“For sure.”
“Did you see Ellie though? She looked pissed that he brought those girls with him.” I glance over at Hayden just in time to see her roll her eyes.
“She probably is pissed.” Ellie and H
ayden have become friends, which is nice to see. Ellie could learn a thing or two from my ball buster. Girl needs to get a spine and Hayden is just the woman to teach her how.
“I know. We’ve talked about him. She realizes she’s a complete sucker for anything he does, and I told her she needs to learn to stand up for herself.” Hayden glances over her shoulder inside the condo. “Honestly, I think she should move on.”
“She probably should,” I agree.
“And then there’s Caleb.” She sighs loudly. Grabs my glass from where I left it and takes a big gulp. “What is up with him and Baylee?”
“They did this in high school too. It’s annoying.” I flip my burgers. Turn the hot dogs.
“You’re so sexy at the barbecue.” Hayden sidles up to me, slipping her arm around my waist. “I’m glad we’re not in the middle of a bunch of drama.”
“I hate drama,” I tell her seriously. “You should know this by now.”
“Oh, I do, Mr. Calm, Cool and Collected.” I bend down to drop a kiss on her upturned lips. “I guess we’ll let all of our friends indulge in the drama and we’ll just watch out for them.”
“That’s all we can do,” I tell her, kissing her again before I gently shove her away and swat her on the ass. “Now get out of here. You’re distracting me. I already burned the first round of burgers and hot dogs.”
She laughs, doing a little shimmy as she heads for the sliding glass door. “Love you,” she calls, waving her fingers at me.
“I love you too,” I murmur to myself, watching her go, my gaze lingering on her shiny blonde hair.
Damn. How’d I get so lucky?
Jackson Rivers’ story is next in The Sophomore, coming June 17th! Keep reading for a sneak peek!
The Sophomore Excerpt
Chapter One
Ellie
The text notification shows up every night at approximately the same time. I wait up for it, anticipation racing through my veins as usual. Anything to do with him has me on the edge of my seat, which is ridiculous.
He doesn’t feel the same way about me. It’s clear. It’s been clear for a while. My friends tell me I’m wasting my time on him, but I can’t help it. I care about him.
Too much.
I lie in bed with the lights off, my phone in my hand as I scroll TikTok. I work mostly nights during the summer anyway, so I’m usually up till the early morning hours. He knows this. He’s currently traveling the west coast and has a hard time sleeping too.
Jackson: You around?
I smile, my heart rate kicking up. I decide to make him wait until the two minute repeat notification pops up, and then I’ll answer him. Not like he’s sitting around waiting for my reply. i get this image of him living this glamorous, bohemian life. Traveling in a tour bus his dad actually bought for him, writing lyrics and having spontaneous jam sessions with his newfound band members.
What I don’t try and think about are the groupies who he could be getting with on a nightly basis. The girls go crazy for him. His social media has blown up since he’s gone on tour, and most of his followers—and fans—are women. I’m scared he’ll find so much success, he won’t come back here.
Worse, I’m scared I’ll never really see him again.
This is why I live for the nightly text conversations. Just like we used to have when we were in high school. Back then, I thought they meant so much more to me than they did to him, and that secretly devastated me. Especially when we’d be together at a party or whatever, and sometimes he’d act like I didn’t exist.
He’s a terrible human sometimes, I swear. But there’s something about him that’s so appealing. He’s charming. A natural charisma you can’t help but be drawn to. Oh, and then there’s his face. and the way he looks at me when he sings his songs.
As if he’s singing them to me.