody trickled over to me and was quite pretty. Instinctively, I started moving back to the guys so I could hear him better.

"I wouldn't bother." Rita had been watching me watch Lisa and had seemingly misinterpreted my interest.

"What?"

"That one." She pointed roughly at Lisa. "Don't waste your time."

Not knowing quite what she meant, I forgot to tell her that I was just interested in her song and instead asked, "What do you mean?"

She leaned in conspiratorially, happy for the chance to tell her little story. "Oh, she's deadly attractive for sure, but she'll just rip your heart out. Loves 'em and leaves 'em , that one."

"Oh." I supposed that wasn't too big a shock, considering the swarm of rabid fans that seemed to attack her at every show, and the numerous comments she'd gathered on the stall walls. "We're not like that. She's my roommate…nothing else. I was just listening to… "

She cut me off. "I don't know how you live with that?" She looked over at her, rather seductively, biting her lip. "That would drive me crazy, day in, day out." She set a couple of beer bottles on the counter.

I was beginning to get a little irritated at her looking at Lisa like she was, and continuing to call her "that", like Lisa wasn't a fully formed person or something.

"Well, having my boyfriend there helps, of course." It came out a little sarcastically, but honestly, what did she think we were doing at our house?

She laughed a little. "Oh, sweetie…do you think that matters to her? Baby, I was married and that didn't seem to faze her in the slightest." She put the last two bottles on the counter with a small smile on her lips. "Well worth it though." She winked.

I dropped my mouth in shock. Rita was at least twice Lisa's age and, from what I'd heard, was currently on husband number four. Apparently Lisa wasn't too choosey about who she brought home? And I was starting to get the feeling that was everybody. It was kind of odd that I hadn't seen any girls at the house yet.

Gathering my composure, I muttered, "Well, it matters to me." I grabbed the bottles and walked back to the guy's table, slightly agitated…and not sure why.