Page 12

Thea

Thea: How’s everything going there, Tan Tan?

Tanner: All good. What are you up to tonight?

My fingers danced above the screen as I thought about what I should say next. Should I tell him I was planning on going on a date, or would that get me another lecture? He wasn’t here, so I could just not tell him. It wasn’t like this would go anywhere for Henry and me, anyway.

My foot tapped against the stool leg, my mind whirring with anxiety as I thought about what happened last night and my reaction to it. I was embarrassed and gave too much away. It was obvious I was upset, and even though I shouldn’t feel bad about being in my own living room, I did.

All because Jackson invited Grace over.

When his door creaked open, my stomach lurched. I didn’t want to see or talk to him or see her. Not after everything that had happened.

“Hey,” he muttered. His hands were tucked into his sweatpants pockets, and his face was covered by his baseball cap. With his head dipped, he almost looked bashful.

“Hi,” I mumbled, staring at my phone. I couldn’t look him in the eyes. Not after yesterday. The tan. The jiggles. The mustache. He’d seen it all and taunted me by sleeping with the one girl who broke my heart when I got here. Okay, she didn’t break my heart back then, but the fact she waltzed into Jackson’s room like she had last year, crushed me. Jackson didn’t like me back then, and he didn’t like me now. The sooner I remembered I was just Tanner’s bumbling idiot of a sister, the better. I swiped my thumb across my phone, trying to ignore the embarrassment that sat at the pit of my stomach.

“Where’s Grace?” I emphasized her name with sass.

“She’s not here.” His tone carried a hint of uncertainty, but I wasn’t about to look at him to check.

Jackson walked around the counter, getting closer. That was my cue to leave. I swiveled on the barstool and started to climb down from it.

“Did you have a good sleep?”

“Perfectly fine, thank you. Fell asleep straight after your girlfriend finished insulting me.”

“Straight away, huh?”

“Yup. Like a rock. Put my music on and let Bailey Hill serenade me to sleep.”

“Really?” He raised a brow, looking almost suspicious. “Do you always listen to music when you go to sleep?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. I need the noise to drown out the thoughts running through my mind.”

“Interesting.” His voice rumbled with intensity. “That explains the last two nights, then.”

“What?”

“Look, Thea—”

I raised my hand. I didn’t want to hear any of those sarcastic jabs from him this morning. I couldn’t handle it. “I don’t want to hear it, Baseball Cap. I know my fake tan is streaked; you don’t need to mock me for it. You’ve successfully ruined any chance of me getting laid tonight, so I hope you’re happy.”

“Getting l-laid?” Was it really so surprising to him someone might want me?

“Yes.”

“Who are you going on a date with?”

“No one important.” I waved it off, walking around him and ignoring the jolt of electricity as I brushed past him.

“I’m sorry.” It was barely a whisper, but I heard it and stopped. “I’m sorry,” he repeated, a little louder this time.

I barked out a sarcastic laugh. “Did I just hear you correctly? Did you just apologize to me, Baseball Cap?”

When he didn’t respond, I turned. He was still standing in the kitchen, with a fresh bunch of grapes sitting in the bowl beside him. When did those get there?

“I did. I’m sorry about last night. It was a stupid move. One I only did because I was trying to get my mind off other things.”

He threw me an awkward, somewhat hesitant smile. Strange, I’d never seen him look so … human. I knew he was human, obviously, but there was always something so untouchable about Jackson. Like he wasn’t real or that things never affected him.

“I never wanted to upset you. In fact, it’s the complete opposite of what I wanted to do. Thea, I …”

My stomach flipped, knowing he was going to either apologize or make some comment about Grace to try to make me feel better. Didn’t he realize this was not the way to save my dignity?

“It’s fine. You’re allowed to sleep with whoever you want.”

He nodded, stepping closer.

“That’s the thing. I didn’t sleep with her.”

“Um, okay.” When silence fell between us, I said, “Do you want a medal for that?”

“No. I just wanted you to know.”

My shoulders slumped. “No sleeping, but I’m sure you did other things before she left.” Why the hell did I mention that?

“No,” he gritted out. “I didn’t do anything with her, not after the things she said to you. About you.”

Why was he telling me this? Why were his eyes pleading for me to understand something I clearly didn’t?

“Okay, great.” I gave him a thumbs-up, cringing inside that I was such an embarrassment. “Well, that’s good to know.”

He nodded. “And you’re still going on that date tonight?”

I eyed my roommate, hoping glaring at him would give me some understanding of why he was acting so strange. It didn’t.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?”

He shook his head and laughed somewhat awkwardly. This was getting weird.

“No reason,” he stated, moving around me and plopping on the couch. “Have a good time on your date.”

Why did I feel like I’d offended him?

I tucked my phone in my pocket and scurried back to my room to get ready for the day, doing my best to ignore Jackson’s weird demeanor.

“Have you noticed anything weird about Jackson recently?” I asked, tossing the lettuce in my salad aside before looking up at my blonde-haired friend. Britt had a burrito inches from her mouth before she dropped it onto the table and narrowed her gaze.

“Uh, Jackson?” Her voice peaked as she flicked her ponytail to the side.

“Yeah, you know, Jackson. He’s the really wide guy who wears a baseball hat so often if I didn’t live with him, I’d think he was bald under there.”

A smile quirked across her face with the subtlest hint of amusement as she wiped her hands on her napkin. “I know who Jackson is.”

“Cool. Then why are you acting like it’s a weird question?”

She shook her head, still mildly amused about something. “Nothing. I’ve not noticed him being any weirder than usual, but I don’t live with him.”

“Mm-hm.” Not the answer I was hoping for.

“What’s he doing?”

“I don’t know.” I crinkled my nose, trying to figure out how to put my thoughts into words. “He’s just. Uh, I guess …”

Britt raised her brows, patiently waiting for me to explain, but I was having trouble getting anything out.

“He’s acting weird.”

“You said that already. What’s he doing?”

“He’s barely talking to me.”

“Okay, I thought you’d like that, though? You tell me all the time that you can’t stand each other.”

“No, it’s not that. The silence is golden. It’s just the things associated with the silence that’s getting to me.”

“Like?”

“When he does talk to me, he looks at me with these shifty eyes and he’s very cryptic with his words.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, and the sweating. He’s sweating more than usual. Not that I know his sweating habits, but I’ve never seen someone with sweat trickling down their face while in a temperature-controlled apartment.”

“Okay.”

“And it’s not just that. He keeps talking to himself, mumbling things under his breath.”

“Does he?” Britt’s voice brimmed with undeniable interest now. She pushed her burrito to the side so she could lean over the lunch table, and whispered, “I think I know why.”

“I do too,” I stated. After studying him for the past couple of days and thinking about the situation, there was only one conclusion.

“You do?!” Her lips parted and she blinked rapidly.

I waved her off, using my fork to pierce through a tomato in my salad before popping it in my mouth. She watched me the entire time. When I swallowed, I said, “Of course. It’s obvious when you look close enough.”

Her smile widened. “I’m so relieved you’ve said that. It’s something that’s been playing on my mind for so long, but I didn’t want to rock the boat and mention it to you.”

“Yeah. Looking back on it now, it’s so clear. I guess I just hadn’t spent enough time with Jackson before now to really see it.”

“Yeah.” Britt nodded furiously. “Makes complete sense why he was hiding it. He doesn’t want Tanner to know.”

I nodded. Agreeing wholeheartedly with her.

“Jackson’s on drugs,” I stated.

She stopped nodding, and her mouth dropped open as she stared at me silently for a few seconds.

“Wait, he’s on drugs? But that will get him in so much trouble if anyone finds out.” Her hands were jittering, as though she didn’t know what to do with them. “How am I supposed to keep a secret like that from Matty?”

I arched my brow. “Why are you surprised? I thought you said you knew?”

She laughed nervously. “Uh, I gotta be honest. That’s not what I thought you were going to say.” I stared at her blankly, and she waved a dismissive hand. “I thought you were going to say … you know …” She drew it out, giving me a bemused smile.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t know.”

“You sure? Because everyone else does.”

“Britt, if he’s not on drugs, then what’s his problem?”

Her shoulders slumped, and she sighed out. “You’re really going to make me say it, aren’t you?”

“Say what?”

Instead of answering me, she pulled the plate with her burrito back and stared at it. The cheese on top had gone cold, and she looked almost as sad as the day she saw Matty for the first time after the summer.

“I think Jackson’s in love with you.”

Thank goodness I hadn’t brought the tomato to my mouth, because I would’ve choked on it.

“Jackson. In love. With me?” I was trying to make sense of the words. She had to be taunting me over the mess I’d found myself in and just wanted to get a rise out of me. That was all it was.

Britt rolled her eyes. “Don’t act so surprised by it. Everyone thinks the same thing.”

“And what’s that?”

“You two have the hots for each other.”

My jaw dropped, and I glared at my friend in disgust. “I’ve never had the hots for Jackson.”

“Really? I vaguely remember you telling me you thought he was cute when you started here.”

“Yeah, that was before he started talking. His arrogance quickly changed all of that.”

“Did it?”

I ignored the question. “Thinking someone is cute when you first meet them is not proof that I have the hots for Jackson now.”

“No, but it’s a good indication that the sexual attraction is there.”

Sexual attraction?

My jaw dropped, and I fixed her with a pointed stare. “There is no sexual attraction! We can barely stand each other.”

Britt rolled her eyes, waving me off. “Deny it all you want. You just seem to be forgetting I’ve been in this position before. I was in love with my best friend for years before I could say anything. Do you know how hard it was to admit my feelings for Matty after being questioned over it for years?”

“I wouldn’t say you admitted you were in love with him. You kind of just married him.”

She nodded, smiling. “Yeah, once you and Jackson debut your relationship, I’d recommend a more conventional approach. Unless you want to give Tanner a heart attack.”

I exhaled sharply, my nostrils flaring. “Tanner’s ticker will be just fine since there’s nothing for Jackson and me to debut.”

“Not yet,” she said, pointing her finger up in the air.

I glowered at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come on. You two alone in your apartment for the rest of the week. Simmering tension. Lines of hate blurring into something more. Something’s going to happen, and I’m going to be front row telling you I told you so when it does.”

“Wow, Britt. I didn’t realize you were such a fantasist. Maybe you should try your hand at writing since you like to make shit up.”

She shook her head, laughing. “I’m not making up a damn thing. It’s going to happen. Jackson’s going to admit he’s in love with you, and then it’s going to trigger something.”

I scoffed, certain Britt had lost her mind. “Jackson’s not in love with me.” Her eyebrows curved, her lips pursing. “He’s not. Believe me, I know.”

“How?”

“If you’re going to talk about the time he brought a girl home two years ago, I think we can all agree we’ve all done stupid things to pretend we aren’t in love with our friends. Hell, I pretended I liked hockey just so Matty would stop hounding me.”

“Oh, that reminds me. Do you know Henry Newman?”

Her face crinkled and she repeated the name a couple of times before looking at me with surprise. “You mean the hockey player?”

“Yeah.”

“I vaguely remember him. I think he cheated on his girlfriend in high school, and the team was giving him a hard time over it.”

“Oh, that’s a weird thing to hold a grudge over.”

“Not when it’s a teammate’s sister. Why are you asking about him?”

“Because I’m going on a date with him tonight.”

“A d-date?” Why was everyone reacting with a stutter to this news? “Wow.”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“I’m not. You’re amazing, so it’s not surprising people see that. It’s just, Jackson must be devastated.”

I grunted. “Are we back to Jackson again?”

“It’s just—”

Raising my hand, I stopped her from finishing the sentence. “He brought Grace home last night.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, and he had no problems letting her insult me while I was standing in the living room unprovoked and half-dressed.”

“Why were you half-dressed?”

I raised my arm, and her eyes tracked the streaky orange lines running down it. “Not all of us are blessed with bronzed skin year-round.”

“Your skin is beautiful. You don’t need to change it.”

I flitted my hand as I dropped it on the table. “That’s beside the point. The point is, do those actions really sound like someone who’s interested in me?”

Her shoulders dropped, her gaze falling as quickly as the smile on her face. The fire in her eyes flickered out, and I felt vindicated for the shortest of seconds, only to be reminded of last night. Fat rolls, fake tan, and a mustache. How would I ever live that down?

“I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s fine. We can all be wrong at times.”

And wrong she was.

“Look, I don’t want to mess with your business or anything.”

“But you’re going to, anyway,” I snarked, shifting in my seat.

“I’m your friend. It’s my duty to tell you the truth.”

“There’s nothing you could tell me that would change my view on this.”

“I’m not so sure. He came over the other day—”

I closed my eyes. “Please don’t try to explain Jackson out of this hole. He doesn’t deserve that, and I don’t want to hear it.”

I wrapped an arm around my waist, covering myself from Britt’s glare. She might not judge me, but with her being tall, gorgeous, and thin, I often felt like I didn’t live up to her potential.

“I’m not going to explain that idiot out of anything, but I’m going to tell you something interesting he said.”

“You mean he had something interesting to say?”

“I thought so, and I think you will too.” She beamed as I waited for her to continue. “I may have mentioned I thought you guys had a little crush on each other.”

“Britt!”

“Let me finish. Please.” She took a breath, which I could only assume was for dramatic effect, then continued. “He vehemently denied it.”

“See. I told you.” Something about that comment made my stomach lurch. He didn’t just deny it, he had to make a show of it. I got it. He didn’t think I was attractive, but he was hell-bent on everyone else knowing this.

“He denied it for all of thirty seconds. Then he started malfunctioning like a robot.”

“And what does that have to do with me?”

“Because he did it straight after he mentioned your purple onesie. It was like he went off into unchartered parts of his mind, and we couldn’t get him back.”

“That’s easy for him. I’m sure most of his functioning brain is unchartered.”

“There was something there, I’m telling you. His face went all mellow and gooey. The same face Matty gave me when we were dancing in Las Vegas.” There she went, off on her own cartoon princess tantrum again. I stared at her, unimpressed and unbothered by her statement.

When she realized, her shoulders dropped and she frowned. She really was a cartoon princess. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Because if he liked me, he wouldn’t have had a problem taking me to Reign and Devin’s wedding.”

“Uh, you’re looking at this all wrong. That was before he knew he liked you, though. He only realized he liked you after the dinner we had with him.”

“You mean the dinner before he brought Grace home and shoved the fact he was going to have sex in my face.”

Britt went quiet for a second, and I hoped we could move on from this weird discussion. “Are you sure they slept together?”

“Yeah.” My voice was shaky because I was lying. I wasn’t sure. I’d stuck my headphones in so I couldn’t hear a thing. The only real evidence I have of what happened last night was Jackson telling me this morning that he didn’t sleep with her. Something I still didn’t believe, so I would keep that tidbit to myself because Britt would take that fact and run with it. “That’s why I think you’re reading too much into it. He probably looked away wistfully because he had gas.”

She huffed, shaking her head in irritation. “I didn’t want to have to do this,” she said as she pulled her phone out and swiped through something. I couldn’t see from here, but I could tell she was serious by the vigor in her swipes.

“What are you doing?” She shoved her phone in my face, and I went cross-eyed trying to take in whatever it was she wanted me to see.

Messages. She was showing me her messages. A group chat from what I could tell. “Who’s name is Ignore?”

“Jackson. Matty changed it after this conversation.”

“Why?”

She danced the phone in my face. “Read it and you’ll see.”

I scanned the messages, getting the jist of the conversation without reading the entire exchange. “I can see why Matty wants you to ignore him. He’s calling you a witch every five seconds.”

“And much like Matty, you’re missing the point of the messages.”

I shook my head, reading through them again.

You cast a spell on me.

I can’t get Thea off my mind.

Who does she want to date?

I reread them, but they still weren’t making sense.

“Don’t you see?!” she said.

“No?”

“Ugh. He’s into you. He’s only messaging me to find out what you’re up to. I know he brought Grace home, but I’m guessing that was some stupid attempt to get his mind off you.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah, but this is Jackson logic. He’s impulsive and never thinks things through.”

“Exactly my point. He only thinks he’s interested in me because you cast a spell on him. What’s worse is, if I believe your take, then he’s doing everything possible to cleanse me from his brain. Why would I be flattered by that?”

“I know it doesn’t sound great, but put yourself in his shoes. You hate him. You’ve made that clear, so maybe he thinks this is the only way.”

“And maybe you’re living in delulu land. He’s not interested in me, and I’m not interested in him either.”

She rolled her eyes, letting out a groan. “You’re both as pigheaded as each other.”

“And on that note, I have to get changed for my date. Do you want me to keep you posted on how it goes?”

“Always. If you don’t mind recording Jackson’s reaction to you leaving, I wouldn’t mind watching it.”

“There’s no point. It’ll be boring and a waste of space on my phone.”

I waved goodbye and laughed. She had no idea what she was talking about. Jackson wasn’t into me. I was sure of it.