The colors of Woodcreek’s campus shifted once term ended, flowers springing up, and that hard heat of May sliding in. I’d crushed the semester, like always, and came away not just with passing marks to signify the end of my junior year, but aces across the board. I’d even managed to pull an A minus in my film class, putting in the work on my final exam. Billie had given me an A in the end, a victory and a perfect way to end the term. I thought I’d see her more those final days of classes, but she’d been mysteriously absent outside of recitation. She hadn’t even shown up at our final exam in lecture.
With not much to say to her anyway, I hadn’t put much thought into not seeing her. And I assumed, eventually, she’d get over what happened with her boy enough to talk to me. We were neighbors after all, and I figured we’d cross paths. We ended up doing so a couple weeks after the term ended.
I basically almost ran into her.
She had a box in her hands, her vision completely obstructed, which was why she almost ran into me. I nearly collided with her because, despite being distracted by the music pumping from my earbuds and my morning run, she still entranced me.
She was wearing these wedge heel things, stamping the earth with her shapely legs. They eased smoothly beneath her floral skirt with her strides, a summer top on that showed her bare midriff. It was hot as hell today, and she was showing off her tight, little tummy. Her red hair was also sticking to her neck with sweat, and I thought about how she used to sweat beneath me. I’d made her shiver into a quivering mess when I fucked her, the pair of us like animals that last time.
My stomach tightened, thinking about that last moment more than I liked and how it’d all fallen apart in the end. It’d fallen apart because of me and a fair bit of pride. Truth be told, Sinclair had done me a favor, the asshole. I should have cut all ties with Billie long before that moment due to the Marvelli thing but hadn’t been able to. I’d gotten wrapped up in her, and though things had started one way with us, they’d obviously shifted. She wasn’t my game anymore, nor simply my obsession to break. She’d become my beauty queen.
And I’d screwed her over.
She granted me with more of her attention than I deserved, her gaze dragging over my abs before finding my eyes. I always jogged without a shirt on. Most especially these days since it was so damn hot. Her chin lifted above her box. “LJ.”
The words “beauty queen” started to leave my lips, but I held back. I wet my mouth. “Hey. You need help with that?”
“No, I’m—”
I got it for her anyway, taking it. With a sigh, Billie directed me to her car, and she had all the doors open, several boxes inside. They all had words written on them too, things like bathroom and bedroom. I got the box in, then draped an arm over the top of her car. “You going somewhere?”
“Moving actually.” Literally no emotion on her end, let alone in her voice. Apparently, she reserved none for me. She covered her arms. “Moving to an apartment for next year. Broke my lease early.”
So she wasn’t even staying the summer, something I was doing. I planned to go back home here and there but, for the most part, was staying around here. I lifted a shoulder. “Isn’t that a bit of a downgrade?” I angled a finger over to her house. “I mean, because you had a house before.”
I literally sent this girl running for the hills, because I had my foot up my ass so far I couldn’t even take ownership of what I’d done. I’d played with her. Played with her and her ex-boyfriend. I couldn’t apologize for that douche canoe, though. Dude fucked around on her now, and I’d saved her from that shit later. What did bother me, though, was that I’d hurt her in the process.
Pride really was a son of a bitch.
Because with her standing here, for some reason, the words just wouldn’t come. For some reason, I just couldn’t say what needed to be said, that someway, somehow things had changed. I’d stopped trying to chase her down.
And just wanted to stay with her.
I didn’t want to play the game anymore and ended up being one of the ones who got played. I’d played my damn self, my own fault.
“Depends on how you look at it,” she stated, answering my previous question. She shrugged. “A change of scenery might be nice.”
I supposed for both of us really, probably the best thing for
her, putting a few miles between us. For a few reasons.
I closed the door for her, and casually she asked how my semester ended but was passive about it. I gripped my arms. “Did okay, I guess.”
“Just okay?” Her eyes lifted, all the red breezing across the tops of her bare shoulders. “I’m sure you aced everything.”
Because I had, I couldn’t help my small smile. I scratched the side of my neck. “Yeah. You do okay?”
“Not all As, but good.” She leaned back against the car, chewing her lip a little before looking at me. “Just one more year now. Same for you too, though, right?”
Yeah, which was crazy. About to begin my life, do the adult thing for once. I nodded. “Dasha’s coming in as a freshman next year. She’s been asking about you.”
The fact that her whole demeanor changed at the mere mention of my sister caused my stomach to squeeze. Honestly, my sister had asked about her a lot. Wondered if, when she came down to visit over the summer, they could see each other. I hadn’t had it in me to tell her the truth, that Billie wasn’t around anymore. That she wasn’t in my life. My sister had just believed Billie had been my friend, now we weren’t even that.
Billie’s smile was small. “I miss her. Give her my number if you haven’t. I’d love to talk to her again.”
My brow jumped up. She would? I nodded. “Sure. Yeah, sure. Of course.”
“Cool.”