And although I want to refuse to go with her, I know I can’t. Especially not now that I know why she’s going.
God, Syd… She’s in this mess, and Jarett is not who I thought he was, either. I never saw any of it coming.
Thing is, I never see anything coming. What happened in Destiny, then finding Jarett only to lose him. Lose him and find him again, on the night I saw Sydney in that alley with a drug dealer.
Just goes to show. I drop my pen on the desk and pull my hair out of my face, knotting it quickly on top of my head. I mean, what do I know, in the end?
Something? Nothing?
Much less than I thought I did, that’s for sure.
The bar is quiet and dim as I step inside and let the door close at my back. I take a deep breath. Wipe my hands on my skirt.
I stood outside for ages, ridden by doubt, before I mustered my courage and entered. This isn’t like me, to be so nervous, scared of something as trivial as checking out a bar and asking a few questions.
Then again, it was always different where Jarett was concerned. My bravado always deserted me when it came to him. Everything around him felt… important.
More important than anything else in my silly little life, and I won’t start thinking about how empty it felt after we moved and I lost contact with him.
Because that’ll only serve to scare me more.
I’m only here to satisfy my curiosity, I tell myself, find out anything I can about Jarett, because
… because…
I just want to know. Could be because he was such an ass to me last time, I decide as I advance toward the back where the bar is, a dark, polished affair with dim Christmas strings of lights hanging behind, over the shelves with the drinks. He changed.
Right? He totally did. He was a quiet loner when I met him, not an arrogant jerk. I mean, I would have noticed. I would have known. I wouldn’t have handed my heart—
“What will you have?” The man has dark hair and wide shoulders, and for a moment my heart actually frigging stops.
Oh God.
But then I realize it’s not Jarett. Finding him here was a very real possibility, which I somehow failed to consider. Of all the brilliant, thought-out plans…
“A beer?”
“Are you asking me?” He gives me an easy grin.
I lick my dry lips. “A Bud.”
“You got it.”
He’s handsome, I notice as I settle on a stool, stashing my backpack at my feet and placing my purse on the bar. Attractive in an older, darker sort of way.
Older and darker than Jarett, and I really have to stop doing this. Comparing every guy I see to Jarett.
It’s not healthy.
Especially since there’s never been anything between us. I thought we were friends once, but even that turned out to be a lie.
The bartender slides the Bud in front of me, and I wipe the mouth before I take a sip. “Is it always so empty in here?”
He chuckles. “Nah. Soon it will fill up. You came just in time to get a good spot at the bar.”
Ah. I take another sip of beer. “This place hasn’t been around long. I know all the bars around the campus.”
“Opened a few months ago.” He wipes the bar down, and leans over it. “I’m David, by the way.”