-chapter 22-
After her episode, we didn't talk about the subject of that night again and I immediately filtered the word "powder" out of my vocabulary. Jinx seems more than happy to avoid bringing it up, bouncing around from topic to topic whenever I even look at her in a questioning way. I understand her actions; or at least I think I do. I don't think I could ever confidently say that I understand anything about Jinx one hundred percent, though I suppose that's a part of her beauty.
Her words and the contortion of pain in her face that night is something that's struck me to my core since it happened. The layers and layers of anguish and hurt that she harbors are feelings that I know all too well. The fact that no one has taken their time with her to help her begin to unravel these pieces of her past makes my heart ache, and for that reason I want to protect her with every fiber of my being. I want to be the person that takes their time with her, that works to help her scrub away the pain of her past. Even though I'm almost positive there's not an ounce of innocence behind those eyes, I've seen the hurt in them, and I love her all the same.
I can't believe I feel this way for someone...
"Hello? Earth to Y/N? Are you even listening to me?"
My head snaps to the sound of her voice, painfully obvious that I was taken off guard.
"I'm gonna take that as a no..." Jinx says dejectedly, her bottom lip falling heavily into a pout.
I offer her a nervous laugh paired with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I was spacing again. What were you saying?"
Jinx rolls her eyes animatedly. "Well, if you were listening-"
"I know, I know." I interject, waving my hands as if to usher her to her point.
"I was saying that our jail time is up in a few days, and-"
"I know! You've been counting down the days!"
"Hey!" Jinx snaps, throwing a hand over my mouth. I shoot her a sarcastic glare, but keep my lips shut behind her digits. "Let me finish!"
I only nod, and she retracts her hand. "I thought we could go do something special, and since our last party didn't end so well, I thought that maybe I could make up for it."
My mind wanders to the events of the last 'party'; Jinx stabbing the large man swiftly, blood everywhere. Yeah, that was nothing short of a bust, but I digress. "What are you suggesting?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.
"I just thought..." Jinx trails off for a moment, sweeping on her innocence thickly and picking up a braid to toy with. "Maybe we could go to one of my types of parties. Bend the rules a little tonight?"
I deadpan back at her, trying desperately to search through her facade for an inkling of whatever the fuck she's talking about. "What are you implying?"
"You'll just have to see, now won't you?" She sings, standing up from her chair abruptly with a newfound, devilish smile cracking the mask of innocence.
"That's not an answer, Jinx!" I say with a laugh, spinning the chair in her direction.
"Mmm... I'm pretty sure it was." She affirms herself, nodding.
"What? You can't just say it was an answer and then it magically becomes one." I say incredulously, smiling widely at her playfulness.
"But I'm pretty sure I just did." Jinx turns to face me once more, throwing her hip out and putting a hand on it. "What are you gonna do about it, princess?"
I scoff, injecting as much faux venom as I can into my voice. "Princess? Um, no, I'm pretty sure that's you."
"I mean..." Jinx clasps her hands behind her back and takes a few steps back towards me, hips swaying hypnotically. When she reaches my proximity, she bends down just enough to reach my eye level, and her next words come in barely a whisper.
"I'll be your princess, but only yours."
She bites her lip, eyebrows knitting and head tilting with a fake, playfully condescending confusion that has a blush racing across my cheeks. Grabbing my face with just enough force to send a shiver down my spine, she pulls me a little closer. Just close enough that her breath fans across my skin, and the heat does nothing to help with my blush.
"Ah, but now you have nothing to say, right?"
With every single sense currently full to the brim and entirely occupied by her presence, I fail to think of an intelligent response. I can only stare at her, mouth agape and eyes glued on her face. She smirks at my speechlessness.
"Heh. Cute." She murmurs under breath before giving my cheek a loving pat, popping back up. Disregarding the trance she had just put me in, her body returns to the energetic stance it had been in previously.
This fucking girl... No, this fucking queen has me absolutely wrapped around finger so intricately that it leaves my head spinning every time. I grapple with myself for some sense of coherence after she walks away, and when I finally find myself, I get up to follow her.
"So you're not gonna tell me anything about this party?"
"Mmm... Nah."
I huff. "Come on, please? How am I supposed to know what to expect?"
Jinx laughs, her outburst filling the space in a way that makes my heart swell. "That's the point of a surprise. You don't expect it, right?"
"I mean, I guess..." I hum in hesitant agreement. ""But I've at least got to know what to wear, right? Like, should I be scraping together a dress, or...?"
She lets out another laugh, this one shorter. "Oh, god no. I'll give you something to wear, trust me."
I don't answer, only sending her a sarcastic glare. Blowing a stray hair off of her forehead, Jinx huffs in my general direction. "What, you trust me, right?"
"Yeah..." I respond, hoping she elaborates.
"That's my girl." Jinx says quietly, a suggestive smile following quickly after. After a few seconds of eye contact, she sets a palette of brightly colored face makeup down on the desk beside her. "Shall we?"
___
Just over an hour later, I stand in front of the mirror inspecting the outfit choice Jinx has made for me. A mesh crop top adorns my chest, the black material interceded by bright swirls of neon oranges, blues and purples and cut off just below the breasts. Much more revealing than my typical garb, but cute nonetheless. Glancing down at the shirt, my eyes pick up a small hint of a shiny hue overlaying the other colors, making it all the more intriguing. On the bottom, a sparkly pair of fishnets crawl up my legs with a pair of tight, high waisted shorts over them. The shorts are split colored, one side yellow and the other green with a certain sheen hinting at them being reflective. Dark, smokey shadow is splotched across my eyelids with a stark green holographic glitter overlaying it and traveling to littler my cheekbones, making my face look like a bobbing disco ball.
"Where in the living hell are we going?" I muse to myself in the mirror, one of my hands straying to my shirt to straighten it out. I squint at my reflection in the mirror just to catch Jinx emerging from behind me.
"You'll see soon. Ready to go?"
I turn to face her, and nothing could prepare me for how stunning she looks.
The black shirt she has on top is cropped unusually short, the hem stopping right above her chest, with a hood hanging at the back of her neck. From the middle of this cut are two belt looking things dangling from a metal ring, running slack along either side of her torso and seemingly connecting at the back of the shirt. Beneath it is a bright blue bralette, highlighting the color of her hair and contrasting the black of the overshirt. Her long braids are barely tamed back into two low, comically large buns at the back of her neck and twirled in with what looks like pieces of reflective tassel, matching the reflective stripes running down the sleeves of her long sleeved crop. The shorts she wears are tight, the same as mine, but even more eye-catching- the neon purple fabric is cut tantalizingly low just at the hips with thin strips spanning the gaps and connecting through metal rings. Jinx has her own smoked out eyeshadow, but hers fades into a bright pink at the edges with silver glitter raining down her cheeks like artistically placed tears.
"You okay?" Jinx asks. "Do you like your outfit?"
"Jinx, I..." My jaw hangs for a moment before I compose myself again. "I love it, but you... Holy shit."
I can't help but stare. I probably look like an idiot, but honestly, I can't help myself. Who could when their girlfriend looks like her?
"What?" She questions, leaning around my body to glance at herself in the mirror. "I think I look pretty good."
"Not good. You look fucking hot."
Jinx's mind puts the pieces of my words together quickly. "Oh!" She exclaims, the red on her cheeks matching the pink of her eyeshadow. "You look great too! Man, I make great outfit choices, you look downright sexy. But..." She shrugs, dancing towards me. "You always do."
I take her arm with a laugh and pick her up for a quick spinning hug. "Let's get out of here to this mysterious party before we end up just staying here in bed instead."
With a final smirk, Jinx takes my hand and interlaces our fingers.
"Okay, let's go."