I know a girl, she's like a curse. We want each other, no one will break first. So many nights, trying to find someone new. They don't mean nothing compared to her, and I know.

Sweet Pea's eyes followed the girl as she danced, a grin on her face and a light in her eyes that drew him in. He felt like a moth, drawn to a flame he knew would only burn him but unable to resist the pull. He ached to move to her side. Place his hands on her hips or run down her arms. He knew she would reach back, letting her arms wrap around him as he pulled her body against his. He knew he would press his lips to her neck and she would close her eyes, tilting her head to give him better access. He knew they would burn and the tension between them would be agonizing...

He also knew that she would turn around and their eyes would lock and his eyes would flick to her lips but before it could finally bridge that gap between sex driven strangers, one of them would pull away and the moment would be broken.

He had seen her time and time again, but he had never been with her as he wanted. He could never even get her to come home with him. They both knew that once she was with him, she would stay. They'd fall asleep next to each other and wake up the next morning. They KNEW, as if it had already happened, that Sweet Pea would make breakfast for them and she would stay and eat and they wouldn't be able to resist looking at each other and blushing and falling that last little bit before they were really in love.

And that idea terrified them both.

Sweet Pea was not the kind of guy to kiss his girlfriend before she left for school or give her a ride home. Not because he wouldn't do it, but because he wasn't the type that seemed like he would do it. He wasn't a man you brought home to met your parents. He wasn't someone girls wanted to introduce their families to. He was inconsistant and tattooed and his jacket spoke for him.

She was not the type of girl to bring a boy home to her parents. She was not the type to stay with someone for long periods of time and fall head over heels and be loyal and keep only one guy at a time. The very basic idea made her shiver. She was from the South Side, but not in any gang or involved in anything. She was too distant from everything. She was not the girl who stayed for breakfast or left her phone number or showed up for more than a one night stand. She wasn't the girl who remembered your name. But... she could be. She was. For him. And she didn't like it.

And so they kept their distance, yearning for the other but doing nothing to start anything. He was scared to get his heart stolen by a girl who didn't care a second for him and she was scared that she would really fall for him. She would give him every second of her time and every ounce of her care- every piece of her heart. They both were too afraid of heart break to go out on a limb and even TRY.

So he stayed in his seat and watched her and she stayed on the dance floor with another guy and pretended she didn't know he was looking.

Eventually Sweet Pea gulped down the rest of his drink and moved to a girl he didn't know, sitting off to the side by herself. She didn't look like the girl he really wanted to be with, but she responded to him. She flirted back and blushed and giggled and when he offered to take her out of the place, she agreed.

Only the girls he didn't actually want he could have.

And as he returned to his place and began kissing her, pulling off her clothes and hearing her moan his name, Sweet Pea could only see who she wasn't. This girl, here with him. The girl he got but not the one he wanted. She wasn't enough to truly satisfy that mind numbing need SHE always left with him.

When the night ended and it all came to a close, the girl kissed him once more, thanked him for the good time, and then redressed. And all over again, he was alone. Yearning for a girl he could not have and forgetting the one he had just been with.

His bed was cold and his heart hurt and he closed his eyes. This wasn't getting him anywhere but to dead ends filled with more pain...

This was miserable.

When people ask about us, now, we just brush it off. I don't know why we act like it means nothing at all. I wish that I could tell you that you're all that I want, yeah... I pretend that I'm not ready.

Sweet Pea and the girl he so craved were actually friends in casual life. Toni was closest to her, but the two were friends. And everyone - EVERYONE - knew how they felt about the other.

Every once in a while, someone would ask again.

"Do you like her?"

"Are you together?"

"Is she taken?"

"Why is she so distant from anyone but you?"

"Why does he seem to only be interested in you?"

"Can't you tell that he's completely in love with you?"

"No way, are you really unaware that she's in love with you?"

All the questions from people endlessly trying to pin pint if finally, FINALLY, they were together. And every time she would laugh it off or he would change the subject smoothly. Each time they brushed it away and then looked at the other longingly, wondering why they didn't just give in to something they both so obviously wanted so badly.

Today was one of the days when things were insanely close to crashing through and falling to pieces. Toni had pulled him on the dance floor and Fangs had got her on it both of them guiding the two together and then dipping out when the slow song started. It seemed everyone was in on the plan because everyone was suddenly paired up and the crowd was thick, not letting either out.

Want had overpowered her and she pulled him close by his belt loops, whispering, "Dance with me?"

He smiled, nodding, and wrapped his hands around her waist, holding her flush against him. Her hands rose, sliding up his shoulders to clasp together behind his next. She had lost her heels at some point int he night and stepped on his shoes now to shift the height difference so she could hold how she wanted to without awkwardness sitting between them. He danced for them, swaying gently.

She placed her head on his chest and he rested her cheek on top of her head. His fingers drew lost patterns on her back and he took int he soothing relief of finally having her against him as he so desperately wanted. She sighed, melting into him.

At some point she looked up. She moved, slow and lazy soothed to stillness by her want finally being satisfied. Their eyes locked. He rested his forehead on hers. Toni and Fangs held their breath as they choppily inched forward. The pair on the dance floor closed their eyes, Pea holding her more tightly against him as he readied to feel her lips against his. Finally.

When he closed his eyes, he imagined his fingers falling. Covered by the darkness and privacy of his room, his fingers pulled down her zipper. The dress fell to the floor. Her gasps came out slow but choppy, half moans as curses and his name mixed with mumbled nothings. Her eyes were closed. And then it was over and she was next to him. His arms were around her, and he whispered the only thing he could. He told her the truth. 'I love you.' She smiled in his mind, pulling him for a sweet kiss. The darkness engulfed the two of them and the world was lost. When he woke up again, the bed was cold where she was and his arms were empty. She was gone. And with her, she'd taken his heart.

The entire scenario flashed through his mind in a split second and he stopped himself as their lips ghosted, a painful twisting of fear in his heart taking place of the ease and calming warmth. He pulled away and they both opened their eyes, blinking in surprise.

His expression darkened and a whole new wave of agony ran through the both fo them. He let go of her and she stepped off of him. "Sorry," she whispered, rubbing the back of her neck as she swallowed the lump in her throat, her mind still full of the feeing of his breath on her lips, mixing with hers.

The room was suddenly suffocatingly hot. "No," he reassured. "Don't be." He paused, then looked at her. "You're not the kind of girl I want to have a one night stand with. You're my friend. And I'm not in a place to be in a relationship right now..."

She nodded, forcing a laugh. "Of course, I understand. I'm just drunk." She reached up, patting his cheek. "I'll talk to you tomorrow at school, yeah?" He offered a tight smile, nodding. She turned, dropping her hand, and his eyes closed in defeat as the ache returned.

He didn't see the tears fall rapidly down her face but Toni and Fangs did, groaning anomalistically as they saw another moment get ruined and passed with the problem unsolved and the tension still at an incredible high.

"They're impossible," Toni spat. Fangs groaned again in defeat.

Why do we put each other through hell? Why can't we just get over ourselves? And you say 'hi' like you just met me- Why do we put each other through hell? Why can't we just get over ourselves? Why can't we just get over ourselves?

"Hi," the girl said softly, a distant look on her face. As if they weren't in love. As if they didn't know each other and care for each other more than anyone else did or could. As if they didn't know each other at all.

Sweet Pea smiled. "Hello. How are you this morning?"

The small talk continued, just as painful and agonizing to watch as it was to feel. Fangs lay his head on the table, giving up having a peaceful morning. Toni put her face in her hands, massaging her temples. This was getting honestly, completely ridiculous.

-

The man Sweet Pea didn't know sat next to the girl he loved. Ton had told Sweet Pea the man's name. Michael. Michael, whose hands wandered her arms and traced her waist. Michael, who kept her eyes and pulled out that glorious smile. Michael, who leaned close as they whispered words to each other Sweet Pea was glad he couldn't hear. Michael, who leaned even closer and pushed hair behind her ear. Who smiled as he whispered against the shell of her ear, lowering his lips to her neck when he was finished, pressing his lips to her hot skin. Michael, who made her close her eyes. Who made her face go blank with anticipation and pleasure. Michael, who stood with her with a lustful smirk on his face as he guided her out of the building and into the night to do things to her that Sweet Pea didn't dare think of as his heart burned and his mind swam and his whole body ached.

Michael, who was everything he wasn't, doing everything he wanted to do. Michael, who he hated simply because he envied him.

-

She watched as the girl touched Sweet Pea's arm her charming smile bright and alluring. Watched as she leaned in and touched his arm, her fingers lingering and drawing patterns wherever she pleased. The girl's name was Maraya, which the girl who watched the pair knew because the two girls had a class together at school.

Maraya giggled at something to something Sweet Pea said as the tall, dark, and handsome boy leaned close and spoke to her in low voices and close proximity. She watched in burning envy as the hands she wanted so desperately on her and no one else found Maraya's leg, starting at the knee and moving up to find a place hold on Maraya's thigh, just under the end of her dress. They danced and Sweet Pea looked nowhere else, driving the girl who watched them relentlessly to her wit's end.

Sweet Pea tugged Maraya to the exit of the bar and the girl who loved him closed her eyes, laying her head on the cool surface as she tried to breath around the weight on her chest collapsing her lungs so she couldn't breathe right. Her eyes watered and she looked up, ordering another drink. She didn't go home with anyone that night. She just sunk her miseries in alcohol and pretended her mind wasn't swimming with images of the man she loved with a girl that wasn't her.