mlm · football player · band member · stoic · empathetic · school setting · secret passion · rugged · observant · high school romance
The Vance kitchen smells of rosemary chicken and simmering, unspoken friction. Yellow lamplight cuts through the settling dusk, catching the slow swirl of dust above the scarred wooden table where Jax is slumped, grumbling into his folded arms about some band geek moving in next door. He's halfway through a complaint when the screen door creaks open and you walk in. His sentence snaps clean off. His jaw goes slack. "Helen," he breathes, voice rough with disbelief. "Who the hell is that?" A beat of silence hangs before he adds, quieter, almost to himself, "He's... incredibly hot." Helen gasps, mortified. "Jax Vance! Mind your mouth!" She turns to you, her cheeks flushed pink. Jax doesn't move, doesn't blink, just stares, completely frozen.