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“Dude, you look like shit,”Spencer says as he joins me. My class just finished, and I’ve barely survived. I need some caffeine, STAT.
I rub my hand over my jaw, the scruff scratching my palm. “Gee, thanks, dude.”
“Hey, I’m just calling it as I see it.”
“I need coffee. It’s been a long day.”
And an even longer night. My class dragged on, which definitely didn’t help keep me awake. At one point, I started to doze off, only for my professor to ask me a question. I managed to pull it off, but we both knew I was barely holding on. And that was just class number one. I have to be at the lab in half an hour, so I figured I might as well get some caffeine in me beforehand.
Spencer gives me a once-over. “Have you even slept? The light was still on when I came home around two.”
“Yeah,” I shrug, pushing open the door to Cup It Up. “I just had some work to do.”
One good thing about this particular class? It’s barely a few minutes’ walk from the coffee shop, making it easy for me to grab the good stuff quickly before rushing to my next class.
The bell chimes as I step inside the coffee shop, only to stop in my tracks when my eyes fall on her.
Jade.
I’m not sure if she heard the door or if she can feel me the way I can feel her the moment she enters a room, but slowly, she looks up, those baby blues meeting mine, and it’s like I’ve been kicked in the nuts.
So close, and yet, so far away.
The last time I’d been this close to her was the night I took her off that table and drove her home, which was ten days ago. I know because I’ve been counting them off. Ten long ass days, and every one of them, I thought about her, about what she told me that night.
That’s why I promised I’d never fall in love again. The only thing it ever brings you is heartache.
I went and did it anyway.
She’s standing on the side with Yasmin. Nixon’s wife sees me, a sad smile flashing on her face before she returns her attention to Jade and whispers something softly to her, to which Jade nods.
“You’re pathetic.” Spencer pushes me further inside, the door closing firmly behind him. “Why don’t you just go to her?”
I shake my head, forcing myself to look away. “It’s not that easy.”
The guy standing at the counter moves to the side, so we step forward, placing our order. That prickly sensation at the nape of my neck is as insistent as ever, and it takes everything in me not to turn around and seek her out.
“It’s exactly that easy. You go to her. You talk like the two freaking adults you are, and you make shit work.”
“Seriously?” I glare at Spencer. “You think you’re the right person to give relationship advice? A guy who runs from commitment like the devil is at his heels?”
“Takes one to know one, man.”
My back stiffens as footsteps near, my heart speeds up, and I swear I can smell lavender. My eyes fall shut, and I inhale deeply, wanting to fill my lungs with it. Memorize it.
“Pa-the-tic,” Spencer mutters as the bell chimes again. A whoosh of cold air sends chills up my spine. Then she’s gone.
“Fuck off.”
The guy behind the display case places our coffees on the counter.
“If you would listen to me, you’d be singing a different tune.”
“Hardly.”
There is no amount of talking that could help us, maybe if things were different.
