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I shot him a quick glance, which was a mistake because I found myself getting sucked into the deep green of his eyes. Staring at Jack was like falling into quicksand, when you got sucked in, it was hard to get out.
I felt heat climbing up my neck into my face and panic started to boom in my chest. If I didn’t get out of here, I was going to end up throwing myself at him. “Um, yeah, uh…” I stalled as I stuffed my books and notebooks into my backpack. “I’ve really got to run to my class, so, sorry,” I responded as I darted around him and ran out the door.
“Ava!” he called out, sounding exasperated.
Yeah, I handled that like a boss. Super cool.
****
Chapter 8
Jack
I walked up to Ava’s last class, stunned she’d been able to avoid me all day. I was even more stunned that she wanted to avoid me. I’d never made this much effort to hook up with a girl in my life. I knew she was still attracted to me, I could tell by the way she was looking at me in chemistry. I’d slept with enough women to recognize the look she gave me, an expression I’d seen on her face when I’d had my hand between her legs on Friday night.
Seeing her response gave me renewed confidence that I could convince her to hook up with me.
I saw Nikolai standing next to the door of Ava’s classroom and frowned. Had Ava spoken to Hannah about what happened Friday? Even though talking to another person about my fucking feelings for a girl was one hundred percent out of my comfort zone, I was getting frustrated not understanding why Ava was working so hard to avoid me. I know I acted like a dick at the end of the night on Friday, but had I fucked up that bad?
I walked up to Nikolai. “Has Hannah talked to you about Ava?”
Nikolai frowned. “No. Why would Hannah talk to me about Ava?”
I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck feeling stupid as fuck. “I hooked up with Ava on Friday.”
Nikolai didn’t look very surprised as he broke into an easy grin. “What, did the condom break? Why are you so fucked up?”
I punched Nik in the arm a little harder than I intended. “Watch it, Ivanov.”
Nikolai looked at me in genuine shock. “What the fuck is your problem, Jack? Since when do you care if I talk shit to you about a girl you’ve slept with?”
I looked around the deserted hallway. “I didn’t sleep with her. In fact, I turned her down.”
“Why?”
“She…” I looked around the hallway like the hallway was crawling with spies, or some shit. “She just got out of a relationship. I think she was looking at me as a rebound.”
Nikolai shrugged. “So? Why does that matter?”
I blew out a deep breath. “I didn’t like it. And I don’t like that I didn’t like it.”
Nikolai nodded his head. He had his own shit going on with Hannah, shit that had his head spinning around since he first mentioned her to me. I wasn’t particularly surprised they were dating, given his interest in her, but when I considered it for myself—dating, commitment—my chest seized up with discomfort.
“Shit, you know I’m fucked up, Nik.”
“I think that quality is the source of our friendship,” he responded jokingly.
I laughed but didn’t really feel it.
“This has never happened before.”
“Yeah, well, join the motherfucking club, asshole.”
I opted not to share with Nikolai my plan of hooking up with Ava, considering his newfound relationship with Hannah. I doubt Hannah would be thrilled if he’d known all along that I wasn’t pursuing Ava to put a fucking ring on her finger, or whatever the fuck Nikolai was doing with Hannah. I wanted Ava for one reason; to put her on the list with my other conquests, get her off my fucking my mind, and move on.
The bell rang and the object of my desire and angst walked out of the classroom with Hannah. She froze when she saw me, but didn’t run, which I saw as progress. Instead, she casually ignored me. That didn’t work for me either.
“Ava?”
