In a day that was full of nothing but misery and strife, this moment with Summer made it all okay. He was drunk, sure. He was probably a bit sloppy, and in the wrong, but Jackson knew that, right in this moment, this very second, he was forgetting about all of his troubles. Whatever happened with Eve and how it made him feel the entire week, or what else he was going through, Jackson felt a moment of bliss as he held Summer close to him, kissing her only like a lover would.
It was as perfect as a shitty week could get. Too bad that it was cut short.
Pulled away, Jackson hardly knew what hit him
literally. It was like a bus hit him right in his perfect, chiseled jaw. The amount of force that struck him was enough to wiggle a few teeth free blood dropping from from his mouth just as Jackson himself was dropped to the floor. He was taken by surprise from it, so he didn’t realize who had struck him like that until his blue iris’ fixated on the person above him. He saw a man of white skin color, hair dark brown like chocolate, and intents to kill.
Rhett had hit him. Rhett was hitting him. Rhett wasn’t stopping. Right punch after left, Jackson’s face was a punching bag for Rhett. In-between each furious strike, Jackson had attempted to get some movement in, but Rhett wasn’t having it. Not only that, but it seemed the force in each punch was increasing. Like Hulk, Rhett seemed to only get stronger, more fiercer as he kept wailing at the blonde teen.
Jackson was too out of it to block every one. Even though he did raise his hands up every now and then, it didn’t help much. With the amount of alcohol in his system, Jackson was free for the pickings. Rhett would be able to pound his face in as much as he wanted to. It wasn’t like Jackson was in any position to stop him. All he could do was block the hits that he could, and hope for the best.
But still…
“
Rhett..” Jackson said, attempting to get some words in
Another hit came.
“
Rex!” he said again, trying for a second time.
Another still.
Until Jackson’s “savior” intervened, pulling the furious punk off his boy, causing Rhett to fly back and stare at the stars. In milliseconds, not giving anyone else a chance to block him from giving JB what he deserved, the King-to-be jumped back to his feet by doing the common Kip Up move that he learned in Gymnastics many years ago. His dead gaze met with Will Sommer’s righteous mug, but his expression read: back the fuck off.
Rather than raise his voice, Rhett clenched his fist and teethed, “
This has nothing to do with you. I don’t need to explain myself but if you really want to know, this dumbass.” He gestured toward Jackson, “
Sucked my fourteen year old sister’s face. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Yes, Will may have been bigger and was known for his athleticism but there was a major difference between the lacrosse jock and a punk boy like Rhett… you’ll just have to wait to see, assuming Rex found Will worth fighting against. Never underestimate an opponent, it might bite you in the ass in the future.
Rolling his eyes, Rhett strolled passed him, while taking off his opened plaid shirt, ignoring the nobody’s existence. If you weren’t friends with Rhett, you meant shit to him and that was Will in this moment. Throwing his shirt and his fitted cap to the side, he beckoned Jackson to come at him, “
You’re lucky. I was so close on knocking you out… you know, JB, if you were twice as smart, you’d still be stupid.”
It was an understatement to say that Jackson was experiencing pain right now. Rhett hit hard; harder than Jackson remembered. He couldn’t recall when the last time was that Rex hit him that hard. It might’ve been a couple of years when Jackson said something stupid like he always does. Hell, it might’ve been a time more recent than that, but the bottom line was that Rhett had a nice right hook, and Jackson’s no longer-perfect jaw took the full brunt of it.
There was for sure a few teeth loose, and blood was dripping from the blonde teen’s mouth. It hurt like a bitch, and each time he went to speak, Jackson felt a surge of pain akin to getting kicked in the knads. Hard. Still, regardless of the pain, the drunkened Jackson found his balance, and rose to his feet, looking directly ahead at the topless Rhett.
“
That’s the pot calling the kettle black, don’t you think Rex?” Jackson commented. He spat to the left of him, blood spraying all over the sand. Jackson wiped his mouth. “
All this buzz about you being the next King of Beverly Hills High School must be going to your head because your little sister, Miley, hits harder than you do.” Jackson said with a laugh. He cocked his head to the side, relieving the tension in his neck, and he raised his arms. His fists were balled. His right arm close to his chest - bent - and his left bent also, but further away. If they really were going to duke it out right here and now, Jackson would for sure do his best to give Rex a fight for his
money. You know Rhett’s philosophy of not cursing? Well, fuck that shit. Fuck this shit. He was
heated. “
What the fuck are you on about? You just spent the entire week crying like a LITTLE BITCH about a girl who doesn’t even know your name.” The venom in his tone seethed out and contaminated the air. This was going to get real. “
Enough of this bullshit, hit me or cry that the only girls that want to fuck you are those that feel sorry for your ass.”
Well, that wasn’t entirely untrue, but if he wanted to play hardball, then Jackson would fight fire with fire. “
You want to talk about being a little bitch? Okay, let’s talk about you for a moment, Rhett.” Jackson said, “
let’s talk about how you spent night and day vying for the attention for Anna, only for her to never return your feelings. At least with Eve, I had SOME shot of her liking me. You had a better shot of trying to get a pig like you. That’s not even mentioning that you two met by you slamming her noggin into the pavement with a football. Since, ya know, you want to bring up Eve.” Jackson gave a shrug, “
but fine Rex, if you want this, then don’t mind if I do.” Jackson stepped forward, a straight left aimed at Rhett’s pretty, perfect nose.
Allowing the fist to hit his face, hell, most likely making his nose crooked (or broken), Rhett let out a chuckle, “
Dumbass.” Not once did Rhett bring up Eve’s name. Laughter could be heard in the crowd at the mention of Jackson pursuing Evelyn Harding, best friends to Alyssa and Audrey, and climbing to fame Symphonic metal artist. If anything, he just made himself look more pathetic for even thinking he had a chance with someone like her. “
This is the difference between you and I, Torvald.”
First, he attacked with a big right overhand punch. Second, he drove his shoulder into Jackson’s chest, slamming him back into the DJ’s table. “
You don’t know when to shut up.”
Stepping back, giving Jackson a chance to react, he added, his tone shifting from anger to hurt and pain, “
Who cares about all that? Anna. Eve. Other non-existant romances. That means shit to me. Bottom line, you fucked up.”
It all went black for a moment when Jackson heard his middle name being used. No one said that name, and Jackson charged full speed(as much as his body would let him) into a variation of a spear tackle to Rhett, knocking both the boys to the ground. Jackson maneuvered his arms with the left one bent, and pressed against Rhett’s throat.
“
I fucked up? That’s funny coming from you. Or are you forgetting about Sierra man?” Jackson’s voice rose a few levels. “
Sure, I admit my mistakes, but you pretty much dropped Anna like a hot potato for the next available piece of ass. At least I had the balls to wait until I was crushed before I even began to move on.” Jackson increased the volume of his voice, as well as the force of his left arm. “
Yeah, okay, I was the one who fucked up. I’m the one who’s in the wrong here. And you’re Mr. Perfect, Mr. Who-Can-Do-No- Wrong. Well, except leave his best friend in the wind while your new ones take his place. But sure, I’m the one who fucked up.” Jackson kept his position on top of Rhett, staring at him.
Rhett was not having any of this and what Jackson failed to do in this position was posture up and make space between them. Grabbing control of Jackson’s hand (since the position was similar to a ground-and-pound attack in MMA), he pushed off Jackson’s hip and swung his body over, swinging his legs around, and switching to an arm bar. Locking the arm, he leaned back and arched his own hips, creating intense pressure in the elbow joint. There was a high possibility that Jackson could tear ligaments and tendons in his elbow joint. Of course, he could plead and they could call it quits but knowing Jackson, he was too stubborn to stop and one of them would leave with major injuries, “
Not once did I say I was perfect. If anything, you’re painting your own damn self as a martyr. What about that girl from camp? She obviously didn’t mean shit to you. And here you are, using my sister to fill your empty void. What new friends are you even talking about?” This fight was turning to be not worth the trouble but before Jackson could reply, Rhett caught sight of Sierra kissing coffee guy… the guy that made her angry for the entire week…
It was in that moment that Jackson, despite the growing need to say something, he wouldn’t. No, it was more like he shouldn’t. As much as Rhett took a low blow mentioning Ash and implying that he was simply using Summer, Jackson knew when to talk and when to simply keep his big mouth shut for once. “
You can believe what you want to believe. I’m done explaining myself to you, Aspen.” Jackson said, not even bothering getting out of the position he was in.
Having been in a few fights in their day, Wolfe and Ender knew how they ended. It either went one of two ways: someone was K.O.’d, or it got weird and uncomfortable. Unfortunately for the Elite… this was the latter. As men, when other men were fighting, it wasn’t their place to step in and end it (seriously, that one dude who tried to end it early was probably a douche)
unless the winner got carried away pounding in the loser’s face, or if things got weird and uncomfortable. C’est la vie.
And, since Rhett had apparently just lost literally his only friend,
and the Elite still owed him for keeping El Jefe from doing something...stupid, Sentinel and Ender had no choice but to be the men that stepped in.
Properly, not putting an awkward end to the fight. Ender shrugged his shoulders, and spoke out to the crowd.
”Nothing to see here, people. Move along. Go make some bad decisions of your own, you only live once that’s the motto.” Wolfe pushed through the throngs of people, Ender not far behind him.
”Come on, big guy. Let’s get outta here.” Wolfe said as he put his hand on Rhett’s arm and tugged him up to his feet.
”...why are three of us missing?” After having released Jackson, no longer able to mentally and emotionally handle being in his presence anymore, Rhett glanced down at his best friend for years for a brief moment and then turned on his heel, “
Let me fetch my stuff, I’ll come back in the morning to clean this hellhole up.” Once he gave Wolfe and Ender an appreciative look, ignoring Jackson completely, Rex left their side and got his shirt, his fitted cap, and a bottle of water. Now, time to look for his kid sister, Summer. This might be one of the worst days of his life.
And so there it was. After it was all said and done with, after going back and forth verbally and physically, the two friends of so many years, the two friends who often associated themselves as “The Bromance”, were no longer that. Because of alcohol that lowered Jackson’s thought process, because of a bad week, and because he couldn’t fight his stupid feelings, Jackson fucked himself over worse than he ever could sober. And the only question he had to ask himself was this:
Was it worth it? As Jackson sat up, stretching his arm, he repeated that question over and over in his mind. He ran the entire sequence of events that happened through his mind, and he couldn’t arrive at a definite conclusion. Yes, it cost him his friendship with Rhett, but there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that what he felt for Summer was something real - it just troubled him. No doubt pursuing Summer from this point on would do more damage than help any possible forgiveness he may or may not get from Rhett in the future.
Jackson didn’t know what he was going to do.
“
Fuck.”
Member
Sadie
Moon Child
canaryrose
Stryder BC
SpicyMeatball
IAmTheIsland
Sep
TokyoPewPew
Pathei Mathos
