Chapter 21
Evie
Sam gives me a look of concern and then exchanges a look with Jace. “Are you sure, Evie?” She reaches out and puts her hand on mine. “Do you want Jace to talk to him?”
I shake my head at the ridiculousness of all this.
I open my box of orange chicken and half fried rice and half chow mein.
It smells so good, but suddenly, I don’t feel like I could eat a single bite.
I close the lid and face Jace. “Jace, I’m sorry; but I don’t want this to continue.
” I swallow hard, feeling so uncomfortable, especially when his face falls.
“What are you doing?” Sam asks.
I take a deep breath. “This just isn’t going to work out.”
“You guys are perfect for each other. What’s not to work?” Sam asks in obvious confusion.
I don’t want to throw Jace under the bus, but I also need them both to understand. Jace surprises me by speaking up first. “I blew it last night on our date.”
She turns to him, eyes narrowed. “What’d you do?”
He lets out a loud sigh. “My dad called me last night.” He pauses, and I look down at the table. “My mom has cancer.”
Sam gasps. “What?”
Jace nods. “Yeah. It’s a lot. Anyway, my dad called me while Evie was in the bathroom.” He sighs again. “I didn’t handle things well and was awful to her when she came back to the table.”
Sam frowns. “Well, you shouldn’t have been, but Jace, that’s awful.” She turns to me with a raised eyebrow. “I thought a little better of you than this. You’re really breaking up with him after he found out his mom has cancer?”
I open my mouth to defend myself but know that nothing I say in this moment will be received well.
I face Jace and put a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry.
Truly, I am. This really has nothing to do with that.
I know it’s poor timing, and I'm sorry for that. But I think in the end, it’s better to just end things now than to wait and then have to break up later. ”
“Evie,” Sam snaps at me. “Are you really this cold and heartless?” She motions to Jace.
“He just received the worst possible news, and this is how you respond?” She makes an act of calming down.
“You’re making too big a deal of this. Why don’t you take some time to think about everything before you rush into a decision? ”
I look at both of them. They both look so earnest, and I finally cave. Maybe I really am being a terrible human. “Okay.” Jace’s hand squeezes mine, and I fight the urge to pull away.
“Thank you, Evie.” His words are so full of gratitude; it makes me feel even more terrible. “I think you should stay away from Blackwood, though.”
My eyes snap to his. “What? Why?”
“I don’t think he’s good for you.”
I open my mouth to argue, but Sam joins in. “He’s right. He’s confusing you; I don’t think he’s good for you to be around.”
I stand to my feet. It's one thing to decide to give Jace another chance; it’s another to sit here and listen to them bad talk Zane.
I’m not going to do it. “I’m still not feeling great.
I’m going to head back to my room. I'll see you both later.” Neither of them say a word to stop me, not that it would have done any good.
I make the walk back to my room by myself.
I swear I feel eyes on me as I walk, and part of me hopes it’s Zane.
The more rational part of my brain hopes it’s not.
I don’t know what to do about him, and I don’t think I can handle him on top of everything else tonight.
I’m grateful when my dorm comes into view, and I don’t see Zane.
I make it up to my room and shut the door behind me. I’m not sure how long I’ll have the room to myself, and I really don’t want to see Sam right now. I head into the bathroom and knock on my suitemates’ door. “It’s me,” I call out as I open the door.
“Hey,” Tessa calls out happily from her spot on the floor where she’s got all her books sprawled out in front of her.
“You know they have these really useful things called desks,” I tell her.
She gasps dramatically and puts a hand on her chest. “I’ve never heard of them. Please tell me more.”
I shake my head at her drama and plop down next to her. “I brought food. Are you hungry?” I open the box that’s overflowing with orange chicken, noodles, and rice.
“From Panda? Yes! I have my own fork.” She whips a fork out of nowhere.
“It’s scary how you just whipped that into existence,” I tell her.
“Isn’t it?” I hold the box between us and take a bite. I think we both grin at the same time, and I laugh at the noodle hanging from her mouth. She slurps it up and goes back for another piece of orange chicken. “This is soo good,” she says with a groan. “Thanks for getting it and sharing with me.”
“I didn’t buy it,” I tell her in between bites. “Zane did.”
She stops abruptly with her fork halfway to her mouth. “Zane Blackwood?” I nod. “As in number seven? Quarterback of the Barracudas?”
“Yup. That guy.” I take another bite of orange chicken, but she pushes my fork down before I can take a bite. “What in the world? I’m eating here.”
“You’re eating orange chicken that Zane Blackwood bought you?”
“You are too,” I remind her.
“Onmywordohmywordohmyword. Are you guys dating? Are you going to marry him and have his babies?” She gasps loudly. “Oh, can you imagine? They’d be adorable!” She grabs my arm as her eyes go wide. “You could have an entire football team of boys!”
I stare at her, unsure of which of those things to address first. I decide to tackle the scariest one first. “You do realize how many players are on a football team, right?” I didn’t before I started watching, but now I do.
She waves off my concern. “I mean you don’t have to have the entire team, just a good O-Line.”
“You think I’m going to birth eleven boys?”
“Five,” she corrects. “Just take care of the five offensive guys.” She says all this like we’re discussing the weather.
“You’re ridiculous.” I finally pop the orange chicken bite into my mouth.
“And you’re in love,” she says waving her fork at me.
I sputter. “No, I’m not.”
“You didn’t even bat an eye at having Zane’s babies. You just got concerned about how many Zane babies you had to have.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Can we stop saying Zane and babies in the same sentence please?”
“Nope.”
I pull my box out of her reach. “Fine. Then no more orange chicken for you.”
She pouts and caves. “Fine. No more talking about Zane babies; we’ll just talk about the man himself.”
I shake my head. “You have a one-track mind.”
“Why thank you. Now, tell me. Why did Zane Blackwood buy you Chinese?”
“Why do you say his last name every time?”
“Because it’s Zane Blackwood!”
“Okay, that makes absolutely no sense, but moving on...he was just being kind.”
She snorts. “You notice I don’t have a box of orange chicken of my own?” She points her fork at my nose. “He bought you orange chicken.”
I debate a moment and then finally tell her. “He gave me a bag too.”
“A bag of what?” I shrug, and she stares at me. “Zane Blackwood gave you a bag, and you don’t even know what’s in it?” Her voice reaches nearly shriek level.
“Would you stop saying his last name?”
“No. Go get it.”
“What?” I ask.
She lays a hand across her forehead. “I can’t even with you. Go get the bag from Zane Blackwood!” I finally stand to my feet, mostly because I’m curious too. Her eyes widen when I come back. “That’s a huge bag.”
“It is,” I say in agreement.
She claps her hands excitedly. “Open it.” I pull open the bag and reach inside, but her shriek stops me. “Wait!”
I jerk my hand back in surprise. “What?”
She throws a hand over her eyes. “What if it’s lingerie?”
“Have you completely lost your mind?” I demand.
“I don’t want these innocent eyes to see something that might corrupt me.”
I roll my eyes. “You are such a mess. Zane did not give me lingerie.”
“He might have. He—”
“Tessa,” I interrupt. Her eyes meet mine through the slits in her hand. “Shut up.”
“Okay.” I grin and open the bag once more. “What is it?” she whispers loudly.
I pull out a container of fresh strawberries.
“Ooo,” Tessa says. Next, I pull out a box of granola bars, not the cheap kind.
There’s a container of amazing looking blueberry muffins, a Barracudas baseball cap, brand new sunglasses, a bottle of ibuprofen, and a few bowls of Ramen.
There’s one more box at the bottom. When I open the lid, I stare down at a gorgeous pair of sneakers with a bright teal sole and yellow shoelaces that say Saucony on the side.
When I meet Tessa’s eyes, her eyes look just as shocked as me. “These look—”
“Expensive,” Tessa fills in.
I turn them around, looking at all sides. “They’re gorgeous.”
“They are.” She uses her camera and snaps a picture. A minute later, she gasps.
“What?” I demand.
“That’s a three-hundred-dollar pair of sneakers!”
I drop them back into the box. “What?”
“We should sell them,” she whispers.
“Why are you whispering?” I ask.
“I don’t know; it just felt like I should do that in the presence of these sneakers that cost more money than I have in my bank account.” She’s still whispering, and honestly, she’s not wrong. It's more money than I have in my account too.
I pick up the other shoe to admire it, and when I do, I notice a post it note stuck to the bottom of the shoe. I pull it off and read it.
So you don’t get blisters the next time you run across campus.
-Zane
I read the note again and then a third time. “What’s it say?” Tessa finally asks, exasperated. I finally show it to her. “Ahhhhh, he’s in love with you.”
I laugh; I can’t help it. “How in the world did you get that from one sentence?”
“He even cares about your feet. I mean, if that’s not love, what is?” I carefully put the shoes back in the box. “Ah, ah, ah. Try them on.”
I debate a moment and then finally cave. Honestly, I’m dying to try them on. I slip them on. “Oh. Ohhhh. Is this how shoes are supposed to feel?” I ask.
“I wouldn’t know. Are they amazing?” Tessa’s eyes are wide.
I put on the other one and stand. “Oh my word. These are the most amazing pair of shoes I’ve ever tried on.” I hear the sound of Tessa taking a picture. “What are you doing?”
“Taking a picture for Zane,” she informs me. “You’re going to send it to him.”
“No, I’m not.”
She meets my gaze. “Evie, he just spent three hundred dollars on a pair of shoes for you. I think he wouldn’t mind seeing that they fit.”
“You’re right,” I grumble. “I can’t believe he did all this for me.”
Tessa sits back with my box of Chinese in her hands. “Yep. Totally in love.”