The moment his mouth touches mine the ringing stops. The heat in my veins runs cool. My chest begins to unravel and the pain in my head finally starts to fade. The whole world seems to stop spinning.

His lips are smooth, moving persistently against mine. His hands drop from my shoulder, slowly finding their way to my cheeks . I un-tense, now moving my lips with his. His tongue teases mine and he nips at my lower lip, breaking the contact between us.

"You...you kissed me," I say in awe. My fingers trace my lips, still in shock from the action. Jackson smiles brightly and I watch his eyes turn back to their normal green hue.

"Yes I did. It wasn't half bad actually." I don't know if I should be insulted or not. No one has ever kissed me like that before. Not Ian, as his drunken mouth found mine in the back of the truck. Not the other boys I have kissed. They were all so harsh, so demanding, so unfeeling.

"Why?"

"You were freaking out, overloading. I was worried you might explode or something," he explains. My heart drops a bit. He only kissed me because he thought I was going to go nuclear. Of course, he only did it because he had to.

A sharp knock on my door startles me. I rush to it, opening it a crack to see Brandon standing on the other side, a worried look is plastered on his face.

"I heard screaming. Is everything okay in there?" he questions. He tries to push his way into the room but I hold tight to the door. The last thing I need right now is to be caught with a random guy in my room. I don't know the consequences of violating that big of a rule but I am not trying to find out.

"Yea," I respond as casually as possible, "I had a nightmare, that's all."

Brandon eyes me suspiciously but moves away from the door after a moment. It is not out of the ordinary for someone like me to wake up screaming. It has been years since that happened but Brandon is still fairly new and doesn't know any better. He bids me good night and I don't close the door until I see him turn the corner.

Jackson is now sitting on my bed, flipping through the novel I keep on in my nightstand. He turns its well worn pages. I sit down next to him and try hard not to focus on the fact that all I can think about is kissing him again.

"You ready to talk now?" he asks without looking up from the pages, "Or are you planning to go all human-taser again?"

"What was that?" I inquire, "What happened back there?"

"That was years of oppressed power springing to life. First time I've ever seen something like that before. Quite the show. I mean, I've heard about your kind being able to do...unnatural stuff...but I've never seen it happen like that. One minute you were spouting off all crazy-like and then next BAM! Light up like a Christmas tree in the middle of November." He throws his hands out, exaggerating the explosion of light that came from me.

"My kind?" There he goes again with that 'your kind' spiel. My mind goes back to the party, where he so rudely told me I was not allowed at his house. He had said it then too. Your kind.

"You're telling me you have no idea what you are?" he laughs, "Wow. The guys would have a field day with you. It makes sense though. When I saw you at the party I couldn't believe you would have the balls to just stroll in, steal my good whiskey and camp out in my gazebo. I figured you had a death wish or something. But low and behold, the second I called you out you looked at me as if I was certifiable. I figured I was too drunk and my senses were off. But then I found you again, wandering my halls and I assumed you had played me like a fool. Acted all innocent to try and throw me off. Never in a million years did I actually suspect you were completely oblivious to your...situation. That's why I came to the coffee shop, to see if how'd you react when I was around. Weird. That was it. You acted weird."

"Yea I acted weird. You insulted me at the party and then showed up at my work trying to play all nice and whatnot. Who wouldn't be weird? Guys like you don't normally try and spend time with someone like me...not without being forced to do so."

"Guys like me?" Jackson shoots a confused look towards me. I chew idly on a fingernail, trying to think of the correct way to tell him he is way too hot to be anywhere near me. Let alone purposely hunting me down at my place of employment.

"You know," I say, still chewing on the nail, "Come on, don't make me say it." He continues to stare at me like he has no idea what I am about to say.

"Hot guys! Jeez, way to make me embarrass myself. Hot guys Jackson. Guys who look like you. They don't usually try and make chit chat with me. In fact, they pretty much avoid me like the plague."

He laughs loudly and I shush him, not wanting to give Brandon any more reason to make another trip to my room. If he heard something again he was bound to just barge in this time.

"Naive and oblivious," he says. I can't tell is he is actually talking to me, or doing that thing where he thinks out loud. Either way I have no idea what he is talking about.

"Ok, so heres the deal." He turns to me, placing his hands the now closed book on his lap. I see the title and instantly go read. He would grab for the smut novel in my dresser. No wonder his face looked like that as he flipped through the pages. I had bookmarked all my favorite scenes.

"There are a lot of things we need to talk about, but not here. You're giving off so much energy it makes it hard to focus on whether or not there are....other things lurking the halls. Like that guy. Normally I would have heard him coming from a mile away but you're throwing me off. So here's the deal. Come with me back to my house. There are some people there that I'm sure would love to meet you and I think it might help better explain what is happening to you."

"I can't come with you," I argue, noticing that it is now three in the morning and guard switch will be coming soon, meaning bed check, "I have to be here at seven when they come for morning rounds. I'll get kicked out if I'm not here and, as much as I liked to meet whoever and learn whatever, I'm not trying to become homeless."

"Fine, " Jackson sighs, "What time can you leave?"

"Uh." It takes me a minute to figure out what day it is. So much has happened over the last few hours it seems like I have been stuck in this craziness for weeks now. I rehash the events of the previous day. Party on Friday. Work/life changing bullshit on Saturday. Ok, so it's technically Sunday now.

"Noon. I have an appointment with...er...my doctor at nine. Then I-"

"Blow it off," he says, cutting me off.

"I can't, " I argue, "It's part of my agreement here. I have to work minimum twenty hours a week, meet with my doctor bi-weekly and, oh damn, I have to clean this room. Weekly inspection. If they come in here with it looking the way it does, I wont be able to leave the house for the whole week unless it's for work or school."

Jackson lets out an annoyed groan. He stands up, pulling my phone off the table and typing quickly onto its keys.

"I put my number in there. Call me when you are done with...all that. I'll come get you and we will work on getting this sorted out. This gives me enough time to give the boys a heads up about your...umm...situation. God, this is seriously not how I expected tonight to turn out. I mean, I knew something was off about you. But this? Wow, this is amazing."

I wish he would stop doing that, acting like this is the greatest thing to ever happen to him. Twenty minutes ago I burst into electricity and all he can talk about is how amazing this is. Not once has he attempted to explain to me exactly why it is so friggin cool. Or what he was doing at my house that night. In fact, he hasn't tried to explain anything at all to me. He just keeps looking at me like he's discovered some ancient artifact and I am going to be his claim to fame.

"Ok, I have really got to go now. If I'm gone any longer they might send a search party and I highly doubt you want a bunch of guys busting down the doors to this place." Jackson pulls his phone out, sends a text and then slides in back into his pocket. He opens my window quietly and I realize I never locked it. Well, that explains one mystery. He didn't just appear out of thin area, he climbed the drain pipe like a damn ninja.

"It was really good though," he says hanging half out my window, "The kiss. We should do it again some time."

Just as quick as he came, he is gone. The alley next to the building is dark and I can barely make out his outline as he gracefully slides down the pole, vanishing into the night. I close the window, locking the switch into place.

I pull the heavy blankets over my body, closing my eyes. Sleep comes easier than I expected it to.