Three

She didn't see his eyes, for his room was a blanket of darkness. However she knew he was there. She knew he was watching her from his window with his phone pressed to his ear. She knew, and she had suspected it for a while.

Everybody knew about Jaxson Maddox and his family, but Mattie never knew of the dark secrets behind the Maddox's that was burrowed deep inside Jaxson's mind, and her mother was intent on keeping it that way.

However, Mattie had only known of Jaxson's next door presence for less than a month. A single month after looking over at the window across from hers that had green vines and dense moss growing on the sides of it, a single month after seeing the boy in black throw his school bag onto his large bed before flicking his light off, consuming his room with darkness so that he could see her, but she could never see him. It should have frightened her, but she kept her curtains open for a reason.

Her phone was pressed tightly to her ear as she looked beyond her window and into the darkness of his, awaiting for the long period of deafening silence to end. And when it did, his room suddenly filled with light, and she saw him with his slender finger on his light switch.

Her breath hitched in her throat at the sight of his tight black T-shirt and the way it hugged his toned body. His dark hair was messy and down his forehead, almost covering his eyes. He was breathtaking, but wore an expression that Mattie could not fully read.

His eyes were glued to hers at that very moment, and they seemed to darken under her gaze. His lips parted, and she stood still anxiously awaiting his response.

"Surprise?" He tried his best to grin, but failed as his gaze lowered to the floor of his surprisingly clean bedroom. The walls were bare of anything except for the gray paint that covered them.

She smiled in reply and ended the call before walking to her window slowly, her eyes never parting from Jaxson's. He did the same, and they both quickly opened their windows to reveal each other. The cool breeze came through instantly, and along with the leaves on the large oak tree outside, her hair spun around her face that was rushing with color due to the chill.

Jaxson's hair fell upon his forehead like it always did, moving only slightly when the wind blew past, a sight that had Mattie weak at the knees.

"Mr. Maddox, this is not acceptable behavior." Mattie cocked a brow at the boy in front of her, and he smiled, ignoring the sudden tightness in his jeans at the way she called him that.

"I'm not exactly the one for following rules, Miss Noelle." He replied, watching as Mattie giggled softly, careful to keep quiet so that her mother would not hear her.

Jaxson then imagined covering her mouth just then as he was on top of her on her bed, her virgin bed that was covered with a purple comforter with flowers and her favorite throw blanket that she loved to touch herself under.

He noticed that her walls resembled the walls of a twelve year olds. Posters of boy bands and torn-out magazine pictures filled them, and books and homework papers were scattered across her desk.

"Sorry- my room is kind of embarrassing." Mattie blushed, looking down to her hands that she silently fumbled with.

Jaxson laughed slightly to himself, shaking his head. "Obviously you're not the one that should be embarrassed here." He said, their laughter mixing in perfect harmony.

"Now spill, how long did you know?" Jaxson's smile never dimmed, but he refused to meet her gaze after asking the question.

Mattie hesitated, but continued after realizing that the truth needed to be said.

"Not long, about a month if not less." She replied, and Jaxson licked his lips at the remembrance of the day she slightly touched herself through her tights while on the phone with him. That day was only a few days before, proving to Jaxson that Mattie knew he was watching her.

"You sort of fascinate me." Jaxson thought out loud, but not regretting his words any longer; for it was the truth.

"Which part? The part where I mess up every dance routine and then letting out frustration by-" she stopped quickly to gather her thoughts, making sure to keep the dirty secret from leaking out of her mind.

Jaxson knew though, and he had reason to believe that Mattie did as well. Only difference was that she did not want to admit it.

"By dancing like an idiot to my own music." She ran a nervous hand through her messy hair, and Jaxson lined his tongue along his bottom lip cooly as she watched.

"That parts pretty damn sexy if you ask me." He thought back to the times she would move her hips to some hip-hop music that her mother would hate highly, making the rush to do it so much higher for Mattie. She simply wanted what her mother would despise, she wanted a rush.

"You're pretty damn sexy." Mattie said the words as the confidence rushed through her like a lightning bolt, for it was all too quick to stop. She tried to find the regret and embarrassment that would usually course through her veins, but nothing came, only the boy in black in front of her window that captivated her mind and body with one stare. Only he existed.

"What would mommy say about your dirty words?" His voice lowered as his eyes darkened, and Mattie's cheeks flooded with a rosy pink color that Jaxson loved to see.

"She would kick me out." Mattie laughed lightly as she raised her head to meet Jaxson's stare that had her breathless. His jeans were now growing tighter as he looked at her face. The way she wet her lips with her tongue as the cool wind blew past had him going crazy, and he almost had to hold himself back from climbing out of his window just to touch her skin.

"And then you'd come here." He whispered in a tone that was gentler than her stare, and she blushed at his words.

"She would absolutely hate that."

"And you like the fact that she wouldn't like it don't you?" Jaxson thought out loud, knowing it was true. For he knew that she loved the spark of excitement that coursed through her veins each and every time she talked to him.

"What do you mean?"

"You find it exciting, don't you?" He led on, leaning further slightly.

Mattie smiled just then, and nodded without a word.

"And you must find me exciting. Since you know, you stare at me through my window." Her smile grew, and the boy in black rolled his eyes before playfully flipping her off.

"You're never going to let me live that one down are you?" Jaxson asked.

"Never ever." Mattie giggled, and Jaxson laughed at the innocent side of her that started to show itself more. It was a side that he loved just as much as her dark side, for he loved all of her.

Mattie's head turned swiftly behind her just then as her smile faded, and Jaxson sighed at the realization that her mother must have been coming.

"Shoot, my mothers coming. I'll see you tomorrow Jaxson?" Mattie rushed her words with her hands on the top of her window.

"Of course," he replied, and Mattie smiled before sliding her window downward and locking it.

He watched with hooded eyes as she slid her curtains closed just like she did every night before bed, and he found himself watching her window for a few extra minutes in hopes that she would return. She didn't though, and when he realized it, Jaxson turned around to turn his light switch off.

The darkness swallowed every inch of light in his room, and he sat on the side of his bed with his hands folded together as the thoughts of Mattie captivated his mind and soul more than he had ever thought possible.

And as for Mattie, she laid under her covers with her eyes squeezed shut and her lip taken back with her teeth. Her hand was under her red lace panties that her mother did not know about, and she could not help but pretend that her fingers were really Jaxson's, and the thought itself got her off all too quickly.