AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Oh my God. I wanted to bang my head against the wall. This girl was driving me crazy.
“I don’t understand what they have to do with us,” I said stubbornly.
“Everything. They have everything to do with us.”
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m not giving up.”
Melissa looked at me for a moment, her expression as soft as her voice when she finally whispered, “I don’t want you to.”
Somehow confused and elated at the same time, I yelled, “You make zero sense! None. Not an ounce.”
She let out a frustrated laugh and shrugged one shoulder. “Welcome to my brain.”
• • •
The next day I made sure that Melissa saw me walk into the student union with a pretty brunette and sit down with her for lunch. The truth was that Serena and I were study partners for one of our classes, but Melissa didn’t need to know that. A moment later, I glanced back at the table Melissa occupied and noticed it empty. Curious, I wondered what that meant.
When the following day rolled around, I joined Melissa instead of ditching her.
“Where’s your new girlfriend?” she asked, her tone snarky.
“Why do you care?”
“I don’t.” Her blue eyes narrowed as she faked a smile. “But is that what she is? Is she your girlfriend?” Her gaze darted around the room before meeting mine.
“No, but I was thinking of asking her out.”
Melissa swallowed hard as she looked everywhere but at me. “Yeah, um.” She gathered her things. “You should do that.”
Reaching for her hand, I stopped her. “Unless there’s some reason why you don’t think I should.”
Please be honest for once, I begged her with my eyes. With me, with herself.
“You can do whatever you want.” She pulled out of my grip and stalked away.
Except give up on you, obviously.
• • •
Jack was coming home today and I felt like a kid going to Disneyland, too excited to sleep. Gran was busy in the kitchen making food while Gramps pretended to relax in his recliner, but constantly looked out the front window for Jack’s car. Everyone was excited.
When my brother finally walked through the door, I was holed up in my room, trying to distract myself with homework. Gran and Gramps’s noisy excitement filtered throughout the house as the front door shut, and I headed into the living room where the conversation had already started without me. After catching up about his new workout routine and how the guys in the major leagues could not only hit Jack’s pitches, but could hit them far, we headed into the kitchen for dinner.
Jack continued to fill us in on what we’d missed since talking to him last. The annulment paperwork had been officially filed in Alabama, so he was simply waiting for Chrystle to sign it, hoping it would happen in the next day or so. I worried that she wouldn’t, but Jack seemed unconcerned, claiming that the two of them were over and she knew it, so why wouldn’t she sign?
I choked back a laugh. “Have you met her? She’s a total bitch.”
“Dean! Language!” Gran’s forehead furrowed as she shook a her fork in my direction.
“Sorry, Gran,” I said, slumping a little lower in my chair.
Jack chuckled at Gran before turning back to me. “She signed a pre-nup before we were married, so she doesn’t gain anything by not signing.”
“Except control,” I muttered.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he snapped. Apparently I’d pissed him off, but I wasn’t sure why.
Gramps cleared his throat. “How many times do we need to remind you both to watch your mouths?” He glanced at Gran, who gave him a nod of approval.
