by Cindy Miles
I shrugged with indifference. “No offense taken. But he didn’t come onto me. He was just being nice for plowing me down.” That was mostly true. The kiss wasn’t a come-on. He’d basically said so himself. It was a … what’d he call it? A reaction.
“Right. Brax doing something just to be nice.” She shook her head. “Maybe. But what I meant was: Brax Jenkins usually goes for a certain type.” Tessa shrugged and glanced me over, from my dusty boots, to my worn, hole-in-both-knees jeans, white tank and thick wad of mousy brown braid. Not to mention, zero make-up. “You’re about as opposite from that usual type as it gets.” She smiled, and her white teeth shone bright against her tanned skin. “But in a totally good way. You don’t want him bothering you, anyhow. Like I said, Olivia. Trouble.” She twirled a finger by her ear. “Maybe even a little loco. You’ll see. He’s like, all over campus, flirting up a different girl every day, scoring a different girl every weekend. So says my brother.”
I nodded. “Thanks for the heads-up, but I promise you—the last thing I’m looking for is a relationship. With Brax Jenkins or any other guy. My full concentration is on school.” I gave her a hesitant smile, hoping that wasn’t too much info.
“I’m from Lubbock. A lot of kids come here from there. What about you?”
And just that fast, Tessa changed gears, so I went with it. More than likely I’d never even run into Brax Jenkins from Boston again. Ever. I was pretty positive he didn’t hang out at the library or the observatory, and that’s where I’d be spending most of my time. Tessa didn’t need to tell me how polar opposite I was from Brax; that was beyond obvious. And, absolutely no big deal. I certainly wasn’t about to become his or anyone else’s throw-backs, conquests, or whatever else you call it, that was a sheer certainty.
What I accomplished here at Winston would set the pattern for the rest of my life, as well as the future of my family’s ranch. I had plans. And nothing—or no one—would stand in my way. That kiss? Yeah, it’d been shocking, to say the least. But now that I knew he’d probably done the same thing a dozen times that day? Chalk it up to experience. One I wouldn’t be repeating.
I smiled, and answered. “Born and raised on a small horse ranch in Jasper. Just north of Abilene. Three brothers, my mom, and grandpa. ” I was pretty sure all the gritty details of my small ranch life mucking out stalls, repairing fences and getting flung from insane horses wouldn’t interest Tessa, so it was my turn to change gears. “Want some help getting your stuff in?”
“Thought you’d never ask!” Tessa leapt up and headed for the door.
We trudged downstairs and crossed the parking lot to Tessa’s silver Jetta. It was loaded to the gills with clothes and shoes. More than I’d ever seen. In. My. Life. I shouldered several duffels and stacked three boxes high in my arms. The heavy scent of hair products and perfume permeated from the top one. My Grandpa Jilly would call her a girly girl.
“My brother Cole’s bringing the rest of it with his truck later on,” Tessa offered as we started back to the dorm. Made me wonder if Tessa had noticed how small of a space we’d be sharing. I wasn’t sure a truckload was going to fit, on top of what we’d carried in from her Jetta already. I’d brought minimal stuff, all of it easily contained on my side of the room.
As we walked down the hallway, Tessa looked over at me. “My god, woman, what do you do? Work out 24-7? Your arms are seriously cut.”
I gave a brief glance at my bared arms, which just looked skinny to me. I laughed. “Just a lot of chores, I guess. Ranch work. Breaking horses.”
“Ugh. I hate chores. And I’m pretty sure I hate horses, too.”
We dumped the couple of loads off at the dorm, and over the next hour and a half I got to know my roommate a little better. Tessa’s mom was from Mexico, which explained her gorgeous tanned skin and fluent Spanish. A pre-nursing student, she still had all of her core to finish. Her eyes bugged when I told her how many core classes I’d completed before I’d graduated high school.
“Astronomy major? Damn woman, your brain must be the size of a basketball in there.” She pointed to my head and her nose squinched up. “I hate science.”
“Okay, let me get this straight.” I smiled. “You want to be a nurse, but you hate science and chores?”
Tessa stared, blinked, then barked out a squeaky giggle. “Yeah, but I love people, and I want to be a labor and delivery nurse. Not much intense science involved there, right? It’s all gravity, baby! Pretty much just a push and catch sort of deal!” She laughed, and so did I. Surprisingly, I felt at ease with Tessa. If someone had pointed her out and said we’d be friends, I’m not a hundred percent positive I would have agreed. We were just so very opposite. Yet, I liked her.
A tinkling sound came from Tessa’s cell, and she grabbed it off the bed, her fingers flying over the keys as she responded to a text. “Cole’s out front! Let’s go!”
We met Tessa’s brother outside, and for some reason my eyes slipped to the spot of lawn where Brax and I had fallen and met. Kissed. Brax had such arresting features, and Tessa was right about those eyes. Shocking. I mentally shook my head to push all dangerous thoughts of Braxton Jenkins out, and glanced at Cole. He and Tessa looked alike, for the exception that Cole didn’t have blonde streaks through his hair. His was buzzed cut, and you could tell he was an athlete; strong build, tall, broad shoulders. He was a cute guy, and I was pretty sure he knew it. Tessa introduced us.
“Hey,” he said quickly. He barely acknowledged me with a glance, and it had lasted all of a half-second. He turned to his sister. “Let’s get this stuff out of here, huh? I got somewhere to be.”
“Don’t be such a shithead, Cole,” Tessa snapped. She looked at me, rolled her eyes, and we started unloading Tessa’s belongings. When she suddenly and loudly cleared her throat, I looked up and she winked at me. “Cole, by the way … how ’bout Brax Jenkins was over here hitting on Olivia earlier?”
I laughed lightly, totally embarrassed, and passed a fast look at Cole over the top of my boxes. “He was definitely not hitting on me.”
Cole glanced at me, and quickly weighed me in from my boots to my hair. It was so plain on his face that he, too, was doubtful Brax Jenkins had any interest in me at all. Still, he put in his two cents. “I’m not gonna talk shit about my teammate, but just like I tell Tess. Stay away from him. He’ll hurt you.”
“Uh, thanks for the warning,” I said quietly. Not only wasn’t I sure Cole had even heard me, he didn’t seem to notice or care, which was okay by me. Staying well below the radar was my goal, and that seemed to coincide with steering clear of Winston’s bad boy. And his teammates. And anyone else who knew him.
I glanced at Tessa, who shrugged, and I didn’t say anything else as we walked back to the dorm. I hadn’t planned on being around Brax at all, making it pretty easy to stay away from him. Besides, all these warnings and talk about Brax Jenkins was sort of ridiculous. He’d knocked me over. He’d reacted on hot-blooded male instinct and given me the briefest of kisses. He’d helped me carry stuff in. That’s it. It wasn’t a big deal, not a date, and he certainly wasn’t interested in me. Not a proposal, as he’d pointed out. As Tessa had so delicately put it, I was not his type. Not at all.
So why did my lips still tingle?
At our room, Cole put down his load. “Later,” he called over his shoulder. He was really speaking to Tessa and not me. He disappeared out the door.
“Sorry about that,” Tessa apologized. “He’s a butthead, just usually not so damn rude. Probably in a bad mood or something. I swear his PMS is worse than mine. Man Periods. They’re a fucking beast.”
A grin pushed passed my lips. “I’ve got three brothers. And a surly old cowboy grandpa. I know exactly what you mean.”
Tessa’s gaze assessed me, and she stared at my lip. “Where did you get that scar?”
My fingertip grazed it, and it felt as huge as the lie I was about to tell. I shrugged. “It was just an accident. I was thrown from a horse I wasn’
t supposed to be riding, and a barbed wired fence caught my face when I landed. Several stitches later, and, well, here it is.” The lie came easier and easier every time I told it—especially since I didn’t really remember how my lip got busted, only that it’d happened that night, with Kelsy. The taste in my mouth, like sucking on pennies, I remembered. Only later did I realize it’d been blood. The emergency room, and getting nine stitches in my lip? That memory will always be stuck in my head, no matter what. Forcing myself to shrug the awful recollection, I kept a casual gaze trained on Tessa.
“God! I bet blood was everywhere!” She cringed. “I guess you can’t wear lipstick too often, huh?”
I pushed an uncomfortable laugh out and rubbed my lip. “Yeah, not so much, so I just don’t wear make-up at all.”
“I’d literally die without make-up.” Tessa cocked her head a little and studied me. “What’s that ring for? You’re not married, are you?”
I glanced at the narrow silver band on my ring finger, and met Tessa’s curious gaze. I’d had to answer the same question before, but it never failed to make me shrink a little inside of myself, making me question more than once why I continued to wear it. “No, not married.”
Tessa’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, shit. Is that an abstinence ring?”
I shoved my hand in my pocket. A familiar sick feeling pitted my gut. “Sort of. It’s a pledge of virginity.”
If possible, her eyes grew wider. “No fucking way. Let me see it.” In two steps she was in front of me, grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand from my pocket. She lifted the ringed finger closer, turning it round and round, studying it as though it were some long lost artifact. “God, my mother would’ve given anything to have gotten one of these on me.” She looked at me and smiled. “Pretty ballsy of you, Olivia. Especially here. Kudos.”
I shrugged. “Just something I believe in personally. I don’t make a big deal of it, just like I don’t judge others.”
Tessa’s brow lifted. “You’re not like, Amish, or Mennonite, are you? Not that there’s anything wrong with that—”
“No, nothing like that,” I interrupted her, and smiled. Inside, I calmed myself, making sure I didn’t sound defensive. “It’s just a decision I made in high school. That’s all.” Right now, that’s all the information Tessa needed about me or the ring. I wasn’t ashamed of it; completely the opposite. Yet every time I was asked about it, I felt as though everyone could see right through me. Could see that I was a fake. Didn’t matter that my virginity was taken from me, and I hadn’t given it away willingly, or rather, consciously.
Our stares held for a few seconds, and in that space of time, an understanding passed between us. Tessa nodded, and so did I.
“No prob. It’s cool, Olivia. Sincerely. Let’s unpack!”
The two of us spent a little more time talking classes and family and Tessa’s latest boyfriend ordeal, which included a rather harsh dumping via text, while putting our stuff away. She didn’t mention Brax, my ring, or vow of virginity again, which relieved me on all sorts of levels. The darkness that existed behind that little ring wasn’t for anyone’s ears at Winston. Ever.
Tessa was standing on her bed, hanging a poster of a muscled Calvin Klein underwear model wearing nothing but a pair of white boxer briefs and chiseled-in-stone abs, when a shrill chirp rang from her cell. She answered it and squealed. “Marcie! Oh, shit! I dropped a tack!” She bent down, searching for it, found it and stuck it in the corner of the poster. “Yeah, I’m almost done. I’ll be over in a sec!”
She jumped down, grabbed the wedges she had on earlier, plopped onto the bed and pulled them on. She looked at me. “Hey, you wanna come with? I’ll intro you to my girls. They’re lunatics. We’re all from the same high school. Shopping and dinner? There’s a Welcome Freshmen party over at Cole’s frat, open house, next weekend.” She giggled. “We’re all getting new outfits.”
I gave Tessa an appreciative smile. I couldn’t believe she’d even invited me. “You’re not rushing?”
Tessa grinned. “Nah. Not sure my potty mouth could make it through the week. But I am hitting the Rush parties. You?”
I shook my head. “No. My schedule is way too full.” I’d break it to her later that I just wasn’t the shopping and spa, or frat party kind of girl. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but … it just wasn’t me. Not anymore. Plus, it cost money to join, and it was money I’d rather send home to the ranch. “Thanks, but I’ve got a lot to do today. I’m meeting my new boss later this afternoon at the observatory.”
Tessa stared into a little round mirror she’d put on her desk and ran a tube of gloss over her lips. “Not to sound spoiled, but I’m so glad I don’t have to get a job. Even though one at an observatory might be sort of cool.” She shook her head. “I don’t know how you’ll do it, with school work and all.” She smiled at me, her lips super shiny. “You’re gonna miss all the great parties! You know, the ones my parents won’t know about?” She laughed. “Mom and Dad made me swear I’d keep my GPA up or else I would have to get a job. Until then, I get allowance. Next time?” Tessa grabbed her keys and zebra purse, and started for the door. She turned and flashed a wide smile. “See ya later, roomie!” The door closed behind her, leaving me alone.
I stood in the middle of the dorm room and took a deep breath in as the storm of Tessa dissipated like a funnel into the sky. Tessa and I might have very different backgrounds and couldn’t possibly be more opposite. Where I was a star geek and old for my age, she was a little immature. No, a lot, actually, as if she’d never left high school. Yet, we somehow clicked. She was nice. And, just as I’d noticed her differences, I’m pretty sure she’d noticed mine, too, and hadn’t judged. I appreciated that about her.
After a few minutes of looking around the room and through some of the stuff I hadn’t unpacked yet, I decided to put together the three-tiered bookshelf Jilly had bought for me as a going-away present. Within a few minutes I had all of the disassembled pieces out of its box, each part and the matching hardware displayed on my freshly made bed. After a brief glance at the instructions, I dug my wrench and screwdriver out of the small toolbox Kyle had given me, and set to work. Jilly had made sure the desktop shelving was made of solid oak and not that cheap shitty particle board crap. Just the thought of my grandpa and his old cowboy foul mouth made me laugh out loud. I already missed him. Crazy old man.
Within a half hour I had the oak shelves assembled and atop my desk. Quickly I arranged all of my astronomy books, and stepped back to inspect my work. Deciding to hang my own inspirational poster, I knelt on the floor and fished in the toolbox for my tacks, found them tucked into a small corner, then grabbed the rolled poster I’d taken off my wall from home. Toeing off my boots, I climbed onto my bed and stood, then slid the rubber band off the paper. I’d tacked up two corners when a knock at the door startled me.
My mind scrambled as I stepped off the bed and made my way to the door. I knew absolutely no one at Winston. Except for my roommate, and she wouldn’t be knocking. Maybe it was the dorm monitor for Oliver Hall. Tessa mentioned earlier she might be stopping by to introduce herself. Or, it could be someone looking for Tessa. Pulling the door open, I blinked in shocked surprise. I felt my gaze widen. Not the dorm monitor.
Brax Jenkins’s peculiar eyes stared down at me from the doorway. His forearm rested against the jamb in a cocky stance. His pitch-dark hair fell in soft messy curls that had no pattern or symmetry and brushed his collar. A phantom smile tugged at his lips. What in the world was he doing here? I wanted to ask him just that, but I didn’t. Didn’t need to.
“Seems I can’t get that kiss out of my head, Gracie.”
Instead, I shook the surprise from my head and shrugged, trying to hide my embarrassment. “What do you want, Brax?”
Brax’s lips spread. “Is that something you really want me to answer?”
My face flamed, and I started to shut the door. His hand and quiet laugh stopped it.
“Calm
down, Sunshine.” He glanced over my head. “What’cha doin’?”
I folded my arms over my chest. “The same thing I was doing the last time you saw me.” I forced myself to look at him. “Seriously. What do you want?”
“Last time I saw you, Gracie, you were in the grass and I was lookin’ down at ya. After you kissed me, that is.”
His sharp accent and cocky remark took me off-guard, but I bounced back quick, trying to mask my awkwardness. Something about Brax made me lose all wittiness I’d accumulated over the years, scrapping with my sarcastic brothers. But Brax wasn’t my brother. He was a strange guy I knew nothing about. I corrected him. “You kissed me. And the last time I saw you, you were right where you are now. Leaving.”
Brax laughed, thoroughly amused, and the sound came out raspy and husky and as completely male as his speaking voice. Although he made me nervous, I was surprised to find I liked hearing that laugh, his voice. Now he leaned against the door jamb, crossing his tattooed arms over his chest. It didn’t appear that he was going to leave anytime soon. “Yeah, got me there.” His gaze moved over my face, lingered on my mouth—the scar on my lip, I imagined—and then lifted. I waited for him to ask me about it, my scar, but to my surprise, he didn’t. “Who’s that?” he asked instead, inclining his head to the poster I’d been hanging.
I glanced over my shoulder in the direction of his stare and turned back to him. “Maria Mitchell. One of the first female astronomers. You agreed to leave me alone, remember?” He really never had, but I’d hoped to convince him otherwise. I couldn’t even begin to imagine why he was here. I’d been pretty blunt before, just trying to get my point across. I wasn’t one of those giggly girls who swooned as Brax Jenkins held a door open for me. Hadn’t I made that clear enough? “Did … you forget something?”
“No, but you did.” Brax reached into the back pocket of his jeans and held out a cell phone.
My cell phone.
My hand flew to my pocket where I’d earlier stuffed my phone. Empty, of course. He handed it to me, and I looked at him.