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I sit next to her, and right now, we’re off. No sex, but we talk every day. For some reason, we can’t let each other go.
And where I had been optimistic about a new school and a new start, my first day of law school, I see a familiar face. Motherfucker!
I wasn’t expecting my mortal enemy, the man who has had it out for me since third grade to be sitting four rows ahead of us beside his long-standing boyfriend.
“Did you know he’d be here?” Jen asks, leaning into me.
The last I heard from my ma was that Xan was going to Harvard, his father’s choice from the beginning.
“Xan’s mom told mine he’d be attending Harvard.”
“So,” she pauses for a second, “why is he here? And his hot boyfriend?”
The conversation must be overheard by some old classmates from Notre Dame. The guy who’d been in most of our undergrad classes, whose name I forgot, begins to fill in the blanks. “He wanted to stay with his boyfriend and stick it to his father, all at the same time.”
I know one thing about Xander Lynol that made me feel sorry for the guy. He and his father mix worse than he and I do. As close as I am to my dad, I’d be lost without his influence. And to know that any young adult doesn’t have that same connection makes me sad.
“Makes sense, no secret in town his father and him hate one another,” Jen explains.
“Hate? That’s a powerful word.” Again, I hope it’s not the case.
“Aww, baby, are you going soft when it comes to Xander Lynol?” she asks.
I roll my eyes and squeeze her knee. “No, but as close as my dad and I are, it’s a little sad.” There’s that word I keep on using.
“Clarkston Jackson Farmer, not everyone has the perfect family like you do.”
We’re not perfect, but in all the things the Lynols have over us, a loving family isn’t one of them. Though, I know firsthand that Liz Lynol is a loving mother. At least the jackass has her.
Xander turns his head slightly, his eyes locking with mine, and a quiet curse leaves his vicious lips.
“By that reaction, I’d say he didn’t know you’d be here either,” Jen surmises.
I learned that my ma and Liz barely talk about us anymore. She told me once it’s one way Liz ensures she doesn’t accidentally give something away that Xander holds private and vice versa with me.
Xander leans over to whisper in his boyfriend’s ear. I’ve seen the guy with him throughout undergrad, but I always had a hard time remembering his name. Daniel, Dennis…something along those lines.
His boyfriend had not been a poli-sci major, but Jen hadn’t been one either, and here she is.
“Xan’s boyfriend was an economics major, like me,” she explains, “and is wicked smart. He wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Can’t imagine Daddy Warbucks is happy about that.”
I’d assume not. His man turns around and waves to Jen. “He’s a nice guy. David Langston is his name.”
I knew it started with a D.
She waves back, and they exchange smiles. Can’t say the same thing will happen with Xander and me.
“You know, babe,” she begins, and even when we’re off, it’s what she calls me. “Don’t you think you’re both a little too old at this point to hold a grudge?”
Every couple of months, she points out the childishness of the two of us. “He started it first.” I laugh, but a ha-ha doesn’t accompany my tone.
She arches a brow, and I know I’ve just proven her point.
“Yeah, I don’t need a closing statement to know I won.”
Jen and I have a competitive streak, and one of us always wins with any point to be made, and she’s right—she won this time.
“I’d love nothing more than Xander Lynol to be a distant memory in my everyday life, but he’s that constant gnat that hangs around the bad apples.”
