Chapter 16
Sure enmgh, il potired all night long
When I dragged myself out of bed the next morning, a misty drizzle was still falling, turning the UCLA campom inte no film
athing on of a movḥ ede
I grabbed my umbrella and beaded to the boba shop. It was one of these trendy places–bigger than your average Starbucks, with ten slack wooden tables and an Instagram worthy “dream wall where contomers pinned colorful notes with their wishes and secrets.
As I pushed the door open the wind rushed in behind me, making dozens of Post its futter and dance like confetti.
The shop had a cramped changing area in the back where I quickly swapped my hoodie for their signature mint green polo and black a
Then the eight hour shift from hell began.
The manager said I had “good customer–facing energy translation: I was conventionally attractive enough to pet at the front and stationed mon register duty.
The job wasn’t rocket science, but standing in one spot for eight hours straight had turned my feet into throbbing blocks of pain.
Around 9 PM, just as I was mentally calculating how many minites until closing, someone pushed through the front door. The wind chimes jangled and the dream wall notes performed their synchronized flutter routine.
I kept my eyes on the register screen, too tired to look up “What can I get for you tonight?”
“Just lemon water.”
“Coming right up.”
I punched in the order mechanically, but as the receipt printed something about that voice sent electrichy up my spine. I looked up and crashed straight into those dark eyes I’d know anywhere.
He was wearing a pale blue hoodie that somehow made his skin look airbrushed, his dark hair artfully messed up by the wind. That face–the one been trying and failling to forget since high school–looked even more devastating up close.
Jax raised an eyebrow, one corner of his mouth lifting slightly. “Heard a rumor you were working here. Had to see it to believe it.”
I momentarily forgot how words worked, my tongue darting out twat my suddenly dry lips. “Did you seriously track me down at work?
Jax just gave me that enigmatic half smile that revealed absolutely nothing
I pressed my lips together, grabbed his lemon water when it was ready, and practically shoved across the counter.
He took the drink but made no move to leave.
After a moment of just standing there, making my heart perform gymnastics, he asked. “When are you done here?”
“Froe minutes,” I answered before I could stop myself,
Jax nodded once and walked back out the door.
After changing back into my clothes, I stepped outside with my umbrella, scanning the mostly empty street. That’s when I spotted him sitting on a bench outside, looking like he was posing for an urban fashion shoot. His long legs were crossed at the ankles, his profile half hidden in the glow of nearby streetlight. A small orangeber glowell near his mouth.
He was sucking, because of course he was.
You actually wanted?; 1 asked, hating how my voice betrayed my surprise
“Obviously,” he replied with that lazy drawl that did stupid things to my insides.
“Why would you do that?”
Despite my question. Ifmind myself gravitating toward him like he had his man magnetle field.
He tied his head back in look at me, cigarette balanced between his lips, the evening breeze lifting his hair in that pert choreographed. In that moment, he looked exactly like the boy who’d ruined me for everyone else years ago.
“Lians,” he said, my name sending different in his voice, “are you into me?”
The unexpected question bit me like I’d walked into a glass door.
For once in my life, I felt genuinely terrified.
My feet froze to the sidewalk. It was like standing at the edge of a cliff–one step forward and Ed free fall to something I couldn’t contre
One step back and I’d be safe in my comfortable unrequited pining,
“What? No way.” I lied, my voice higher than normal. “I just so you as, like, an older brother figure or whatever.”
“Is that right?”
He flashed that knowing smile that made my stomach drop. “Then maybe stop looking at me like I’m the last lifeboat on the Titanic.”
With that simple statement, my palms instantly started sweating and my face felt like it was on fire.
Of course you can lie with your mouth all day long, but your eyes always tell the truth.
I stood there in silence, my mind racing for some plausible denial.
Jax took a long drag of his cigarette, casually adjusting his sleeve cuff like we were discussing the weather.
Acting like he hadn’t just stripped away the defense mechanism I’d been perfecting for years
*So do you want to date me or what?” he asked suddenly
“WHAT?”
I looked up so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.
“I said,” he repeated slower, like I might not understand English, “do you want to date mo?”
My brain completely short circuited. “Is this some kind of fraternity, dare? Or did you lose a bet?”
“Nope, dead serious” He removed the cigarette from his lips and crushed it in a nearby trash can with deliberate movements.
Then he straightened up, those dark eyes looking directly into pine with an intensity that made it hard to breathe. “I like you, Liana Frost. Will you go out with me?”
But weren’t you dating Rosalia?” The words rambled out before I could stop them
Jax’s eyes widened slightly. “Who fed you that line of BS7”
His reaction…
“1 literally saw you two about to lass on the rooftop of our building.” I said, the memory stal sharp enough to hurt.
“That’s creative fiction,” Jax said firmly. “She tried to kiss me, but I dodged faster than someone avoiding a League of Legends gank
His voice was so matter of fact in the night air, and the gaming reference so unexpectedly dorky coming from him, that I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me.
