You and Everything After

But Paige never really knew the full story. And I think I’d rather keep up the façade that being flirty is just part of my personality, rather than open that shit can up again.

I knew she’d have a reaction over Ty. He’s…different. Yes, he’s in a wheelchair. And Paige…that’s all she sees. But it’s kind of the last thing I see. There’s something about him. He lifts about three times as much as I do, and his body is cut to perfection. And his eyes—oh, that’s why I let him kiss me. That’s why I kissed back! It was like hypnosis. But there’s something else when I’m near him, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s like we’re playing this intense game of chess, studying one another to find strengths and weaknesses. Only, I don’t want to exploit his. I only want to understand them.

He’s going to the mixer with us tonight, and I know I’m going to see him in about five minutes. It’s been six hours since our friendship pact—sealed with a kiss, I suppose. I can’t be easy with him, though. I like him this much and I barely know him. If I give in to what my body wants, and then he ends up moving on to the next girl, it will suck. No, it will more than suck—it will completely derail my promise to myself to make this year all about me and what I want. Instead, it will be all about Ty and how sucky it is to live down the hall from him.

“Ladies?” Ty says with a rhythmic knock on our half-open door. “Hope you’re decent. We’re coming in.”

He has his hands over his face, but his fingers are spread so he can see everything. It’s stupid, but it makes me giggle. Paige just rolls her eyes, but she straightens up fast as soon as Nate trails in behind Ty. I look over to catch Rowe’s reaction and notice her frame growing smaller. If the race to win Nate’s heart comes down to confidence, I’m afraid Rowe doesn’t stand a chance in the shadow of Paige Owens, who has decided to wear her silk dress tonight, lest someone on campus not have the chance to know exactly what her nipples look like.

Paige seems to be ten steps ahead of us, all the way to the gym; I know this too is strategic. She’s always looking for the angle, the way to make sure the guy she wants has no choice but to notice her ass. My sister is a beautiful girl, and she’d be beautiful without all of the tricks. But I tried to tell her that once, and she just told me I was jealous. So, if she wants to wrap herself in see-through fabric and parade in front of me like a stripper for attention, I let her.

As soon as we enter the gym, Paige turns it on heavily, pulling out every stop she can think of to make sure Nate’s eyes are on her, and only her. Of course, the way she pops her chest out seems to have Ty’s entire focus too, and something in me…just…snaps.

“They’re tits, boys. Get over them,” I say, walking ahead to the registration table. I can feel Ty move closer to me, but I don’t give him the satisfaction of eye contact. He can take this opportunity to get in a few more good looks at Paige’s breasts. My sister is oblivious, still preening in front of Nate, competing even harder now that he’s moved his hand to the small of Rowe’s back.

As soon as we enter the gym, an announcer starts giving directions to break people up based on middle names and birthdays. I always hated these types of mixer games. We did this a lot at soccer camp on the first day. I always got stuck in the worst groups—with girls from rich schools, who weren’t really good at soccer—so our group ended up losing whatever drill they made us do.

It’s the same now. There aren’t many J middle names for females, and the guys starting to form the J group in the middle of the room all look like the kind who yell out their car windows and whistle at women they think are hot! Before anyone can ask me my middle name, I backtrack to a seat against the wall in the corner and pull out my phone to pretend I have something important to do.

“Me, I’m more of an ass man,” Ty says, settling into the space next to me.

“Wha—?” I ask, probably still a little pissed that he blatantly ogled my sister’s tits.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, your sister makes a good case for boobs, but I’m just more into asses,” he says, stretching his hands behind his neck, cracking it to one side before pulling up the corner of his lip into this cocky half smile and winking at me.

“I take it back. We can’t be friends,” I say, turning my attention back to my phone.

“Good,” he says, which gets my attention, and I snap my eyes up to look at him again. “I was thinking about it, and this whole friends thing is going to make it awkward when I kiss you again.”