Looking remorseful, he nods as if he completely understands what he did was wrong. And maybe he really does.
Who knows…
“I just want a chance to show you that I’m not the same guy I was back then.” Angling his big body towards me, he leans just a bit closer. His eyes continue pleading with mine. “I’m sure you’ve grown and changed in the fifteen months you were gone… well, so have I. Give me a chance to prove that to you. We were so good together, Ivy.” His eyes search mine. “Weren’t we?”
Hundreds of unbidden memories tumble their way through my head as we sit and talk. Because we did have fun together. I’d fallen really hard for Finn freshman year. With my front teeth sinking into my lower lip, I mull over the possibility of starting something up with him again.
God… if Lexie knew I was even contemplating the idea of giving Finn another chance, she would string me up alive. For whatever reason, she’d never liked him. Not even in the beginning when I’d just started seeing him. She thought he was nothing more than a cocky player who was running a game on me.
But… I’d never felt that way. Well, not until she started sending me all those pictures.
He’d been so sweet. Taking me out to eat. Walking me to class. Showing up with flowers. Just little things like that. Things that had burrowed easily under my skin. And I guess, because of the situation with my dad, I’d been desperate to find someone to love. Someone to feel connected to since I didn’t necessarily have that with my family.
When I’d first arrived at Barnett, even though Lexie and I were rooming together, I’d still felt a bit lost. The death of my mom when I’d been fifteen had all but devastated me. And my dad remarrying six months later had only made everything worse.
Right before the end of first semester, I’d met Finn at a party and he had literally swept me off my feet. I mean, everyone on campus knew who Finn McKenzie was. Superstar stud lacrosse player. He was bright and handsome and well liked.
The fact he’d sought me out to spend time with had made me feel special during a time when I hadn’t felt special to anybody. Not since my mother had died. In the six months we were together, not once had I ever suspected he might be cheating on me or seeing other girls behind my back.
Not until Lexie started bombarding me with all those photos. After a while I’d just stopped looking at them. I kept them in a file and watched the number of pictures grow until everything I’d felt for Finn was gone.
And now here he was. Fifteen months later. Wanting a second chance.
Had he changed?
Had he matured?
He definitely looked more mature. In the time I’d been gone, he’d lost the last of his cute boyishness. His handsome face was all chiseled planes and angles. His body was bigger. Shoulders wider. Waist tapered. He was even more attractive than when I’d first met him two years ago.
But were his changes more than just physical in nature? And did it even matter anymore if they were? I couldn’t help but admit there was something easy about falling back into a relationship with a guy who had once meant something to you. A person who knew what you liked and didn’t like. But by the same token, that relationship already had baggage attached to it.
I needed to figure which one outweighed the other.
“I don’t know,” I finally murmur. Not because I’m trying to be coy or play games but because I genuinely don’t know what to do.
His hazel eyes burn into mine. “I’m just asking for a chance, Ivy,” he finally says, “just one chance to prove that I’ve grown and really changed.”
Unable to hold his eyes any longer, my gaze falls to our still connected hands. All of the good times we had continue swimming through my head and before I realize it, the words are tumbling out of my mouth. “Okay. One date.”
His lips pull up at the corners as he gently squeezes my hand. “You won’t regret it, I promise.”
I have the sudden feeling I probably will regret giving him another chance…
Especially when I tell Lexie.
Chapter Eight
I just heard that some lucky girl got partnered up with our very own legend on the football field in a business ethics class. Damn… I knew I should have stuck it out with that major… KingOfCampus.com
“For the next six weeks, you’re going to work with a partner on a project that will be worth sixty percent of your final grade in this class.” She pauses as shocked gasps ripple throughout the room. Apparently expecting just such a reaction, Professor Paulson nods her head as if to reconfirm what we’re all hoping we somehow misheard. “Yes, that’s right. Sixty percent. It will be worth more than anything else you do in here, so keep that in mind when working on it. Not only does the topic need to be well researched, it will have to be completely fleshed out so it supports the main idea of your project.”