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There area whole list of things I could say I somewhat expected tonight. Like getting drunk with my friends. Maybe bringing home a girl who knows I'm only looking for a good time. Hell, I'd even add streaking down Zayn's street to that list if I had enough alcohol in my system. But having to watch Tyeler flirt with Mason Lockhart for hours? Yeah, that wasn't even a goddamn possibility.
The last time I saw Tye—outside of a courtroom—was at the police department, the same night they were bringing all of us in for questioning. I'll never forget the look in her eyes as we passed by each other. Two gray eyes, normally dancing with danger, completely flat. She looked dead inside, and I couldn't blame her. Her best friend was gone.
I knew that night that things would never be the same, but I don't think I ever thought they would change this much. And when Tye wouldn't open the door for me the next day, and wouldn't even look my way at Jace's trial, I was sure I'd never see her again. I don't know if being wrong makes me feel better or worse.
"He doesn't know who she is," Jace tells me. "No one here does."
Paige shoots daggers in their direction with her eyes. "Yeah, well, I do. And maybe someone needs to tell her to get the fuck out of here."
As she goes to do exactly that, Jace pulls her back and wraps an arm around her. "Easy, tiger. You're scrappy, but I really don't think you want to be on her bad side."
"Jace is right." I keep my eyes locked with the same girl I met two years ago and never forgot. "Tye isn't your typical girl. She's ruthless. There is no intimidating her and being on her radar is not something you want."
"So, you think she could kick my ass?" Paige presses.
I chuckle and turn to face my best friend's girl. "I think she's the type to bring a knife to a gun fight andwin."
That's clearly not what she wanted to hear, but that's for Jace to deal with. Me, I'm too busy trying to figure out what she wants. There's no way she picked this school out of a hat. No. She's here for a reason, and that girl doesn't do anything half-assed.
If it's me she's here for, I may as well wave the white flag now.
AN HOUR GOES BYand I still can't seem to take my attention off her, despite how many times Jace tries to distract me. She glances my way every now and then, but it's clear she's definitely not the same girl I once knew.
Walking through the campus of Florida State, life doesn't get better than this. I didn't always know this was going to be the place for me, but after being recruited to play football for them after my dad got a scout to come to one of my high school games, I couldn't be happier.
"Dude," I say to Jace excitedly. "Have you seen this place?"
He's staring down at his phone but looks up when I elbow him. "Yeah, it's great. Listen, I'll meet you back at our place. I'm going to try calling Paige."
"She's still not answering you?"
"No, and it's pissing me off."
I sigh and wish him luck as he heads back toward our penthouse. I hate seeing him so beat up over the fact that she won't return his calls or texts, but a big part of me wants to scream I told youso in his face. Before we left North Haven, I was on his case about locking shit down with her. With going to school across the country, a girl needs to know she's actually wanted. But he didn't do it. And now she's ghosting him. It's not what I pictured happening, but it's ultimately the same outcome.
I'm checking out the huge, old buildings—surrounded by much shorter palm trees than we have in California—when the front of me hits something small yet hard. There's a mess of pink hair and books falling to the ground as I jump back, and I'm instantly spewing apologies.
"I'm so sorry," I say as I drop down and pick the books up off the ground. "I wasn't looking where I was—"
The words are sucked straight from my lungs as my gaze travels from her beige heels, up her tanned body, all the way to her perfectly sculpted face. She's by far the most gorgeous girl I've ever seen in my life, and she looks anything but amused as she rolls her eyes and I stand up.
"G-going," I finish my sentence with an embarrassing stutter.
"Clearly," she sasses. "Maybe you should look where you're walking instead of staring up at the sky."
Her light pink hair cascades down the side of her face. It's definitely an odd color, one that most people can't pull off, but she does it with ease. Her eyes are a smoky shade of gray, which is just one of many things that are different about her, and I'm instantly under her spell.
"Shit, you're slow, aren't you?" she groans.
I shake myself from being so awestruck. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Can you give me my books back? Not everyone has all the time in the world."
"Oh, right." I pass them back to her. "Sorry, you're just...you're really pretty."
She chuckles, and I swear I could spend my whole life listening to it. "And you're a sweet talker."
"Part time. The rest of the time I'm an arrogant son of a bitch."
