Dear Love, I Hate You (Easton High)

Xav backed into a parking space in reverse to give us a clear shot of the water, grabbed a few blankets and pillows off the back seat and said, “You coming, Harper?”

We’ve been lying in the bed of Xavier’s truck with the tailgate open, watching the sky, laughing and discussing everything but important matters for over an hour now.

We didn’t bring up the confessions, or my reputation being dragged through the mud.

We’ve just been talking on a bed of blankets, munching on the three-week-old Jolly Ranchers Xav had lying around in his car. Pretending like the hunt for Zac and Love isn’t still raging and the entire school isn’t out to get us.

“Fucking clouds,” Xavier huffs when the sea of stars above our heads disappear behind a thick layer of fog.

“Didn’t check the weather for tonight, did we?” I tease.

A devilish smirk tugging at his lips, Xav whisks his head to look at me and sets my skin on fire with one question.

“You seriously think I was able to think about the weather after finger-fucking you against the wall?”

M

y cheeks heat up to intolerable degrees.

“So… Duke, huh?” I clear my throat, my sudden topic change fueling the sexy smirk on his face. “I’m guessing that basketball scholarship is a lifelong dream of yours?”

“You bet.” He shifts his attention back to the sky. “My pops and I have been talking about it since I was a five. Can’t see myself doing anything else.”

“I envy that,” I confess. “Having a passion, a purpose. I wish I had one of those.”

“You expect me to believe that the girl who knows everything doesn’t know what to do with the rest of her life?” Xav taunts.

“I’m serious.” I nudge him with my elbow. “I’ve never really had the chance to figure out what my thing was, you know?” My eyes widen. “Oh, God, what if I don’t have a thing?”

Xav laughs a deep laugh that makes my pulse fall out of step.

“We all have a thing, Harper.” He looks at me through the darkness. “Just takes some of us longer to find it.”

I nod, a shy smile forming on my lips.

I want nothing more than to believe him.

“What about you?” Xavier revives the conversation. “What’s the deal with your scholarship? I’ve seen your house, Vee. Your folks are clearly comfortable.”

“Their money, not mine.” I shrug. “I’ve known from the day we found out my sister could sing that I’d have to fend for myself.”

“Ashley, is it?” Xavier asks.

I arch an eyebrow, questioning his knowledge of my sister’s name. Xavier never even met Ashley. She was never at our play dates when we were kids, too busy getting yelled at by her singing coaches.

Xav never saw my dad, either. Curtis D’Amour would’ve preferred peeling off his own skin than attending a “Sunday brunch.” He’d always stay back to train for his next race.

Xavier quickly picks up on my interrogations.

He grins. “I asked around about you. Sue me.”

My stomach flutters.

“Did you, now?” I chuckle. “Who’d you ask?”

“Theo.” He scoffs. “Huge mistake, by the way. He just wouldn’t shut up about your sister.”

I half smile, and half cringe at the image of Ash and Theo devouring each other in Finn’s bathtub. I have no idea how I feel about these two, not that it matters.