Chapter 6 #2
We walked into our Written Media class and sat by the door on the left side of the room.
The professor, a middle-aged man in wire-frame glasses with stubble and a longish, side-swept haircut, walked to the front and lifted a hand to silence us before raking his fingers through his hair in slow motion.
“Care to tell me why I think Professor Hugh is hot? He’s wearing brown corduroy pants and plaid shirts, for God’s sake. I’ve never been attracted to older men before him, and the ones I usually find sexy don’t look like him.”
I snickered behind my fist. “I kinda get what you mean. I think it’s the glasses and the haircut.
It gives him a geeky yet edgy style. A bit like the expensive gold watches in printed ads.
You don’t want one, but you find them fascinating.
I heard a group of girls last week ask him if he was married, so you’re not the only one with a professor crush. ” I shrugged.
A guy sitting in front of us swiveled in his seat. “Can you stop talking? I can’t concentrate.”
“Sorry.” My friend raised her hands in surrender before looking at me and pinching her lips together to avoid laughing.
I was taking notes, focused on the lecture, when my phone vibrated in my pocket, startling me.
I grabbed the device and frowned when a picture of a guy about my age with dark hair and brown eyes stared back at me.
He had cheek dimples and thick brows, the right one split in two due to what I assumed had been stitches.
Another text message came in.
Jules
I wish you could see your face right now. Be honest, you love what you see.
I clamped my mouth shut. Yes, maybe I was drooling, but in my defense, the guy was hot…like really hot.
Me
Jett?
Jules
Yep.
Me
Wow.
Jules
Told you.
Changed your mind about that date?
Me
Maybe.
You’re not playing fair.
Another message came in. A picture of Jett sitting in the grass, a golden retriever draped across his lap. He was laughing, the dog licking his cheek.
I typed fast, a tiny smile shaping my lips.
Me
Okay, you’re really playing dirty. The dog is adorable.
Jules
I’m telling you. You’d be a great match. He’s smart and doesn’t collect girls like they’re on the verge of extinction. You wouldn’t have to do the whole long-distance thing since—I repeat—his college is only a forty-minute drive from here.
Please give him a chance.
Me
Fine. One date. I work all weekend, though. He gets one chance.
From the corner of my eye, I spotted my friend doing a little victory dance in her seat.
Jules
Consider it done. By the way, he said you look hot too.
I turned to face her. “He said that?” I asked in a whispered tone.
“I sorta showed him a picture of you the other day.”
“Jules,” I whisper-shouted.
She shrugged. “What? You’ll thank me later.”
The guy sitting in front of us turned around and shot us a glare.
I mimicked zipping my lips, and Jules rolled her eyes.
He faced forward, and Professor Hugh said something about the power of argumentation that caught my attention, and I brought my focus back to today’s lesson.
For the rest of the class, my thoughts spiraled in my head.
Why did I agree to go on a date with Jett?
I wasn’t looking for a relationship right now.
I was fully busy and happy with my single status.
I exhaled and buried my face in my hands.
Another jock. No matter what my friend said, Jett was still a hockey player.
What was I getting myself into?
I felt his presence seconds after the beginning of my shift at Lola’s that night. From the empty basket of wings in front of him, I could tell he had been here for a while. A shiver skated up my back when I sensed his gaze on me even though I did my best to avoid looking at him.
George, my boss, neared me. “Mel, can you cover table two for Tanja? She’s busy with that group at the back.”
I swallowed my uneasiness and managed a forced smile, though the rest of my body screamed that it was a bad idea. “Sure.”
Taking a deep inhale and squaring my shoulders, I lifted my chin and injected myself with as much fake confidence as I could muster.
Once upon a time, Mason Pierce had been really good at reading me and my moods, and half of me wished it hadn’t changed, and the other half prayed we could pretend we were strangers and that he had lost his special power when it came to me.
The lies I had created back in high school that poisoned our budding relationship still sat heavy on my heart.
I’d never actually told him I was sorry for throwing away what we once had...
what we once were. I’d never actually made amends for my actions or for rejecting him.
Sure, I’d written him a letter to explain myself, and it made me cry for an hour afterward, but I never said sorry to his face like he deserved.
The more time passed, the harder it became to broach the subject and clear the air between us.
And now he was here, and I could feel this huge elephant sitting between us, suffocating me.
Maybe Luciana, my therapist, had been right about getting closure.
Perhaps we both desperately needed it to move on with our lives.
The guys around the table laughed about something. Even though I tried not to care, I watched him and could tell Mason wasn’t partaking in the conversation. His stance was rigid, and his smile invisible.
Craig polished the last bites of his burger and pushed his plate away before standing and noticing me. “Hey, Mel.” He nodded at me, and I returned the gesture. He fished his wallet out of his pocket and handed Mason a few bills. “This should cover both my food and yours.”
“You’re leaving?” his brother asked.
“Yep. I’m out of here.” Craig glanced at the floor and shook his head, his shoulders slumped in defeat.
I had no idea why the older Pierce brother was attending Crestwood University instead of Thompson University with Paige, as they had planned for years, and since I wasn’t part of their friend circle anymore, it wasn’t my place to ask.
After I’d pushed my former best friend away when she had reported my eating disorder to my parents and my coach that morning, we all grew distant.
My fault. Same with Mason. Paige had asked for my forgiveness for months, then stopped when I refused to engage with her.
The day I lost her and Mason, I also lost most of my other friends.
I missed Paige every day. The sting of our falling-out hurt a bit less than it used to, but sometimes I still wondered how she was doing.
For years, we had been inseparable. At first, I didn’t miss her, too angry at her for ratting me out, but then my ego took a step back, and her absence became unbearable.
I believed it explained why Jayden and I had grown as close as we did so quickly.
He was the one person I’d kept in my corner, and since he was best friends with my cousin Jeremy, the three of us became this knitted trio over the months.
We spent most of our summer together in Traverse City, far from my hometown of Elk River and the ghosts of my past. The new friends I made, after I had lost my ride-or-die ones, helped decrease the void I felt deep inside.
I liked that they didn’t know the old Melinda with all her baggage, but only got to see the new version of me I was desperately trying to be.
The first few times I had bumped into Craig on campus or at Lola’s, I had barely recognized him.
Sure, he was still the guy from my hometown, handsome and a superstar on the field, but the spark that used to shine in his eyes was gone.
Replaced with some sort of shadows. He looked permanently sad these days. Like a lost puppy.
He wore the scruffy-jaw look now, like a shield to keep others at a distance. From what I’d heard, he had pretty much turned into a hermit too. He usually avoided me, and so far, I had tried to respect his boundaries.
Seeing him all dejected made me sad too. Craig had never been my best friend like Paige and Mason were, but we had gotten along fine back in high school.
One night, not long after I’d started working at Lola’s, he came with two of his teammates.
I had almost cornered him when he went to the restroom, hoping to understand what had happened in his life that made him push Paige away.
But Paige and I weren’t talking anymore, and I felt it wasn’t my business to get involved.
Usually, whenever we crossed paths, he only acknowledged my existence with a nod.
I cleared the empty dishes from the table and piled them on my tray. Mason’s eyes followed all my movements.
“Can I get you anything else?” I asked the table, moving to stand next to Mason and keeping my gaze trained on anything but the guy whose attention was fixated on me, burning holes through my clothes and my flesh.
“A beer,” a guy I recognized as a senior playing for the team ordered. I had checked his ID in the past, so I knew he was over twenty-one.
“A burger with a side of truffle fries and a garden salad,” another guy ordered.
The guy facing me pointed to his menu. “Chocolate milkshake and a basket of brownie bites.”
“C’mon, guys. You can’t wolf down all this junk during the season,” Mason chimed in.
“Shut up, rookie,” someone said. “We’ve been on this team longer than you have. You’re just warming up Ben’s QB seat. Don’t get ahead of yourself and shove it. This is none of your business.”
Mason slapped the tabletop with both hands.
“Wow, Bowman. Suit yourself. Don’t blame the team if your knees hurt, you feel like throwing up when we train, and you’re too slow by the end of the season.
” Even though he was just a freshman, Mason was still the leader he’d always been, not afraid to speak his mind for the team’s greater good.