I want the cuddling on the couch. I want to hold her hand without worrying who might see. I want to be able to kiss her in the morning while she complains about her morning breath and not have to wait until Easton leaves for class.
He'll be mad. That's practically a guarantee. But maybe if I tell him, he'll eventually get over it and not put me six feet under. I mean, he has to appreciate the level of respect it takes to tell your best friend that you're dating his sister, right?
Before I can talk myself out of it, I take a deep breath and head downstairs. Easton is in the kitchen making something to eat. He looks up to see who came into the room, but when he sees it's only me, he looks back down at his sandwich.
“Want one?” he asks. “I still have all the stuff out.”
Honestly, knowing what I'm about to do, I have no appetite. “That's all right.”
“Okay.”
I'm quiet for a moment while my brain tries to work out how to say this. Also, there's the fact that he has a knife right next to him, and I should really wait until that's not in his possession—you know, just to be safe.
He puts the ingredients away and drops the knife in the sink. As he grabs his sandwich, he looks over at me. “You good, man?”
I rub the back of my neck. “Uh, yeah. I wanted to talk to you about something though.”
“All right?” he says questioningly. “What's up?”
I'm about to open my mouth, to let the truth come flowing out whatever the fucking consequences may be, when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I roll my eyes and pull it out, but the second I see who the message is from, I stop breathing.
Blade: Tell me. How are you liking my sloppy seconds?
The next thing to come in is a picture of me with Amelia. She's smiling brightly about something I said, with my hand on her lower back as we walk through the courtyard. It's not the most revealing picture, but the way she's looking at me tells a story all on its own.
Blade: Enjoy her now. You won't be able to for long.
My whole body goes cold as I read his words. I thought I had taken care of him. Made the problem go away. But if he's back already, it's definitely with a vengeance. Blade is not the kind of guy to back down, and I should've known that, but after he blew up Amelia's dorm room, there was no logic to reason with me. The need to hurt him became too powerful to resist, but it only brought us here.
“Z?” Easton gets my attention. “You said you wanted to talk?”
I shake my head, not looking away from my phone. “It's nothing. Forget it.”
Since I was little, I always wanted to be a lawyer. I would spend hours on the couch with my mom, watching reruns of Law and Order and dreaming of the day when I could be like one of them. It's been my dream for as long as I can remember. But sitting in this class, listening to my monotone-voiced professor drone on and on, I wish I chose something a little less draining.
The class finally ends with half the students needing to be woken up from the people next to them. Even I need to lightly nudge the girl to my right as I slip past her and out the door.
It's a gorgeous day out, with the leaves all the different colors of fall. I could sit out here and just stare at it for hours. Sweatshirt weather has always been my favorite. Don't get me wrong, I love a pair of shorts and a tank-top just as much as the next girl, but there's something about snuggling into a hoodie and feeling the cool breeze on your face.
“Meelz,” Zayn calls out, jogging over to me.
I stop and look him up and down. “Did you run here?”
His breathing is heavy, like he just ran a damn marathon. “Well, kind of. I had to park all the way across campus. Why is parking so overcrowded today?”
“There's a fundraiser thing by Frazier Hall.”
“Ah.” He nods. “That would explain it.”
“You could have just waited to see me until I got home, you know,” I point out.
He shrugs. “I know, but Easton's home, so I figured I would come pick you up so we could at least get a little time together.”
I can't help but swoon. “Fair enough.”
As we walk through campus, Zayn keeps looking around. He seems on edge—turning to glance behind us at least every few minutes. We're finally nearing his car when I ask about it.
“Are you okay? What are you looking for?”