The line is silent while I wrack my brain trying to gain any memory of these first moments together, but I come up empty.
“I take it you still don’t remember?”
“It doesn’t make sense. I remember having to unload cars that day and being ridiculously hungover.How do I not remember?”
“It’s okay, Jax.” Her voice is sweet and soothing as she tries to comfort me when I should be the one groveling for not remembering the first time I held her in my arms. “What mattersis that we did get to know each other. Plus, I like the memory of the bench. It’s a great story to tell.”
I scowl, angry at myself. “I’m glad you’re okay with it, ‘cus I’m not.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. The important thing is that we know each othernow.”
My feet move across the pavement without me telling them to move. “Can I come to see you?”
“What? Now?”
“Yeah, now. I’m passing the fountain, and I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.” I’m practically jogging to Stone Hall. “Just throw on a hoodie and meet me on the steps. Please?”
Candi huffs a laugh, “Alright. I doubt I could stop you at this point anyway. I’ll see you in a minute.” She hangs up, and I slide my phone back into my pocket and start running. I can’t shake the feeling that I need to make this right.
Rounding the building of Stone Hall, Candi is waiting for me, her hair in a bun on the top of her head, stray strands sticking out all over the place. She’s wearing adorable bunny slippers with matching bunny print pants, her black hoodie wrapped tight across her as she hugs herself for warmth. She looks sleepy and confused.
“What’s going on?”
Without breaking stride or uttering a word, I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close. She hugs me back, her arms clinging to me as she buries her head in my chest. That sweet smell of her hair grounds me and I breathe her in, taking the time to embed it in my memory before I dip her low. Candi lets out a squeal of surprise as my lips find hers. She holds me as tightly as I hold her and kisses me back with such possessiveness that it threatens to cripple me.
I want this girl.No, Ineedthis girl.
Our lips don’t part until I pull us upright, and as I do she moans her complaint. “Was that better than our first meeting?” I rub my thumb across the lips I’m obsessed with, her brown eyes wide and confused.
“That’s why you wanted me to come outside in the middle of the night?”
“Are you saying it wasn’t worth it?” I tease.
“No, no it was good. Very good.” Her hands rest on my hips and I lean down and kiss her once more.
“Good,” I say, my lips brushing against hers. “Because that’s how our first meeting should have gone.”
Chapter Fourteen
Candi
“Don’t have too much fun without me!” Polly prances over, giving me a quick hug before bounding out the door. The cheerleading squad is traveling with the basketball team as they head to a tournament over the weekend, which leaves me with the room all to myself.
Right now, it being Friday afternoon, Jaxon is getting ready to go to his second baseball practice of the day, but later he’s coming over to study. I’m an anxious mess, unable to sit still or focus on anything for too long.
Sure, it’s just a study date—at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself to keep the panic from setting in. Everything with Jaxon has amplified since that first date, that first kiss. That moment at the bench changed everything for me, all my fear and constant overthinking dissolved when he wrapped me in his arms and kissed me. So much so, that I completely forgot that we were making out in the middle of the campus with people wandering around. I never in my wildest dreams thought that could happen.
It never ceases to amaze me how much time he makes for me. He’s devoted to his sport and his academics, but he still manages to make me feel wanted and desired. Last week, when Polly andI had gone out on our roomie date, and he’d called me in the middle of the night just because he wanted to, it melted my heart. Yeah, he’d woken me up, but the sound of his voice was soothing.
The conversation, on the other hand, wasn’t.
Learning that Jaxon didn’t remember the first time we ran into each other stung, but somehow, I expected it. It makes sense that the super-hot baseball player who didn’t want to be there in the first place wouldn’t remember a girl like me.
Even the first time we officially met, exchanged names, and interacted for more than a couple of seconds, I could tell it didn’t register with him that we knew each other—snippets of conversation that he didn’t or couldn’t recall. I have to keep telling myself that he remembers me now. Maybe I’m not the girl he remembered at first, but now I’m the girl he wants. At least, I hope so.
Which is why I’m so damn nervous about him coming over.
Over the weeks we’ve spent together, it’s like coals have been stoked in my body, constantly simmering until Jaxon sets them ablaze with his touch. He’s awoken something in me that is refusing to fade back into the background.
