The Sophomore (College Years 2)

He smiles. “Will you share?”

I slowly shake my head, teasing him. “Nope.”

Jackson mock pouts. “Come on. So selfish.”

“Says the king of selfish,” I tease back.

His mock pout disappears, hurt filling his gaze. “You’re right. I am the king of selfish. Always taking advantage of you.”

“I didn’t mean it like that—”

“Yeah,” he cuts me off. “You did. And it’s cool. I get it. I’ve been oblivious to you for so long. Taking advantage of your friendship. Of you always being there. I counted on you, when you couldn’t always count on me.”

I didn’t want to start such a serious conversation between us the morning after we had sex for the first time, but here we go. “It’s partially my fault too.”

He literally scoffs. “That I took advantage of you? How?”

“I shouldn’t have been such a doormat,” I say with a shrug. “I was weak when it came to you.”

“You’re my weakness now. You always have been,” he says, his voice low.

My heart leaps at his admission. Is he for real? The sincerity in his gaze, on his face, tells me, yes. “I kept waiting and waiting, hoping you’d notice.”

“I noticed,” he says immediately. “I just—I was in denial.”

“Okay, then I was hoping you’d finally realize,” I amend.

His smile is slow. Sexy. “I did. Finally.”

“Yes.” My answering smile is slow as well. “You did.”

The server appears at our table with the vanilla lattes we ordered when we first arrived, and Jackson orders for himself and for me, taking charge. I sit back and watch him, yet again unable to tear my gaze away. I think about what we did earlier, when we took a shower together. We lathered each other up, soapy bubbles everywhere, making our skin slick. Fingers seeking and finding all of our secret places, where we like to be touched the most. Mouths locked, kissing hungrily, as if we couldn’t get enough of each other. We didn’t have actual sex, but we got each other off, and it was…fun.

Lots and lots of fun.

“What are you thinking about?” he says after the server leaves.

“The shower.” I grin, my cheeks growing warm.

“It was all right,” he says nonchalantly with a shrug, barely holding back a smile. Now he’s the one teasing.

“You were the one shouting my name earlier, so I’m guessing it was more than all right for you,” I return.

“Got me there,” he says, stroking his jaw, looking thoughtful. “Heard from any of our friends this morning?”

I shake my head, trying to take a sip of my drink, but it’s still piping hot so I set it back down. “Have you?”

“Caleb texted me. Wanted to know if we’re going to the frat party tonight,” he answers.

“Are we?”

“Do you want to?” he asks.

“Probably. Ava wants to go, and I want to spend as much time with her as possible before she leaves,” I say, pausing for a moment before I continue. “And did Caleb really ask if we were going?”

“Yes, he did.” Jackson thrusts his phone out toward me, the text exchange with Caleb pulled up. I squint as I read it, seeing that, yep, Caleb asked exactly that.

Caleb: You and Ellie coming to the party tonight? Or will you two still be too busy coming in your room?