She had always noticed the boy in black that sat in the back row of all of the classes that they had together. She noticed him as she stood from her seat to read to the class when the instructor would call on her, for he was the only one looking, the only one really looking.

She would smile to herself when he would get in trouble for daydreaming in class, for she could not help but think he daydreamed about her. She rolled her eyes at the thought, thinking it was ridiculous for a guy as handsome as himself to even pay a single mind to her.

She overheard groups of girls at lunch talking about how strange he was, while others would talk about how good looking he was. Most talked about both. As for Mattie, however, she thought of him as a mystery awaiting to be solved and figured out; a complicated one thousand piece puzzle that needed to be put together.

She couldn't believe that he called her, or even talked to her for that matter. He never talked to anybody, not even the beautiful cheerleaders that had bad boy fetishes that needed to be fulfilled. He ignored them, for his eyes favored Mattie Noelle.

She talked to him on the phone until midnight, mostly about her ballet classes that she went to every Tuesday and Thursdays. She spoke about how much she hated stretching on the same barre, looking into the same mirror on the walls, and not to mention the same bland routines every single time.

Jaxson kept his filthy thoughts to himself when she told him about stretching on the barre in front of the mirrors on the walls of her ballet studio. He could not help but imagine himself inside of her as she had her leg up, both of them watching with unsteady breaths in the reflection at how their bodies connected. He had his bottom lip tugged back with his teeth at the thought, and after they had hung up, Jaxson thought about it more with his hand wrapped around himself.

As for Mattie, Jaxson had always been a silly crush that she had. It was one of those crushes where you knew you could never have that person, but still for some reason could not rid them from your mind.

The way his dark hair fell down upon his forehead as he gnawed his lip in thought, scrubbing his eraser on his paper before looking up to meet Mattie's eyes that made her melt silently inside. She always looked away quickly, feeling a tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach shortly afterward. He made her so anxious.

He would smile as she looked away, and would continue to stare until she would turn her head once more to meet his burning gaze that longed for her; begged for her.

That was what they did the very next day. The next day that they spent looking forward to each class they had together, the next day spent exchanging glances with smiles and short laughs, and the next day that had Jaxon's darkness lighting up with each second he laid his eyes upon her.

"Today is Tuesday." Jaxson told Mattie with a smile as he looked down toward her freckled face that was clear of any makeup. Her mother forbids her to wear it, but she sometimes put on thin lines of eyeliner as soon as she got to school in hopes it would get Jaxson's attention.

Little did she know..

"If some random dude showed up to my dance recital my mother would have a fit." Mattie laughed, running a hand through her messy brown hair that Jaxson imagined pulling as he-

"Well she wouldn't have to know I'd be there to see you." Jaxson interrupted his own dirty thought before it had a chance to pass through his mind and to his dick.

"I can have her video it."

Jaxson shook his head with a grin, walking beside Mattie down the corridor as slow as he possibly could so that she wouldn't have to leave so quickly.

"It's like porn, the real thing is always better." Mattie stopped in her tracks at Jaxson's words, and he held his breath at the realization that he had said what he was thinking out loud. Highly dangerous considering the dirty thoughts that captivated his brain.

Mattie's cheeks were a light shade of red, and after a few seconds a laugh escaped her full pink lips that smelled like cherry chapstick. It was a sound that Jaxson felt he did not hear enough.

"You're terrible!" She lightly hit his shoulder as he joined in with the laughter, feeling her touch linger once more after she had hit him playfully.

"Mattison!" A voice that resembled a squeak toy hollered as soon as they stepped foot outside of the schools double doors. Mattie's head shot up instantly and her smile disappeared. Jaxson watched as her mother's eyes squinted into slits at the sight of him, like a snake.

Her heels clicked on the concrete with loud pops as she neared closer, and he heard Mattie curse under her breath.

"What is wrong with you lately? I ask you to hurry so you could practice before your recital and instead I see you walking around with boys!" Mattie's mother waved an angry hand toward Jaxson, and he clenched his jaw, not liking the way he was shouting at the girl he loved; the fact that she was her mother not mattering what so ever.

"He can hear you!" Mattie hissed, and her mother turned her head toward Jaxson. She looked at him with venom in her eyes, and Jaxson looked back in the exact same way, causing a mental war between the two.

"You," She stepped closer to him, and Jaxson scrunched his nose from the strong aroma of her perfume that smelt of burnt flowers.

"You're," She hesitated, "You're Jaxson Maddox, Tyler and Julia Maddox' son." She went over his features with her eyes, and Jaxson swallowed a forming lump in his throat.

"Yeah." He replied, feeling Mattie watching him and her mother closely.

"You- you were allowed back In school?" She asked, and Jaxson's eyes closed as Mattie stepped up.

"Mother-"

"I served my time." Jaxson interrupted, and Mattie's eyes widened at the realization that for some reason, he had to serve time.

"You will stay away from my daughter, you hear me?" She snapped, gripping her daughters hand harshly. He dug his nails into the front of his jeans to keep himself from letting his anger get the best of him. He knew after years of therapy that his anger had to be better controlled, but the girl with the green eyes had him entirely too captivated.

Mattie turned her head as she walked under her mothers grip, and her face had worry and curiosity spread across her features. Her brows were pinched, and her full pink lips were parted in a way that had Jaxson breathless.

He watched as she got into the passenger seat of her mothers silver Prius, and Mattie's face held pure nothingness, something that Jaxson wanted to change by running his finger tips down her cheeks. Something he could only imagine then, but one day would be a reality. He vowed to make sure of it; whether her mother liked it or not.

___

She danced with a weight being carried upon her shoulders that were weak with thoughts of Jaxson. Curiosity spiraled around her brain like a breaking wave, it hurt as it crashed, but felt good knowing that the boy in black still took an interest in her.

He sat on the edge of his bed with his lights off and his hands in his lap as he waited for Mattie to return home. His foot tapped on the floor continuously, and his throat felt like fire with each gulp he took of the water that he hoped would cool him down.

She knew he had served time, and his stomach felt tight and swallowed with pressure at the thought that she might never speak to him again for it. He had done unspeakable things, and those things would remain in the back of his head until the day he died; Buried six feet under along with his rotting corpse.

Jaxson's head shot up as the bright yellow headlights poured into his window from Mattie's driveway, and he stood to his feet while watching from the side of his window as the girl he loved got out of her mothers car with a tired face and her dance bag slung over her slumped shoulders that he wished he could massage.

He waited quietly for her bedroom door to open and her light to turn on, and when they did, he saw that she was crying once again. She yelled something out her opened door before slamming it, and he instantly grabbed his phone and began calling her number without a second thought.

Mattie's head rose from her hands after she had sat on the edge of her bed, and she took her vibrating phone from the pocket of her baggy jacket. Her brows pinched, and she hesitated before answering.

"Jaxson?" He watched her lips move as her voice poured from his speaker, and the pressure in his chest released and dissolved into a better feeling.

"Mattie." He replied with a hand running across his wild charcoal colored hair. He watched her as she laid her back against her mattress, and he wanted nothing more than to smooth the crease between her brows. He wanted to kiss her forehead and her wet cheeks, he wanted to kiss her full lips as a tear fell down upon them, and most importantly he wanted to show her the love that he had for her so desperately; just so that she knew how dearly she was loved.

"I'm sorry." Jaxson added before she could respond.

"What did you do?" Mattie asked all too quickly, causing his eyes to close and his hand to run down his face. He then opened his eyes to see Mattie biting her lip and putting her head to the floor as if embarrassed or saddened.

"It's none of my business, I'm sorry." She kept her head to the floor, and Jaxson wished he could lift her chin up with his finger and touch her lips with his.

"My mother just doesn't want me seeing you." Mattie added, and the pain returned in Jaxson's chest.

"I know." He said, biting his short fingernails as he looked through his window from the edge of his bed at Mattie. She was now smiling, and her head was up, a sight that made the pain in Jaxson's chest erase completely.

"But I don't want to listen to her anymore." Mattie stood up from her bedside, and did what Jaxson had never expected by turning her head to face her window, instantly locking eyes with the boy in black.